"Yes, of course! The last time he promised to buy the Dutchman's warships, he had no reason to go back. But I hope that Your Excellency, with the personality of a gentleman, will never do anything degrading in terms of price. Benjue does not hide that in fact, our shipyard in Jiangkou is already able to build warships. The price is extremely fair, I wonder what price the Dutch are going to offer? ”

As soon as the negotiations began, Nassau went straight to the point, asking if the last agreement to order warships was still valid.

At that time, it was only a verbal agreement, and if the negotiations were not concluded and no treaty was signed, then all the terms could still be brought out and renegotiated.

Yang Chao's statement reassured Nassau, he can only think of a commodity of warships at present, the more familiar he is with the Ming market, the more he feels that this country does not need Western products.

"As for the price, I can't answer the question of the Earl for the time being. Formal accounting and evaluation are required. However, with the dignity and the credibility of the Nassau family, we guarantee that our prices are absolutely reasonable and fair, at least one percent lower than the ships you have purchased in your country. ”

Yang Chao sold the 4,000 quintal ships of Longjiang Shipyard for 50,000 taels of silver, and the first achievement was 5,000 taels, but that was to support the shipbuilding capacity of the Ming Dynasty, and Yao Craftsman dared to sell it for the first 30,000 taels.

Yang Chao nodded and said, "I'm very sure of this. Benjue also did not hide that the 4,000 warships I purchased from my country were 50,000 taels of silver, but at least 15,000 taels of silver were used to support the development of the shipbuilding industry. I would like the Dutch ships to be able to offer a discount on the price of thirty-five thousand taels. If this was sufficient, Benjue was willing to order a hundred ships from the Dutch. Moreover, Benjue wanted to get a bigger warship, so Benjue was willing to set aside a budget of five million taels of silver to be used as a special fund for the purchase of Dutch ships! ”

Nassau quickly calculated the exchange rate of silver and guilders, one tael of silver was about three guilders, and five million taels of silver was equivalent to one million and six hundred thousand guilders. This purchase amount was enough for the Dutch to trade for two years. Of course, based on this year's trade volume, if a trade agreement with the Chinese is successfully reached, the trade volume can only increase.

This is not possible to respond at this time. But since His Excellency the Earl is procuring ships in the shipyards of your country for fifty-two or four thousand materials, he wants us to give us a discount of thirty-five thousand taels. This kind of trade discrimination is difficult for our side to accept. It wasn't a fair deal, and I don't think the Count showed any sincerity. ”

Nassau said unceremoniously.

Yang Chao smiled: "Fifty thousand taels is fine, but I need a discount of twenty percent, I know that the Dutch are the country with the strongest shipbuilding capacity in the world." ”

Nassau calculated silently in his heart. In Europe, in addition to the Netherlands, that is, the main competitor, England, the Dutch ships are also a third to a half lower than them, and the shipbuilding industry of the Dutch has a standardization, systematization and standardization that others can imitate if they want to. With a high degree of standardization, the Dutch can build a boat in a day, which no one in the world can do except the Netherlands.

Nassau nodded at this time: "If it is according to the price of your country's ship, then I can accept a discount of 20%. ”

After the first agreement was reached, Nassau breathed a sigh of relief, which meant that the order for five million taels was in hand.

The negotiations went much smoother, and Nassau was granted a number of permits, such as permission to dock freely at various wharves on the Yangtze River, but the soldiers on board were not allowed to carry weapons in and out of the city at will, so as not to cause unnecessary conflicts. At the same time, Nassau received an order for 10,000 horses. Each horse was priced at three hundred taels, with a total value of three million taels of silver.

Even when Nassau once again asked for a permanent warehouse on the offshore islands of Jiangnan, it was granted, but Yang Chao put forward an additional condition.

That is, the Netherlands assisted the Ming to establish a university, covering mathematics, geometry, astronomy and navigation, and other universities in the deadliest Dutch universities, all the natural disciplines, and only took out one of them, theology, if the Dutch could provide this help, Yang Chao allowed them to set up a warehouse on the Zhoushan Islands in Hangzhou Bay, and allowed them to send no more than 500 unarmed staff.

To this request. Nassau did not immediately agree, but his inclination was to advise the East India Company to satisfy it at all costs, for he had already received an order of eight million taels. If this permanent stronghold closer to Jiangnan is built, then it is very promising to open up the Ming trade and get 10 million taels of trade per year, which means that the profits of the East India Company can at least double.

The negotiations were over, and Nassau immediately replied that he would remain in Daming. As a representative, and with the authorization of the Governor of the East India Company, he signed a formal treaty with Yang Chao.

After all the negotiations were over, Nassau had the heart to sort out what he had seen and heard during this time, and to write to his mistress again.

Jiangxi.

At the first time when the Jiangnan army was mobilized, Hong Chengchou received it.

At this time, Hong Chengchou was in the Southern Great Wall, and he was making careful calculations in his heart, but he was always in a dilemma.

The Jiangnan Army marched west from the north to the south, and one attacked Jiujiang along the river, with ten large ships and hundreds of brigs. The other way went straight to Nanchang.

The two armies, each with 30,000 elites, have been replenished after the last battle, and Hong Chengchou is in his hands, the real one who can fight is the Han army under the King of Sanshun, but the number is only 20,000, and it is still difficult to deal with the other party all the way, how to deal with the two roads, so Hong Chengchou is very difficult, and his best choice is to give up one place and focus on the other.

But where to give up?

In terms of geographical advantages, Nanchang should be abandoned, because without Jiujiang, Jiangxi will have no meaning.

Without Jiujiang, Hubei and Jiangxi would be blocked and become an isolated island surrounded by the Ming army.

However, Nanchang is the provincial capital, if it is lost, the political significance is too great, the criticism of Hong Chengchou in the DPRK and the central government is already very deep, and it is all up to Dolgon's support, if he loses Nanchang, Dolgon is unwilling to continue to support him, so he can only take him.

As a Han Chinese, and in a high position, it is too difficult.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this official asks you a question, what is the matter with the recruits in your hands, you must answer honestly."

Hong Chengchou had to determine the power in his hands, and had to let King Sanshun answer him truthfully.

Kong Youde sighed: "The recruitment of new recruits is less than a month, and the field battle naturally cannot be expected, even if you are afraid of defending the city, it will be embarrassing." ”

Shang Kexi and Geng Zhongming nodded, they also agreed with this point of view.

After Hong Chengchou received Dolgon's secret decree, he did not recruit an army by himself, but expanded the recruits into the team of King Sanshun, so that in the future, Baqi would not talk about expanding the army without permission to settle accounts with him, and as soon as Hong Chengchou changed hands, he threw the burden to King Sanshun.

However, King Sanshun is also willing to accept it, they can be prosperous and rich, don't they rely on having soldiers in their hands.

Now that Dolgon has a secret order to expand the army, it would be a fool not to seize such a good opportunity, and he missed this opportunity, and he wanted to expand his strength under the watchful eye of the Eight Banners, and he didn't know when he would have to wait.

However, the time is indeed very short, and the language is not understood, and the quality of the recruited soldiers is also uneven, most of them are some outlaws, and even mountain and lake bandits, and the good family is not willing to apply for recruitment at all.

"In other words, Jiujiang and Nanchang are not sure that they will be held at the same time?"

Hong Chengchou smiled bitterly.

King Sanshun replied, "Indeed. If you can join forces in one place and have 100,000 people to defend the city, you can still fight with the Yang family's army, but if you divide the troops, you can only be broken by each person. ”

The name of Yang Jiajun began to be called from Haizhou, and it still spread all over the north and south of the river, and the entire Nanzhili was called so, and King Sanshun also accepted this title from the mouth of Jiangxi Bing, otherwise I really don't know how to position Yang Chao's army.

Hong Chengchou is not a hesitant person, and it is already rare to be forced to this by Yang Chao.

At this time, after receiving the true statement of King Sanshun, Hong Chengchou immediately decided: "Then join forces." You wait for the army to join forces with Bashan immediately, and then the 130,000 army will defend the city, and it should be able to hold it! ”

King Sanshun nodded, it can only be like this, Bashan's elite Eight Banners, and their Han army add up to 30,000 elites, plus 100,000 recruits, should be able to deal with the attack of the Yang family's army.

Nanjing City.

Nassau has summed up some of its own experiences.

In addition to examining the lives of Chinese and the organizational ability of the government, he paid more attention to the business situation, from goods on the market, to large transactions on the exchange, as well as banks and bonds.

Nassau was keenly aware that Yang Chao was undergoing a reform to revolutionize the commerce of the Ming Dynasty, and these were the only places where Nassau believed that the Dutch were superior to the Chinese.

Therefore, he wrote a detailed summary report based on his investigation and the situation in the Netherlands, and hesitated for a moment, transcribed a copy and sent it to Yang Chao for reference, hoping that his goodwill could be conveyed to Yang Chao, so that the East India Company could obtain commercial benefits.

Nassau did not know that the report he had transcribed in French made Yang Chao read it until late at night, four or five times, and then stopped.

In any case, you have to admit that the Dutch were the most commercially developed country of this era, and the precious metals plundered by Spain from the Americas stimulated the country's commerce, and the central bank, the stock exchange, and the first listed companies appeared, and the Netherlands was the first to enter the modern era in business.

Although Yang Chao also has some simple common sense, he is not a serious professional in the end, and he seems to understand the detailed rules of the financial industry.

has been groping according to his own subjectivity before, and this quite professional report from the Dutch made Yang Chao understand a lot of things at once.

I especially understand a truth: I am still far behind! (To be continued.) )