Sanyu, the eldest son of the Chang family, was born on a Portuguese ship in the Atlantic Ocean and never set foot on the land of the Ming Dynasty, from kindergarten to elementary school, from middle school to university, to working in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Sanyu grew up and had the most contact with foreigners, probably Spaniards or Portuguese in Iberia, and his fluency in Latin, Spanish, or Portuguese greatly facilitated his diplomatic work.

Although Sanyu majored in international relations, he grew rapidly in finance and business, and while serving as Commercial Counsellor at the Consulate General of Seville, he provided a lot of valuable information and advice for the development of Sino-American trade in Spain and Portugal. In particular, Sanyu's report played a crucial role in the diplomatic results of mobilizing domestic traders to unite with the Portuguese Royal Chamber of Commerce to open trade routes in the Western Mediterranean.

Now Sanyu is an assistant in the Far Eastern Affairs Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and going to his ancestral homeland that he has heard of for a long time to serve as his deputy to Jin Xiaohan, a strongman in Far Eastern diplomacy whom he has never met, is the most exciting thing Sanyu has felt so far.

This is the expectation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that it will continue to increase its training and experience, and it also has the meaning of taking the place of the elderly parents to "return to their hometown" for the first time. With this in mind, after Sanyu completed the relevant diplomatic preparations in Hong Kong, he entered the city of Guangzhou with Zhao Mingchuan, the head of the Far East of the Oriental Union Group.

Before entering the governor's yamen, the carriage had been parked outside the high walls of the street. Through the curtains of the car windows and doors, everything in front of her made Sanyu both familiar and unfamiliar.

There are familiar oriental costumes that are somewhat similar to the gorgeous hanfu, there are beautiful oriental gray tile cornices, there are crowded and dilapidated houses similar to the streets of Lisbon, and there are beggars kneeling on the sides of the street with vegetables in their faces, like wandering on the streets of Seville.

What is unfamiliar is the conversation of the passers-by with very different accents from Manchester City, the rough and flamboyant words and deeds of the street patrol officers, or the sound of street juggling and singing in the window.

I waited like this for more than an hour, and no one greeted me. Sanyu still thought it was a little ridiculous.

Opening the briefcase, facing the light filtered in by a few curtains of the car windows and doors, Sanyu once again confirmed the main points of the meeting with the Ming Dynasty officials, and then closed his eyes slightly to recuperate.

His diplomatic mission this time was to lead the Hong Kong Governor's Office and the local government of Guangdong during the Ming Dynasty to strive for a set of local official trade agreements that would be conducive to non-governmental trade along the coastal areas of Guangdong. Once this trade agreement is signed, it will be the first time that China and the United States have established official diplomatic relations with the Ming Dynasty through official business relations.

Sanyu had already read a lot of information about the current situation of the Ming Dynasty on the way to the East, and also learned some about Zhao Youheng's personal political sensitivity from the documents left by Jin Xiaohan. In order to make the preparations as perfect as possible, Sanyu hardly left the archives of the Hong Kong Customs and Excise Department a few days ago. Drill in and check the information to make up for the homework.

But he didn't know why, as a Chinese and American diplomat, he would look so sneaky, huddle in the carriage outside the other government's station. It seems that as long as he shows up, he will hurt the other party.

He didn't know how big a threshold he would face when dealing with Ming Dynasty officials and scholars, and on this issue, he was not much different from Matteo Ricci, a European at this time.

"Mr. Chang has been waiting for a long time, and Lord Zhao, the governor of Guangdong, is invited."

The car door opened, Zhao Mingchuan stood in front of him with a calm smile, and Sanyu quickly sorted out his clothes and tie. Then he stepped out of the carriage with the document bag in his hand, and walked into the high wall of the gate under the strange eyes of a group of officers and soldiers of the Fubiao battalion, becoming the first diplomat in Huamei to enter the official government residence of the Ming Dynasty.

……

……

Another hour had passed, and I was in the study. Zhao Youheng, who changed into an official uniform, appeared in front of Sanyu in the company of three strange officials, the old, middle and the young.

These three people are Lingnan Sanzhong, who recently defected to Guangdong.

Chen Zizhuang. A native of Nanhai, Guangzhou Prefecture, who is just 50 years old this year, is the oldest and most senior person in Sanzhongli in Lingnan. As a serious child of the eight classics of the Wanli year jinshi. Chen Zizhuang was tired of moving the right attendant of the Ministry of Rites in the year of Chongzhen, and during the period of Emperor Hongguang of the Southern Ming Dynasty, he was the official residence of the Ministry of Rites.

Chen Zizhuang had a upright personality and was an honest official, and he was very disgusted by Zheng Zhilong's behavior of supporting the Tang Dynasty, monopolizing the government, and excluding dissidents, so he directly rejected the solicitation of the Longwu court, and returned to Guangdong from Fujian last autumn, intending to return to his hometown to live in seclusion.

There is no need for Zhao Youheng's recommendation at all, and after the beginning of spring, Chen Zizhuang, who has deep qualifications in officialdom, was recruited to eastern Zhejiang by the small court of King Lu, and he will set off in two days. I heard that Chen Zizhuang was going to serve as the scholar of the East Pavilion University and the secretary of the military department of the small court of King Lu, and together with Xiao Yifu, he became Zhao Youheng's political backing in Guangdong.

Chen Bangyan, whose qualifications are much shallow, is 43 years old this year, a native of Shunde, Guangzhou Prefecture. In the first half of his life, he studied hard and was just a bitter talent, but he had a lot of ideas and opinions on governing the country, and he was a die-hard loyalist who pursued the doctrine of applying it to the world.

It was not until the autumn of last year that Chen Bangyan reluctantly returned to the Longwu Imperial Court, and was appointed as the head of the Ministry of War in the township examination, and was sent to Jiangxi to assist Su Guansheng in recruiting troops and horses, in an attempt to divide the military power of Wan Yuanji, the governor of Jiangxi.

It's a pity that Chen Bangyan's temperament is still strong, and when he knew that this was just the internal political struggle decision of the Zheng group, he didn't do it for a few days, so he directly dropped the official seal and went south to Guangdong.

Under Zhao Youheng's protection, Chen Bangyan was exceptionally appointed as the Guangzhou Coastal Defense Soldier's Guard, which belonged to several levels of jumping, and directly became Zhao Youheng's most relied on assistant.

The last Zhang Jiayu, whose resume is a little stained, is also the youngest and most capable person in Lingnan Sanzhong.

Zhang Jiayu, 31 years old this year, is a native of Dongguan, Guangzhou. Since childhood, he has been quick to think, 19-year-old Zhongxiucai, 22-year-old Zhongjuren, 29-year-old Zhongjinshi, can be called a talent. It's a pity that Zhang Jiayu once took the initiative to surrender to serve when Li Zicheng broke through Beijing, which led to being seriously suppressed by Nanming officialdom since then.

After Zhang Jiayu was reactivated by Emperor Longwu, he was sent to Zheng Hongkui as a subordinate to defend Xianxia Pass, a key point in northern Fujian. However, Zheng Hongkui and Zheng Zhilong clashed over the defense of Fujian and lost their temper, and actually left Zhang Jiayu to withdraw his troops in anger, so that Zhang Jiayu lost confidence in the chaos within the Longwu court, and also abandoned the official and returned to Guangdong.

Zhang Jiayu has some experience in leading the army, and was arranged by Zhao Youheng to serve as the supervisor of the Central Army in the newly established Xijiang Town as the supervisor of the Chinese army as the governor of Guangdong, to learn the command and training affairs of the new army, and to prepare for the real command of the army in the future.

As local bureaucrats in Guangzhou, the three of them have now been ostracized or frustrated by the Zheng group in the Longwu court. The trio returned to Guangdong to defect to Zhao Youheng, which was nominally chosen by King Lu.

The three of them took office and held important positions in the central and local military and political positions respectively, and the local officials took another step forward in unifying the military and political affairs of Guangdong.

……

"Contemptible Sanyu, Chang Chang, Puyu's Jade, is currently the assistant of the Department of Overseas Territorial and Far Eastern Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China in Pearl Island. It's a pleasure to meet Mr. Zhao, I don't know who these three are......"

Seeing the Ming Dynasty officials coming in, Sanyu quickly got up and bowed his head slightly. stretched out his hand to Zhao Youheng, while politely looking at Chen Zizhuang and the others who came in together.

"Hehe, sure enough, a talent, young and promising! I just heard Brother Zhao Xian talk about it, and Benfu thought it was an older person. Let me introduce you to three colleagues and friends: this is my Daming Dongge University Scholar and Military Department Shangshu Chen Jisheng Chen Master (Chen Zizhuang); This is Chen Lingbin, Chen Lingbin (Chen Bangyan), a member of the Guangzhou Coastal Defense Army; This is Zhang Yuanzi Zhang Daren (Zhang Jiayu), the superintendent of the imperial history of Guangdong and the Chinese military supervisor of Xijiang Town. ”

Zhao Youheng was very familiar with the gorgeous handshake ceremony, so he naturally shook hands with Sanyu.

Chen Zizhuang just sat aside with a slight arch of his hand, and didn't seem to like this kind of physical contact.

Although Chen Bangyan did not shake hands, he nodded a few times very gently, and his attitude was quite friendly.

Zhang Jiayu shook Sanyu's hand very curiously. also secretly looked at each other's outfits.

"When we first met, I had a little personal gift for a few gentlemen. This is a special grade propolis and North American ginseng produced in China, which can prolong life and prevent diseases and nourish the body. ”

Sanyu finished. Outside the study, there were several servants holding small stainless steel gift boxes, who were local employees of the OUCC Group brought by Zhao Mingchuan from Hong Kong this time, and temporarily served as Sanyu's entourage.

"I have heard that there are many rare and exotic goods in the state of the West Sea, and the merchants of the southern Beijing market are highly sought after. When I see this box today, I know that it is not ordinary. ”

Seeing that Sanyu was friendly and decent, the smile on his face never diminished. Chen Zizhuang's coldness when he first entered the door also eased a lot, after all, he didn't hit the smiling person. Chen Bangyan and Zhang Jiayu were amazed by the stainless steel gift box rolled by a steam machine in front of them.

Seeing that Sanyu was alone and not stage frightened, Zhao Youheng also secretly praised in his heart. After a few polite concessions, Zhao Youheng withdrew from the maid, his face was certain, and he sat side by side with his colleagues behind the long bookcase.

"Entrusted by the Ministry of Commerce of the Cabinet of the People's Republic of China and the Governor-General's Office of the Hong Kong Concession, the Department of Far Eastern Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs authorized the envoy to the Governor of Guangdong, Yamen, and wanted to discuss with Mr. Zhao on matters related to trade cooperation in Guangdong."

Sanyu took a sip of tea, cleared his throat, took out the diplomatic documents that had been prepared long ago from the document bag, and personally placed them in front of Zhao Youheng, while Zhao Youheng modestly pushed the documents into Chen Zizhuang's hands first.

After only turning the page, Chen Zizhuang was stunned by these diplomatic documents with simple strokes but arranged according to the reading habits of Dongtu articles.

Hong Kong-Guangdong Trade Co-operation Services Agreement? What kind of charter is this?

Except for Zhao Youheng, who had already had some premonitions and psychological preparations, the other three all looked at each other, and they didn't know why Zhao Youheng suddenly found all three of them to meet this mysterious foreign envoy together.

"I also have a statistical data of the Hong Kong Customs here, which records the import and export trade between the Hong Kong Concession and various business groups or individuals in the Ming Dynasty in the past five years, which is not absolutely accurate, but the error will not exceed 1 percent."

As she spoke, Sanyu took out another document from her file bag and read it out in public.

“…… In the past five years, the average annual import and export trade volume of the Hong Kong Concession was 2.7 million US dollars, equivalent to 1.8 million taels of silver. Among them, the average annual import of goods is 1.2 million US dollars, and the export of goods is 1.5 million US dollars......"

"Wait!" Suddenly, Chen Zizhuang pinched off a few beards, his eyes were round, and his face was incredulous, "As your envoy said, the land of Hong Kong Island can sell 1.8 million taels of commercial goods a year!?" ”

Zhao Youheng can calm down, but it does not mean that Lingnan Sanzhong, who is in contact with the truth for the first time, can sit firmly on the stool. Although they also lived in Guangdong in their early years and knew that Guangdong's maritime trade was prosperous, it was indeed the first time they had heard such terrifying data.

Zhao Youheng coughed softly, and then nodded slightly, which was regarded as helping Sanyu confirm the validity of the data. In Zhao Youheng's view, these are just a little bit of achievements of Huamei businessmen led by Huamei Oriental Union Group in the Daming East China Sea and Nanyang.

it! If according to the world's commercial tax set by Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, one out of thirty. In Hong Kong alone, there should be 60,000 taels of silver in tax every year!

Chen Zizhuang suddenly felt a little nervous, when he was still in the Chongzhen Dynasty as a waiter in the Ministry of Rites, he had not seen Emperor Chongzhen haggard and secretly crying in order to allocate tens of thousands of taels of silver for military expenses.

In the past, when Xiong Wencan was still in Liangguang, it seemed that there had been a sudden increase in Guangdong's municipal merchant tax and local miscellaneous classes in the past few years, which made Emperor Chongzhen very happy. However, it didn't take long for the flag to die down, and some people once said that Xiong Wencan was guilty of improper governance in the two Guangzhous and Guangxi, and he was guilty of accumulating wealth and profit.

"Yes, this does not include entrepot trade, which means that the non-local import and export trade items with the Hong Kong concession as the transit are not counted, nor does it include the commercial interconnection business in other Daming areas." Sanyu smiled and nodded. "Therefore, in order to better maintain the trade pattern between the Hong Kong Concession and Guangdong Province and improve the service quality of the Hong Kong Customs and Excise Department, the Ministry of Commerce of the Cabinet of the Hong Kong Concession and the Governor's Office of the Hong Kong Concession hope to sign a 'Trade Services Agreement' with you, based on the cooperation between the Governor of Guangdong Yamen and the Governor's Office of the Hong Kong Concession, to jointly promote the import and export trade of Guangdong Province and promote regional economic development." ”

This gorgeous woman has done so much in my Ming business, but for a long time he has not talked about tribute. Second, not to talk about the Hajj, the first is how to expand and strengthen the business on the sea, and the government must come forward to get involved in it, which is a foreign country. The whole is a big business that runs the sea!

Although since the beginning of Longqing, the border trade of the East China Sea and the South Sea of the Ming Dynasty has changed with each passing day, and Macao at that time is now Hong Kong. The fact that the two Ming courts were able to accommodate foreign countries was also because the two Ming courts were sympathetic to the suffering of life and death of foreign maritime merchants who wandered at sea all day long, so they set a long-term lease.

But as long as it involves foreign imports. It may be a matter of national security and border and sea security, but the impact of the Japanese rebellion has not yet dissipated.

It is said that at the beginning of last year, before the fall of Nanjing, Zheng Zhilong, the then commander-in-chief of Fujian, and the ministers of the DPRK and China jointly issued a warning, and without even seeing anyone, they stopped the Huamei people's intention to continue to rent Hong Kong Island.

Seeing that there was still more than a year to go, and Hong Kong should take back the contract, I didn't expect these gorgeous businessmen to come to the door in person again, and they were still calmly talking about using Hong Kong as a base for large-scale trade and mutual markets.

Secretly glanced at the governor of Guangdong, who had won the hearts of the people because of the new policy of industry, agriculture and commerce in Guangdong, Chen Zizhuang beat a drum in his heart, and probably knew why Zhao Youheng brought him to meet the gorgeous envoy who suddenly arrived when he was about to leave for eastern Zhejiang.

He himself was from a family of eunuchs and squires in Guangzhou City, so how could he not know the local ties between the officials, businessmen and gentry in Guangdong, Fujian and Zhejiang since before the opening of Longqing. When the Huamei Concession was in Hong Kong, there were Guangzhou maritime merchants who came to the family to lobby for support.

Do you want me to make another argument in the future for the new policy in Guangdong and the renewal of the lease in Hong Kong? Chen Zizhuang thought so.

"Since it is a local matter related to the yamen of the governor of Guangdong, the old man still avoided suspicion. Mr. Zhao is the parent official of a province in Guangdong, and he has access to current affairs in the border and sea, and he is good at agriculture, politics and industry and commerce, so he must have his own trade-offs. Ladies and gentlemen, the old man will go home first, and he will leave tomorrow, so there will be no more delay here. ”

After Chen Zizhuang's high-profile confession, he decisively withdrew from the study.

Sure enough, it is a prodigy in the Lingnan family who is "seven-year-old Nengwen", and his personality is just right, and he has to look at the time, and he is absolutely unambiguous when he should be slippery! However, because of Zhao Youheng's relationship, he didn't slap the table on the spot and raise any objections.

The rest of Chen Bangyan and Zhang Jiayu looked at each other again, if it weren't for Zhao Youheng being the top boss and being a native of Guangzhou Mansion, maybe the two would have found an excuse to slip away.

What are you kidding, when Emperor Hongguang was still there, he denied Huamei's trade in Hong Kong, which was known to the Manchu Dynasty, and now he is mentioning it? Even if the Guangdong squire and maritime merchants are willing, and the Hongguang Imperial Court has already hung up, but the officials have to weigh it, right?

Looking at the various wonderful expressions of the three people opposite, Sanyu suddenly felt a little unhappy in his heart.

This feeling is subtly different from the commercial and diplomatic negotiations with the Portuguese in Lisbon, but Sanyu himself can't say what the difference is.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the main idea of the trade service agreement I just mentioned is to provide solid and reliable services to businessmen who travel between the Hong Kong concession and the ports of Guangdong, which is a good thing for the benefit of the people and reciprocity, and does not involve other aspects."

Thinking that he would assist Secretary Jin Xiaohan in completing the legal renewal of the Hong Kong Concession in the future, the young Sanyu showed the maturity of a career diplomat and never mentioned anything other than this negotiation.

"Ben Fu and your lordships have other official duties, if what Mr. Chang said is in this letter, then let the old man think about it for a while. Let's talk about it for now, sending off guests. ”

Seeing that the two subordinates had expressions that were still unclear, in order to prevent conflicts of communication and understanding, Zhao Youheng had no choice

The meeting was declared closed.

"Okay, all the texts of the trade in services agreement, the last few pages of the document are attached, and I will work hard for a few gentlemen to check it. In the near future, the contemptible people will go out on official business, and they will come back to visit and discuss in detail when the time comes. ”

It is normal for both sides of the diplomatic world to decide on a diplomatic matter, which can be as short as one or two months or as long as one or two months. Sanyu, who has diplomatic principles in mind, knows that the other side must be given time to digest the contents, so she is not in a hurry to get any reply in the next few days.

Because he has a more important task soon after, which is to visit eastern Zhejiang on behalf of the director Jin Xiaohan. (To be continued......)