On 19 August, the fleet returning from Luzon arrived on Hainan Island, and a group of newly captured Spanish galleons led by the Qionghai entered the Lingao Hongpai Port Repair Station to prepare for large-scale refits. And the Qionghai itself will also enter her special dock for maintenance, continuing her leisurely career as the "Queen of the Dock".

Zhao Lide and others were of course on these ships, and he would lead a "Spanish business delegation" to join the negotiations between the Qiong Navy and the European powers, which had previously been the only Dutch, but now they had joined a Spain.

Naturally, this delegation was composed of the prisoners of war led by Count Carlos, who changed their identities and lived in the Qionghai Villa, which was specially used to receive distinguished guests. They lived in the courtyard next to the Dutchmen - in fact, that's what Ade had brought them over. When he reported his plan to the Hainan headquarters and the committee, he made it very clear: even if nothing could be negotiated with these Spaniards, as long as the Dutch next door knew about their existence, it would be a victory!

-- These Europeans were thinking about monopoly all day long, and the Dutch delegation came to negotiate and demanded the entire share of the goods exported to Europe by the Joan Navy as the sole agent as soon as they opened their mouths, and this request was of course immediately rejected. However, judging from the report of Diego and the reaction of the delegation elder Gorman, they did not give up on this idea. So a proper warning is necessary - no need to use guò words, just to draw the attention of those people that there is another group of Europeans here, and they are not the only business team that can represent Europe, and that is enough!

As for the Spaniards themselves, the Spanish government did not give them any commercial authority to fight the "Reconquista". Therefore, neither Ade nor the committee expected to negotiate any terms with these nobles. However, these people are both nobles and military officers, and they all have a good position in Spain, so let them see the prosperity and wealth of Hainan Island with their own eyes, and see the huge amount of materials that can be provided in the Qionghai market, and they must always have some positive impact on Spain's China policy after they return.

It was with this idea in mind that although Zhao Lide brought those Spaniards over in the name of "business negotiations", he did not really talk to them, and all the way up to Kan Dashan in the north and south of the world, after arriving at the land, he only served good food and drink in the mountain villa, and when he had time, he arranged to visit and play everywhere, and occasionally had a discussion or two, which was also all pragmatic stuff -- in short, it was basically carried out according to the model of the government meeting of later generations, and it did not involve practice at all. But this is in line with the temperament of these noble gentlemen. In Count Carlos's opinion, all he had to do was agree to cooperate, and those trivial terms of business were not at all the things that they should care about.

But the Dutch don't know that...... So, two days later, in the big restaurant of Qionghai Villa.

The commercial representative of the Dutch East India Company, "Sir Gorman, as he called himself, and no one in this part of Southeast Asia was going to be like him anyway, as usual, was slowly picking food from the plates—and the restaurant here offered private rooms and banquet service, but the old Gorman and his companions preferred this buffet. Feel free and casual, eat as much as you want............... or as long as you can hold on to what you want, which is very much in line with the temperament of these businessmen.

It's just that there is such an unwritten rule in the buffet here: if it is put on a plate, it must be eaten, and it cannot be wasted. Unbeknownst to the Dutch at first, the first time they ate the buffet, they were eager to fill a full plate...... As a result, my stomach quickly filled, and I could only look at other delicacies. Although no one will care if you really want to waste some of it, the eyes of the waiters next to you are not very good-most of the waiters recruited by the villa are from poor families, and some are even refugees from Dengzhou Mansion, and they are very sensitive to waste. In this case, they often put their expressions on their faces, even if they cause unhappiness to the guests - from this point of view, Qionghai Villa does not meet the service standards of high-end hotels in later generations.

……… So now they are all smart, no matter what good things they see, they only take a little bit every time, and then learn to dress up the second plate when they eat the right appetite. Old Gorman is old, has a limited appetite, and is more selective about food. Although he knew that there was still a long time ahead, no matter how good the chef of this restaurant was, no matter how many huā dishes he had, he would be able to enjoy them all sooner or later, but he still carefully selected and selected them as a businessman.

But then with a commotion at the door, the old man glanced over there, and his hands suddenly trembled, and a plate of chicken soup was poured into the chicken soup pot below...... The little waitress who was waiting next to her suddenly raised two willow eyebrows, but Old Gorman didn't care about her at all at this time, just stared at that side, and the whole person trembled, as if she was about to fall.

The waiter* thought he was sick, but it was not good to put on a face anymore, so he hurriedly came over and helped him to sit down on a chair next to him.

A few moments later several other Dutchman business representatives had gathered, and the young men, though not as panicked as old Gorman, had very ugly faces. There was no other reason for this - from the doorway came several white Europeans, all dressed formally, either in formal or military uniforms.

His attitude is also very arrogant, and after entering the door, he swept his eyes and saw a few white people here, which are not like later generations, and there are frequent exchanges between the East and the West. It's not easy to see Caucasians from Europe on the East Asian side, and it stands to reason that even if it's not "a fellow countryman with tears in his eyes,...... It's always inevitable to come and have a few words.

But the men only squinted, and with a look of disgust on their faces, they immediately turned their heads away, not even looking at the place - they obviously already knew that these were Dutch, and that it was only natural for these Orthodox Spanish officers to adopt such an attitude in the present relations between Spain and the Netherlands.

Old Gorman and the others didn't think there was anything wrong with this, and they could tell each other's nationality and identity at a glance just from each other's attire - after all, the Netherlands was once a vassal of Spain. And frankly speaking, although the Netherlands is now in a period of prosperity and Spain is declining, according to later historical evaluations, the Dutch are still a little afraid when they see the Spanish aristocracy - just as a tenant who has turned over feels when he sees his old employer. Moreover, at this time, Spain had not yet sunk to the bottom, the majesty of the old empire was still there, and later generations called the Dutch "sea coachmen", but in the Spanish population of this era, Dutch merchants have always been called "sea beggars" by them.

The situation was urgent, and a group of people immediately gathered together to mumble and discuss......

"What should I do?" "I didn't expect them to be able to bring the Spaniards here...... Didn't you say that there was still a war on the Luzon side? ”

-- The old Gorman and others had proposed to monopolize the trade routes for the export of the Joan navy to Europe, but the other side refused. The reason is that you are not the only one in Southeast Asia. What Spain, Portugal, England casually reported a long list. Although Lao Gorman and the others knew that this group of Chinese people who called themselves "Qiong Navy" were very familiar with the European situation and were by no means as easy to coax as other local forces, they did not expect that they would be so shrewd and not have a temper at all.

However, looking back, although there are many forces involved in Southeast Asia, there are not many who are really qualified to trade with the Qiong Navy. The Portuguese merchants, small and with the port of Macau at hand, were not interested in exploring other places: the British were mainly focused on India, and had not yet had time to go deeper into the region: as for the great God of Spain, those with Habsburg blood would do business honestly? With the help of the Halberd Legion, the glory of God was proclaimed everywhere, and by the way, plundering gold and silver was the favorite thing of the Spanish Empire.

So after analysis, the Dutch felt that the Joan Navy was just bluffing, they could not be deceived by the other party, and they should continue to implement the original strategy~ insist on obtaining exclusive trade rights. Therefore, during this time, the attitude of the old Gorman at the negotiation table was very firm, and of course the other party did not let go, and the two sides dragged it like this. It's just that Old Gorman always feels that the other party seems to be waiting for something, and now he finally knows why the other party is so sure, it turns out that there are really other options!

As a result, their negotiation strategy would inevitably have to be heavily adjusted, and they couldn't even afford to eat, and Old Gorman hurriedly led the other negotiators out of the big dining room and went back to his room to discuss countermeasures.

At a nearby dining table, Zhao Lide, Tang Jian, and Beiwei and Ling Ning, who were leisurely sipping *coffee, couldn't help but smile at each other when they saw this scene—they had already finished their meals and sat here for a long time, just to watch this good show.

"I've been busy for so long, but it's not in vain.

Tang Jian breathed a sigh of relief slightly, while Zhao Lide was unhurried, stirring the sugar cubes in the cup with a small silver spoon.

"It's just the basic takeaway, and I think there's some surprise beyond that - after visiting our big market and getting samples of the goods as gifts, Count Carlos' gang can't be indifferent......,......... "Well, they'll definitely want more...... Whether out of greed or ambition. Ling Ning nodded, and Beiwei smiled: "Greed or ambition, anyway, you can't rely on Lou Li to snatch it, then you can only use trade. ”

Zhao Lide also breathed a sigh of relief and nodded.

Since we are in this seventeenth century, we must take this "Age of Discovery" ship with the wind and benefit from the exchanges between the East and the West. This is the Lou Zhan line that our staff group has drawn up for the entire collective a long time ago, and today, we can finally see some results. "The backwardness of oriental civilization in history began from this era, and this time we must be ahead of the curve!"