"Dear Directors,

I have to say that I'm very depressed right now, I haven't made even the slightest bit of progress. I must say that the Chinese Count is very shrewd, but he feels too arrogant. It made me feel very uncomfortable.

The Count was very adamant in his demands for the construction of the Merchant Station, as if he was willing to trade with the Company, but he was unwilling to get too close to his citizens. I don't know why, maybe it's some kind of bias, but I have to admit that it did put me in some kind of predicament.

I have been surveying the capital city of Nanking for many days, and it is an incomparable metropolis, with a population of more than one million, which is much larger than any great city in Europe. The amount of goods coming in and out of the country every day is staggering, and I estimate that the grain trade alone is more than 40 million guilders per year, which is more than the amount of grain that our country sends to Britain and Liberia every year combined.

If it could cut into this trade, the prospects of the East India Company were immeasurable. So I decided, if I could not obtain free passage in the ports of China, I would like the Count to ask for at least the privilege of cutting into the grain trade.

That's it, your João! ”

After the first day of negotiations, Nassau reported to the directors of the East India Company with some dismay, and explained why he would change his approach, and then he rested, no longer in the mood to write to his mistress.

The next day, negotiations continued, and Nassau finally relented on the issue of cannon smiths, and promised to help hire a team of no more than ten cannon smiths, who would guarantee the skill level of these people, but the related expenses had to be paid by Yang Chao.

In return, Yang Chao agreed to the East India Company to reduce tariffs on silk and other textiles to 30 percent, but was absolutely unwilling to reduce tariffs on raw materials such as raw silk and monopoly products such as porcelain.

The reason for not reducing raw silk is that Yang Chao prefers Westerners to directly use the silk products of the Ming Dynasty, ordinary silk and silk can be used as consumer goods for the middle class, and high-end fabrics such as Yunjin and Song Jin can be supplied to the aristocracy and exported raw silk. It did not help to improve the industrial productivity of the Ming Dynasty.

As for porcelain, the 300 percent tariff is all because it has to take into account the purpose of cracking down on Japanese porcelain production, otherwise Yang Chao may even raise it to 1,000 percent.

A threefold tariff is enough to create a price advantage over Japanese porcelain. After all, Japan produces porcelain, has always needed to import porcelain clay to the Ming Dynasty, after cutting off the supply of porcelain clay to Japan, the cost of porcelain produced in Japan reached five times that of Ming porcelain, after Zheng Zhilong's dumping in the Japanese market in the past two years. The Japanese porcelain industry was almost bankrupt, and now the Dutch had no choice but to import one way from the Ming Dynasty, so Yang Chao resolutely refused to budge.

But silk products are different, the export of finished products, the first can promote the development of the textile industry, the second is to let a large number of workers get jobs, the industrial revolution is from the textile industry, that is, because the textile industry is a labor-intensive industry, the development of this industry will make the population concentrated. As a result, urbanization will create new demand, and the driving effect of marginal expansion is immeasurable, so Yang Chao would rather lose part of the tariff loss than reduce the export tariff on silk fabrics.

For Nassau, the silk fabric technology of the Ming Dynasty has always stood at the top of the world, and he could not get the promise of reducing the tariff on raw silk, and it was also a reward to get silk fabrics at a low price, so he also accepted it. In exchange for helping to hire artillerymen in exchange for a reduction in silk tariffs.

However, Nassau wanted to get the privilege of exporting grain to the Ming Dynasty, and Yang Chao neither agreed nor refused, saying that this could be negotiated. But it was up to the East India Company to come up with reciprocal power in exchange.

"I wonder what kind of support the Earl would like the East India Company to provide?"

Nassau asked, the East India Company was able to provide limited help to the Eastern monarchs, in India was to protect the Muslim nobles from pilgrimage to the Holy Land, but China obviously did not need this kind of maritime force guarantee, and Zheng Zhilong's banner was a pass to the China Sea.

"The colony of the East India Company, or what you call it. I need to get a reciprocal trade with the East India Company. ”

Yang Chao said with a smile, took a sip of tea after speaking, and admired with interest Nassau's expression becoming extremely ugly.

The rule of the Dutch East India Company in the colonies can be described as extremely unauthentic, to put it bluntly, through violent means, brutally control the natives of the South Seas, the natives can only produce spices in the way agreed by the Dutch, and finally sell spices at the price set by the Dutch, when the inhabitants of the Banda Islands sold cardamom at a higher price to European merchants outside Java and the Netherlands, all 10,000 inhabitants of the island were killed by the Dutch, and more than 800 people were taken to Batavia as slaves.

By means of this terrorist threat, the Dutch monopolized the spice trade, charging a higher profit margin than the Portuguese and the British, and selling their spices to Europe could earn seven times as much profit.

Although high-end porcelain and silk fabrics were sold to the aristocracy at a higher profit margin, the spice trade was as much a commodity as raw silk and cotton cloth, and it was a blood-pumping trade to earn seven times the profit.

Compared with the spice trade, the profit margin is about 170 percent of cotton cloth, and more than 300 percent of raw silk, and it is obvious that spices are the most important.

And Yang Chao, with the principle of reciprocal commerce, asked the Dutch to open up the trade of the Spice Islands, and it is no wonder that Nassau has changed color.

"Honorable Count Zhongyi, the East India Company cannot agree to your request!"

Nassau gritted his teeth and refused, although this might cause a breakdown in the negotiations, he could not agree, or even consider it, after all, the trade status of porcelain and raw silk pinched by the Chinese was not enough compared to the spices that brought the East India Company five to seven times the profits every year in his own hands.

"Okay then. Since the East India Company is unwilling to accept me to trade in the Spice Islands, I think you should understand how excessively your demands are for establishing a base in our coastal waters. ”

Yang Chao sighed.

Nassau said: "It is entirely in our mutual interest, and it is not in your interest for the East India Company to establish a merchant house." ”

Yang Chao said: "There is no room for negotiation on this issue. Speaking of this today, on the day of the arrival of the East India Company's gunsmiths, the tariff on silk was immediately reduced to thirty percent. As for the grain trade you mentioned, if the East India Company could agree to one condition on my part, it would not be impossible to negotiate. ”

Nassau hurriedly said, "What are the conditions of the earl?" ”

Yang Chao said coldly: "Prohibit the trade of tin!" ”

Nassau was stunned: "Please allow me to think about this." ”

The negotiation came to an end, and Yang Chao was a tough opponent at the negotiation table, but after the negotiation ended, Yang Chao was the enthusiastic Earl of Daming, and asked Nassau to go to the Golden Hairpin Tower to watch Chinese art, and asked the tea girl to perform the tea ceremony for him, etc.

Nassau is in a much better mood today, and although the main goal has not been fully achieved, there is still a lot of progress.

The reason why he was so depressed yesterday was not that he was not calm enough, on the contrary, he was an experienced manager, and his mentality should not fluctuate so violently, but he attached too much importance to China, and now the East India Company's most profitable trading hall is the Japanese Commercial Building, but everyone knows that China is a hundred times larger than Japan, Japan has the reputation of the country of silver, and the Ming Dynasty is known as the silver black hole, if you can knock out a little bit of wealth in this black hole, it is a huge profit.

The so-called concern is chaos, and Yang Chao's toughness yesterday made him see that there were signs of a breakdown in the negotiations, so he was frustrated.

However, today, Yang Chao's attitude eased slightly, and at least agreed to exchange the cannon casting craftsmen for a reduced tax rate on silk, and expressed that he could accept the Dutch to cut into the grain trade, which was great news.

It's just that Nassau still has to think about it.

"Dear Directors,

There was a new development, and by my hard work the Count promised to reduce the duty on silk and silk of all kinds to thirty per cent, but I had to promise on behalf of the East India Company to recruit for the Count the most skilled artillerymen in the West, and I do not think it would be a difficult problem for the Directors.

Another development was that the Count was relenting about the grain trade, but made a very special request, he demanded that the tin trade be banned. The profit margin of the company from trafficking tin to Taiwan is one hundred and fifty percent, and if it is lost, it is obviously a very painful loss for the company. But in view of the volume of the grain trade in China, there should be a great chance of compensating for this loss, so I must make a detailed assessment, and if it shows that the grain trade can fully compensate for the loss of the tin trade, and that there is a large surplus, I intend to accede to the Count's request. ”

Nassau again wrote letters to discipline his work, and these letters were eventually sent back to the Netherlands in one go, equivalent to his work report.

China's grain trade volume is huge, because there are too many people, Nanjing alone has a population of one million, and based on the annual consumption of five quintals of grain per person, calculated at the price of two taels and one quintal, the annual grain trade volume of Nanjing alone has reached 10 million taels.

One tael of silver is about three guilders, and there is a trade volume of 30 million guilders in just one year, so I am not afraid that Nassau will not be moved.

However, Yang Chao allowed the Dutch to intervene in the Ming grain trade, which is also good for himself, after all, he has worked hard for so long, but he still can't suppress the price of grain, the summer grain has come down, Yang Chao has only stabilized the price of grain at about two taels through various means, far less than the price of one tael of silver and a load of grain a few years ago.

The key is the loss of Huguang, so that Jiangnan lost the big granary, although self-sufficiency can still be self-sufficient, but the price is much higher, if the Dutch can bring more grain from the Nanyang area, replace Huguang's original position, Jiangnan grain prices can be lowered.

However, Yang Chao's request to ban the tin trade is a bit strange.

Nassau would never have imagined that tin was banned because it was necessary to mint copper coins. (To be continued.) )