As Mo Ming expected, the Navy Private Fleet of the East Coast Republic of China quietly sailed out of Bordeaux on July 7th.

Outside the mouth of the Gironde River, the sky is high and the clouds are light.

The white seagulls flew in the wind in the blue sky, and occasionally they cried; the endless waves struck the reefs on the coast, making waves of roars.

Bordeaux in midsummer did not feel much hot under the sea breeze. From the wide estuary of the Gironde River, dense ship masts lined up along the coast, which looked spectacular. Among them were fishing boats from La Rochelle, wood trade boats from Lisbon, spice trade boats from the Netherlands and fur trade boats from the New World.

On the shore are lined with houses, shops and warehouses. Here, Bordeaux reveals its prosperous side. From time to time, small boats shuttle back and forth in the river port, selling some fruits and vegetables and other food to the big ships that are mooring here. Of course, some of the small boats are full of prostitutes and warblers, with white powder on their faces, standing on the bow of the boat and laughing at the sailors. The sailors who have experienced dangerous and boring sailings are always willing to spend all their last copper coins at this time, in exchange for a night of joy with these prostitutes.

It seemed like this was Bordeaux a prosperous and stable afternoon as ever. However, all of this was broken in an instant.

There were many people in the forts built on both sides of the Gironde estuary. The officers shouted nervously. They had never heard of the war for many years and were extremely nervous at this moment. The long-sanctified cannon suits were taken off, and the gunners were sweating profusely carrying gunpowder and shells. An anxious and solemn atmosphere filled the entire fort, and everyone's eyes were looking ahead.

Not far ahead, five warships with unknown flags were floating with the waves. Four of them were ordinary guard gunboats with moderate tonnage. Although the number of artillery seemed to be a little more, they were acceptable after all. However, one of the large warships that looked like a flagship was a bit scary. The tonnage of this warship was about 1,000 tons. From the shore, the dense cannon windows on one side of the ship made people's scalp numb.

This is a large main battleship that can be compared to what the British and the Dutch call the battle line gunboat!

The ports are all old sailings. When you look at it, you roughly estimate that this large warship obviously has more than 60 artillery pieces. God, more than 60 artillery pieces are warships, which can be regarded as a well-known main warship in the French and English navies!

A French sloop cruiser, hanging onto the iris, rushed towards the fleet anchored on the sea, and their target was obviously the leading large warship.

It seemed that they were lucky that the fleet was not hostile to them. The Frenchman's small cruise ship approached smoothly, and after some exchanges, the misunderstanding seemed to be resolved. Then, five ships led by this large warship slowly advanced towards the Gironde River under the guidance of the French sloop cruise ship, and they were allowed to moor and replenish supplies in the commercial port in Bordeaux.

...

After receiving the news, Xu Xin, Mo Ming and others rushed to the pier outside Bordeaux.

The tall hull, huge sail surface and numerous large caliber guns of the battleship "August 10" left a deep impression on merchants, sailors and French customs officials on the dock. The sailors wearing white round-necked cotton shirts were busy on the deck: some were lowering the sails, some were cleaning the deck, and some were carrying cargo...

Looking at the huge double-headed eagle bow on the bow and the double-sword eagle flag flying in the sea breeze on the mast, Xu Xin actually felt a strange sense of pride: Look! This is our battleship! This is our strength and the embodiment of our will!

After wandering outside for so long, these guys finally arrived. The five ships lost no losses and should have gained a lot. Those British people probably suffered a defeat.

Navy Major Lu Ming was wearing a light blue short-sleeved naval summer uniform and walked down the rope ladder to the dock surrounded by a group of officers. Xu Xin quickly stepped forward, shook hands with Lu Ming, and said with a smile: "I'm back smoothly. It seems that you've got rich this time. Hey, there seems to be some broken places on the ship. Those British guys are so fierce? They can still beat you up, can't that?"

"Why can't it?" Lu Ming said with some depression, "Those British people are deadly tough guys, and they all surrendered until the last moment. Grandma, the ship was sunk before surrendering, which made us unable to capture any enemy ships, and we had only had time to transport some of the property. This time, we suffered a total of forty or fifty casualties. It was really unlucky. I threw all the British officers into the sea in anger."

"Uh..." Xu Xin was speechless for a moment, and then asked, "What are the gains this time?"

"What else can I do? Nearly half of them are tobacco, stuffed with two boats. The rest are some cotton, indigo and fur, which is quite a bit too much." Lu Ming said, "To be honest, the British colonies are really poor, much poorer than the Spanish territory. They are simply not of the same level. I don't know if these tobaccos can be sold at a high price, so I just pointed to the exchange of some money to go back to help."

After entering the 17th century, the tobacco trade between the colonies and the natives became increasingly prosperous.

According to records, the import volume of Chesapeake alone increased from 60,000 pounds per year in the early 17th century to 460,000 pounds last year. The adjacent Virginia colony is also a large tobacco farmer. The two years ago and last year, the big businessman Morris Thomson imported a total of more than 400,000 pounds of tobacco from Virginia, with an average price of about 12 pence per pound. According to estimates by the General Administration of Intelligence, the annual tobacco production of British North American colonies at this time had reached nearly 10 million pounds. Except for part of the tobacco produced by the British, most of the remaining tobacco is used by the British locals, the British shared hundreds of thousands of pounds of income every year.

"Tobacco..." Xu Xin was a little embarrassed, "I have never studied this kind of product, but I feel that there is still a market in France."

"The price of tobacco in Bordeaux is not low at present." Mo Ming, who had been standing aside and was speechless, spoke. The tall and thin man pulled out a pack of tobacco leaves from his deputy Sun Heiqi, and said, "Here, authentic Virginia tobacco leaves, Inspector Sun, how much did he buy it?"

"3 Su Yibao." Sun Heiqi said flatteringly, "It's just a little less, these profiteers."

Mo Ming held it in his hand and said, "The weight is about 1 French pound, which is 1.1 pounds. Virginia's tobacco is quite famous in France, and France is currently lacking this luxury commodity. The market prospects are still good. A while ago, wasn't the Pasquire family just going to change tobacco in the plantation in Cape France? It's because the demand for this thing is steadily rising in France. I guess if you look for relationships, the tobacco you have on hand can be sold at about 1 pound 1 Sue. How much of this tobacco you have got? If you have less, there is no need to find someone."

"It's about 400,000 pounds..." Lu Ming lowered his head and said softly, "Website Manager Mo, tell me a briefing, can I sell it? I'll be satisfied as long as I get back 20,000 francs. The rest belongs to your General Information Administration, I don't care. What's going on, do it or not?"

"Do it!" Mo Ming agreed without blinking. In this short period of time, he met some strong merchants who had business dealings with nobles such as the Pasquire family and Baron Loris. Coincidentally, two of them were in tobacco business. What's more coincidental was that these two tobacco merchants also represented the sales of Dong'an cloth and came to him. These people would definitely sell their face, and the landing of this batch of tobacco was also available.

"Good!" Lu Ming praised, "I still have some furs here, about four or five thousand. The old rule is that I only need to take away five thousand francs, and the rest belongs to you. How about it, find a way to help me deal with it?"

"No problem." Mo Ming said without changing his face, "The fur sales cycle may be longer. I can't find such a big buyer in a short time. So, give me the goods first, and in a week, I will give you five thousand francs on time."

"It's okay for a week!" Lu Ming thought about it and agreed, then looked at Xu Xin who was a little embarrassed by the side with a smile, and teased: "Oh, Lao Xu, don't do it, you, the Minister of Trade. You see, the people in the Intelligence Bureau are much better than you, and they have clear business and sales. Unlike you, you are all focused on the cotton business and turn a blind eye to the matter outside the window. This is not OK."

Xu Xin smiled bitterly, and said to Lu Ming, "You may have to stay here for a while. Wait until I gather more bankrupt workers and their families, and then return home with you. Don't worry, our Ministry of Trade will bear the expenses during the stay. I will write a report to the Executive Committee to make it clear."

Lu Ming patted his shoulder with a laugh, then walked forward with big strides, and a cheerful voice came with the wind: "I have gotten a lot of money this time. Although the British colonies are poor, the British merchants are still quite rich. There is no need for your Trade Department to pay for this little money. I am not short of money! But you hurry up and prepare hot water for me. Grandma's, I haven't taken a shower for several months, and my body is full of lice, so itchy."
Chapter completed!