When the people in the venue finally reached an agreement, Zhu Beiguo cleared his throat and continued:

"Obviously, values are the criterion by which allies are judged, and so, after careful study, we find that at present in the South Seas, only Macao, a relatively free port, is our potential friend, and of course, if the Dutch and the British do not impose their mercantilist regulations on us, they can be regarded as potential allies to be won over, and as for the Spaniards, they are a group of religious fanatics, and it is better not to provoke them for the time being."

When Zhu Beiguo said this, he turned his head and glanced at Li Junming.

"Yes, according to the historical experience of the Old World, it is also possible that Europeans, especially the British and French, can become our allies, because they all have the same problem we are facing now: how to break the trade monopoly of the powerful Dutch and Spaniards in the South Seas, and how to make these ancient kingdoms and empires open some trade and trade ports to the outside."

At this time, Li Junming hurriedly added beside him.

"Indeed, as far as Japan, Korea and a series of kingdoms in the South Seas, these countries were still closed off in the final analysis, and it was obviously very difficult for them to open their ports, because it was not in the fundamental interests of the king and the emperor's nobles.

So, if we want to do business with these countries, there are only two ways to go: the first way is to make some kind of agreement with their ruling class, such as the model of the Sulu Kingdom, and of course, we want these rulers to have a little bit of a spirit of contract, a commitment to protect the legitimate trade between our two sides.

The second path is to completely subjugate them, even subvert them, and then recreate a unified new market there completely in line with our values. ”

Zhu Beiguo said that he habitually paused here, because he knew that these words might trigger a discussion again, but unexpectedly, everyone actually abided by the contract they had just reached, and they were completely in a state of quiet listening.

So Zhu Beiguo had no choice but to smile and continue:

"Of course, we should understand that the first path is not expected to last long, because as long as there is trade contact, it will inevitably go deeper and deeper, and then it will eventually touch the core interest of others: trade privileges.

So, sooner or later, there will be a conflict between the two sides, now everyone is clear, right? The essence of trade conflicts is that there is a conflict of values, even if there is a shell of a trade conflict on the surface.

Is it really that time when the two sides go their separate ways? Or do you want to fight and not give up without leaving the other party to death? Then it depends on the contrast of forces between the two sides. ”

"And what about the second way?"

Someone in the quiet restaurant finally couldn't help but ask questions.

"The second way? Hehe, just think about how many deductions there have been in your Fire Pond Club, how many plans of action have been brewing, and have been given various names, do you still need to ask me this question?! ”

Zhu Beiguo spread his hands and replied to the questioner.

A chuckle followed by applause.

"No, in today's world, there are still too few free ports! We should build a chain of free ports, just like the colonial empire in the old world, we want to create a free port empire on which the sun never sets! ”

At this time, the people of the Fire Pond Club began to speak freely again.

"That's right! We want to build our free trade port on five continents and four oceans! ”

"Reach the world like a network!"

"Every freeport should fly the flag of the Commonwealth of Australia!"

"Huh? By the way, we don't seem to have a flag yet! ”

"Don't interrupt, that's not the point! We're talking about big things......"

"The national flag is also a big deal, by the way, there is also the national emblem and national anthem!"

"Don't be crooked! Our focus now is on freeports, the more the merrier......"

"Your focus is indeed on a lot of free trade ports, because you're going to build a villa in each of them, and then put a few more girls in it, right?"

"So what? I'm principled, and I don't force each other, what's the matter!? ”

......

Although the symposium ended as usual, with a chaotic remarks that were relevant or not so relevant to the subject of discussion, and completely crooked, the content of the symposium was deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

It is probably from this time that the core goal of the Commonwealth of Australia's national development strategy and diplomatic strategy has been to establish, encourage, fund and even use war to promote the construction of a network of free trade ports in coastal ports around the world, which eventually became the long-term foreign strategy of the Commonwealth of Australia.

Because of this, Zhu Beiguo Li Junming's ideas and diplomatic goals had a great influence on the foreign policy of the later Australian Federation, and these two people were named "the founders of Australia's open door doctrine" by later historians......

At half past ten o'clock in the morning of December 25, 1657, the Pride with a relatively shallow draft and played a leading role finally slowly sailed into the wide waters of the Xijiang River. As for Nicole, it followed far behind, and the distance between the two ships was the limit of the four strongest walkie-talkies carried at sea this time: twelve kilometers.

At this moment, if you stand on the top deck of the Pride cockpit and look west, you can see the Macau Harbour in the distance and the Macau city wall that winds for kilometers according to the terrain.

Immediately afterwards, a Portuguese flag was suddenly raised on the Fortress Hill in the south of Macau, and above the national flag was a governor's flag, and the melodious bell rang from the small bell tower of the Church of Our Lady of the Snow on the top of the mountain---- there was no universal uniform etiquette in the port of this era, once an important and welcome guest came to a certain port, things such as entering the port and firing a gun salute did not seem to be popular, but the people on the Pride knew that this was the Governor of Macao welcoming the arrival of the Pride, and everyone had taken a sea etiquette class before going to seaThis homework was not done in vain.

Soon, a clipper boat appeared on the sea outside the harbor, with a sloop and eight oars.

The people of the Pride grabbed their binoculars and took a closer look, and the crew soon realized that the ship was approaching the Pride at a rapid pace, and was unarmed.

"Brother Li, the ship is here......"

Zhu Beiguo, who was on the top deck, shouted at the microphone connected to the cockpit.

"This ship seems to be more than just a territorial ship, right? Look at the flag on the mast......"

At this time, Li Sanduo was also carefully observing the sea, he had already noticed the clipper, heard Zhu Beiguo's summons, immediately responded, and then picked up the telescope again and carefully observed the territorial water ship in the distance.

"Huh? It seems to be ......"

Zhu Beiguo, who was on the top deck, heard Li Sanduo say this, and immediately saw it, and then said to Xu Zhi beside him in surprise, It's really strange, the Portuguese asked the governor to come and get the water in person?

As the chief translator of the traverser, Xu Zhi was also on the Pride at this time, preparing for his first contact with the Macao authorities.

At this time, Xu Zhi frowned and nodded, but did not speak, he just held a telescope and silently observed the flag of the pilot ship, and sure enough, the flag on the mast was indeed different from usual.

Normally, when foreign ships enter the port, ships in territorial waters generally fly the national flag and the territorial water pennant, at least in this era.

But there was also a red Governor's flag on the ship's mast, which usually indicates that there was a higher rank than the captain on board.

For example, if a king is on a certain ship, he will definitely add a king's flag to the original flag, and the fleet commander's ship will usually have the commander's command flag on top of the captain's flag, and so on.

What made Zhu Beiguo feel strange was that this was a very inconspicuous territorial water boat, and there was actually a governor's flag on it! However, Xu Zhi picked up the telescope and looked at it for a few seconds, then suddenly grinned, turned back to Zhu Beiguo next to him and said:

"Brother Zhu, you will meet an old friend in a while."

"Hah! See! The young man standing at the bow of the boat was Pimont! I said so! It turned out to be the Portuguese Viceroy of Timor on this boat! ”

Zhu Beiguo looked at the territorial water ship in the distance and smiled.

"Honking your horn, lookout! Raise the flag of peaceful trade! ”

Li Sanduo's shout suddenly came from the cockpit below, and it seemed that he also recognized it.

Then, a series of yellow, white and brown square swallowtail flags slowly rose from the Pride's former mainmast.

"Woo~Woo, Woo~~"

For Pimont, the intimate sound of a whistle from the sea in the distance filled his heart with relief and joy.