The peace talks continued, and the two sides gradually understood the bottom line between each other, and began to enter into some substantive content, and the Ming side gradually loosened its mouth, and did not bite the sea ban too hard. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

It's just that Li Yingyuan is very tight on some things, that is, he must release the officers and soldiers of the Dinghai Division and the Yamen officials who were captured before, including the original magistrate, otherwise this business affair will never start.

Andrew and others tried to knock on the side several times, but after seeing that Li Yingyuan was very resolute, they had to start considering Li Yingyuan's proposal.

There were originally five or six hundred sailors and officers and men in Dinghai, and when the English occupied Dinghai, most of these officers and soldiers, except for those who died on the spot, were captured and treated as prisoners.

The English were not as good at these officers and soldiers as they were to the servants and the catchers, and they were imprisoned for the most onerous labor, such as the construction of ports, and the food provided was very poor, which made their lives very difficult.

Li Yingyuan had a deep understanding of this when he was in Dinghai, and wanted to rescue them, so he resolutely demanded that the English release these captured officers and soldiers and not to abuse them.

Andrew didn't pay much attention to these captives before, and it was only natural for Ming Guo to accept his own officers and soldiers back, but he just wanted to use these captives to squeeze some benefits.

In the end, Li Yingyuan and Andrew agreed that Yingli would release some of the officers and soldiers back to Hangzhou, and in return, the Ming would also loosen the ban on the sea, allowing merchants to sell small quantities of grain and silk, porcelain, and tea in Dinghai.

This can be regarded as a phased result of the negotiations, whether it is the top level of the British army, or Yuqian and other high-ranking officials, etc., they feel that this result is acceptable.

Ming officials felt that it would sound better to allow a certain degree of trade under the pretext of releasing captured officers and soldiers, and as for the English, as long as they could open up trade, it didn't matter what they did.

"It's okay now, we've been grinding our mouths every day these days, and we've finally made progress, and we'll have a foundation in Daming in the future. On the day the two sides reached this agreement, Li Yingyuan couldn't help but celebrate and said happily to Xie Xun.

"This is only a very small part of the negotiations between the two countries, how can the junior brother be so happy? Moreover, what does this have to do with the foundation?" Xie Xun asked a little puzzled.

"The senior brother didn't know anything. There will be a long way to go, and no one knows how far they will be able to talk about it in the future.

But for us, the most valuable and meaningful thing is the agreement on the release of officers and soldiers, and the negotiations that follow are not as important as this.

By the way, Senior Brother, as the King of the Ming Sect, can mobilize more resources than me, do you want to make a sum of money?" Li Yingyuan said proudly.

According to the intention of most officials such as Yuqian, just get a few hundred stones of grain, and then get some silk or something, just fool the English, and then take back the captured officers and soldiers, and explain to the top and bottom.

However, with Li Yingyuan's thoughts, he will not give up such a good opportunity easily.

Li Yingyuan originally had more than 3,000 taels of silver when he arrived in Shuangpu Village, but later spent 1,500 taels of silver one after another because of buying officials and various things, and the rest was less than 1,600 taels of silver.

This amount of money is enough to be a rich man, but if you want to do a big business, it is a little insufficient. Li Yingyuan encouraged Xie Xun to raise funds everywhere, and he wanted to borrow usury in this way, and finally bought 6,000 stone of grain, plus 300 quintals of raw silk, porcelain, medicinal materials, tea and other commodities that were easy to get rid of, got three big boats, and marched to Dinghai.

Dinghai was occupied by the English for many months, and trade with the mainland was almost cut off, and the price of grain increased several times one after another.

The price of grain in Hangzhou can still maintain the price of one tael of silver and two stones, and the price of grain in Dinghai has long since become two taels of silver and one stone of grain, which has quadrupled.

The population of Dinghai is also about 30,000 people, and some of the 6,000 stone grain is directly sold to the English, and other grain merchants who transfer to Dinghai immediately earn extremely high profits.

As for raw silk, Li Yingyuan bought it in Hangzhou for 110 taels of silver, and when he went to Dinghai to give it to the English, it was 142 taels of silver.

Just this English people still feel that they have made a lot of money, like Andrew's original attitude towards Li Yingyuan's sabre-rattling has eased a lot, and he is a lot closer when he speaks, and he also praised that when he was in Dinghai, he knew that Li Yingyuan was not an ordinary thing.

For this trade, Li Yingyuan raised a total of more than 50,000 taels of silver, excluding the interest on the borrowed money and various beginnings, and the net income reached at least 15,000 taels of silver, which can be called terrifying.

Li Yingyuan understands that there will not be too many such good things, and when the big businessmen in Hangzhou understand it and flock to it, the profit margin will decline rapidly.

Then again, after the Dutch arrived in the south of Dayuan, they used Li Dan and Xu Xinsu and others to buy goods such as life and death and tea from the Ming Dynasty, and it is estimated that the profits made by these Ming merchants who dealt with the Dutch must also be huge, no wonder they can get hundreds of sea ships in a few years, and they are worth more than one million taels of silver.

Li Yingyuan just took the lead this time, compared with Li Dan and Xu Xinsu, and even compared with many of these two people's subordinates, this profit is just a drizzle.

When it came time to hand over the captured officers and soldiers, there was a problem, Li Yingyuan originally expected to take all the officers and soldiers away this time, but the English temporarily changed their mind and were only willing to release back a hundred officers and soldiers, as for those quick arrest officials, they did not want to release any of them.

"Major Andrew, you are not authentic, how can you change the hexagram when you say something good?

You should understand that in this way, it is very difficult for me to explain when I go back to Hangzhou. Li Yingyuan said to Major Andrew unhappily.

"Originally, we only said that we would release some of the officers and soldiers, but we didn't say how much. If you go back like this, your boss will not blame you. Andrew snorted.

"We've dealt with each other a lot of times, and if the so-called Ming people don't talk darkly, don't fool me.

What is this for, can you explain it to me?" asked Li Yingyuan disapprovingly.

"You see, I'm actually thinking about you too. You should understand that we English people are the most reputable in doing business, and we are happy to give money.

It's good for you to come a few more times and make a few more profits, isn't it?" Andrew said, with a twinkle in his eyes.

"That's different, you didn't say that our officers and soldiers would have to suffer here for a while longer.

No matter how much money you make, it cannot be compared with the suffering suffered by these officers and men. In any case, you have to tell the above that I will bring more people back, please. Li Yingyuan said solemnly.

Li Yingyuan knew in his heart that the English people had tasted the sweetness of this trade and hoped to force him to come a few more times, but this also showed to a certain extent that the English people were not particularly optimistic about the prospects of trade negotiations, and only wanted to trade a few more times.

It's just that this matter is really nonsense, and it is clear that those officials are crying and shouting that they want to strictly prohibit maritime trade and prevent foreigners from coming to do business; these foreigners are crying and shouting that they want to come and send money, and they are still sending a lot of money, which is simply subverting Li Yingyuan's understanding of business all along, and he can't understand how such an illogical thing can happen.

The two sides talked badly, and finally agreed to let Li Yingyuan take away 50 more officers and soldiers.