Lin Yueshan walked to the door of the reception room on the second floor on the east side, and saw the prince Zheng Zheng in a red python suit at a glance, so he bowed his hand and saluted with a smile: "The prince is well, how can I come here today, don't you take advantage of the rainy day to have a drink?" ”

Zheng Zheng, who was only 35 years old, had a stiff expression on his face today, he returned a salute to Lin Yueshan, and quickly stepped aside and said, "If the ambassador wants to drink, why don't you go to Yingyue Tower another day to taste this year's new wine, but today." ”

Zheng Zheng's words stopped abruptly, and he stood aside in a proper manner, letting go of an elderly servant wearing a green coat and a small hat behind him. Lin Yueshan looked at it in surprise, only to realize that this servant was actually the 64-year-old Zheng Jie, the king of the Qing capital, who is the Zheng lord of today's North Vietnam. He suddenly didn't dare to salute the thin old man again and greeted: "Why is the King of Qingdu dressed like this? ”

Zheng Jie glanced at Lin Yueshan and was sure that the shock on the envoy's face was at least seven points faked. He couldn't help but sigh a little in his heart, the envoy was not very surprised by his arrival, obviously he was quite unoptimistic about the situation faced by the Zheng family, so the next negotiations would probably be extremely difficult.

Thinking so, Zheng Jie said in extremely stiff Chinese to Lin Yueshan: "Our Zheng clan has encountered some small troubles at the moment, but as a result, many snakes, insects, rats and ants have crawled out of the city, I don't want these people to know about my visit to you, lest they continue to speculate wildly, making the people in the city panic, and there are many more incidents, so I changed my clothes and came to see you." ”

Lin Yueshan looked left and right, only to find that the personnel in the embassy had been driven out of the reception room, and only the Zheng father and son were in the room, and even Chen Shangjiu, who was following him, was stopped outside the room. He turned back to Chen Shangjiu outside the door and soothed him, asking him to wait outside for a while, then turned his head back and looked at Zheng Jie and said: "If the king of Qingdu has any instructions, it is better to sit down and say slowly, in fact, if you have something, it is okay to let the prince pass a few words, if it is really not good, let me run." Let you run to the door like this, the foreign official is really a little scared..."

Although Lin Yueshan really wanted to chat with Zheng Jie for a few words to frustrate the other party's spirit. But the head of the Zheng family seemed to have seen through his thoughts, directly interrupted his nonsense, and said to him directly: "I need Daming's help." ”

Under the gaze of the other party, Lin Yueshan couldn't prevaricate any longer, so after pondering for a while, he said calmly: "Da Ming's help is not gratuitous, what kind of price do you plan to pay, King of Qingdu?" ”

Zheng Jie thought for a while and said: "I know that the Ming Dynasty has suffered a lot of famines in the past two years, and I am willing to change the grain contract signed with the previous country, and the price will remain the same, but the amount of grain sold annually has doubled to six million stones, what do you think?" ”

Lin Yueshan was greatly disappointed when he heard this, he leaned back, and said in a lengthened tone: "It seems that the sincerity of the King of Qingdu is not great, the price of grain in Vietnam seems to have never exceeded 0.35 Ming Yuan per stone in the past few decades, and the unit price we gave you at the beginning was 0.5 Ming Yuan per stone." So the beneficiary of this grain contract is Vietnam, not the Ming Dynasty.

Daming will not be a famine year every year, so the increase in grain prices is not a good thing for Daming. King Qingdu, do you want us to help you for free? The grain trade between the Ming Dynasty and Vietnam is also a business, and we are afraid that we will not be able to buy grain with the silver of white flowers? ”

The prince Zheng Zheng suddenly couldn't help but interject: "But if there is no Zheng family, how can the merchants of the Ming Dynasty be able to transport so much food security out of Vietnam?" Isn't this the benefit of Daming? What's more, this peasant rebellion was also caused by the Ming merchants' private large-scale purchase of grain, doesn't your country have no responsibility at all? ”

Although Lin Yueshan has a good relationship with this prince on weekdays, on this occasion, Lin Yueshan said without giving face at all: "The prince is probably mistaken, for Daming, the Zheng family is not the only choice. What we need is a regime that can stabilize the situation in Vietnam and maintain friendly relations between the two countries. As for whether this regime has the surname Zheng, the surname Nguyen, or something else, in fact, there is not much difference. ”

"You..." Zheng Zheng was about to get angry, but was stopped by his father Zheng Jie, "Okay, Ambassador Lin is just joking with you, what do you really know, stand aside."

Ambassador Lin, the Ming Dynasty is rich all over the world, and Vietnam is just a small state outside the country, except for a little rice, other products are not very rich. You asked me to tell me a price, and I only thought of one when I thought about it, so why don't I ask for it to be included? ”

Lin Yueshan was startled at first, but he quickly reacted, he laughed a few times, and then said: "King Qingdu, your mind is too delicate, just by virtue of your letter, you want Daming to pay for you to do day work, is this in the past?" ”

Zheng Zheng on the side suddenly changed his face when he heard this, but Zheng Jie's face remained unchanged and replied: "Since Emperor Xuanzong revoked the Annan Xuanwei Division, this is the first time that my Dayue has submitted a request to attach it, even if Ambassador Lin is not rare, isn't it rare for His Majesty the Emperor?" ”

Lin Yueshan looked at the other party and shook his head and said: "I'm afraid the King of Qingdu is really wrong this time, I really have no intention of annexing this place in Vietnam, as for His Majesty the Emperor's thoughts, I remember that His Majesty said such a thing."

If you get the land but not the people, you can't call it a gain; It can also be said that it can be said to win its people but not its land. According to His Majesty's intentions, with the rebellious heart of the Vietnamese people against my Ming Dynasty, it is meaningless to just get a nominal attachment.

Vietnam is neither a key point of mountains and seas, nor a vast and sparsely populated place, so what good is it to incorporate such a piece of land into China, except for the fact that my Ming Dynasty suddenly increased by millions of rebels? ”

Zheng Ji stared at Lin Yueshan intently for a long time, looking at the other party's eyes that did not avoid it at all, and finally asked a little tiredly: "So what benefits does the noble envoy want to help the Zheng family?" ”

Lin Yueshan replied with a smile: "The King of Qingdu said that he was laughing, I am just an envoy, how can He De help the Zheng family?" The only one who can help the Zheng family is Da Ming. ”

Zheng Jie finally shook his head with a wry smile and said, "Your envoy is really leaky, so what conditions does Da Ming want to help my Zheng family get out of the predicament in front of me?" ”

Lin Yueshan was cautious at this time, and after thinking for a while, he said: "It's better for the King of Qingdu to tell me first, how far do you want Daming to help, so that I can have a comparison." ”

Zheng Jie's visit to the Ming envoy this time was at least to use the shipping power in the hands of the Ming merchants to transport the army of Lanjiang back, and secondly, to hope that the Ming could continue to support the Zheng clan in the power of Thang Long Fu.

After listening to Zheng Jie's appeal, Lin Yueshan thought about it and put forward three requirements, one is to ask for a part of the management of the Red River shipping, before the Ming Dynasty only obtained the shipping rights of the Red River, for this most convenient passage to the sea in Yunnan, Kunming has long wanted to expand the shipping capacity of the Red River, but unfortunately it has been blocked by Vietnam, this time Lin Yueshan is naturally not polite.

The second is to demand the expansion of the area of prospecting and mining rights, and obtain the priority right to develop coal and iron ore mines; The third is to demand that Yongxian be opened up as a free port and that Chinese businessmen be given a certain degree of autonomy.

After listening to Lin Yueshan's three-point request, Zheng Jie's face also darkened slightly, and he immediately spoke: "Your envoy put forward such a condition, doesn't he treat my country as a piece of pork that is arbitrarily slaughtered on the cutting board?" What is the difference between such conditions and the attachment of China?"

Lin Yueshan didn't show any embarrassment, he replied with the same expression: "Of course, there is still a difference, at least the Shenglong Mansion is still surnamed Zheng, and it will always belong to the Zheng family in the future, and the powers that the Ming Dynasty is asking for now are originally things that the Zheng family cannot grasp."

The king of Qingdu should think about it, if it weren't for our support, would the power I just mentioned still return to the Zheng family's hands? In fact, what we took away was not what was in the hands of the Trung family, but part of the power of the country of Vietnam. Without our help, the Zheng clan could still control the country, so you can ignore the request I just made.

But without our help, the Zheng clan would no longer be able to control the country. So with all due respect, what we took away was nothing more than what we deserved, not the interests of the Zheng family, isn't it? King of Qingdu. ”

Zheng Jie was speechless for a long time, and only after a long time did he nod and said, "What your envoy said is not unreasonable, but the matter is big, should we discuss the specific content again?" For example, to what extent does the Ming Dynasty want Chinese businessmen to have autonomous power in Yongxian, and so on. ”

After making sure that the other party had finally relented, Lin Yueshan finally showed a sincere smile and said, "King Qingdu, after the general framework is set, why don't you let the people below talk about the detailed content?" I think we have more important things to discuss, such as how to exterminate the Nguyen brothers who occupied Shanxi and Bac Ninh, and how to quell the rioters who are now rioting in various places. ”

Zheng Jie glanced at his son who was standing aside and said, "Then I'll let Zheng Zheng be in charge of the negotiation." Lin Yueshan got up and walked to the door, called Chen Shangjiu, who was waiting outside, in, and then introduced him to Zheng Jie's father and son, and said: "The negotiator of our new treaty is in charge of this Mr. Chen Shangjiu..."

(. = )