Chapter 535 Trade Deficit

Lavissalis couldn't help but sigh when she saw the fleet on the sea. The glory of belonging to the Kingdom of Spain has passed, and the Ming Empire, which was once backward and unsea-conscious in the eyes of Europeans, has built a powerful fleet in just a dozen years. This phenomenon can only illustrate one problem, as long as the Ming Empire is interested, their technological accumulation and resources can easily walk in the forefront of the world. "What a desperate power!" Lavissalis can only sigh like this, Spain is really small and pitiful compared to Daming. I've heard that the population of this country is 20,000,000, well, this one is even more desperate. With a population of 20,000,000, you can make 10 million bayonets at will, as long as their steel production can keep up.

Well, look at the cannons on those ships, which are the most powerful proof of steel production. Not to mention, some people have witnessed that the effective range of the cannons of the Ming fleet seems to be much higher than that of the cannons produced in Europe. In any case, after meeting the cabinet minister, make sure to make a request to visit the flagship.

Along the rope ladder, the slightly obese Lavissalis climbed up to the deck with some difficulty, and saw a man and a woman standing on the deck smiling to greet her. Women look curvy, and Oriental women rarely have such a hot figure. Seemingly, her expression was a little uncomfortable.

Lavissalis's judgment is right, the red lady is just a little uncomfortable, a ghost, and she has to greet herself. Women, it's not good to show up. Chen Xie's explanation is Western etiquette, and the red lady still does not agree to accept the kiss hand ceremony.

Chen Xie had no choice but to greet him himself, and greeted with a smile: "Welcome to the presence of His Excellency the Governor, I am not very accustomed to Western etiquette, so please understand." After the translation was very fast, Lavissalis shrugged and said, "I can completely understand that there are many Chinese in Manila. Their daughters and dependents hid at home. ”

The red lady still didn't hold on, and went back with a snort. Chen Xie spread his hands helplessly and said, "Okay, we can talk about it alone." There were sun umbrellas, coffee tables and chairs on the deck, and the two of them sat down on the deck, and Chen Xie said: "First of all, I want to clarify Daming's point of view. We have no intentions for the colonies of friendly countries. However, for some regional instability, the Ming Empire has absolutely zero tolerance. In recent years, the Kingdom of the Netherlands has taken advantage of the fact that we are busy dealing with rebellions in the north, and has carried out a series of acts of aggression on the southeast coast of the empire, which is absolutely intolerable. The Ming Empire loved peace and offered to negotiate a settlement of the dispute, but unfortunately our efforts were not responded to in good faith, but welcomed the Dutch fleet. The Reich's diplomatic department was deeply alarmed by this. Outraged, the Emperor authorized himself to go south to direct an armed operation aimed at annihilating the Kingdom of the Netherlands' military presence in Asia. ”

The words are clear, the annihilation of the military presence of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Asia, including India.

Lavissalis was glad that the Kingdom of Spain's expeditionary force against the Ming was not implemented. Otherwise, the fear now is about yourself and not the Dutch. "The Kingdom of Spain is willing to provide necessary assistance to the righteous actions of the Ming Empire, and is more willing to see peace and stability in the East Indies and even in the entire Asian seas. And hope to sign a long-term trade agreement with Daming. "This long-term trade agreement. It is for the so-called trade license. Nowadays, there are only three places where European businessmen can go. One is Moon Harbor, which is a bit more miserable and can only move within the dock. Basically, what the people of the Ming Dynasty sell, they can only accept. The second place is Huating, where it is a little better and can go deep into a certain range. Dengzhou is the same, you can go ashore, but you can't go out of the city. A trade license is required to trade.

This trade license is a very bad thing, and the license is valid for one year. A round trip from Europe. It's going to take a year. I'll have to re-apply for it next time, this is so annoying. The Spaniards want to sign a trade agreement just to break the trouble of this deadline. European countries have always been in a very passive position in the trade of the Ming Dynasty, so they hope to obtain a long-term treatment. Who knew that the day the empire would turn around and cancel this permit and return to the era of the sea ban again? You must know that every shipload of goods brought back to Europe from Daming does not make a lot of money. The aristocrats of Europe had no resistance to the silk, porcelain, and tea of the Ming Dynasty. Not to mention, recently Daming has produced a kind of cotton cloth, the price is far lower than that of cotton cloth made in India, the color is diverse, and the quality is more than a lot. This cotton cloth was shipped back to Europe and sold like crazy.

From this side, it is once again seen that the Ming Empire's scientific and technological strength is leading. For the Western powers, accustomed to bullying the weak and fearing the hard, this is a desperately powerful empire, and there is no possibility of victory at all. Before the outbreak of the Opium War, the British Parliament also passed the proposal by a narrow margin. No matter how powerful Britain was, it did not have the confidence to defeat the Qing Dynasty.

Such a large and steady empire is something that can hardly be imagined in the minds of European countries. There are many countries, and they are all very small countries, and they are fighting each other to survive. Russia at this moment can't get on the table. It had to wait until the advent of Peter the Great that Russia had a chance to become a great power. Now, who's going to put it in the eye.

"Your Excellency the Governor, I will consider this issue carefully, and propose it to His Majesty the Emperor. It is possible to try to extend the duration of the license appropriately. The opening of the sea to the outside world of the Ming Dynasty is only the first step, and many conservative forces in the country have united, and their power is very strong. I have to be cautious about this, please understand. Chen Xie said it quite bluntly, and Lavissalis immediately understood that every country is the same, and politicians do not deal with each other, not necessarily for the good or bad of the country, but simply for the sake of opposition.

"Well, I think I understand. At least now that we're sitting down together, we've reached some consensus on the diplomatic and trade relationship between our two countries. Personally, I also want to make a small request for Ming trade. Lavissalis carefully organized her wording so as not to annoy the big man. You must know that the political characters of the Ming Dynasty often do things according to their personal preferences.

Chen Xie smiled: "Please speak." "We have been trying to find a way to trade, hoping to make up for the absolute disadvantage of trade with Ming. Unfortunately, so far, we have not found any products that Daming urgently needs. We can't get much out of it except gold and silver. So, I hope that your Excellency can give us a suggestion to help us improve this problem. ”

Chen Xie showed a surprised expression and said, "I really can't understand your thoughts, Da Ming needs a lot of things. Among them, the most lacking is copper. Daming copper coins, you can imagine, how big this gap is. Copper is imported from Dongying and Goryeo every year. There is also rice, rice from Southeast Asia tastes very good, and it is very marketable in Daming. For the other part, I don't know anything about the Philippines, but I think that if we deepen our understanding and strengthen mutual trust, we will soon find a way to balance trade. ”

Lavissalis's eyes lit up suddenly, copper, there is no shortage of this thing in the Philippines, and there are also a lot of copper mines in South America that can be mined. The only drawback is that it is difficult to judge how much trade can be brought by such a long journey. However, with Chen Xie's words, this problem does not seem to be a problem anymore.

China is really short of copper, just look at the bullet production that rabbits know, and go directly to steel. Therefore, Chen Xie encouraged the Spaniards to mine copper ore in the Philippines and import it to the Ming Dynasty, and the little mineral deposits at home should not be moved. As for food, Daming is really short of food, at least at this stage. In the future, as long as a large amount of grain pours into the Daming market, grain prices will be stable.

However, no matter how you look at it, foreign trade is an absolute advantage. Porcelain, silk, tea, these products are unique to this store. In response to the outflow of these products, Chen Xie also made some precautions, lest the British take tea to India to grow it, as in history, and thus get rid of the status quo of strict dependence on Chinese tea. There is also silk, which was robbed of the market by the Japanese in history, and this time and space will naturally not repeat itself. The same is true for porcelain, which lacks technical protection, and as a result, the production technology is taken away by the great powers for free, and these are all wounds.

Of course, the Spaniards at this time would not go to war with the Ming for the sake of trade deficits. Any European country does not have the courage to do so, so it can only obediently exchange gold and silver for the products of the Ming Dynasty. This trade deficit, even in history, has lasted for more than 200 years. Not to mention this time and space, there is basically no drama, Chen Xie didn't plan to let these ghosts go too deep into the territory of the Ming Dynasty, how could he wait for a few decades, the technical barriers of the Ming Dynasty were formed, and then the issue of openness.

Fresh water and other supplies were replenished in Manila, and the next day news was received from the clippers that the Dutch fleet was heading north, and it was only three or five days away. The fleet immediately set sail and began to search for the Dutch fleet in the vast expanse of the sea.

But then again, finding the Dutch fleet on the sea is a difficult task. Fortunately, I knew the route of the Dutch, and I just waited on the road.

Wandering on the sea is never pleasant. It's boring, and there are many times when the scenery remains the same. Chen Xie was very calm, and on his flagship, he organized various activities. What tug-of-war competition, what cockfighting competition, beautiful cheerleaders to help, etc., in short, there are constant tricks. (To be continued......)