In the spring of 1637, the "tulip bubble" disaster that swept Europe had spread inexorably throughout the Netherlands, evaporating thousands of riches and losing all but a few quick speculators who had gotten rich in the process. Countless European families were bankrupt in an instant, and Europe, which was mired in a political and military economic crisis due to the Thirty Years' War, ushered in its biggest economic recession.

Of course, the economic deterioration was not caused by the tulip bubble itself, for from the Thirty Years' War in 1618 onwards, Spain's imports of European precious metals, especially silver, continued to decline. The emergence of the United States, together with the strong promotion of trade between the Netherlands and the whole of Europe, led to a large outflow of silver, the shortage of money became increasingly severe, and the price inflation and the gold-silver ratio that had lasted for more than 100 years actually fell slightly for the first time.

In the early years of European trade, it was faced with shoddy silver coins of various sizes and colors, and the value of silver bullion began to rise above the silver coins in circulation. In order to pay off debts and alleviate financial pressures, the silver coins monopolized by European royal families showed a trend of declining weight and silver content, and seigniorage also increased again and again. As a result, ordinary residents preferred to hide the full value of the silver coins or melt them into silver nuggets for export, rather than hand them over to the mint for reminting. All of a sudden, there was a rare strange phenomenon in England that there was no silver to mint, almost twenty years earlier than the original history of the English currency crisis!

In the process, the Dutch bankers once again rose up their monetary and financial instruments and began to arbitrage and fish in troubled waters, and in this sense, the whole of Europe was unstoppable.

Far more active than the same period in history, the Far Eastern route deepened the behavior of merchants from Huamei, Dutch, England, Portugal and other countries in the Far East to obtain cheap gold in large quantities, and then sold it in Europe, and a large outflow of silver from various countries to the Far East, among which England and Spain suffered the most.

Coincidentally. Huamei, who pursues a stable ratio of gold and silver prices, also fell ill. Even if financial means such as bookkeeping currency and discounting bank drafts are used to control the amount of bulk cash settlement, and even if the comparison of gold and silver in the Far East is not considered, the exchange rate difference in Europe alone will lead about $3 million of silver coins per year to flow back into Europe through private channels. In this regard, even the major trade chaebols or private commercial banks led by COSCO International Trade Group have not controlled their own hands.

By the end of 1636, under the years of a group of businessmen who saw money and frantically engaged in precious metal arbitrage, the treasury of the Central Bank of China and the United States had "involuntarily" piled up about 50 tons of love-hate gold, with a total value of about 35 million US dollars, of which at least 30 tons belonged to the private gold custody of the people. The silver dollar standard, which was mainly in circulation, began to decrease year by year from 1633. If it weren't for the fact that the European war some time ago had earned back a lot of silver, Qian Weichang, the governor of the Central Bank of China, would have even had the idea of simply recoining the currency and implementing the gold standard in advance.

The most direct result is that while Huamei feels its own national security, it also makes the European economy worse than the same period in history, and pulls itself to the side of the pit.

In any case, while China and the United States are reaping the dividends of the war, they must also take precautions for their own historical-stirring behavior, and reconsider the exchange rate and trade settlement methods for the US dollar and silver coins and the mainstream gold and silver currencies of European countries. Treasury bond lending contracts with many countries must also be renegotiated to reduce exchange rate losses.

The adjustment of macroeconomic and monetary policies requires a lot of time and material preparations, but the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China and the United States, headed by Yan Xiaosong, had to work with the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Finance after the beginning of the spring. Split into several waves and run around Europe. Priority was the loan agreement for Sweden, Spain and France, as well as negotiations with the Netherlands for the establishment of an international bill settlement system for Atlantic trade.

In the process, he boasted of possessing the richness of financial means of later generations. It also had to bow down to the Netherlands, the European financial hegemon in the 17th century, and cede some related interests. At a time when the sovereign credit of European countries is in shambles, only the Netherlands, which has the most advanced monetary credit system and the largest reserves of precious metals, can be regarded as a country capable of jointly maintaining monetary order.

Compared with. The Far East is much calmer. The Ming-British Guangzhou War, which should have taken place in 1637, quietly disappeared because of the butterfly wings of the English navy's defeat in the Irish War, and the captain Weddell, who captured Humen and burned and plundered the lawlessness, was also gone.

……

On Sunday, April 5, 1637, the 11th day of March in the 10th year of Chongzhen of the Ming Empire.

In the 17th century, Hong Kong Island was also under the jurisdiction of Xin'an County, Guangzhou Prefecture, Daming Dynasty, and Guanxiang is a local specialty with a long history here. However, with the continuous increase of local exploitation, the farmers in Xin'an County, who are engaged in the production of guanxiang, are overwhelmed, and there are more and more phenomena of cutting incense wood and fleeing to other places.

At this time, Hong Kong Island was sparsely populated, with only about 200 households of farmers and fishermen living a half-dead closed life under the auspices of local village elders.

The Taiping Mountain on the island blocks the sea breeze from the open sea, the wind and waves in the bay are calm, and the prosperous international metropolis of later generations has not yet seen any trace at this time, and the picture scroll of history rolls back to the original original and fresh scene.

Early in the morning, a group of fishermen and children frolic on the coast of the north of the island, while adults drive small fishing boats along the bay to continue to make a living.

Suddenly, a large, wide, five-masted schooner appeared from the corner of the coast on the west side of the bay, twisting its fat body and slowly sailing towards the middle of the north shore of Hong Kong Island.

In a dilapidated land village located inland on the north coast of Kowloon Bay, several elderly military households guarding the Thousand Households in Dongguan grabbed their harpoons in surprise and slowly got up, stunned by the uninvited guests who appeared in front of them.

A galleon of Miyi in the South Seas was stranded in a storm off the coast? Drying goods on Hong Kong Island?

The news quickly spread from Dongguan Shouyu Qianhu to Xin'an County, and then it was transferred to Guangzhou Prefecture and Nantou to command the envoys.

Two days later, the Xin'an County Commander of Guangzhou arrived with a group of patrol soldiers, and first, without saying anything, he imprisoned the galleon of the Huamei Oriental Union Group and the people who landed. Another day later, the Portuguese Council of Macau, which had heard the news from somewhere, sent a ship and a few businessmen to see the situation, as if it had made an appointment.

The Portuguese Council of Macau was a European power that monopolized trade with the Ming Dynasty. Over the past few decades, he has participated in a number of operations to block other European chambers of commerce, and in many cases even used armed merchant ships to monitor and drive them away by force, and this time was no exception.

As soon as Aniel, the mayor of Mingmei, who made a temporary cameo appearance as the representative of the Huamei stranded merchant ship, stepped off the ship, several businessmen from the Portuguese Council of Macau who were present were stunned, because the person standing in front of them and smiling was actually the supreme chief executive of the overseas territory of Huamei Pearl Island.

Originally, I was going to righteously reprimand these Western colleagues who "follow the same example", but as soon as I saw the meaningful smile of the other party, I closed my mouth one by one and stepped aside to watch the changes.

First contact negotiations. It was unfolded in the military post Lu Zhai on the north shore of Kowloon Bay. Daming is the commander of Xin'an County, Guangzhou, and Huamei is Aniel, the mayor of Mingzhu who came forward for the Oriental Union Group.

Boxes of glass, cigarettes, sweet wine, ironware, matches, soap, sesame oil, velvet and other seafood were opened, and the patrol soldiers who followed the county magistrate could not help but swallow their saliva, and several businessmen who were forced to watch the lively Macao Council even blew their beards and glared angrily.

"This is a normal trade exchange between the Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Macau friends, and the bad thing is that our ship has a problem in the storm, and at least half of the cargo has gone into the water, so we hope to repair the merchant ship and dry the goods here." Anil politely pointed to Hong Kong Island on the other side of the bay, and a strange "Dongtu dialect" made the Ming officials frown.

"Since it's a Xiyi maritime merchant. It should be known that according to the laws of our dynasty, all foreign business affairs in the Nanyang must be signed in Macao, and no people or ships are allowed to dock or stay in other places. so as not to disturb the border people. The magistrate glanced at the seafood that made people blush, and while his eyes were rolling, he had to make a righteous statement.

"This time the goods are very important, and they are the trade entrustment that Macao friends focused on last year. It is said that the final customer is the military department of the imperial court of your country. It's a pity that there was a terrible storm on the way, and the damage was very great. Anil glanced at the few Portuguese merchants who were silent, and deliberately raised his voice. Then he suddenly muttered a few words in Portuguese, and saw that one of the Portuguese businessmen was slightly stunned, and then nodded slowly.

"On the ocean, there is no sure of good and evil, but it is difficult for you...... Well? Imperial Court Military Department? ”

It is not a big deal for a merchant ship to run aground and hope to stop to rest and stay. probably felt that this was another good opportunity to ask for bribes easily, but when he heard that the goods were related to the imperial court, the action of drinking tea at this time stopped.

"The island is very remote, and if you don't mind, we hope to lease the island as a place for merchant ships to be repaired, dried and stored, as our Macau friends do." The time was almost up, and Anil quickly lowered his voice as he slowly unfolded a trade list.

"Poof!" A mouthful of tea squirted out from Xin'anzhi County.

Having said so much, it turns out that you want to stay here all the time?! Looking at the other party's smiling appearance, a trace of vigilance rose in Xin'anzhixian's heart.

"We cherish our friendship with the Ming Empire very much, and we are also willing to make a contribution to quelling the Tatar rebellion in the north." Anil pushed the unfolded trade list directly in front of the Ming officials, "Our chamber of commerce hopes to establish a deeper friendship with you, we only need a place where we can shelter from the wind and rain, properly repair merchant ships, and store goods, and will never set foot in inland jurisdictions." ”

"Since it is a 'tribute' thing between you and this dynasty, it is a major event for the benefit of the country and the people, but this dynasty has long had regulations, and only Macao is allowed to stay in foreign merchants. Nowadays, the maritime industry is restless, and it is really difficult to open another port. ”

Xin'an Zhi County, which has long been in the habit of eating small kickbacks in the maritime trade in previous years, thought that the other party was seducing himself with a small favor and a small favor, and did not look at the words on the trade list, but pretended to be reserved with a teacup, and said that he actually had nothing to do with the high-level official.

"Of course, for things that may affect the lives of local residents, we are willing to pay tribute to lease the land." Anil smiled, tapped the trade list on the table with his hand again, and reminded the other party to care, "As long as there is a stable resting place, I believe that the future goods can be quickly prepared and delivered to customers." ”

"Hehe, you're not reluctant......" Putting down the teacup, Xin'an Zhixian finally had the leisure to glance at the list in front of him. After a few seconds, though, his eyes began to glaze over, and even his mouth opened slightly.

"Why don't we take a look at the cargo now? Probably they've already moved everything down. Anil knew that the other party was shocked, so he quickly got up and pointed to Hong Kong Island on the other side very politely.

After glancing at his subordinates for a few moments, Xin'an Zhixian nodded slowly.

……

The boxes of 21B flintlock rifles carefully wrapped in oiled paper were opened one by one in front of the eyes of Xin'an Zhi County, exuding a peculiar aroma of anti-rust grease, and more than a dozen 24-pounder heavy cannons were lined up majestically, and the black barrels of the guns glittered in the sun, and the number of them made several Portuguese merchants in Macao stunned.

This time it wasn't some gorgeous ordinary seafood, but a large pile of munitions that made people gasp. The 24-pounder heavy cannon that appeared in the Far East for the first time alone alone was enough to surprise people.

"It's ......"

Just looking at the content of the firearms in front of him, it has already exceeded the amount that the Ming court could buy from Macao in the past few years, and even the cannons are larger than the nine-pound cannons purchased to strengthen the defense of the Humen fortress before. With so many ordnance, how much silver does it take to eat it, Xin'an County Ling was dumbfounded at this moment.

"These are twelve of our country's newest heavy cannons, as well as three thousand original flintlock rifles...... Well, there are these, high-quality saltpeter produced in my country, with extremely high purity! It was terrible in the cabin. These can only be lifted out and dried first. ”

Anil raised his head like a proud rooster, pointed to the large and small crates on the scene, and said triumphantly, not forgetting to make a smile to the Portuguese who showed a jealous and resentful expression on the side.

"My God, according to the agreement. This should be sold by us, dear Mr. Anil, you shouldn't be! A Portuguese businessman blushed and couldn't help muttering in Portuguese in the crowd. But he was soon stopped by his companions.

"Of course, I am just showing my sincerity to the client and not affecting the agency agreement of my Portuguese friend." Anil bowed apologetically. Walking up to the Ming Dynasty official who was stroking the cannon again, he lowered his voice, "Honorable lord, this is only a small part of it, would you watch at least half of the cargo every year be scrapped due to storms during the voyage?" ”

"This, this official needs to report this matter to the prefect and the governor, don't be impatient, just wait for the news." At this time, Xin'anzhi County was already sweating slightly.

"No problem, I'm willing to wait for your news again. In addition, this is a little sincerity of the national chamber of commerce, hoping to bring convenience to you and your family. ”

After saying that, several sailors came with a large box, although it was not opened, Xin'an Zhixian already knew what the contents would be. According to the past "experience", as long as there is one-tenth of the contents of this box, it is basically a big Mingzhi County's income for one or two years. Obviously, now the contents of this box will be all their own!

No matter how much energy there is that can push the negotiations forward, it at least proves that judging from the endurance of the middle- and low-level officials in Guangzhou, the possibility of prompting the two Guangxi sides to take the initiative to open their hearts is extremely high.

……

In order to prevent the turmoil of the change of officials in Qiongzhou from potentially affecting Huamei's interests in the Far East, the Huamei Cabinet, which already has full powers, did not entangle too much with the Congress this time, and directly increased the strength of the Foreign Legion stationed on Pearl Island to the size of one battalion in early April. At the same time, the warships of the Huamei Asian Fleet sailed around the sea off Qiongshan County for a time on the pretext of escorting merchant ships, which made the newly appointed prefect of Qiongzhou inexplicably nervous for several days.

The official gentry in Qiongzhou and even Liangguang finally took what they needed to settle down in this internal game without gunpowder. While the local gentry of Qiongzhou, who had been reunited, made a big show of goodwill to Zhang Jingxin, the new governor of Liangguang, they were also secretly vigilant.

Under the leadership of the Governor of Macau, Domingo, the "representatives of the Chinese American Chamber of Commerce" led by Aniel, the mayor of the Huamei Pearl, arrived in Macao. The Ming officials who had been accustomed to the business of Taixi for more than half a century showed a more friendly attitude this time.

The Macau Portuguese Council, which exclusively enjoys many of the trade rights and interests of the Ming Dynasty, has also focused on increasing "friendly" exchanges with Guangzhou in recent years, under the support of Huamei Oriental Union Group. Xiong Wencan's moderate principle of handling overseas trade relations during his tenure has been regarded as the default standard by the local officials in Guangzhou, and even Zhang Jingxin, the new governor of Guangzhou, has not touched it for the time being. If you can not get into trouble, try not to mess with it, probably the current personal position of Zhang Jingxin, who has some personal relations with Xiong Wencan.

The negotiation of "Miyi merchants carrying firearms and paying tribute to ships and seeking to live on the outer islands of Xin'an County" surprised the prefect of Guangzhou, who took the lead. This kind of trivial matter is obviously not something that a Guangzhou prefect can handle. What's more, the other party seems to be the Nanyang Miyi who almost entered Guangzhou many years ago.

For the sake of prudence, and even to find out these Westerners who could speak a strange dialect, the Guangzhou side once again sent a middle-level official to inquire about the situation, and this official was none other than the Guangzhou Military Garrison and Coastal Defense Tongzhi who had been in charge of coastal defense for a long time and had been in contact with the Macao side for arms procurement.

Now everyone knows that most of the cannons and guns purchased by the Ming Dynasty from Macao are the products of the Miyi Kingdom that the Francois people have traveled. This Guangzhou soldier and coastal defense comrade's impression of Miyi Country was also experienced in the naval battle of Wanshan Islands many years ago.

Anil's eloquence obviously could not be synchronized with the thinking of the Ming officials at this time, and the reply of the Guangzhou Bingbei Dao Haiphong Tongzhi was: "According to the old practice of Macao, the merchants of Miyi can stay in Macao temporarily to sell and buy goods." No trespassing. ”

After negotiating back and forth for more than half a month, Anil, who pretended to be a representative of the Chinese American Chamber of Commerce, couldn't sit still.

The news was transmitted back to Pearl Island, and under Fan Li's construction, after a day of urgent consultations, the headquarters of the Oriental Union Group gritted its teeth and made an instruction to hemorrhage, preparing to sell a whole ship of arms at a reduced price.

……

"A woman doesn't care about decency, decency is because the temptation is not enough; Men don't care about loyalty. Loyalty is because the stakes for betrayal are too low......"

Well, it seems that this sentence is a bit too much to apply to Zhang Jingxin, the governor of Liangguang, but the news from the Guangzhou Military Preparation Road, the "super" strength and sincerity shown by Huamei. It still surprised Zhang Jingxin, who temporarily lived in the governor of Guangzhou.

As a matter of sincerity, Mi Yi will sell 10,000 Taixi self-generated firearms, 36 18-jin cannons, plus a large batch of high-purity refined saltpeter to Daming in two installments this year, and the price is only a symbolic 120,000 taels of silver. And you can also ship to Shandong or Tianjin Wei for free, which is almost the same as giving it away for nothing?

Bribing the Ming court, does this court still need bribes?

Bribing the magistrate of Guangzhou. I guess no one has the courage to touch such a gift, right?

It's not profitable to be early, and if you make such a big move, is it really just a poor and remote island that wants to dry goods?

The feasible explanation is that either Mi Yi has other plans, or Mi Yi, who is rich in resources and poor in the countryside, really needs a place that can make good friends with the Ming Dynasty. In contrast, neither the Francois in Macao nor the Dutch in Nanyang have such a big deal, and they still make some trouble with preaching and causing trouble all day long. If it weren't for the fact that the southeast maritime merchants had formed a deep-rooted interest link in Macao, I am afraid that Macao would have been banned by the Ming Dynasty a few decades earlier.

The Ming court has spent a lot of energy and money on purchasing or imitating Taixi firearms over the years, and now a large number of firearms are sent to the door almost effortlessly, and anyone must think about it carefully.

A few years ago, it was Wang Zunde's brain that didn't turn around, and he had to forcibly arrest these Mi Yi who came to do firearms trading, and as a result, the two Guangxi chickens and dogs jumped, and if this kind of thing happened again, it was simply that he couldn't get along with himself!

According to the reports from his subordinates, the Miyi people wanted to set up a warehouse and residential area on Hong Kong Island in Kowloon Bay, south of Xin'an County, and that all arms trade would still be in accordance with the pattern of exchanges between the Ming Dynasty and Macao, and would be borne by the Portuguese in Macao.

The only thing that is different from Macau, and which also makes Zhang Jingxin faintly uneasy, is that the other party hopes to lease the whole island for ten years, and does not want the Ming side to interfere in any affairs on the leased land.

Looking at the letters on the table, Zhang Jingxin fell into deep thought, but no matter how he thought about it, he also felt that some of the words that Xiong Wencan said to him when he was leaving did have some truth.

Daming and Miyi do have some fate, although it seems that the greed for profit is more powerful than that of the Franco, but Liangguang, Fujian, Zhejiang, and even the Dayuan Xuanwei Division, don't they all benefit because of the Nanyang Maritime Trade? With a ten-year lease period, in exchange for a batch of fine firearms and high-grade saltpeter worth at least 500,000 taels of silver, plus a more stable ordnance procurement channel, where else in the world can you find such a cheap thing?

Thinking of some of the "complaint" letters that a small number of gentry from Liangguang who were excluded by Qiongzhou, the jealousy in them arose spontaneously, which instead brought out the various benefits of the relationship between the gentry of Qiongzhou and Miyi, which made Zhang Jingxin can't help but sneer lightly.

After making up his mind, Zhang Jingxin began to write a fold, preparing to convey the truth of this "Nanyang Miyi Seeking Tribute" to Emperor Chongzhen in Beijing City one by one.

……

On the second day after Zhang Jingxin sent out a six-hundred-mile expedited, a letter from the sea for several months was forwarded from Mingzhu Island to Dongning City, the capital of the Dayuan Xuanwei Division.

did not use a telegram, but a handwritten letter written by Yan Xianfeng after thinking about it, while sincerely apologizing to his parents, he publicly stated that he would give up the inheritance of the eldest member Xuanwei Division, and chose to continue his studies in Huamei.

The eldest son, who hadn't seen him for more than ten years, was so heartless, so Yan Sihai, who had just asked for a concubine, suddenly turned in a sharp mood and dropped several teacups in the house in a row. This long-missed and unfamiliar son made this choice, which made Yan Sihai sad and secretly glad at the same time, after all, he still had several sons, and he would not let the family inheritance be left behind.

As for the explanation letter sent by his niece Yan Xianping in the following days, Yan Sihai didn't bother to dig into it. In his eyes, the Huamei Yan Mansion is already separated from the eldest member, the eldest son is just a sign of "hard wings", and Yan Xianping is the water spilled by the married person, and it is normal.

On the same day, 300 young Chinese people of Luzon secretly arrived at the overseas territory of Huamei Pearl Island on a number of Chinese merchants' ships. They will soon be sent to Port Surand, Viceroyalty of South Africa, where they will be separated and mixed into three combat battalions with the newly recruited recruits of the Gray Wolf Brigade of the Chinese American Foreign Legion, and will be deployed overseas for several years. (To be continued......)