Zheng Cai had just settled the envoy of Manila, Sevikos, the Taiwanese governor of the Dutch East India Company, Peter Natz, and others in the Siyi Pavilion, when he received a summons from the palace. As for the British East India Company's Methwald and others, they returned to their offices in Beijing.

In addition to Severcos, who represented Manila in exchanging new trade cooperation agreements with the Ming Dynasty, representatives of the Dutch East India Company and the British East India Company gathered in Beijing during this period, mainly to discuss with the Maritime Association the types and quantities of trade between the two sides and the means of payment for goods next year.

Manila did not negotiate business on behalf of Spanish merchants, so when Severcos set foot on Chinese soil again, he did not pay much attention to the cooperation between the two East India Companies and the Daming Maritime Association.

However, the Dutch East India Company and the British East India Company faced the same supplier - China and the same sales market - Europe, and the open and secret struggle between them was somewhat fierce.

The Dutch East India Company, with its strong maritime transport capacity, stable and high profits from its monopoly on the Spice Islands trade, and low-interest loans from the Dutch developed financial market, was enough to defeat the stunted British East India Company by commercial means, even without relying on their stronger military force in the South Seas.

Of course, the reason why the Dutch did not use force was not because they were merciful to their European compatriots, but because Batavia was at war with the Kingdom of Matalan, and they had no time to pay attention to the anti-Dutch alliance in Banten, consisting of the Kingdom of Banten, the British, and the Portuguese.

When the British East India Company's Asian headquarters were relocated to Tianjin, it became more difficult for the Dutch to threaten British merchants with force.

This year, after the Japanese shogunate broke into the Dutch East India Company, seized the Dutch merchant ships in Japan, demanded that the Dutch hand over the Dutch ships that had left Japan and did not know where to go, and refused to explain the reasons, Batavia did not dare to have an armed conflict with China.

It was in this situation that Batavia sent Peternat, who had good relations with the Chinese side, as its representative. On the one hand, it is to maintain the good trade and cooperative relations between the two sides; On the other hand, he also wanted Peternatz to inquire about China's views on Japan and what kind of position China would take in the event of a conflict between Japan and the Netherlands.

Batavia had these thoughts, so Peternats became somewhat humble when he negotiated trade with Chinese officials. We will no longer insist on last year's rude terms of trade, and will monopolize the exclusive trade privileges of certain categories of Chinese goods.

Methwold naturally couldn't guess what the Dutch were thinking, but his subordinates could still see the Dutchman's methods of co-opting Chinese officials. Methwold naturally thought that the Dutch, after being unable to expel the British East India Company from Asia by other means, began to engage in intrigues to win over the Chinese against them.

This is also the reason why the two sides were in peace in China, and the Dutch and British were cynical when they met on the way from Tianjin to Beijing. If it weren't for the opinion of the Chinese around him, the two sides would almost have a duel or two.

As the official in charge of the Chinese side, Zheng Cai actually wants to be a peacemaker, so that the two sides can calm down the fight and make money in harmony. But if he didn't open his mouth, it would have been fine for both sides to think that he was favoring the other, which would have made the quarrel more intense, and in the end he simply let it go.

After receiving the summons from the palace, Zheng Cai left the affairs at hand and hurriedly followed the visitor to a private residence outside Dong'an Gate.

Whether it is the Maritime Merchants Association or the Four Seas Trading Company, the quality flow of these merchants is too complicated, and even Chongzhen can't easily summon them into the palace. Therefore, Zhu Youzhen simply occupied Wang Chengen's house outside Dong'an Gate and turned it into a place specially used to meet with people with more complex identities.

And sometimes Chongzhen wants to talk more comfortably, and he will summon people to this house, he feels that talking to people here will not be as blunt and distant as in the palace. Obviously, what he wanted to have with Zheng Cai today was an informal conversation.

It was not the first time Zheng Cai had come to this house, so when he saw the emperor in his backyard study, he was not much surprised, but quickly bowed down.

Zhu Youzhen, who was standing in front of the bookcase with a book in his hand, looked up and saw Zheng Cai, then put down the book in his hand and said: "Excuse me, excuse me, come and sit down with me to talk about it, how is the Tianjin Wanshang Expo held this time?" ”

"Back to Your Majesty, the Ten Thousand Merchants Expo was very successful, the venue has always been crowded with people in the past half a month, it is said that the people who came to visit the Expo, the farthest from Denglai, Shandong. As for the merchants everywhere, it is even more difficult to calculate.

When the minister returned to the capital, he went to the steward who presided over the exposition to take a look at the summarized trade data. Good guys, the goods sold out at the fair alone are as much as 500,000 to 600,000 yuan. The amount of the signed trade contract is more than 980 yuan, and the deposit has been paid nearly 900,000 yuan..."

Zhu Youzhen listened to Zheng Cai's description of the grand occasion of the Tianjin Expo with great interest. Although he has obtained more accurate data in his hands, from Zheng Cai's description, he has a more intuitive understanding of the grand occasion of the expo.

After talking about the grand occasion of the expo, Zheng Cai turned the topic to his reception mission in Tianjin, and reported on the attitude of the Manila delegates to the private cooperation with Chinese businessmen. And he also mentions, in passing, the situation of saber-rattling between the Dutch and the British along the way.

After listening to Zheng Cai's report, Zhu Youzhen pondered for a while before he said to him: "You are still responsible for the contact with Manila, since both sides have reached such a consensus, then there should be no big problem in signing this cooperation agreement."

Next, I will give you a new mission. You go to the representatives of Lower Manila, the representatives of the Dutch East India Company, the representatives of the British East India Company, and see what their attitude is towards the current ban on overseas trade issued by the Japanese shogunate? Did they have the idea of forcing the shogunate to revoke the prohibition by force? ”

Although Zheng Cai's psychology was a little surprised, he quickly recovered his mood and said cautiously to Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, Yichen's understanding. The British and the Dutch both had trade with Japan, but the British had long been excluded from Japan, but the Dutch had good relations with the shogunate, so their trade in Japan was second only to that of our Ming merchants.

The British had long held a grudge against the shogunate, but their strength was not good, so they had to choose forbearance. The Dutch had good relations with the shogunate, and although there was a prohibition order, they should still try to intercede with the shogunate, and I am afraid that it would not reach the point of using force until the means of friendly negotiation were exhausted.

As for the Spaniards, they had no trade with Japan. Even if there were, it was Japanese merchants who went to Manila to trade. Therefore, the prohibition issued by the Japanese shogunate had little effect on the Spaniards.

According to the minister's observation of Manila, it is unlikely that the Spaniards will send troops to the trade ban issued by the shogunate. Manila now spends most of its energy on suppressing the rebellion of the southern Celestial Cults, and the other half on fighting the Dutch over the Spice Islands, and has no spare ability to provoke a powerful country like Japan.

Therefore, the Chancellor assumed that the British and Dutch were probably willing to use force against the Japanese shogunate, but the Spaniards would probably not be interested. ”

After Zhu Youzhen listened to Zheng Cai's analysis, he didn't speak, he turned around and pulled out a few scrolls of drawings from the porcelain ** on the side, and then handed them to Zheng Cai and said: "You can find someone to sell this map to them first, and they will have the motivation to use force against the shogunate." It is said that the Spaniards were always looking for Treasure Island in the East, and with this map, they were able to find the Treasure Island they had been looking for. ”

Zheng Cai spread out a scroll of drawings and found that it was a map of the Japanese archipelago, and the locations of more than a dozen gold mountains were marked on it. One of them was on an island, and the amount of gold and silver produced in a year made him shake his eyes a little.

Zheng Cai looked at Chongzhen in disbelief and asked, "Your Majesty, are all the gold mountains on this picture real?" It's not like it's just a scribble to fool those Westerners, right? ”

Zhu Youzhen leaned back in his chair and replied with a smile: "How could I do such a thing, the location of Jinshan on the map is naturally true." If it's a fake picture, they only need to verify it a little, won't it be exposed? ”

Zheng Cai was suddenly a little reluctant, "Since there are really so many gold mountains, why did Your Majesty ask your ministers to find someone to sell to them?" Isn't that cheaper for them? ”

Zhu Youzhen laughed and said, "Cheap? Except for Sado Kanayama, the other Kanayama are among the mountains of the Japanese archipelago, and if they can't completely conquer Japan, how can they pick up this bargain? ”

Zheng Cai was a little dumbfounded, but he quickly thought, "But Your Majesty asked the ministers to test them, isn't it planning to join forces with these Westerners to deal with the Japanese shogunate?" If the shogunate is really defeated, won't these mountains of gold have to be distributed to these Westerners? ”

Zhu Youzhen nodded and said, "You are right, I do plan to join forces with these Westerners to deal with the shogunate; It is indeed intended to give these mountains of gold to these Westerners.

However, I will not interfere with how these Westerners divide these gold mountains, and if anyone is stronger, even if he takes all the gold mountains into his arms, I will not say a word. Anyway, no matter which of them digs up the gold, it will always be spent on my Ming goods. ”

Although Zheng Cai could understand Chongzhen's meaning, he still felt in his heart that it was too wasteful to give the gold mountain to Westerners. However, in the face of Chongzhen, he still wisely put this kind of pain in his heart.