Chapter 572 - Li Luoyou Arrives
"It seems we need to make a trip to Lingao." Li Luoyou set down the letter in his hand, speaking as if to himself.
The person standing beside him said nothing. Ever since the trip to Foshan, Li Luoyou had seemed to develop an obsession with this place called "Lingao."
His subordinates didn't understand why their master had suddenly become interested in a small county that even most Guangdong natives knew little about. Only his closest confidants understood: Boss Li believed the source of the hottest-selling Australian goods flooding the Guangzhou market lay in Lingao.
As a merchant, his sensitivity to such matters far exceeded others'. Recently, an increasing variety of previously unseen goods had appeared on the Guangzhou market. All were wholesaled through Guangzhou's Zicheng Trading Company—the Australian goods firm.
Li Luoyou paid extreme attention to Australian goods. He assigned someone to visit Zicheng Trading and Zizhen Studio daily, immediately purchasing any new merchandise that appeared—from precious curiosities to worthless candies and pickles. Now in his head office's counting room stood a specially designated room filled entirely with Australian goods available on the market.
He had noticed something significant: unlike the previous Australian goods, which were all exquisitely expensive luxury items, the recently wholesaled merchandise from Zicheng Trading consisted entirely of practical, everyday consumer goods. The quality remained as fine and useful as ever, but prices were far more accessible—affordable for moderately prosperous families.
Sewing needles packaged in bamboo tubes, twelve per pack—not only excellent steel but completely smooth and burr-free from shaft to eye. "Flavor essence" in wax-sealed porcelain bottles—adding just a little to dishes made them extraordinarily delicious. Hard candies in brilliant colors, not only beautifully shaped but with various fruit flavors. Thick "towels" full of loops—soft against the face, wonderfully absorbent, far superior to plain washcloths. Socks of unknown material: thin, soft, breathable. Little wooden sticks that ignited with a strike anywhere, requiring no flint. And finally, paper white as snow—Li Luoyou had never seen paper so white. The finest tribute-grade Xuan paper still showed a faint yellow tinge upon close inspection; this paper was absolutely pure white, like winter snow. As for the paper's smoothness, Li Luoyou had never seen its equal.
Of course, speaking of white paper, the large sheets of whitewash paper used in the capital for interior decoration were also quite white. But that was ordinary paper coated with white clay—useless for writing, with a very rough surface. Nothing like Australian white paper.
What amazed him even more: buying a thick stack, if you randomly pulled out any sheet, the quality was exactly the same, virtually without defects. No matter how many you bought, they were identical.
He'd noticed this phenomenon with all Australian goods. Randomly pull a needle from each of two packs—their length, luster, and thickness matched exactly.
Not only could they make things well, but quality was always consistent. This was what made Australian goods formidable. And the final point was even more terrifying: the price.
The recently sold Australian goods from Zicheng Trading were still pricier than local alternatives, but against comparable local products, they showed enormous price advantages.
Australian paper, in its most common grade, cost about the same as the cheapest local ledger paper—yet the quality was dozens of times better. Under such price advantages, sales of local and imported paper plummeted. The market was flooded with all varieties of Australian paper. Subsequently, Zicheng Trading began selling various paper products—ledger books, student calligraphy copybooks, various cards...
Paper quality was excellent, printing was exquisite, and prices were even cheaper. With these three factors combined, over ninety percent of goods in Guangzhou's paper shops became Australian paper. Only some specialty painting and calligraphy paper and coarse paper for plastering work continued using original products.
Li Luoyou could never figure out how Australian paper could be sold so cheaply while still turning a profit. This paper surely wasn't shipped from some distant Australia, but even if—as he suspected—it was manufactured in Lingao, he still couldn't understand how the Australians managed it. Lingao had never had papermaking workshops; it couldn't be said to possess particularly abundant or cheap papermaking materials.
If the Australians were running a loss-making business, what was their purpose? Li Luoyou became increasingly, intensely interested in these Australians.
In the room storing Australian goods, a purple sandalwood curio shelf stood filled with miscellaneous Australian items—edible, usable, playable—a dazzling array. Li Luoyou would sometimes come here to admire and handle these novel little gadgets. His favorite was a crystalline transparent "Divine Mechanism Self-Igniting Fire"—inside, you could see water-like liquid. Lightly flicking the small wheel produced a flame. This fascinated him. Sometimes he thought: if this device were used to ignite artillery and muskets, wouldn't it be better than smoky, easily extinguished matchcord? Because he was preparing to bid on Guangdong's official artillery and firearms manufacturing contract, he paid close attention to anything that could improve performance.
Unfortunately, this item was too expensive, and Gaoju's shop had been out of stock for some time. As for Zicheng Trading, they'd never sold it at all. He'd had an assistant inquire—would bulk orders bring stock? Zicheng Trading's clerk had flatly refused, saying this item "won't be available again for three or four years."
"I absolutely must go see." He muttered to himself again.
"Master wants to go to Lingao?" Gu Baocheng, standing nearby, asked cautiously after hearing him say this a second time.
"Indeed. I'd intended to go later, but now it seems time waits for no one." Li Luoyou gazed thoughtfully at the pile of correspondence and ledgers on his desk. Among them was a letter from the capital head office.
The letter's content was simple: informing him that the Jurchens had retreated. The Zunhua branch was completely destroyed—personnel and cargo both lost. Instructions had been secretly sent to the Shenyang branch manager to determine whether any company employees or family members had been captured, and to arrange rescue if possible. Other branches throughout the capital region had suffered varying degrees of property loss—some looted by Jurchens, some extorted by various military units and local militia claiming "army provisioning." In sum, losses were severe.
And Governor Yuan, on whom he'd once placed high hopes, was now imprisoned. Capital opinion was hostile—things didn't look good for him. Upon receiving this letter, Li Luoyou sighed deeply. Whatever Governor Yuan's crimes, his fate was likely ill. Such a national disgrace and military defeat couldn't go without someone taking responsibility.
He'd thought that with Governor Yuan governing Liaodong, the Ningjin defense line would be impregnable. Even if unable to "recover Liaodong in five years," at least keeping the Jurchens out should have been possible. Who could have imagined they'd bypass through Mongolia, entering through Jizhen at Daan Pass—clearly catching the court completely off guard. The vaunted Guanning Iron Cavalry wasn't so impressive after all.
Thinking of the Jurchen cavalry sweeping through, how many families destroyed, how much public and private wealth plundered—Li Luoyou was filled with grief and indignation.
Not just grief and indignation, but disappointment as well. The Tartars had been merely a small tribe among the Jianzhou Jurchen; the now-deceased Nurhachi had been nothing but a retainer under Li Chengliang. Yet they'd beaten the Great Ming—with its hundred million subjects and dominion over all under heaven—into continuous retreat. After losing Liaodong, now even the frontier walls had been breached. Right under the capital, beneath the Son of Heaven's nose, they'd ranged hundreds of li, routing government troops completely—even Zunhua had fallen! What on earth was wrong with this Great Ming?
By Li Luoyou's former thinking, with the Great Ming's resources, even if field armies couldn't win, relying on artillery and firearms, strong walls and solid fortifications—just defending without attacking should have been enough to grind the Jurchens down through attrition.
Now it seemed the Jurchens were actually growing more vigorous. Given Li Luoyou's understanding of the Later Jin and the Great Ming, this Jurchen incursion was definitely no loss-making venture—they must have seized enormous amounts of people, grain, wealth, and livestock, enough for a prosperous new year. As for government troops, they'd likely been following far behind to "escort them out the door."
Grief, disappointment—Li Luoyou knew he was merely a merchant, unable to affect matters of state and military. But manufacturing firearms and modernizing armaments—these he could work at. Li Luoyou's earlier maneuvering through connections to lobby the Viceroy of Liangguang and the Guangdong Governor to award him the contract for copying Dutch cannon had shown initial success. Before long, the "official document" would arrive.
Though Quark had already dispatched someone back to Europe to purchase equipment and hire craftsmen, the shipping time was long. Even if all went smoothly, it would take over a year and a half. The Australians were also reputed to have formidable firearms. Since they could manufacture such fine and useful goods in Lingao, they must have skilled craftsmen and machinery there. Whether buying machinery, hiring workers, or establishing a joint venture with the Australians—Li Luoyou just wanted to get the foundry working sooner, producing more firearms for government troops.
"Please send for Mr. Quark," Li Luoyou instructed.
John Quark, or Quark Qiong, was living very comfortably in the Great Ming. He'd grown tired of staying at the Li family trading house in Macau and had come to mix at Li Luoyou's Guangzhou mansion. From time to time he'd accompany Li Luoyou on free tours around South China. Li Luoyou wanted to keep him close and looked after him meticulously—women and strong liquor, whatever he wanted. This English merchant was so happy he'd forgotten about home.
Quark's mood was good: the Indian cotton cloth he'd shipped in had been stuck in Macau and Guangzhou, unsold for years—until recently when it all suddenly sold out. Though profit margins weren't large, combined it was a tidy sum. And this Boss Li's plans to cast cannon and carriages represented a potentially major deal. He'd dispatched one of his clerks with a personal letter back to England to see if any ironworkers and technicians were willing to come to China. He'd also instructed his clerk to try to "procure the latest specialized foundry machinery."
The prospect of becoming arms supplier to the Chinese army made him somewhat giddy. The Portuguese were already mercenaries for the Emperor. Wouldn't it be even better for the English to be the Emperor's arms dealers—at least they wouldn't be trading their own lives for money.
He'd heard the Tartars had attacked near the capital this time, and government troops had suffered several defeats. He was even secretly pleased. The more pressure on the Emperor and his officials, the easier they'd be to persuade. Quark had learned from Li Luoyou that European firearms had performed well in all the battles, so the more defeats government troops suffered, the greater their desire to purchase new weapons to arm their forces.
Of course, he didn't express such thoughts aloud, only vigorously joining Li Luoyou in cursing "Tartars" and "barbarians."
"Going to Lingao?" Quark was somewhat surprised. Li Luoyou had talked about this for a long time but never acted on it. He himself, as a foreigner unfamiliar with the place—he didn't even know which direction from Guangzhou Lingao lay—naturally couldn't go either.
"That's right. I'm thinking of going in the next few days to have a look." Li Luoyou nodded.
"Excellent! I've long wanted to see this place!" Quark was quite excited. "I want to see how they make those things! And that ship too."
"I want to see as well." Li Luoyou smiled. "Actually, you should be even more interested in them."
"Why?" Quark was puzzled.
"Heh heh, do you know who bought your cotton cloth?"
"It was the Australians?" Now Quark was truly astonished. Indian cotton was cheap enough, but shipping it to China still couldn't compete with local cloth prices. When he'd shipped in those several thousand bolts, they'd sat for years with barely a tenth sold—only those with more distinctive patterns had moved.
He'd originally harbored grand ambitions to sell English woolens in the north, but seeing the situation, he knew woolen cloth was absolutely unsellable.
"Though I have no proof," Li Luoyou nodded, "I'm certain it was them."
"Lingao." Quark said. "Is commerce flourishing there? Or does it have a good harbor?" He suddenly had ideas: since the Australians could settle there long-term, perhaps English merchants could also get a share? After all, no European nation besides the Portuguese had successfully established a stable trade base on China's coast—the Dutch didn't really count as being in the South China Sea proper.
If he could establish trade relations with the Australians, or even establish an English trading post, it would greatly benefit English-China trade, earning himself great merit. If the other side wasn't strong, he could also lure the East India Company to send an expedition to drive them out. The Company would owe him likewise.
Looking at it this way, Lingao was absolutely a must-visit. Even if no business deal materialized, at least he could scout the situation.
"The place is sparsely populated with virtually no commerce." Li Luoyou had no idea this Englishman had already conceived so many schemes. He knew equally little about Lingao himself. In preparing for this trip, he'd had great difficulty finding anyone familiar with Lingao, learning only that it was a typical "remote backwater" within the province.
"As for harbors, there are a few, but they don't count as good ones."
"That's strange. What are the Australians doing in such a place?"
"Heaven is high and the Emperor far away," Li Luoyou said.
"You mean Lingao is a place beyond the Emperor's reach?"
"China is vast. The Emperor has many places he cannot attend to." Li Luoyou said. "But once the Emperor learns of something, he must intervene."
(End of Chapter)