Shanghai commercial port.
Sebastian Caballero did not stay in the hotel arranged for him by Grand Duke Luo, but instead stayed in a newly built Western-style garden house on Huaihai Long Street.
The owner of the house is a big businessman from Valencia (Spain) and the president of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai. His name is Perez Don Udia, so this mansion is also called Wujia Garden by Shanghainese.
This Udia was originally engaged in the silk trade in Manila and was an old friend of Justice Caballero.
When Shanghai opened as a port, Udia was fed up with the intense heat and typhoons in the Philippines, so he moved his silk office from Manila to Shanghai. He also bought a piece of land on Huaihai Long Street and built luxurious residences.
When the Caballero delegation arrived, Udia's luxurious Western-style mansion had just been completed. And because this mansion can be used to hold dances and cocktail parties, Udiya became one of the most influential figures in Shanghai's maritime circle.
In order to welcome the arrival of Justice Caballero, the special envoy of the Spanish Empire (actually just the special envoy of the Governor of the Philippines), Mr. Udia, a hospitable and face-loving man, had to spend a lot of money to set up a banquet in the spacious and outrageous hall of his mansion. Welcome reception.
As soon as the Western carriage that Caballero, De Velasco and Udia rode entered the Udia garden, there was a huge lawn. Unfortunately, it is already winter, and the temperature in Shanghai is very low. There are only a few dead grasses left on the lawn, and there is no eye-catching green.
Caballero saw many Western carriages parked in the spacious courtyard. It seemed that many guests had arrived.
Several dark-skinned Filipino indigenous servants wearing Western waiter clothes saw that their master's carriage had arrived. They quickly rushed up and diligently opened the door and held up a large umbrella to protect the sun. Some people went to remove the large umbrella from the luggage rack at the back of the carriage. Your Honor's luggage.
Caballero got out of the luxuriously decorated carriage, looked around, and found that the servants running around in the courtyard were all natives brought from the Philippines, and there was not a single Chinese.
"Perez, are all your servants brought from Manila?" Caballero asked casually.
"Yes," Udiya replied, "Although the Chinese are very hard-working and good employees, they are not suitable to be servants. And they..."
He suddenly stopped without saying anything further, then shrugged, then made a gesture of invitation, leading the way, leading Caballero and De Velasco to the main building of Wu Family Garden—— Walking towards a large three-story Spanish-style bungalow.
After walking into the hall of the bungalow, Cavalero found that there were already many guests in the hall, including men and women, but they were all Westerners and none of them were Chinese. Cavallero also noticed that quite a few of the guests were blond or red-haired and blue-eyed, and at first glance they were not Spanish or Portuguese.
The visitors noticed that Udiya came in accompanied by the Justice of Manila, and they all stood up and saluted them.
Caballero nodded like a true gentleman and greeted his guests in French.
However, Udiya did not stay in the hall, but went directly up the stairs to the second floor.
"Perez," Caballero asked in a low voice after going up the stairs, "are there many friends from the Netherlands here?"
Udia turned back and smiled at Caballero: "Your Honor, this is not Europe, the New World or Manila...here, all Europeans are guests!"
"Guests?" Caballero thought for a while, "Yes, we are indeed guests... we are really not used to it!"
Udia said: "Yes, we Spaniards are used to being hosts. We are not used to being guests and are not very welcome guests. In contrast, the Dutch are very good guests...to my family and to China." That’s the case for everyone.”
His words were full of pride, but there was also a bit of complaint - although the Spanish Empire is now in full swing, it is a bit hard for the Ming Dynasty.
When the two of them were talking, they had already gone to the second floor. A long corridor appeared in front of you. There were rooms on both sides of the corridor. There were only windows at the top. The lighting was very poor and could only be illuminated by a candle that exuded a faint fragrance.
Udia pointed to the two closed doors to the Filipino maids carrying the luggage, ordered them to move the luggage in, and then continued walking forward with Caballero and De Velasco.
"Your Excellency, there is a special guest today..." Udia considered for a moment, "It is Mr. Van Diemen, the Dutch ambassador to the Ming Dynasty. I think you should meet him. "
The Federal Republic of the Netherlands has signed an armistice treaty with Spain, and the two sides are no longer enemies. But this eighty-year war is a pain point in the heart of every Spanish noble!
Udia added: "This meeting was requested by Mr. Van Diemen...and he has dealt with the current Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and he is the Westerner who knows China best, no one!"
"Okay then, I'll meet him."
Caballero nodded, and Udia continued to lead the way, taking Caballero and De Velasco into a spacious and bright study.
Someone was already standing on a sofa in the study. It was Anthony Van Diemen, the former Governor of Batavia and now the Ambassador of the Republic of the Netherlands to the Ming Dynasty.
Anthony van Diemen now has a high reputation in the Netherlands - he is praised by Amsterdam businessmen as "the great businessman who knocked on the door of China", which is almost the highest praise for a Dutch businessman.
In addition to honor, he also got what businessmen love most - the most evil money!
That’s a huge bonus! It was sent to him by the East India Company in gratitude for his commercial success in China.
But Anthony Van Diemen was not happy at all - not because he hated money, but because he knew that he did not deserve so much money (it is impossible to refund it, it is money!), because he was China's success was actually given proactively by the then Chinese Crown Prince and now the Chinese Emperor.
The contract signed by the two parties was said to have been drafted by the Chinese emperor himself...
In addition, after Anthony Van Diemen learned more about the situation in China, he discovered a serious problem!
A Chinese’s original sin!
It’s just that their population is too large…it’s said to be as many as 100 million! That’s more than the entire population of Europe!
And such a large population is now crowded into a piece of land in the southeast of the East Asian continent that is about the same size as Western Europe, and there is still a lack of food! In the past two years, there have been two food crises in this country!
What worries Van Diemen even more is that the current emperor of China (Southern Ming) is a young and promising ruler who understands the outside world and is eager to lead the country into the maritime age!
And, not long ago, he had turned his desire into action—a highly successful colonial expansion.
In Van Diemen's view, the Ming Empire led by Zhu Cixiang will definitely continue to expand southward and toward the Pacific unless it is stopped by another powerful empire.
Because only in this way can he get enough food to feed more and more people!
And the empire that can stop the expansion of the Ming Dynasty is not the Netherlands... The shareholders of the East India Company will never allow the company's fleet to stop the Ming Dynasty from moving south. They will even encourage the Ming Empire to continue to move south.
Because only in this way can the East India Company get the arms orders and huge profits they want from Chenla, Siam, and Burma.
Of course, the arms orders from the Ming Empire were also coveted by the East India Company. They don't care what a terrifying monster the Ming Empire will eventually turn into as it heads towards the sea! Even if Ming turns into a monster and takes Batavia away, so what?
