Chapter 769
Sulfur
Chapter 769 Sulfur
Wang Cong was taken aback: "Stay at the Maritime Trade Office?"
Pan Yun patted him on the shoulder and said, "You can move into the rented or bought house later. Stay at the Maritime Trade Office for the next few days and take this opportunity to get to know more people, which will be beneficial for your future maritime trade."
Wang Cong's eyes darted around, and he understood.
The Maritime Trade Office was in charge of maritime trade, and now he was going to live with the officials of the Maritime Trade Office, specifically in the same courtyard as Cao Jixiang, the Director of Maritime Trade…
Wang Cong chuckled foolishly.
"Wait a minute, I'll have someone unload the rest of the cargo from the ship as well."
Wang Cong did not only bring back silver; he also brought back a lot of other goods to cover up his actions.
For example, he bought Japanese swords, lacquerware, and sulfur. He also bought a lot of rice and wheat.
Alas, there was nothing he could do. At the time, he was focused on refining silver and didn't pay attention to these things. By the time he realized he needed goods to cover up the silver, there was no time to buy many of them.
Actually, among these products, sulfur and Japanese swords offer the best value for money.
Sulfur is worthless, but for Wang Cong, who was originally a Taoist priest, it could become very valuable.
The foundation of Sanqing Mountain is Taoist medicine, and sulfur can be used as medicine. It can be used to make elixirs such as Ling Sha Dan, as well as sulfur ointment to treat scabies and stone sulfur to treat deficiency and cold syndrome.
However, the largest usage is still in the military and industrial sectors.
Sulfur is essential for gunpowder, and the important border towns had to purchase large quantities of sulfur every year to prepare gunpowder.
The rust-preventive paste needed for firearm maintenance was also made from sulfur and grease.
Perhaps due to the special nature of Taoist priests, when various industries lack sulfur, they can't help but inquire about the mining and purchasing of sulfur from them.
Therefore, in Wang Cong's memory, sulfur was always in short supply.
He was selecting goods with Shinta Masuda at the time, and immediately took a liking to the cheap sulfur.
This stuff is plentiful in Japan, easy to mine, inexpensive, and of high purity; it's truly an excellent material for alchemy and weapon crafting.
Therefore, Wang Cong bought quite a lot, and even modified the layout of the hold to prevent the transport of sulfur from affecting other goods.
While happily ordering the cargo to be unloaded, Wang Cong whispered in Pan Jun's ear, "If we can reach a sulfur trade agreement through the Maritime Trade Office and the nine key border towns, we'll earn just as much as we would from mining silver."
Pan Yun: "You have quite the ambition."
Wang Cong chuckled and said, "Didn't Junior Uncle intercept a few muskets? In addition, the delegation was bombarded by pirates with cannons this time. I think the court will definitely put a lot of effort into researching cannons and muskets. Gunpowder preparation requires sulfur. If it is not imported, the price of sulfur will rise."
Pan Yun then asked him, "Do you know which company is currently supplying sulfur to the important border towns?"
Wang Cong: "I know."
Pan Yun paused, then blinked: "You know?"
“I know,” Wang Cong grinned. “They are merchants from Ningbo. I went with Masuda Shinta to buy sulfur this time. The Japanese merchant who sold me the sulfur happens to have a business relationship with merchants from Ningbo. Do you know how much sulfur they buy from those Japanese merchants every year?”
Pan Yun: "How much?"
Wang Cong: "At least 80,000 jin."
Pan Yun raised an eyebrow.
“This is just one Japanese merchant. Besides him, there must be other Japanese doing sulfur business with them,” Wang Cong winked and lowered his voice, “Junior Uncle, guess whose name they’re using to enter and leave this sea area?”
Pan Yun's eyes flickered slightly as she asked, "You know?"
Wang Cong proudly declared, "The Sun family of Huichang."
Pan Yun's mouth opened slightly as she looked at Xue Shao.
Xue Shao was also surprised, and they both fell silent. Neither of them had expected the secret to come so easily.
Pan Jun remained silent for a while, then burst out laughing, shaking his head and chuckling, "They really do keep it from their superiors but not their subordinates. How could I forget? We can start investigating from Japan."
Wang Cong: "Huh?"
Xue Shao pondered: "But I wonder if the Sun family is one of the four families?"
Wang Cong: "What?"
Pan Yun's gaze was deep: "The Sun family is the Empress Dowager's maternal family, and they have always kept a low profile. If it is found that they are colluding with pirates, how do you think the Emperor will deal with it?"
Wang Cong's eyes widened: "What!"
Xue Shao thought of the emperor's private treasury and pondered, "The emperor is certainly aware of this."
Wang Cong: "!!!"
He put his hands on his hips and yelled, "Pay attention to me!"
Pan Yun and Xue Shao looked up at him together and said, "Forget about the sulfur business for now. Just focus on lacquerware and Japanese swords instead."
Wang Cong listened to the advice, lowered his arm, and said "Oh".
Sulfur was indeed very popular in the Ming Dynasty. No sooner had Wang Cong brought it into the city and put it into storage than a merchant came to his door and bought it at a very good price.
Thinking of the conversation between Pan Yun and Xue Shao during the day, Wang Cong took the merchant out for a drink. When he returned drunk that night, he had gained some understanding of the domestic sulfur market.
Sulfur was a strictly controlled strategic resource in the Ming Dynasty, and ordinary people could only buy it from pharmacies and Taoist temples.
Wang Cong had only ever bought this stuff for the temple before. Only his father and third uncle would use it for alchemy and weapon crafting, and the amount used was small. He had never known that the control over it was so strict.
What they didn't know was that domestic sulfur mining was limited, with the vast majority relying on imports.
Wang Cong returned to the Maritime Trade Office drunk and went to knock on Pan Yun's door.
Pan Yun opened the door, frowned at him, helped him inside, and then went to the kitchen to prepare a bowl of hangover soup for him.
Wang Cong gulped it down, savored it for a moment, and then said, "This is way too sweet..."
Pan Yun: "If you add too much honey and find it too sweet, drink more water and go to the toilet more often, and the alcohol will dissipate."
Wang Cong shook his head, probably feeling dizzy, and immediately reached out to support his head, turning it back to face Pan Yun: "Junior Uncle, do you know where the sulfur in the Great Ming Dynasty comes from?"
Pan Yun: "I didn't know before, but after I came back, I asked Cao Jixiang to look through the registers of the Quanzhou Maritime Trade Office and found out that it came from Japan and Ryukyu."
Wang Cong grinned, held up a finger and wobbled, saying, "No, only Japan."
He exhaled and said, "The trade was monopolized by the Maritime Trade Office. In the past, every time the Japanese came to Ming, the most common cargo they transported was sulfur."
Sulfur is cheap; they use it to exchange for raw silk, satin, porcelain, books, and Ming currency. Through this illicit exchange, they plunder vast amounts of wealth from our Ming Dynasty using such inexpensive goods.
Pan Jun remained calm and said, "This is the demeanor of a great power."
Wang Cong scoffed: "They suffered losses in the tally trade, and then they allowed caravans to smuggle large quantities of sulfur from Japan, bypassing the Maritime Trade Office. No wonder all the officials strongly suggested abolishing the Maritime Trade Office; the accounts are just too ugly."
The official trade was basically a losing business, and it was handled by the Maritime Trade Office.
Businesses that could have been conducted at normal prices were all bypassing the Maritime Trade Office and being smuggled directly. The national treasury received no customs duties and had to continuously subsidize the Maritime Trade Office's deficits...
Wang Cong felt a wave of unease for the Ministry of Revenue just thinking about it.
(End of this chapter)