Your Excellency, Messenger of the Emperor of the Great Ming Dynasty and Commander of the Army of a Rich Province, I, William Charlen, have the great honour to meet you, and to pay you the highest respect on behalf of His Majesty the King of England and all the nobles and gentlemen of London. ”

When the sun rose on a new day, outside the Nanguan in Xin'an County, the commander of William's fleet finally came to Lincha, and the two of them set up their own guard of honor, and William's men were beating infantry drums and holding the flag of the British royal family, walking slowly.

This hundred-man honor guard is really not small, but it is not majestic at all, they have no beautiful uniforms and gorgeous armor, even their clothes are dirty, very shabby, and the queue is not strict, it feels like a group of people calling Hanako who have entered the city.

This is also William's helplessness, although this is a lot of convenience for his subordinates, but in fact, most of the people on the fleet have not landed, and even if the people living on the ship have this idea, they can't show the corresponding demeanor.

As William spoke, Li Zhaoji loudly translated in the northern official dialect to let Lin Cha and the others know what he was talking about, but from the very beginning, William saw the dissatisfaction on the faces of these Ming officials in front of him.

This surprised William, for he had been preparing these words for a long time, and had been very deferential.

What William didn't know was that the unanimous dissatisfaction of the officials of the Guangdong General Soldier Lin Cha, the political envoy Yamen and the Maritime Patrol was because William did not kneel.

"Translation, let this Yangyi kneel." Haixun suddenly reprimanded on the side.

Li Zhaoji glanced at Lin Cha, Lin Cha nodded slightly, and Li Zhaoji said directly: "Your Excellency William, here are all nobles of the Ming Dynasty, among them are the envoys of His Majesty the Emperor, according to our Eastern traditions, to see the emperor's envoy is to see the emperor himself, you must kneel." ”

After Li Zhaoji finished speaking in English, he spoke again in official language, and the Ming Dynasty officials frowned slightly. Li Zhaoji could only explain: "My lords, the barbarian state in the depths of Yangyi, I don't know the etiquette of the Celestial Empire, so I have to tell each other in the vernacular, otherwise how can they understand the meaning of the Celestial Empire?" ”

When everyone heard this, they looked at Lin Cha, and Lin Cha said with a smile: "Your Excellency the Governor also said the same, we still have to give us the convenience we deserve, and we must not let Yangyi feel that our country is relying on the strong and bullying the weak." ”

However, William didn't understand Li Zhaoji's kindness at all, he said a lot of things directly in the room, but Li Zhaoji understood.

"No, we English don't kneel, only God and the woman we like can make us kneel, even if we see our king, we only kneel on one knee." William said neither humbly nor arrogantly.

Li Zhaoji explained to a Ming Dynasty official: "My lords, this English red haired man said that he only knelt to their gods and women, not to the king. Roughly speaking, even if the Son of Heaven is here, he will not kneel. ”

"Arrogance!" Immediately, some officials were furious.

Lin Cha smiled and nodded to Li Zhaoji quietly, obviously he was satisfied, because this was the script that the two had set up a long time ago.

It is necessary to find a way to force the English Red Fur to do something disobedient and crazy, so that all the officials present are angry, so that the next purge operation against the English fleet becomes reasonable, that is, to create that name for the famous teacher.

Li Zhaoji knew that William would not kneel, so he kept persuading him, but William still insisted.

During this process, the scribes of the Ming Dynasty and the clerks of England kept minutes of the meetings.

Li Zhaoji persuaded in vain for a while, and said helplessly to the officials: "Ladies and gentlemen, I just told this Hongmao that the Ming Emperor is the Son of Heaven, that is, the Son of Heaven, but he doesn't admit it at all, and he also says that there is only one god in the world, that is, their God of Taixi, and there is no heaven at all.

The villain thought that the customs in various places were different, the language was incomprehensible, and there were some differences in religion, so he could only persuade him to say that the Ming Emperor was the monarch's father, and as a son of man, he should kneel to the monarch's father. But this guy said in a grand manner that they didn't want their father and ancestor to kneel, or even ....... ”

"Or even what?" Haixun couldn't help but ask.

Li Zhaoji pointed to a clerk and said, "Even this person dares to call his father by the same name." This William of Imu used him as an example, saying that his father's name was Fawkes, and he was called Fawkes II, or Little Fawkes! ”

"No king, no father, rebellious and crazy!" Haixun roared angrily, and the rest of the Ming officials also accused.

Lin Cha immediately shouted: "Fork out this bastard with the same name as my father and messed up my generation!"

How can such a foolish person be included in the talks? ”

Li Zhaoji smiled and achieved his goal.

In fact, this was all arranged by him, and in the list submitted by Aaron on behalf of William's fleet, Li Zhaoji specifically named this Fox II as the secretary. To take the initiative to single him out in the middle of the meeting is to exclude him in order to control the record of the meeting.

Poor Fawkes II didn't know anything at all, and was pressed there by two big-shouldered and round-waisted soldiers.

William immediately had a seizure and protested, and after Li Zhaoji negotiated with him for a while, he took the initiative to say to Lin Cha: "Lord Commander, my lords. This is a protest against our hurt on their representatives, saying that the two armies are not fighting. ”

Lin Cha frowned, his colleagues in front of him were already angry, he was thinking about taking the opportunity to have a seizure, why did Li Zhaoji stop it?

Li Zhaoji hurriedly said: "Why don't you throw this fool over there and leave it to their own care, and don't allow you to participate in the affairs here?" ”

Lin Cha looked in the direction of Li Zhaoji's finger, only to find that the group of British honor guards were still lined up in the distance, although these people were not very good-looking, let alone martial arts, but they were all loaded with guns, and they were all officials of the Ming Dynasty in Guangdong, in case of accidentally injuring one or two in the fight, how could it be good?

Lin Cha said: "You say this, it is very reasonable, today is a trade negotiation between the two countries, it is not appropriate to kill, so be it." ”

When Haixundao heard this, he immediately got up: "Then dare to ask General Lin what should I do if I don't kneel down and despise the law of the country?" ”

Lin Cha looked at Li Zhaoji, Li Zhaoji shook his head slightly, and motioned for Lin Cha to cover up this matter.

Lin Cha then said: "Speaking of which, the matter of trade has not yet been reported to the Son of Heaven, but there are no angels here, so it is just a matter of not kneeling." ”

"When the people see the officials, they should also kneel." The Coast Patrol said again.

Li Zhaoji immediately said: "My lord, this Yimu has a knighthood in England, but he is not a commoner. ”

Haixundao snorted coldly and glared at Li Zhaoji, although he was dissatisfied with Li Zhaoji, he didn't want to be angry.

The reason is very simple, the lowest title of Daming is the earl, and even if it is an earl, it is also a super-grade existence, even if it is Shen Youlong, the governor of Liangguang, it is also inferior, if the English title is equal to the title of Daming, wouldn't it be any longer to insist, and all the officials here will kneel to this red hair?

Seeing that the Coast Patrol, which had always been tough, did not speak, the rest of the people were quiet.

Li Zhaoji took the initiative to say: "Lord Commander, let's settle the guards brought by Yimu first, Yimu led the army here, even if there is pressure from the king's division, it should not be allowed to show off his might here." ”

Lin Cha nodded again and again, and said, "Interpreter, quickly discuss with Yimu and place these soldiers in that big car shop first." ”

The other officials didn't say anything, and these Ming officials were cold to William as soon as they came up, and a large part of the reason was that the English brought ashore such an army.

This army was arranged by Li Zhaoji, who informed the English in a letter that the larger the honor guard and the better the weapons, the respect for the Ming court could be demonstrated, but in fact it was to deceive the warlike soldiers of William's fleet to go ashore and clean them up.

For these Ming officials who attended the meeting, Li Zhaoji said that the honor guard was an escort team, and that it was Yangyi's insistence on leading troops ashore and displaying muskets and artillery, which was an act of showing off his military might.

Li Zhaoji took the initiative to come forward and discuss with William, and he made it very clear that this meeting would last for a long time because of the different cultures of the two sides and the language exchange barrier, so everyone should be properly settled, and the Ming side should do the friendship of the landlord and entertain the troops from friendly countries in the big car shop.

William does not doubt that he came to the Ming Dynasty five years ago, and learned some about the customs of the Ming Dynasty through various channels, and likes to feast guests, which is a common characteristic of the Ming Dynasty official and non-governmental.

William summoned a soldier and ordered a guard of honor of 100 men to be transferred to the cart shop.

After the issue of kneeling was resolved, the talks between the two sides officially began.

The so-called division is famous, not only externally, but also internally, so Shen Youlong kept hinting to Li Zhaoji some time ago that he wanted to do this thing beautifully.

If he really wants to declare war on England, it should not be his order from Shen Youlong, but the will of all his colleagues in Guangdong, and it is best to get the support of the gentry and the common people, so Li Zhaoji must impose a sufficiently heavy charge on the English.

And the meeting is also to let all the officials of the two Guangxi and Guangxi share the same hatred with Shen Youlong when they need it.

"The request you made just now for the construction of a merchant hall or something like that needs to be consulted by the Governor again.

I don't know if you have been to Macao, I heard that the Francois there built a fort without authorization, which has caused the dissatisfaction of the imperial court, if you trade here, you must abide by the laws of our Ming Dynasty, that is, to build a merchant house, but also only for civilian use, not for military purposes, such as trenches, horse faces, women's walls and other military buildings, not allowed to appear.

This official is in charge of Guangdong's military affairs, even if he is in the future for trade, he will also supervise you. ”

The negotiations lasted all morning, not so much a negotiation, but more of a quid pro quo, many conditions, the two sides reached an agreement in private, and this time it was brought up in front of so many officials, just to see if there was a backlash from these people.

However, the reality seems to be relatively smooth, and the officials present have complained about some of the provisions, but there is no clear objection.

First, everyone heard rumors that the Governor Shen Yulong intended to facilitate trade with the English, and secondly, many of the terms were modeled on the precedent of the Francois in Macao.

And the English are also willing to give the same rent and taxes to the Beveran, which makes many officials even more excited, after all, the local finances in Guangdong are now tight, and the arrival of any sum of money can alleviate many contradictions.

William immediately agreed, he knew very well that when dealing with these powerful feudal dynasties, he had to be obedient at the beginning, as for whether there would be a military building in the merchant hall, how many people could live there, etc., it would be possible to change in the future, after all, everyone in this world has no hatred for gold coins.

The Europeans tried this trick in the East, and for the English, the Portuguese were already a model, they were only engaged in commercial activities earlier, and all military activities were in cooperation with the Ming Dynasty to suppress pirates or rebellion, but now, they have their own councils, armies and batteries in Macau.

"Your Excellency, when will we officially sign the agreement?" William asked.

Lin Cha said lightly: "I need the Governor's personal instructions, you need to wait." ”

William nodded, and was not angry because of the delay, even if there was a conflict between the two sides today because of etiquette, but William also felt normal, the meeting just now made him think that the matter of trade was developing in a good direction, and it seemed that it was only necessary to wait for the Governor Shen Youlong to sign and agree.

"Your Excellency, may we disembark and wait, many of my men have been on board for four months, and they are eager for the stability that the land brings." William offered to ask.

Lin Cha thought for a while: "Yes, but you are not allowed to go near the county seat." ”

“Sir,we will wait on your beach!”

(We can wait on your beach.) ）

William was very satisfied with the preferential treatment given by Lin Cha and took the initiative to say.

Hearing this, Li Zhaoji smiled, and did not translate to everyone present as before, but deliberately exclaimed, as if to confirm with William.

“What!your bitch!”

(What, you bitch, son?) ）

William nodded slowly, he had already found that although the translator in front of him didn't know where it came from, and he spoke English well, his accent was a bit heavy, and some slang and the like, which needed to be confirmed repeatedly to understand the meaning, of course, this was very common, after all, England was a rarity in the waters east of the Strait of Malacca.

William gave his greatest patience to Li Zhaoji because he felt that Mingguo's willingness to negotiate with him in English was a sign of respect for England and for the king. After all, English is also a second-rate language in Europe, and people are more likely to speak French.