Chapter 146: Pearls, Pearls Again

The Lin brothers weren't particularly averse to the errand of shipping goods to Taiwan — whether to the Franks in Taipei or to the Dutch in Dayuan.

Fujian merchants had sailed to Taiwan for trade since ancient times: trading deerskin and sulfur with the natives.

The Lin Family's home base, Funing Prefecture, sat at a higher latitude than Taipei, so ships could set sail as soon as the winter north winds began to blow. Though crossing the strait carried great risk, the main issue was wind direction — the danger was the wind shifting midway; the other risk factors were actually minor in comparison.

In his youth, Lin Baoquan had traded with the natives in Taipei more than once, and had also gone to Dayuan once. Nowadays the Franciscans held Taipei; though the Lin Family's ships had not returned there since, the Fujian merchants were still very clear on the Franks' situation.

The Franks in Taipei were so poor they had nothing left but money.

Having not yet secured their foothold locally and being on poor terms with the natives, the Franks had very few goods available for trade: hauling a shipload of goods out, then bringing back some silver and the other party's local specialties — that was the most cost-effective way to conduct maritime trade.

The Franks in their Taipei fortress had only silver, no goods — the Philippines themselves were waiting every day for Ming ships to bring cargo. So these past two years, few Fujian merchants went to Taipei; even though the Franks offered tax exemptions and priced yellow silk at the same rate as white silk, everyone was still unwilling to go.

As for the Dutch entrenched in Dayuan, although Lin Bao'an's information was spotty, he was very clear on one point: if his family shipped a load of goods over, the Dutch would certainly welcome it.

After hearing Xiong Dao's words, Lin Baoquan nodded slightly: pig iron at 5 fen of silver per catty — this deal was workable. Even the best pig iron in Fujian cost barely over 1 fen of silver per catty.

Once again he sank into musing, mainly calculating the risks involved: crossing the sea was one; the unsettled waters were another; the insufficient total value of the iron cargo was yet another.

The first two could be circumvented — set sail from Fujian's northernmost Funing Prefecture on the north wind, cut diagonally southeast across the strait, then follow Taiwan's coastline southward. If all went well, they could bypass the chaos on the waters off southern Fujian and reach Dayuan directly.

The last issue, however, was more troublesome: iron stock, whether pig or wrought, was bulk cargo. The Lin Family's Xing'anping was a 600-liao Fujian ship (each liao carrying 72 kg); fully loaded, it could hold just over 80,000 catties of pig iron. This entire shipload's total cargo value was only a bit over 4,000 taels of silver. Even at the high profit of 5 fen of silver per catty of iron, it still wasn't worth a sea voyage — when the Xing'anping sailed out with general goods in the past, its cargo value was never below 10,000 taels of silver, and most of the time exceeded 15,000.

Having thought it through, Lin Baoquan then said in a deep voice, "The total value is insufficient. We need to add a batch of high-value goods to make it worthwhile."

Liu He, Steward Liu, who had been standing silently to the side the whole time, suddenly spoke up: "In the Liu Family storehouse at the Tide-Waiting Gate, my master still has a hundred piculs of raw silk stored there. Brother Lin, if you need to round out the cargo, raw silk would be most suitable."

Lin Baoquan looked at Liu He in surprise; what met his eyes was a treacherous minister's face, grinning wide with a mouthful of yellow teeth: "My master has instructed that Master Xiong's business is the Liu Family's business. Surely Brother Lin doesn't distrust even my master?"

"Hahaha..." The several people in the room, as if by prior arrangement, all began tilting their heads back in forced laughter — though the Lin brothers' laughter was somewhat strained at that moment.

Lin Baoquan knew this was what they called riding a tiger and finding it hard to dismount... Since Liu He had put it that way, there was absolutely no room left for his family to decline. If they declined, the two brothers would have offended the Liu Family today, and that would be that.

"In that case, the deal is on!" Lin Baoquan, knowing further delay was pointless, abruptly cut off his laughter and brought down the final word.

"Good, good, good! This truly helps me, your brother, out of a great difficulty. Worthy brothers, you are loyal and true — Xiong here will remember this favor!" At this, Xiong Dao paused, raised his hand, and clapped three times in succession: "Come out..."

Two pretty maidservants with bright eyes and white teeth, adorned in gold and jade, emerged from the inner room. The one in front carried a large blue-white glaze porcelain plate; after the plate was gently set on the table, the maidservant behind her, with a coy smile, brought out a crystal-clear crystal bowl. The next moment, her fair hand tilted lightly, and the pearls in the bowl cascaded like a curtain of rain, sliding gently into the plate.

Watching these several dozen flawless, uniformly sized rolling beads that swam ceaselessly around the porcelain plate, even the widely experienced Lin brothers were stunned by the sight.

"This is...?" Lin Baoquan, seasoned after all, recovered from the dazzle of pearls and jewels and asked, puzzled.

"A deposit." Xiong Dao uttered the two words flatly.

"Master Xiong, what a grand gesture!" Lin Baoquan's mind cleared completely in that moment; all his misgivings about wholesaling this shipload of iron vanished — this method of paying a large deposit upfront was something only Westerners did. He now saw Xiong Dao entirely as a loyal comprador for the Red Hair.

Of course, Master Xiong's deposit wasn't so easy to take. Lin Baoquan understood clearly in his heart: don't even think about swallowing the deposit; even if this entire shipload of iron sank to the bottom of the sea, the Lin Family would still have to send another shipment to Dayuan to make it up.

Unless the Lin Family's ships never came to Jiangnan again, they had no choice but to do exactly that — Liu Yaozu's business reached all the way to Beijing, with who knew how many backers behind him; he wasn't the sort of local bully the Lin Family could fool around with.

Furthermore, Master Xiong was clearly no pushover either. Coming to Tangzhuang today, seeing those seagoing ships and crewmen, encountering this Red Hair comprador whose every mannerism carried an inexplicably strange flavor — that vague premonition now grew increasingly clear: this Master Xiong, who didn't mind handing over a large sum of valuables to friends he'd just met, had the capability to settle scores on his own. The Liu Family's seeming eagerness to help a friend was, in truth, currying favor!

It didn't matter if they didn't understand the inner workings; the Lins now only needed to grasp that Xiong Dao was formidable, and that was enough. Both sides quickly negotiated the specifics: after the Lin brothers returned to Fujian, they would send a shipload of iron stock and raw silk to Dayuan after the new year. The deposit Xiong Dao had given would be converted to silver value and settled in full at Dayuan then, with any excess refunded and any shortfall made up.

Once agreed, the maidservants brought brush and ink, and Lin Baoquan and Xiong Dao drew up a contract on the spot as proof — a deal was thus concluded!

By the time business was finished, it was exactly noon, so Master Xiong ordered a family banquet laid out for the guests. Throughout this, Steward Liu He, who had long since thrown his eyeballs into the pearl plate, finally began a second round of negotiations with the Lin brothers — the pearls, the Lin family would not be taking with them.

This bowl of perfectly round rolling beads was of superior quality; the rarest thing was their uniformly identical size. If properly crafted by a master artisan, they would be treasures fit to adorn the bosom of a noble lady in the palace!

Liu Yaozu had the capability to manage this kind of political investment. The pearls that the Crossing Faction had brought out in batches before this had mostly ended up in Liu Yaozu's hands, and these fine things, which Liu Yaozu privately called "sea pearls," had largely been sent by him to his connections in the two capitals, powerfully supporting the career development of several intermediate officials in the bureaucratic world.

Ultimately, these pearl strings would appear in the home of some Grand Secretary, some Vice Minister, or upon the bosom of some consort in the Rear Palace, their haloed luster flowing, their pastel iridescence pleasing to the eye.

... As for the bumpkin brothers from Minbei, what could such low-level people do with these fine playthings if they took the pearl strings back — give them to the County Magistrate? Wouldn't that be a waste of treasure?

Fortunately, the bumpkin brothers understood this logic too. While eating the luncheon, they simultaneously negotiated the deal of raw silk for pearls with Steward Liu. Throughout this, Master Xiong chuckled heartily and kept urging them to drink.