Moder did not expect Matsolko to be so excited, it seems that the rumors are true, the only purpose of the director-general coming to Batavia is to replace Van Dimen and take over the governorship.

"My lord, a lot of what I know is just heard. Maybe you should talk to He Bin from the Oriental Company directly. Modell smiled.

Matt Solko bowed slightly, but quickly shook his head: "No, this doesn't help my relationship with the Governor. ”

The Director-General's responsibility was for trade, and diplomacy was in the hands of the Governor, and Matsolko did not want to overstep his authority, knowing that Governor Van Diemen valued both diplomatic and military authority above all else.

"I don't think it's a big deal, because you'll see him at Sue's house." As Director General, you will not have any problems meeting with Su. ”

"He's at Sue's house?"

"The two are very good friends. The one that deserves to be entrusted with his life. Modell said.

"Then you can arrange it."

Communicating with the Chinese leaders, although it was not within the responsibility of the Director-General, which belonged to the local government and parliament of Batavia, no one would use this to fault Matt Solko, because the moment he became the Director-General, he was the Governor's deputy.

In this era, sickness and natural disasters did not distinguish between slaves and nobles, and any official in the colony could die of an inexplicable disease at any time, and once Van Dimen died, Matsolko temporarily took over his duties until the local recognition or the appointment of a new governor.

On the morning of the next day, Matsolko rode past Su Minggang's estate and happened to run into the Chinese leader working on a case.

It was a crocodile in the river that bit the child who was playing by the water's edge, but it was misunderstood that the child was taken by someone, until someone saw the crocodile spit out the child's skull. Su Minggang handled the matter well, and Matsolko praised him for his fairness, and told the Chinese that if they found crocodiles again, they should not risk using ropes and bamboo poles to deal with them, and they could find local Dutch soldiers to borrow arquebuses.

As a result, Matsolko was invited into Su Minggang's manor, a sugar farm full of sugar cane, and under the hospitality of delicious cane syrup, Matsolko officially met He Bin.

The two had a very pleasant conversation, and He Bin told Matt Solko about the situation of the Oriental Trading Company in fluent Dutch, especially the relationship between the trading company and the Japanese, the Cantonese gentry, and the indigenous people of Taiwan, which shocked Matt Solko, and the director general was especially shocked by Li Zhaoji's business influence in Guangdong, believing that this was a great opportunity for the Dutch to directly open up the Chinese market.

Upon his return to the castle, Matsolko immediately summoned two members of the council, and with three votes he was given the power to convene the Council of the Oriental Seals, and asked Governor Van Diemen to submit detailed information about the Oriental Trading Company to everyone before the committee was convened, and to openly discuss the relationship with the Oriental Trading Company.

In the castle's large office, where the seven members of the committee were seated, the atmosphere was dreary from the start.

This is the current political ecology of Batavia, where Governor Van Dimen still has the highest authority, but with the arrival of Matsolko, his authority is no longer unchallengeable. Everyone knows that Van Diemen has been governor for too long, more than seven years, and that he is the one who built the company into an empire, but when the shareholders want it to come to fruition, he insists on stretching the branches of the empire.

So, Matsolko arrived, but he couldn't pry the already entrenched Van Dymen.

"In any case, those wonderful goods stored in Tamsui should be delivered to Batavia as soon as possible, and the price they have given is quite good, and perhaps we only need to send a notification ship and bring the money with us, and we can get the people from the Eastern Company to deliver it.

With these cargoes, next year's Easter fleet will definitely surprise the seventeen gentlemen. Rode, the merchant officer in charge of the management of the merchant fleet, was the first to speak, his eyes looking around, and everyone nodding.

Obviously, no one refuses to make a profit, and no one doesn't want to make shareholders happy.

"Security is an issue. Obviously, that Lee sent messengers, and not directly merchant ships, was a distrust of us, so many goods, probably worth more than a million guilders. We don't feel safe when we send so much cash, and they don't feel safe when they send so much goods. Fleet Commander Inhofer, who was a staunch supporter of Governor Van Dimen, lit his pipe.

Rod smiled: "It's nothing, we can send two schooners to the north, one is for trade, two as a guarantee, and three can also see if the Eastern Company has really achieved those achievements."

These schooners could take some cargo with them and anchored at the port of Tamsui, but they also had to go to Guangdong. And when our schooners arrived, let them send two more ships.

Once the trade is complete, head north and exchange our fleet back so that both sides will feel safe.

Actually, there is a good way. ”

"How?" Matt Solko asked with a smile, in fact, Rhodes was his best friend, and the two had already had a full range of exchanges in private.

"To avoid delaying next year's Easter fleet, we can send four schooners north and sell two directly to them to transport goods, and two anchor in Tamsui or Guangdong as a guarantee," Rhodes said. In this way, we can also offset part of the payment, so as not to have problems in our capital chain before June next year. ”

"Consider, Rod." Seeing that no one had directly objected, Matt Solko said with a smile.

The Dutch East India Company travels between Batavia and Amsterdam, whether it is coming from Europe to the East, or returning to Europe from the East, and will choose to depart in the cold season, usually from the end of October to March of the following year.

The reasons for choosing the time of departure are more complicated, generally speaking, it takes about eight months to travel between the two places.

Therefore, when the fleet departing from Europe in October arrives in India and the ocean, it is just in time to catch the southwest monsoon in April and May, and it can directly cross the Indian and ocean in one breath, which is the safest.

Starting in March, you can also rub the tail of the southwest monsoon, and around August, cross India and cross the ocean.

The time of return to Europe from the east can also coincide with the northeast monsoon over the Indo-Du Ocean.

However, most of the ships will set off in a fleet around the Christmas and Easter seasons.

This is mainly due to the fact that all the starting points are port cities, and during the festival period, it is easier to buy meat and other food products at cheap prices, and it is also easy to recruit people.

As long as it goes well, when you depart at Christmas, you can spend Easter after arriving at your destination, and you can spend Christmas when you depart on Easter and arrive.

The trade with the Oriental Trading Company is obviously not enough to catch up with the Christmas fleet, but the Easter fleet can bring those goods, and the Christmas fleet can bring the good news.

Van Dimen remained silent, as the discussion was about trade.

It wasn't until Matt Solko and Rhodes settled the matter that Van Dimen said, "Dear Mark, dear Mr. Rhodes, do you know what is the most addictive thing?" ”

"I don't know, Your Excellency Governor. All I know is that in your question, tobacco, alcohol, and the like are the wrong answers. Rod joked that he didn't like the Governor's unfathomable appearance, so he was naturally reluctant to act with him.

Matt Solko smiled, he knew that the answer Van Dimen wanted was money, which was to point to himself and remind him not to spoil the overall situation for the sake of profit, but he didn't want to follow Van Dimen's wishes, and was ready to mention the other party in reverse: "I know the answer, Lord Governor."

The most addictive thing is power, the sweetness of power, which makes people intoxicated and unstoppable. ”

Fan Dimen's face turned cold, and he found that his methods were completely useless in front of these two people. Instead of reminding the other party, he was reminded by the other party not to indulge in power.

Helpless, Fan Dimen could only say what he thought in his heart: "Yes, what can be compared to it is money."

Obviously, those goods are undoubtedly a blessing to God for the seventeen gentlemen, but the problem is that this time, you have sent so many highly profitable goods, and the next time, they will only ask for more, and if they can't do it, they will not be able to accept it. ”

Matt Solko nodded slightly: "So, we can fix the trade with the Oriental Trading Company for a long time." As far as I know, the envoy said that those are just appetizers, and the main meal is still to come. ”

"Do you really believe that they can control the officials and gentlemen of Ming Guangdong?" Van Dimen asked.

Matt Solko asked rhetorically: "Maybe the Governor doesn't want the Eastern Company to have such ability, in that case, he will become a second Nikolai official." The official Nicholas was called the king of the Chinese sea, but he actually controlled only one province. ”

"If so, the Oriental Company is more dangerous than Nicholas. Nikolai had only a Junk fleet, but the news sent by Paul proved that the Eastern Company had begun to mass-build various types of Yahat ships, and had made significant improvements to them to become the fastest Yahats.

My detachment encountered a Portuguese belonging to Macao outside the port of Malacca, but did not catch up. That ship definitely went to Goa, which wasn't good. Inhove knocked the ash out of his pipe.

Matt Solko pointed up a list: "But the conditions they gave were really tempting, have you read them in detail?"

If these are true, if we reach a cooperation between them, then the strength and profit of the company will be even better.

Therefore, we should come up with a common will today.

If we choose to work with them, it would be nice to have Rhodes observe them when he sent the fleet north, and then sign the treaty.

Of course, if we still see the other person as a threat, it's simple. Don't sign a treaty, don't go to war, we just have to wait a little longer.

The Christmas fleet may send these terms and facts to Amsterdam, and the will of the seventeen gentlemen will come in a year and a half, and leave it to them to decide, lest it affect the unity of all present here. ”

Van Diemen's face was even more gloomy than before, although Matsolko did not insist on trading with the Eastern Company, but the problem was that his move of retreat was completely invulnerable, and the gentlemen in Amsterdam did not understand the geopolitics of the East, and they would not care about the threat of a newly established company.

But the terms of those trades and the profits brought back by the Easter fleet next year will drive them crazy, which almost means that a year and a half later, a contract with the Eastern Company will be signed.

And the threat posed by the explosive expansion of the Eastern Company will be ignored by everyone.

"It can't be like that, Your Excellency the Director-General. You know, this will not solve the threat of the Eastern Company, which, in my opinion, deserves our attention in the expansion of the seas, and in ten years they are a more serious threat than the Nicholas and the Spaniards.

I don't want a Galen fleet to shell our beautiful Batavia. On behalf of Van Dimen, Inhove gave his opinion.

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