Gonzalez looked at Van, who was lying on the bed, very drunk, making a huge noise, Delantron, and couldn't help but frowned. [No pop-up novel website] A strong smell of alcohol emitted from the room. It smells so bad that people can't sleep.
"You have to drink even if you don't have the ability to drink." Gonzalez wiped his beard and drank a lot. In this hellish place like Batavia, the wine is scarce, poor, and very expensive. The most popular drink is beer, which the Dutch often drink. Southern Europeans who are used to wine don't like it at all, and call it "urine." ".
"Rum was served at the reception, and several wine enthusiasts such as Xue Ziliang made their own fruit wine at the demonstration farm. Although grapes specially used for winemaking cannot be grown here in Lingao," the farm and communes promoted the cultivation of "ten grapes". A lot of fruits are still grown in the "Border Economy" and "Garden Economy". In addition to supplying these fruits to the army, students and workers, most of the rest are used to make wine.
When Xue Ziliang was in the United States, brewing his own wine was a hobby. He had special small-scale equipment at home and was familiar with the process.
This kind of fruit wine produced by small brewing workshops is of various types and small quantity. It is basically used by senators and banquets. A few are sold in stores as special supplies to the higher classes of naturalized people.
Of course Gonzalez did not give up this rare opportunity to drink: Spanish soldiers are as good at drinking as anyone else. He drank several bottles of apple cider, borax and wild fruit wine one after another, and then drank a lot of rum in one breath. His expression remained unchanged and he went to talk to Miss Mendoza who was acting as the translator - he had already It's been a long time since I've seen "the motherland has a woman". Although this sweet woman spoke Spanish with a lot of words that he didn't understand, and she also had an accent. Gonzalez guessed that she was a native Spaniard from the American colonies. He immediately showed his hospitality very enthusiastically. Although it can be seen that the other party has a good impression of him, he always avoids him when he gets too close.
This puzzled Gonzalez.
Although Miss Mendoza felt close to being able to see a European who also spoke Spanish. But the stench emanating from the Spanish soldier made him nauseous. In fact, Gonzalez's hygiene habits were better than most of his compatriots at the time. Serving in a place like Batavia, it would be difficult to survive without regular bathing. After arriving in Lingao, I checked into the Mariner Hotel and was forced to take a shower.
After the cocktail party, he and Trini returned to the room where they were staying. Although the hotel had single rooms available, Van der Lantrön was afraid of spending too much of the company's public funds, so he insisted on staying in a triple room. According to the standards of a century-old hotel, this three-person room is luxurious and comfortable. But with such a drunk guy in the room, the room became a little unbearable. The Italians also couldn't stand the stench emanating from the Dutchman.
"How about we go outside and have another drink?" Gonzalez asked in Italian. As a soldier of the King of Spain, he served in Italy. Many of his comrades were Italians.
"Of course. I'm very happy." Trini's task is to draw. It is his task to walk more and see more. He thought for a moment, "But we don't have a translator." "
"No need for translation." Gonzalez took out a rial, "This is the translation."
"What if we meet each other?"
"They will get us back." Gonzalez said nonchalantly, "Don't you want to find a woman?"
"The Dutch seem to be happier with the outcome of this negotiation than we are." After the reception, a group of people from the Ministry of Colonization and Trade gathered in the conference room of the office building. Said Hong Yin, the commercial representative in Hong Kong who was temporarily transferred back from Hong Kong to participate in the negotiations. He was transferred back because Xu Tianqi, who spoke the best German among the elders, had gone to the mainland, and he was the only one left who could communicate fluently in German.
"Of course. The Dutch had a hard time playing tricks on Zheng Zhilong. It's not easy to meet honest people like us." How could he be unhappy? "Skyder was very happy. The trade agreement signed with the Dutch East India Company a few days ago was approved by the Senate after the third reading. Although everyone is not very fond of the Dutch," this agreement is really important to the Lingao regime. So beneficial.
"I still propose to include Hong Kong as an entrepôt port." Hong Hongyin once again put forward his idea.
A large number of Ming products that the Dutch need are currently mainly traded through Zhangzhou Bay, that is to say, goods are mainly shipped from Fujian." This trade channel is currently controlled by Zheng Zhilong.
It was not that the Dutch were unwilling to come to Guangdong to trade. Guangdong's trade was mainly monopolized by the Portuguese.
In fact, in terms of convenience of supply, Guangdong is better than Fujian as a supplier of export products.
In fact, mainland goods sold to the Dutch, including raw silk, silk, groceries, medicinal materials, etc., can be traded directly with the Netherlands at the Hong Kong Station, reducing the need for mid-transshipment and storage, which can free up the gap between the mainland and Lingao. The space was originally used to carry the transportation capacity of continental commodities traded with the Netherlands. The spices that the Dutch are trying their best to promote "can also be traded in Hong Kong. They can be purchased by the Hong Kong Station and sold directly locally or sold to the Guangzhou Station." The price difference can be earned through trade with the Dutch, making Hong Kong an entrepôt just like in the old days. "Expand Hong Kong's influence as a trading port on the mainland" to build momentum for the empire to control the trade route for Chinese merchants to Batavia.
"Also, we can take advantage of the Dutch's empty space. We are currently earmarking half cargo. It is assumed that the Dutch ships are half carrying rice" and half are carrying spices. After their ships unloaded rice in Lingao, they had to go to Hong Kong to unload spices. We can fully utilize the half of the unloaded cargo space and hand over the goods we need to transport to Hong Kong and Guangzhou to Dutch ships for transportation. "
This proposal made Si Kai very excited. He knew that the biggest problem in the Ministry of Colonization and Trade now was the problem of insufficient transportation capacity. Now we can not only save transportation capacity, but also make use of the Dutch transportation capacity. Hong Hongyin's suggestion is attractive enough.
Skade nodded repeatedly: "Well, this idea is very good."
"Actually, Sanya is not in a hurry to open up." Hong Hongyin said. "Except for slaves, most of the goods shipped by the Dutch cannot be digested locally." We have to transport them back to Lingao or Hong Kong ourselves. The goods sold to the Dutch in Sanya are mainly transported through Lingao.
It's like a lot of extra tricks for nothing. "
Skade was moved by his words. It seems inappropriate to reject the plan of the Senate to build Sanya into an international trade port. Now that international businessmen have arrived, it seems inappropriate. He thought about it and decided that Sanya's plan was "long-term" anyway, so it wouldn't be a big problem to focus on Hong Kong now.
"However, Hong Kong is still under construction. Is it possible for you to open up?"
"The Dutch won't send ships right away. I guess they won't send out the first batch of ships until the second half of the year. By the second half of the year, our infrastructure will be completed, and the work of the Guangzhou Station will resume. The Dutch can handle it with at most 2-3 ships."
Skade nodded. He thought for a while. "In this case, we have to discuss with Ji An, the director of the customs, to build a new customs in Hong Kong. Clear customs directly there to simplify the procedures."
“That way you can go big,” he said.
"Yes, otherwise what would I, a business representative, do in Hong Kong?" Hong Hongyin said unabashedly, "The development potential of Hong Kong is still a little limited. But as an outer port of Guangzhou, it is still good. "
Therefore, in the final draft of the trade agreement, Hong Kong was added to the open trade ports.
However, among the open ports, consuls could only be sent to Lingao. Who to send to Batavia to act as consul became a new problem.
Flood Yin resolutely rejected this opportunity, even though he is currently the best German speaker among the elders. But he didn't want to go, so he suggested that people who knew Spanish or other languages could go to Batavia to do the job. Not seen were the Spanish and Italians among the Dutch's entourage.
The Senate hesitated to send a senator as consul to Dutch territory.
Because there are very few senators, the knowledge and skills of each senator are valuable. It is unclear what benefits will be gained by placing a senator thousands of kilometers away in a potential enemy's territory. The level of the senator sent cannot be low. He must know a foreign language that can communicate with the Dutch. He must have considerable negotiation skills and be in good health. If anything goes wrong, the Senate will be completely beyond their reach.
The most interesting thing about sending consuls is the Foreign Intelligence Bureau. This is an opportunity to openly send intelligence personnel. However, the risk involved is greater than being sent to the Ming Dynasty, and Batavia is not currently the main target, so the Intelligence Bureau has not shown much enthusiasm for this.
But not sending a consul seems like a loss. After all, the other party can send a consul to Lingao, and sending a consul can also spread the influence of the Australians to the Chinese in Batavia. After some discussion, Wang Yan of the Foreign Intelligence Service proposed a compromise plan. A high official who sent a consul to Taiwan.
Compared to Jidavia, the Taiwan Strategy is a matter of recent years. An intelligence officer is more useful in Daguan than in Batavia." And if anything happens, the distance from Hainan to Taiwan is much closer.
"But that doesn't make sense." Skade questioned at the meeting. "Our trade agreement is with the Batavia authorities unless they transfer jurisdiction over our trade to the Council of Chancellors. , otherwise it would be difficult for us to propose sending a consul to stay in an unrelated port. a.
