One morning in early September, at Laohu Port in Lushun, Meng Jinbao, captain of the First Fleet of the Daqi Imperial Navy, led his soldiers and boarded a Dutch cargo ship named the Nemesis.
The Dutch cargo ship came from Jakarta, or more reliably from as far away as Rotterdam.
The journey was bumpy and bumpy for thousands of miles, spanning the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Needless to say, there were hardships and dangers. Finally, when we arrived in Liaodong, the Dutch sailors on the ship were as anxious as ants on a hot pot, scrambling to land on land. However, they received a "well-intentioned warning" from Qi's customs department and could only be allowed to land after inspection.
The Dutch could only obey their words, because at this moment there were a forest of masts and masts around Port Arthur, and there were at least hundreds of warships cruising on the sea. Hundreds of warships and transport ships were continuously transporting tens of thousands of soldiers and grain and material resources out of the seaport. According to customs officials, the Daqi army would land in Tianjin and sweep across the customs, completing the true unification that Emperor Wu Ding had longed for. .
Although the Dutch had long been psychologically prepared for the strength of Qi, they were still deeply shocked by the power of Qi's army when they witnessed the continuous appearance of soldiers and horses at the port.
Looking at the entire European continent, there are only a handful of countries that can compete with this powerful army. The Kingdom of Britain is one, the Spanish Empire is one, the Holy Roman Empire can barely do it, France and Tsarist Russia may also be able to do it, but Emperor Wu Ding's army is still there. Expanding rapidly, now they only occupy a corner of Northeast China. It is said that there are still more than a dozen provinces like Liaodong in China...
The strength of the Qi army made the Dutch mission more and more aware of the correctness of their choice of peace talks (compared to the British and French ones, which seemed too radical). This mission to Qi hoped to redefine the interests of both parties in the Far East. .
The Dutch's request was that the Da Qi Emperor could respect their interests in Taiwan, Macau, Japan and other places (of course this was completely impossible in Liu Zhaosun's view)
The navy and customs staff immediately conveyed the general demands of the Dutch Republic back to Shenyang. Liu Zhaosun, who was preparing to enter the customs by land, gave instructions after hearing about the matter and ordered Ma Shiying to be the representative of the powerful negotiators. Go to Liaodong to discuss with the Red Maoyi.
When Ma Shiying left, the bottom line for negotiations set by the Emperor was that Taiwan belonged to Daqi, Macau belonged to Daqi, Manila belonged to Daqi, and Jakarta also belonged to Daqi. Even the East India Company established by various European countries would not be affected in the future. It will be Daqi's.
To put it simply, the central idea of the Supreme Emperor is that what is mine is mine, what is yours is mine, and what is his is still mine.
If the Dutch want to exchange supplies with Daqi and trade in Daqi, North Korea, Japan and other places, they must meet the one-sided most-favored-nation requirements, which is the tax rate that Japan needs to abide by in the "Niuguan Treaty", and trade according to this tax rate. The share of sea trade between the two sides is roughly 28%.
Infected by the emperor's tough attitude, Meng Jinbao and his soldiers had no good feelings towards these red-haired barbarians.
The soldiers carefully searched every corner of the cargo ship to prevent all kinds of contraband from being brought ashore. The body of the red-haired barbarian standing on the deck was also carefully searched.
There was a mess on the shore of Laohu Port. Businessmen, translators, raincoat guards, town guards, officials from the Foreign Affairs Department, school representatives, and auxiliary soldiers all gathered in front of the cargo ship "Nemesis" (the Chinese translator's poor translation of the Athena). He pointed at the big ship like he was dissecting a corpse.
Meng Jinbao, who was a stacker, kept cursing. He was very dissatisfied with the task of searching the red-haired barbarians. He believed that he should not be here doing odd jobs. He should command the battleship and land in Tianjin together with other battleships. Charge into battle for the Supreme Emperor to pacify the world.
At this time, his commander Wu Aheng had already led the main force across the Liaohai Sea and shelled sporadic pirates near the Tianjin port, clearing the way for the army to land in Tianjin.
"Liaodong is a thousand miles away and there are thousands of grasses! It's not easy to chase the wind and dust outside. Don't be picky when you eat the rich. Learn from Kong Rong and give up the pear! (It's not easy to do business outside. It's not easy to come to Liaodong to give you food. I'll teach you how to behave. ). The emperor has always encouraged the normal trade of Europeans in China!"
After a search, Meng Jinbao, a dark and sturdy man, got out of the cabin, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and yelled at the Dutchman standing on the deck.
The general quickly translated the chief officer's words into Dutch and spoke them to the red-haired barbarians, retaining all the slang of the stackers, regardless of whether the hairy red-haired barbarians could understand them.
After hearing this, the Dutch looked at each other in shock. Their Chinese translator hired at a high price from Macau could not understand the slang of the Northeastern people at all.
Captain Lacey was also the head of the mission. At the instruction of the interpreter, he took out a small bag of heavy gold coins of the Dutch Republic and clumsily bribed Meng Jinbao. According to their experience in trading at the Nanming port, the officials and people of this country They are all very good at bribery. In Zhoushan Port, when the Athena was replenishing fresh water, if the servant sailors on the shore were not given enough tips, they would treat the envoys with smelly and dirty water.
"Go away! You want to kill me!"
The golden gold coins shone brightly in the morning light. Meng Jinbao loudly rejected the red-haired barbarians' bribes and was about to angrily accuse the barbarians of not understanding the laws of the heaven. Suddenly, the soldiers came up to Captain Meng and whispered something.
Meng Jinbao became furious after hearing this, pointed at Captain Lacey's red rosacea, and cursed loudly:
"You little thing, the customs has told you before, but you still dare to flout the decree of the Grand Emperor of Da Qi and bring contraband into Da Qi!"
The Dutch mission was still looking at each other, and with a bang, a soldier participating in the search threw a damaged copy of the Protestant "Psalms" on the deck.
Lacey was shocked. He recognized it as Carl Pe's personal belongings at a glance.
"You red-haired barbarians should remember this. In Daqi, there is only one god, and that is Emperor Wu Ding. All other faiths in Daqi are bestowed upon you by the emperor's kindness. Without the emperor's permission, all other beliefs are heresies. ! In your Europe, heretics are to be crucified and burned to death,"
Deng Cang, the naval instructor next to Meng Jinbao, loudly ordered the general to translate the entire passage to the red-haired barbarians.
Captain Lacey's face turned pale with fright, and he stretched out his trembling fingers towards Calpe.
Meng Jinbao waved his hand, and several soldiers immediately stepped forward and escorted Captain Lacey and missionary Kalbe to the side of the ship. The soldiers pushed the two men to the ground and prepared to behead them.
The other Dutch people were surrounded by dense firecrackers, bows and arrows. The scene in front of them shocked them.
"Meng Yingguan is a little slow. The Supreme Emperor has ordered us to keep him alive and bring him to Shenyang."
A young man's steady and powerful voice came from the shore. Meng Jinbao and Deng Cang looked up at the same time, and the person who came was actually Li Zicheng, the raincoat guard under Zhang Dong's command.
Of course Meng Jinbao had to give Zhang Mazi face, not to mention the emperor's edict.
"Let go and hand it over to the coir raincoat guard!"
Meng Jinbao waved his hand impatiently, and the executioner slowly lowered the long knife he raised in his hand. A group of naval soldiers stepped forward and supervised the Dutchmen as they boarded the sampan and staggered onto land.
Kalbe looked at the "Psalms" that fell on the deck, and reached out to pick it up. There was a clang sound, and a sharp blade was blocked in front of the missionary.
The instructor Deng Cang said with a sinister look on his face: "You can go down, but your things will stay! When you come back, you will return them to me intact!"
~~~
After this episode, Kalpe had a new understanding of the strict appearance of the Qi army, and the country showed an aura that was very different from that of the small court of the Southern Ming Dynasty.
The army is strong, the officials are honest and efficient, and the people are neither humble nor arrogant (at least there is no such thing as begging around Dutch merchants like in the south).
What they saw and heard in Liaodong was far beyond the missionaries' expectations.
This does not look like a country of barbarians.
In order to prove this fact, he made up his mind to go to Shenyang to find out in person. On the way to Shenyang, the situation was beyond Kalbe's imagination.
Compared with the raging banditry in the Nanming Defense Area, the Qi Army Defense Area can be described as a paradise.
The sergeants in the Qi Army's defense area were polite and courteous, and the ports and cities in various places were very prosperous, with fleets and convoys constantly unloading and loading goods.
He was surprised to find that there were no beggars in Qi State, and there were no prostitutes. This was very different from what he saw in the Nanming territory.
After his idea was confirmed, Kalbe made a decision that changed his life - he offered to go to Shenyang to visit Qi Emperor Liu Zhaosun.
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