Chapter 104: A New Type of Trade

"Huh?" Hearing this, Cai Feiming turned his head to look. Oh, it was the Strolling Quartet.

Comrade Van der Hagen, the former Interim Governor of Dayuan and Commercial Agent, led the way; beside him was the former Dayuan Garrison Commander, the cripple William Jans; behind them were two former Council Members.

Ever since Van der Hagen privately reached an understanding with Cai Feiming and promised to do everything in his power to facilitate the formal signing of a future agreement, these four high-ranking Dutchmen had gained the right to stroll anywhere on Dayuan Island.

The quartet would wander a few circles around Shang Hall and the island every day. Their subordinates had long since been relocated across the Taijiang shore anyway; as long as they didn't walk up toward the Fort, they could stroll as they pleased.

The living conditions for these old fellows weren't bad either. Their meals were cooked in the Shang Hall kitchen, eating from the same pot as the Transmigrators. After all, having seized so many silver coins from them, along with Shang Hall and its goods, feeding four freeloaders was hardly a problem.

After having his thigh wound's stitches removed, William Jans underwent further examination and was finally diagnosed with a bone fracture. He was thus given a crutch that could be tucked under his armpit. Although his injury had improved recently and he had already gone to the doctor to swap the crutch for a cane, the nickname "the cripple" still stuck.

Hearing the Strolling Quartet's genteel protest, Cai Feiming broke into a smile, then nodded confidently at Van der Hagen. "Don't worry, Van. Two Japanese ships can take at most 500 piculs of raw silk. There's still plenty in the Warehouse."

"But in that case, only 130 piculs would remain in the Warehouse. I must remind you, this is very bad news for Governor Nuytz!"

Cai Feiming was dumbstruck: these bastards had inventoried the raw silk in the Warehouse! It seemed they'd have to be driven out to the Shanty Area… No, loading goods at the dock still required passing through the Shanty Area. These bastards had the freedom to wander around! Damn!

Just as Cai Feiming was thrown into brief confusion by his exposed lie, an angry shout erupted nearby. "Baka! Fool who interrupts others' conversations — prisoners have no right to discuss trade!"

Dongye Shangche, from Kyoto, had terrible Dutch, but Lin Xun, from Nagasaki, had quite good Dutch — Nagasaki had a Dutch Shang Hall. So upon hearing Lin Xun's translation, Dongye Shangche flew into a rage.

"I'll give you a chance to apologize, shorty," Van der Hagen said coldly to Dongye Shangche. Van der Hagen could only understand half of Dongye's roar, but the words "baka" and "prisoner" were enough.

"Bastard, the Samurai will buy up all the remaining raw silk as well. Please remain here as prisoners forever, I beg of you!" This was Dutch in fluent Japanese syntax. After one night, Lin Xun had become perfectly clear on the Red Hairs' situation.

Bureau Chief Wang Liguo was the first to sense trouble — Battle Power Weaklings are always a bit more sensitive. The fair and plump Bureau Chief Wang grabbed the back corner of Cai Feiming's chair with his left hand and gave it a light pull, while simultaneously pushing off the ground with his foot, sliding the chair, man and all, around behind Cai Feiming.

And Cai Feiming, after instinctively raising his palm to block a flying box of ink paste, discovered that the Moon-head Hairstyle and the Red Hair were already grappling in a brawl. Dongye, who had lunged through the air, was caught mid-flight by the Commercial Agent and slammed onto the camphor wood tabletop, where he was pummeled fiercely. The pitiful Lin Xun was already surrounded by three men. The cripple William Jans was shouting, "I'm going to smash your leg!" while fiercely beating the Moon-head Hairstyle's leg with his cane.

The group brawl — more precisely, the Red Hairs beating up the Japanese — was quickly stopped. Japanese who had left their samurai swords behind truly could not beat the Red Hairs, let alone when outnumbered. The Red Hairs were afterward confined to a room and ordered not to leave, while the two Japanese were taken to Great Master Miaoshu for treatment.

There were no major injuries. Dongye Shangche's face was just a bit swollen. Lin Xun might have a minor bone fracture, so he was given a crutch that could be tucked under his armpit.

Upon learning that their boss had been taken down, the crew of the Imoki naturally wanted to grab their tantos and give the Dutchmen a taste of Three Blades Six Holes. However, the short bursts of 12.7 mm Machine Gun fire that rang out from the Fort suppressed the restless Japanese. These crewmen were informed that the moment both feet touched the dock, they would be shot dead. The bullets flying overhead confirmed this statement.

The next day, all the precious metals and sulfur that Lin Xun had brought were given a final valuation of 47,000 taels in Land Certificates by the Transmigrators. Dongye and Lin Xun quickly negotiated a deal with Cai Feiming: all the Land Certificates in their hands could be exchanged for raw silk at a price of 190 taels per picul.

The crew of the Imoki ecstatically carried away 220 piculs of raw silk from the large Warehouse. The remaining 5,000 taels in Silver Notes were exchanged by Lin Xun for deerskin and Songjiang cotton, along with some porcelain and Ming Miscellany.

As for the miscellany the Transmigrators didn't want, like those folding screens, the Japanese had no intention of making another trip to Manila just for these few things — lacquerware and silk screens were very popular in Manila; in fact, at this stage, there was nothing Manila didn't welcome. This small lot of goods could just be tossed into their own warehouse at Shang Hall and sold whenever convenient. After all, they had a Branch Manager in Dayuan.

Five days later, in the afternoon, inside the Foreign Liaison Department room, Dongye Shangche and Lin Xun were receiving a "Lecture."

In truth, these two had come to bid farewell today. On the table were some personal gifts they had brought. In previous years, such a situation would never have occurred: a Red Seal Ship would make port calls along the way, loading a bit of deerskin at Dayuan, a bit of horn in Vietnam, and the ship would usually complete all its trading in Thailand or Manila, then wait for the next year's monsoon before returning to Japan.

But in this plane of existence with the Transmigrators, a fleet equipped with radar had easily opened a Tai-Zhe Trade Route across the open ocean. This had created a butterfly effect regarding the Japanese that had never appeared in history: Dayuan was no longer just a stop for deerskin, but a Golden Port with raw silk, porcelain, cotton cloth, and Ming Miscellany. Most importantly, these goods could be supplied in full quantity.

After seeing these lovely goods fill the holds of two Red Seal Ships, Dongye Shangche and Lin Xun finally believed it was all real — ever since they had angered the Great Ming during the Jiajing era, Japanese Merchants had never again had such an easy opportunity to freely mix and match purchases of Great Ming goods.

A situation that had never existed before naturally gave rise to behavior that had never existed before: a winter return voyage. Dayuan wasn't far from Nagasaki, and there were island chains along the entire route to serve as reference points. So what if the wind was against them? At worst, they could crawl their way there in a month, right? After reaching Nagasaki, they could ride the favorable wind back to Dayuan in January or February of the next year. That would mean one extra shipload of super profits.

Today, the two Japanese had come to bid farewell. They had prepared everything, and the fleet would set sail for Nagasaki tomorrow.

But as soon as they entered, they discovered behind Cai-san a white, gleaming board mounted on a wooden stand. Then Old Cai smiled, pulled out a colored pen, wrote some names and a process flow on the board, and began explaining to these two fellows the current situation between Japan and the Dutch, as well as certain tasks the Crossing Faction needed them to complete after returning to Nagasaki.