The current de facto ruler of the Ming Dynasty was finally escorted back to the palace at midnight by militia from a nearby imperial village.

Of course, such trifles are not worth mentioning.

Similarly, the prison country needs to be sick in bed because of the wind and cold in the sky, this kind of thing is not worth mentioning, everyone knows that the fiancé is a miracle doctor, in short, this whole thing is not worth mentioning, but because the prison country is sick in bed, so the next day in the palace summoned the English envoy......

It was her sister.

"That's not appropriate, is it?"

Zheng Zhilong looked at the British envoy who was saluting Little Lori, frowned and asked Yang Qing in a low voice.

"There's nothing wrong with it, they have a lot of queens there!"

Yang Qing said.

In fact, by the standards of Europeans, this is very suitable, and he doesn't have to trouble here, if he really sees the emperor, the Ministry of Rites still has to insist on kneeling and bowing, it doesn't matter if he sees a princess, these barbarians are willing to be on one knee on one knee! However, the Europeans in this era are not so hypocritical, not to mention the Portuguese kneeling to the Ming Emperor, even kneeling Xiangshan Zhixian is very refreshing, Xiangshan Zhixian beat them board, and they are also very happy to lie down. As for the original history, Margoni insisted on not kneeling down to the old dog, it was entirely because after turning around and seeing the true face of our Qing Dynasty, he was full of contempt for this Tatar chieftain from the bottom of his heart.

But Europeans in this era are really not so pretentious.

"Honorable Highness the Princess, this is our gift to the great, invincible, His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Empire!"

The British envoy Pushman said, holding the gift list.

The latter string is the standard name of the British Emperor for the Ming Emperor.

"Your Excellency, do you represent the East India Company or Charlie?"

Yang Qing asked suddenly.

Pushman looked at him with some surprise.

"Your Excellency the Marquis, the ship to London has not yet returned, but the East India Company is authorized to represent Great Britain in the East, so we may speak on behalf of His Majesty the King."

He laughs.

"That is to say, you still represent the East India Company and not Charlie, and your mandate seems unreasonable to us, and we will not recognize it, and must be Charlie's emissary to truly represent him. Then now we don't need to continue, the princess will hand over your gifts to His Majesty the Emperor, and we'll do the rest, and this audience is over! ”

Yang Qing said.

He guessed so.

It takes a year and a half to travel from China to England, even if it is fast, it will not be less than a year, and it is not enough to make Charlie, who will immediately become a dead ghost, and Charlie, who was beheaded by Cromwell, sent an envoy to Daming. This is still the East India Company, since it is only the East India Company, then there is no need to be too high-spec, and it is already considered an exceptional treatment for Princess Zhaoren to see.

"It's our rudeness!"

Pushman said sensibly.

This audience was completed, little Lori continued to go back to school with a grudge, and before leaving, she glanced at Yang Qing with dissatisfied eyes, it was obvious that this bastard made it impossible for him to skip school, and Yang Qing and Zheng Zhilong took Pushman out of the hall.

Theoretically, the rest should be taken over by the Ministry of Rites.

However, the East India Company was not a British government, they were just authorized merchants, but this authorization was unreasonable in the Ming Dynasty, so the nature of their status was immediately demoted from official envoys to ordinary merchants, since they were merchants, they did not need the Ministry of Rites. They dared to pretend to be tribute envoys, which should have been punished, but considering that they also admired the demeanor of the Ming Dynasty, and were forbidden to leave the port of trade simply as merchants, they thought that they could come as tribute envoys according to their own authorization, so this behavior can be forgiven. But he can't continue to pretend to be a tribute envoy, he can only be a merchant, and since he is a merchant, then this is a matter between the East India Company and the Nanyang Company, and the two backstage bosses of the Nanyang Company can talk to them.

"What do I want?"

Yang Qing said very simply.

"Your Excellency, this is oil palm seeds, we have purchased them for you from Africa, but because they are traded by land, the quantity is limited, the origin of this thing is in West Africa, and we can only purchase large quantities in Benin, and the ship we sent to London will return with more seeds together with His Majesty's emissary."

Pushman said as he took out a bag of oil palm seeds.

"Thanks!"

Yang Qing said with satisfaction.

The main production area of oil palm is in Benin, at this time Benin is one of the most powerful countries in Africa, of course, mainly by the black slave trade, the king of Africa sold African blacks to white colonists, and actually sold a number one African power, I have to say that this world is so strange.

"And what about the rest?"

He said.

"The cocoa beans you wanted!"

Pushman hurriedly handed him a larger pocket.

Yang Qing grabbed a handful, and his face changed instantly.

"Cooked?"

He sneered.

"Your Excellency the Marquis, this is not our doing, we also bought it directly from the Spanish merchants, and they don't give us anything to plant."

Pushman said.

"Do you think I'm stupid? Don't Italians plant? The French don't plant? Or is every cocoa tree in the jungles of South America guarded by Spanish soldiers? ”

Yang Qing shouted.

The cocoa bean was indeed originally monopolized by the Spaniards, but this monopoly was broken by the Italians at the beginning of this century, and the French had also begun to cultivate it, and the English refused to give him raw cocoa beans, just to open up a business channel, in case chocolate was as popular in Daming as it was in Europe, then they could make a lot of money by this trade.

"Your Excellency Marquis, let's go back and work hard."

Pushman hurriedly said.

Yang Qing didn't talk nonsense, nodded and threw the bag of cocoa beans to the attendants behind.

"Where's the horse?"

He went on to say.

"That's no problem, we've already brought you twenty Vari horses, it's just that the mortality rate is too high for long-distance shipping, so we have to have a serious discussion about the price of the horses."

Pushman said.

There's certainly no way to mess with this kind of trade.

In fact, the Nanyang Company also had its own merchant ships to India, but only in small numbers, and the main trade of the Nanyang Company at this time was to Batavia and Manila, where it traded with the Dutch and the Spaniards respectively. At most, it will go to Malacca, and the west of Malacca city rarely passes, and the maritime trade must have a stronghold, and without a stronghold, it is difficult for the Ming merchant ships to continue westward under the obstruction of the Dutch.

It was also difficult for British merchant ships to go east.

"And what about the Arabian horse, the Andalusian horse and the Sharma?"

Yang Qing said.

"Arabian horses are fine, but the latter two types of horses are too far to transport......"

Pushman said embarrassedly.

"To put it bluntly, it's still the price, do you think I care about the price? How much do you think this one is worth? ”

Yang Qing said as he took out a folding fan from his drawer and threw it to Pushman, who took it and opened it, and then let out an exclamation, the top tribute embroiderer of Daming embroidery on the fan made him seem to see a miracle in an instant. Although the East India Company was also purchasing fans from the Ming Dynasty for export, it was impossible for them to buy tribute only for the imperial palace, which was very different from the ones he resold.

"It's a tribute!"

Yang Qing said proudly.

"I'm still very generous to my friends, you get me Andalusian horses, Frisian horses, Sharmas, and especially Sharmas, and then I give the British East India Company the franchise of the Ming court embroidery in Europe."

He said.

War horses are actually not the most urgently needed.

After all, if he wants to clean to the north, then he must be suitable for the war horses in the north, and no matter how bad the Mongolian horses are, they are also the land that is chosen, and they must also be the most suitable. But the Shire horse is different, this giant horse is the best horse, whether it is ploughing land or pulling a cart, it is the best choice, I am afraid that in the future at least half a century, the traffic of the Ming Dynasty will still rely on the carriage. The problem is not so serious in the southern water network area, but in the north, it is definitely not possible to pull a horse without a heavy carriage, and the peak of the pack horse is of course this two-meter-high giant.

This was the backbone of Britain's 19th-century agriculture and road transport!

A million Shire horses pull the British Empire.

"Why not?"

Pushman said with a shrug.

They also need to reverse the trade deficit between the two sides as much as possible, the Ming hardly need any of their goods, they can only bring a large amount of gold and silver to exchange for the goods of the Ming Dynasty, which is obviously a loss, if they can use the horse trade to save some of it, of course.

"Also, I need cotton."

Yang Qing said.

"This one is more than happy to help!"

Pushman said without hesitation.

India is the most important cotton producing area, and they sell a large amount of cotton from India to Daming.

Yang Qing nodded with satisfaction.

The important reason for the reduction of grain production in Jiangnan is because they have gone to plant cotton, and with the development of the cotton spinning industry, this trend has expanded, which is definitely not good, food priority in this era, then it is replaced by imported Indian cotton, and it doesn't matter if you pay some gold and silver. What's more, Daming's cotton cloth is also on the export list, the British purchased cotton for Daming in India, and then Daming's textile mill weaved the cloth, and finally dumped it in India, which is perfect, at least the British cotton cloth was perfect before the dumping.

As for after the dumping of British cotton......

Then the war is settled.

Wouldn't it be perfect to knock the British out of India?

"But before we toast our friendship, we still have a problem to solve!"

Yang Qing said.

"Your Excellency the Marquis, please speak!"

Pushman hurriedly said.

He knew the big thing was coming.

"Our friendship needs a sign, a sign that we can show to the world, more precisely we need a city, a city built together."

Yang Qing stood up and walked to the map and said.

"So where does His Excellency the Marquis think it is appropriate?"

Pushman walked up to him, took a slight step back, and said.

"Here!"

Yang Qing patted the map and said, "Dragon Tooth Gate!" ”