Li Zhaoji still maintains some doubts about Zheng Sen's purpose, although in contact with this Zheng family's son, Li Zhaoji obviously feels that this person is loyal to the Ming Dynasty and is quite chivalrous, but the problem is that no matter what Zheng Sen's character is, he is a member of the Zheng family.

For Fujian Zheng's Maritime Group, it is the most favorable situation to successfully provoke the war between the Oriental Trading Company and the Dutch East India and Du Company.

Seeing that Li Zhaoji was silent in thought, Guo Xu said: "Big shopkeeper, it's better to reject Zheng Sen's proposal." This was originally what the imperial court should be in charge of, and the Zheng family is now the government, they don't care, let our business company manage it, this is simply difficult for a strong man. ”

Li Zhaoji smiled: "Zheng Zhilong won't care." ”

After decades of fighting, Zheng's maritime group and the Dutch East India and Du companies have demarcated their spheres of influence, and the two sides have been at peace for many years. Zheng Zhilong's invasion of the Manchu Qing has always been a high-minded gesture that has nothing to do with himself, so how could he not start a war with the Dutch East India and Du Company for the sake of the imperial court?

As for the loss of interests caused by the Dutch East India and Du Company and the Manchu Qing Dynasty to the Zheng family, it is not worth mentioning, and it is also caused by the Dutch East India and Du Company's lack of understanding of the Manchu Dynasty.

The Manchus were simply not able to produce silk, porcelain, textiles, and other products that were competitive in overseas markets, on the contrary, they were desperately lacking in these things, and the Dutch could not provide them with these products, and the two sides could not talk about any other trade except the arms trade.

What's more, most of the routes between the two sides are within the Zheng family's sphere of influence, and the Zheng family can cut it off at any time.

In fact, because all the information came from Guo Xu's eavesdropping on the conversation between Fries and Albert, neither Zheng Sen nor Li Zhaoji knew about Fries and Albert's mission.

This time, Batavia sent the Friesian fleet north, the main purpose was to find Treasure Island, and it was not at all like Zheng Sen and Li Zhaoji that they thought, to send Albert to Liaodong first. After crossing the strait, it entered the Pacific Ocean from the Ryukyu area, and then circled the eastern part of the Japanese archipelago to the islands of Northeast Asia.

The so-called establishment of trade with the Tatar kingdom was the result of a fleet sent by the governor of Batavia four years earlier, which arrived in Hokkaido and the Kuril Islands, where it was learned that it was ruled by the Tatar king.

Guo Xu said: "Then he will refuse Zheng Sen, what is he not convinced, go to his father to settle accounts, what do we have to do?" ”

Li Zhaoji waved his hand: "After all, the Manchu Qing Dynasty is the enemy of my Han people, and we are powerless to intervene in the war in Liaodi, so it's just that, there are red-haired envoys here to go to Tatar and destroy their communication, it is the duty of my trading company, how can we indulge?" ”

Guo Xu nodded, feeling that Li Zhaoji was indeed a person with the world in mind as Zheng Sen guessed, so he immediately clenched his fists: "The little ones all listen to the orders of the big shopkeeper." ”

Li Zhaoji said: "I wrote a letter in my hand, and you personally delivered it to Zheng Sen." My meaning is very clear, if the Friesian fleet is destroyed, I, Li Zhaoji, am willing to send troops, but I can raise sword troops along the coast of Fujian, and I will drag Daming and the Zheng family into the water.

If he really just wants to cut off the connection between Hongmao and the Manchu Qing and serve the imperial court, and has no other conspiracy, he will lure the Friesian fleet to the Tamsui area, and I will send troops myself, if I can't do it, then it will be inconvenient for the trading company to send troops. ”

Guo Xu was overjoyed and said, "The big shopkeeper has a good move, this time, you can try out Zheng Sen's true thoughts." ”

Li Zhaoji smiled: "Do you really think that I just tried Zheng Sen's attitude?" ”

"Is there any other meaning?" Guo Xu touched his chin and thought about it for a while, but finally shook his head and didn't come up with it.

Lee Siu-kee said: "Next month, the trading company will go to Nagasaki to trade, and most of the trading company's merchant ships will go to Nagasaki and other strange places, which is a matter of life and death for the trading company." But if you don't go, you can't do it, and without Nagasaki trade, there is a lack of cash ....... to circulate silver. ”

"Go!" Guo Xu heard Li Zhaoji say this, and he completely understood the logic.

The opening of the trade route from Nagasaki to Tamsui was a matter of survival for a trading company, and it was necessary to go, but the trip was full of dangers.

The biggest enemy of this trip was the Zheng maritime group, because it monopolized more than 70% of Japan's trade, especially high-value goods such as raw silk, and the trading company was exporting goods from Guangzhou to Nagasaki, which was the biggest challenge to the Zheng family.

Because of Zheng Zhilong's relationship, he has a huge influence in Nagasaki and even the whole of Japan, and Li Zhaoji must guard against the Zheng family and Japanese local officials playing tricks together.

This is an important reason why Li Zhaoji has been expanding his armaments and frantically turning the resources in his hands into naval guns and muskets.

But even if there are sufficient military preparations, it is difficult to say that it is successful, and if the Zheng family, who is regarded as the heir, is held in his hands, it can be used as a killer weapon.

Li Zhaoji saw that he understood, so he took a pen and paper and began to write a letter, he carefully considered every word, wrote a letter, and handed it to Tang Mu and Guo Xu: "You two take a look, what do you think?" ”

Guo Xu has no opinion, Tang Mu grinned, scratched his head, and seemed to speak.

"If you have something to say, what kind of stand is the stinky boy!" Lee Siu Ki kicked him in the ass.

Tang Mu said: "Big shopkeeper, if Zheng Sen doesn't agree or can't do it, wouldn't your plan be ...... Hey, hey, hey, ....... ”

Li Zhaoji is still sure of Zheng Sen's promise, but he thinks what Tang Mu said is also reasonable, so Fries and Albert are not easy to deceive, where did Zheng Sen deceive him to Tamsui?

"Then you have a way."

Tang Mu smiled and said, "According to me, how can I deceive Zheng Sen as a hostage." ”

"Method!"

Tang Mu said: "You said that you miss Zheng Sen very much, if he can't trick the Dutch, please also inform me of the itinerary to Jiangnan Guozijian, so that you can find a time to see him." If he really doesn't come, it's a big deal that our fleet will turn around before going to Nagasaki and go to Jiangnan, and I will take a few brothers to Guozijian and tie up Zheng Sen. ”

"Haha, it's still your kid who has a lot of tricks." Li Zhaoji stroked his palms and praised.

Guo Xu said: "But I see that Zheng Sen attaches great importance to the big shopkeeper, and his feelings are sincere, if it is kidnapped, wouldn't it hurt the relationship between the two." ”

"Compared with the rise and fall of a trading company, a little personal friendship is nothing, and I, Li Zhaoji, am not a pedantic person." Li Zhaoji immediately said, tore the letter to shreds, and then re-wrote it, his words were even more numb, as if he didn't see Zheng Sen for a day, it was difficult to sleep and eat, and his admiration for Zheng Sen was like the water of the Yangtze River, endless.

Seeing that Li Zhaoji had finished handling the matter, Tang Mu came over and said, "Big shopkeeper, there is one more thing, Hai Shuzu is here." ”

"Oh, what is that guy doing here?" Li Zhaoji was puzzled.

Tang Mu said: "I came here for trading, and I brought a merchant here, saying that he was a brother-in-law, but he was actually a relative of his third aunt." From Foshan, it is estimated that it is a trade in iron materials. The surname is Xu, and his name is Xu Rongxing. ”

Li Zhaoji nodded, although he didn't know it, he had also heard that many of the iron materials and ironware bought by the trading company from Guangzhou came from the Xu family's iron mill, and the Xujia iron shop could be regarded as one of the top five in the entire Foshan iron shop.

Li Zhaoji thought for a while and said, "You go and inform Liu Mingde and let him receive him, by the way, how is the Luming Pavilion?" ”

The Kameikan is an inn built by the trading company in the best part of Tamsui City, located right next to the trading company's headquarters, and is a place where the trading company receives important merchants. Li Zhaoji doesn't have such requirements for his living conditions, but he is very concerned about Luming Pavilion, after all, this is where the face of the trading company lies.

"But you can also live in people, Shopkeeper Liu knows that you are busy in the arsenal, so you have received the two, and they are also placed in the Luming Pavilion, but Xu Rongxing has been clamoring to enter our arsenal and shipyard to see, Shopkeeper Liu has taken him to visit the shipyard, can the arsenal come in to see, and ask what you mean." Tang Mu replied seriously.

Li Zhaoji said: "If he doesn't think it's a mess here, come here." ”

"This is a letter from Haishuzu to you." Tang Mu took out a bamboo tube from his arms, and Li Zhaoji said with a smile: "What the hell is this guy doing?" People are coming, what are they still writing letters for? ”

"The letter was written in Tamsui, I looked at him avoiding Xu Rongxing, and asked if I could meet you in private, I think, this guy must be thinking of cooperating with you and calculating Xu Rongxing." Tang Mu seems to have his own opinions.

When I opened the bamboo tube, I found that it was a scribbled note.

Just as Tang Mu guessed, Hai Shuzu really had this plan.

It turned out that since the opening of the shipyard of the trading company, the consumption of iron has been increasing day by day, not to mention the opening of the arsenal, and all the weapons and equipment in it are made of iron. However, there is no decent iron ore in Tamsui, or even on the entire island, so for now, the trading company's iron material still has to be bought from Guangzhou.

In fact, even dnauffs that travel between Tamsui and Macao will be loaded with iron as ballast in the bilge.

Because of the large-scale purchase, Xu Rongxing took a fancy to the potential of the Oriental Trading Company, not to mention the pirates in the Pearl River Estuary now, and the Oriental Trading Company is the only trading company that relies on force to travel freely in the Pearl River Estuary.

The price of iron is also quite expensive, each quintal, that is, every hundred catties of silver, Li Zhaoji also wrote a letter to Hai Shuzu to come forward to Foshan, negotiate a long-term bulk order for iron, and want to reduce the cost of iron, and Hai Shuzu did so.

Now Guangzhou to buy raw silk gradually into the end, he really has nothing to do, and in the process of doing the raw silk comprador of the trading company, a windfall, Hai Shuzu fell in love with the comprador profession, so in Foshan is very careful to investigate, but the result he gave is not through a large number of stable purchases to reduce the average price, but directly through the large orders of the trading company, a separate iron mill, the list to eat.

When Li Zhaoji asked him to do something, he asked him to reduce the price to one or two cents per load, and Hai Shuzu claimed that as long as he could co-establish an iron mill with Xu Rongxing, he would be able to lower the price a little more, and the purpose of writing this letter was to get Li Zhaoji to cooperate, so that he could contribute less money in the iron mill and take more shares.

Tang Mu also read the note written by Hai Shuzu, and said with a scolding: "This old boy owes a beating again, and he still bothers the big shopkeeper for his trivial things, I want to know that he is such a bad thing, so I don't give you a letter for him, so that you are annoyed." ”

Li Zhaoji smiled and said, "Tang Mu, Hai Shuzu is also an old friend of the trading company, and he still needs to help." ”

In the early days of the establishment of the Oriental Trading Company, in the name of the Hai family, Li Zhaoji did not pit Hai Shuzu, and Hai Shuzu contributed a lot to the purchase of raw silk, and he was willing to cooperate deeply with the trading company, although Li Zhaoji said that he was not sorry for this guy, but he did not hesitate to help him.

Hai Shuzu and Xu Rongxing co-founded the iron mill, Hai Shuzu invested, Xu Rongxing made people and channels, but Hai Shuzu only accounted for forty percent of the shares, he meant to let Li Zhaoji help, to see if he could raise half of the shares, after all, this joint iron mill, Li Zhaoji's Oriental Trading Company is the largest customer and the most stable sales channel.

Tang Mu has never been interested in Hai Shuzu, and muttered, "It's cheap, this old boy." ”

Li Zhaoji said: "You go to the Luming Pavilion and tell Hai Shuzu what I am willing to help, let him and Xu Rongxing stay there for a while, and when the time is right, I will call him and tell him that I can give him half of the shares." ”