The "Ming-Dutch Friendship and Trade Treaty" signed in July of the thirteenth year of Chongzhen (1640) marked that the Ming Empire, which had been in power for more than 200 years, finally opened its doors to the West.
It was by no means a bunch of unequal treaties signed by Braid later. They were all signed after defeat and being forced to do so, which was equivalent to having the country's door opened by naval cannons.
What does this mean?
It means the goalkeeper is not good~!
After the Ming Dynasty defeated the Dutch, recovered the southern part of Dongfan Island, and severely damaged the Dutch fleet.
The other party would be unable to come up with any effective countermeasures for a while, and then they would have to turn to dialogue and cooperation with Ming Dynasty.
When friends come, there is good wine; when the goose comes, there is an iron pot!
No matter where the goose comes from, we can stew it!
It is not terrible to open four ports in the south and one in the north in one fell swoop, for a total of five ports.
Without sufficient coastal defense power, it would be terrible to be unable to defend thousands of miles of sea territory.
Braid, who couldn't even defend his home, had to be knocked on the door by the enemy with naval guns.
At least the Ming Dynasty still had Zheng Zhilong. The Dutch had nothing to do with his fleet, so they had to use silver coins to knock on the door.
For the Ming Dynasty, which is now different from what it used to be, it will no longer work for the Dutch East India Company to knock on the door with naval guns as it did in previous years.
Now a certain prince not only has new copper cannons, but also anti-ship missiles and black shark mines!
This is called the "Holy Trinity" naval combat strike mode!
If you can defend yourself, you have the ability.
If you can’t prevent it, then just go with the boat and the people to feed the fish!
The Dutch cannot withstand the crazy attacks of the "Harpoon" anti-ship missiles, so they can only stay at the negotiating table obediently.
A certain prince was not afraid of the angry East India Company asking for help from the mainland. At this moment, the local fleet was playing the Battle of the Downs with the Spanish fleet!
You need to prepare before fighting, and you need to consolidate the fruits of victory after fighting.
How can people have the time to go halfway around the world and go to the waters of East Asia to fight with the Ming Navy?
In view of this, a certain prince was not afraid of the breakdown of the negotiations at all, and at worst, he could just continue fighting.
Equipping Zheng Zhilong's fleet with a thousand more anti-ship missiles would probably destroy the Dutch fleet in a naval battle.
According to the probability of 1 in 10 at close range, a thousand "harpoons" can also destroy a hundred Dutch speedboats.
Those ships were temporarily recruited by the East India Company to participate in the war, and would be returned to the shipowners after the war.
Once the naval battle is lost and the battleship is burned or sunk, all the money will be lost...
If you lose, can you still get some compensation?
If the group destroyed a hundred Dutch speedboats, even the Dutch mainland fleet would not be able to withstand losses of this magnitude.
It would take two or three years to recover. Although there were many merchant ships in the Netherlands, the shipowners did not want to fight.
Otherwise, the Dutch Navy would have become invincible by recruiting thousands of armed merchant ships every time!
The Dutch, who had suffered a huge loss, could only swallow this bitter pill and first earn back the capital lost during the naval war through trade.
When a certain prince saw that the Dutch people were so sensible, he did not make too many demands. Generally speaking, mutual benefit and reciprocity prevailed.
We will provide the goods if they are in stock, and we will accept orders if they are not in stock. Buyers usually only need to wait one to two months to pick up the goods.
The selling price of goods is based on the price in Beijing. If you buy more land, you can enjoy a discount of about 20 to 20% off.
The only medicine that has not been reduced in price is the special medicine. Shushuang (Vaseline) is still 200 taels of silver per box.
The only medicine in the world that can play an antibacterial role, there is no reason to sell it at a reduced price.
Zhenling (penicillin) costs 10,000 taels of silver per bottle. You can purchase ten bottles at a time. It is valid for one year. If you are allergic, you will be responsible for the consequences.
Putmans does not believe that there is such a panacea in the world. According to Western sayings, even angels may not have such healing power.
After visiting the Army Hospital, especially the wounded who had used True Spirit, Putmans was still doubtful about True Spirit. Out of conservatism, he decided to only purchase Shushuang and Sulfonamide.
As long as these two medicines are as effective as the Ming prince said, the lower price can still be accepted by the European nobles.
If a drug like Zhenling, which is extremely expensive, arrives in Europe, a bottle will only be sold for 30,000 to 40,000 silver dollars to be considered profitable, and there will probably be very few potential buyers.
If it was not a matter of life and death, who would buy this kind of medicine that is more expensive than a box of silver dollars?
Ten thousand silver dollars a bottle!
The prince of Ming Dynasty really dared to ask for a price...
On this trip north, Putmans only carried 500,000 silver dollars. His purpose was very simple, which was to bribe Zheng Zhilong or officials of the Ming Dynasty in order to get what he wanted.
Unexpectedly, the money was not used for the original purpose, but was spent on more useful purposes.
The mirrors, oil lamps, sofas, pencils, soaps, toilets, etc. produced in the Ming Dynasty are all good things that are not available in Europe.
After using the large oil lamp presented by the Prince of the Ming Dynasty on the first night, Putmans decided to purchase a thousand of this new oil lamp the next day.
Although the sea is very rough, as long as the binding is strong, there will be no problem. The mirrors are much cheaper than those in Europe. There is still a price difference to be earned when shipping them over, so naturally they have to purchase in large quantities.
One thousand oil lamps, ten thousand mirrors, one hundred thousand pencils, one hundred thousand soaps, one hundred toilets, ten sofas, ten rickshaws, ten thousand sets of tin toys, one million kilograms of snowflakes...
After a shopping spree, Putmans discovered that the most profitable product was the snowflake candy, which was sold for only 150 copper coins per catty!
If this kind of white sugar, which is as delicate as snow and has an excellent taste, is trafficked to Europe and sold for one silver dollar per pound, it will also cause a rush to buy.
Putmans also wanted to take advantage of large-scale purchases to lower prices. Unexpectedly, the reason why the Ming prince refused to reduce prices was simple.
The more the Netherlands buys this kind of snowflake candy, the higher the price will be!
A group of Dutch businessmen couldn't figure out the reason...
A certain prince gave a perfect explanation for this. The production of snowflake candy is limited, and priority must be given to the Japanese market!
The Japanese state is an ally of the Ming Dynasty, and its importance in fighting the braid invasion is self-evident.
The Tokugawa second-rate general especially liked this kind of snowflake candy. It was very suitable whether he wanted to earn the price difference for himself or use it to win over other Ming Dynasties.
Then a certain prince must surrender to his country. As long as the Japanese country is willing to import and does not set up obstacles in sending troops, snow candy will naturally be exported to it in large quantities.
Not only snow candies, but anything that General Tokugawa likes will be prioritized for production, and Zheng Zhilong's fleet will be transported to the Japanese port as soon as possible.
Even airships, which are known as powerful weapons for the country, can be sold to the Japanese country, let alone those products with little technical content.
In fact, a certain prince regarded the Japanese country as the nearest dumping market, and its significance was equivalent to that of the southern Eight Corners.
After the Spanish Empire stopped exporting silver to the Ming Dynasty, it had to find a replacement to take up the trap.
The Japanese country that produces silver is undoubtedly the best target, and there are very few commodities that the Japanese country can obtain.
For Ming Dynasty, the annual trade was a huge surplus!
Although the export of Japanese goods has been entrusted to Zheng Zhilong with full authority, Zheng Zhilong must pay real money first to get the goods from the capital, and credit is huge!
Zheng Zhilong is not short of money, not to mention that Zheng Chenggong is still an apprentice under a certain prince.
The wealthy people from Fujian disdain to do such embarrassing things as credit.
With the permission of a certain prince, the airship naturally performed a lift-off show to the Dutch.
Anyway, the combat magicians have all seen it and reported it to Rome. These Dutch people are not missing.
If you have money, you can buy it and take it home and lick it as you like!
If you don’t have money, you can only live with eye addiction...
The Dutch headed by Putmans are a typical example of the latter!
One million taels of silver for ten ships, including spare parts and fuel, will not be retailed!
Zheng Zhilong felt extremely comfortable, because the price quoted to these Hongyi people was twice as high as what he had paid for!
I didn’t expect that there are actually weapons in the world that can carry people to heaven!
How awesome is this?
Can overlook the entire battlefield!
Is 150,000 silver dollars a boat expensive?
In Europe, it is definitely the target of various countries rushing to buy it!
But I just can’t afford it…
How embarrassing!
Putmans decided to write a letter that day, describing in detail the outline and purpose of the weapon.
Worrying that the group at the headquarters would question this, they also attached a photo of the airship presented by the crown prince of the Ming Dynasty as evidence.
Even if ten airships cost 1.5 million silver dollars, they must be bought!
This weapon was so helpful in land warfare that Putmans did not believe it would be unsalable.
If one party can possess several airships, it can not only detect the enemy's situation, but also boost the morale of its own officers and soldiers.
Putmans decided to order ten ships no matter what!
When the shipment arrives in Europe, even if one buyer can't take it, it's best to find a few more sellers.
If the losers on the council couldn't agree, Putmans decided to find some businessmen to raise funds himself.
This is an unprecedented big project. If it succeeds, it will not only make money, but also make it into the upper class.
The Dutch people who visited the airship were deeply shocked. They did not expect that the Ming Dynasty developed so rapidly in the military industry.
Except for the shipbuilding aspect, which is still slightly inferior, it has surpassed the Netherlands in other aspects and will surely become the focus of world attention in the future.
Now, the Netherlands can take the lead and trade with the Ming Empire, which is equivalent to seizing the opportunity.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, we gained an extremely valuable initiative in the European War.
The Dutch Army cooperated with airship operations and became a military force that cannot be ignored in the European region.
Putmans would also like to see a weapon that can skim the sea, namely the Harpoon anti-ship missile.
However, a certain prince politely declined this request. It was a weapon to check and balance the other party, so naturally he would not show it easily.
You can take a look if you want, wait until you bunch of bumpkins from Europe have recharged 100 million taels of silver in my account!
If you don’t even top up your VIP and want to get VIP treatment, that is of course impossible!
Understand the secret of anti-ship missiles, then carry out large-scale imitation, and then counterattack, are you planning to beat me?
Go ahead and dream!
From now on, only I will fight against you!
You can either choose to be beaten, sue for peace, or go back to your hometown. There are only three options!
If you are lucky, a "Harpoon" anti-ship missile will fly in through the gun window and hit the powder barrel on the enemy ship, which can directly destroy a Dutch warship of more than 300 tons.
This "sea devil" certainly worried Putmans and others, but the Ming Crown Prince had already rejected his proposal, so he could only give up temporarily.
Changing the situation of naval battles with just one weapon was something Putmans had never imagined before, but now it really happened, but his own side was unable to change it.
If the other party doesn't show it to you, it will be even less likely to sell the weapon to you. This is also reasonable, just to prevent the two sides from turning against each other or even fighting one day.
Putmans and others were also lucky enough to see trains and railways. They were extremely interested in this kind of machinery that could have infinite power without wind power or eating grass, and they intended to buy it.
But its price is also extremely "heart-wrenching". A set of three million silver dollars will not be retailed!
Don't worry, this is just the starting price. If you purchase additional locomotives, carriages, and railways, it will definitely be far more than this amount.
Thinking about the five hundred thousand silver dollars that he had already spent, and comparing the airships and trains he had seen, Putmans only hated that he had brought too little money for this trip.
If I bring five million silver dollars, wouldn't I be able to buy both the airship and the train?
After seeing and experiencing the benefits of the telephone, Putmans decided to raise additional money to purchase this novelty.
Sending it to the mainland will definitely help with intercommunication, and a telephone company can also be set up to be responsible for operating this kind of call service.
He had even thought about his retirement plan. After completing big business such as airships or trains and accumulating a certain amount of initial capital, Putmans decided to become his own boss and focus on the telephone business.
This is the general trend. In the future, every household will have a telephone. At first, it may only be installed in the homes of companies and wealthy businessmen, but it will be enough for the telephone company to make a profit.
In the capital of the Ming Empire, hundreds of users had installed telephones in their homes or offices and had paid advance payments. There were even thousands of users waiting for installation.
In the words of the prince of the Ming Empire, the telephone poles on the street are a symbol of civilization!
By the end of the year, the first set of generators at the capital's first thermal power station will be operational.
Together with water and electricity, it will provide more electric energy to the people of the city.
Putmans also saw electric lights, but without enough electricity, the light bulbs would not light up.
Electricity is like oil in an oil lamp, but electric lamps and electricity are more advanced than oil lamps and oil.
The Netherlands was still stuck in the era of old-style oil lamps, but the Ming Empire was already an era ahead of the Netherlands.
I’m afraid that in another ten years, we will be two eras ahead.
This is a result that Putmans does not want to see, but the entire continent is busy fighting at the moment.
No one wants to develop technology. Even if they have this idea, they have to wait until the winner of this war is determined.
The Ming Empire was also at war, but it didn't seem to delay its technological development.
What they saw and heard in the capital also completely changed Putmans and others' previous impressions of the Ming Empire.
Ignorance, backwardness, ignorance, decline...
Replaced by words such as wonderful, amazing, novel, and prosperous!
The group not only left behind all the silver coins, but also left behind a series of exclamations, as well as thoughts and hopes for the future.
In order to win over big customers, a certain prince also told Putmans a shocking secret...
