Ji Kun and Güerju and their entourage were on December 2, 1650, in Friedrich. Schaumberg's escort arrived at the Château de Saint-Germain, about 5 fari (about 20 km) northwest of Paris. It is said to be a castle, but in fact it is a rather magnificent royal palace, which was built in 1122 AD, and the existing castle was built in 1539, and after its completion, it was the palace of the French royal family. Louis XIV was born here in 1638.

In the vicinity of the Château de Saint-Germain, there is also a small city called Saint-Germain-Lyon, built on the Seine River, and the water and land transportation is very convenient. However, the city is not prosperous, the population is also small, there are many villas of dignitaries in the city, Ji Kun's Ming mission personnel stayed in a luxurious villa belonging to Cardinal Mazarin, and the Ottoman Foreign Minister Gülju lived in another mansion that I don't know who it belonged to.

As soon as Ji Kun and his entourage finished settling down, they saw the Swede Koit walking briskly, "Ambassador, Cardinal and Prime Minister of France, Mazarin, and Ottoman Foreign Minister Gurju are here. ”

"Okay," Ji Kun smiled, straightened the official uniform he had just changed, then picked up a brand-new black gauze hat and buttoned it on his head, and said to Koit, "Lead the way, this official will go and meet them." ”

Tomorrow morning there will be a ceremony, that is, a red tape for people to visit - the visit of the Ming Empire's mission to Europe is a great event in this era! At the same time, it is also an opportunity for the European countries interviewed to expand their influence, and of course they should take advantage of it.

The real diplomatic consultations are quietly carried out under the table, and the meeting that will take place should be the beginning of diplomatic negotiations between the two sides, oh, the three parties.

Because the Ottoman Empire was a traditional ally of France, and the two sides often exchanged contacts during the season, and also sent permanent envoys to each other, Prime Minister Mazarin should have repeatedly discussed with the envoys of the Ottoman Empire how to bring the Ming Dynasty, a big country far away, closer to the circle of "Franco-Turkish friendship".

The meeting took place in a meeting room with all sorts of ornate ornaments and sumptuous furnishings, and Mazarin, Fouquet, Gülju, Gikun, and Coit, as well as several other French, Turkish, and Ming officials who acted as interpreters or were responsible for recording on the spot, sat in a very spacious room.

A few French waiters in embroidered dresses (arranged by Mazarin) were serving them with fermented grape juice, a French specialty (really not wine, so Gurju could drink more), and when they saw that their glasses were empty, they immediately went to make up for them.

There were also a lot of greasy desserts served by the French maid who worked in the villa, all of which exuded a strong butter smell, which made Ji Kun feel sick to his stomach for a while.

He was originally on a mission with a cook, and there were authentic Yangzhou dishes to eat along the way. However, the chef was left in Vienna by Li Shaoyou, and Li Shaoyou said that he would find a few Germanic girls for the cook to be apprentices, and let him go to France when the church was completed, and I don't know how long it will take to teach? So Ji Kun can only eat French dinner every day these days......

"Ambassador Ji, I heard that you signed an agreement with the Ottoman Empire to exchange gifts?"

Now that the greetings were over, Cardinal Mazarin got to the point - it was not yet time to discuss who to oppose in an alliance, but it was time to discuss trade, no, the exchange of gifts.

Trade is not easy to do...... In those years, there was no concept of free trade, and it was all monopoly trade. At present, the trade between the East and the West is basically divided between the Netherlands, England, Spain and Portugal.

If the Ming, France, and Ottomans want to join in and share the money, they must have the support of a large navy, but this navy does not mean that there is one. Moreover, the navy is not only about shipbuilding, but also about giving naval officers the opportunity to go to the ocean to gain experience.

This navy sails first, then fights!

And in this year's navigation, it is not only as simple as sailing the ship, but also needs to be familiar with various sea conditions and routes, drawing nautical charts, establishing overseas bases, etc., but a lot of things cannot be accomplished overnight.

If you can't pass this hurdle, there will be no battle to fight at all.

Therefore, in the case that the Ming Dynasty, France, and Ottomans did not have a large navy, they could only operate on a small basis in the name of exchanging gifts.

After all, the Ming Dynasty, France, and the Ottomans also had a deterrent effect, and the Netherlands, England, Spain, and Portugal were not so domineering as to prevent them from reciprocal friendly visits.

You must know that the Republic of the Netherlands, the first of the four maritime powers, has just disbanded its army - this is also a strange thing, in order to limit the power of the Prince of Orange's family, he actually took the opportunity of Wilhelm II's death to destroy the powerful Dutch army......

The army is gone, and of course it does not dare to fight with France, so the French "gift ship" can still go to Asia.

Of course, the French can't go too far, otherwise the Dutch won't dare to turn their faces, as well as Spain, Portugal and England!

In addition, because the Fronde movement has been raging for more than two years, France has also suffered a lot of vitality, and the size of its navy has been repeatedly reduced, and it is now a weak country at sea.

So Mazarin's idea is to start a small business in the Mediterranean first. From the port of Marseille to Suez, the east and west were transported, and then by Ottoman ships to the port of Aden, and the merchant ships of the Ming Dynasty went to the port of Aden to pick up their goods.

And the business can't be too big, it's almost the same to run five 10,000-stone boats a year.

"What good things do you have in France to sell to the East?"

After negotiating the general principle of "gift trade", Ji Kun asked about "French specialties" - he had discovered that there were good things in France and the Holy Roman Empire.

For example, the wine is good, the armor is also very good, not to mention the foreign guns and cannons, and there are also good horses, whether they are riding or pulling carts, they look very strong!

In addition, the glass in France is very good, much better than the glass in Guangdong. Last time, when Emperor Zhu built a Western building, he found Zheng Zhilong for the glass matter.

Lao Zheng had no choice but to let the glass merchants in Guangdong find a way, and finally got some vague and uneven glass to cope with the errand.

There are still very good Western clocks in France, although the Ming Dynasty can also produce Western-style clocks now, but it is much worse than France and Shinra.

Mazarin smiled: "Mr. Ambassador, I am only a bishop, not a businessman...... I think the business should be left to the businessman. ”

"Exchanging gifts" or something, it's all external, and now it's behind closed doors, of course, telling the truth.

Ji Kun nodded, feeling the same way. He is a "legal expert" and is not very good at trading.

Fuquet, who was beside Mazarin, took over the topic and said to Ji Kun: "I have an idea to set up an Aden Conference Committee in the name of convening a diplomatic conference of the three countries.

Nor is it a committee, but one in France, one in the Ottomans, one in the Ming Dynasty, and all three committees are located in the port of Aden...... In fact, they are three licensed trading companies, and they are responsible for discussing trading issues. ”

Fouquet's proposal was to turn the port of Aden into a trading port shared by France, the Ming Dynasty, and the Ottomans, as well as an outpost for French colonization into the Indian Ocean region.

Ji Kun didn't answer immediately, but turned his head to look at Gurju, Aden originally belonged to the Arabs, and was later occupied by the Portuguese, and later the Arabs brought in the Ottoman Empire and took all the territory, including the port of Aden.

So this matter has to be gülled by Gürju.

"There is no problem," said Gülju, "there are Ottoman troops stationed in the port of Aden, and neither Portugal, nor Spain, nor the Netherlands dare to fight the idea of Aden!" ”

The Ottoman Empire is still the most powerful military in the world...... Portugal didn't talk about it, even when the Dutch army was not dispersed, it didn't dare to say that it could win the Ottoman Empire.