I'm really not doing business

Chapter 138 As long as the price is right, the soul can be sold to the devil

Before Deng Zilong moored ashore, Luo Lian resumed her original attire, with a black scarf pulling her forehead and hair, a white shawl collar, and this shawl collar can even cover her ears and nose, she put on a cross, and finally put on a thick, Luo Lian explained to Deng Zilong the reason why this kind of clothing is designed in this way, for moral defense and to prevent corruption.

This appearance of Lori Ann looks a bit gloomy and terrifying.

Deng Zilong finally understood the reason why Luo Lian didn't like wearing pants so much in private, because she wanted to break free from the shackles but couldn't rebel.

"It's very hot." Deng Zilong expressed his concern for Luo Lian.

Luo Lian smiled and said, "I'm used to it, let's go."

When getting off the boat, the hand of a young blond sailor patted the nun's butt very casually and as a matter of course. Deng Zilong grabbed the sailor's hand and twisted it hard, and the screams immediately echoed throughout the pier of Boracay Island. The sound rang, and the red-haired fans, who were already very nervous, immediately picked up the weapons in their hands, and they were ready to fight if there was a disagreement.

Not only did Deng Zilong not stop, he kicked the man off the trestle bridge and said sharply: "Put your paws clean, if there is another time, I will kill you."

Deng Zilong's words are very authentic classical Latin. After in-depth communication with Luo Lian, Deng Zilong's foreign language learning is excellent.

During the big travel activities in Taixi, whoever has a fluent Latin is a symbol of dignity. There is a fashion of "returning to the source" in Taixi. of classical Latin as a fad.

This is due to the use of Latin in the Greek Academy who tell stories all day long and promote the beauty and culture of Rome.

Deng Zilong roughly understands it this way: the pure and classical Latin is actually equivalent to the Mandarin of the Ming Dynasty, while Frankish, German, English, and Castilian are all dialects. , a dialect, naturally difficult to be respected.

"Thank you." Lori Ann's tone was extremely sincere, sincere, and even pious, even more pious than when she was praying.

Deng Zilong clapped his hands and asked with some doubts: "I don't quite understand. Although you haven't said it, I guess you should be a nobleman in Taixi. You have received a good education since you were a child. Being able to travel across the ocean to Luzon, no matter how you look at it, how dare he, a sailor, take advantage of you so openly?"

"Because of the hair." Luo Lian was a little helpless, but said with a lot of lightness in her tone.

"hair?"

Deng Zilong looked at Luo Lian's exposed red hair, and asked inexplicably, "Hair?"

"Yes hair." Lori Ann thought for a while and said, "Black hair represents nobility, holiness, and authority. It is the most honorable in Taixi, while blond hair originated from the barbarians in Northern Europe, but they occupied many Small territory, powerful and tyrannical, represents barbarism, represents arbitrariness, and represents deterrence."

"Red hair represents nudity, depravity, and betrayal."

"I am a nun, a nun with a lifelong vow. If I don't marry for life, I will give up my status as a nobleman. That's why they are so rude."

To explain the reasons for this contempt, we need to start from many aspects. For example, in "The Last Supper", Judas who betrayed God is red-haired; It needs to be burned to death and purified; in universal culture, red is the color of life, that is, the color of blood, and red hair represents impurity, instinct, and debauchery. , mostly redheads.

Of course, the blacks were slaves, and in the plantation, they would not receive fewer whips just because they had black hair.

This kind of discrimination is also another reason why Spain and Portugal are excluded from the big travel cultural activities. Even though they have defeated the French five times, they still cannot gain recognition and respect.

Deng Zilong suddenly thought of the most wicked thing, which is beating the blind and scolding the dumb. To be honest, Daming also had this kind of discrimination in the field of hair. Discrimination does exist, but it's because they shaved their hair that way. Red hair color is natural.

The existence of this kind of discrimination is also the reason why people who came to Daming from across the ocean are scorned as Hongmaofan, and they are all lowly people.

People live on land, no matter what era, people who go to sea and punting are very miserable.

Deng Zilong looked around, although these sailors took up weapons, they didn't come forward immediately, but rushed to rescue the golden haired fan.

Deng Zilong was testing, testing the bottom line of this negotiation. He insulted a sailor, but it didn't cause any bad consequences.

"You are a bold man. We seem to be at war. You came here with the sea flag of Ming Dynasty. I admire your courage." Antonio walked out from the crowd, looked at Deng Zilong and said, "You can come under my command." Is it? I think I need a warrior badly."

The sea flag of Ming Dynasty is the Big Dipper flag, while that of Hongmao Fan is the Red Cross.

Antonio is the captain, not the owner of the ship. His owner is King Felipe II of Spain. Antonio is qualified to be the heir to the Portuguese throne, but the old king didn't like him and kicked him out.

Of course Antonio wants to be king, so he needs to recruit warriors.

"It's better to talk about something serious." Deng Zilong refused, he was wrong to be a general of Ming Dynasty, and ran to be Antonio's dog?

Antonio didn't bother, but said with a smile: "Well, His Majesty the Emperor you are loyal to is indeed more honorable."

The last time Antonio went to Beijing to meet the Ming Emperor as Li Yashi's deputy, the battle really opened Antonio's eyes. When he first arrived in the Far East, Antonio thought that the Ming Emperor was a secular agent. Later, on the way to Beijing, he thought The emperor is the pope, and after he re-entered Beijing, he was convinced that the power of the Ming emperor in Daming was a trinity of gods who came to the world.

Everything in the empire was revolving around the Ming Emperor, just like the stars were born revolving around the North Pole.

Fortunately, Zhu Yijun didn't know Antonio's thoughts. If he knew, he would have scoffed at him. He just wanted to be a good Ming king, and all gods and ghosts were heretics.

Deng Zilong has been speaking official Chinese, he can speak classical Latin, in order not to be deceived, but he no longer speaks foreign languages ​​on formal occasions, and he just warned the golden-haired fan because the golden-haired fan provoked his woman, and now he is serving as the court of the Ming Dynasty. The envoy of the Luzon Governor's Mansion, he can only speak official language.

And Lori Ann is the translator.

The first negotiation started.

"Da Ming rashly attacked our camp. We didn't even know the reason, so we were attacked by you, our homeland was destroyed, and everyone in Luzon was captured by you." Antonio first said that it was Ming who started the war. .

Deng Zilong said: "In the third year of Jiajing, Emperor Sejong issued an edict to the Portuguese, asking them to return the occupied Srivijaya territory, but they never did that. In the fifth year of Longqing, you killed the king of Lu Song, and the first emperor issued an edict. I issued an imperial edict ordering you to return the land to the Luzon Remaining King and not start a war lightly, and you didn’t do it either.”

"The documents are still there. Your Governor Francisco wrote in his diary: A country that can be destroyed with only 42 soldiers dares to give me orders. It is a dream."

"So, Francisco was captured by us."

Antonio heard this, and said with a little anger: "Damn fool Francisco!"

Francisco sells his crazy war ideas everywhere, and the budget has increased from 42 soldiers to [-] soldiers. Projecting [-] elite soldiers in the far east is a dream. If you have this kind of projection ability, damn Brit , was wiped out long ago.

Antonio thought for a while and said: "I can mobilize the Portuguese from the Strait of Malacca and India to help us regain our territory. As you know, I am one of the heirs to the Portuguese throne, and I have the ability to call."

Deng Zilong said unhurriedly: "Are you talking about those desperadoes who have nowhere to go to sea and only seek money? Do you think they have that kind of strength and courage to fight against the professional soldiers of Ming Dynasty? If so If it can be done, the Portuguese will only occupy a port in Haojing and be driven out of the sea?"

"We also have two of the giant three-masted plywood ships that you are proud of. To be honest, the giant plywood ships that are so hyped up are still a bit disappointing."

"If you insist on fighting, then fight."

After Deng Zilong finished speaking, he stood up, looked at Luo Lian and said, "Do you want to stay or go back with me?"

"Go back with you." Luo Lian immediately stood up, intending to follow Deng Zilong back to Luzon. In addition to gaining freedom from Deng Zilong, she also gained dignity, which she could never get in Taixi.

Deng Zilong shook his head and said: "Yin Butang is right, but we still have to fight hard to get results."

Antonio hurriedly said: "Wait a minute, wait a moment, we have three sailing ships this time, can they enter the port smoothly, and then enter Songjiang Mansion for trading?"

The two sides clearly need a consensus, and Deng Zilong clearly knows what that consensus is, but he just doesn't say it, waiting for Antonio to say it. This consensus is that Ming needs silver, and the Spaniards need goods from Ming.

Deng Zilong turned around and said, "Of course it is possible."

Antonio saw that Deng Zilong finally sat down again, and then he said: "The king has appointed Li Yashi as a special envoy. Only he can decide to mobilize the resources of the Governor-General of Luzon. I am just a captain and a businessman. I just want to do business. You guys If you want to fight or negotiate peace, you can negotiate with Legazit, not me. My task is to take three four-masted galleons, complete the trade, bring the goods back, and earn the money I deserve.”

Antonio is a businessman, and he hates war. Although war can hoard goods and get extremely high benefits, war represents a huge risk. In Antonio's view, this war is completely unnecessary, because this war happened in the far east. In war, there is no room for profit at all.

Daming's Governor's Mansion was taken by the Spaniards, and now Daming has returned to his own Governor's Mansion, the matter seems to be that simple.

Deng Zilong said strangely: "I can let you go on behalf of the Luzon Governor's Mansion, but if you do this, Legazit will be very passive. These four-masted galleons are one of Legazit's important bargaining chips."

Antonio smiled and said: "My mission is my mission, his mission is his mission, and it has nothing to do with me."

Deng Zilong frowned slightly, and then said: "Understood, everyone clears the snow in front of the door, don't care about the frost on others' roofs, your merchant ship has been delayed for a long time, you can set off."

"Is the tax rate changed? Is it still the same as the past [-] value draw?" Antonio asked quite urgently.

Deng Zilong and Antonio communicated many details of entering the port, including the details of not being allowed to disembark, armed merchant ships not being allowed to shoot their guns and bows, and so on.

When Deng Zilong boarded his hydrofoil sailing boat and returned to Manila, he said in amazement: "Are you Taixi people so mercenary? You only have money in your eyes, as long as you can make money, everything doesn't matter?"

Luo Lian changed out of her heavy clothes, and when she heard Deng Zilong's question, she smiled and said, "Money has a magical power that can corrupt people's hearts. The Antonios you see are not a few, but a majority. It seems that as long as you have money, there will be many." That's the way it is in Tessie, and that's one of the troubles with gold and silver."

"Antonio doesn't care about Manila being captured by the Ming, the Spaniards and Portuguese who were captured by the Ming, he doesn't even care about Legazit, he only cares about the interests."

"As long as the price is right, the soul can be sold to the devil."

Deng Zilong nodded and said, "Understood, sit still and support me, the wind is blowing."

On the way back to the voyage, Deng Zilong adjusted the angle of the sail and the wind, and the speed suddenly increased. Then, under a gust of wind, the bow of the ship nodded twice suddenly, and began to float on the water. increase, the boat began to float steadily on the water surface, drew a water line, and galloped out.

Luo Lian was holding on to the side of the boat tightly, watching the hull floating on the water in disbelief, she was dumbfounded, and even said in a panic: "How did this happen?! It's amazing, is it magic?"

Deng Zilong shook his head and said, "I'm just a boat operator, I don't know why it flies."

Lorien opened her arms and enjoyed the sharpness of the wind blowing across her cheeks. This is a magical and mysterious country.

"Are you just manning the boat? What about me?" Lori Ann flicked her red hair.

Deng Zilong also said helplessly after hearing this: "It's not easy to learn well, but once you learn badly, you slip away. You are a nun, how can you swear?"

"Don't you know that learning a foreign language starts with dirty words?" Luo Lian said with a smile, "I will do it myself."

When Deng Zilong returned to the port of Manila, Luo Lian turned back into a dignified nun, but her face was rosy, just like the blush on the sky when the sunset glow faded, and her eyes were still slightly confused.

"No, you just took a trip to Boracay, and you're so tired?" Chen Lin saw that Deng Zilong's footsteps were a little flimsy, and asked a little strangely: "Can you do it?"

Looking at the sunset glow in the sky, Deng Zilong said with a little melancholy: "Of course I can, alas, why did you provoke me at the beginning? Don't say it, don't say it."

"Oh." Looking at Luo Lian's appearance, Chen Lin also knew that something had happened, and then his face changed suddenly, and he grabbed Deng Zilong's collar and said sharply: "I'm a boat! You dirty my boat! I and you It's not over!"

Chen Lin realized what had happened, and immediately became furious, as if he was going to kill someone. This is his boat, and the two of them used his boat to do shit!

Chen Linchu was furious, no wonder Yin Zhengmao had four words written on his face when he talked about this time, it was hard to say anything.

Really be damned.

"Do you want to fight privately? The Ming Army strictly forbids private fighting." Deng Zilong looked generous, according to the military regulations of the Ming Dynasty, private fighters have a staff of one hundred, and they are sent to the smoky land.

After all, Chen Lin let go of Deng Zilong, and said viciously: "Lao Tzu's boat!"

On this day, Chen Lin cleaned the boat all day, and his precious boat was dirty.

The four-masted galleon from Taixi began to slowly enter the port. Because it was not in Manila for business, it moored for half a day. After receiving the customs clearance document, Antonio took the boat back north again. When it arrived at Songjiang Mansion, it was almost the end of July.

After another fifteen days, Antonio came to the capital and met the special envoy Legas.

Antonio looked at the indifferent Li Yashi, and asked a little strangely: "Do you know that Manila was captured by the Ming army?"

Li Yashi sighed and said: "I know, in fact, the war in Manila has been going on. We organized three counter-offensives, but they failed to achieve any results. Later, we could no longer organize offensives, so we can only acquiesce in Da Ming's attack on Luzon. sovereignty."

"Our strength in the Far East is too weak. Their Governor Yin has 600 elites in his hands, and they are elites with rich combat experience, and there are more than [-] pirates recruiting troops. Our strength in the Far East is simply not enough. Support us to take back Luzon."

Antonio said with a look of surprise: "How did you know? Daming's management of Yichuan is extremely strict. How do you know what happened in Manila?"

"The folks in Ming Dynasty also have the People's Letters Bureau to deliver letters, so they can naturally deliver letters." Li Yashi did not hide anything, and explained the matter clearly.

The Minxin Bureau was first established by businessmen from Ningbo during the Yongle period.The Civil Credit Bureau is a profit-making organization run by private individuals. Its business includes delivering letters, goods, and handling remittances. Legasit also dispatched some troops to fight back through the Civil Credit Bureau, with little effect.

After a moment of silence, Li Yashi continued: "Of course, after receiving the good news, Daming informed me that they took back the ruling power in Luzon, and they couldn't beat them again. Could it be that fool like Francisco, who persuaded the king to send Is the heavy army taking back Luzon? Don’t you think the king’s troubles are not enough? Damn the British!”

Spain's Armada was at sea and had intense exchanges with England. This exchange allowed the Armada to stay in the Mediterranean to guard against the invasion of British privateers, and the main battleship of the Armada, the Galese battleship, was not suitable for long-distance voyages. , The problem of insufficient flexibility is gradually exposed.

The British guy is a box, and everything can be put in it.

Even without the British, the Spanish Armada would not be able to deploy to Luzon, because the main warships simply cannot go to the ocean, and they cannot cross the ocean with paddlers.

"Da Ming did not invade Boracay, Cebu and other archipelago areas, and it seems that he does not intend to further escalate the conflict." Legas said with some doubts.

Antonio said very worriedly: "You have to think clearly, if you give up Luzon Island now, in the future, Daming will definitely do what it is now, do it again, continue to erode our influence in the Far East, and eventually destroy this sea area. , completely brought under its own rule.”

"A greedy viper is never content with just one successful hunt."

Legaz stood up, looked at Antonio and said loudly: "Do you think I want to do this? I can't beat it, can you understand? I can't beat it!"

"Okay, you're right." Antonio could only nod when he heard about it. He was mooring in Manila for a day, and he probably didn't intend to find out the truth. However, the fort built by the Ming army is also extremely difficult to break through. The defense of the Ming Dynasty is tight. It is indeed extremely difficult to win.

Antonio tilted his head and said with a confused face: "When I was in Manila, I saw the Ming people operating a flying boat. Do you know what it is?"

"A ship that can fly, Antonio, listen to what you are talking about? How can a ship fly?" Legaz asked with a puzzled expression on his face.

Antonio said with certainty: "It's the kind of ship that can fly, I saw it! It's amazing, if you don't believe it, you can ask my crew on the ship, they have all seen it, those damned privateers don't Is it because of the small size and fast speed of our own boat that we took the initiative? If we have that kind of boat, can the British still be so arrogant?"

Li Yashi still didn't believe it, shook his head and said: "It's normal to have hallucinations after a long voyage."

A coordinator from the Huitong Post came in and said, "Two special envoys, Honglu Temple Minister Chen Xue has arrived."

Chen Xuexue walked in, looked at Antonio, and showed a smile. Da Ming conquered Luzon, but wanted silver from the galleon. This was obviously both. Da Ming was able to do it because Da Ming had absolute commodities. Advantage, Spain's demand for Daming's goods is greater than Daming's demand for Thai and Western silver coins, and this is the root cause.

At worst, Daming went to the Wa Kingdom to bully the Wa people to ensure the supply of silver.

"Diplomat Chen came here because of Luzon's affairs?" Li Yashi said solemnly.

Chen Xuexue shook his head and said: "No, Yuanfu's theory of contradictions said: the struggle of contradictions is complicated and long-term, and the conflicts and balances formed without sufficient struggles are short-lived, and they are hypocritical that cannot last long, so We still have to continue the struggle, and only after a sufficient struggle can we balance conflicts."

"In other words, if you haven't played enough, just keep playing."

"I came here this time to urge taxes. The tax office of the Fusi Yamen in Beizhen sent a reminder ticket. The three of you have a total of 32 taels of silver. You are required to pay 19200 taels of gold flower silver according to the system. The big ship is at the end of August. If you leave Hong Kong, if you have not paid, you will not be able to leave Hong Kong, and you will be fined 20% of the tax. If you resist the tax, the punitive tariff will be 20% in the future.

"This time it's just a reminder, if something like this happens in the future, it will be punished as a whole."

After the three four-masted galleons entered the port, the three ships carried a total of 30 taels of silver without customs declaration. During the trade, they were caught by Tiqi from the tax office of the Songjiang Prefecture Tax Office of the Imperial Court. The stamp certificate of tax payment, and The actual amount of trade did not match. After accounting, the tax office checked the amount of entrained silver and sent the reminder note to the capital.

Honglu Temple was in charge of the first and second notifications, and the third time it was time to board the ship to call for payment.

"Damn it, I've told them a lot, don't hide it, are you going to evade the 6% tax?" Antonio looked at the reminder note, it was actually written in both Chinese and Latin, he could read it completely Understand.

His boat carried less than 1000 taels of silver, and the other two boats actually hid more than 30 taels of silver, and were caught by the Ming court!

"Okay, both of you, you should pay in full as soon as possible. We won't charge one percent more tax, nor will we charge one percent less tax." Chen Xuexue stood up and was about to leave.

"Diplomat, it's true that Ming Dynasty doesn't have a kind of flying ship?" Antonio collected the reminder ticket, but asked eagerly about the flying ship he saw.

Chen Xuexue said in surprise: "Captain, do you want to listen to what you are talking about? How can the ship fly? Of course not."

"Okay." Antonio said with some doubts: "Did I read it wrong?"

In fact, Antonio didn't see clearly what the ship shrouded in the waterline looked like. Li Ya said it was a hallucination, but the officials of Ming Dynasty denied it, which made Antonio doubt himself.

Antonio shook his head, and said more eagerly: "Diplomat, I have some gifts for the emperor. I think the supreme and honorable emperor will definitely like these treasures."

"I'm pretty sure."

"Oh? What is it?" Chen Xuehui sat down again and saw that Antonio took out a list of the gifts that Antonio wanted to present.

After reading the list, Chen Xuexue nodded and said, "Indeed, His Majesty the Emperor will like it very much. Then, Captain Antonio, what do you need? I know you are a businessman, and you are talking about business. If the conditions are not excessive, you can discuss them."

Antonio said with great anticipation: "I want the franchise."

"Do you think it's possible?" Chen Xuehui shook his head and said.

Antonio waved his hands again and again and said, "No, no, the franchise you understand is different from the franchise I mentioned. I mean that I am responsible for the sale of Portugal, and it is not a franchise for a certain product of Ming Dynasty."

　Only death and taxes are inevitable.Ask for a monthly ticket, woo! ! ! ! !
　　
　
(End of this chapter)