The first race to engage in ocean trade was neither the Portuguese who started the Age of Navigation nor the Dutch who were the 'sea coachmen'. It was the Arabs who stayed in the Arabian Peninsula and had favorable geographical conditions.
Only a small part of the desolate and arid Arabian Peninsula could be used for farming, and it could not support a large population. However, the Arabian Peninsula was a bridge between the east and the west. The Arabs used the huge wealth brought by land and sea trade to establish many huge empires, and then dominated Europe and Asia, developing a rather brilliant civilization … Then, there was no then.
My Lord was also rich — this was probably the only memory that the Arabs could remember.
The Arabs had long been in decline, and they would continue to decline. The rich people in the future were not because they were capable, nor because they were lucky, but because the world had become civilized. The five big hooligans restrained each other and agreed not to fight in person, so as not to cause a big mess.
During the Song Dynasty, Arab merchants could still sail to Quanzhou for trade. Now the ports along the way were completely controlled by the Europeans, and they had long lost the ability to carry out long-distance voyages. They could only do some business near the Arabian Peninsula. When the Arab merchants in Goa saw Zhou Qingfeng conjure a wooden box out of thin air and put it on the table, they were all shocked and extremely surprised.
This was almost like a miracle!
When the leader of the group, Mohammed, saw the box, he immediately looked at Zhou Qingfeng. He shouted 'Allahu Akbar' a few times, and his eyes showed fanaticism and greed. Zhou Qingfeng knew that he had committed the taboo of 'not showing off one's wealth', but if he wanted to do a big business, he had to show some strength. He immediately exerted his spiritual power and snorted coldly.
With just this' snort ', the people sitting on the ground felt their heads buzzing and dizzy. The leaves of the palm trees trembled slightly, and the dust on the ground floated up. The child Santos, who was kneeling at the back, immediately fainted. Even the female slave with the nipple ring on the opposite side who had not yet left also blacked out. Together with the four slaves who carried her, they all staggered and fell.
Zhou Qingfeng did not use much spiritual power in this' snort ', but it was full of skill. His innate talent for cultivation was not very good, but he had a good sister like Wen Ruolan who liked to study spiritual power. After Fire Phoenix and Ice Phoenix joined the team, his body was equipped with three different elemental energies – light, fire, and ice. Therefore, Wen Ruolan designed an extremely practical spell for him according to the characteristics of his spiritual power.
Master Muhammad had been trying to figure out Zhou Qingfeng's background. After confirming that the young man was a fat sheep, he did not mind putting on a show to make the fat sheep lower his guard. In any case, it didn't cost much to set up some food and drinks, but the profits could be huge. However, just as he revealed a trace of his true colors, he received a warning from this' Eastern guest '.
The two kinds of spiritual power, cold and hot, vibrated back and forth in the air. Everyone felt the pain of the Frozen Sea and the Inferno Prison dozens of times in one second. Master Muhammad was the closest to Zhou Qingfeng, so he felt it the most. The fine hairs on his body stood on end, followed by a fine layer of sweat. After calming himself down, he looked at Zhou Qingfeng's cold smile again. Only then did he realize that this young man was definitely not some fat sheep, but a ferocious beast.
"Hahaha …" After a few seconds of silence, Zhou Qingfeng and Muhammad laughed again, and the other Arab merchants under the palm forest also laughed. Master Muhammad did not care what was in the box that Zhou Qingfeng took out. He shouted a few more words. Several merchants at the banquet immediately stood up. After bowing respectfully to Zhou Qingfeng, they slowly retreated to prepare the best female slaves.
The musician holding the Wude Zither stepped forward again. The naked female slave who fell down in the cold snort quickly got up, stretching her arms and twisting her soft waist in the music. Her plump breasts swayed back and forth in the dance, and a pair of charming eyes were frequently flirting behind the veil. The merchants at the banquet began to rejoice again. They beat the beat and shouted, and the scene was a little more enthusiastic than before.
Everything seemed to have returned to normal …
Guo Jiao lay behind Zhou Qingfeng and did not dare to look. It was not until the man snorted that she raised her head slightly. She was stunned when she saw the naked female slave who was twisting and stepping and dancing. The female slave was indeed beautiful. Her figure was excellent, and her dance was excellent. No wonder she was sent up by Master Muhammad as the best. Even as a woman, Guo Jiao felt that she was extremely beautiful and charming.
"Buy this female slave." Guo Jiao whispered into Zhou Qingfeng's ear.
"Huh …?" Zhou Qingfeng thought he did not hear her clearly.
"Her dance is really good. She is very attentive and beautiful. A girl with such talent can be bought. I believe that Sister Xu Bing will not be angry. "Guo Jiao said," It's good to dance for us to relieve our boredom. "
"Okay." Zhou Qingfeng nodded immediately, fearing that Guo Jiao would go back on her word. He patted Santos, who had fainted, awake and asked him to say to Muhammad, "I didn't expect this female slave to dance so well. I want it. If there are similar ones, feel free to send them up. I can buy them all. "
This was all to strengthen the exchange of arts between China and foreign countries, right?
Master Muhammad nodded repeatedly, indicating that he would not disappoint the eastern guests.
The number of female slaves dancing under the palm trees soon increased, and even the number of musicians increased. Guo Jiao hid behind Zhou Qingfeng and picked out the ones she liked. She even wanted to pick a few musicians to form a dance group, but those guys with big beards were too ugly in her eyes, so she gave up.
Master Muhammad nodded and agreed to sell the dancing female slaves chosen by Guo Jiao to Zhou Qingfeng. After a while, a few Arab merchants who had just left returned. Accompanying them was a string of naked female slaves.
According to Santos's explanation, Arab slave merchants would usually train the slaves they purchased before reselling them. This way, the selling price could be tens, hundreds, or even thousands of times higher than the purchase price.
For example, female slaves wearing breast rings were often purchased at the age of five or six and had to be trained for more than ten years before being sold. Dancing was only a part of their talents. All aspects of life required training, which was extremely expensive. Those who could buy such female slaves were either rich or noble, and usually had to make a reservation to get them. The buyers were often the kings of India.
These days, the kings of India were similar to the big dogs in the Gulf region. Their country was not very good, and the quality of the people was not good, but they were rich.
The female slaves that were pulled out in front of him were of different ages. Master Muhammad gave a simple explanation, and Zhou Qingfeng found that these female slaves really came from many different races.
The closer ones were the local female slaves of India. They were often high-caste Aryans who were captured and sold because of the war between the kings. The further ones were the Persian female slaves. They were white, had excellent figures, and were more enchanting. What surprised Zhou Qingfeng was the female slaves from the Afghan generation of Central Asia. They often had black hair and yellow skin, but they had Western faces.
Zhou Qingfeng asked if there were any European white slaves. Master Muhammad shook his head and said that the distance was too far, and white slaves were rarely trafficked to Goa. Usually, one had to go to a few African countries to buy European white slaves.
"Very good, I am very satisfied." Zhou Qingfeng nodded slightly. He casually picked a few that he liked and ordered more than ten of them in one go. Considering that the number of people that the biplane could carry was limited, he did not continue to buy and only said that he wanted this many for now. "Please make a record of the names, origins, and races of these female slaves. In addition, do you sell high-quality stallions? "
"Horses? Hahaha …, the best horses in the world are sold by us. "Master Muhammad seemed to appreciate Zhou Qingfeng's judgment. According to Santos' description, the price of a high-quality horse was even more expensive than a beautiful female slave. The price was extremely high.
There were domesticated Arabian horses in the clubhouse, and the merchants brought a few of them over. Zhou Qingfeng went forward to take a closer look. These horses had shiny fur, well-developed muscles, thin but strong limbs, and gentle temperament. He immediately ordered a few stallions that were three or four years old, as well as young horses that were half a year old, both male and female.
These horses and female slaves were not cheap at all. After conversion, they would cost tens of thousands of silver coins.
Finally, it was time to see Zhou Qingfeng's ability to pay. The Arabian merchants sat down again and looked at the big wooden box that was placed out. Zhou Qingfeng opened the lock of the wooden box with both hands, turned his head and asked Muhammad, "I've brought some silk and porcelain. These are the samples in this box. Please take a look. "
The box was opened, and the first thing that was taken out was a bolt of white silk. Muhammad reached out to touch the delicate and smooth surface of the silk and handed it to the other merchants around him without saying a word.
There were other different colors and patterns of silk. Muhammad only took a brief look at each bolt before passing it to the other merchants. After five or six bolts of silk, the next thing that was taken out was porcelain. Every piece of porcelain was extremely exquisite, and all of them were authentic works of art.
But Muhammad still did not speak. He only took a few glances and passed them to the other merchants. The other Arabian merchants were examining them carefully and whispering. Although these things were precious, they were still within the psychological range of the people. Especially now that they had entered the bargaining stage, no one wanted to appear too eager. They had to exaggerate when selling, and they had to be steady when buying.
But when the silk and porcelain were taken out, Zhou Qingfeng first took out a shockproof flannel from the bottom of the box. He did not think of this flannel as a commodity, and just put it there casually. But Muhammad grabbed the flannel and rubbed it a few times. His expression was a little different, and he could not help but say something.
Santos translated, "Muhammad said that he has never seen this flannel before. It doesn't look like the 'Shatush' produced in Kashmir. The quality is a little worse, but it's still very good. "
'Shatush' was a textile woven by hand using the fine wool of Tibetan antelope as the raw material. It was very light and delicate, and it had excellent warmth retention. Naturally, what Zhou Qingfeng used to pad things was not 'Shatush', but cashmere. The raw materials came from Mongolia and were transported by the Ming Dynasty's border army. In order to exchange for food, the border army had collectively turned into a caravan.
In order to survive the winter, or in other words, in order to have the ability to move in the wild during the winter, the Revolutionary Army not only needed a lot of cotton, but they also needed flannel. However, the current supply of wool was very small, and it could only be distributed among senior civil servants and commanders. Since they did not even have enough for themselves, it was impossible to sell it to the outside world. Zhou Qingfeng only said one sentence about this, "This thing is not a sample."
Master Zhou neglected one point. Before the industrial revolution, the price of textiles was very expensive. Without the spinning jenny, without the hydraulic loom, the efficiency of textiles produced by manpower was very low. The reason why the later generations of the British carried out the 'enclosure movement' and desperately raised sheep was because the textile business was too profitable.
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
