The north wind is getting stronger. This is a good time for merchant ships returning from India to Europe. As the saying goes, the wind and the water are smooth! If God blesses you and you don’t encounter pirates or bad weather on the road, you will definitely make a big profit. Even the miserable sailors on each ship are no exception. Sailors can usually store a certain amount of goods in their own private cabinets. Although it does not comply with the rules, this is a hidden rule and is acquiesced by the captain and officers.

At this time, the fleet of people from the East Coast was also cruising near the coast of East Africa, capturing every detail on the sea with sharp eyes, trying to find the Portuguese merchant ship heading to Mozambique Island, and preparing to make up for their war expenses.

"The Cambé country is on the other side of Persia, adjacent to Rajput, on one side, and on the other side, bordering the Dadecan country and Delhi country. It produces barley, wheat, corn, vegetables, fruits, and many horses, elephants, falcons, and densely populated on the land. There are beautiful cities and villages along the coast and inland. It has knights, a large number of firearms and various arms, as well as many horses in horse-dressed clothes, very beautiful armor, sharp and beautiful spears, long swords, daggers, all of which are beautifully decorated. The main cities along the coast are

Surat, Rondel, Diu, and the ports include Daman, Goa, Diu, etc. Goa's ruler is Malikyaz, a Moorish man from Persia..." In the Governor's Mansion of Mozambique, a Portuguese woman with half her chest exposed was reading a note in a pleasant voice. It sounded like what Portuguese merchants or navigators saw and heard in India many years ago. I don't know why there was a handwritten copy here. Maybe which Governor left it here.

Well, although this note was mostly written in the last century, it is still very reference-based in terms of trade goods. This is why Li Yi wanted to understand the content of this book. To put it unrelated, if the East Coast people want to develop Indian trade one day in the future, then those merchants, sailors and soldiers who are about to be sent to read this note first, which will be of great benefit to their work there.

By the way, the Portuguese woman in front of her was the wife of the former governor. It is said that she was a baron in Portugal, about thirty years old. She was at the age of grace. After his husband was executed, he participated in the signing of a religious trial of the East Coast sailor, so that the woman wisely surrendered to Li Yi. Now, she has already begun to recommend herself to the pillow.

"Just put the point directly, when will there be many ships and what cargo will be loaded to Mozambique? I only care about these. As for those narratives of travel notes, I don't need to say it to me." Li Yi touched the baron's fat buttocks and said impatiently in fluent Portuguese.

The woman twisted her body when she heard this. She had just been ordered to take a shower before, but now she was still a little uncomfortable. She quickly looked through the notes. She looked at it and said, "There are many insect paints and indigo. This is very easy to sell in any city; there are wood fragrance, a fairy medicine (atehu, a natural aromatic oil essence), opium, tangerine, borax and other medicines. These are very marketed in Mozambique, Angola and Brazil; there are also caramel, gems, excellent textiles, cumin seeds, fennel, wild fennel, fenugreek, sue sesame oil and other products, which can be bought at the market, and these can be sold easily in Lisbon..."

"Goa, including the Deccan country adjacent to Goa, has a smaller variety of products, but the quantity is very large and the quality is also good. They are all popular products, such as printed cloth, muslin, soft cotton cloth (sold well in Europe and Asia), betel nut (Indian hazelnut), pearls, etc. On the coast of Malabar, there are coconut, coconut oil, coconut skin, horal, palm sugar, pepper, ginger, tamarind and other products, especially the last four condiments. The sales are very large in Lisbon, and many people like to buy it. There are also many people using the rigging made of coconut fiber, which is also very good, and can be sold at a good price..."

"There are also some peppers, raw silk, opium, sandalwood, white porcelain, brocade, exquisite carpets, etc. that were transferred from the Coromandel coast; high-quality rubies, musk, benzoin, mustard, etc. that were bought from Alakan and other places; insect paints, benzoin, ivory, cinnamon, pepper, white sandalwood, realgar, brocade, camphor, feather yarn, musk, cinnamon, flower satin, agarwood, and sulfur, saltpeter, lead and other products purchased from Annan are very large in quantity and very high in value..."

"Haha, there are a lot of goods. I thought you bought opium, pepper, perfume, and gems all day in India. It turns out that there are so many varieties. Usually, how many boats are docking on Mozambique?" Li Yi's hand suddenly and hard kneaded the baron's fat buttocks, which made the woman feel a little panting. Perhaps she hadn't experienced such shame in her past life?

"Generally, there will be no less than 14 boats, most of them will dock in Mozambique. Because... because only here can repair ships, they can safely cross the Cape of Good Hope and arrive... Arrive in Bengra or Luanda, sometimes people will go to San Salvador secretly, but not many." The baron's face turned red and said with some difficulty, of course, there may be some performance elements, who knows.

Fourteen ships! Li Yi stood up excitedly. These are fourteen merchant ships full of cargo! According to the tonnage of Portuguese ships (the ships built by the Iberians are generally larger than the Dutch East India Company), this may have to have a transportation tonnage of 5,000 to 6,000 tons. What a huge fortune! Grandma, no wonder Portugal, a small country with a population of 1.6 million, always spends endless money. It turns out that the trade profits are too big!

The huge profits of the Eastern trade, the massive income of ivory, gold and slaves on the coast of Africa, as well as the massive income of Brazilian cane sugar, cotton, suma and tobacco, are the main sources of huge income for the Portuguese royal family and big merchants! No wonder they were able to recruit a large number of sailors from Europe, build ships, buy cannons, spend money continuously, and maintain a large-scale elite army to invade Spain. Together, it is too much money! Damn, such a small country has so many territories in the world and controls so many lucrative trade routes. Isn't this a child holding gold through the downtown area? Now, let us East Coast teach you, without strength, everything is illusory, Iberians!

On December 25, on Christmas Day, an east coast warship patrolling the waters south of Zambibar Island discovered a ship sailing from north to south along the coast. The ship flew a Portuguese flag, with an estimated tonnage of more than 300, and was sailing towards Mozambique at a high speed of six knots.

Captain Molie's eel, who received the report, immediately commanded the battleship "Fubomanli" to lean up. They lowered most of the sails, used steam power to slowly approach at a low speed of 1-2 knots, and continued to issue guns to warn the Portuguese to stop the ship and surrender.

If someone interviewed the Portuguese sailors on this ship at that time, then it is conceivable that these people must have collapsed at that time, a powerful warship with 66 artillery came to rob, and could also sail against the wind and against the current (this means that the speed is faster than their ship when the wind is smooth). What else can they do? They can't escape and resist, and they are seeking death. Perhaps the only thing left is to surrender?

Therefore, after a while of chaos, the Portuguese on the ship surrendered without ambition, which surprised the East Coast officers and soldiers who were already ready for combat. Soon, they sent a small boat and carried dozens of troops to climb the Portuguese merchant ship. An hour later, after a senior naval officer on the "Fubomli" also passed, the ship raised sails again, and still sailed along the original route and headed towards the original destination Mozambique Island. Of course, they did not know what the island was going on now, but knew that it must have been controlled by the East Coast people.

God! Many Portuguese sailors began praying at the first time. Have you abandoned your faithful believers? Even the indestructible Mozambique island fell, and it was still in the hands of abominable yellow-skinned pagans...

Before leaving, the army soldiers also gave Mo Lie Eel a thick list of goods, including 15,000 high-end Indian textiles such as soft cotton, muslin, and printed cloth, more than 1,000 oriental brocade, and 400 dan of raw silk. These occupied more than half of the cabins; in addition, there were very scattered goods, such as indigo, opium, pepper, cinnamon, ginger, mustard, musk, perfume/season oil, gems, ivory, etc., all of which combined total value exceeded 250,000 yuan (of course, this is converted at market prices, and it will definitely be discounted if it is handled). It is extremely amazing.

Although Mo Liei was limited by the lack of market information at that time and did not know how much these goods were worth, his intuition told him that even if he pulled the ship to the east coast, where the market capacity was somewhat insufficient compared to Europe, he could still sell an extremely amazing number. Not to mention that because he did not participate in Indian trade, these exotic but very popular products rarely appear in the domestic market on the east coast. Maybe they could really sell for 200,000 to 300,000 yuan. Who can say this correctly!

On December 26, another Portuguese merchant ship was captured by people on the east coast in the waters near Lamu. The ship was loaded with pepper, fennel, cinnamon, raw silk, tea, Suhexiang, benzoin, musk, realgar, axian medicine, opium, tangerine, etc. In addition, some lead ore under the bilge are also very valuable. Lead can be used as rifle bullets and grape bullets, and silver should be extracted from the ore. In general, although the total value of the cargo of this ship is not as good as the previous one, it is also about 170,000 or 180,000. And the same is true, if it is taken to the east coast to sell, it may be sold at a high price of more than 200,000 yuan, which is definitely a big gain.

On December 31, the East Coast people who were "playing" on the Mozambique island also "picked" two Portuguese merchant ships. The two ships arrived in Mozambique after more than a month of voyage from Diu. They only stayed in Mogadishu for a short day (hundreds of black slaves were loaded into the cabin). The captains had no idea that Mozambique had changed hands and were eager to rush into the port to repair the leaking boards.

People on the east coast still remembered their "stupid" when they entered the port. A big-bellied merchant jumped directly onto the dock and then ordered someone to come and repair the ship quickly, because the palm sugar he placed on the bottom of the ship as a ballast had melted a small part of it. He could not stand his property being damaged, so he continued to find skilled craftsmen who would fill the gaps in the boat boards.

However, when he saw seven or eight island Eight Banners soldiers arresting him under the command of the East Coast people, the guy woke up as if he had dreams and collapsed on the ground. Because only he knew how much amazingly valuable cargo was loaded in the cabins of the two ships: 25,000 top Indian flower cloths; pepper, fennel, ginger, palm sugar, mustard, cinnamon and other condiments (even including many cloves and nutmeg that were made from secret channels for a large price)

There are countless luxury jewelry such as Chinese white porcelain, Ryukyu celadon, Wuyi green tea, Guangdong raw silk, Tokyo raw silk (Hanoi raw silk), Punjabi raw silk, Chinese finished brocade, Indian feather yarn and other products. The total value of the cargo of the two ships is no less than 10,000 kruzado (the gold coins of ancient kruzado are large, one gold coins are approximately 59.2 yuan in the East Coast silver dollar, which was no longer circulated many years ago and has become one of the many bookkeeping currencies in Portugal).

In order to buy these goods, he borrowed loans in Lisbon and Macau, and the interest rate was extremely high. He originally planned to go back to Lisbon to sell the goods and make a fortune, but there was no hope. God, all the goods were cheaper than the pagans on the East Coast. He not only lost both ships and cargo, but also faced the danger of losing freedom and life. How can this not make people desperate or even collapse?

When the time came to January 10, 1661, the East Coast people had captured more than 7 Portuguese merchant ships and sank one at the same time (I’m sorry that I couldn’t catch it). The results were extremely rich. After rough calculations, a total of all kinds of goods worth about 1.5 million yuan, and more than 1,500 Mogadishu black slaves were obtained. If we count the various materials, gold, silver, and art captured in the attack on Mozambique (it is difficult to cash out), the total value may have been close to three million yuan. Even if we give a discount when "selling stolen goods", it can at least recover more than 2 million yuan for the East Coast Republic of China, which has an annual fiscal revenue of only 5 or 6 million yuan!
Chapter completed!