Fu Envoy Si Yamen.!

As the pacification envoy of the sea route pacification envoy, Deng Jian felt more and more that the pressure was getting bigger and bigger.

Zeng Feng, the envoy of the Jinyi Wei Hundred Households of Shuangyu Port, asked to see him every day and reported the latest information of Nanyang here, where there was already a huge crisis lurking.

The imperial court set up a hundred households of Jinyi Wei in Shuangyu Port, don't look at it as just a hundred households, but due to the support of the pacification envoy, although there are only more than 90 official Jinyi guards in these hundred households, there are only more than 90 official Jinyi guards, but the supernumerary personnel have reached thousands, these people may be sailors, maybe businessmen, or just an unknown pilot, but these people's footprints are all over the place, and all the overseas information is sent to the Shuangyu Port Hundred Households, and then after the hundred households are screened and sorted, they are summarized and reported to the imperial court and the pacification envoys.

On the one hand, it was mainly stimulated by the trade of the Ming Dynasty, which made the Franc machine very profitable, and the colonization activities of the Franc people were originally mainly concentrated in Africa and the American continent, but due to the huge profits brought by the Far East, they began to pay more and more attention to this region.

Even in Franco, Spain made a bold statement that whoever dominates this body of water will get the key to the golden world.

The reason for this situation is also that the trade in silk and porcelain tasted great benefits, porcelain and silk, which were loved by the whole continent of Franco, not long ago, one German monarch exchanged six hundred elite cavalry for one hundred and twenty-seven pieces of porcelain from another German monarch, and this exchange was extremely common throughout Franco.

Four elite cavalrymen in full armor, including their horses, their full set of armor and weapons, in Franco, to support four such cavalry is expensive for a monarch, and a piece of porcelain can match four powerful cavalry, four horses, which is enough to make people staggering.

Of course, in Spain, the price of porcelain is lower, while in Germany the price is high, and even porcelain is not traded in cash at all, only the goods are exchanged, which shows how lucrative it can be. (Note: The exchange of 600 elite cavalry with 127 pieces of porcelain is a historical fact.) ）

In order to gain more trade rights and expand trade with the Ming Dynasty, the Spaniards and the Portuguese began to compete.

The two maritime empires, which had been mediated by the Church, had made some kind of compromise on the plundering of the colonies, with slightly different areas of focus on Spain, for example, Spain focused on the Americas, while Portugal was more active in Africa and Asia, but now, the mediation of the Church has become a dead letter, and both sides are aware of the importance of trade with the Ming Dynasty.

In order to expand trade and ensure that they would gain a greater advantage in trade, the two maritime powers continued to increase their military strength in the South Seas, and Zeng Feng of the Hundred Households of Jinyi Wei noticed that in Luzon, the Spaniards had sent a large fleet to arrive there eight months earlier, and they began to fight for some important places in the South Seas, such as Malacca, Aceh, and the more active Java region of the Portuguese, and even Taiwan, where they began to continuously strengthen their strongholds.

The Portuguese, on the other hand, strengthened their strength, and although they did not clash with the Spaniards, their colonization of the South Seas began to increase.

A large number of Franc mercenaries also arrived in the footsteps of the two maritime empires, either for piracy and robbery on this route, or for the Spanish and Portuguese to engage in more active colonization activities.

Aceh, Manraka, Boni, Sulu, Champang, Chenla and other countries were all suffering, and similarly, the Great Eclipse was dissatisfied with the Portuguese and Spaniards, citing the fact that they continued to occupy important ports along the way, and controlled the shipping lanes, and banned the passage of the Great Cannibal cargo ships, hoping to achieve a monopoly on the Ming trade.

"My lord, a month ago, the Spaniards attacked the city again, it's okay for them to attack elsewhere, this city is the authentic vassal of our Ming Dynasty, this is the country that will never be conquered by the Son of Heaven himself, this matter will definitely be transmitted to the imperial court, the imperial court, I am afraid that I will not give up."

#阝健苦笑, he said: "These guys, they really don't stop, the official also said, why haven't there been any big food merchant ships coming recently, it turns out that someone is making trouble, this matter, I will report it to Xu Zhitai, and you will order someone to continue to monitor it closely." ”

"Yes, there are also envoys from Aceh, Sulu and other countries who have arrived at Shuangyu Port, and they are all here to ask for help, do you want to see them?"

#阝健瞪大眼睛: "I see what's the use, send them all to Hangzhou, and let Lord Xu have a headache." ”

This guy must mention Lord Xu, so that these hundred households Zeng Feng really feels that his hundred households are in the wrong place, or should they be located in Hangzhou.

Zeng Feng smiled and said: "Yes, yes, but well, the silver taels allocated by the hundred households recently are not enough, and the ...... to appease the envoy side"

Don't look at the Shuangyu Port Baihu Office is under the name of Jinyiwei, but relying on the salary allocated by the Beizhen Government Division, everyone has long eaten the northwest wind, such a huge institution, and due to the recent tensions, the recruitment of supernumeraries and eyeliner continues to grow, this fee is naturally getting bigger and bigger, so the nominal Weiwei of the Baihu Office, a certain Cheng dù is independent, after all, the financial is not free, usually point to the appeasement of the division to allocate money in an emergency, today to appease the envoy to displeasure, tomorrow everyone has to tighten their belts and prepare to be hungry, So don't look at the Jinyi Guard, it sounds terrifying to outsiders, but when he came to this pacification envoy Yamen, he didn't have any confidence at all.

"Why are there so many?" #阝健骇了一跳, he said angrily: "Seventy or eighty thousand taels of silver is not enough to give you every year?" You might as well kill me, if you want money, if you want a life, do you want it? Also, don't you usually give you a boat for 100 households, so that you can supply and sell it yourself? How can this annual income be tens of thousands of taels of silver, what about these silver? ”

"This ・・・・・・ this ・・・・・・" Zeng Feng said with a smile: "Isn't this an adult earning a little extra money for our brothers in the hundred households?" ”

#阝健只得白他一眼, he said: "Besides, raising you people is really a waste of money, a hundred households, with such a big appetite, Lao Tzu might as well raise a few more boats." ”

Zeng Feng's tragedy, hundreds of households worry about labor, there is no merit and hard work, we have made meritorious contributions to appease the envoys, and sold our lives for adults, and now we are not as good as a few boats.

However, anyone who has figured out the temper of # Lord Yu knows that Lord Deng speaks openly, Zeng Baihu is very incomprehensible to such a person, and he was actually entrusted with a heavy task by the imperial court, but it doesn't hurt to ・・・・・・, with Lord Deng's character, the silver will still be allocated after all, and it doesn't hurt to scold a few words, he still wants to say a few more things, then someone came to tell him, and said: "Officials from several prefectures and counties in Fujian and Nanzhili have arrived."

Deng Jian smiled at Zeng Feng and said, "Come back tomorrow, this official wants to meet these court officials." ”

The four words of the imperial court official came out, as if Zeng Feng had become a supernumerary idle person and a temporary worker, in fact, Zeng Baihu wanted to say that he was also a court official and a teacher of the Son of Heaven, but these words could only be swallowed in his stomach, and he said it in vain, and he couldn't even attract ridicule.

Zeng Feng said goodbye.

Immediately, hundreds of households Lin Hai led Nie Bao and Yang Song in, and when Deng Jian saw them, he immediately laughed heartily: "Everyone, everyone, there is a loss of welcome, there is a loss of welcome, in fact, Xu Zhitai has already sent a letter, saying that you will be pillars in the future, and you will have to rely on it more in the future, let the official take you here for a walk, take a look, come, come, come, please sit, come, come, drink." ”

Serving ......

There doesn't seem to be a rule for serving tea here, so do you use alcohol to entertain guests?

Officials from several prefectures and counties looked at each other and remained silent.

Everyone exchanged a few words of greeting and #阝健旋即道: "If you have anything to ask, just ask." ”

Yang Song said cautiously: "I don't know if Lord Xu mentioned the matter of Fujian freight in his letter?" ”

#阝健一听, he suddenly had a headache and said, "This ...... To be honest, we also have difficulties in appeasing the envoys by sea. ”

He immediately poured bitter water: "Everyone knows that the sea route pacification envoy looks beautiful, and he makes tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of silver every year, but this pacification envoy is actually poor, so many people have to feed not to mention, but also to subsidize grain, but also to subsidize the firearms of the Tianjin Manufacturing Bureau, these two alone, you have to take out 20 million taels of silver every year, you Fujian side, if you want to transport goods, appease the embassy side, at least 10 million additional expenses." ”

10 million taels of silver, such a huge amount, but in Deng Jian's mouth, it is like playing, but the pacification envoy does earn silver, but the expenses are also large, which is also the truth.

However, Nie Bao was quite interested in the purchase of grain, and couldn't help asking: "What's going on with this subsidy for food and firearms, please ask for advice." ”

#阝健道: "Naturally, grain is collected at a high price, and all sea ships enter the port, if they carry more than half a shipload of grain, they are exempt from tax, and the consumption here is not small." ”

Nie Bao was even more confused: "Even if the grain is collected at a high price, but the shipping cost is so huge, how can those merchants be willing to transport grain?" ”

Nie Bao didn't know anything about shipping, but Deng Jian has now become an expert, and said: "You don't understand, a sea ship goes to sea, naturally it is loaded with precious commercial goods to earn silver, such as ivory, such as agate, such as spices, but these things, after all, are limited, you transport more, but the price will fall, and there are at least dozens of warehouses of a sea ship, these rare things, after all, it is impossible to fill all the warehouses, but if you load the ballast stone, wouldn't it be a loss." Therefore, many cargo ships come to this Shuangyu Port, often loaded with some rare things, and other warehouses are loaded with grain, so that not only the grain is duty-free, but also other curiosities are also tax-free, and all these grains are sold to our pacification envoys, which can barely be worth the freight, and the real money is those spices and ivory and other things. ”