Chapter 1014: The Biggest Tailwind of the Seventeenth Century (Please Subscribe)

"Zunhou, you've come back from the New World — what is it really like there?"

Zheng Zhilong narrowed his eyes, looked at Shi Lang, whom he had invited to his home for drinks, and with a genial smile posed a question that caught Shi Lang somewhat off guard.

Shi Lang had returned from Japan aboard the Henan. According to the original plan, the Henan was to undergo maintenance after its return voyage, and the entire crew was to be granted three months' leave. But the crew of the Henan had run into a stroke of tremendous luck — no sooner had they returned than they encountered the great naval battle of Kagoshima Bay, so they all went along and picked up another share of merit.

Now that the fighting in the Japan theater had temporarily come to a halt, the Henan had returned to port for leave. Although Shi Lang was a Fujian native, because he had long served as an officer in the Eastern Ocean Fleet, he had settled his household in Pukou — the educational resources in Pukou were simply too good. Not only were famous schools clustered together, but it was also easy to become childhood friends with the future emperor, Princes, Commandery Princes, and Dukes. So officers of Shi Lang's rank all hoped to squeeze into Pukou, and he was naturally no exception.

Today, while he was at his home in Pukou teaching his three-year-old son Shi Shize to recognize the twenty-six letters of the French alphabet, a steward from the Duke of Quan's mansion arrived bearing Zheng Zhilong's invitation card to summon him.

Zheng Zhilong wanted to invite him to dinner!

Dining with Zheng Zhilong was naturally more important than teaching Shi Shize French, so Shi Lang hastily tossed aside the French alphabet chart, mounted his horse, and rode straight for the Duke of Quan's mansion in Tangquan Town. When he reached the mansion gate, he saw Zheng Zhilong's sixth son, Zheng Xi — Old Six Zheng, who was studying at the Pukou Polytechnic — standing at the main entrance to welcome him. Zheng Xi was a notorious academic laggard at the Pukou Polytechnic. Originally he could not have passed the entrance examination (the tradition of looking down on industry and commerce had not changed so easily, so Pukou Polytechnic was far less sought-after than the Imperial Academy, the Capital Academy, the Staff College, or the Naval Academy — but it was still very hard to get into). In the end, Zheng Zhilong had donated thirty thousand taels of silver just so Zheng Xi could enroll. But that still did not change Zheng Xi's true nature as an academic laggard; every examination he ranked at the bottom, which was truly worrisome.

But no matter how much of an academic laggard he was, the man was still the imperial uncle of the Great Ming, the son of the richest Duke in the realm — and Zheng Zhilong was also Shi Lang's former master.

So Zheng Xi's coming out in person to greet him still made Shi Lang feel honored.

And the treatment that followed — dining together with Zheng Zhilong and his son Zheng Xi in a Western-style building in the rear garden of the Duke's mansion — left Shi Lang somewhat overwhelmed by the favor.

He had assumed the Duke of Quan was going to host a grand banquet for many guests; he had not expected that tonight's guest would be him alone. Could it be that His Grace had some matter he wanted him to handle?

Shi Lang was still mulling this over when Zheng Zhilong posed his question.

"The New World?" Shi Lang was taken aback. "The New World is vast, my lord. This humble officer has only been to the area around America Bay."

America Bay was what later generations would call the area around Seattle, Vancouver, and Vancouver Island. Zhu Cilang regarded it as a "Greater Bay Area," and at the same time as the Great Ming's foundational territory in the New World.

"Then just tell me about America Bay — what is it really like?"

"Your Grace," Shi Lang shook his head, "America Bay is too large. This humble officer only made a cursory tour of it, roughly circling an island somewhat smaller than Taiwan Island — a circuit of about two thousand li or more.

In addition, within America Bay there is a rather large inner bay, also two or three hundred li deep. That is a fine place — inside the bay there are many islands, dense forests, flat land, a fairly temperate climate, no shortage of rainfall, and the soil is even more fertile!

So our first foothold in America Bay was at the bottom of the inner bay, near the mouth of a broad river, where a settlement was built and named Peanut Tun."

"Why is it called Peanut Tun?" Zheng Xi asked.

"That is because the first batch of settlers who went over carried all kinds of seeds. After landing, they cleared several plots of land and did trial plantings. The first things to sprout were several peanut plants, so that area came to be called Peanut Tun."

"Oh." Zheng Zhilong nodded. "Are there natives there?"

"Yes, there are some," Shi Lang said. "But this humble officer has not seen them. The marines have seen them, and have even exchanged blows with them."

Along with the first batch of thirty-one households of settlers (one of which was the settlement chief), a company of marines had also landed on American soil. Their mission was to "clear" the area around the colony and help the colonists establish a fortified settlement. If no major threat existed, they would return with the Henan. Before returning, they would also leave their flintlocks with the settlers so they could deal with small-scale native tribes.

"Who won?" Zheng Zhilong asked again.

"Naturally, we won," Shi Lang said. "They are nothing but savages who eat their meat raw and drink blood. It is said they do not even know how to use bows and arrows — how could they be any match for flintlocks?"

"Is that so?" Zheng Zhilong was half-doubtful. "If they do not even have bows and arrows, how do they hunt?"

"That, this humble officer does not quite know." Shi Lang had not spent many days ashore. During his time in the Americas, he had simply sailed around America Bay with the Henan.

"Then..." Zheng Zhilong asked after careful deliberation, "do you think the court could establish a vassal state in America Bay?"

"Found a state?" Shi Lang pondered for a moment. "This humble officer believes the land and waters around America Bay could support a large population, and there are no powerful enemies... If the Spanish to the south do not send troops northward, there should be no problem."

"How far are the Spanish from America Bay?"

"Quite far — an estimated two thousand li or more," Shi Lang said. "The exact distance, this humble officer does not know, because on the return voyage the Henan deliberately avoided Spanish territory."

"Then do they know you reached America Bay?" Zheng Zhilong asked. "Will they send troops to seize it?"

"They probably do not know yet," Shi Lang said. "If they did, they would most likely send troops." He paused. "Your Grace, if the court intends to establish a vassal state in America Bay, then it must send people over at once! At the very least, several thousand army troops must be dispatched, with warhorses and artillery, to build cities, open ports, and set up batteries in America Bay. Only then can we withstand a Spanish attack."

The Spanish in the Americas numbered in the hundreds of thousands, while the Great Ming's population in the Americas was only a few dozen...

Zheng Zhilong asked again: "How were the wind and waves along the way? Could a ten-thousand-dan great bird ship make the crossing?"

The ten-thousand-dan great bird ship was a mass-produced cheap vessel — reliable in performance, easy to handle, and requiring few crewmen; a few dozen men were enough to operate it. If not fitted with artillery, the construction cost of a ten-thousand-dan bird ship could be reduced to five or six thousand taels (without artillery, the hull strength could be reduced).

If it were redesigned to increase passenger capacity, a single ten-thousand-dan bird ship could possibly carry two to three hundred migrants on a one-way voyage. Even counting at two hundred people, the cost of the ship spread over two hundred heads came to only twenty-five taels per person. Hiring fifty crewmen at fifty taels each came to twenty-five hundred taels, spread over two hundred migrants — that was twelve and a half taels. Add the purchase of some rice wine, pickled vegetables, flatbread, seeds, and farming tools, and another twelve and a half taels would be the absolute ceiling.

In other words, counting only costs, even if a ten-thousand-dan bird ship made only a one-way voyage, fifty taels was enough to float one migrant across the Pacific...

"Did any of the first batch of migrants die on the way?" Zheng Zhilong continued to inquire. "Did anyone contract an epidemic disease while in the Americas?"

"No one died," Shi Lang answered. "When this humble officer departed, no one had died. However, that batch of migrants was specially selected — strong and robust, and not too severely seasick. If we truly transport people in large numbers, I fear some will die on the way."

He paused, then added: "If we factor in shipwrecks, a delivery rate of eighty to ninety percent would be very good."

Which meant one to two out of ten would die...

Shi Lang continued: "As for epidemic disease, it should be relatively rare, because the climate of America Bay is still rather cool — roughly comparable to the Beijing area. Cool weather means fewer epidemics!"

Zheng Zhilong muttered to himself: "Counting fifteen percent drowned and five percent dead of disease, eighty percent would still survive... That is far better than going to the South Seas!

Going to the South Seas saves on travel costs, but too many die of disease. Converted, for each migrant, the expense comes to over a hundred taels no matter what!"

At this point he slapped the table: "The Americas are worth investing in!"

Worth investing in? Investing in what? Shi Lang listened in bewilderment and was just about to ask when Zheng Xi spoke first: "Father, this is a business of over ten million. You cannot just follow blindly without going to see it for yourself!"

"That makes sense!" Zheng Zhilong nodded, quite convinced, and then said with a smile to his son, "Xi'er, your father is old and cannot endure the tossing of the sea. You have always been filial — at a time like this, should you not step forward and make the journey to the New World on your father's behalf?"

(End of Chapter)