Chapter 151: Double Gift Pack

Among the goods listed on the order the Lin brothers received, there was one commodity they had to buy in bulk: salt.

The land of Eight Min had always lacked salt, especially the Northern Min Four Prefectures, where mountain ranges stretched endlessly and transport was difficult. Local output was insufficient, and since ancient times, edible salt had to be brought in from outside to make up the shortfall.

Ironically, salt-starved Fujian had already evolved from the decoction {boiling} process to the advanced solar evaporation method as early as the mid-Ming period. Yet this was No Use — in Fujian, where you can drop everything and go watch the rain in any season, a salt industry that lives or dies by the sun was destined to fall flat on its face. If by chance they got a year of severe drought... ahem, everyone would be fleeing famine anyway.

In between stood a colossal conservative bloc obstructing everything: the Lianghuai salt merchants, the salt administration yamen, local strongmen, the Salt Fields, the salt workers... and on and on. The vested interests were not willing to overturn the vast and incomparable salt profit distribution rules and start over. Even a fierce figure like Xu Guangqi, who a few years later tried to promote solar evaporation in Shandong, returned with his wings clipped. Right up until the Ming dynasty fell, the Lianghuai Salt Fields were still producing salt using the ancient salt-boiling method.

Funing Prefecture, where the Lin clan was based, happened to be a remote prefecture and county in Minbei, where salt had never been easy to come by. Fortunately, in the Current Age the salt laws had collapsed, and Local Tyrants and Local Bullies like the Lin Family had long since lost any regard for the king's law. Every time the Lin Baoquan brothers sailed to Hangzhou, they always smuggled some salt cargo back. Official salt or Private Salt, with or without a Salt Permit, the Lin Family rejected nothing — once the ship returned to Funing Prefecture, if it was official salt, then official salt it was.

From the first moment he saw salt on the cargo list, Lin Baoquan had settled on it as the main return cargo for the voyage home. Before the Lin Family set out, their greatest fear was that the Red Hair of Dayuan, like the Franks in Taipei, would have only silver and no goods.

Now the Red Hair had been replaced by Chinese-speaking Kun People, and the cargo list also included salt. Lin Baoquan was quite satisfied with this.

What satisfied him even more was yet to come: Professor Luo had now transformed into a robotic cat, and the moment they met, he pulled out a Pile of gift packs aimed at the Xing'anping, or at friendly merchant ships.

The first pack was the navigation gift pack: first of all, the Xing'anping could make its return voyage ahead of schedule.

The robotic cat put it like this: "At present, there is a fleet in Dayuan that will soon Depart for Hangzhou. The Xing'anping can tag along and go home with them; there is no need to wait until the fifth or sixth month to sail back."

If a Fujian ship could set out from Minbei and force its way across the strait on the winter north wind, then the Xing'anping certainly had no ability to return against the wind to the other side of the strait. Sailing against the wind required a ship to make zigzag maneuvers at various angles on the Sea Surface. Playing that game in the strait, within the first hour after nightfall, a Fujian ship would lose its bearings.

The Xing'anping had reached Dayuan in the third month. By convention, a Fujian ship needed to wait in Dayuan until the fifth or sixth month, when the southeast Monsoon grew strong, before crossing back over the strait. But Professor Luo made it very clear today: the Transmigrators' fleet could carry the Fujian ship along to the Zhejiang Coastal Area, allowing the Xing'anping to quickly reference Landmarks and return to Minbei.

This plan truly astonished the Lin family. When the two brothers learned that this fleet of Kun people actually had the ability to observe positions, they were overjoyed — in that case, the Xing'anping could perfectly well catch the tail end of the north wind season and make one more run to Dayuan.

The navigation gift pack was not finished yet.

From the Lin brothers' earlier accounts of the sea routes, Professor Luo had already discerned the helplessness of Ming Merchant Sea Merchants of this era when faced with unfamiliar sea lanes.

As early as the early Ming period, Sea Merchants could still use crude navigational measuring tools like the Star-Guiding Board and the Compass to get by. However, under the Zhu family emperors' wave after wave of Brainless policies banning the sea and sealing off ships, several centuries passed. In the West, people had already invented all sorts of measuring tools that did not require looking directly at the Sunlight, while Ming Merchants had degenerated to the point of using the naked-eye Radar realm — this was truly ironic.

It was precisely on this point that Professor Luo rolled out a surveying combo: including one Sea Chart, one Quadrant, and one Electronic Watch.

The Sea Chart had been revised, with a rough sketch of the southeast coastline and several key cities along the way, and then above these cities, latitude and longitude figures were marked. A person using this Sea Chart could calculate the positional relationship between their own ship and the major cities while on the sea.

Of Course, the Sea Chart was to be used in conjunction with the Quadrant. The Quadrant was produced in the Kiln District — using Molds brought from Later Generations, the Kiln District cast them from molten Copper.

The Quadrant was invented by a British navigator and was the greatest invention of this era. The 17th Century in which the Transmigrators found themselves was precisely the age when various quadrants were being developed and spread far and wide in the hands of Colonizers.

The Quadrant, which could measure latitude relatively accurately without needing to look directly at the Sunlight, not only saved the world's one-eyed ship captains but also, incidentally, swept all previous latitude-measuring navigational instruments into the trash heap, just as the Matchlock eliminated Knives and axes.

The Transmigrators' own fleet did not use this; the Transmigrators had sextants at the Minié rifle level, and also Electronic Sextants at the Machine Gun level. Historically, the sextant would not be invented until the 18th century. At present, it was standard equipment on ordinary Sand Ships, while the Pilot Ship was equipped with an Electronic Sextant that produced data in seconds.

In this way, the Xing'anping could raise its latitude-measuring standard to the same grade as the European Colonizers. In addition, when it came to measuring longitude, the Xing'anping's technology would surpass the Colonizers': the Electronic Watch.

Using an Electronic Watch was a decision made after careful deliberation, because an Electronic Watch was not something one feared losing.

Roughly every half year, this waterproof Electronic Watch, which had only the simplest dual timekeeping function, would run out of Power and have to return to Dayuan for a battery replacement. Under these circumstances, even if a hostile Power Base or Colonizer got hold of it, nothing would come of it. 17th-century Natives could not comprehend a circuit board; this step was too large, already a full split... By contrast, the outflow of mechanical watches had to be controlled, because Natives could understand gears and mechanical structures.

"May I ask what price this divine object commands?" After listening to Professor Luo's description, Lin Baoquan was the first to ask this question. At the same time, Lin Bao'an, whose excitement was written all over his face, asked a different question: "Could there be a master to pass on the method?"

Professor Luo laughed heartily and extended five fingers. "Policy support price: 500 taels of silver for One Unit."

Hearing this figure, Lin Baoquan did not so much as blink. "We'll take it."

Professor Luo then turned his head toward Lin Bao'an and said, "This afternoon, I'll arrange for an instructor to go to the open sea to pass on the method. Teaching guaranteed until mastery."

After the first gift pack was fully opened, next came the second gift pack: weapons.

The two brothers were led to a secluded Warehouse. What was piled up in this Warehouse were all Dutch weapons captured during the Shang Hall war.

Professor Luo first recommended the Dutch Matchlocks to the brothers. For the Lin brothers, there was no reason to refuse Matchlocks of identical style and decent craftsmanship: these things could be put to great use whether fending off Pirates on the open sea, or for the clan to defend against bandits, sea raiders, and the She People in the mountains.

Professor Luo cheerfully sold them 30 Matchlocks in one go. Next came the Cannons. What Remained in the Warehouse now were only a dozen or so Iron Cannons of varying sizes; the larger Copper Cannons had all been hauled off by the Kiln District for Smelting.

Bronze cannons, which comprehensively outclassed Iron Cannons in every aspect of performance, had only one intolerable drawback: price. In the current early 17th century, the cost of casting one bronze cannon was at least four times that of an iron cannon. A few decades later, with the development of steel Smelting technology, the cost of a copper cannon would rise to seven times that of an iron cannon.

The burgeoning Age of Discovery and the raging flames of the Thirty Years' War in Europe were driving all weapons of war to evolve at the fastest possible speed. In the present era, Europeans were in the time period where increasingly mature cast Iron Cannons were replacing bronze cannons.

These captured Cannons in the Warehouse already reflected this trend: among the Dutch Cannons the Transmigrators had obtained in the Aftermath from the Shang Hall and the Navy training ship, the 8-pounder and 10-pounder guns, which were more difficult to smelt, were all bronze cannons — the so-called "Half-Serpentines" — while the Remaining Iron Cannons, "Serpentines" that did not even qualify as "Half-Serpentines," were all under 6 pounds in Caliber.

The Majority of these cannons were of British manufacture, and the production craftsmanship was already quite refined: the barrel and bore were Smooth, and components such as the trunnions, the Gun Position, the reinforcing bands, and the protruding lifting post at the breech were all present. The barrels bore inscriptions, decorative patterns, and the cross flag emblem; the products were quite exquisite.

The advances in European weaponry spurred by the Age of Discovery and the Thirty Years' War were clearly embodied in these Cannons.

"All fine items, very good workmanship." Professor Luo was at this moment stroking the Smooth cast-iron barrel, stopping just short of adding that this thing was perfect for home travel, murder, and arson, blah blah blah...

"This item is not easy to handle on a ship; it would be more convenient to invite one or two back to guard the residence." Lin Baoquan gently stroked his long beard and said with a chuckle.

One knows one's own affairs best. The Fujian ship, with its "V"-shaped hull and design lacking ribs, was never meant for booming broadside volleys. Lin Baoquan had witnessed native cannons firing from a Fujian ship; they had neither accuracy nor range, and the Gun Position could only be placed on the centerline of the bow — using the keel to offset the recoil.

Professor Luo could understand what Lin the Elder meant: without professionals to operate them, Cannons were very difficult to wield effectively. For the Crewmen on a Fujian ship, to complete a Series of steps from ranging to firing at the moment of engaging the enemy, on a constantly pitching and rolling bow amid raging wind and waves — this was truly asking a bit much.

"Very well. If Lin the Elder is willing to spare some of his young men, feel free to send a few over. Heh heh, let them go to Dayuan Island and drill with the army for a few days, take a few lashes, and in the future, I guarantee they'll be crack shots with both cannons and guns."

As soon as Lin Baoquan heard there was even a commissioned training service, he hurriedly agreed without a second thought and immediately settled on two Four-Pounder Cannons, ready to haul them home to guard the residence.

After both gift packs were opened, the client was very satisfied: the packs solved the greatest risk after putting to sea — the positioning problem — and the secondary problem of sea bandits was also greatly alleviated by the arrival of several tens of Matchlocks.

Lin Baoquan did a rough calculation and discovered that the silver they had earned on this trip had, without him even noticing, been stuffed right back in...

Although both salt and iron were bulk goods, the price of salt was much higher. In Jianghuai, one could buy a catty of Crude Salt for one or two candareens of silver, but in Funing Prefecture, even in the Coastal Area, it had never been lower than eight candareens per catty.

As for the She people in the inland mountains who wanted to eat salt... they would have to fork over ten candareens — that is, one mace of silver — worth of Mountain Goods, and even then, wanting to trade for a single catty of Crude Salt from coastal Local Tyrants like the Lin Family was sheer delusion. A peck of rice for a catty of salt was no legend in Minbei; it was the norm.

The entire shipload of iron and Raw Silk that Lin Baoquan had hauled over was thus offset by the Transmigrators' salt, guns, and cannons. The Lin brothers, who had originally worried that they would only be able to bring some silver home, now instead had to fret over the problem of their cargo's value being insufficient.