Chapter 59: Sweet Harbor Storm - To Hon Gai

Despite the neglect, a deal was struck. The other party was very interested in the thousand dan of sugar, and though they couldn’t produce the ready cash, the terms of an exchange for rice were instantly agreed upon.

“Eight Spanish silver dollars per dan of sugar,” the steward offered.

Chang Shide was furious. Do they take us for fools? The lowest market price was seven taels of silver per dan. Eight Spanish silver dollars was equivalent to… he quickly calculated… “only five taels!”

He shook his head, declaring the price far too low. Zhang Dabala whispered with the steward, who smiled faintly and began to speak.

“Only our master here can provide you with the rice and silver you need,” Zhang Dabala translated. “Otherwise, you can sell it to the Ming merchants at the pier and come back for your money this time next year. Perhaps,” he hesitated, “you can wait at the pier for other, more generous customers. But the weather here is very hot…”

Chang Shide’s blood boiled. He wanted to shoot this treacherous merchant on the spot, but seeing his fearless demeanor, he suppressed his anger. He suddenly had a personal understanding of the textbook story “Harvesting Three or Five Dou More.” “Can you negotiate for one or two more dollars?” he asked Zhang Dabala. If they could raise it to ten silver dollars, that would be seven taels. Not the best price, but acceptable.

The treacherous merchant shook his head. “Not even one more dollar. However, the cost of transporting the rice to the pier will be borne by our estate.”

Chang Shide tried to persuade him, peddling the “win-win” theory, promising future profits from all sorts of novel goods. The steward, however, grew impatient and shouted a few words at Zhang Dabala, who then relayed the message with an unhappy look: “He said either we close the deal at this price, or he won’t entertain us any longer.”

In the end, Chang Shide relented. A thousand dan of sugar was sold for eight silver dollars per dan. Of the 8,000-dollar payment, Vu Ngoc Giap’s side paid 1,200 in Spanish silver dollars, and the rest was converted into coarse rice at a price of five qian per dan. Chang Shide did a quick calculation. He could get about nine thousand seven hundred dan of rice—over nine hundred tons. The official tax of Lingao county was less than eight thousand dan. The difference in agricultural productivity was staggering.

Though he had suffered a small loss, he consoled himself with the thought that if he had transported it to Guangzhou, the British purchase price was only three taels and eight qian. The profit from this transaction was still considerable. It reminded him of his days playing Uncharted Waters, trading art and carpets between Athens and Istanbul.

The Great Whale, despite its superior cargo capacity, could only carry three hundred tons at full load, and Bei Kai still had to find the Hon Gai coal mine. The grain was temporarily stored in a local granary, to be loaded on the next ship.

Bei Kai, knowing this place was not far from Hon Gai, had Zhang Dabala ask if the landlord knew of any exposed coal seams.

The steward listened, nodded slowly, and said, “I’ve heard of it, over in Cam Pha, but it’s all mountains.”

Bei Kai’s interest was piqued. “Where is Cam Pha?”

The steward rolled his eyes, probably thinking this dark, unimpressive little man was a “Vietnamese traitor.” With a look of disdain, he said a few words to Zhang Dabala, who then looked at Bei Kai with a wry, sympathetic smile.

It was Chang Shide who finally got an answer: “It’s not far. Go south along the coastline by boat, you can get there in a day.” A strange expression crossed the steward’s face. “What’s so special about this black stone? If you want to burn fire, you can use firewood or charcoal. The estate has plenty. I can give you one or two hundred dan right away.”

Chang Shide wanted to ask for more details, or at least a guide, but the steward, seeing they weren’t interested in buying firewood, stood up and left. The servants then came to “see the guests out.”

The business was done, the profit not bad, but the whole thing felt awkward. Chang Shide, Bei Kai, and even Zhang Dabala were all very unhappy.

“In the future, I will be the tyrannical governor of Tonkin, oppressing men and women!” Bei Kai said through gritted teeth.

“When the time comes, we’ll wipe out this traitor’s family first!” Chang Shide, who usually hated it when people were casually called traitors, was overcome with nationalist sentiment. “Those who are not of my race must have a different heart! Traitor!”

Zhang Dabala also cursed, “This fellow Vu Ngoc Thanh has such a big ego now! A slave under him is so rude! When our big gang came here back then, this old boy came to the pier to greet us, bowing and scraping. There was no shortage of wine, meat, and women. He even gave me a woman!” His words carried a sense of a fallen phoenix being inferior to a chicken.

“Your big gang has been to Vietnam before?” Chang Shide asked.

“Yes, we helped them fight a war. Against some King of Quang Nam named Nguyen Hoang. But the women they sent were really not bad…” In Zhang Dabala’s mind, these matters were obviously less memorable than the women.

Back on the ship, they rested for a day. After the men from the Vu family estate had unloaded the cargo, the ship continued south.

Zhang Dabala was familiar with the sea routes. Though he didn’t know where Cam Pha was, he had been to the coast of Vietnam many times. There were indeed many places along Ha Long Bay where coal could be dug out in the open, but no one had ever mined or sold it. Since the Australian merchants liked this black stone so much, he would lead them to find it. After the job was done, there would surely be a reward.

The next morning, Chang Shide woke to find the ship had stopped. He looked out of the sterncastle window and found himself in a dreamlike scene. Hundreds of strangely shaped, verdant small mountains dotted the sea, and mist drifted between the flying birds and the islands.

“Damn, it’s so beautiful!” He knew this must be Ha Long Bay. He was about to go up on deck when A’Xiu came in with a washbasin.

“Master, please wash up.”

“When did the ship stop?”

“A while ago, Master.” She handed him the toothbrush with toothpaste already squeezed on it, giving him a charming smile. These days, he had been favoring her much more than A’Zi and A’Bi. She felt her stock was rising. The other two female slaves had also become more respectful towards her. He had specifically brought her along on this trip, and she felt her chances of advancing further were even greater. She knew she could not be the mistress, but it was very possible to become a concubine. So she served him with even more meticulous care.

After washing up, Chang Shide went up on deck. The sun had not yet risen. He looked at his watch; it was not yet 6 a.m. The air was slightly salty and refreshingly intoxicating.

On the sea, near and far, were small limestone mountains of strange shapes, like the stone mountains in Guilin and Yangshuo. These peaks, jutting out from the turquoise sea, were covered with lush vegetation, with flocks of birds landing and taking off. The mountains were on the sea, and the reflection of the mountains was on the sea. The spring morning’s almost transparent blue sky was reflected on the sea. Each mountain seemed to be floating in a blue, transparent, and infinite illusion. The sunlight, projected on the rippling sea surface, was ever-changing and colorful. In the distance, some fishing boats with ocher-colored double sails drifted in the green mountains and blue sea, disappearing into the shadows of the mountains. It was confusing and dreamlike.

“This is a good place,” Chang Shide became more certain. The scene before him was very similar to the tourist videos of Ha Long Bay he had seen. He had had many thoughts about Vietnamese girls in the past, and now, seeing this beautiful scenery, his thoughts returned. “If I build a seaside villa here and have a few hundred, no, a few dozen Vietnamese girls lie naked on the beach…”

As his thoughts ran wild, he suddenly saw Bei Kai also on the deck. Bei Kai had been learning Vietnamese from Zhang Dabala since he boarded the ship. Was he preparing to be a Vietnamese landlord here? Chang Shide was puzzled by his enthusiasm for learning.

Zhang Dabala was sitting by the helm, thickly dressed and looking bloated, not at all like a heroic pirate, but more like a poor old peasant reminiscing about past bitterness and thinking of present sweetness.

Seeing Chang Shide come up, Zhang Dabala introduced that the place where the coal was was not far ahead. Once they landed, they could buy coal from the local villagers.

“Buy coal? No one goes up to mine?”

“Manager Chang, this black coal is not a rare thing. You can also buy it in Guangdong. Who would be so bored as to come here to buy coal? Besides, except for blacksmiths, ordinary people have more than enough firewood to burn. Why use this black and dirty thing?”

So that’s how it was. Chang Shide thought that without demand, there would naturally be no development. What a pity for the 20 billion tons of high-quality anthracite here.

Under the guidance of Zhang Dabala, the ship moored in a desolate harbor. The advantage of a shallow-draft ship was evident here. There was no need to lower a small boat; a single gangplank was enough to land.

Chang Shide and the others changed into Ming Dynasty clothes and went ashore. This was a hilly area with uneven ground and not very dense vegetation. According to Zhang Dabala, because the soil layer here was very thin, the harvest from farming on the coalfields was not good. Except for fishermen, few people settled here.

President Wen’s instruction to Chang Shide was to “engage in trade first, and then try to get the coal mine after the channel is opened.” But this place was unfamiliar, and they couldn’t even find a living soul.

They led their men a few kilometers inland but saw few people. Sometimes, as soon as they saw a figure, it would run away at a speed faster than a monkey.

Bei Kai, holding a map and a compass, constantly interpreted the surrounding scenery and terrain, pointing the way forward.

He was looking for a stone mountain called “Poem Mountain.” It was located on a peninsula jutting out into the sea, shaped like a cat’s ear. It was said that the so-called “True Ancestor Emperor” of Vietnam had once composed a poem on this mountain. Later, many Vietnamese “famous scholars” and “heroes” also followed suit, hence the name.

“What Poem Mountain? Just call it Cat Ear Mountain. It’s so descriptive!” Chang Shide said dismissively.

Cat Ear Mountain was quickly found with the help of the compass and the map. It was over 400 meters high and was very conspicuous among a pile of small hills. The headquarters of the Hon Gai Coal Company in another time and space was built around the foot of this mountain. The entire city of Hon Gai, when the French had just withdrawn, was two kilometers long from east to west and had a population of thirty thousand. It was a mining city of considerable scale.

At this time, there was nothing here. Only the grass and trees danced in the sea breeze. Hon Gai had a natural harbor, which was why it could become the location of the coal company’s headquarters.

“It’s too desolate,” Chang Shide muttered. It would be convenient to dig coal here, but it was so poor and barren. Who would be the miners?

“Can we dig coal here?” he asked.

“Not yet,” Bei Kai said. “There are three or four large open-pit mining areas. I don’t know if this is the Cam Pha mining area. This is the only open-pit mine by the sea.”

“There should be small open-pit mines, right?”

“There should be,” Bei Kai was not very confident. He was a self-taught exploration team member. “It’s a pity that Captain Cui went to Tian Du for inspection, otherwise he would definitely be accurate if he came.”

Bei Kai naturally used the old method—digging test pits. The soldiers began to draw lines and work in this hilly area. It was unknown whether it was because of the constant sea breeze or the barren soil here, but there were no large trees, only some low shrubs. It was completely different from the vibrant inland of Hai Duong. This provided great convenience for their prospecting work.

According to the data, there were no mine shafts at the headquarters of the Hon Gai Coal Company, so Bei Kai chose a test digging site about 2 kilometers inland, already on the slope of the hills.

He chose a small hill as a standard point. According to a 15-meter grid, he divided the hilly area within a 1500-meter radius around the small hill. Then, in groups of three, the eight groups began to work on the 100 grid points. The main content of the work was to dig test pits.

The requirement for the test pits was to be 3 meters deep. Hon Gai was known for its large open-pit mines, and the coal mines were large and concentrated, but there were only three or four open-pit mining areas exposed on the surface. Cat Ear Mountain was not an open-pit zone. Whether they could find a small open-pit mine was a matter of luck.