Chapter 360 - The Foshan Journey (Part 13)

As Saoye withdrew, Li Luoyou turned his thoughts to calculation: he had a thousand jin of recently shipped Liaodong ginseng and several hundred jin of deer antler stored in Dengzhou—worth over ten thousand taels of silver. With Yangrunkai Hall's capabilities, purchasing the entire lot would pose no difficulty. Yet with such a large quantity of ginseng suddenly appearing on the Foshan market, he worried it might attract unwanted attention.

Then he remembered something. From his waist he drew out a set of keys and unlocked one of the cabinet doors. Inside he found a "ledger"—a "connections ledger" detailing all the public and private figures in Foshan Town who merited cultivation. It included family members, addresses, personal preferences, and even the death anniversaries of deceased elders. He turned to the entry for "Lin Ming." Madam Lin's birthday fell in just three days.

"Just in time." Li Luoyou nodded. The gift would need to be both valuable and pleasing to Madam Lin.

He opened a large cabinet secured with a hidden lock. Inside were boxes of every description containing valuable gifts for cultivating important connections. He selected: a goose-egg mirror from Zizhen Studio; a box of twelve glass-bottled distilled floral waters; a box of silver-mounted lipstick tubes; and finally, a box of genuine "Eastern Pearls" from Liaodong.

For Centurion Lin himself: a two-hundred-tael sight draft from Delong Bank, payable on demand. Li Luoyou understood this was essentially a bill of exchange—he had encountered them in Macao. That Delong had actually established such a system in this region was inseparable from the support of Zizhen Studio's Grand Shopkeeper Guo and Guangzhou's Gao family.

After dinner, Li Luoyou invited the two foreigners to his study.

"Come, let us have a small drink and chat." He produced wine from Europe. The three toasted and turned to business.

He had brought the two foreigners to Foshan for two purposes. First, to explore whether Foshan might serve as a foothold for missionary work. Li Luoyou was a Catholic, educated by Jesuits in Macao since childhood. As one of the Great Ming's few Catholics, spreading the Gospel was his duty—though the Jesuits also played a crucial role in his commercial ventures.

Secondly, he planned to establish a foundry manufacturing Western cannons. After the Ningjin victory, the court's interest in Western firearms had surged. Officials in Guangdong had received orders to commission Portuguese cannon purchases. Li Luoyou perceived tremendous opportunity—and harbored patriotic aspirations to modernize military weaponry.

"The proposal to establish a foundry—I certainly support it," said Ma Yangchun, who wore Ming clothing. "The Superior instructed me: firearms are what the Great Ming values most. Satisfying the Emperor will aid our Gospel-spreading considerably."

"Father is correct," Li Luoyou agreed. "That is precisely how Father Lu and Father Tang gained entry to the capital."

(End of Chapter)