Just when everything was going well in the Blackwater Ming Kingdom, the booming demand also stimulated merchants to open up trade routes.
The input of Han people has become an important industry, and keen businessmen have sensed more business opportunities.
A Moorish merchant ship named Lightning appeared outside the port of Funancun Port loaded with a special cargo.
Canute is a down-and-out businessman. He was originally a successful businessman with small assets in the Iberian Peninsula, but his success continued to shrink with the successive victories of the Christians on the battlefield.
In the previous period, he had invested all his wealth in the glorious cause of jihad, but with the defeat of the last Islamic army in central Iberia, all his investment was in vain.
With the remaining merchant ship, he crossed the Mediterranean Sea and arrived at the Mamluk territory.
Relying on the good connections accumulated over many years in business, he asked around to see if there was any good way to regain his glory.
Canute was only in his early thirties, and he didn¡¯t think he would be defeated by such a small setback.
The day before yesterday, he brought him a special news. Foreign trade has always been a big hit, but Eastern people do not have a particularly strong demand for exquisite Western utensils. Those exquisite gold and silver utensils, Persian blankets, and Eastern nobles just The strangeness was over, not to mention the civilians, who didn't feel anything at all.
But the goods from the East are different. Whether it is silk, porcelain or even tea, they are all longed for by both the Western Islamic world and the Christian world.
Therefore, those merchants have a headache and need to bring some goods to the East. Even if the ship returns empty and fully loaded, they can still earn a lot of income, but for the merchants, the more benefits, the better.
And Canute got the news that another newly emerging country in the East is now in short supply of labor. It would be best if the poor could be persuaded to go voluntarily. Otherwise, it would be the same to buy some slaves and transport them, although the cost would be much higher. .
I heard that the newly established country was tolerant of slaves. Civilians were given land or taught livelihood skills, and slaves could regain their freedom after three years of hard work.
Kanute intuitively felt that there was a business opportunity, a huge business opportunity. He has been wandering around the Mamluks for a long time. The powerful Mamluks conquered many slaves, including many black people from the south.
In Canute¡¯s view, black people have simple minds and strong bodies, and are the best candidates for hard labor. However, Mamluk black slaves are very expensive.
I heard that the slaves of the newly established country were purchased by the government. The price was fair, but it was not a huge profit. It was not as good as transporting some civilians to get rewards, so now there are some merchant ships working hard to transport some civilians to the east.
But firstly, not many people voluntarily go to a strange land that they don¡¯t understand at all, and secondly, the ratio of risks and benefits on the road is not particularly cost-effective.
But Canute was ready to take a chance. He felt that if the slaves were shipped to the East for free, the profits would be greater, far more than selling the slaves in the Mamluk market.
¡°When you have an idea, just do it. This is Canute¡¯s character. He was selling this idea everywhere, and finally one person was persuaded by him.
This person is a down-and-out Mamluk noble. The Mamluk nobles of Turkic descent still have some private soldiers, and this noble is no exception. Both of them urgently need to revive their families, and they hit it off immediately.
Canute sold the boat on the Mediterranean coast, came to the Red Coast, and exchanged it for a smaller boat. The remaining money was the starting capital for his adventure.
?????????Going to sea by boat with a small force of Namiliuk nobles, along the east coast of Africa, they found a small black tribe not far away.
The black tribe, which did not even have iron weapons, was naturally not inferior to the brave Mamluk warriors. After burning and killing, this small tribe ceased to exist. A month later, Kanute's ship was already full of black prisoners of war, and now all All were slaves to his Canute and partners.
"If these slaves were sold, it would be a lot of money, but now there is a more prosperous path.
After more than three months of rough seas, Canute's ship arrived at the Blackwater Kingdom.
The warehouse below the deck was originally packed with nearly three hundred black slaves. This ship was about the same size as the Bird Ship of the Black Water Ming Dynasty, with a crew of only thirty or forty people, but it carried so many black slaves. The density is outrageous.
In a cabin full of feces and urine, diseases spread very quickly. Canute still had some common sense. During the voyage, he would bring slaves to the deck in batches from time to time for fresh air, and force the black slaves to clean the bottom cabin. Hygiene, the situation is just a little bit??Getting better.
Even so, more than half of the nearly three hundred black slaves died. In the end, only a few hundred people were left and arrived safely at the port of the Blackwater Ming Kingdom.
Canute¡¯s intestines are about to turn green. It¡¯s better to sell all the slaves in Mamluk. It seems that they will lose money this time.
When he came to the shore listlessly, he was guided to find an official agency specializing in the slave trade. With the help of an interpreter who was proficient in Arabic, Canute negotiated with the officials of the Blackwater Ming Kingdom to sell these slaves to the Blackwater Ming Dynasty. official transactions.
As he expected, although the price of slaves was higher than that of the Mamluks, the wear and tear was too great. This group of slaves were sold for a total of more than 4,000 silver coins, including the navigation expenses and the need to pay With the money given to his partner, the down-and-out Mamluk noble, Kanut even lost the funds to purchase some oriental goods in the Blackwater Kingdom.
Just when he was in despair, the official asked again what kind of permission do you want? silk? porcelain? Or tea? For those of you who are new businessmen, we in the Blackwater Ming Kingdom do not recommend that you get involved in the business of buying and selling machinery. The risk is too great. "
¡°Canute didn¡¯t react until the interpreter said it twice? license? license? "
The interpreter had to patiently explain that there are too many merchants coming and going, and all kinds of goods from the Blackwater Ming Dynasty are in hot demand, so transactions cannot be carried out at will, especially