"I still want to talk to Zheng!"

After listening to Zhang Dawei's story, Yang Chao couldn't help frowning and sighing.

Zhang Dawei said that he often encountered smuggling boats, and they immediately took them into custody, confiscated the goods on them, and sent them to the prison that had just been set up by the city's shipping department.

But recently, they encountered several big ships, and let them get away several times, Zhang Dawei set up an ambush, and finally surrounded a big ship, but unfortunately they crashed into it, not only crashed into Zhang Dawei's warship, but also sank three.

The largest ship was a brig, and the thief ship turned out to be a three-masted ship.

Yang Chao doesn't have such a boat, there are a lot of Zheng in his hands, and there are also smuggling wealthy families, if he can't deter these huge ships, I'm afraid he won't be able to control the sea trade at all, let alone the Zheng family, even those wealthy families won't take Yang Chao seriously.

It's not that Yang Chao doesn't want a big ship, Zheng's largest big ship, at best, is two or three thousand tons, and it will be a small ship in the future, not to mention driving in Nanjing, even if it goes directly to Sichuan, there is no problem.

Therefore, there is no problem at all with sea ships on the Yangtze River, the problem is that the Longjiang Shipyard has not manufactured sea ships for decades, and it can even be said that after the Zheng He era, Nanjing lost the experience of building sea ships of more than 1,000 tons.

Immediately sent someone to inform Zheng Hongkui that he wanted to talk to him.

Zheng Hongkui is no longer in Nanjing, as early as when King Fu was in charge of the country, Zheng Hongkui, or the Zheng family, found him a very suitable position, the chief soldier of Zhenjiang.

The Zheng family's plan is clear at a glance, Zhenjiang controls the canal from Suzhou to the Yangtze River, and Zheng Hongkui occupies this place, which is of great benefit to the Zheng family in charge of freight, if Yang Chao is still like before, he can't control the Yangtze River route. I have to say that the Zheng family can control the source of goods by themselves.

However, although Yang Chao could not control the route, he had obtained the power of the City Division, unless the Zheng clan could compete with the entire imperial court. Otherwise, they still have no control over their own destiny.

Zheng Hongkui could not be contacted for a while, so Yang Chao could only equip Zhang Dawei with more warships. And equip him with the newly cast cannon, while contacting the Longjiang Shipyard, hoping that they can break through and try to build a bigger ship.

However, Yang Chao was very disappointed by Yao Craftsman's reply, and Yao Craftsman said that larger ships could be built, but inexperienced craftsmen were afraid that they would not be able to build them within a year, and Yang Chao would not be able to accept them if they had to wait for a year.

Three days later. Zheng Hongkui finally came to Nanjing.

And also brought a couple of guests.

"Rong Xiaguan introduced, this is his nephew Zheng Sen!"

At the banquet, Zheng Hongkui introduced his guests to Yang Chao.

Yang Chao was looking at another strange guest at this time, and when he heard Zheng Sen, he couldn't help but pause.

"Zheng Sen?"

Zheng Hongkui smiled: "That's right, it's the son of my brother." At present, he is studying under the door of Qian Muzhai. ”

Yang Chao immediately understood that Zheng Sen, Zheng Zhilong's son, was not the famous Zheng Chenggong.

However, the name Zheng Chenggong was given by the Tang King, and the Tang King was supported by Zheng Zhilong at that time. ascended the throne in Fujian, but at this time, the Tang King was just an ordinary vassal king who stayed in Nanjing, and probably didn't think he would be the emperor.

Yang Chao couldn't help but look at it twice. Zheng Chenggong really wanted to say in later generations, he was a beautiful man with a fair complexion, not at all like the Zheng family's burnt yellow complexion that was sunburned by the sea.

Zheng Zhilong is also unavoidable, he has worked hard at sea all his life, and for his son, he really tries his best to train him to be a scribe, hoping to be an official in the imperial examination.

Yang Chao looked at Zheng Sen a little uncomfortable.

Only then did he say: "Sure enough, it is a tiger father without a dog!" I think Zheng Gongzi has a noble appearance, and it will be okay to be a marquis in the future! ”

Although I think it's a flattering word. Zheng Hongkui laughed heartily: "Lord Yang praised it falsely. ”

Zheng Sen was also excited, and he could be praised by a figure like Yang Chao. His heart is very useful, and his disposition is somewhat rejoicing.

"And this one?"

Met Zheng Chenggong. Yang Chao couldn't help but pay attention to another guest again, because this guest was so special, so special that Yang Chao had to suppress his attention to a celebrity like Zheng Chenggong, because this was a yellow-haired foreigner.

"This is the emissary of the Dutch East India Company, Lord Jones!"

Emissary of the Dutch East India Company? Yang Chao couldn't help but be stunned, Yang Chao originally guessed that this might be a missionary.

The Dutch East India Company can only have one purpose for finding itself, that is, for trade, if it is through other channels, Yang Chao can guess it at the first time, but Zheng Hongkui introduced himself, but Yang Chao did not dare to guess where to go.

How could the Zheng family introduce the Dutch to themselves? This doesn't make sense! It stands to reason that the Zheng family and the Dutch are competitors, if the Dutch do business with them, then what is the matter with the Zheng family? You must know that the Dutch imported silk and porcelain from China, and basically took the goods from the Zheng family, otherwise they would not be able to trade at all.

Let the Dutch contact them directly, wouldn't the Zheng family have to give up a lot of profits.

While Yang Chao was pondering, Jones politely left the table and stood aside to bow to Yang Chao.

"At Lower Jones, on behalf of the directors of the Dutch East India Company, I would like to extend my deepest respect to His Excellency Zhongyibo of the Ming Kingdom!"

I didn't expect this Dutchman to speak Chinese, although he has a slight Cantonese accent, but when he hears it, it is an official dialect, and he can barely understand it.

Yang Chao also stood up and gently returned the salute: "On behalf of the Great Ming Kingdom, welcome Your Excellency." ”

Yang Chao's style made Jones a little surprised, because he rarely got such courtesy from the Ming people, and he felt that Yang Chao's demeanor had a Western aristocratic demeanor, which made him, a guy from a civilian background, feel a little inferior.

Yang Chao did deliberately reveal some Western etiquette he learned when he was studying abroad in his previous life, but he didn't expect it to have an unexpected effect.

After Jones sat down again, he couldn't wait to ask, "I heard that His Excellency the Earl is currently at the Commander's Daming Customs?" ”

Sure enough, they came for the sea trade, and as the coachmen of the sea, the Dutch fought against the trade and had a religious-like spirit.

Yang Chao nodded: "My emperor entrusted the city department to Benjue, and Benjue is indeed taking care of the customs." ”

Jones couldn't help but be overjoyed: "I wonder what His Excellency the Earl thinks of sea trade?" ”

Yang Chao said with a smile: "Naturally, merchants are welcome to trade, including foreign merchants like Mr. Jones. ”

Jones was already pleasantly surprised: "That's great! ”

He couldn't help but have some gaffes, it was too difficult to do business with a country like the Ming Dynasty, the Dutch could only look forward to it in their dreams, although there were Zheng supplies, and some Ming merchants supplied them, but the Dutch always felt constrained, because whether it was the Zheng family or other maritime merchants, they were disdainful of their Dutch goods, and could not directly export the goods to the Ming Dynasty, and the Dutch could not take out enough silver to purchase Ming goods, and their interests in Asia were deeply affected.

The Dutch have never believed that it is the Ming Dynasty who does not need Dutch goods, and in their opinion, the whole world needs Dutch goods. (To be continued)