Valley Emperor

Guedes is jealous of the huge profits on the route from the Indian Ocean to Europe. Although he knows that Portugal blocks and intercepts the passage of merchant ships from other countries, who is Guedes?

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He was a pirate chief a few years ago!

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I would be afraid of being intercepted by the Portuguese, what a joke, but if I met him, I would just go straight to it. At that time, I would not know who robbed and who!

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So after returning to Shanghai, he set up the raw silk factory and left it to the company's subordinates to handle it, while he himself led two merchant ships of his own trading company, which were loaded with various goods and began to head south.

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The above goods are not intended to be sold directly to Europe, but to be transported to Guangzhou. He has already started to purchase the silk, porcelain and other goods that are going to be sold to Europe. It's hoarding several warehouses!

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But the ship doesn't run empty. Anyway, it is necessary to go back to Guangzhou first. If you take the goods back to Guangzhou, you can earn a little bit!

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After arriving in Guangzhou, he was too lazy to care about it, he sold the goods directly to those merchants in the Guangzhou business district, and then drove all the four merchant ships in his trading company into the dock of the shipyard for repairs.

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He was going to make a trip to Europe. This trip would take tens of thousands of nautical miles. If the condition of the ship was not good enough, it would sink in minutes after going out to sea!

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When the ship was being renovated, he also personally went to the Sailors Club to recruit sailors!

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The price he offered was not low. The average sailor had 10 taels of silver a month, and the gunners even reached 22 taels of silver a month. He also promised that after the end of the trade, he would give out a generous bonus. How much is the bonus? One hundred taels of silver will be distributed at one time!

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After this price was announced, countless sailors flocked to it. This price is very high. You must know that the salary of ordinary workers in this year is not even a tael of silver a month. An ordinary soldier of the Datang Army, a month's salary The monthly salary is only one or two silver.

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Ordinary sailors have 10 taels of silver for a month, and after this trade is over, they will have a bonus of more than 100 taels of silver when they come back!

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Even if this money is fatal, they have to earn it!

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So I knew that running the European route was very risky, almost a near-ninth death, but I couldn't stop the enthusiasm of those sailors. Sailors these days basically sacrifice their lives for gambling, and the risk is much greater than being a soldier.

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After going out to sea, they will encounter wind and waves, food and fresh water crises, and scurvy. They will encounter pirates or pirates whose warships from other countries are temporarily relocated. Well, including pirates who are part-time jobs from other maritime merchants. , will encounter a variety of indigenous people.

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The whole process is a life-and-death situation, but as long as they can reach their destination, the cargo on board is enough to make them rich overnight!

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Even an ordinary sailor can earn several hundred taels of silver for one trip. For ordinary people, this silver has already become rich overnight.

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The price offered by Guedes is not low, and there are many people who come to apply, and Guedes is also carefully selected. His trading company already has a lot of sailors, but many of them are unwilling to run. For European routes, at most, they are going to Nanyang and domestic routes, so there is a shortage of manpower.

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He owns four merchant ships, all of which are large ocean-going ships. One is smaller in tonnage, only over 400 tons, and the two larger in tonnage are over 500 tons. These three ships are typical traditional Galen ships. There is a new merchant ship, the Linna, which he ordered from the Hong Kong Hengsheng Shipyard, with a huge displacement of 680 tons.

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This kind of merchant ship is a standard ocean-going merchant ship Type 680 standard freighter launched by the Dingsheng Shipyard under the Royal Industry, and it has also been authorized to many shipyards under the Ministry of State-owned Enterprises such as Guangzhou Shipyard, becoming the current Datang Dynasty. The most advanced and most cost-effective standard merchant ships that can be built at present, the Datang Western Company under the Royal Family Industry has more than ten such standard merchant ships.

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Because they are all built according to unified standards, although the ships are relatively large and have high technical content, the actual construction cost is not much higher than that of other merchant ships. The price of a zero-standard merchant ship is about 50,000 taels of silver, which is a bit expensive, but not too expensive.

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This Lina cost Geddes a lot of liquidity, but he thinks it's worth it. If it weren't for various restrictions, he planned to sell the other three ships, and then buy a few more such ships. Type 680 Merchant Ship!

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The other three Galen ships, although the loading per unit tonnage is larger than that of the 680-type merchant ships, but the Galen ships in addition to loading more cargo, speed, steering flexibility, headwind form and seaworthiness in complex sea conditions, etc. Basically, it is worse than this type 680 merchant ship.

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Although the difference is not too much, the overall difference is huge, not to mention that the Type 680 merchant ship was designed with reference to the battleships of the Datang Navy. The firepower and protection performance of naval guns are better than ordinary merchant ships. powerful.

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And now, they are all armed merchant ships. The risks outside are too great, and there are many pirates. If they encounter warships of other countries, they will end up in a bad way.

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In addition, there is another situation that those sea merchants are all good citizens in the port, and they are well behaved in the coastal waters where there are warships patrolling, but when they meet each other in remote and far seas, these armed merchant ships can be turned into minutes in minutes. Pirates and then looting each other are normal things.

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A merchant ship that goes out to sea without a few artillery pieces will be 100% robbed as a fat sheep!

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And it is very likely that the one who robbed you was not a pirate, but another sea merchant!

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Naturally, Gerdes is also a part of it. In recent years, while running the boat, he has also robbed it a few times when he arrived at the far sea!

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For the current maritime trade environment, the 680-type merchant ship has great advantages, except that the cargo volume is less than that of the Galen ship, it is a complete victory in other aspects!

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Moreover, Gerdes is also preparing to change the artillery in Malacca after going to sea this time. The naval guns that came with the purchase of the ship are all small and medium-caliber artillery. The largest is only nine pounds, and there is no fourteen pounds at all. The above artillery.

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The name of the shipyard is that it is only defensive firepower and does not need a large caliber, but in Geddes' view, the larger the naval gun, the better, the caliber is justice, and the range is the truth!

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So he was going to go to Malacca to buy another batch of large-caliber artillery pieces to replace them.

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Running on the European route, he really didn't have the guts to go without rows of naval guns weighing more than 14 pounds on both sides of the ship!

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Guedes is actively preparing to fly to Europe. The news also reached Datang Western Company for some reason, and then sent someone to come to the door, saying that they also wanted to fly to Europe, and asked if they could Follow along.

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He also said that if Gerdes was willing to set off with the merchant ships of Datang Western Company, they would be willing to take the lead in taking on the task of fighting in the event of various dangers, especially when encountering pirates, and at the same time, the profits of sea trade would be distributed to Geddes 20 percent.

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As soon as he heard this, Gerdes was happy. This is a good thing. He just took them on the road. If they encountered pirates, they would fight them. Afterwards, they would give him 20% of the profit. This kind of Things can't be found in normal times.

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Moreover, he is not worried about the reputation of Datang Western Company. Anyone who travels in Nanyang knows that in the Datang Dynasty, anyone who dares to add the word “Datang” to the prefix of the company is a royal industry!

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And the reputation of the royal family's industry is of course needless to say, it is leverage!

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He agreed on the spot and agreed to set off together when he was ready!

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But when Gerdes was ready and officially set off, he looked at the fleet of Datang Western Company with a dull expression: Is this your merchant ship? The other two I know are 680 merchant ships, but the other two, are you sure these are not naval warships?

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Ying Zihua, the head of the European fleet of the Datang Western Company, said, "This ship is Caiyuan, and the other is Guangjin, which symbolizes wealth and prosperity. It's a good name. I picked it myself."

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Also rich in wealth...

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He really thinks that Gedes has little knowledge. These are obviously two cruisers in the Tang Navy. He even knows the type of ships. These are Lianzhou-class third-class cruisers!

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Ma Dan, whoever dares to say that this battleship with no cargo space at all is a merchant ship, he would dare to turn his head off and use it as a urinal for him!

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Ying Zihua on the side continued to say: "These Fugui and Guangjin, but our Western Company spent a lot of money to build them, their firepower is more powerful than the cruisers on the Navy's side, and they are filled with standard ammunition and supplies. Outside~www.wuxiaspot.com~ can still load 20 tons of cargo! It’s not too late to **** the fleet and make money, don’t you think it’s very good!”

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"Twenty tons?" Gerdes was completely speechless, heck, any merchant ship of this tonnage can carry hundreds of tons of cargo, okay?

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After all, this is still a warship!

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But in the magical country of Datang, other people's Western companies are also the royal family's business, and they have two cruisers as merchant ships. Apart from saying that they are rich and powerful, Gerdes has no idea.

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They said before that they could bear the safety of the road. With these two cruisers, oh, no, it is the merchant ships that have a lot of money, and ordinary pirates are not opponents at all.

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At least, this time on the European route, it is estimated that few pirates have the guts to rob a fleet of eight ships, six of which are armed merchant ships, and two are professional warships.

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It's just that he was worried that if they did this, what would the Portuguese think, would they send a naval fleet to intercept them?

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Don't miss out on the pirates, but if they are intercepted by warships, then the gains will outweigh the losses.

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After Gerdes told Ying Zihua about his concerns, Ying Zihua also showed a trace of embarrassment, and then said: "This may happen, it doesn't require Captain Gerdes to come, you run away. For many years, you should know some safe routes, especially those that can avoid the Portuguese blockade!"

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