October 18, fine.

Qian Hao hurriedly rushed to a large shed temporarily erected in the open space of the residential area with a small briefcase, found a wooden stake and sat down. The meeting has been open for half an hour, and Ma Ganzu is currently making a speech on the rostrum.

Qian Hao looked around, and the black ground was overwhelming. After several days of preparations, today was the first plenary meeting of the Crossing Public, and almost all of them were present, with the number of more than 500 people, except for the two squads of the guard team guarding the Dutch and the remaining personnel in some important areas.

"To sum up, the General Assembly of the Crossing Delegates is the highest organ of power and is held once a year. When the plenary is not in session, the Executive Committee is established as the standing executive body. The Executive Committee shall have a Chairman and shall be composed of the Chairman of the Executive Committee, the Army Committee, the Navy Committee, the Agriculture Committee, the Industry Committee, the Material Committee, the Foreign Affairs Committee, the Judicial Committee, the Communications Committee, the Finance Committee, and the Internal Affairs Committee. The Chairman is responsible for presiding over the overall work, and the proposals submitted by any member must be voted on by all members of the Executive Committee. The members of the Executive Committee are elected by the General Assembly for a term of three years. When the General Assembly is not in session, if it is necessary to re-elect the members of the Executive Committee, the President of the Executive Committee shall propose or convene a plenary meeting to discuss the election at the joint proposal of more than one-third of the General Assembly. After repeatedly soliciting opinions, Ma Ganzu threw out this motion that he had been pondering for several days.

"A show of hands will now be taken." Liu Weimin, who presided over the meeting, cleared his throat and said, "Please ask the staff to do a good job of counting votes." ”

This organizational structure is similar to the current one, but it is more formal. Soon, the statistics came out, 502 participants, 476 agreed, and the proposal was successfully passed.

"The election of the members of the Executive Committee shall now be held, and all members who have attained the age of 18 shall have the right to vote and to stand for election for the period from October 18, 1630 to October 17, 1633. Please bring your ballot papers in front of you... Cough... Soybeans are thrown into the bowl in front of the candidates. Now for the election of the Army Commissioners..."

There is no doubt that Peng Zhicheng, member of the Army, Wang Qinian, member of the Navy, Ma Jia, member of the Industrial Commission, and Jin Kola, Commissioner of Agriculture, were elected. Because Xiao Bailang was the captain of the Yunsheng No. 1 freighter, he became a traffic commissioner with his "qualifications"; Gao Mo, who has a profound knowledge of history and geography and can speak French, was elected as a foreign affairs commissioner; Shao Shude was successfully elected as a member of the material committee after defeating a competitor; After a struggle for the positions of judicial commissioner and finance commissioner, Tang Yuan, who was the last accountant, was elected as a financial commissioner, and Bai Siwen, who was born as a lawyer, was elected as a judicial commissioner; The internal affairs committee was elected by Jiao Tang, who was a criminal police officer of a certain city public security bureau.

At the end of the year, the much-anticipated post of chairman of the executive committee, due to Liu Weimin's abandonment of his candidacy, was easily won by Ma Qianzu, and Liu Weimin was elected director of the plenary meeting. At this point, the organizational power structure of the crossing crowd has been initially formed, and the next thing that needs to be improved is to improve the subordinate institutions.

After the election, Liu Weimin announced the closure of the meeting. The dizzy and dizzy people who were already hungry scattered one after another, and went to eat.

The newly elected Foreign Affairs Councillor, Gaumo, immediately submitted to the Executive Committee a motion on how to deal with the Dutch West India Company's armed vessel "Orange River".

Gaumore proposed to establish a good relationship with the Dutch West India Company. "Geographically, the Portuguese in Brazil and the Spaniards on the west bank of the Uruguay River are our potential enemies. Portugal is currently under the rule of Spain, while the Netherlands is at war with Spain. Best of all, the Dutch and Portuguese have been fighting over the Amazon River in recent years. In 1624 and 1627, the Dutch occupied Bahia twice; This year, they occupied Pernambuco. The enemy of our enemies is our friends, and I think we should be kind to everything that has to do with the Netherlands. I hereby ask the Executive Board to agree to the request for port repair of the Orange River, and to actively consult with it with a view to establishing a trade relationship. ”

"I still say that the Dutch don't necessarily treat us equally, we don't have the money to take risks." Peng Zhicheng, the new member of the Army Commission, was the first to object.

Wang Qinian, a member of the Navy, is still a bare-bones at present, and the Yunsheng No. 1 and the tugboat cannot be used for the time being, so he has his eye on the Dutchman's ship. "Since ancient times, the Dayu River has been an inalienable and sacred territory of our country, and the armed merchant ship Orange River illegally invaded China's domestic river with weapons, causing extremely serious consequences. I express my strong indignation at this. In the case of these intruders, I believe that they should be immediately arrested and their tools confiscated. ”

Ahem...... Wang Qinian's shameless words caused a cough among the members of the executive committee.

The military's opposition did not dampen the enthusiasm of the other members of the Executive Committee. The Commissioner of Agriculture said that he needed cattle, sheep, horses, and various seeds; The Industry Commissar said that there was a need for copper, iron, fur, graphite and other production materials; The material committee expressed the need for daily necessities such as cloth, medicine and tools; The Transport Commissioner said there was a need to bring in much-needed technical talents; In the end, even Peng Zhicheng felt that he needed to buy some artillery to enrich the planned fort.

Ma Qianzu summed it up in the end: "We need a population!" Comrades, we need a large population! Workshops, mines, lumberyards, farms and even the army, where is there no need for manpower? I think we should talk to them about immigrants or slaves. ”

There was no suspense in the final vote: 8 votes in favor, 3 votes against, and the proposal passed.

With a smile on his face, Gaumo arrived at the shantytown where the Dutch were temporarily housed.

"Gao, you're finally here. Hopefully you're not bringing bad news. Kuat, who had been waiting for him for a long time, stood up suddenly. He and his sailors had been under house arrest for three days, and he even thought at one point that they would be secretly executed by this group of barbarians. Thankfully, things didn't seem to be going the worst he feared.

"Ha, in the name of the Executive Committee, the ruler of this land, you and your sailors will be treated fairly." "You'll get plenty of food, water, and even wine, and you'll need to repair the ship yourself, and we'll take care of the timber, which is, of course, fresh untreated wood." ”

"Thank God." The ungodly Captain Kuait praised the Lord from the bottom of his heart at this moment. "These Tatartan barbarians must have been influenced by the Lord." He thought to himself.

"And, after my efforts, the Executive Committee has agreed that Dutch ships will henceforth be free to anchor in our harbor and receive supplies." "As far as I know, there is a state of war between your country and Spain. Once you can get supplies from us, your ships will have half the range of your ships attacking Santiago, Lima, and Guayaquil. ”

Cuat's face became solemn, "What do you need to risk offending the Spaniards?" The United Provincial Republic is fighting for freedom, what about you? ”

"The Spaniards are also our enemies." "The governor of Peru is a greedy man, the Spaniards have established small trading posts in Montevideo, and Jesuit missionaries have even penetrated into the interior. And there can only be one owner of this land, and that is the Executive Committee. We will never give in, maybe the Spaniards, maybe the São Paulo, sooner or later the conflict will break out. ”

Kuait looked at Gaumo with incredulous eyes, and in his opinion, the Tatars (or the Indians?) was so arrogant as to challenge the Portuguese and Peruvian governors over the east coast of La Plata. "But who cares?" "At least until we are destroyed by the Spaniards," he said, "they will indeed be able to provide us with the supplies we need for our voyages, so that the mortality rate of our crews will be greatly reduced." What we need to give, maybe just a little kindness? ”

"Also, we want to trade with you. Cattle, sheep, horses, copper, iron, lead, population, everything we need, as long as you can bring it, we can buy it. You can even dispose of the loot to us, and then fill us with porcelain and return to Europe. Gaumore said.

"Porcelain?!" Cuat's face finally changed. He was well aware of the price of a beautiful piece of Chinese porcelain in Europe, which was absolutely staggering. Except for the royal family and nobles, ordinary people don't even have to think about it. And, the point is, this thing has a price, and it is in short supply!

"Yes, authentic Ming porcelain, I can even show you a sample." Apparently prepared, he took out a round porcelain plate from the leather bag he was carrying. This is a modern production of imitation of the Qing Dynasty Qianlong period export blue and white porcelain plate, the upper half of the plate is painted with one of the founders of the Protestant Reformation Martin Luther bust, left and right are two angel boys, the lower half is the portrait of Martin Luther lecturing.

Not only Kuat, but even the first mate and boatswain behind him immediately became breathing rapidly after seeing this blue and white porcelain. Such a religious-style fine Chinese porcelain can definitely sell for sky-high prices in Protestant areas such as Germany.

"This set of cutlery includes a total of 66 pieces of soup plates, dinner plates, fish plates, fruit plates, salad bowls, soup bowls, sauce dishes, salt shakers, etc., and is priced at only 500 ducats." After careful calculation, the executive committee gave a guide price of 200 ducats, which is the price of a Spanish thoroughbred military horse.

Kuaite silently calculated in his heart: "The price of 500 ducats is too high, and the cost of buying such a set of porcelain from Guangzhou will never exceed 30 ducats." ”

"No, no, no, it can't be counted like that." Gaumo interrupted with a smile, "Starting from Guangzhou, passing through Batavia, crossing the Cape of Good Hope, and then arriving in Amsterdam, not only is it a long journey, but you will also face the danger of being attacked by the Spaniards, Portuguese, English and even the French, and you will most likely lose your life and lose your life." Now that you are returning to Amsterdam from us via Guyana, no one knows that you are carrying precious porcelain, and that the distance is near, saving you a lot of trouble. Moreover, this religious style of porcelain will never sell for less than 1,500 ducats in the Netherlands, and in Germany you can even sell it for 2,000-3,000 ducats. ”

Cuait was a little moved, but calm. However, the first mate and boatswain behind him could no longer hide their excitement, such a high profit, although the majority of the money must have been earned by the captain and the merchants, but they would not get a small share of the profits.

"500 is too much." Kuaite took a deep breath, "250 ducats, no more, I don't have enough money." ”

After some modest bargaining, the two sides finally agreed on a price of 350 ducats. The proviso is that the Traveler must give the Traveler exclusivity, and the Kouite must be loaded with the goods specified by the Traveler to trade.