Another group of fishing boats drove back from the south. The workers who were originally sitting and joking on the pier immediately stood up and prepared to work. Zanpalini sat on a long chair, smoking a pipe, and smiling at these workers who were working hard for life. Why isn't he the same?

Several fishing boats formed a fleet together, and it took great effort to park one by one in the fishery special pier for Luoqia Port. At this time, the fishery merchants who worked on the pier all year round looked at each other and then surrounded them tacitly. Zhu Heng and Zhu Master Zhu's third son Zhu Chengdong was also mixed in.

This guy was originally arranged by Lao Zhu in Luoqiu Town. At that time, Mr. Zhu Heng and Zhu even signed him up for the commons, but who knew that this kid was unwilling to farm in the countryside. Since he was a child, he liked to run out with the private money he had saved for many years and some cash that his mother secretly stuffed into him. He went to Luoqiu Port to work as a small fishing businessman. It has been two years since he has not made much money, but he can also make some savings while supporting himself, which is good.

There are fishing boats coming to sell fishing catches at the dock at Luoqia Port. With the gradual expansion of the seafood consumption market in recent years, more and more people are driving boats to sea to fish. According to statistics from the Nanhai Fisheries Company, as of the end of last year, there were more than 60 private fishing boats across the country, with the tonnage of 40-60 tons. It is not big, but the advantage is that the price is cheap and is conducive to the purchase of fishermen with little capital.

Of course, even if you lack funds, you can apply for a loan from the Northwest Reclamation Bank. This kind of loan is generally approved quickly and the loan is timely. This is a kind of good governance. At this time, fishermen are generally poor people. They lack funds and rely on the "benefits" of fishermen or private lenders, such as the cost of purchasing ships, the cost of overhaul of ships, and the cost of fish processing and storage, etc. The cost is many times higher than that of fishermen on the East Coast. After all, they do not have the kind of large state-owned banks that lend to fishermen at extremely low interest rates. You should know that private lenders generally have a larger appetite and often have a very vicious means.

Since most of the fishing grounds on the east coast are off the coast of Yancheng Port and the south sea (in addition, there are small fishing grounds in the La Plata River area). Therefore, most of these 60 private fishing boats are basically sold nearby in Yancheng Port and the fishing catch is purchased by the Nanhai Fisheries Company. At the same time, the company also collects business taxes for each fishing boat, but there are still about twenty ships who come to Luoqia Port for sale, because the profit margin here is significantly higher than that in the south, and fishermen can also get better income. At the same time, they will also repair the ships.

As soon as the five fishing boats were docked, four or five fishing merchants squeezed over. They seemed to have very "rules" and had a tacit understanding. They did not compete or suppress prices from each other. One person chose one boat and started to negotiate the price. As for the processing ship with the largest tonnage among the five boats (usually more than 200 tons), the strongest one among the few people was booked.

Zhu Chengdong was talking to a wrinkled Latvian at this time. Zamparini estimated that it was probably a price dispute. He estimated that the captain would not have the upper hand, because although the income of most fishermen on the east coast was not low, they rarely gained the upper hand when bargaining with the more economically powerful fishing merchants, especially when they had formed a tacit understanding among these fishing merchants.

Sure enough, not long after, the captain stomped his feet angrily, muttering something quickly, perhaps complaining. However, he did not reject Zhu Chengdong, who seemed to be underprivileged, and still ordered the fishermen under his command to carry baskets of fish over and plan to sell them to the fishing merchant in front of him. They actually didn't have many choices, because even the roughly cured fish could not be preserved for a long time. Once the fish deteriorated, the degree of deterioration would be amazing. At that time, only the poorest non-nationals could buy it. The ship boss could not afford this risk.

After Zhu Chengdong agreed to this matter, he proudly called a few helpers and asked them to rent a rail flatbed truck from the Port Authority to transport the fish to a warehouse outside. He would notify some foreign distributors who often cooperate with him to come as soon as possible, and then transport the fish to other places to sell them at the fastest speed. Luoqia County has gained great improvements in infrastructure in the past decade. Not only did the railways and telegrams be opened, but first-class national highways (a national defense road that directly connects to the capital), second-class national highways, and third-class national highways combined 70 or 80 kilometers. Therefore, it is quite convenient to transport seafood such as time-oriented products.

Of course, although these fish are so cheap when trading in Luoqia Port, once transported to other places, as the distance extends, the price increases are very large. After all, the process of loading, transportation, and sales will incur costs, and the addition is not cheap, especially transportation. In 1640, due to the increase in transportation prices in Calais and other places, the price of fish arriving in Paris increased by 38%, which is amazing. However, this seems not so serious in Dongfang County, Luoqia County, Meilin County and other places with well-connected road networks.

In addition, fish marinating is also an important part of the price, because the price is not very cheap, whether it is lake salt produced in Yancheng Port or sea salt imported from Portuguese Cape Verde, the price is not very cheap. Therefore, residents in some places like to buy air-dried fish because this is the cheapest way they can know to preserve fish.

Of course, we cannot ignore the price increase caused by the hand-handed intermediaries like Zhu Chengdong. When seafood on the east coast arrives at the final consumer table from fishermen, they usually go through two moves, namely large wholesalers and rural distributors. These people also have certain requirements for profits, and their profits are also an important part of the sales price of fish terminals.

"Mr. Zamparini, how about it? I said you should join me and do it with me. If you have your investment, I might be able to pack the fish on the big boat, which is much better than the small fight now." After watching the idle people transport the fish to the warehouse near the cargo yard not far away (there are delivery there), Zhu Chengdong came over and looked at Zamparini and said, "This boat is loaded with 5 rasters, OK, change the official statement, 20 tons of fish cost me more than 1,400 yuan. I originally wanted to go back

Buy more, because a bunch of distributors from other places are looking for me to supply, but this is the biggest fund I can raise. How about it, Mr. Zamparini, you now recognize my ability, do you work with me? I know that you officers who have returned from Ming Dynasty are very rich in your pocket. Last time you visited my uncle (Zamparini's old comrade-in-arms) and sent such a large can of tea, which is very expensive in the local area. You might as well sell the tea and do business with me..."

"What do you young man know?" Zamparini was so upset by Zhu Chengdong. He slapped him on the back of his head with a "slap" and scolded, "You can't understand the relationship between our comrades! But I have carefully examined what you said about being a fishing businessman these days, and it's not impossible to do it. It just so happens that I have nothing else to do when I come back now, and the Army doesn't want us old arms and legs, so I'll pay one or two thousand yuan to you. So what if I'm going to pay one or two thousand yuan to you? Okay, don't grin, I'll take you to meet several old comrades from Luoqia Ocean Bureau in the afternoon. I'll do business here in the future. It won't work without their care. Let's go to have a meal now."

The two then went to a restaurant outside the dock one after another, ordered a bottle of Daqu, a few side dishes, and a grilled fish. The price was very cheap. Only in places near the sea and with a large number of fishing boats can residents consume fish cheaply, which is known as the "poor steak". Of course, real steak is not much more expensive than fish.

"In recent years, there have been more and more fishing boats, and the price of hake, a seafood with the largest consumption in China, has gradually become unsustainable. Now the price of each on the market is around 40 cents (distributors usually put fish of about the same weight in a barrel, and a fish usually weighs about 4 kilograms). Haha, it doesn't sound cheap, but you should know that it was the price many years ago, and now everyone's salary has generally doubled compared to that time." Zhu Chengdong, who is only seventeen or eighteen years old this year, took a sip of wine and opened his mouth to see the market conditions of the fish market: "But this is understandable. After all, the fishery output has increased significantly now, but the market has not increased so quickly."

In recent years, the number of seafood caught on the east coast is indeed as Zhu Chengdong said. Although it fluctuates a little, it is actually on a spiral upward trend overall. For example, in 1654, the Nanhai Fisheries Company caught a total of 5,760 tons of cod, 2,400 tons of smooth fish, and 180 tons of other miscellaneous fish. The production of private fishing boats is quite scary, because of its large number, and a total of 7,200 tons of seafood of various types were captured throughout the year. In addition, there were more than 4,000 tons of Pacific fish such as horse mackerel and salmon caught by the fishing team of the Nantik Corporation; some domestic fishermen who set fixed mesh gears in estuaries and shallow water areas can also catch 100-200 tons, and in addition to a wide range of inland aquatic products (mainly red shrimp and a small number of cage-raised fish), the fishery output of the East Coast of China in 1654 was 19,800 tons (excluding whales).

Although the fishery output is not as good as the Netherlands in the Old World (the country's exports to foreign herrings in a year are 50,000 to 100,000 to 100,000 to 400,000 tons, not to mention the larger catch of cod and other red and white catches), it is also second to none in the New World, well, it is better than the British and French in North America.
Chapter completed!