Chapter 62 Cotton Trade

A month has passed and today is the day Thomas comes to pay the money.

Thomas dragged his exhausted body to the Royal City of Yanping. God knows how tired he was from raising money during this period. Fortunately, it was all worth it. After getting the Luminous Pearl, he would not have to worry about food and clothing in this life. No, in the next life.

He gave a brief salute to Zheng Kezang and said: "Dear Your Highness, I have raised one million silver, and my servant has sent it to the warehouse for you."

"Okay, old man, I'll send someone to check it. If there's no problem, I'll take you to get the Night Pearl." Zheng Kezang nodded.

Thomas rubbed his hands, looking a little impatient.

Seeing that he was anxious, Zheng Kezang found something to divert his attention: "Thomas, I heard that your country is developing the New World."

"The New World? Your Highness, it is a paradise for black slaves." Thomas has also heard of the New World. Many people are advocating how rich the New World is with every inch of land. He does not believe a word of this. Only the poor will fight for it.

Give it a try.

Later, when the poor were no longer enough, the crazy colonists started the criminal slave trade. Their only goal was money. No matter how cruel they were, as long as they could make money, these unscrupulous colonists would do it.

They frantically bought up African labor and exploited it as much as possible, never caring whether these people lived or died.

If they died from overwork, the slave owner would happily buy another batch.

Zheng Kezang's generosity will definitely make the black slaves in the New World even more miserable.

In tobacco plantations, supervisors would also beat people, but they used short whips composed of multiple belts. The blows were painful, but not too serious.

"A paradise for black people? Thomas, I heard that they went to be slaves." Zheng Kezang asked.

Why did Zheng Kezang suddenly want to buy cotton?

Because Zheng Kezang wanted to stimulate the potential of women in Yizhou Island, he wanted to start with the textile industry.

"New World cotton is of excellent quality and cheap!"

However, the overseers in the cotton plantations used a 3-meter-long cowhide whip with a heavy handle. When it was swung, it would make a "snap" sound in the air, and if it was hit on the back, it would immediately open the skin and flesh.

Cotton is indeed a crop found all over the world, but the quality of cotton in Eurasia is far inferior to varieties in the Americas. In the 16th century, the Spaniards went to southern Mexico and the Yucatan Peninsula and found that the local cotton was of extremely high quality. This kind of cotton was called "

Upland cotton".

But here comes the problem. Yizhou Island does not produce cotton. The nearest cotton producing areas are Qing Dynasty and India.

"By the way, the cotton in the New World is pretty good. If His Highness the Prince wants it, your loyal partner Thomas can transport it for you." Thomas suddenly promoted.

If the task is completed, it means that the person has learned the skills and the task volume will continue to increase. This is true for almost every slave, until the task volume increases to a level that they cannot complete.

No matter how strong a slave is, it is difficult to endure this kind of pain. Every stroke of the whip is like a knife cutting, which instantly short-circuits people's thinking, makes their speech unclear, and their bodies start to tremble.

"Your Highness, the money has been counted and the amount is correct." The excited Eunuch Li interrupted the conversation between the two.

"Cotton is available everywhere. I can buy it elsewhere. As far as I know, the New World is far away from me." Zheng Kezang frowned and said. It is unnecessary to transport it so far.

But he will improve based on this the next day. He must complete 25 pounds, otherwise he will be beaten.

It is indeed cheap. The current market price in Qing Dynasty is about 90 to 125 yuan per pound of cotton.

"By the way Thomas, if you are transporting cotton, give me some New World cotton seeds." Zheng Kezang asked. He wanted to introduce American cotton to Yizhou Island and promote it in the future, so as not to have bad relations with Britain in the future and get stuck.

neck.

In the New World, whether it was a tobacco plantation or a rice plantation, their daily tasks were fixed. For example, each person was responsible for weeding one acre of land. The hard-working slaves could go back to rest after finishing the work in advance.

"System, give me the drawings for the spindle worsted spinning machine." This is how Zheng Kezang consumed this batch of cotton.

"How much does one pound cost?" Zheng Kezang was slightly interested.

"Then let's purchase 500 tons first." Zheng Kezang was very wealthy.

Five hundred tons of cotton only costs about fifty thousand taels of silver, which seems to be a good deal. In fact, to the American slave farmers, it is only the output of four thousand acres of cotton fields in half a year. They are almost like whoring for free.

"Your Highness, friendship is worth fifty cents per catty."

"Let's go, Thomas, to get your luminous pearl." Zheng Kezang said.

Moreover, the task system adopted by slave owners was very terrifying.

Originally, he wanted to buy some Indian cotton from Thomas, but he didn't expect that large-scale planting had begun in the New World, which was exactly what he wanted.

After all, it was much cheaper to keep buying new slaves than to take care of existing slaves. As more and more African slaves were bought, by the end of the 17th century, the African slave population was four times that of white colonists.

Upon hearing this, the anxious Sir Thomas couldn't wait any longer and hurriedly took his servants to harvest his treasure.

Depending on the situation of each slave, there will be a minimum picking amount. For example, a novice may only need to pick 20 pounds (about 9 kilograms) on the first day.

Black slaves did not need wages, they only needed to take care of food. The land was stolen, and it was very fertile when it was just developed, so it only cost a few pounds.

In 1519, King Charles V of Spain saw cotton seeds from Mexico. Subsequently, upland cotton was introduced to the Old World and quickly replaced the old varieties. More than 90% of the cotton in later generations came from upland cotton in the Americas.

"Your Highness, you don't know something. In the wild African land, it is their honor to send these black people to the New World to receive the baptism of civilization."

However, cotton plantations were completely different. Because the British had a huge demand for cotton, the plantation owners would not give their slaves much rest time in order to make more money.

You can't imagine how much "potential" the slaves have been inspired by the 3-meter-long cowhide whip and this terrifying task system.

[Deduct 10 points, the current balance is 15 points]

The spinning machine is a kind of spinning machine at the same time as the Jenny machine, and it is a giant beast that eats cotton.

In 1779, Samuel Crompton invented the spinning machine, which combined Hargreeves' spinning jenny and the water-powered spinning invented by another British barber Arkwright.

Two machines are combined into one, and they are also called "mule machines".

The mule machine inherits the technology of the alternating pedals of the Jenny spinning machine and the feature of the water-powered spinning machine that does not require human hands, which makes spinning break away from manual work and become machine-based production, while weaving finer yarns.

A mule machine can drive 400 spindles. I don't know how long these 500 tons of cotton can be used. Zheng Kezang is a little worried about not having enough cotton.
Chapter completed!