Moder had a smile on his face, he wasn't arrogant, but his existence was inherently arrogant.

After the signing of the Hong Kong Treaty, the envoys of the Dutch East India 1st Degree Company also met with Lee Siu Kee, and they were very humble, and these envoys were all Matsolko's plenipotentiary envoys, and they were also members of the East India 1st Degree Islands Committee.

And Moder, a guy who is going to Japan and comes by the way.

It has to be said that this is the transformation of the status of the two sides.

Before the establishment of the Three Kingdoms, the Dongyin 1st Company had a request from the Oriental Trading Company because they needed goods from the Ming Dynasty. Daming's goods are shipped back to Europe with very high profit margins, and anywhere, they can be used as hard currency.

But now that the Eastern Continent has entered the Three Kingdoms era, all countries want to strengthen their contacts with the outside world, or are eager to introduce advanced technology, or want to find the enemies of the Oriental Trading Company, so the Netherlands does not need the Oriental Trading Company to obtain Chinese goods, so the necessary position of the Oriental Trading Company disappears.

Li Zhaoji is very clear about this, and he is also a little helpless. The continental balance of power of the Three Kingdoms was created by him and not maintained, and without him, it would have been the version of the Manchu Qing Dynasty.

During Chongzhen's seventeen-year northern expedition, Li Zhaoji prevented the Manchu Qing from entering the customs, facilitated the integration of the Southern Ming Dynasty, and avoided the suffering and massacre suffered by the Han people because of the Manchu Qing entry.

But it also lost its privileged position on the sea, and if it weren't for the tens of millions of taels of silver that Li Zhaoji had obtained in the process of the Northern Expedition and the reception of the Zheng Maritime Group, Li Zhaoji would have even thought that it would be a loss to prevent the Manchus from entering the customs.

"Although I know that Mr. Moder will not bring too good news, I believe that a friendly and sincere exchange between the two sides is essential. Can you tell us about Governor Matt Solko's new requirements? Li Zhaoji asked with a smile.

"Of course, your Excellency," said Modell.

Your Excellency the Governor wishes for free and quiet trade with the various countries of the Eastern Continent, and I hope that you and your Oriental Trading Company will not stop it. Of course, Your Excellency the Governor respects our friendship and hopes that it will all be done to your satisfaction. ”

"You can trade with Shun and Ming, but not with the Manchus, and I want to repeat once again that the Manchus are our enemies. Moreover, I think that trading with the Manchus is not necessary for your company.

The Shun State occupied the north and the Ming State occupied the south, and these two countries had a population of 70 million or even hundreds of millions. And the Manchus, that is, the Tatars you are talking about, even if they captured some people, they only had about a million people, and counting the Mongols and Jurchens under their control, it was only three million.

It's a small market relative to the rest. Li Zhaoji responded seriously.

"But the envoys sent by the Tatars say that this year they have waged a war against the hermit country, oh, as you call it," said Moder, "and will soon rule over this country of eight million people, so that the Tatar kingdom can also be regarded as a great country with a population of ten million." ”

Li Zhaoji smiled slightly, and regretted that he shouldn't have let Wu Sangui take Zheng Zhilong to Liaodong in the first place, with this guy here, the collusion between the Manchu Qing and the maritime forces was broken and effective.

"Yes, but the Manchus were the enemies of the trading companies." Li Zhaoji said thoughtfully.

"You know, the company's biggest enemy in the East is the West Bank bacon in Manila, but you are still trading with the bacon. We also found that Portuguese merchants had reconnected Goa with Macao, and that the English fleet had made several trips in the East.

It's all about you. ”

Li Zhaoji nodded slightly: "Okay then, so be it." ”

"What, what do you mean?" Moder wondered what Li Zhaoji was like like this, whether he would accept the Dutch trade with the Manchus, or whether he didn't want to talk about it anymore.

"If you think that the Spaniards, the Portuguese, and the English are enemies, and that my trading company is trading with your enemies, then you can attack, you can sink our merchant ships in Manila Bay, attack our merchant ships off the coast of Macao, or storm Surat and kill our merchant ships there," Lee said.

In the same way, if our warships find your merchant ships in Liaodong Bay, the Yellow Sea, and the coast of the Chao and Xian Peninsulas, it will be considered that you are trading with our enemies, and my warships can also kill your merchant ships.

Well, that's fair, right? ”

Moder didn't expect Li Zhaoji's attitude to be so resolute, he was a little speechless for a while, and the words he had prepared became useless.

"You shouldn't be so extreme, what the company means is that we can do some transactions, like limiting the types of cargo, or limiting the number of ships and so on." Moder said.

"No, I repeat at the end, the Manchus were the enemies of the trading companies, the enemies of the immortals." Li Zhaoji said solemnly.

Moder was dumbfounded, and after a moment's pause, he said, "Well, your honorable Excellency, we have indeed despised your company's relationship with the Tatars. I guarantee here that we will not engage in any kind of trade with the Tatars for the time being until an agreement is reached. Let's put that aside and move on to the rest, shall we? ”

"Of course, but my warships will patrol from time to time, and we will seize or sink all ships that trade with the Manchus," Lee said. ”

"Oh, yes, of course." Moder agreed, because his offer to shelve it was sincere.

This is what Matsolko wants, and Moder's trip is to gain more space and profits, and he can only be aggressive and not damaged. In other words, even if Li Zhaoji refused all trade between the Manchus and the mainland countries, Moder was not qualified to cause a conflict between the East India 1st Company and the Oriental Trading Company.

This is because Matsolko was already a governor, and in the last year his trading fleet had brought a huge amount of Chinese goods to Europe, and those beautiful silks and porcelain, snow-white sugar and raw silk had conquered the seventeen gentlemen of the country, and the company statements had never been so good, and the seventeen gentlemen had never been so satisfied.

Matsolko thus became the governor, and he could only make the report look better.

And if the war with the Oriental Trading Company goes into a state of war, even if the Dutch East India 1st Company is cleaned up, the trade will become very ugly before the end of the war. You know, the former Governor Van Diemen is still in Batavia, and this is the urging of Seventeen Gentlemen to Matsolko.

"Your Excellency," said Moder, "I wonder if you can tell me about your grievances with the Manchus, perhaps we can help mediate, or if this information can help persuade the Governor and the Council of the 1st Degree of the East Indian Islands." ”

Li Zhaoji immediately gave a negative answer: "No, Mr. Modell, if you have the channel to tell the top management of your company my will, then you can tell them clearly." Anyone who trades with the Manchus will be my enemy, and I will declare war at once. ”

"Yikes!" Moder was surprised by such a resolute attitude, but he could only agree, but still asked, "Why?" ”

"No need to explain." Lee Siu Kee said.

In fact, Li Zhaoji's purpose was very simple, that is, to limit the rise of the Manchu Qing.

The Manchu Qing Dynasty was a military slave state, and the basis of the existence of this country was based on the super combat effectiveness of the Manchu Eight Banners, which could carry out continuous plundering of the Ming Dynasty. Now this foundation no longer exists, but then the Manchu Qing moved towards the annexation of the dynasty, the path of Xian, which means that it will gradually transform into an ordinary feudal monarchy.

But the Manchus' region and sphere of influence meant that they were not a perfect state.

For example, Liaodong, where the Manchu Qing Dynasty was located, could not produce enough cotton, and the natural textile industry could not meet the development of the country, and most of the handicraft products needed by the army needed to be obtained through looting and smuggling.

The Dashun regarded the Manchu Qing as a threat, and the smuggling network formed by the Jin merchants in collusion with the nine-border military towns and the ministers of the DPRK and China in the Ming Dynasty would also be interrupted for a long time, and the corrosion and collusion of the new court would take a long time.

It can be said that everything that the Manchus needed to make up for maintaining their national strength, carrying out military reforms, and maintaining their rule had to be obtained from the Ming Dynasty.

As the most developed economy in the world, the Ming had everything the Manchus needed.

It was only through maritime transportation and trade that the Ming and Manchu Qing could complement each other, and Li Zhaoji's Xingshui Token controlled the Ming maritime merchants, but could not control the Dutch. He needed to cut off trade between the Manchus and the Ming by all means.

In reality, the Manchu trade with the Dutch colonies was not significant.

Moder said: "Your Excellency, it is really touching that you can accept our trade with the Ming Kingdom and the Shun Kingdom, and bind us with the Xingshui Token. We would like to know, what about your requirements? ”

Li Zhaoji immediately said: "As far as I know, in Zheng Zhilong's era, you lent him one million guilders every year, which is equivalent to about 250,000 taels of silver coins, so that he could buy goods for you. ”

"Yes, we didn't receive last year's goods, and the same goes for loans." Modell spread his hands.

Li Zhaoji asked: "Do you need my help, according to the tradition of the Ming Dynasty, the father pays the debt to the son." Zheng Zhilong went to the Manchu Qing Dynasty, but Zheng Sen was still in the Ming Dynasty. ”

Moder shook his head: "No, no. We know that Zheng Sen has become an earl of the Ming Kingdom, a favorite general of the Taohuashi Emperor, and has a lot of authority. We don't want to provoke Ming after he has already made a trade. ”

Li Zhaoji nodded: "Okay, if needed, I can help."

But I don't say this to help you solve the debt problem, what I mean is that Oriental Trading Company has taken over the status and business of Zheng's Maritime Group, so Zheng Zhilong's cooperation with your company should also be replaced by us.

I would like to continue this trade in accordance with Zheng Zhilong's agreement with your company, but only for four million guilders, which is equivalent to one million taels of silver. ”

"We don't need this model of cooperation." Modell said immediately.

This kind of cooperation with Zheng Zhilong is because Dongyin 1 Company cannot buy enough Ming goods through other channels. But now that the Ming Dynasty is open to it, there is no need for it.

Li Zhaoji said: "If you want to do free trade with Shunguo, you have to accept this clause. ”

"But Your Excellency, although this clause does not include Shunguo, I think Shunguo will not accept it." Moder said.

Li Zhaoji smiled: "No, you are wrong, Shun will accept it." Moder, have you seen the envoys from the three continents, although I haven't seen them, but Shunguo must have the least needs for you. ”

Moder was stunned when he heard this, in fact, he met the envoys of three countries in Batavia, and as Li Zhaoji said, the envoys of Shunguo had the least demand for the Dutch East India 1st Company.

The Manchus regarded Li Zhaoji as an enemy, and they were also facing Li Zhaoji's maritime blockade, and they needed to find a maritime force to come in. The Dutch East India 1st Company was the most suitable, so the Manchus were the most willing to cooperate, hoping to trade and even form an alliance against the Oriental Trading Company.

The Ming Dynasty, on the other hand, needed to balance and suppress the Oriental Trading Company, and also wanted to trade.

Only Dashun was interested in the military technology of the Dutch, but after observing the muskets and artillery of the Dutch, the envoys of Dashun found that they were much behind those of the Oriental Trading Company. Suddenly there was a lack of interest.

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