Chapter 501 Special Envoy for Peace Talks

Han Zanzhou, the eunuch guarding Nanjing, has been seeking greater trust from the emperor, and a eunuch who does not want to wear red power is not a good eunuch. The boss of the celebrant is not so easy to be, first you have to have a high level of education, and then you have to be deeply trusted by His Majesty. All kinds of chances come together to achieve this position. This is the goal that every eunuch has been striving for and striving for.

In Huating, after meeting Chen Xie, Han Zanzhou was overjoyed with Chen Xie's construction. Words such as competing with the people for profit are ineffective against eunuchs. The eunuch is to do things for the emperor and is a dog of the emperor. It doesn't matter so much to you, as long as the emperor likes it. Now it is Chen Xie who is out of the ship, as long as the emperor has some manpower, it is two or three million silver yuan a year, even if he knows that he will be hacked to death, Han Zanzhou will also have to make a move.

After giving the emperor a secret fold overnight and reporting the matter in detail, Han Zanzhou began to wait patiently for the result. He is not stupid, this is Chen Xie's disguised gift of silver to the emperor, bribing the emperor This kind of thing is probably what Chen Xie can do. Directly smashed the emperor with silver, and someone did this back then, and that person was called Shen Wanshan. Chen Xie is not a fool like Shen Wansan who only has silver, he not only has silver, but also an army and territory to live in. Most importantly, he has no ambitions. Any ambitious person, in the case of constant external troubles and endless internal strife in the late Ming Dynasty, would not do his best to share the worries of his father like Chen Xie.

In a word, the emperor is not stupid! No matter how good you say, the real thing depends on what you do.

It is impossible to bargain over the ransom, and obediently take out 10,000 gold guilders. Putmans and Kuichi are free. After returning to Batavia, meeting with the governor and explaining in detail what had happened, he wrote a report for each. After tossing back and forth for a month, I finally got a reply from India. "If this is the case, we should avoid the expansion of the conflict and seek opportunities for peaceful trade." In a word, trade is the ultimate goal. It is not important how to obtain normal trade opportunities, but what matters is that the Chinese are willing to trade normally with Dutch merchants. But now this normal is difficult to achieve, so it is necessary to negotiate. The war was provoked by the Dutch. To return to the normalization of trade with the Ming Dynasty. The price must be paid.

The two defeated generals, Putmans and Kuiyi, soon received a new task to act as negotiators to start peace negotiations with the Ming Dynasty. There is only one purpose. Normalization of trade. Something that cannot be obtained by war. Then get it at the negotiating table. This was the attitude of the Dutch East India Company. They still have an optimistic perception of this, believing that Daming is a country that wants to save face, and give them enough face. The problem is not difficult to solve.

It should be said that this is a relatively deep cognition, but that was before, and now Chen Xie, who is in charge of this matter, wants face and lining. No interest, I know who you are? In foreign trade, how many people are waiting in line to hook up with Chen Xie.

The news of the opening of the sea spread quickly, and as the British heard the news, the Portuguese could not sit still. When they were in the mirror trench, they had the upper hand, and the Dutch were strong, inserted a lever, and grasped the dominance, and life was very difficult. But overall, it's still very moisturizing. But now it's different, Daming has opened the sea. The Spaniards can come, the British can come, and people from all over Europe can come to do business with the Ming.

On the wharf of Huating New District, thousands of sails gathered for a while, and ships from all over the world moved one after another. The legend is that the ancient empire full of gold embraced the world with open arms, uh, you didn't wake up. It's just a window that has been pushed open.

On the Rotterdam sailing ship, I left Batavia and floated on the sea for nearly a month to the sea at the mouth of the Yangtze River. Holding a telescope in his hand, the once painful failure once surged into his heart again. One of Daming's clippers appeared, swaggering to intercept the Rotterdam, and didn't take the 32 cast-iron cannons on board seriously at all.

Boarding the Rotterdam was a young soldier, not tall, with a dark complexion and an arrogant attitude, with his chin tilted up, and said in the Daming official dialect with a Shandong accent: "Since you are here for peace talks, why did you come to this warship?" "This is the meaning of picking bones in eggs, these days and months sailing ships go to sea, there are no dozens of cannons to defend yourself, you are embarrassed to come out to mix?

After listening to the words of the interpreter, he shrugged his shoulders and said: "The Netherlands only has such ships, and simple merchant ships are undoubtedly looking for death in this era." The young officer let out a cold snort from his nostrils and said lightly: "As the two warring sides, it is already a very polite act not to sink you at sea." If you want to go ashore, you can hand over the warship, and the crew will board the boat and return it to you when you leave. "It's so tough, it's humiliating.

He almost couldn't hold back his anger, but Putmans pressed his shoulder in time and said with a smile: "No problem, follow the customs!" ”

For this negotiation, Putmans worked hard to learn Chinese from the Chinese in Batavia, and after learning the phrase "follow the local customs", he finally had room to play. Sure enough, hearing his extremely lame official words, the young officer's face looked a little better, and he said with a fairly calm expression: "In this case, you wait here, just turn around and hand over your arms, it's too troublesome to change ships." ”

Soon two warships came, both about 1,000 to 1,500 tons, and some sailors disembarked from the ship, and after boarding the Rotterdam, they unceremoniously took over the armament. Putmans was extremely cooperative, and let all his men go to the deck and accept the supervision of the other party, except for the necessary operations.

Finally, I followed the pilot ship into the channel of the Yangtze River, and only then did I see the fort at Wusongkou. When they saw this fort, Putmans and Yu Yi exchanged a look with each other, and they all had the same idea in their hearts, the Dutch fleet back then was still lucky, and it didn't plunge into the Yangtze River, otherwise it would have died miserably in the face of these dense forts.

When the boat stopped on the dock, the faces of the two changed again. Just look at the flags, not only the Dutch are coming, but also the Portuguese, English and Spanish are coming. In these years, all the countries that can come to the country that runs business on the sea have come. It can be seen that this Dutch is now in a very bad position, once the Ming is unwilling to accept peace, their trade with China will fall behind other opponents. Frankly speaking, even if the entire Dutch fleet sailed over, they did not have the confidence to win. This country is too big, and once you turn your attention to the sea, the energy that bursts out is simply not something that a small country can think of.

When he boarded the pier, the Dutchman's expression changed again, this pier was too big to expect, the point was that the whole pier was like a huge square stone. After docking, you can board the pier directly without using a small boat.

A Ming official waiting on the dock was dressed differently from the official on the big side, but his expression was the same arrogant. said to the two envoys: "This official is the commander of Huating County, and the official is responsible for the negotiation." Lord Cabinet has a lot of things, it's not like you can see it if you want to, let alone talk to his old man, you don't have that qualification yet. ”

"No, we represent the Dutch nation. Why are you not qualified to talk to the cabinet ministers of the Ming Dynasty? He couldn't help but retort, and was sarcastically retorted by the county order on the other side: "Who are you fooling?" What you can represent is only a company in the Netherlands, and if it is not good, the official has come forward, which is already very face-saving for you. If you don't want to talk, get out, if you want to see the Cabinet, and don't pee and look in the mirror. Last time in the big office, the cabinet has made an exception, this time, don't dream. ”

Yang Longyou's words were very ugly, but Putmans still reached out and pressed the seizure. They were right, they could represent the East India Company, not the Dutch government. From these words, it can be seen that this cabinet minister has a full understanding of the shape of Europe as a whole.

"This county magistrate, I want to know, people from other countries are here, and they are treated the same?" Putmans asked calmly, but Yang Longyou gave him an answer: "That's here to do business, and the Ship Department is in charge." ”

Putmans has no problem, and he has been very informative in this conversation. First of all, the main purpose of this so-called new area of the Ming Dynasty is to do business with Europe. Secondly, the division of labor in this new area is very detailed. Finally, the future of this negotiation is difficult. The reason is simple, the initiative is not in their own hands. If you can't fight it, you are worried that others will hit Batavia, and you will have to do business, and people from other countries will sit at home, and people from other countries will swarm like flies smelling blood.

Negotiations without initiative are always difficult. Without a clear understanding of this, it will be difficult to complete the task.

"Your Excellency, we have brought some gifts to His Excellency the Cabinet Minister, and I would like to ask you to pass them on." With that, Putmans stepped forward and quietly handed over a small bag. Yang Longyou was not polite at all, after taking it, he opened it and looked at it, and all the golden ones in it were tightly closed, and it was estimated that there could be a hundred. Only then did his face look a little better, and he arched his hand and said: "Then submit it, whether the cabinet lord is satisfied or not, I don't count this." ”

Putmans was overjoyed, and as long as the man was willing to take a bribe, there was hope for the negotiation. The temptation of the Ming Dynasty to be willing to trade normally was an irresistible temptation for the whole of Europe. The benefits are too great for anyone to resist.

"Bang Bang!" After clapping their hands gently, the four masked women who got out of the boat, their cloaks were so tightly wrapped that they couldn't see any skin at all, and they could see a forehead and an exposed hand. Yang Longyou was very curious, and looked at these women, who were wonderful, fair-skinned, and had brown hair.

"These four are the best dancers from the Ottoman Empire, the Governor of Batavia, who has chosen a small gift for His Excellency the Cabinet Minister. There are a few other gifts that are not enough to worry about. After the translator's words were finished, Yang Longyou snorted somewhat disdainfully: "The daughter of the foreign domain, plaything." I turned this around, adults can't see it, it depends on luck. (To be continued......)