After hearing Liu Fan's agreement, several Portuguese people were very excited, and warmly invited Liu Fan and his party to their flagship, the closer they got to this sail battleship, the more shocked Liu Fan became. This is a huge warship with a height of more than ten meters and two decks, and its powerful firepower can be seen from the dense muzzles on its side alone, such a hideous beast, once fired, how powerful is it? Originally, Liu Fan thought that he could sweep across the Central Plains with hundreds of various artillery, and there would be no hindrance, but when he saw that there were so many cannons on one ship, he thought of the Netherlands, which was known as the "coachman of the sea". At least a hundred of these warships, maybe more and bigger? I suddenly felt empty in my heart, and the person who stepped on the horse really had to die more than people, and the goods had to be thrown away!

The mood was a little confused and followed Jia Xiuli, Menezes and others to step on the battleship, a few people didn't seem to see Liu Fan's face, still enthusiastically introduced to Liu Fan, it turned out that the flagship name is "St. Martin" is the largest warship in service in Macau now, it is a typical Portuguese galleon, and the service time has been as long as 8 years.

Liu Fan was shocked and asked, "8 years of service?" So how old is he? How big is the largest warship in Europe right now? ”

Fleet Commander Menezes heard Liu Fan's words, and said with a smile: "Although this "St. Martin" has the same name as our Portugal's most glorious native main flagship, in fact, he is just a small and medium-sized warship of less than 500 tons, and even a little outdated, this battleship is 46 meters long, 12 meters wide, 5 meters draft, and a total of 50 cannons on the double deck, including 15 32-pounder guns, 15 12-pounder guns, 14 6-pounder guns, and 6 3-pounder guns. When fully loaded, the crew can reach more than 200 people, which is barely a third-class battleline battleship according to the current division. The other two are sister ships, and they are about the same size. The biggest battleship! As far as I know, the 1,200-ton "Prince Royal", launched in England in 1610, carried a total of 55 cannons weighing 83 tons. But that was nearly twenty years ago, and I don't really know how far the latest cutting-edge warships in Europe have developed now! We, Portugal, are no longer the hegemon of Europe! Besides, Macau is too far from Europe! At the end of the speech, the tone was already full of sighs!

Jia Xiuli interrupted Menezes' words with an ugly face, and said directly to Liu Fan, "General! I heard that you are interested in buying some warships, but I wonder if it's true? ”

Liu Fan nodded and said, "Hmm! Yes, there is this intention! But what I need most now is merchant ships, not warships, if you can sell me one of these three ships!" I'm still happy to buy it! ”

Jia Xiuli laughed dryly and said, "Your Excellency the General said that you are laughing!" Xiang Xiang has very few such warships in Macau, and I have no right to sell them! If you want a merchant ship, I'll sell you some! ”

Liu Fan shook his head and said, "Then forget it!" In fact, I bought merchant ships to understand the differences between the Ming Dynasty and European merchant ships, so as to facilitate improvement. Now what I need is an offshore ship, the big and small fortune ships of the Ming Dynasty, the sand boats are enough, and they are all Western ships, which is easy to cause misunderstanding of the Ming sailors, it is not good for us, and it is easy to cause trouble! ”

Jia Xiuli nodded with some disappointment: "I see! That's a shame! ”

Liu Fan said with a smile, "The boat can't be bought, we have other projects to work on!" There is an old saying in the Ming Dynasty called "Gift Exchange", since you invited me to visit your warship, then I will also return the gift! So be it! At noon, I set up a banquet in the garrison mansion, first, to catch you from the wind and wash the dust, and secondly, to discuss our future cooperation. ”

Jia Xiuli was overjoyed when he heard this: "Then thank you, General!" ”

Liu Fan laughed: "You're welcome!" Be sure to be there on time in a moment! Then I'll take my leave! "Then he took everyone off the boat and returned to Shihe!

At noon, Liu Fan invited Jia Xiuli and others, as well as missionaries such as Sun Yuanhua and Tang Ruowang to gather in the garrison mansion and set up a banquet to entertain them. At the banquet, Liu Fan, as the host, raised his glass and said, "First of all, welcome these guests from Portugal, Mr. Jia Xiuli, Commander Menezes and captains, thank you for your help, bring me Daming, and bring me Liu Fan advanced Western technology. I would like to give you a toast! After drinking the wine in the cup, everyone raised their glasses when they saw Liu Fan so polite!

Liu Fan continued to say to Jia Xiuli and the others: "I already know your intention to come this time, and you Portugal and Macao have always been of great help to our Ming Dynasty!" As for your request for trade, I discussed it with the prefect, Sun Yuanhua, and I think it's still feasible! But first of all, I can only represent myself, on behalf of Shandong Jiaozhou! The affairs of the Ming Dynasty are still in the hands of His Majesty the Emperor! If you agree, we can move on! What do you guys think? ”

Jia Xiuli thought for a moment when he heard this, stood up and said, "This time, we are here with an attitude of cooperation!" In our current state of affairs in Portugal, we do not have the strength to sign a treaty of trade with such a powerful country as the Ming Dynasty! It's satisfying to be able to get the favor of the general! ”

Liu Fan nodded with satisfaction and said, "If that's the case, then we have the possibility of further cooperation!" So be it! Wait for the banquet to end! I will send someone to discuss the terms of cooperation with you! Now let's enjoy the banquet first! ”

Hearing Liu Fan's words, although Jia Xiuli and the others were a little anxious, but it was not easy to refuse, before coming to Bai Laila had already told them some Ming etiquette, in order not to leave a bad image for Liu Fan, several people had to wait patiently, Liu Fan looked at a few Portuguese anxious and impatient looks and did not say anything, continued to drink and have fun, asked all kinds of questions and interesting things about Europe with interest, the banquet went on for nearly two hours Liu Fan saw Jia Xiuli and others couldn't help but announce the end.

As soon as the banquet ended, Jia Xiuli and others couldn't wait to find Liu Fan and asked him to send someone to discuss cooperation. Liu Fan was not easy to refuse, so he directly sent Wu Tao as the main envoy, and Bai Laila negotiated with them as the interpreter.

The reason why Liu Fan did not come forward in person was also because of his own considerations, firstly, as the commander of the Broken Army, the actual controller of Jiaozhou, Shandong, it was inevitable that he would lose his identity to personally participate in the negotiations. Second, Wu Tao, as Liu Fan's most trusted subordinate, is fully capable of fully understanding Liu Fan's meaning and taking on the heavy responsibility of negotiation. The third is to leave a buffer room for negotiations, once there are conditions for both parties or Liu Fan to feel that they are at a loss, Liu Fan can come forward to refuse on the grounds of ignorance! (To be continued.) )