"Mr. Jones, welcome to Daming again!"

At the new Jiangkou wharf, a huge sea ship was parked at the berth, and a group of people walked down from it, it was the Dutch East India Company, and it was still that Jones who led the team.

Jones smiled, "Thank you, Lord Earl, for coming to welcome you." ”

Yang Chao didn't come to welcome them, but happened to be patrolling the works behind the dock.

"Mr. Jones, you're in good luck, if you can stay a few more days, Ben Jue invites you to visit Ben Jue's fort."

Jones immediately gave Yang Chao a rather aristocratic etiquette.

didn't care too much about Yang Chao's words, and said lightly: "Thank you so much, but please introduce a guest to the earl!" ”

After speaking, he let go of his body and let Yang Chao see a middle-aged man wearing typical Western aristocratic clothes behind him, with a black velvet jacket, white socks, a pair of high heels with wooden soles, and a woolen hat on his head, with a bright feather stuck in the hat.

"This distinguished guest is the most prestigious Duke of Nassau in the Netherlands."

Nassau!

Yang Chao couldn't help but be stunned, of course he had heard of this name after studying abroad, Nassau is a surname, but also a place name, a surname derived from a place name, a noble family.

And it is the most famous family in the Netherlands, in the customary saying of the Ming Dynasty, the Nassau family is a famous family in the Netherlands.

The Netherlands became independent from Spain and was led by the Nassau family, the first and second Dutch rulers, all members of the Nassau family, the first ruling William I, and even known as the father of the Netherlands.

Therefore, Nassau is a Dutch wealthy family, and it is the first wealthy family.

And the Nassau family also inherited the title of Prince of Orange from France, and was a famous family in the whole of Europe, and a few decades later, William III of the Nassau family was not only the Dutch ruler, but also called the king of England because of his wife, and spent his life fighting Louis XIV to the top, and completely strangled the hegemony that France had just established. Thus paving the way for British hegemony.

The Nassau family is a nobleman, and the Nassau in front of him is a duke, indicating that he is a high-ranking figure of the Nassau family.

"Nice to meet you. Duke of Nassau, welcome to Daming! ”

Yang Chao smiled lightly, looked into Nassau's eyes, and stretched out his hand.

Nassau didn't know what it meant, shaking hands wasn't very popular in those days. He just took off his hat, his front legs slightly bent, and his head slightly bowed.

After Jones translated, Nassau nodded and said, "It's also a pleasure to meet you, Count Zhongyi of the Ming Dynasty!" ”

Nassau spoke French, and although the Thirty Years' War in the West had not yet ended, the Holy Roman Empire and Spain had apparently been crippled, France had become the new hegemon, and French speaking had not yet become popular. But the Nassau family still knew French because they had a French noble title.

Yang Chao nodded, and also said in French: "Duke of Nassau, in order to show the welcome of this lord, this lord has set up a banquet for your Excellency. ”

Westerners actually have welcome banquets, but obviously the food culture of Westerners is not very developed, and banquets are basically balls and cocktail parties, and a large group of nobles will be entertained.

But since you are in China, you have to follow the rules of China and eat and drink. If you drink less, you won't be dry.

Today's wharf is not the wharf of a few years ago, not only have warehouses built on it, but also people run restaurants here.

Jinfeng Restaurant, opened by a Yangzhou person.

Yang Chao found the best private room. Located on the second floor, open the window to cover the area of the estuary of the river, facing the confluence of the Qinhua River and the Yangtze River.

The restaurant opened by Yangzhou people is naturally based on Yangzhou cuisine, with exquisite dishes and many patterns. It is mounted with precision porcelain.

Yang Chao could see at a glance that the Duke of Nassau was a little restrained, he didn't know how to use chopsticks, Yang Chao asked people to prepare a soup spoon for him, and he was particular about using a soup spoon, there was no fork.

Watching the Duke of Nassau eat clumsily with a fork, and paying great attention to etiquette, always secretly watching Yang Chao, how Yang Chao eats, how he eats, obviously worried that it will be rude.

There were thirty dishes in a row, eight soups, not the same at all, not even the dishes containing the soup, which made Nassau completely shocked.

China's thousands of years of food culture is not covered, but Yang Chao has not studied the Western food of this era, and if he knew that the menu of Louis XIV, which was known for its luxury, a few decades later, he would understand the shock of Nassau.

When Louis XIV entertained the most expensive guests, he basically had such a menu: soup: three old marinated chickens, three partridges boiled cabbage soup, six pigeons cream soup, cockscomb pie soup; Appetizer: pickled chicken and partridge; Interdish: 16 kg veal and side dishes, 12 pie-wrapped pigeons; Small dishes: 6 stewed chickens, 2 partridge ground meat, 3 small partridges with sauce, 6 charcoal grilled pies, 2 baked turkeys, 2 truffle chicks; The main meal consists of a roast and four flan with two marinated chickens, nine chicks, nine pigeons, two young pigeons, and six partridges; Dessert: two buckets of fruit, two dried jams, four candied fruits and jams......

Louis XIV can be said to be the founder and authority of Western etiquette culture, but his diet can basically be summarized in three ways: poultry, beef, and fruit salad, which can only be boiled, grilled, and eaten raw.

And Yang Chao feasted on the Yangzhou dishes of Nassau, fried, exploded, burned, fried, slied, boiled, boiled, steamed, stewed, simmered, stewed, stewed, grilled, baked, stir-fried, fried, collapsed, marinated, sauced, mixed, boiled, pickled, frozen, dregs, drunk, roasted, smoked, everything, which was specially prepared.

Obviously, Nassau, who was born before the time of Louis XIV, could not have imagined this, and Westerners actually paid attention to food culture, but they had not yet developed it, so in addition to meat is meat, plus fruit and jam, it is so simple and boring that it makes people sigh.

At the same time, it was obviously impossible to eat in Nassau with so much fine porcelain.

"Duke of Nassau, the hospitality is not good, the port is not as simple as in the city of Nanjing."

Yang Chao pretended to be forked and said.

Nassau nodded in acknowledgement: "It's very, very rich." ”

Yang Chao said with a smile: "It's still a little simpler, if there is, please ask the Duke to sit in the Nanshi Building in Nanjing City." ”

Nassau beats the snake and climbs the pole: "Contemptible João. Maurizio. Morality. Nassau, more than willing to accept the invitation of the Earl of Loyalty. ”

Yang Chao was stunned, it seems that he has long wanted to go to Nanjing.

Haha smiled: "I am very happy to receive the Duke of Nassau." ”

Jones, who was eating next to him, was happy in his heart, and sighed at the same time, in the end, this kind of old aristocrat has face, they have all gone to China, and they are still fragrant and spicy, Nanjing City said that he would enter, and he had worked hard for so long, and he had never had such an opportunity before.

"But before, Ben Jue officially invited the Duke of Nassau to visit the castle built by Ben Jue, and I believe you will not be disappointed."

No wonder Yang Chao couldn't wait to show off, the place he built in Xinjiangkou was finally completed, but this is not the main reason, the real reason is that this exchange was originally used to show the Dutch.

"It's an honor!"

Nassau accepted the invitation.

Settle Nassau and the group at the best inn on the docks.

In the evening, Yang Chao received a letter from Fujian.

It is about the background of this group of Dutch, especially which João. Nassau is the key figure.

It was not Yang Chao's intelligence network that was built in Fujian, but obtained it through the Zheng family.

As the only Westerner who did business with Yang Chao, Yang Chao had to know about the East India Company, so he had already greeted Zheng and asked them to inform him of the information of the East India Company.

In fact, Zheng also paid close attention to the movements of the East India Company, but the focus was different, in the past, Zheng only paid attention to the military movements of the East India Company, while Yang Chao was concerned about the operation of the East India Company.

The superstition sent by Zheng briefly introduces the background of this Nassau.

There is no doubt that this is a real nobleman, and his identity is not fake.

And this is a very strange aristocrat.

He is said to be strange because as a nobleman, he has a lot of wealth, and their family has a lot of shares in the East and West India Company, so it can be said that he can't eat it all his life, but he willingly went to Brazil and worked for the West India Company for seven years, until the seventeenth year of Chongzhen (1644) before returning to the Netherlands.

Brazil is an overseas colony of Portugal, but Spain has annexed Portugal since 1580, and Brazil has become a colony of the Spanish Empire, and the Netherlands is a Spanish territory, and its independence from Spain has not been recognized by Spain, so the two countries have been at war.

In this case, the Dutch had a legitimate reason to attack Brazil, and from 1620 onwards they captured Recife, the northeastern part of Brazil.

Like the East India Company, the Dutch had the privilege of running the Americas under an organization called the West India Company, whose armies occupied northeastern Brazil.

It's just that the West India Company's operations in northeastern Brazil have always been very unsatisfactory, and the profits have not been able to expand, so they sent this João . Nassau became the governor of Recife and administered the colony of Pernambuco, where Recife was located.

Nassau was very successful in its operations, building water conservancy facilities, buying black slaves from Africa to develop sugar cane plantations, and contributing to the local economy, but the West India Company, eager to make a profit, took measures to increase taxes, collect arrears from sugar mills, and desperately expand sugar production through forced labor, all of which did not agree with Nassau's philosophy, so he resigned.

I only returned to the Netherlands three years ago, and then this time I came to Daming.

What really interested Yang Chao was that it was said that this Nassau came to Daming this time, and was sent by the Dutch East India Company to communicate with Yang Chao on behalf of the East India Company, and they planned to use all means to expand the scale of trade with Daming. (To be continued.) )