Wanli Xinming

Chapter 224 Pocket Watch

After a cup of tea, two officials in blue official robes, mandarin ducks and men, came out around a fifth-rank official with white pheasant men.The official in the middle was in his thirties, with a bushy beard and bright eyes, which made his expression somewhat innocent.Seeing the order outside the door, a smile appeared on his face.

With a light cough, the official said, "You guys are fine like this, don't make a fuss. That, translate." Luo Mingjian and the fat man from Ryukyu looked at each other, and the fat man made a gesture, indicating Luo Mingjian to translate.

Luo Mingjian translated this sentence.The official continued: "The imperial court ordered that goods such as porcelain, silk, silk and other commodities have to be taxed. It was not ordered by me, Lei, or this customs yamen—this is the case with customs all over the world!"

After Luo Mingjian finished translating this sentence, he thought to himself, these sub-ship owners and businessmen are annoyed.Before that, Daming was only a customs, and it was not effective in combating smuggling.

The surnamed Lei continued: "Besides, the tariffs have been added, and it is true that your costs are high, but you can increase the selling price. What's the use of coming to my yamen to make trouble, I can decide to exempt you from tariffs. ?"

Luo Mingjian was translating, and the deputy next to Guanchang Lei asked the Ryukyu fat man to check whether Luo Mingjian's translation was correct. The fat man listened carefully to the translation and kept nodding his head.

One of the Portuguese boat owners walked out of the crowd and waved his arms and spoke in Portuguese with a very excited tone.Luo Mingjian translated for him: "Dear Your Excellency, I understand that you must perform your duties. But I also urge you to express our hearts to the court of your country. We are willing to accept [-]% of the tariffs on the goods. If it exceeds [-]%, our The profit will become very meager, if it exceeds [-]%, we will be unprofitable. At that time, it will also deal a blow to your country's goods, and the imperial court you belong to does not want the goods to be accumulated in the port and cannot be sold!"

After hearing that, Guan Chang Lei showed a somewhat innocent smile on his face.He smiled and said, "Oh, no, no. The court is very reasonable. If you take porcelain from Guangzhou and ship it to Malacca, it will be three times as profitable; if you ship it to Goa, it will be five times as profitable; if you ship it to Lisbon, the net profit will probably be enough. At ten times, the imperial court only increased the tariff by [-]% of the price of the goods, how can the cost be reduced?"

Luo Mingjian translated these words, and the Portuguese ship owners looked at each other, knowing that trade intelligence, which was not a secret, had been grasped by the Ming Kingdom.They thought that this official couldn't understand this, and they came here with the idea that they would not suffer a loss if they made trouble, but the official was very clear, and they explained their profit level in one sentence, so everyone couldn't say it for a while. words come.

When Lei Guan saw that they were speechless, he said with a sullen face: "Before, you all got along with the smugglers, and how much did you earn from the imperial court's tariffs! Today the imperial court has standardized the regulations, so you are here to make noise, but do you think the imperial court is easy to talk about?"

Luo Mingjian translated these words in the tone of Lei Guanchang as much as possible.Seeing that Guan Chang Lei swept his eyes to the crowd down the steps, he asked, "Who is the leader?"

Luo Mingjian fulfilled his translation duties and shouted, "Quem é o líder?"

Not only the Chinese people love to fry beans, but also the Portuguese.Seeing that the Ming Dynasty officials were going to be held accountable, none of them were in their early years. The group took a big step back, and threw the two who had just protested and the two who were still confused after a stick on their heads.

Regardless of the truth, the Ming Dynasty official surnamed Lei waved his hand and said, "Get up! If there is any more trouble, you will be hit with fifty!" Turn around and go back to the yamen.

The Jinyiwei Xiaoqi waved his hand, and a few wolves came up, shackled the feet of the two unlucky bastards, and used large wooden shackles on their necks and hands.Luo Mingjian stood beside him and took a breath, seeing that the wooden flail weighed at least [-] pounds and was very large.The two were unable to straighten their backs after being shackled, so they could only kneel there and support the plank façade on the ground.

Seeing the punishment so terrible, all the Portuguese were terrified.Although the two were kneeling, their mouths were not blocked, and they cursed loudly.

That Xiaoqi had a fierce look in his eyes, and asked Luo Mingjian, "What are the two of them talking about?"

Luo Mingjian hurriedly explained: "They are scolding these people, saying that they were not the ones who picked the lead and were killed by this group of ship owners. These ship owners don't have the demeanor of any civilized person."

The little flag turned his head to look at the Ryukyu Fatty again. He was staring at the fat man, sweat oozing from his face, and quickly said, "His translation is right."

The little flag sneered, raised both hands like a chicken and duck and shouted: "All spread out, don't stand here!"

The Portuguese shipowners who had been beaten scattered, although they did not achieve their goal, they were lucky not to be shackled.They dispersed in twos and threes, and there were a few who were particular about it and wanted to help the two unlucky bastards.

One of the older Portuguese shouted to the envoys who had been standing on the edge: "God, if you can enter the customs, I hope you will be able to plead with poor Castro and Mr. Mello in a while. Just warm-hearted, kind people."

As the head of the Portuguese embassy, ​​Fan Li'an, like everyone else, saw that the two shackled Portuguese were indeed wronged, and he promised: "We will. But it can't guarantee anything, after all, we can't interfere in the Ming Dynasty. Imperial legal affairs."

Seeing that he was wearing religious clothes, the man nodded respectfully to him and made a cross on his chest.

After this matter was dealt with, the customs door reopened, indicating that the yamen would continue to work normally.

Fan Li'an led the delegation and walked into the yamen to go through the immigration formalities.Director Na Lei read over and over the documents issued by the Guangdong Chief Secretary for them several times, and then called the old officials of the Customs Entry and Exit Section to check the authenticity of the seal of the Guangdong Chief Secretary.

The old official came over and glanced at it, and said, "Sir, this is true."

The naive smile appeared on Lei Guanchang's face again, scratching his head and laughing: "I'm sorry, this is probably the first mission in Daming to come in through the customs. I just did it, and I have no experience."

Both Fan Anli and Luo Mingjian knew that this guy was innocent on the face, but actually had a very heart.Based on the principle of politeness and no blame, Fan Anli asked Nai Guan Chang, "May I ask your lord's name?"

Lei Guanchang smiled and said: "This official's surname is Lei, his name is Yingzhi, and the character is Yuanshu. You can call me an official position, you don't have to call me an adult. I am a fifth-rank official, and I can't be called an adult."

"Your Excellency is humble. Lord Lei already knows our purpose and the meaning of the court, and I don't know when we will be allowed to set off." Fan Anli and Luo Mingqiang were suffering from the bureaucracy of the Ming court, so they made up their minds Preparation for bleeding.

Unexpectedly, Guanchang Lei was very good at talking. He slapped the document with the big seal and handed it back to Fan Li'an: "You can go."

Fan Li'an saw that he was so happy, but he didn't have a bottom in his heart.Asked, "I don't know how we're going?"

Lei Guanchang smiled and said: "If you want to be a sea boat, you can go to the pier to find it yourself, and you can go to Tianjin. If you want to go through the canal, there is no problem, you can hire a few carriages and go to Hangzhou to board the boat. But now this season , there is no boat when you cross the Yellow River, you can only take a carriage."

Luo Mingjian listened and said, "Lord Lei, there are so many people in the embassy, ​​I'm afraid it will be difficult to find such a large ship. Can you help?"

That Lei Yingzhi turned his face again and sneered: "I can't help with this. I came from the capital to take office, and I spent my own money along the way." After a while, he said: "The shipping terminal is in Nansha Port, and some of them are ships! You guys! Find one that walks along the coast and it's safer."

Fan Li'an listened to a few, and felt that his mission was not taken seriously at all, and Matteo Ricci was already a little discouraged.Fan Li'an had no choice but to take out a pocket watch and hand it to Lei Yingzhi: "This is a small gift from our mission, please accept it with a smile." He thought to himself that this official came from the north, and he must have never seen him. over this thing.

Unexpectedly, after Lei Yingzhi took it, he took it into his arms and took out a pocket watch produced by Rishenglong.Comparing the two watches together, Rishenglong looks like a princess, while Fan Li'an looks like a country girl.

As the saying goes, there is no harm if there is no comparison. Fan Li'an's pocket watch doesn't cost much, and it was not cheap when he bought it in Lisbon, but he never expected that Ming Guo would have a pocket watch long ago, and the appearance is simply too high-end.

All the Portuguese embassies showed embarrassed and polite smiles, and Fan Lixin scolded her mother.Luo Mingjian remedied from the side: "Sir, this is a small gift, you can take it as a reward."

Lei Yingzhi nodded and said, "Thank you, your envoy has a heart." Naturally, he put the pocket watch on the table in front of his subordinates.Fan Li'an said: "Master Lei, the two Portuguese people outside were indeed wronged. Can you raise your hand and let him go?"

Lei Yingzhi listened and nodded: "Since your envoy has brought it up, give them a chance and let them go tomorrow morning - I originally planned to take out [-] catties of silver and give it to these profiteers on the wooden yoke. Put it up, and then I thought that the customs didn't have that much money, so I'd forget it."

Fan Li'an hurriedly said: "Thank you, sir, your character is very noble, thank you again."

Seeing that he didn't understand, Lei Yingzhi became cold again and winked out, which means you should go and find a boat.

Luo Mingjian couldn't help but want to speak, but Fan Li'an grabbed him and stopped talking immediately.Fan Li'an smiled and said: "I will convey the meaning of the adults to these two - we will leave first."

(End of this chapter)