Shanghai Commercial Port.

Sebastián Caballero did not stay in the hotel arranged for him by Grand Duke Luo, but in a newly built Western-style garden mansion on Huaihai Long Street.

The owner of the house was a big businessman from Valencia (Spain) and the president of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai. Tang Dynasty. Udia, so this mansion is also known as Wujia Garden by Shanghainese.

This Udia was originally engaged in the silk trade in Manila, and was an old friend of Justice Caballero.

When the port opened in Shanghai, Udia was fed up with the 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 a luxury residence.

When Caballero's mission arrived, Udia's luxurious Western-style mansion had just been inaugurated. And because this mansion can be used to hold balls and drinking parties, Udia has become one of the most influential figures in the Shanghai Ocean circle.

In order to welcome the arrival of the Spanish Empire's envoy, Justice Caballero (who was actually only the envoy of the Governor of the Philippines), the hospitable and face-loving Mr. Udia, who had to spend a lot of money, set up a welcome reception in the spacious and unconventional hall of his mansion.

As soon as Caballero, de Bellasco and Udia's four-wheeled carriage entered the garden, it was a large lawn. It's a pity that it's winter now, the temperature in Shanghai is very low, and there are only a few dead grasses left on the lawn, and there is no eye-catching green green.

Caballero saw that many Western carriages had been parked in the spacious courtyard, and it seemed that many guests had already arrived.

A few dark-skinned indigenous Filipino servants dressed in Western waiter costumes saw that their master's carriage had arrived, and hurriedly rushed up to open the car door and opened the large umbrella to shade the sun, and some went to the luggage rack behind the carriage to remove the luggage of His Excellency the Chief Justice.

Caballero got out of the luxuriously decorated carriage, looked around, and found that the subordinates who were 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," replied Udia, "although the Chinese are hardworking and good employees, they are not suited to be servants. And they ......"

He stopped abruptly, did not continue, then shrugged his shoulders again, then made a gesture of please, and led Caballero and de Velasco on the way to the main building of the Ujia Garden, a three-story Spanish-style bungalow.

After entering the hall of the bungalow, Cavalolie found that there were already many guests in the hall, both men and women, but they were all Westerners, and none of them were Chinese. Caballoli also noticed that a significant number of the guests were blonde or redheaded, and at first glance not of the Spanish or Portuguese species.

The visitors noticed that Udia had walked in with the Manila Justice, and they all stood up and saluted them.

Caballero nodded like a true gentleman and greeted the guests in French.

However, Udya did not stop in the hall, but went straight up the stairs and walked to the second floor.

"Perez," Caballero asked in a low voice as he ascended the stairs, "there are quite a few friends from the Netherlands, right?" ”

Udia turned back and smiled at Caballero: "Your Excellency, this is not Europe, nor is it the New World or Manila...... Here, all Europeans are guests! ”

"Guest?" Caballero thought for a moment, "Yes, we are indeed guests...... I'm really not used to it! ”

"Yes, we Spaniards are used to being hosts, not very guests," said Udia. In contrast, the Dutch are good guests...... It's true for my family, and for China. ”

His words were full of pride, but there was also a little complaint - although the current Spanish Empire is in full swing, it is a little difficult to eat on the side of the Ming Dynasty.

When the two were talking, they had already gone up to the second floor. A long corridor came into view, with rooms on either side, with windows at the top, and the light was so poor that it was lit only by a kind of candle that emitted a faint fragrance.

Udia pointed to the two closed doors of the Filipino maid carrying the luggage, instructed them to carry the luggage in, and then continued with Caballero and De Velasco.

"Your Excellency, there is a special guest today...... "Udiah pondered for a moment, "it is the Dutch ambassador to the Ming Dynasty, Fan. Mr. Dimmen, I think you should meet him. ”

The Republic of the Netherlands had signed an armistice with Spain, and the two sides were no longer enemies. But this eighty-year-long war is a sore point in the hearts of every Spanish nobleman!

Udia added: "This meeting is Van . Mr. Dimmen took the initiative to request ...... And he has dealt with the current Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and he is the Westerner who knows China best, there is no one! ”

"Alright then, I'll meet him."

Caballero nodded, and Udia continued to lead the way, leading Caballero and De Velasco into a large and bright study.

One of the sofas in the study was already standing alone, and it was the former governor of Batavia, now the ambassador of the Republic of the United Dutch Province to Daming. Fan. Dimen.

Anthony. Fan. Diemen now has a high reputation in the Netherlands – he is hailed by Amsterdam merchants as "the great businessman who knocked on the door of China", which is almost the highest praise for a Dutch businessman.

In addition to the honor, he also received the most beloved thing of the merchants - all evil money!

That's a lot of money! It was sent to him by the East India Company as a token of appreciation for his commercial success in China.

But Anthony. Fan. Dimon was not happy at all—not because he hated money, but because he knew he didn't deserve that much money (it was impossible to return, it was money!). Because his success in China was actually given on his own initiative by the then crown prince of China, the current emperor of China.

The contract signed by both parties is said to have been drafted by the Chinese emperor himself......

Also, Anthony. Fan. After learning more about the situation in China, Dimon found a serious problem!

The original sin of a Chinese!

It's just that they have too many people...... It is said that there are as many as 100 million! That's more than the population of all of Europe!

And so many people are now crammed into a land about the size of Western Europe in the southeast of the East Asian continent, and there is still a lack of food! In the past two years, there have been two food crises in this country!

Even more so Fan. What worries Dimen 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 so long ago, he had turned his desire into action – a very successful operation of colonial expansion.

In Fan. In Dimen's opinion, unless it is stopped by another powerful empire, the Ming Empire led by Zhu Cihong will definitely continue to expand to the south and to the Pacific Ocean.

Because only in this way can he get enough food to feed more and more people!

And the empire that was able to stop the expansion of the Ming Dynasty was not the Dutch ...... The shareholders of the East India Company would never allow the company's fleet to stop the Ming from moving south, and they would even encourage the Ming Empire to continue southward.

Because only in this way could the East India Company get the arms orders and huge profits they wanted from Chenla, Siam, and Burma.

Of course, the arms order of the Ming Empire was also coveted by the East India Company. They don't care what a terrible monster the Ming Empire that goes to the sea will turn into in the end! Even if Da Ming becomes a monster and takes Batavia, what can he do?