In mid-May of the second year of Ruiyuan, Ding Baokun, a general of the Zheng family's army, led the two-way warship formation of the Zhengjia army's naval division back to Quanzhou.

After only staying in Quanzhou for a day, another warship formation, which had already been prepared, immediately set off, carrying Ding Baokun and others to Tianjin Port, from which they would enter the capital.

When Ding Baokun and the others had not yet arrived at Tianjin Port, the news had already spread, and a huge sensation had already appeared.

Following Ding Baokun's warship formation back to Quanzhou, there were more than 100 merchant ships, which carried a large amount of goods and money, according to calculations, these goods and money were equivalent to about 60 million taels of silver, that is to say, the sailor's expedition not only did not consume a penny, but made a lot of money.

Some of the merchant ships stopped in Quanzhou to unload their goods, and most of the merchant ships followed to the port of Tianjin, some of which needed to be transported to the capital, and some of which needed to be transported to the north and south through the Grand Canal.

On May 25, Ding Baokun and his entourage arrived in Beijing.

They were accompanied to the capital by Cohen, the governor of the East India Company, Henry, the director, and others, as well as a large number of directors and high-level managers of the East India Company, as well as nearly 10,000 mercenaries.

How to deal with these people, Ding Baokun didn't dare to make decisions without permission.

When they arrived at Tianjin Port, Cohen and the others felt that their eyes were not enough.

The huge Tianjin Port was beyond their expectations, and seeing the prosperity of Beizhili along the way made them even more dumbfounded, Daming is really not comparable to Batavia and other places.

Of course, after Cohen and the others entered the capital, they could no longer describe their feelings, what they saw was a powerful, rich and confident empire, this empire was by no means comparable to the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain in Europe, which couldn't help but make Cohen and others feel strange. They had faintly heard that the Ming Empire had fallen into war and poverty, but after entering the Ming Empire this time, they saw a completely different situation.

This made Cohen and others feel that their defeat was doomed. The East India Company was not qualified to be an enemy of such a powerful empire, and even if the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain were united, they were no match for the Ming Empire.

The Ming Empire in the East was so rich and powerful, this empire was just unwilling to trade at sea, otherwise how could the East India Company have a chance to develop in South Asia.

On the first day of June in the second year of Ruiyuan, the Forbidden City.

When Cohen and the others were brought into the Forbidden City, they were already dazzled.

The majesty of the Forbidden City made them really bow their heads.

The emperor's imperial chariot is about to arrive at the Imperial Palace.

The original name of the Huangji Hall was Fengtian Palace, which was later commonly known as the Jinluan Palace. Its position in the Forbidden City is extraordinary,

The Imperial Palace is the place where the emperor ascends the throne, and it is also the place where the emperor holds major celebrations, including receiving foreign envoys, etc., this hall will not be used easily.

The emperor's choice to receive envoys from all over South Asia, including those of the East India Company, at the Imperial Palace shows that he attaches great importance to this matter.

At that time, the emperor arrived at the Imperial Palace.

All the ministers of the cabinet are already waiting in the Imperial Palace.

Enter the Imperial Palace. Ding Baokun, Zheng Zhilong and others all knelt down, and many envoys who followed in also knelt down. Cohen and Henry, who represented the East India Company, also knelt unconsciously with them, even though they did not have this habit of kneeling.

Soon, Ding Baokun began to report on the situation of this expedition, in fact, these specific circumstances had already been presented to the emperor.

Ding Baokun knew the emperor's habits. It was very succinct, and it took only a quarter of an hour to finish.

Next, Ding Baokun began to introduce many envoys, including representatives of merchants.

The last to be introduced were the Governor of the East India Company, Cohen, and the Director Henry, among others.

Zheng Xunrui always had a smile on his face, he was very satisfied with this expedition, everything was expected. I believe that in the next many years, the Ming Dynasty will obtain huge benefits from overseas trade, of course, the Zheng family army will also fight to protect these interests, some people overseas are probably not convinced, watching the huge interests flow to the Ming Dynasty, some people must struggle, that is good, to give some people a lesson that they will never forget in their lifetime, but also to completely calm the turmoil on the sea, to ensure that the maritime trade is carried out in accordance with the plan designed by the Ming court.

After Ding Baokun finished speaking, Zheng Xunrui spoke.

"Zheng Aiqing, do you have anything else to add."

"There is no addition, the Ming Royal Nanyang Trading Company has been established, and the Minister wishes the Royal Nanyang Trading Company to prosper forever."

Zheng Xunrui finally smiled, and his smile was very hearty.

"This is all the credit of your Aiqing, this expedition, the purpose of the achievement has been achieved, I am very pleased, on the way back, I have discussed with the cabinet, decided to establish the Department of Foreign Trade, under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Households, the main responsibility of the Department of Foreign Trade is to be responsible for overseas trade matters, to manage all matters involving overseas trade."

Zheng Zhilong's body trembled slightly, the emperor was so far-sighted, he had thought about everything, and even before the expedition began, he thought of how to deal with the East India Company in Batavia, and now he was thinking about coordinating overseas trade, so there was something that the emperor couldn't think of.

Zheng Zhilong's expression, of course Zheng Xunrui saw it.

He continued to inquire about the situation of many envoys, and at the same time accepted the gifts presented by these envoys, of course, it was a gift list, and the real gifts were all placed outside, there were too many, and it was impossible to move into the Imperial Palace.

After all the envoys were present, they were taken out of the Imperial Palace and went to rest.

Inside the main hall and outside the main hall, the main people left were the people of the original East India Company, and these people were the elite forces of the original East India Company, including Cohen and Henry.

Zheng Xunrui spoke again.

"Zheng Aiqing, what do you think of the Foreign Trade Division."

Zheng Zhilong secretly wiped the sweat droplets from his forehead and pondered for a while before speaking.

"Your Majesty, the Foreign Trade Department does have the need to be established, and in the future, the taxes on maritime trade will account for most of the taxes paid by our Ming Dynasty, so it is necessary to set up a special department to manage it."

"Needless to say, I am asking you, how should this foreign trade department operate, maritime trade involves too many things, it has huge profits, but there are also huge risks, I also believe that in the future, the profits of overseas trade will occupy most of my Ming Dynasty, because of this, the foreign trade department needs to do things well, if you can't manage these matters well, the consequences are unbearable."

Zheng Zhilong didn't understand what the emperor meant, and he didn't know what to say, so he could only speak honestly.

"The minister doesn't know what to say, the Foreign Trade Department is a brand new thing for the minister, and the minister doesn't dare to say nonsense."

"Well, this is also the truth, I ignored it, Ding Baokun, Zheng Zhilong, I have an idea, let some of the capable personnel of the East India Company enter the Foreign Trade Division, they are familiar with maritime trade, and they can quickly support the situation of the Foreign Trade Division, I don't dare to ask the ministers of the DPRK to do these things, they have not been in contact, they don't know how to start, do some unbelievable things, I don't want to wipe their butts."

After Ding Baokun and Zheng Zhilong and the others heard these words, they didn't react, they were originally soldiers or pirates, and they spoke very aggressively, Xu Wanghua, the first assistant of the cabinet, and Zhou Yanru, the second assistant of the cabinet, almost couldn't hold back, and the rest of the cabinet ministers quickly lowered their heads, they probably didn't expect that the emperor would speak so vulgarly.

After Zheng Xunrui finished speaking, Zheng Zhilong's face changed a little, you must know that the sailor has just exterminated the East India Company, and these people of the East India Company must be resentful, and it will not backfire to use these people at this moment.

"Your Majesty, the minister thinks it's inappropriate......"

Before Zheng Zhilong finished speaking, Henry, who understood and spoke Chinese well, spoke.

"Your Majesty the Emperor, I am willing to do things for the Ming Imperial Court......"

At this moment, everyone was stunned, and Cohen, who was not very familiar with Chinese, looked at Henry.

Zheng Xunrui's face showed a smile again.

"The sea is inclusive, there is tolerance, Zheng Aiqing's worries, I know, but I don't care, the East India Company was indeed destroyed by my Ming court, but it was all for profit, now they have nothing, absorb the essence of it to do things for my Ming court, why not, if they don't do things in a down-to-earth manner, the court will naturally punish them, if they do things seriously, the court will reward them......"

The Department of Foreign Trade was quickly established, with one Lang Zhong and four Wai Lang.

As expected, Zheng Zhilong was the leader of the Foreign Trade Division, and all four of the foreign officers were members of the East India Company, and Cohen and Henry were all outsiders.

The officials of the Foreign Trade Company, most of them are the personnel of the East India Company, selected by Cohen and Henry, etc., those who are not selected, can choose to return to China, or stay in Daming, in fact, these people do not have to worry at all, I don't know how many merchants are waiting to recruit them, how can the merchants not know that the future overseas trade will become a strong support for the Ming Dynasty.

The first thing the Foreign Trade Department did was to deal with the large amount of money and goods seized from overseas and distribute it favorably, and Cohen and Henry's proposal was very clear, to take out all these goods and sell them to merchants, so as to make a profit, and this suggestion was basically adopted, except for some very valuable items, the rest were taken out and traded.

And many of the most valuable items were sent to the palace and presented to the queen and other ladies.

Xu Wanghua, the first assistant of the cabinet, was personally in charge of the affairs of the Foreign Trade Department, and this expedition, the imperial court got a tax worth more than 60 million taels of silver, which almost included all the taxes of the Ming Dynasty officials and the annual expenses of the Zheng family. (To be continued.) )