"Zhao Xuening?"
Tokugawa Ieharu obviously knew the name and the Lanfang Republic. His eyes narrowed and he reached out to take the letter. After reading it, he frowned slightly.
"What about the head of the red-haired thief?"
"Someone! Submit it!"
Tanuma Yiji shouted outside, and then someone walked in quickly holding a plate with Jose's head.
Tokugawa Ieharu looked at Jose's lime-treated head and suddenly laughed.
"This thief was very arrogant and rude to our people. Now that he dies in the hands of others, it is a good thing."
"indeed so."
Tanuma Yiji said: "Not only that, Zhao Xuening also destroyed all the churches in Manila, and all the red-haired missionaries were arrested and sentenced by him."
"Oh? This is even better."
Tokugawa Ieharu looked at Zhao Xuening's autographed letter again, rolled his eyes, and asked slowly: "Ichiji, do you think I should agree to Zhao Xuening?"
"I humbly think that I should agree."
Tanuma Yiji said: "In fact, we have been dealing with Zhao Xuening since two years ago, and there have been no problems. Zhao Xuening has handled this matter very properly, and everything has been as before. There is no difference.
Moreover, Zhao Xuening is not involved in any missionary matters, it is just pure trade. If this is the case, if this channel is lost, the shogunate's finances will inevitably be affected. Now is the time when the country needs money. This channel, I think, can never be cut off. of. "
Tokugawa Ieharu was silent for a moment and nodded slowly.
"I know there is nothing wrong with saying that, but... Yiji, what do you think the Qing Congress thinks of Zhao Xuening and Lan Fang? Do they have any contact with the Qing government?"
Tanuma Yiji knew that Tokugawa Ieharu was a little worried about the Qing Empire's view of Zhao Xuening and Lan Fang. After all, Zhao Xuening was from the Qing Dynasty, so they had been paying attention to this issue since the rise of Zhao Xuening's power.
However, the investigation yielded no results, and there seemed to be no relevant news coming from the Qing Empire.
Therefore, Tanuma Yiji had always dealt with this matter with a blind eye. If the Qing Empire blamed him, he would have something to say.
But now Zhao Xuening has thrown away the skin of Netherlands, which has added some uncertainty and danger to the trade between the two parties.
Japan has gradually grown in ambition since the fall of the Ming Empire. After Tokugawa Ieyasu established the shogunate, he even tried to raise Japan's status within the traditional order of East Asia to a level almost equal to that of China, and even fantasized about a "Japanese-style Huayi order." , expands very quickly.
However, as the Qing Empire grew stronger and the Tokugawa Shogunate adopted a closed-door policy, this idea eventually came to nothing.
After Hongli came to the throne, he carried out many large-scale conquests that not only shocked Russia and Europe, but also shocked Japan, making them realize the powerful military power of the old empire and knowing that it was difficult for them to compete.
The shogunate now does not want to cause any international disputes with the Qing Empire, so it is very cautious about matters involving Lanfang.
At this time, Tanuma Yiji gave him a suitable suggestion.
"It seems that Zhao Xuening has the same concerns as you, so he gave a solution to the problem."
"You mean, he continues to trade with us under the name of a company?"
Tokugawa Ieharu read the handwritten letter again and said slowly: "Do you think this is feasible?"
"Zhao Xuening is obviously also worried about the Qing Dynasty, so he gave two solutions. Obviously, the first one is just a test, and the second one is his real proposal."
Tanuma Yiji smiled and said: "The East India Company, the Qing Dynasty will not know who is in charge of this company. We only need to say that we have been trading with one company. As for this company being controlled behind the scenes, we don't know. In this way, Even if the Qing Dynasty is blamed, what will happen?"
"That's true, but is there really no risk?"
Tokugawa Ieji hesitated slightly and whispered: "If the Qing Dynasty is to blame..."
"General, this part of the shogunate's finances is really indispensable."
Tanuma Yiji hurriedly said: "Whether it is opening up Ezo or increasing the number of acres of land, it requires a lot of money investment. No one in the world will have a problem with money. Although these words are vulgar and not suitable for your ears, the truth is It won’t change.”
Tokugawa Ieharu looked at Tanuma Yiji who was kneeling on the ground, thought for a moment, and made a decision.
"Just follow Zhao Xuening's second plan. Allow them to continue to trade with me in the name of the company. The location is still limited to Nagasaki Dejima, and all personnel must be barbarians, not Han. All ships must also fly barbarians. People and flags, everything should follow the old rules and no changes should be made.”
"I obey your orders!"
Tanuma Yiji responded loudly.
After obtaining Tokugawa Ieharu's permission, Tanuma Yiji returned to the Government Affairs Office and began to deal with relevant matters, intending to complete the docking with Zhao Xuening as soon as possible to confirm the continuation of trade between the two parties.
At the same time, Tanuma Yiji also planned to buy some arms with Zhao Xuening to take a look.
Tanuma Yiji was very interested in the fact that Zhao Xuening and his army defeated the Spaniards without the ability to fight back. He knew that Europeans were good at using firearms. The earliest firearms in Japan were brought by the Portuguese, and later they blossomed all over Japan.
Although the Tokugawa shogunate later banned the circulation of firearms among the civilian population, the army continued to maintain firearms equipment. As it communicated with Europeans, it continued to learn about the upgrading of firearms, and occasionally purchased firearms from Europeans.
Although there is currently no major war in the country and there is no need for large-scale equipment of firearms, ships from the Russian Empire in the north have appeared frequently for some time, which has brought worries to Japan's northern border defense. Tanuma Yiji is very concerned about this.
So he wanted to see what kind of weapons Zhao Xuening and his army used to defeat the Dutch and Spanish. If possible, he should learn from Lan Fang appropriately.
He quickly completed the relevant paperwork, found Ihara Ichiro, and asked Ihara Ichiro to go to Seoul on his behalf and bring the news about the Tokugawa shogunate to Zhao Xuening as soon as possible.
After receiving the order, Ihara Ichiro quickly rushed to the port of Nagasaki, preparing to set sail and go on a mission to Seoul.
Ihara Ichiro acted very quickly, and Liu Chongwen also acted very quickly.
After he completed the procurement mission and returned to Guangzhou from Manila, he found the Guangdong Customs and handed over the goods required for the procurement mission ordered by the imperial court.
Afterwards, he came to the house of Pan Qi, the boss of Tongwen Bank, where he worked, reported the relevant matters to him, followed his instructions, and completed the customary gift-giving after returning from this trip.
This is also the routine task of the Thirteenth Bank. As the emperor Nanku, the money of the Thirteenth Bank can basically be regarded as the court's money. They are just helping the court make money, and their money is not their own money.
As a person at the bottom of traditional Chinese feudal society, Liu Chongwen knew the secrets and the fundamental reason why his company was able to handle and operate domestic and foreign goods trade.
It’s just that I can make money, and I’m also willing to give gifts and take care of things.
Under the control of such a court, the emperor is just a distant existence. The so-called county magistrate is not as good as the current governor. Although the emperor is superior, the person who can directly manage them is the person they need to please most.
The emperor generally would not give them personal orders. They mainly followed the orders of the Forbidden City's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Guangdong Customs and other relevant departments. Managing officials from these departments was also one of their daily tasks and was very important.
If you are not careful, you may be attacked by these officials with their power.
That's not something that can be solved by giving gifts once or twice.
Problems that can be solved by giving gifts are often not problems.
As far as Liu Chongwen knew, the reason Pan Qi was able to make a fortune and become the head office and leader of the Thirteenth Bank was not only because he was good at doing business, but also because he was good at managing personal relationships.
