Chapter 238
Putmans could tell that Xie Jinglin, and Ning Haijun behind Xie Jinglin, including Cheng Shijie himself, all judged that the Spanish Empire had too much to take care of in Europe. Even after losing Luzon, they could not even threaten or intimidate. .
It can be said that the power of the Spanish Empire in the Far East was extremely weak. Letting the Spanish Empire and the Ming Empire resolve the Luzon issue through negotiations was not something the United Kingdom of the Netherlands wanted to see, nor was it something the Dutch East India Company wanted to see.
Although Putmans was ordered to come to negotiate, he behaved very rudely. The words pride and prejudice were written on his face. He sat on the wicker chair with his fat buttocks and kept changing his left foot with his crossed legs. Right foot, switch from right foot to left foot.
Regarding talking to Xie Jinglin like this, he really felt that the other party would be intolerable to the extreme.
In fact, Xie Jinglin went even further than him.
Xie Jinglin originally had big feet and wore boots made of sheepskin. After being stuffed for most of the day, when he took off his boots in front of Putmans, the smell was so intense that it stung his eyes.
Putmans did not expect Xie Jinglin to do this for him.
In Europe, Spain, the super empire that has dominated Europe for more than 200 years, with Great Britain's victory over the Spanish Armada, made the countries in Europe see that Spain was originally a country with a lot of gold but a lot of defeat. Therefore, no one, including the Netherlands, wants to have more than one father on their head.
In order to remove the Spanish overlord from its sacred position and for the sake of religion, the Protestant League and the Catholic League launched a raging war.
Britain, France, the Netherlands and even Portugal also hope that Ming Dynasty can involve Spain's power in the Far East, so that they will be much easier in Europe.
Unexpectedly, Philip IV did not send his troops after learning about the great changes in Luzon. Instead, he instructed the king of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands to use the power of the Dutch East India Company to mediate the Luzon incident.
But the Dutch did not want to mediate. Forced by the orders of His Majesty the Emperor of Spain, they could only pretend, and so the strange negotiations began.
In the view of Philip IV, the problem in Luzon was just a small problem. Tens of thousands of natives were killed and wounded, and more than a thousand Spanish were killed and wounded. What could it be considered?
The Holy Roman Empire had a deep interest in the Far East. It was a pity that these Germans did not have much say in Asian affairs.
The Dutch have the right to speak and have enough strength, but they do not take it too seriously to watch the excitement. The British sold old artillery to Zheng Zhilong through military trade with Zheng Zhilong. If the war does not continue, how can they sell arms?
You must know that the profits from the arms trade are much easier than making money from ordinary commodities.
A negotiation ended badly, especially when Putmans left the port area, his face was livid with anger.
Xie Jinglin immediately reported the progress of the negotiations to Cheng Shijie.
Cheng Shijie smiled faintly: "We are taking this matter for granted. We are afraid of what they will do. Spain is a paper tiger now. When it is time to kick him, you are welcome!"
"Commander, I'm afraid that Spain, the sovereign nation, will unite all their countries in Europe. If they all unite... I'm afraid it will be difficult to deal with!"
Cheng Shijie smiled coldly: "If Spain had this ability, they would have unified Europe long ago. Jing Lin, you may not know that the entire Europe is about the same size as our Ming Dynasty. If Nurgandus can be recovered in the future, the entire Europe A place that is not as big as our Ming Dynasty, but it is divided into dozens of countries, and they have been fighting each other for thousands of years!"
"If that's the case, that's better!"
Cheng Shijie said with a serious face: "Our Ming Dynasty recognizes dual nationality. These Chinese are the people of our Ming Dynasty. Our actions in Luzon are to protect overseas Chinese. European countries recognize this. Even if we say it, we are justified. Besides, this country The commander spent tens of millions of taels of silver to build nearly a hundred new warships and more than 3,000 naval guns. This is our principle. If anyone disagrees, I will lead the Ning Navy fleet to follow them. Be reasonable!"
As Professor Ai said: "Dignity is only on the edge of the sword, and truth is only within the range of the cannon!"
A country and a nation must dare to show their swords. The world situation is by no means a child's play, but the law of the jungle in the true sense, and this kind of jungle is far more complicated than the ordinary jungle.
In later generations, Cheng Shijie was just a commoner, and at most he was just enjoying the fun. However, now he has enough strength and confidence to play this game.
"This Europa is actually just like a barbarian!"
"Same?"
"That's right!"
"Afraid of power but not virtue!"
The Mongol army swept across Europe and was known as the Scourge of God. More than four hundred years later, Europeans still respect the Mongols and admire Mongolian music and wrestling performances. There are countless people who worship Genghis Khan as a butcher.
…
Zhenghe Port District, the ancestral residence of the Wu family.
At this time, the Wu Mansion was full of servants rushing back and forth in the courtyard. There were now so many guests from the Wu family. These days, there were representatives of Nanyang Chinese coming over in a steady stream!
There are more or less people coming from these big Nanyang families spread all over Nanyang. They all had money in their pockets, and the only reason they came was to help the Ning Navy clean up the Spaniards for the sake of the Chinese in Luzon. They came to take a look at Marshal Cheng Shijie, who had become a legend in Nanyang.
At this time, at the door of Wu Mansion, a tall young man bowed towards Wu Shangzhi: "I'd rather bother Shi Bo to say a few nice words in front of the commander about this matter!"
"My dear nephew, please don't be polite. For the sake of... money, we have a good relationship with Wu Xie's family in our previous life. I will definitely introduce you to the commander as soon as possible!"
Patting the gift list in his hand and looking at the boxes of money, Wu Shangzhi was also ambitious and ready to do something big. This is not to say that Europa is money-oriented. In fact, the same is true for Ming Dynasty. If you have money, you can buy food, and if you have food, you can recruit an army. Even if you spend money, Wu Shangzhi will give Cheng Shijie an army.
This army can not only create a great cause for Cheng Shijie, but also become a protective umbrella for the Chinese people.
Just when Wu Shangzhi was calculating accounts in the study, there was a knock on the door.
In the Wu family, there is only one person who can enter Wu Shangzhi's study without communication, and that is his father Wu Dakuan.
"My child pays homage to your father!"
Wu Dakuan sat on the bench opposite, picked up a cup of herbal tea, took a sip and said, "How much are the donations now?"
Wu Shangzhi said with great joy: "More than 5.6 million taels of silver..."
"Look at your potential!"
Wu Dakuan said with disdain: "It's only 5.6 million taels of silver and you are so happy?"
"Is 5.6 million taels of silver still too little? You need to know the annual finances of the Ming Dynasty..."
"Then the emperor has no ability. If the commander-in-chief becomes the king in the future, how much money do you think the court can collect in tax per year?"
Wu Shangzhi did not refute Wu Dakuan, because what Wu Dakuan said was right, because Ning Haijun occupied a corner of Liaodong, and its annual fiscal revenue now exceeded that of the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty.
Wu Shangzhi asked with some confusion: "Will there be more?"
Wu Dakuan put down his tea cup and said calmly: "Now all eyes are fixed on the commander. This time the Dutch are also embarrassed in front of the commander. There are many people over there in Batavia and Mindanao. They should look at it now It’s the attitude of a commander-in-chief!”
"It is indeed very encouraging. It is said that Putmans, the senior commercial commissioner of the Dutch East India Company, who stomped his feet and caused earthquakes throughout Southeast Asia, was almost mad to death!"
"The news should have spread by now, and the representatives of the various clans in Nanyang should also have received the letter. Whether they want to buy the Marshal's ticket depends on their own ideas. They must do anything as early as possible!"
Wu Dakuan said: "Just keep an eye on it, don't come here with thousands of people and embarrass yourself!"
Wu Dakuan is indeed awesome. One hundred and eighty thousand taels of silver, in his eyes, is just a shame. This is because he knows how much money the Chinese have.
As the saying goes, first come first served basis. Zheng Zhilong sold nearly one-third of the goods shipped by the Dutch East India Company to Europe. Maritime merchants from Jiangnan, Fujian, and Guangdong could only account for one-third, and one-third of them were actually sold by Zheng Zhilong. It is produced by Chinese families from all over Southeast Asia.
Before Cheng Shijie and Zheng Zhilong broke up, Nanyang businessmen could buy a lot of machinery and equipment from Liaodong. In Liaodong, the winter lasts for at least five months and the ice period even exceeds four months, so hydraulic machinery and equipment have great limitations. Sex, however, does not have this problem in Nanyang.
Nanyang has a lot of rain and rivers. Although there are not many Chinese in Nanyang, they use a lot of machinery and their production capacity is not low.
The current trade volume of the Dutch East India Company is approximately 16 million guilders per year. One guilder is approximately equal to one pound, which is equivalent to 1.6 million pounds. According to the one-third share contributed by each Nanyang company, it is equivalent to 550,000 pounds of micro goods.
Wu Dakuan knew that the annual profits of various Nanyang companies amounted to tens of millions of taels of silver. They actually earned more than Zheng Zhilong. Zheng Zhilong only collected protection fees, while they produced and sold their own products, and there was no shipping fee.
Not to mention one hundred and eighty thousand taels of silver, even a year's profit can barely match their sincerity and attitude.
Of course, Emperor Chongzhen didn't know that after all the hard work and countless scoldings, he could only get less than 20 million taels of silver from the regular taxes plus Liao and Zhen rates, but Chinese merchants in Nanyang could produce such Much profit.
But they did not pay a penny of tax to Ming Dynasty.
In fact, Wu Dakuan also knew that the Ming Dynasty did not really have no money, but that the money was not in the hands of the court. Just like the salt industry, in the Qing Dynasty, it turned over 6 million taels of silver to the court, but in the Ming Dynasty it only had 640,000 taels of silver. , equivalent to one-tenth of that during the Qing Dynasty, and the salt industry can generate profits of tens of millions of taels every year.
The profits generated by maritime merchants every year also amounted to tens of millions of taels of silver, but Ming Dynasty was also unable to collect this financial revenue.
This is all well known.
Sure enough, Xie Jinglin rejected Putmans' request for negotiation.
A few days later, Putmans held talks with Xie Jinglin again, but the two sides also broke up on bad terms.
After repeated wasted discussions, the negotiations reached the tenth round.
Xie Jinglin's attitude was still very tough and he insisted on proposing the prerequisite for solving the Luzon issue: "The prerequisite for the negotiation of the Luzon issue is that the Ming Empire must see the sincerity of the Spanish Empire. The Chinese in Luzon, whether they have been naturalized there or not, have no Officially seceded from Ming nationality. Ming Dynasty recognizes dual nationalities. They are all Ming people. Their personal safety, property safety, and social status should be protected by the Ming Empire. The Spanish Empire carried out inhumane persecution of the Chinese in Luzon and must compensate!"
“I wonder how the Spanish Empire should compensate!”
"According to our statistics, in the 21st year of Wanli, the 31st year of Wanli, and the 37th year of Wanli, in these three large-scale massacres alone, a total of more than 55,000 Chinese were massacred!"
Putmans was the commercial commissioner of the Dutch East India Company, not the Spanish Empire. The issues he considered were in the interests of the Dutch East India Company, not the interests of the Spanish Empire.
"How much compensation will each person receive?"
Xie Jinglin said calmly: "Two thousand taels of silver for each person!"
"You are blackmailing!"
"Whatever you think, the Chinese have also been robbed of land, shops, plantations, and various properties. Counting interest, the Spanish Empire has to pay 20 million taels of silver to the Ming Empire..."
Cheng Shijie's claim was actually to prevent the imperial court from intervening in the Luzon incident and to prevent the Spanish Empire from bypassing Cheng Shijie and directly sending diplomats to the capital to resolve the matter.
You must know that Emperor Chongzhen was only thinking about money. If he heard how huge compensation Cheng Shijie proposed, Emperor Chongzhen would definitely choose to leave the matter to Cheng Shijie.
"This is impossible, thank you. We must admit that the Ming Empire is a powerful country. We are in diplomatic negotiations, not a place for you to act rogue. This country will never tolerate your frivolous behavior. Your words and deeds, Everything has been recorded. We will forward the report to your court to protest..."
"Please!"
"Thank you, let's change the conditions. For example, let the Spanish Empire compensate you five million taels of silver. This amount is very sincere. It is almost equivalent to the fiscal revenue of your Ming Empire for one year."
Xie Jinglin said: "I heard that the warships of the Spanish Armada are invincible across the Mediterranean. We, the Ning Navy's more than 300 warships, really want to have in-depth exchanges with the Spanish Armada!"
"Thank you, if the Ming Empire can really send 300 European warships, not even a hundred, the Spanish Empire will re-evaluate the strength of the Ming Empire and start negotiations based on the strength of the Ming Empire!"
Xie Jinglin looked at Putmans and said: "Batavia, Mindanao, and the thirty-five strongholds of your East India Company in the Far East all have Chinese presence. I hope you will pay attention to the issue of the status of the Chinese, otherwise our Ning Navy will never be able to I’ll sit back and watch!”
"Are you threatening?"
"Yes, you can think so!"
As the new round of negotiations was announced, the Chinese representatives were very excited.
As Cheng Shijie's representative, Wu Shangzhi was merciless in collecting money.
Cheng Shijie is now entangled by Catherine every day. Of course, her entanglement is not because of emotional problems, but the follow-up problems of the Venice solution.
One million ducats is actually not that easy to earn.
"You can use women in Venice!"
"woman?"
"That's right!"
"You mean to let women go to war?"
"No no no!"
Cheng Shijie shook his head and said: "Women can engage in civilian work in the army. You may have also seen that when Ning Haijun recruited soldiers, most of the staff were actually women. In textile, printing and dyeing, clothing processing, catering, and medical care, most of the staff were women. Including the current banking industry, most workers are women!”
Although Catherine was a woman, her ability to become a Lieutenant Commander in the Venetian Navy did not rely on her identity as a woman, but on her surname and her family.
Even though women's status was relatively low in ancient times, their status was not low. The head wives of wealthy families in ancient times had the same social status as their husbands.
But the problem is that reusing women is unthinkable in Europe.
Because the status of women in Europe is lower than that of Ming Dynasty... Many people just don't believe it and think that the status of women in Europe is very high. If the author does not argue this issue, it will easily lead to controversy.
Looking at European culture, the most important cultural systems in Europe are Christian culture and ancient Greek and Roman culture. In Christian culture and the ancient Greek and Roman cultural systems, the status of women was not high. In fact, women were belittled and more often than not, they were vilified.
Cheng Shijie said: "Women have huge advantages in many aspects. They are more approachable, work more carefully, and have irreplaceable natural advantages in nursing. Many nurses in the army are now women, and most of them come from Xinghai City, Liaodong. Medical school, complete system training.”
Cheng Shijie took the initiative to introduce that women enjoy the same rights as men in most fields in Liaodong, such as enrolling in school, working, joining the army, and engaging in politics and business.
If there were a rich list in Liaodong now, there would be at least several rich women on the list. Not counting Ning Haijun’s system, just like in private enterprises, Zhang Chen’s Oriental Company now has more than 6,000 employees and pays taxes every year. As many as hundreds of thousands of taels of silver.
Now Zhang Chen has switched from business to politics, serves as a member of the Jinzhou Executive Committee, and enjoys the treatment of the sixth grade, which is also unimaginable in the Ming Dynasty.
Currently, in primary schools in Liaodong, the proportion of girls is close to 45%, and they are co-ed schools without any distinction. In Xinghai City's medical school, a very important major is clinical care, and the proportion of female students once exceeded 80%.
The current Liaodong Management Committee government also has many staff members who are women, especially in office desk work and reception work. Women have unparalleled advantages in this area. Therefore, it is not surprising that women appear in the army in Liaodong.
These women in the army have also changed the inherent image of women as weak and submissive in people's minds. The female soldiers at the recruitment work station all wear pistols in conspicuous places on their bodies. These pistols are not decorations. Female soldiers also need to receive basic training. In some areas that they are not good at, such as physical fitness, the requirements may be relatively low, but in shooting, the requirements are still very high. Women who can become professional soldiers must at least have good shooting scores. Even those nurses.
Cheng Shijie said: "Venice's population is too small. With a small population, we must use every available force as much as possible. You can also consider hiring more female soldiers in the military system. Of course, women will not charge in the first battle." On the front line, that’s our men’s responsibility.”
Cheng Shijie still has a bottom line. Compared with Europe, Liaodong already uses women as men. It would be too much to use them as livestock.
"The military is a male group. If there are women, it will cause a lot of problems..."
As a woman, Catherine had a deep understanding of this. When she was fourteen years old, she participated in the support battle for Crete. During the battle, it rained heavily. The situation was urgent, so she could only stick to her post.
But the problem was that she was menstruating at the time, so she suffered a tragedy.
Until now, whenever menstruation comes, I will have unbearable abdominal pain. Of course, Catherine is very strong and she has been enduring the severe pain, but can other female soldiers be as strong as her?
Catherine expressed disbelief.
Cheng Shijie and Catherine had two different understandings. He thought that Catherine was worried about the chaotic relationship between men and women.
"This can be prevented! If it is free love, then no one has the right to interfere, but if the entanglement continues, the military police cannot be used as decoration, right?"
Cheng Shijie smiled and said: "The longest female soldier in Ning Haijun has served for more than two years. A more serious situation has not happened so far..."
Catherine did not want to discuss this issue with Cheng Shijie because she felt that she was in trouble.
Watching Catherine cross her legs and leave quickly, Cheng Shijie seemed to understand.
…
Beijing City, Wen Mansion.
Wen Tiren held a hot towel and put it on his face.
Wen Tiren's three tricks to defeat Cheng had not yet had time to produce a chemical reaction. Cheng Shijie was not in a hurry, but the eunuch was. Wen Tiren's three-point ax was easily resolved by Gao Qiqian. It was not Cheng Shijie's turn to exert force, and the reversal ended without any problem.
Cheng Shijie did not suffer much loss, but Wen Tiren suffered heavy losses. Thirteen of his disciples had their homes confiscated, six were beheaded, and more than twenty were dismissed from office.
It was not easy to hear that Cheng Shijie had a headache, and at the critical moment of the duel with Zheng Zhilong, he turned around and attacked Luzon.
However, the problem is that Ning Haijun defeated Spain miserably, which made Wen Tiren very excited. Zheng Zhilong, a loser, couldn't defeat Cheng Shijie, but Europa should be able to, right?
"What did you say?"
Wen Tiren had great expectations for the Spanish Empire. As long as the Spanish Empire issued a war threat to the Ming Dynasty, he could impeach Cheng Shijie.
After all, the current Ming Dynasty is also in troubled times, and it is impossible to easily start a war with the Spanish Empire. At that time, Emperor Chongzhen will have no choice but to kill Chao Cuo with tears and use Cheng Shijie's life to calm the anger of the Spanish.
Emperors are actually ruthless. Compared with the country and the country, personal emotions and relationships are not worth mentioning.
You must know that in the past few years, the Dutch East India Company's fleet had a total of fourteen ships, but Zheng Zhilong used more than two hundred warships and suffered thousands of casualties to defeat the Dutch.
I heard that Spain is still the co-owner of most countries in Europe, and its status is similar to that of the Ming Dynasty. The Netherlands is also a dependent country of Spain. This relationship is like the relationship between North Korea and the Ming Dynasty.
Ming Dynasty gave orders to North Korea, but North Korea dared not to listen?
The result was not what Wen Tiren imagined.
For a long time, Wen Renti looked at Yang Siyuan, the staff beside him, and said: "Siyuan, what do the countries in Europe mean?"
Yang Siyuan spoke in a low and deep voice: "That Cheng Shijie is blessed by heaven and earth, and he has passed the test again this time!"
Wen Tiren had an unbelievable look on his face: "Is Spain the co-owner of Europa? Can they swallow this? The Western countries don't care? The Netherlands, Portugal, those countries don't care?"
Yang Siyuan smiled bitterly: "No matter! One blast from the cannon made the foreigners polite?"
Wen Tiren reacted immediately: "Is that Spain, the co-owner of Europa..."
"They are similar to us, with internal and external troubles! They have too much time to take care of themselves at home, let alone thousands of miles away in Luzon?"
Wen Tiren sighed leisurely: "This time, it is Cheng Shijie's luck."
The two looked at each other and smiled bitterly.
Originally, I wanted to use Zheng Zhilong's hand to let Cheng Shijie and Zheng Zhilong fight against each other. The ideal outcome would be to lose both sides. However, Cheng Shijie caused a huge incident.
When the results of the Luzon Incident reached the capital, everyone in the imperial court was really frightened. After all, Ning Haijun bombarded Manila and actually broke into the city!
Of course, this news had not yet reached the emperor's ears. At that time, the cabinet held a secret meeting overnight. Everyone in the cabinet thought that the best thing to do at this time was to pretend to be confused, and Cheng Shijie would definitely be in trouble.
The most uncomfortable person was actually Xu Guangqi. Wen Tiren advised Xu Guangqi to try his best to keep the matter clean, but the problem was that things changed in a dizzying way. As Cheng Shijie became more and more tough on the Spanish Empire, he proposed huge compensation.
Emperor Chongzhen was very happy. Cheng Shijie not only earned him face, but also money. If Spain compromised and compensated the Ming Empire tens of millions of taels of silver, the Ming Empire's financial crisis could be easily solved.
At this time, there was a very strange phenomenon in the court, that is, Qingliu, who had always been very cold towards Cheng Shijie, actually began to call for support for Cheng Shijie.
It is better to investigate and find out that most of these clear currents are disciples and former officials of Sun Chengzong or Xu Guangqi. Although the power of this clear stream is not very great, it makes Wen Tiren very wary.
He was really afraid that Sun Chengzong would make a comeback and make a comeback.
However, what Wen Tiren and the others never expected was that this time Emperor Chongzhen, for some unknown reason, went crazy with Cheng Shijie, and actually promoted Cheng Shijie from the governor of Liaodong to the Minister of War and the Propaganda Envoy to Nanyang.
And the Nanyang Xuanfu Department was established.
Regarding Emperor Chongzhen's thoughts, Wen Tiren, who had a keen sense of politics, was very sure that Emperor Chongzhen went for money.
This is to maximize the interests of Emperor Chongzhen. He does not need to send troops or spend anything. If the Luzon incident is used, it can bring a large amount of income to the court, which is very cost-effective.
(End of chapter)
