There was silence in the conference room of the Tamsui Harbor Patrol Station.

Except for the grinding sound of paper from flipping through the documents, the eight people representing the Ming Empire and the Spanish Empire did not make the slightest noise, and the atmosphere was quite solemn and depressing.

A few minutes earlier, the Spaniards had rejected the draft "Trade and Maritime Agreement" submitted by Zhu Daolin's side in just three minutes, and then took out the draft agreement drawn up by the Spanish East India Company and demanded that negotiations be carried out on the basis of it.

This extremely impolite behavior has brought the atmosphere of friendly negotiations to a sharp turn for the worse.

It took Feng Shengtai more than ten minutes to read the draft agreement handed over by Asnar three times before he dared to report to Zhu Daolin, who was sitting next to him:

"General, this agreement, drawn up in the name of the Spanish East India Company, specifically states that all the terms have been obtained by Pound, the Spanish Governor of Manila. Frederick. Mr. Diaz and the Manila Prosecutor's Court, which is a government office in Manila where many of Luzon's laws are enacted, and which seems to have the power to decide both government and trade......"

"I understand that this is the body that controls the legislation and the judiciary of the Spanish colonies, and there is no need to explain it, just say the terms of the draft."

Zhu Daolin's mood was very bad, and he looked coldly at the invincible Manila priest Nanilet who was diagonally opposite the long table, and Wang Zhaohuan and Simeno, who were sitting on the other side of Zhu Daolin, suddenly became nervous.

Feng Shengtai sighed in his heart, took a deep breath and raised his voice slightly: "The first clause is to allow and assist the Catholic Church in Manila to build churches in Tamsui Port, Shangyuan Port and Baoshan Port, and allow Catholic priests and missionaries to preach freely. ”

Wang Zhaohuan's face changed greatly, and the anger in his heart arose spontaneously, while Simeno looked at Zhu Daolin nervously, fearing that Zhu Daolin would shoot the case in anger.

Zhu Daolin was very calm, and just waved his hand to signal Feng Shengtai to continue.

Feng Shengtai quietly wiped the beads of sweat from his head: "The second clause is." Require us to provide no less than 1,000 square meters of space free of charge in the ports of Tamsui, Shangyuan and Baoshan, and hand over the Manila Governor's Office to send personnel to build the Spanish Merchant Pavilion, so as to ensure the safety and legal arbitration rights of Spanish colonial officials, religious personnel, travelers and merchants; The third is that the trade tax is negotiated and formulated by both parties, and the Spanish peso is used as the settlement currency; Fourth ......"

"Stop! Don't read it anymore. ”

Zhu Daolin decisively stopped, and glanced at Sánchez, Asnar, and the two surprised Spanish priests who were sitting opposite each other with nervous expressions. He took the three-page draft from Feng Shengtai and slowly put it in front of Sanchez:

"Mr. Sánchez, I have to regret to tell you that I will not agree to the above three terms, so let's do it, we will continue to carry out trade cooperation in the same way as before, and there is no need to sign any agreement."

Just as Sánchez, who was guilty, was about to give an explanation, the priest Naniret beside him had already asked sternly: "Your Excellency, do you have any ill will towards the Holy Catholic Church?" ”

Zhu Daolin turned to Feng Shengtai. After listening to Feng Shengtai's translation, he was not annoyed, and under the watchful eyes of a pair of worried eyes, he looked at Naniret again, who was not good at dark colors:

"I have no ill will towards any religion, but I have no ill will towards you, Fernandez. Father Naniret, I don't have the slightest affection for you......"

"I don't know why you're so keen to interfere in worldly affairs, or where your courage and pride come from, but I do know that the Spanish missionaries have been driven out of Japan. If you and your Catholic Church do not change their attitude of discriminating against Orientals, it is likely that the Catholic missionaries and believers in the Ming Empire will be harmed. ”

The Spaniards were stunned. No one expected Zhu Daolin to be so tough and disdainful of Catholicism.

Without waiting for the stunned Spaniards to react, Zhu Daolin stood up, instructed Wang Zhaohuan and Feng Shengtai to put away the table, and looked at Sanchez with a gloomy expression:

"Mr. Sanchez, that's all for today's meeting. If the Spanish East India Company so wishes, trade between us will continue in accordance with the agreement signed last year, but the delivery will be made to the port of Tamsui, which is closer to Manila. ”

Sanchez hurriedly stood up: "Yes General, our East India Company is very willing to continue to maintain trade relations with the Tiangong Trading Company under the name of the General. The Tamsui Port is a very suitable trading port and can greatly shorten the trade cycle between each other. ”

"In addition, there is something to inform the general, for reasons of good health, I will resign as a director of the Spanish East India Company, and Mr. Aznar has become the new director of the company, in charge of trade with the Ming Empire."

"After returning to Manila, my wife and three children and I will return to Spain on a Spanish cargo ship with the General's visiting fleet."

Sanchez's words confirmed Zhu Daolin's speculation that there was a major disagreement within Spain, and Zhu Daolin's indifferent face softened a lot:

"Mr. Sánchez, you have made great contributions to the promotion of trade between Spain and the Ming Empire, no matter where you are, we will not forget you, and I hope that we will continue to maintain correspondence with each other and work together to promote friendly relations between the Spanish Empire and the Ming Empire."

"Thank you, General! I am more than happy to accept your suggestions. ”

Sanchez, who understood it, stretched out his hand to Zhu Daolin.

Zhu Daolin immediately stretched out his hand, shook Sanchez tightly and said "take care of your body", and led Wang Zhaohuan, Simeno and Feng Shengtai away, and before they reached the staircase, there was a fierce quarrel of Spaniards behind them.

Two hours later, Zhu Daolin and his entourage appeared at the construction site of the Tamsui Shipyard in full swing.

Saïd and Moleno, director of the Portuguese East India Company, stood on Zhu Daolin's left and right, looking at the large shipyard under construction in front of them and talking in a low voice, but what they talked about had nothing to do with the shipyard and shipyard construction in front of them.

"The Spaniards have two warships this time, and not a single cargo ship, so you don't have to think much to know that there is a major change within them, or that there is a problem with capital turnover, otherwise who would want to give up silk and porcelain for huge profits?" Saïd whispered.

Moreno smiled: "I am very willing to share with you this part of the goods that the Spaniards gave up, haha!" ”

"As far as I know, there are serious problems within the Spaniards, their two large silver mines in the Americas have been depleted, since last summer, the silver shipped back to Spain has been greatly reduced, and it can no longer meet the huge expenditures and war needs of the Spanish royal family, and the hundreds of thousands of Spanish troops thrown into the European theater have lost one after another, while the Spaniards are still immersed in their dream of world domination."

Moleno was a staunch Portuguese republican, and under his strong mediation, the board of directors of the Portuguese East India Company finally made an important decision to establish an all-round cooperative relationship with Zhu Daolin after repeated discussions, so Moleno dared to tell Zhu Daolin a lot of confidential information. (To be continued.) )