Huang Xuan doesn't have much time, but it doesn't mean he doesn't even have time to discuss business. Lorraine placed about 10 tons of wheat and rice, as well as dozens of kilograms of spices, on a loading dock at the port, almost causing a fight between the Dutch and the Spanish.
In order to cool down the enthusiasm of both parties, and also to let other captains hear the news, Huang Xuan decided to start formal trading early the next morning. The price would be 0 riyals or 10 florins per 1,000 pounds, and he could In exchange for whales and other seafood.
The florin is a gold coin. 5,500 monetary units contain 110 ounces of gold. At the current gold price, each florin is worth approximately US$6. Equivalent to RMB 0.00 per kilogram of grain.
Calculated this way, it seems that Huang Xuan is at a loss. However, if the inflation rate in the past 400 years is also taken into account, the price will be much higher. If he were not in the desolate Arctic Circle, he would have made a lot of money with the food at hand. .
However, people are contented, and Huang Xuan is very grateful that he was not sent to an Indian jungle. He hopes that travelers in the big plane era will have less such perversions and less such plane data.
Huang Xuan carried a total of 1,500 tons of grain, which is approximately equivalent to 0,000 pounds and worth ,,000 florins. This is a huge asset, which is more than enough to form a fleet. In addition, he also brought several tons of spices and Refined white sugar, compared to the cane sugar currently used by Europeans, these refined sugars have gone up several levels in terms of taste and appearance.
In the area near the warehouse in Green Bay, Huang Xuan set up a stall. Behind him was a small warehouse with a capacity of several hundred cubic meters. In front of him, rice, wheat, spices and cane sugar were placed at once.
The Governor seemed very busy and did not come. Juan stood behind Huang Xuan with great interest. The Dutchmen of the East India Company seemed to be hiding at home. Only passing sailors took a look at Huang Xuan's stall. I asked about the price, but when I heard it was sold starting at 1,000 pounds, they all left.
A sailor risked his life and stayed in a dirty ocean-going ship for three months, and could only get 0 florins. And if he bought 1,000 pounds of wheat, he couldn't eat it himself. In this way, Huang Xuan sat there in the warehouse area. morning.
However, he is not discouraged. Yesterday afternoon, he already understood that as long as the price is right, the captains in Green Bay who are running for profit do not mind whether they bring whale oil or food back to Europe, but for those ocean-going ships that hunt whales, If you can sell whale oil and other parts of whales that are treated as garbage at European prices, and collect a large amount of food, it is equivalent to making two money, so why not do it.
Juan didn't think so. He advised Huang Xuan: "Mr. Philips, I can accept all your grain at the price of 18 florins per 1,000 pounds. That's all. You don't want to think about it anymore?"
"But you have to postpone the payment." Huang Xuan shrugged helplessly: "I need cash."
Deferred payment is a gadget invented by the Dutch. It was this mercantilist country that invented deferred payment, letters of credit and other financial foundations, and developed the modern banking industry, making the entire Europe willing to send wealth to Amsterdam for reuse. Conduct business activities with assets across Europe.
Now, the Spaniards have learned the same method, but Huang Xuan can only refuse apologetically. As a plane traveler, the most intolerable thing is delay.
Juan was a little unhappy. He spent two hours explaining why delayed payment did not affect his income. However, Huang Xuan, who had long been accustomed to Lorraine's endless verbosity, did not change his mind because of the Spaniard's words. He was stubborn. Cash was demanded, but Juan had very little money.
"It's impossible for you to sell like this." Seeing another dirty sailor leave the stall, Juan said angrily: "You don't understand business, you don't understand!"
"It's up to you." Huang Xuan wasn't ready to eat anymore. He sat cross-legged with squinted eyes, waiting for the next customer to come.
The sunshine in Svalbard is very comfortable, bright but not hot, and the light is soft. Especially when the temperature is 4 degrees Celsius or 4 degrees Celsius, standing under the sun makes your heart feel extremely warm.
Huang Xuan felt very calm. Compared with Juan, the latter was more like a businessman who couldn't sell anything. He sat like this until the afternoon, when the first real customer came to the door.
Dutch captain Gonar owned an old four-masted sailboat. His main job every year was to catch whales and cod, and occasionally did some transportation business, just like most Dutch businessmen. Later this morning, his second mate told him that there was a Spanish man selling wheat and buying whole or divided whales for 1/8 of the whale oil (Note 1). He and the first mate laughed a lot. Be happy, no one would do such a stupid thing. But in the afternoon, he decided to go and have a look.
Gornar's ship encountered some ice floes when it entered the port. Although the keel was fine, it still needed repairs. The sailors had gone to Longyearby to drink. He had to stay in the port and watch the workers repair it. Since that was ridiculous Before the Spaniard left, he wanted to admire this man, who was perhaps the stupidest guy in the entire northern hemisphere.
"Where did you bring the wheat from? Paris?" Gornar laughed brightly as he spoke, revealing half of his front teeth.
Gornar was wearing a tight-fitting captain's suit, which was certainly not fancy, but it was clean enough—cleanliness was a privilege on a ship without fresh water. This seemed to be a guy who could afford wheat. Huang Xuan grabbed a handful of wheat and sprinkled it in front of him, saying: "10 florins per 1,000 pounds, or 0 rials."
The captain rubbed the wheat grains indifferently, then threw another one into his mouth, chewed it and said, "It's just ripe wheat. You didn't really transport it from Europe, did you?" Gornar was talking to Juan. Yes, due to the white man's natural sense of superiority, he took it for granted that the Spanish guy was the seller, and Huang Xuan, maybe a slave
"I just need to sell it." The answer was "slave". Gornar became even more strange. He rubbed another grain of wheat and said, "Are these wheat yours? How many do you have?"
"Of course it's mine." Huang Xuan put down his hat, revealing his black hair, and said, "I can sell you ten thousand pounds now, if you want." Ten thousand pounds weighs almost 10 tons, that is The capacity of the small warehouse behind him was exceeded.
Gornar did not answer immediately, but opened the pile of grain in front of him, looked at it carefully, and then said: "I heard that you are willing to buy whales at the price of whale oil. Is this true?"
"If it's other parts of the whale, just use wheat or rice to exchange them. I don't have much cash on hand."
"If your wheat is like this, let's talk about the price."
"certainly."
Note 1: Rials are often divided into 1/, 1/4 or 1/8 for change, and this rule is derived into other units of weights and measures. Therefore, to this day, the minimum unit on the London Stock Exchange is 1/8, not 1/10. (To be continued)