Chapter 233 - The Slave Ship

His wife nodded. This was a relatively appropriate method. Yang Shixiang paced, thinking that after Xuan Chun officially became Liu San’s concubine, his relationship with the Elders would be a step deeper. It was a pity that his own children were still young and could not marry the Elders…

He suddenly remembered, didn’t his wife’s third cousin’s family have three daughters? In a way, they were his own nieces. They could also be considered his own family. Their family had no head, only a small boy, so wasn’t everything up to him to arrange? These three girls were of suitable age, from a gentry family, literate and reasonable, and their looks were not bad. They could be formally married to the Elders as wives. He heard that an Elder was going to marry the niece of a local landlord.

Yang Shixiang felt as if he had discovered a new continent. He tapped his fingers on the teacup excitedly. His wife found it strange and asked, “Master, what’s making you so happy?”

“Of course, it’s good news,” Yang Shixiang laughed and concealed the matter.

As a light two-masted sailing ship passed through Luhuitou Cape and entered Dadonghai Bay, the midday sun in Sanya was scorching the earth. The sky was azure, and the sunlight was dazzling. This was a two-masted sailing ship of about two hundred tons.

The wind was just right, and the ship was sailing fast. Its dilapidated appearance indicated that it had been drifting at sea for a long time and had traveled a long distance. The cracked wooden hull, scorched by the scorching sun of the South China Sea, indicated that it was a ship that had been sailing in the Southeast Asian seas for a long time. The foremast, barely held in place by ropes, the tattered sails, and the holes and scorch marks on the hull all indicated that it had had a perilous journey.

A triangular flag was already flying from the mast—this was the Lin’gao navigation permit flag. Only ships with such a flag were allowed to enter the ports controlled by the Lin’gao regime. A strange flag fluttered at the stern: a red and white striped background with the English St. George’s Cross in the upper left corner—this was a flag of the British East India Company.

When the ship reached the second navigation light at the entrance of Dadonghai Bay, still far from the An Youle pier, the sails were all furled, and a sound of ropes sliding quickly came from the anchor hawsehole. The ship dropped anchor, rocked for a few seconds, and then became still after the anchor rope finally tightened.

A steam-powered launch, belching black smoke, chugged over from the Luhuitou naval pier. Seven or eight sailors on board were on alert with loaded guns.

“These Australians have built such a large pier here,” a bearded European man on the quarterdeck said excitedly. He looked out, greedily eyeing the piers and towns along the bay. It was clear that this place had only been developed for a short time, somewhat like a British colony in the New World—but on a much larger scale. The fort on the hill alone made him gasp in admiration.

“God! This ship can actually move on its own!” the captain standing next to him exclaimed. He was tall and thin, with a gaunt face. He was a white man, but years of drifting on the East Indian seas had given his face the color of tobacco leaves. He wore a tattered long coat, the originally white cuffs of which had turned black and shiny from years of serving as a napkin and handkerchief. Several buttons were missing, and the remaining ones were of an indistinguishable color. A large red Chinese satin belt was tied around his waist in a mismatched fashion, from which hung a glittering Mughal-style scimitar with an ivory hilt and gold carvings. On his feet were a pair of tattered boots. As he sighed, he rubbed snuff under his nose—years of snuff use had given him two yellow mustaches under his lips.

“These Australians are very capable. What’s this?” the man who was looking out said with a broad smile. “What’s the date today?”

“December 28, 1630,” the captain said, sniffing his snuff with a frown. “You’ve asked me ten times.”

“Thank God! You have brought me and the ship here safely and on time!” The man who was piously thanking God was none other than John Quark, who had obtained the slave trade patent for Sanya from the Council of Elders, or more formally, John Quark.

As an English merchant under the system of the British East India Company, John Quark’s trip to Lin’gao had brought an unexpected gift: a slave trade patent certificate. Of course, John Quark would not give up this excellent opportunity to make a fortune. Before returning to Macau, he had discussed the specific implementation details with the Elders of the Colonial Trade Department. The Colonial Trade Department had given him the specific longitude and latitude of Sanya, issued an authorization certificate and a port entry and exit permit, and also granted him a certificate for limited exemption from import and export tariffs and a navigation permit flag for entering the various ports of Qiongzhou.

With this pile of treasures in his pocket, John Quark immediately managed to board a ship to Banten after returning to Macau.

The English factory in Banten was one of the most important strongholds of the British East India Company in the East Indies, second only to Surat in importance. This was also the most important foothold for the British to break into the Spice Islands. The Dutch had always been trying to conquer Banten completely. But with the support of the King of Banten, the British had always controlled the factory and trade there.

In Banten, his efforts to raise shares were not smooth. The news of a new maritime power appearing on the coast of China had faintly reached Banten. The British East India Company’s factory in Banten had received this news, but it was vague and ambiguous, and no one knew the specific details. John Quark’s arrival was the first time that definite news about the so-called “Australians” had been brought, including their magical iron ships, self-propelled vehicles, and terrifying cannons.

During his time in Banten, John Quark had many visitors every day who came to listen to his accounts of the “Australians.” However, not everyone fully trusted Quark’s accounts—especially the great iron ships and self-propelled vehicles. The documents and certificates that John Quark presented were also suspected by many to be forgeries. Even the commercial agent stationed at the factory by the East India Company was not interested in John Quark’s slave trade plan.

Fortunately, there was no shortage of the most ambitious adventurers among the long-distance trade merchants. Under John Quark’s promotion, he finally found 11 shareholders—including 2 Dutchmen—money has no homeland. He raised a large sum of money and began to implement his plan.

John Quark chartered an English merchant ship, the Jamaica, in the local area and sailed to Batavia. He quickly bought enough slaves—the conflict between the local Javanese and the Dutch was extremely sharp, with small-scale armed conflicts occurring from time to time, and a constant stream of Javanese prisoners being sent here for hard labor. The Dutch considered them useless—the Javanese were known among the indigenous people of the East Indies for being unruly. So much so that the Dutch did not allow Javanese to enter the city of Batavia in normal times, and when hiring local auxiliary personnel, they mainly used people from Makassar.

Quark’s request to trade slaves was immediately approved by the Dutch authorities, and he subsequently bought three hundred and fifty prisoners.

The Jamaica then began its voyage to Sanya. John Quark firmly remembered the deadline of arriving before December 30th. This deadline was a bit tight for him. He had spent too much time raising funds in Banten, and the sea voyage had consumed even more time.

After surviving a storm at sea and being attacked twice by Portuguese ships, the Jamaica finally arrived safely in Sanya. There were still two hundred and fifty slaves left in the hold—the loss rate was not very high. Such a voyage distance could not be compared to the slave trade voyages across the Atlantic.

The corporal who boarded for inspection knew that this was a slave ship with a patent trade license and immediately reported it to the Elders. The other Elders in the Sanya area, except for Xi Yazhou and Ji Runzhi, had all returned to Lin’gao to attend the annual meeting.

He Fanghui also wanted to go back to Lin’gao. He had been trying to get a transfer. The news of the occupation of Hong Kong had made He Fanghui interested in becoming the governor of Hong Kong, but after sending telegrams back to ask people to probe the matter, there was still no news of his transfer back. He Fanghui had originally wanted to use the opportunity of the annual meeting to lobby in person, but he lost in the lottery and had to stay behind. Xi Yazhou, who had voluntarily stayed behind in Sanya, patted He Fanghui’s shoulder with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes, “Isn’t it nice to spend the New Year in Sanya? Going back means debriefing and attending some bullshit hearings. It’s better to be free and easy here.”

At this moment, he was in the engineering construction command headquarters, supervising the project progress with Ji Runzhi. Sanya was not on holiday. The iron ore from Tiandu had to be produced at the fastest speed. This was a consistent policy.

“What? An English ship?” He Fanghui turned his head in surprise and asked the soldier who had come to report, “Where are the documents?”

He knew about John Quark’s slave trade patent. The Colonial Trade Department had sent them a memorandum. They were certainly eager to have a consumable like slaves, especially since they were about to enter the high-mortality work stage of mining. Consuming Southeast Asian slaves was much more cost-effective than consuming painstakingly trained laborers.

He checked the documents. Indeed, the name on the documents was the English merchant mentioned in the memorandum: John Quark.

“Excellent,” He Fanghui said. He greeted Ji Runzhi and hurried to the pier to make arrangements.

The deck of the Jamaica was a grim and terrifying sight. The surviving two hundred and fifty slaves were released from the hold in groups of two and three. They blinked their yellow eyes and crawled out of the hatch, driven by whips. The tattered clothes on the slaves had turned into a pile of rags during the voyage. The slaves were all weak and feeble—the only food John Quark had provided them during the voyage was sweet potatoes.