Chapter 196 - New Treaty Ports

"When did the court fight them over there?"

Xu Guangqi heard Chen Cao's questioning of the people behind him, so he added the conversation with De Vries just now: "Hou Ye, it's not the imperial court, there was a stream of water on the southeast coast last year, the leader was called Zheng Zhilong, and he gathered seven or eight thousand people to run rampant on the southeast coast, and in August last year, he fought a naval battle with the Dutch on Dongfan Island, and they were defeated by Zheng Zhilong in that battle. ”

Zheng Zhilong...

Chen Cao counted it now, and then he carefully remembered that Zheng Zhilong's house surrendered to the imperial court in the first year of Chongzhen: "What about after the Dutch lost?" ”

"They said they were forced to sign a trade agreement with Zheng Zhilong, who was entrenched on Dongfan Island, and made peace with Zheng Zhilong at the price of three million taels of silver a year."

After Xu Guangqi finished speaking, he smiled politely at De Vries, and Chen Cao nodded before he spoke in Da Ming words: "Mr. De Vries's conditions will be put aside for the time being, and Ben Hou will first tell you the envoys of the Three Kingdoms about the benefits of this Shanghai county and city ship;

As the three of you saw when you came, the convenience of the ports of Pudong and Puxi, the calm of the water, and the spaciousness of the seaways are obvious, and it is not a problem for a 10,000-ton sea ship to dock at the port of Pudong;

In addition, after the establishment of the Shanghai County Special Economic Zone, it is also very important to pay attention to the three most concerned trade matters, you can set up a duty-free area here, and the important point is that Benhou can allow you to set up your company in Shanghai County, but the tax still has to be paid as usual, except for specific duty-free goods, the tax rate of other goods will not exceed 30% of the establishment of the Ming Dynasty. ”

The three of them were shocked in their hearts, and the establishment of a duty-free area would not exceed 30%, which meant that they could earn more in every trade with the Ming Dynasty.

Although Andrei is a soldier, he is also a real military trader: "Mr. Marquis, my country wants to set up an embassy here, I wonder if your country can agree?" ”

The establishment of the Tongwen Pavilion actually restricted the rights of the Taixi countries abroad, Chen Cao nodded when he heard this: "The embassy must be established, this point can be the master, in addition to the embassy, the Hou can also be the master of planning a concession for your three countries within a radius of one mile around the embassy, so that your own businessmen can stay and live after arriving in Shanghai." ”

"Mr. Marquis, can there be troops stationed in the concession?"

"Of course not..."

The current Ming Dynasty is not the Qing Dynasty, which has accumulated weak accumulation, and the important purpose of Chen Cao's concession is also to make money, not to sell his country.

However, the Portuguese envoy who occupied the territory was not impressed, because since last year, they had actually occupied the territory, and opened their own concession there, setting up police and defense armies.

Seeing this, Colonel André spoke: "Dear Mr. Marquis, Portugal has already built an army in the Territory, why can't our country?" ”

Chen Cao looked at Andre with sharp eyes: "Don't get confused, the Special Zone is not a place for you to garrison troops, and the concession is not a place for you to do whatever you want." ”

Several people have heard of the power of this new marquis of the Ming Dynasty, and the Portuguese occupation of the Hao Territory has also signed many agreements with the Ming court, of which the military agreement is a key point.

"The security of the concession is up to you, you can set up the police, but the scope of authority of the concession police shall not exceed the concession, the security of the concession is responsible for the security of my Ming army, you come to do business, my Ming Dynasty naturally wants to protect your safety, otherwise if your safety falls, how can my Ming Dynasty establish a great power in front of the Taixi countries?"

After Chen Cao finished speaking with a smile, he looked at the three of them: "In this way, you three countries can make a lot of money in my Ming Dynasty, and besides, the three of you are the first batch of Benhou to find, I heard that the English and the Ottoman Turkish Empire also want to come to my Ming Dynasty to trade, and the envoys of the Holy Roman Empire arrived in my Ming Dynasty at the end of last year, if it is..."

Chen Cao didn't finish speaking, and the final connotation was for the envoys of the Three Kingdoms to consider for themselves.

There are so many countries in Taixi, not worse than the three of you, and the emerging seafaring country of the United Kingdom is also a potential stock.

Morphelli stood up and bowed to Chen Cao: "Dear Mr. Marquis, I only want to express to Mr. Ear on behalf of Mr. Ear that I, Portugal, am willing to cooperate with Mr. Marquis, and I am also willing to obey all arrangements in the Shanghai Special Economic Zone. ”

The Portuguese in the Ming Dynasty only in the Hao Realm, and they have also been oppressed by the Netherlands for many years, in the case of Spain and the Netherlands, what they have to do is to try to ensure their rights in foreign countries, and now the conditions given by Chen Cao are not too harsh, one more trade coast, than nest in the Hao Realm is much more comfortable.

André naturally agreed, as an old seafaring power, after the rise of the Netherlands, they had fewer and fewer colonies in Asia: "If it could be as Mr. Marquis said, I think Mr. Ear would not refuse..."

Portugal and Spain expressed their refusal, and now there is only the Netherlands, and De Vries has previously expressed his views to Xu Guangqi, and everyone is willing to make money in business.

"Dear Mr. Marquis, the North Shanghai Road is not guaranteed to be safe, and I don't think Mr. Cohen is too willing to engage in free trade with your country."

Xu Guangqi looked at Chen Cao: "Master Hou, last year's naval battle was a conflict between Yan Siqi and others when they were sailing to Dongfan to transport Zhangquan immigrants and the Dutch national fleet that was transporting supplies to Dongfan Island at that time;

That Yan Siqi had four or five hundred ships in his hands, and Zheng Zhilong also rushed to help in the war at that time, and I heard that the ships participating in the war were as high as six hundred, and the Dutch national fleet had three ships to escort the war in addition to the material fleet..."

"Three?" Chen Cao was shocked in his heart, he used to think that he was bragging when he looked at history, but now it seems that this is indeed the case, Zheng Zhilong was able to win a big victory in the Battle of Liuluo Bay because of how many more than 1,000 of his warships were, and the Dutch warships were only twenty, and they were still pressed and beaten.

"Yan Siqi's ship was shattered by the Dutch's Hongyi cannon, and his people heard that they were dead, and his fleet was taken over by Zheng Zhilong."

After Xu Guangqi finally added, he whispered in Chen Cao's ear: "Their three-masted soft-sail warship runs fast, and eight 12-pounder Hongyi cannons can be installed on board. ”

Chen Cao thought privately, the tonnage of the Dutchman's three-masted warship at that time was about 500 tons, and although his own thousand-ton ship was large, it couldn't help the flexibility of the opponent's warship.

"You tell them that Ben Hou will come forward to ensure the safety of their North Shanghai Road, let them immediately start arranging for the establishment of an embassy in Shanghai County, and allow them to build their own trading companies in Shanghai County, the number of which cannot exceed three, and let them choose the best."

If Shanghai County wants to succeed in opening Fufu, it must let these foreign-funded enterprises settle in, and Shanghai County, which has been mixed with fresh blood, can attract more foreign investment, and the business under Chen Cao's name can be launched as soon as possible.

"Mr. Marquis, I don't know how our three countries trade with your country?" De Vries was the first to ask: "As long as the safety of the sea route is guaranteed, our Netherlands is willing to contract all your country's porcelain business, and we can also provide your country's artillery assistance in accordance with the agreement during the Wanli period." ”

The Dutch traded mainly with the Roman Empire and the Ottoman Empire on the continent of Europa, which spanned a large area and made a lot of money.

Portugal and Spain also traded with them, and if the Dutch had taken all the porcelain exports, they would have nothing to gain.

After a while, the three gangs quarreled, and after listening to the translation, Chen Cao knocked on the table, signaled them to be quiet, and then said calmly: "The three of you are quiet, everyone is a cooperative relationship from now on, and naturally it is to make you all make money, of course, my Ming Dynasty can't lose money, so, in view of your trade level of the Taixi countries, Benhou specially set up a bidding system;

To put it simply, starting this year, porcelain, silk, and tea will be marked as tons by your Taixi arithmetic, and whoever bids more will get as many goods. ”

Bidding was very popular in Ctesi, first in the Netherlands and then throughout Europa.

Seeing that the envoys of the three countries comprehended, Chen Cao continued: "Every year, these three major items are traded twice, in July and December, and the rest of the small trade items are traded by you, and the trade in goods other than these three items is duty-free goods. ”

The three of them all nodded in unison, the three major items were the top priority, and they all knew that the rest of the goods were tax-free and they could also earn certain benefits from it.

"May I ask Mr. Marquis, how to set up the bid amount for the three major items, and what is the tax rate for trade in goods?" Ventelli had already taken out a notepad at the moment, and that was the point.

Seeing this, the other two also hurriedly took out their notepads, for fear that they had missed some key nodes.

"The bidding amount starts at 1 million taels of silver, the currency of the Ming Dynasty, and the minimum bid is 300 tons." Chen Cao said word by word: "After the bidding is successful, the supply will be based on the production value of the year, and the production goods beyond 300 tons will be charged a tax rate of 30% according to the total value of the goods. ”

The three of them have been calculating, Chen Cao has carefully converted, one million taels of bidding for a guaranteed 300 tons of goods, according to the Taixi people's love for the three major items, at least they can earn more than sixty percent from it, and they can earn half of it after the production and purchase, so that everyone has something to earn.

Seeing that the three of them were all smiling after calculating, Chen Cao couldn't help but smile as well, and asked the three of them to pour tea, and then said with a smile: "Benhou has always liked to make money in business with harmony, and the filthy Benhou between your three kingdoms doesn't care, but who does something inauthentic when Benhou trades, my Daming Water Division troops are not vegetarians." ”