Chapter 1007: The Celestial Dynasty Is Also a Great Market (Seeking Subscriptions)

"Summon Lin Yihu, Loyal and Brave Count of the Xuke Nan Banner!"

As Huang Xiaobao's soft, measured summons rang out, Lin Yihu — that fine secret agent of the Great Ming who went by the alias Jia Bushi — drew a breath and stepped carefully onto the second-floor terrace where Zhu Cilang, Huang Jiang, and Marie Mancini were seated.

"Yihu, no need to kowtow — sit." Before Lin Yihu could perform the full prostration, Zhu Cilang greeted him warmly and bade him be seated, then said to Marie, "Pour him a cup of milk tea too."

The Emperor was approachable, but Lin Yihu's timid heart kept trembling. To serve a sovereign is to serve a tiger! Now the great tiger was smiling at him and even having a rather pretty little Western tigress pour him some sort of tea — how could he not be afraid? He knew he was a fat pig dripping with riches!

Still, when the Emperor offered him a seat he dared not remain standing, and when Marie Mancini handed him milk tea fragrant with both milk and tea, he dared not refuse it.

"Yihu," Zhu Cilang asked with a smile, "how is your fur and eastern-pearl trade beyond the passes and in Joseon going? Can it continue?"

Lin Yihu's heart sank — sure enough, the questions were about business.

"In reply to His Majesty: this subject's fur and eastern-pearl trade beyond the passes and in Joseon can still continue, though it can no longer be done with the Spanish, so other buyers must be found. But as long as the goods are fine, there is no worry about finding takers. Even if they are brought to Jiangnan to sell, eastern pearls and furs will not go cheap."

Eastern pearls and furs were in fact a seller's market — as long as the goods were fine, there was simply no worry about sales. Even if they were not sold to Europe, the purchasing power here in Ming Jiangnan was formidable — the Ming market was now no smaller than Europe's, and moreover the Ming's political and social conditions were comparatively stable, Emperor Zhu's policies were relatively pro-commerce, there were not many internal toll stations, and the economically developed regions were all concentrated along the coast and the Yangtze, so logistics costs were low.

As he spoke, Lin Yihu had already produced a lacquerware box he had long prepared and presented it to Emperor Zhu with both hands. "Your Majesty, this is a small token of this subject's regard. Please deign to accept it."

A token of regard?

Zhu Cilang glanced at him, reached out to take the lacquerware box, and opened it. Inside lay a pearl necklace strung from twenty or thirty eastern pearls, each white and round and much the same size.

"A pearl necklace! How beautiful!" Before Emperor Zhu could comment, a young foreign filly had already cried out in admiration.

Zhu Cilang turned his head to look at Marie Mancini and saw her gazing at him with great liquid eyes, brimming with expectation!

"It's yours!" Zhu Cilang smiled and handed over the pearl necklace. "On one condition — try making a few more varieties of milk tea, and put some real thought into it. Later We shall invite the Prince de Condé, Special Envoy Coquebert, Special Envoy Marville, Ambassador Pitt, Ambassador Diemen, and Governor-General de Beaufort to tea together — and they shall drink your milk tea, Miss Marie."

The pearl necklace was expensive, but if it succeeded in making Miss Marie's milk tea a famous brand, one necklace truly counted for nothing.

"Darling, thank you!" The young foreign filly immediately threw herself at him in delight — not reaching for the necklace, but first planting a kiss on Emperor Zhu's stubbled face, then turning around, her back to Emperor Zhu, and lifting her black, curly hair to bare her fair, slender neck. "Your Majesty, put it on for me."

"Very well, very well." Emperor Zhu nodded repeatedly, smiling as he took the pearl necklace from the lacquerware box in Marie's hands and carefully fastened it around her neck. "Come, let Us have a look."

Marie turned around, but she was looking downward, gently stroking the pearls with slender fingers.

Zhu Cilang in fact did not think there was much to look at — Marie Mancini was naturally beautiful and at her freshest and most delectable, needing no adornment at all; she looked lovely even wearing nothing.

"All right, go look in the mirror!"

Zhu Cilang knew Marie's mind was entirely on the pearl necklace, so he waved a hand and gave her "leave."

Watching Marie Mancini depart like a gust of wind, Zhu Cilang said with a smile to Huang Jiang and Lin Yihu, "Did you see that? She's nearly mad with delight. These pearls truly have no trouble selling!"

"Furs have no trouble selling either," Lin Yihu said with a smile. "Sable in particular — the merchants of Jiangnan and Spain can hardly keep themselves from snatching it with their bare hands!"

Huang Jiang laughed from the side. "Of course they snatch it — once it's in hand, it's money! Sable, eastern pearls, ginseng — haul them to Jiangnan and they're all hot goods. No trouble selling them!"

None of these things could be produced in large quantities; supply was limited, and demand had surged with Jiangnan's economic growth — naturally demand outstripped supply.

Moreover, such things were meant for the rich to enjoy in the first place; as long as the goods were fine, they would absolutely fetch good money.

Lin Yihu gave a wry smile. "Selling is no worry; it's just that fine goods are scarce. Eastern pearls and ginseng are a bit better — each year's yield is about the same — but sable grows scarcer year by year."

Go catch them in America! Zhu Cilang thought to himself: North American sables — catch them and it's money. Hurry, board ships and go catch them in North America!

Huang Jiang added, "But eastern pearls and sable are ultimately things that cannot be scaled up — a year with several hundred thousand or a million in goods shipped to Europe would already be a lot. To truly grow the business, we must rely on milk tea!"

Eastern pearls and sable grew in the wild; their quantities were ultimately limited, and they could not be over-hunted or over-harvested. If they were hunted to extinction, that would smash the rice bowls of our descendants.

But tea leaves are cultivated — there can be as much as you want!

"Promoting tea is not difficult," Zhu Cilang said with a smile. "Let the Mancini sisters and Louis XIV push it first. If that truly doesn't work, We still have one more move!"

Huang Jiang asked, "Your Majesty, what immortal move do you have?"

"Tea can strengthen the body and preserve health!" Zhu Cilang said with a smile. "Drinking tea, especially green tea, can prevent scurvy. Drinking tea can ward off illness and prolong life!"

"Is that true?" Huang Jiang asked.

"Of course it's true." Zhu Cilang paused. "But do not reveal it unless absolutely necessary. The Westerners do not yet know this secret. When their sailors are at sea for long periods, they get scurvy, and often die in droves! On the Pacific, our men not falling ill is an enormous advantage!"

But this secret could not be kept for long, because the Ming navy employed too many Western officers, and many Western merchant ships could now freely enter and leave Ming ports and treaty ports. So many Westerners had already noticed this very strange phenomenon — the Chinese almost never got scurvy!

Whether in the Ming navy or on the Celestial Dynasty's merchant ships, no one even knew what scurvy was.

Curious Westerners would certainly study this question, and sooner or later they would discover that Western sailors operating alongside the Ming navy also never got scurvy.

"This subject understands," Huang Jiang said. "Until our Celestial Dynasty's navy has command of the entire Pacific, this subject will by no means leak the miraculous power of tea."

Zhu Cilang nodded, then said to Lin Yihu, "Yihu, can your Jiale Market firm shift the focus of its business to Europe? Manager Huang is mainly occupied with the bank; the task of expanding the European market is yours!"

What? Off to Europe, just like that?

Lin Yihu thought to himself: Then whose firm does Jiale Market count as?

He asked cautiously, "Your Majesty, should this subject go in the name of Jia Bushi, or in the name of—"

"In the name of Jia Bushi, of course." Zhu Cilang smiled. "As the great proprietor of Jiale Market, you have some small reputation in Europe, do you not?"

"Indeed, some reputation." Lin Yihu was overjoyed! Emperor Zhu's meaning was that he could continue as the great proprietor of Jiale Market!

Zhu Cilang said with a smile, "Prepare plenty of furs and eastern pearls, and bring along several dozen chests of top-grade green tea and black tea — and lacquerware boxes as well, to package the furs, eastern pearls, and tea separately. If we are to open up the market, we must make everything look splendid."

"Furthermore, we cannot only buy and never sell. Trade must be a mutual exchange of goods. Buying without selling will unbalance trade; over time, all the silver will flow into the Middle Kingdom, and the Westerners will have no silver left to buy our goods."

"Moreover, our Celestial Dynasty has a vast population, a broad territory, a contented people, and an enormous market — no less than the whole of Europe, if not greater. How can we not buy some things to bring back? You two know something of Western goods, I take it? Speak up — what should we buy?"

(End of Chapter)