Macao, Office of the Minister of Nanyang.
"As a consul, when brothers work, what matters is that they keep their word. Brothers have read the books of sages and become officials. Since they were young, they have known that people cannot stand without trust. Whatever you promise others, you must do it, let alone return it. Is there a contract written in black and white? Moreover, we are doing business together, and we are brothers who made a fortune together. How can I cheat you? If I cheated you, wouldn’t it be the same as cheating my own brother? You said I can do it Is this such a thing? Well, let me tell you clearly. There is indeed someone behind me! Don’t think that I defected from the Qing Dynasty. I would have no backing in the Ming Dynasty. If I had no backing, Can you become the co-organizer of the Minister of Commerce? You probably don’t know that I am in the Zhengbai Banner Han Army in the Qing Dynasty. King Li Nan and Li Ying, please go and find out. They are also in the Zhengbai Banner Han Army. We That’s one of our own! If you still don’t believe it, I will take you to the provincial capital immediately to see the Princess of England!”
The person who spoke was none other than Cai Yurong, a big liar. In the original history, this guy was a powerful official in the Kangxi Dynasty, and he was particularly close to the British Princess Wu Xiaotuo. This time, by chance, he became Xiaotuo's subordinate. He originally wanted to lie down. Yes, but after meeting the immortal Wu Xiaotuo at the Prince's Palace, he immediately became very motivated. After arriving in Macau, he solved most of the "Malacca Concession Issue" that Li Zhongzhen had been unable to solve for several years. Now, Just one last breath away.
And his method is actually Brouwer's method. It is very simple to say, it is to bypass the East India Company and the Ming Dynasty court, and have a private-to-private relationship. It is originally a public-to-public relationship, and it involves sensitive leased areas. It is troublesome. Big pile.
Now if we change it to private-to-private, things will be easier to handle!
They could change the matter of leasing the land so that Cai Yurong purchased (or leased) the land on Xiangshan Island from Xin'an County to build a port and commercial port, and Brouwer purchased (or leased) the land on Bintan Island from the East India Company to build a port and commercial port.
Then, Cai Yurong jointly operated his business on Xiangshan Island and Brouwer's business on Bintan Island at the entrance to Malacca.
Now, the joint venture firm established by Cai Yurong and Brouwer actually controls two key ports and commercial ports on Xiangshan Island and Bintan Island!
After finishing the work, we can set up a tax package and contract the taxation and management of Xiangshan and Bintan Islands. This will be a complete job.
For the senior executives of the Dutch East India Company in Batavia, Bintan Island was originally abandoned there - it was originally an important maritime trade transit point and the territory of the Malacca Sultanate. It was occupied by the Malacca Sultanate more than a hundred years ago. After the Portuguese captured it, it was abandoned and turned into a pirate den. Later, the Dutch East India Company defeated the Portuguese and became the ruler of the Strait of Malacca, but Bintan Island was still abandoned there.
Since it is abandoned there, why not sell it to an upright Dutch businessman from Amsterdam like Brouwer for development and operation?
If it really develops, the Dutch East India Company can also collect taxes from Bintan Island, and can also directly obtain silk, tea, porcelain, sugar and other commodities from China from Bintan Island. The most important thing is whether Brouwer or A sincere person. He will make all the senior officials of the Dutch East India Company in Batavia feel the real and heavy sincerity!
"Can I really meet the Princess of England?" Brouwer immediately became energetic.
He had long heard that Princess Ying was a great beauty, and she was also a "queen". She had previously assisted Li Xiuqing, the Crown Prince of England, to take charge of the vassal territories of Guangfu and Shaozhou for three years.
Although Guangshao vassal territory has been returned in name, land transportation between Guangdong and Nanjing is intermittent. In addition, Guangdong is at war, so it is not appropriate to make major changes to the Guangdong governance system that has always been effective.
Therefore, Li Zhongshan devised a way for the Royal Palace and the Southern Palace to temporarily take charge of the military administration of Guangdong. That is, Li Xiuqing, the Crown Prince of England, will serve as the general of Guangdong, Li Zhongzhen, the Crown Prince of the South, will serve as the governor of Guangdong, and Qu Dajun, a famous Guangdong scholar, will serve as the governor of Guangdong. In theory, the three of them will preside over the government affairs, military affairs and political affairs of Guangdong.
Of course, Li Xiuqing was still a child and could only act in name, so Wu Xiaotuo had to continue to hold the curtain and let Li Zhongyi, He Tianran, Dai Zi, Luo Wenzao, and Liang Peilan (he He is a famous figure in Guangdong and the director of the Guangdong Reform School) and assisted the government together.
"Yes, we can see her!" Cai Yurong said with a smile, "Although we are separated by a bead curtain, we can still see her. Now that you can see Princess Ying, you can rest assured, right?"
Brouwer smiled and said: "If I can get the personal guarantee from the Princess of England, I will rest assured that the purchase or lease of Bintan Island will be taken care of by me. However, there is a group of pirates on Bintan Island, all of whom are from your Ming Dynasty. .What do you think we should do?”
"This matter is easy to handle," Cai Yurong said with a smile, "Guangdong Navy Admiral Chen Shangchuan has friendship with those Han pirates, so just ask him to come forward to recruit them. Let me tell you, in the future, when Bintan Island is built, I Guaranteed, the number of Han pirates in Malacca will also be reduced by 80 to 90%. By then, Malacca will be a calm golden waterway!"
When Brouwer and Cai Yurong finally finalized the big deal, Gonzalez, the consul of New Spain, was also in his office signing a contract with Yu Renying, a kind, sincere, and true-to-his-word man from Ryukyu Island, and Seijiu of the Mediation Institute. Arms procurement contracts.
In fact, Gonzalez had long wanted to make this arms deal a private business between him and his good friend, Governor Serrano of the Philippines!
The two of them can work together to get some temporarily unused weapons from the Santiago Castle in Manila and sell them to Geng Zhengdong at a high price, and then wait until the war between the Ming Dynasty and the Zhou Dynasty is over and the arsenal in Foshan Town is not so busy to sell them at a lower price. Just add the guns "Made in Milan".
As for the ship to transport the goods, you can just borrow a warship sent from Manila to Ryukyu Island for "investigation". And the silk that Geng Zhengdong used to pay the bill can be transported back to Manila and stored until June next year. When the galleons (galleon trade ships) left Manila, they could just treat the goods transported to Manila as Chinese-style galleons and send them directly to the galleons and send them to the New World. As for the silver used to purchase silk, a batch was taken out to replenish the arms inventory, and the rest is the property of Gonzalez and Serrano!
It would be great if Geng Zhengdong really goes to war with Japan. Not only can the Kingdom of Spain take the opportunity to open Japan's door and force the Japanese to convert to the Heavenly Father, but it can also take the opportunity to engage in more smuggling business. Of course it was Gonzalez and Serrano’s private smuggling!
As officials of the colonial administration of New Spain, they were all too familiar with smuggling!
Due to the isolation of New Spain, smuggling is the most popular business among New Spanish officials and Spanish nobles. According to incomplete statistics, among the goods that have always entered and exited New Spain, smuggling has accounted for about 90% of the goods, and the rest has been It was passed through customs legally.
In other words, if smuggling can be eliminated, the tariffs the King of Spain receives from New Spain can be increased by nine times. Or the goods imported into New Spain from countries such as Britain and the Netherlands with very developed capitalist handicraft industries will be reduced by 90%!
I have to say that smuggling in New Spain really promoted the industrial revolution!
Thinking that there might be more smuggling in the future, Gonzalez couldn't help but ask Yu Renying and Qingjiu of the Mediation Institute in Spanish: "Boy, does Ming Dynasty have plans to go to war with Japan? If the Tokugawa Shogunate If we counterattack Ryukyu, will a full-scale war break out between the Ming Dynasty and Japan?"
Of course Yu Renying could not understand Spanish, but Tiaosho Qingjiu could speak fluent Spanish. He immediately frowned and said: "Of course General Zhengdong has plans to expedition to Kyushu. Otherwise, he would not have sent troops to Spain. To purchase arms. If I remember correctly, Spain and Japan are hostile, right?"
When Gonzales heard this, he felt that the future was promising!
It seems that Ming Dynasty is already preparing for war with Japan!
As long as they are prepared for this, it will be fine. If they are prepared, then the Dutch will have the opportunity to fan the flames on the Japanese side, and the Spanish can instigate war on the Ming side, so there is no need to worry that they will not be able to fight!
When the war breaks out, Spain can still fall to Japan as long as Japan is willing to convert to God and act as God’s shield in East Asia!
"Of course!" The Spanish consul looked indignant and made the sign of the cross on his chest. "The Tokugawa shogunate in Japan treated Christians very cruelly, and we, the Kingdom of Spain, are the defenders of Christianity! If Ming Dynasty goes to war with Japan, we Spain I will definitely stand on the side of Ming Dynasty!"
idiot!
Tiaosuo Qingjiu has already cursed in his heart. This Spaniard has a very bad conscience. He is indeed a white-skinned devil with an undying desire to destroy the Japanese!
No, I must write to the general and ask him to send troops to attack Dongda Continent with Geng Zhengdong!
Although he wanted to kill someone in his heart, he still followed Gonzalez's face and said: "Then it's settled, but I can't make the decision for General Zhengdong. Why don't you personally take a ship carrying arms to Ryukyu Island and meet the general?" Let’s have an interview!”
"Okay!" Gonzalez nodded and said with a smile, "I will definitely come to Ryukyu myself when the time comes!"
When he said this, he had a strong sense that his evil plot was about to succeed. Although he was born as a streetwalker in Madrid, he had worked hard in the yamen under the Governor's Palace of New Spain for many years, and he was also developing colonial interests for Spain in the far east. . After years of experience, he already knew that the key to Europeans' continuous expansion of interests in the territories of these barbarians was to exploit the contradictions between them.
Therefore, the closed-door East Asia was indeed a troublesome place for Western colonists - they closed the country, and outsiders could not enter, and they did not know how to use their internal conflicts to divide and collapse.
In addition, there has not been much conflict between China, Japan, North Korea, and Annan in the past few decades, so it is impossible for Western colonists to use the "East Asian international conflict" as a starting point.
Now, the opportunity to pry open the doors of East Asian countries has finally arrived!
Guangzhou, the British Palace.
Tingzheng Palace.
Li Zhongshan's wife, Princess Wu Xiaotuo of England, was sitting behind a bead curtain, holding a secret letter sent from Changsha in her hand, turning it over and over carefully.
This letter is an autographed letter from her father Wu Guogui. The father and daughter now belong to two dynasties and have become enemies, which is really embarrassing.
However, Wu Guogui repeatedly assured his daughter in the letter that he, as a father, would not embarrass his daughter! Therefore, he will not invade Guangdong under any circumstances. As long as Guangdong can recall Jia Han, who occupied Yongzhou and Guiyang Prefecture in Hunan, and give these two states to him, he can have an explanation to Wu Sangui.
To be honest, this request is not too much. After all, the biggest threat to Guangdong now is Sun Jiqing of Guangxi! This guy has mobilized 50,000 Gui troops and shows that he wants to come to Guangdong to grab money and territory!
Although Guangdong's force is enough to fight against Sun Jiqing, Wu Guogui is now in Hunan and Wu Sangui is in Jiangxi. Hunan and Jiangxi are both neighboring provinces of Guangdong, so Wu Xiaotuo is under considerable pressure.
Fortunately, she is a tiger girl and is very resistant to pressure, otherwise she would have been deceived by her father Wu Guogui!
Thinking of this, she saw her sneer and murmured in a low voice: "Oh, I'm trying to trick you again, I'm going to trick you back this time!"
Then she folded the letter Wu Guogui wrote to her and put it away.
She had just put the letter away when she heard a voice saying: "Princess, you are so wise. If we want to recover the lost territory in Nanyang, we can't just rely on fighting, we must also rely on deception! In fact, those foreigners can To make the market so big, we rely on fraud for three points and deception for seven points!"
The person who was talking to Wu Xiaotuo was Cai Yurong, who had just arrived from Macau. He came with Brouwer, but at this moment Brouwer was not in the hall, but waiting outside.
Wu Xiaotuo was amused by Cai Yurong's words: "Co-organizer Cai, you are really a talented person. It seems that you are undermining your talents to be the co-organizer minister."
Cai Yurong smiled and said: "Unyielding talents, unyielding talents who are demoted to official positions are already lacking in talent and learning. It's just that those foreign devils are always uneasy and kind-hearted and cannot act openly and honestly. In addition, our tomorrow's soldiers are so powerful that they cannot use force but can only use tricks, so they You will be fooled by your subordinates."
Wu Xiaotuo smiled and said: "That's because you, Co-organizer Cai, are sincere in your work. If all the officials in Ming Dynasty can be as dedicated as you, why worry about the world not being unified and the four sides not being able to submit?"
"Don't worry, Princess. Our Ming Dynasty is governed by a general, and the officials who discuss the affairs of the country will definitely be more attentive."
Wu Xiaotuo nodded: "Co-organizer Cai, tell me, how do you want me to tell Brouwer?"
"The princess just needs to tell him that the official is your helper in doing business."
"Okay!" Wu Xiaotuo nodded, "Then let him come in!"
"Yes, concubine."
Jiangxi, Lushan, Wu Sangui Palace.
"Crash!"
Wu Sangui smashed a tea cup. As if he still wasn't relieved, he picked up a pen and smashed it on the ground. The ground was already covered with porcelain slag, and several of his advisers and generals stood aside with their hands down, not daring to express their anger.
The person who made Wu Sangui so angry was of course Li Zicheng!
This Li Zicheng is an "old strongman" who cannot be beaten to death. If he cannot be beaten to death, he will not stop! In the past few days, they have been constantly attacking from Mubu Mountain to touch Wuchang Fucheng, and they almost got in. Zhang Guozhu, the guard of Wuchang Fucheng, was so shocked that he closed all the city gates and allowed the troops brought down by Li Zicheng from Mubu Mountain to attack. "Yuanyuanqu" was sung for half an hour outside Wuchang Prefecture. Li Zicheng's people had the nerve to sing "Yuanyuanqu"!
Is this Li Zicheng shameless?
If Wu Sangui was angry for a beauty, then who does Li Zicheng mean to him?
But this is not the most unbearable thing for Wu Sangui. What is most unbearable for Wu Sangui is that Li Zicheng keeps sending troops to harass Wu Sangui's food roads!
Although Wu Sangui transported grain along the Yangtze River and transported grain directly from the Dongting Lake Plain and Jianghan Plain, which are rich in grain, to the east, the logistics line was very reliable. But this Li Zicheng still found a loophole. He kept sending people to threaten the boatmen on the Yangtze River, saying that they would not let them run their boats in the future (after defeating Wu Sangui), so as to coerce them to cooperate, and set fire to many of Wu Sangui's grain ships!
In addition, in the villages around Wuchang, Hanyang, De'an, Anlu, and Huangzhou, Li Zicheng's armed forces were also very active, constantly killing the "returning gentry" and encouraging farmers to take back their land!
Wu Sangui, who was a little annoyed by Li Zicheng, wished he could just ignore Li Fuchen and send his troops back to attack Li Zicheng.
However, his reason still told him that if he turned around and went back now, he would most likely not be able to catch Li Zicheng, so he would have to completely encircle Mubu Mountain!
But how big is Mubu Mountain? It would be difficult to encircle and suppress without an army of two to three hundred thousand people. Moreover, Li Zicheng now manages the territory, and the valley of Mubu Mountain is filled with Li Zicheng's Fubing Farm.
Therefore, it was very safe for Li Zicheng to huddle inside. That place was the turtle shell of "Old Li Turtle"!
When Wu Sangui was getting angry, Wu Yingxiong's voice suddenly came from outside: "Father, father, look who I brought to you. Oops, are you angry with Li Zicheng again?"
It turned out that Wu Yingxiong walked into the lobby where Wu Sangui was, and Shang Shuying came in with him.
Wu Sangui snorted: "That Li Zicheng is so hateful! I, I get so angry when I think of him forcing the late emperor to death!"
Shang Shuying said with a smile: "Father, don't be angry. You are so angry that your body is not worth it. Besides, your chance to defeat the Ming Dynasty has also come. As long as the Ming Dynasty is defeated, how can a mere Li Zicheng survive?"
"Da Ming. By the way, Shuying, I heard that you were captured by Li Zhongshan, and he executed you in Lingchi. You..." Wu Sangui suddenly thought of a very scary question and stared at his goddaughter.
"Li Zhongshan was just talking," Shang Shuying said with a wave of her hand. "Not only did he not kill his daughter, he also took her back to Nanjing, let her watch his navy and army, and even let her come back and tell her father the story. talk!"
"What words?"
"He is coming to Poyang Lake to fight you to the death!"
(End of chapter)
