Chapter 239 Emperor Chongzhen’s interests come first

Author: tx Cheng Zhi

Chapter 239 Emperor Chongzhen’s interests come first

Chapter 238

Putmans could tell that Xie Jinglin, Ning Haijun behind Xie Jinglin, and Cheng Shijie himself all judged that the Spanish Empire had too much to take care of in Europe. Even after losing Luzon, they could not even threaten or intimidate.

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It can be said that the power of the Spanish Empire in the Far East was extremely weak. Letting the Spanish Empire and the Ming Empire resolve the Luzon issue through negotiations is not something the United Kingdom of the Netherlands wants to see, nor is it something the Dutch East India Company wants to see.

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Although Putmans was ordered to come to negotiate, he behaved very rudely, with the words pride and prejudice written on his face. He sat on a wicker chair with his plump buttocks, and kept changing his left foot with his crossed legs.

Right foot, switch from right foot to left foot.

Regarding talking to Xie Jinglin like this, he really felt that the other party would be intolerable to the extreme.

In fact, Xie Jinglin went even further than him.

Xie Jinglin originally had big feet and wore boots made of sheepskin. After being stuffed for most of the day, when he took off his boots in front of Putmans, the smell was so harsh that his eyes were stung.

Putmans did not expect Xie Jinglin to do this for him.

In Europe, Spain, the super empire that has dominated Europe for more than 200 years, with Great Britain's victory over the Spanish Armada, allowed European countries to see that Spain was originally a country with great wealth but was surrounded by defeat. Therefore, including the Netherlands,

, no one wants to have multiple fathers on their head.

In order to remove the Spanish overlord from its sacred position and for the sake of religion, the Protestant League and the Catholic League launched a raging war.

Britain, France, the Netherlands and even Portugal also hope that the Ming Dynasty can involve Spain's power in the Far East. In this way, it will be much easier for them in Europe.

Unexpectedly, Philip IV did not send his troops after learning about the great changes in Luzon. Instead, he instructed the king of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands to use the power of the Dutch East India Company to mediate the Luzon incident.

But the Dutch did not want to mediate. Forced by the orders of His Majesty the Emperor of Spain, they could only pretend, and so the strange negotiations began.

In the view of Philip IV, the problem in Luzon was just a small problem. Tens of thousands of natives were killed and wounded, and more than a thousand Spanish were killed and wounded. What could it be considered?

The Holy Roman Empire had a deep interest in the Far East. It was a pity that these Germans did not have much say in Asian affairs.

The Dutch have the right to speak and have enough strength, but they are not too big a deal to watch the excitement. The British sold old artillery to Zheng Zhilong through military trade with Zheng Zhilong. If the war does not continue, how can they sell arms?

You must know that the profits from the arms trade are much easier than making money from ordinary commodities.

A negotiation ended badly, especially when Putmans left the port area, his face was livid with anger.

Xie Jinglin immediately reported the progress of the negotiations to Cheng Shijie.

Cheng Shijie smiled faintly: "We are taking this matter for granted. We are afraid of what they will do. Spain is a paper tiger now. When it is time to kick him, you are welcome!"

"Commander, I'm afraid that Spain, the sovereign nation, will unite all their countries in Europe. If they all unite... I'm afraid it will be difficult to deal with!"

Cheng Shijie smiled coldly: "If Spain had this ability, they would have unified Europe long ago. Jing Lin, you may not know that the entire Europe is about the same size as our Ming Dynasty. If Nurgandus can be recovered in the future, the entire Europe

A place that is not as big as our Ming Dynasty, but it is divided into dozens of countries, and they have been fighting each other for thousands of years!"

"If that's the case, that's better!"

Cheng Shijie said with a serious face: "Our Ming Dynasty recognizes dual nationality. These Chinese are the people of our Ming Dynasty. Our behavior in Luzon is to protect overseas Chinese. European countries recognize this. Even if we say it, we are justified. Besides, this country

The commander spent tens of millions of taels of silver to build nearly a hundred new warships and more than 3,000 naval guns. This is our principle. If anyone disagrees, I will lead the Ning Navy fleet to follow them.

Be reasonable!"

As Professor Ai said: "Dignity is only on the edge of the sword, and truth is only within the range of the cannon!"

A country and a nation must dare to show their swords. The world situation is no longer a child's play, but the law of the jungle in the true sense. Moreover, this kind of jungle is far more complicated than the ordinary jungle.

In later generations, Cheng Shijie was just a commoner, and at most he was just enjoying the game. However, now he has enough strength and confidence to play this game.

"This Europa is actually just like a barbarian!"

"Same?"

"That's right!"

"Afraid of power but not virtue!"

The Mongolian army swept across Europe and was called the whip of God. Until more than four hundred years later, Europeans still respect the Mongols and admire Mongolian music and Mongolian wrestling performances. Countless people even worship Genghis Khan, the butcher.

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…

Zhenghe Port District, the ancestral residence of the Wu family.

At this time, the Wu Mansion was full of servants rushing back and forth in the courtyard. There were now so many guests from the Wu family. These days, there were representatives of Nanyang Chinese coming over in a steady stream!

These big Nanyang families scattered all over Nanyang, more or less people come here. They all have money in their pockets. Their purpose of coming is simply to help the Ning Navy and Luzon Chinese to clean up the Spaniards. They came to take a look at what they have become in Nanyang.

The legendary Cheng Shijie and Marshal Cheng.

At this time, at the gate of Wu Mansion, a tall young man bowed towards Wu Shangzhi: "I'd rather bother Shi Bo to say a few nice words in front of the commander about this matter!"

"My dear nephew, please don't be polite. For the sake of... money and the friendship between our Wu and Xie families in the previous life, I will definitely introduce you to the commander as soon as possible!"

Patting the gift list in his hand and looking at the boxes of silver, Wu Shangzhi was also very ambitious at this time and was ready to do something big. It's not that money comes first in Europa, but the same is true in the Ming Dynasty. If you have money, you can buy food.

Food can recruit an army. Even if it is spent with money, Wu Shangzhi will still give Cheng Shijie an army.

This army can not only create a great cause for Cheng Shijie, but also become a protective umbrella for the Chinese people.

Just when Wu Shangzhi was calculating accounts in the study, there was a knock on the door.

In the Wu family, there is no need for communication. There is only one person who can enter Wu Shangzhi's study, and that is his father Wu Dakuan.

"My child pays homage to your father!"

Wu Dakuan sat on the bench opposite, picked up a cup of herbal tea, took a sip and said, "How much are the donations now?"

Wu Shangzhi said with great joy: "More than 5.6 million taels of silver..."

"Look at your potential!"

Wu Dakuan said with disdain: "You only have 5.6 million taels of silver and you are so happy?"

"Is 5.6 million taels of silver still too little? You have to know the annual finances of the Ming Dynasty..."

"Then the emperor has no ability. If the commander-in-chief becomes the king in the future, how much money do you think the court can collect in tax per year?"

Wu Shangzhi did not refute Wu Dakuan, because what Wu Dakuan said was right, because Ning Haijun occupied a corner of Liaodong, and its annual fiscal revenue now exceeded that of the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty.

Wu Shangzhi asked with some confusion: "Will there be more?"

Wu Dakuan put down his tea cup and said calmly: "Now all eyes are fixed on the commander. This time the Dutch are also embarrassed in front of the commander. There are many people over there in Batavia and Mindanao. They should look at it now

It’s the attitude of a commander-in-chief!”

"It is indeed very encouraging. It is said that Putmans, the senior commercial commissioner of the Dutch East India Company, who stomped his feet and caused earthquakes throughout Southeast Asia, almost died of anger!"

"The news has almost spread now, and the representatives of various clans in Nanyang should also receive the letter. Whether they want to buy the Marshal's ticket depends on their own ideas. They must do anything as early as possible!"

Wu Dakuan said: "Just keep an eye on it, don't come here with thousands of people and embarrass yourself!"

Wu Dakuan is really awesome. In his eyes, one hundred and eighty thousand taels of silver is just a shame. This is because he knows how much money the Chinese have.

As the saying goes, first come first served basis. Zheng Zhilong sold nearly one-third of the goods shipped by the Dutch East India Company to Europe. Maritime merchants from Jiangnan, Fujian, and Guangdong could only account for one-third. In fact, one-third of the goods were sold by Zheng Zhilong.

It is produced by Chinese families from all over Southeast Asia.

Before Cheng Shijie and Zheng Zhilong broke up, Nanyang businessmen could buy a lot of machinery and equipment from Liaodong. In Liaodong, the winter lasts for at least five months and the ice period even exceeds four months, so hydraulic machinery and equipment have great limitations.

Sex, however, does not have this problem in Nanyang.

Nanyang has a lot of rain and rivers. Although there are not many Chinese in Nanyang, they use a lot of machinery and their production capacity is not low.

The current trade volume of the Dutch East India Company is approximately 16 million guilders per year. One guilder is approximately equal to one pound, which is equivalent to 1.6 million pounds. Based on the one-third share contributed by each Nanyang company, that is

The equivalent of half a million pounds worth of micro goods.

Wu Dakuan knew that the annual profits of various Nanyang companies amounted to tens of millions of taels of silver. They actually earned more than Zheng Zhilong. Zheng Zhilong only charged protection fees, while they produced and sold their own products, and there was no shipping fee.

Not to mention one hundred and eighty thousand taels of silver, even a year's profit can barely match their sincerity and attitude.

Of course, Emperor Chongzhen didn’t know that after all the hard work and countless scoldings, he could only get less than 20 million taels of silver from the regular tax plus Liao’s salary, but Chinese merchants in Nanyang could produce such

Much profit.

But they didn't pay a penny of tax to Ming Dynasty.

In fact, Wu Dakuan also knew that the Ming Dynasty did not really have no money, but that the money was not in the hands of the court. Just like the salt industry, in the Qing Dynasty, it turned over 6 million taels of silver to the court, but in the Ming Dynasty it only had 640,000 taels of silver.

, equivalent to one-tenth of what it was during the Qing Dynasty, and the salt industry can generate profits of tens of millions of taels every year.

The profits generated by maritime merchants every year also amounted to tens of millions of taels of silver, but the Ming Dynasty was also unable to collect this fiscal revenue.

These are all well known things.

Sure enough, Xie Jinglin rejected Putmans' request for negotiation.

A few days later, Putmans held talks with Xie Jinglin again, but both parties also broke up on bad terms.

After repeated wasted discussions, the negotiations reached the tenth round.

Xie Jinglin's attitude was still very tough and he insisted on proposing the prerequisite for solving the Luzon issue: "The prerequisite for the negotiation of the Luzon issue is that the Ming Empire must see the sincerity of the Spanish Empire. The Chinese in Luzon, whether they have been naturalized there or not, have no

Officially seceded from Ming nationality. Ming Dynasty recognized dual nationality. They are all Ming people. Their personal safety, property safety and social status should be protected by the Ming Empire. The Spanish Empire carried out inhumane persecution of the Chinese in Luzon and must compensate!"

“I wonder how the Spanish Empire should compensate!”

"According to our statistics, in the 21st year of Wanli, the 31st year of Wanli, and the 37th year of Wanli, in these three large-scale massacres alone, a total of more than 55,000 Chinese were massacred!"

Putmans was the commercial commissioner of the Dutch East India Company, not the Spanish Empire. The issue he considered was in the interests of the Dutch East India Company, not the interests of the Spanish Empire.

"How much compensation will each person receive?"

Xie Jinglin said calmly: "Two thousand taels of silver for each person!"

"You are blackmailing!"
To be continued...