Chapter 279: Sweet Port Turbulence – To Hongji

Slighted or not, the deal could still be discussed. The other side was very interested in the 1,000 shi of sugar he'd brought. Though they couldn't produce that much cash, the proposition of exchanging rice proved mutually agreeable.

"Eight Spanish dollars per shi of sugar." The manager named his opening price.

Chang Shide flew into a rage. Do they think we're suckers? The lowest market price was clearly 7 taels of silver per shi. Eight Spanish dollars per shi—converted to silver, that was only... only... He quickly calculated. "Only 5 taels!"

He immediately shook his head and declared it far too low—well below market rate. Zhang Dabala translated back and forth with the manager for a while. The manager smiled slightly and spoke. Zhang Dabala translated.

"He says they're the only ones around here who can produce enough rice and silver to buy your sugar on the spot. Otherwise, you can sell to the Great Ming merchants at the docks and come back for your money this time next year. Or perhaps—" Zhang Dabala hesitated before continuing—"you can wait at the dock for more generous customers. Only, the weather here is very hot..."

Chang Shide's blood rushed to his head. He wanted to draw his gun and shoot this profiteer dead. But seeing the man's coolly confident demeanor, he had to suppress his rage. Suddenly, he had a visceral understanding of that famous story from his Chinese textbook, Harvest of Three or Five Pecks. He said to Zhang Dabala, "Negotiate with him—can't he add another dollar or two?" If they could get up to 10 dollars, that would be 7 taels. Not the best price, but acceptable.

The profiteer shook his head repeatedly. "Not a single dollar more. But we'll cover the cost of transporting the rice to the dock."

Chang Shide tried to persuade him, arguing that doing business with them was definitely profitable because they had all sorts of novel goods that could bring huge returns—he wished he had a mirror to show him. He urged the manager to embrace long-term cooperation and raise the price slightly, spouting his "win-win" theory. To his surprise, the profiteering manager actually showed an impatient expression. He said something sharply to Zhang Dabala, leaving Zhang Dabala looking unhappy too—clearly not kind words.

Chang Shide could only ask him to translate.

"He says either close the deal at this price, or he won't waste any more time on us."

In the end, Chang Shide capitulated. One thousand shi of sugar was sold at 8 dollars per shi. Of the 8,000-dollar payment, the Vu Ngoc Giap side would pay 1,200 Spanish dollars in cash; the rest would be converted to rough rice at 0.5 taels per shi. Chang Shide did a quick calculation—he could get about 9,700 shi of rice! That was over 900 tons—by comparison, the total regular tax of Lingao County was less than 8,000 shi. The difference in agricultural productivity was staggering.

Though he'd taken a loss, he reflected that even selling in Guangzhou to the English at their purchase price of 3.8 taels, he would have earned far less. That was some consolation. Besides, shipping this rice to Leizhou at market prices would be worth 20,000 taels of silver. All in all, the profit remained considerable. It reminded him of playing Uncharted Waters, trading artwork and carpets between Athens and Istanbul.

The Great Whale, though it boasted better cargo capacity than other ships, could still only carry 300 tons fully loaded. And Bei Kai still needed to go find the Hongji coal mines. So for now, the grain would be stored in local granaries, to be loaded on the next ship.

Bei Kai knew this place wasn't far from Hongji. Perhaps this big landlord knew where the surface coal deposits were. He had Zhang Dabala ask if there was any coal exposed above ground nearby.

The manager slowly nodded. "I've heard of it. Over by Cam Pha. But it's all mountains there."

Bei Kai perked up. "Where's Cam Pha?"

The manager raised his eyelids. Apparently deciding that this dark, thin, unremarkable little fellow wasn't a Great Ming merchant but rather a "Viet traitor," his face filled with disdain. He said a few words to Zhang Dabala. Zhang Dabala smiled bitterly and gave Bei Kai a sympathetic look—clearly nothing pleasant had been said.

It was only when Chang Shide asked again that the manager deigned to answer.

"Not far from here. Follow the coastline south, and by boat you can get there in a day." The manager's face showed a strange expression. "What's so special about that black rock? If you need something to burn, we have firewood or charcoal on the estate. More than enough. Not to boast, but if the Shopkeeper wants 100 or 200 shi, we can provide it immediately."

Chang Shide had wanted to ask for more details, or at least get a guide, but the manager stood up abruptly and walked out. Servants came to "see them off." The party was thus unceremoniously ejected.

The deal was done, and the returns were decent, but the whole affair left a sour taste. Whether it was Chang Shide, Bei Kai, or even Zhang Dabala—everyone felt aggrieved.

"From now on, I'm going to be the wicked, tyrannical, women-bullying Governor-General of Tonkin!" Bei Kai said through clenched teeth.

"First order of business—exterminate this traitor family!" Chang Shide normally hated it when people threw around the word "traitor," but now his nationalist sentiments were in full eruption. "Those not of our kind must have different hearts! Traitors!"

Zhang Dabala also cursed. "That Vu Ngoc Giap has gotten so arrogant! One of his slaves dares to be this rude! Back in the day, when our big fleet came here, that old bastard came running to the dock to greet us, falling all over himself with wine, meat, and women. He even gave me a woman!" His tone suggested that a fallen phoenix fared worse than a chicken.

Chang Shide asked, "Your fleet came to Vietnam too?"

"Yes, to fight for them. Against some Nguyen Hoang guy, some Lord of Quang Nam or something. But the women they sent were actually pretty good..." In Zhang Dabala's mind, those military matters clearly weren't as memorable as the women.

Back on the ship, everyone rested for a day. They waited for the Vu estate's people to come unload the cargo, then set sail again heading south.

Zhang Dabala knew the sea routes well. Though he didn't know exactly where Cam Pha was, he'd been to the Vietnamese coast many times over the years and knew there were indeed places along Ha Long Bay where you could dig coal right at the surface. But no one had ever mined or traded it here. Since the Australian merchants were so interested in this black rock, he'd lead them to find it. Once the job was done, there would surely be a reward.

Nothing happened that night. The next morning when Chang Shide woke, he felt the ship had stopped. Looking out the stern window, he found himself in a dreamlike wonderland. Hundreds of oddly shaped verdant little mountains dotted the sea like scattered emeralds. Mists drifted among the birds wheeling through the sky and the islands.

"Damn, that's gorgeous!" Chang Shide knew this had to be Ha Long Bay. The scenery matched the Vietnam travel documentaries he'd seen in another life. He'd once harbored many thoughts about Vietnamese girls, and now seeing this beauty, those thoughts resurfaced. "Build a seaside villa here, have a few hundred—no, a few dozen Vietnamese girls strip naked and lie on the beach..."

As he was lost in fantasy, he noticed Bei Kai was also on deck. Bei Kai had been learning Vietnamese from Zhang Dabala ever since boarding the ship. Was he planning to become a Vietnamese landlord here? Chang Shide was puzzled by his enthusiasm.

Zhang Dabala sat by the helm, bundled up thickly and bulging, looking nothing like a dashing pirate—more like an old impoverished peasant on a stage.

Seeing Chang Shide come up, Zhang Dabala explained that the coal-producing area was just ahead. Once they landed, they could buy coal from the local villagers.

"Buy coal? Nobody's opened mines up there?"

"Boss Chang, black coal isn't some rare commodity. You can buy it in Guangdong too. Who'd sail all the way here just to buy coal? Besides, except for blacksmiths, ordinary families have more firewood than they can use. Why bother with this dirty black stuff?"

So that was it. Chang Shide thought—no demand, no development. What a pity for the 20 billion tons of premium anthracite slumbering here.

Under Zhang Dabala's guidance, the ship anchored in a desolate inlet. The shallow-draft vessel's advantage was clear—no need to lower a small boat. A single gangplank reached the shore.

Chang Shide and the others changed into Ming-style clothing. Led by Zhang Dabala, they went ashore. The terrain here was hilly and uneven, with sparse vegetation. According to Zhang Dabala, because the soil layer was very thin over the coal fields, farming here yielded poor harvests. Aside from fisherfolk, few people settled here.

Wen Tong's instructions to Chang Shide had been "get the trade going first, then figure out how to mine coal once the channels are open." But they were strangers here—they couldn't even find a living soul. There was no one to do business with.

They trudged several kilometers inland. They barely saw anyone, and when they did spot someone, that person would dash away faster than a monkey.

Bei Kai kept consulting his map and compass, interpreting the surrounding landscape and terrain, pointing out their direction of travel.

What Bei Kai was looking for was a rocky hill called "Poetry Mountain." It was located on a peninsula jutting into the sea, shaped like a cat's ear. According to legend, Vietnam's so-called "True Ancestral Emperor" had once inscribed poetry on this mountain. Later, many Vietnamese "literati" and "heroes" had followed suit, covering the mountain with their verses—hence the name.

"What 'Poetry Mountain'? Just call it Cat Ear Mountain. Much more descriptive!" Chang Shide scoffed.

Cat Ear Mountain was soon located using the compass and map. It rose over 400 meters high, very conspicuous among the surrounding hills. In another timeline, the Hongji Coal Mining Corporation headquarters would be built around the base of this mountain along the coast. When the French first withdrew, Hongji City stretched two kilometers from east to west with 30,000 inhabitants—a substantial mining city.

Here and now, there was nothing. Only grass and trees swaying in the sea breeze. Hongji did have a natural harbor, which was why it had become the mining company's headquarters site in that other history.

"Too desolate," Chang Shide muttered. Mining coal here would be convenient enough, but starting from nothing—who would be the miners?

"Can we mine coal here now?" Chang Shide asked.

"Not yet," Bei Kai said. "There are three or four major open-pit mining areas. I don't know if this is the Cam Pha mining area—that's the only one right by the sea."

"There should be smaller surface deposits too, right?"

"There should be." Bei Kai wasn't entirely confident—he was a latecomer to the prospecting team. "Too bad Team Leader Cui went to survey Tiandu. He'd know for sure."

Bei Kai resorted to his standard approach—digging test pits. The soldiers began marking out lines across this hilly terrain and getting to work. Whether due to constant exposure to sea winds or genuinely poor soil, there were no large trees here—only low shrubs. This was completely different from the vibrant, verdant spring countryside they'd seen yesterday in Hai Duong's interior. The absence of tall vegetation made their prospecting work much easier.

According to the records, there were no mining pits at the Hongji Mining Corporation headquarters site, so Bei Kai chose a trial excavation point about two kilometers inland, already well into the hillside slopes.

Bei Kai selected a small hill as the reference point. Marking points every 15 meters, he divided the hilly terrain within a 1,500-meter radius for surveying. Then, working in teams of three, eight groups began digging at 100 marked locations. The main work was digging test pits.

The required pit depth was three meters. Hongji was famous for its large open-pit mines, with coal deposits that were both large and concentrated. But surface-level exposed mining areas comprised only three or four sites. Cat Ear Mountain wasn't in the open-pit zone—finding a small surface deposit here would come down to luck.

(End of Chapter)