Vol 2 Chapter 2312: New Weights and Measures, Huge Maritime Trade (Part 2)
Chapter 2312 New Weights and Measures, Huge Sea Trade (Part 2)
Chapter 2308: New Weights and Measures, Huge Sea Trade (Part 2)
It is recorded in Ban Gu's "Book of Han. Lvli Zhi" that one thousand two hundred millet weighs twelve baht, two of which are two, sixteen taels of which is a catty, thirty catties of which is a jun, and four of which is a stone.
In other words, one stone in the Han Dynasty weighed one hundred and twenty kilograms, but the weight of a kilogram in the Han Dynasty was also different in different periods.
Western Han Dynasty 258.24 grams per catty;
Eastern Han Dynasty: 222.73 grams per catty;
Generally speaking, weights and measures during the Han Dynasty were still relatively chaotic.
So, after Ying Hao became emperor, he changed the units of measurement, which also gave Da Qin a new weights and measures.
Da Qin adopted the measurement units of later generations, with 500 grams as one kilogram, 1000 grams as one kilogram, 100 kilograms (50 kilograms) as one stone, and one ton = 20 stones = 1000 kilograms = 2000 kilograms.
In other words, a large cargo ship in Daqin with a load capacity of 5,000 tons can transport 100,000 shi of cargo when fully loaded.
The largest cargo ship that the Han Dynasty could build before had a cargo capacity of only nine thousand to ten thousand stone, but now it has reached an astonishing one hundred thousand stone, which is ten times higher than before.
This is already a qualitative leap. Without a major technological breakthrough, it would never be possible to complete such a huge leap in a short period of time.
The total weight of cargo carried by Da Qin's 141 warships was about 7.5 million shi.
It also took Da Qin two full months, and another month to transport all the supplies onto the ship.
Of the 7.5 million shi of supplies, grain and grass alone accounted for 1.5 million shi. Once this batch of grain and grass was released, the grain depots in the three states of Qingyou and Hebei were completely emptied.
The daily provisions for the 8,000-man fleet are not small. Apart from the provisions for daily consumption, the amount of provisions that can be sold is only 500,000 dan, and it is only sold to the Nanman family.
In addition to grain and grass, other items include weapons, armor, horses, ceramics, glass, wine, books, cloth, jewelry and other various goods.
As long as Ye Qingmei can sell these goods, he can get at least seven to eight times, or even ten times more than the value of the goods. Once he returns successfully, he will bring back 30, 40% of the country's total income to Daqin, or even It's 50 fortunes.
Such a large-scale overseas trade, even if it only takes place once a year, Da Qin will still make a lot of money.
Great Qin was the first to trade with the Nanman, because the trade with the Nanman included war horses. These war horses had been floating at sea for twenty-one days. Even if there were veterinarians to treat them, many of them still got sick, and they had to be moved ashore as soon as possible.
"General Gonggong, the transaction volume between you and us this time is: 50,000 steel knives, 50,000 spears, 5,000 shields, 20,000 pairs of leather armor, 5,000 iron armor... 500,000 dan of food and grass, and One thousand, six hundred war horses..."
As soon as Ye Qingmei finished speaking, Gonggong exclaimed: "Six hundred war horses? So many? This is more than what was said before."
The Nanman initially only wanted to buy a thousand war horses, but after all, they couldn't afford more.
Now Da Qin has brought 1,600 horses, which is a full 600 more war horses.
Where can Gonggong collect the money?
Ye Qingmei couldn't help laughing when he heard this: "General, are you afraid that you can't afford it?"
Gonggong nodded: "With the gold and the value of the goods I brought, I'm afraid I can't afford these war horses."
"General, don't worry. After Zhu Envoy's arguments, His Majesty the Emperor of our country decided to give Nanguo a friendly price, considering that the two countries are allies. The average price of horses has dropped. The previous price was enough to buy a thousand and a half. Hundreds of war horses.”
Hearing this, Gonggong was overjoyed and asked, "What about the extra hundred horses?"
"Of course it is a gift from His Majesty the Emperor of Qin to the King of Nanman." "Your Majesty the Emperor is very generous, and I, the Nanman, are the most hospitable. This friendship will never be forgotten."
The transaction volume of Nanman and Da Qin accounted for the largest proportion among the major forces.
Among the one hundred large cargo ships of Da Qin, the Nanman family alone had to capture twenty.
And Ruan Yue and other ten Annan local forces combined only traded forty ships of goods with Da Qin.
In other words, Daqin could handle nearly half of the cargo shipped from Annan, the first stop of sea trade.
Since the transaction volume this time was so huge, three to four million stones of various materials could not be transported in a short time.
The Nanman Ruan Yue and other major forces in Annan mobilized 40,000 to 50,000 soldiers to move from day to night, and then from night to day. They moved non-stop day and night. It took ten days to move all the goods from Transported off the ship.
“Sir, in addition to the Southern Barbarians, Ruan Yue and other ten forces have purchased a total of equipment for an army of about 200,000 people, including 5,000 war horses, 40,000 leather armors, and 5,000 iron armors.
At present, two-thirds of the war horses on the ship have been sold, three-fifths of the weapons and equipment have been sold, and two-fifths of ceramics, glass and other goods have been sold.
Half of the supplies have been sold. "
Zheng He reported with excitement. He couldn't be more excited. After all, this was too much than the amount of wealth.
How much is Daqin's total national income per year? And their first transaction this time accounted for at least 23% of it.
No wonder His Majesty attaches so much importance to sea trade, it is indeed profitable.
The situation of the major forces in Annan is no better than that of the Southern Barbarians. They definitely cannot afford to buy goods directly with money. Therefore, in addition to paying with gold and silver, most of them use goods for goods, using high-purity gold, silver, copper, iron and other ores. , as well as various types of medicinal materials, jade, agate, pearls and other items for payment.
After these ores were transported back to Daqin, gold and silver were naturally extracted and used directly.
And luxury goods such as jade agate can also be sold to aristocratic families after being processed by Da Qin.
All in all, the value of the items traded will increase several times, or even ten times, after passing through Da Qin's hands.
After flipping through the account books compiled by Zheng He, Ye Qingmei said seriously: "The amount of this wealth is too large. I am not worried about continuing to sail with this wealth, so it is best to send it back to the country as soon as possible."
Qi Jiguang, Zheng He, and Magellan all nodded in agreement.
Seeing this, Ye Qingmei ordered: "Lao Mai, you lead a thousand naval troops to **** this batch of funds back to Qingbei. I, Zheng He, and General Qi Jiguang will continue sailing with the remaining people."
After hearing this, Magellan was a little disappointed that he could not continue the voyage, but someone had to take on this task, so he readily accepted the task.
After three days of moving, after loading all the wealth and supplies from the transaction onto the cargo ships, Magellan led a thousand naval troops to **** twenty cargo ships full of wealth and supplies on their return journey.
(End of this chapter)