Chapter 737: Colony prototype

The merchants of the Chu country had no way to do the slave trade business. Moreover, this type of business is also the easiest to make money. It is also a business that the nobles do not monopolize and interfere. Even if it is a business dumped from Qin, they cannot make more money from it. Many benefits, because the nobles can avoid the invasion of water theft, but also do not have to pay protection fees and various taxes, while the merchants are different. They not only have to pay protection fees, because their armed forces can only deal with the indigenous people but cannot deal with the water pirates with advanced weapons, and the water pirates are extremely weird. Dealing with the merchant ships of the Chu merchants, they often resort to mooring and sneak attacks. , Because the ship does not have a sealed cabin and is made of wood, it is easy to break down when using black powder. Therefore, in the face of the attack of the water pirates, the merchants of Chu country had to adopt a method of saving money and avoiding disasters, otherwise the losses would be even greater.

This happened every day in Chu State. Qin Guo's reporters reported similar incidents without on-site interviews in Jiangbei Port.

"Water pirates are extremely cruel. If merchants actively pay protection fees, they usually pay the protection fees according to the relationship and the length of time. The most ridiculous thing about this protection fee is that the water pirates have the same taxes as the officials. Taxes and fees for officials are usually very high. Not only that, there are many different factions along the Yangtze River, such as Wuyue area, Jiujiang area, etc., there are many small groups in these areas. The faction of China, following this path, has paid nearly 75% of its profits. This is an important reason for the increase in the price of Chu products in Qin."

"Of course, you can also choose not to pay, but the consequences are extremely cruel. He listened to a Chu businessman inadvertently said. One of his companions was also in a dumping business, because it was borrowing, Chu's kind of compound interest calculation usury. , Usually the interest is much greater than the principal. This kind of interest calculation is illegal in the State of Qin and will not be recognized by the law, but in the State of Chu, this is the most normal legal business. Because of the high interest cost of loan sharks, let this A businessman had to choose an extremely risky approach, not paying protection fees and taxes along the way. This approach is usually unsuccessful, but the businessman had to do so.”

\"It is conceivable that the water pirates made a living. Although the merchants can avoid the official checkpoints during the day, the merchants used the night navigation method and did not use the heading lights. What they did not expect was that the water pirates would The use of iron chains to blockade some narrow areas of the Yangtze River. Qin’s armed merchant ships once encountered such a situation, but relying on the robustness of their hulls, they directly broke through. It was a disaster for the merchants. Their ship suffered a lot of losses. Two sailors were chained to death on the spot. The ship’s superstructure also suffered a lot of damage, and the ship’s hull was also severely damaged. Fortunately, the ship did not sink."

"But luck ended here. The leader of the water thief interrogated the businessman overnight, and the businessman's actions were immediately seen through by the water thief. The water thief believed that this was challenging their status and power, so they dealt with the merchant and others. The sailors carried out severe strikes."

"You don't know what our businessmen feel when they see those dozen or so cooked corpses. The bitterness, helplessness, fear, and the bitterness all over the body cannot be told. It is not easy for us, why the Chu people themselves are so bitter Hard to force each other. Do we make a lot of money? We are just raising a family."

"The consequence is that the water pirates cooked it. That is, it was boiled." It should be pointed out that the water pirates use water instead of oil. You must know that oil is a more expensive thing in this period. It is rare to see many oil stars in ordinary people's practice, of course, it is different in Qin. The same is true in the developed areas of South Korea, Zhao State and Yan State.

For water pirates, oil, especially edible oil, is even more lacking. The price of finished edible oil is comparable to that of salt. And it is still a must in life, otherwise the food will have no fragrance.

"Water thieves are so cruel. They not only rob the merchants of their money, but also take their lives. This practice has seriously threatened the survival of the merchants. Therefore, the water thieves should be extremely harsh. Means of combat. Never be merciful to water pirates.” This article clearly promotes combating water pirates.

Regardless of the starting point of the article, the water pirates have indeed hindered the further expansion of commercial activities. Therefore, for the water pirates, both the Qin and Chu countries must face it seriously.

However, the merchants of the Chu Kingdom had to choose another business development path, which was the active development of the slave trade abroad, especially the expansion of overseas business bases.

Some Chu merchants started to expand their business scale after trying the benefits of the slave trade. The first thing they need to do is to establish their own "restock" location.

"Look at this is a sketch, our position is here," said a strong man from Chu State with a bullet belt on his body.

The location pointed by the man is the place where the two provinces of Zhejiang and Fujian meet today. As for the specific place, this cannot be verified, because there is a big difference between two thousand years ago and two thousand years later, especially near the coastal rivers, because of the combined action of various natural forces, especially the influence of the deflection force of the earth. This will lead to a great change in the geographical profile, so it is no longer possible to verify the location of the Chu people on the map.

But the only certainty is that the location chosen by the Chu people is very conducive to the docking of ships, and it is also a natural safe haven. A river flows from here, and this river provides the necessary fresh water source for the Chu people to settle here. This is the most important thing. Chu people’s ships can make fresh water supply after they arrive here by drifting along the coast. At the same time, it can also provide drinking water for the people who settle here.

The location is located in a natural fjord along the channel. The water in the fjord is calm and boats can dock here quietly. At the same time, checkpoints can be arranged on both sides of the fjord to provide it with necessary security guards. Not only that, the night here will be angry and the bonfire plays an important role as a beacon.

"Here, here, we can set up guard checkpoints to prevent sneak attacks by other external forces, and at the same time, we can also pay attention to the situation at sea." The man continued. He pointed to the locations of two checkpoints.

"We can build defensive fortresses by the river and the sea. We can not only defend against attacks from the local indigenous people, but also against attacks from the sea. You must know that this is not a location that Chu can control. If necessary, we can go further. To establish a second defensive point, in the shallower inland of the coast, we can cultivate some arable land, these arable land can grow food to ensure our own supply." The man said.

"En. We can not only guarantee our own supplies, but we can also grow some other things, such as rapeseed, mulberry, etc., especially some sugar cane. These cash crops can expand our commercial profits. What do you think?" the businessman asked rhetorically.

"Well, yes, but we don't have anyone who can plant?" the man said.

"This, there is no problem. I can buy some seeds from the Chu country and find some people who know how to plant it. Also, our scale will be expanded a lot. You must know that there are a large number of indigenous people near us. These indigenous people are cheap labor." The businessman said treacherously.

"The question is, will these indigenous people run away?" the man asked.

"Well, we will not establish such a stronghold in the future. There will be many strongholds. At that time, we can exchange slaves between the two places, so that these indigenous people will not be able to escape because they are unfamiliar. At the same time, our plantation is still It can be expanded.” It is estimated that this businessman’s idea is the earliest plantation economic idea.

"It's not just us, but more Chu people come here, not only our businessmen, militants, but also more people come here to settle, develop, and finally become our beautiful home." The businessman longed. Said.

"En." The man nodded.

"Then are we still playing the name of Chu country?" The man continued.

"Chu State!?" The businessman thought for a while and said.

"Yes, we should play the name of Chu State. The Qin people in the newspapers occupy a large area of ​​northern territory, so we Chu people should also have our own expanded territory. Our Chu State banner should also be flying over these overseas territories. This belongs to the people of Chu, and it is a new world for the people of Chu." The businessman said excitedly.

Businessmen also have their original political needs. Their need is to obtain a government with low taxes and a government that can issue policies to ensure their legitimate rights and interests. For others, they are more supportive.

Subsequently, merchant groups established an early stronghold here and planned a blueprint for future development. They wanted to build and expand their stronghold here. At the same time, more Chu people who were dissatisfied with the local government’s role in emigrating here in the future, this expansion From a historical point of view, the stronghold of Chu is likely to expand into an overseas colony of the Kingdom of Chu. And this trend is very clear.

Because from the perspective of colonial history, the earliest colonies started with commercial activities and established a large number of commercial strongholds for commercial purposes. With the prosperity and development of commercial activities, commercial strongholds began to expand continuously. This expansion will bring about all kinds of Business opportunities are also full of risks, but in general, expansion brings great opportunities. Subsequently, this stronghold will slowly develop into another model, that is, large areas of land are merged into the hands of these immigrants. Finally, the immigrants need to establish a new government to manage everything. Finally, this new land owner begins. Colonial life.