The Rise of Ming Dynasty 1646

Chapter 308 Mingfo Trade Agreement
A former cottage north of Macau.

Guangzhou Haiphong Tongzhi Yamen.

Castro and others knelt down and saluted dejectedly.Du Chen dawdled for a while with a gloomy face, remembering the shells that fell in front of his eyes yesterday, and thinking that the prince in front of him was the prince of the Eastern Empire, finally knelt down too.

Zhu Linmei smiled and asked them to show them a seat, and said to Du Chen, "This is Mr. Folangji Resident Representative, right? It's not that you're seriously ill, but you recovered pretty quickly."

Du Chen tilted his head and listened to Castro interpreting for him, so he nodded awkwardly, "Well, it's all right..."

Zhu Linmi said again "sincerely and earnestly": "Look at you, how nice it was to withdraw the garrison a few days ago in a peaceful manner. I have to use swords and guns. No, the war indemnity you have to pay is a lot more."

"Indemnity?" Du Chen was about to cry, and asked carefully, "I don't know how much more to pay?"

"This time our army suffered another casualty, and more ammunition was spent." Zhu Linmi said, "Fortunately, it will not affect the people of Ming Dynasty much, so let's pay 20 taels. Adding the 30 taels last time, the total is 50 Two silver."

50 taels? !Du Chen was taken aback, and hurriedly bargained: "We only have 35 taels of silver in cash, and [-] ducats in gold coins. There is really no more..."

Zhu Linmi shook her head and said, "50 taels is not less, oh, if you don't have money, you can use those ships at your port to pay the bill."

Castro hurriedly said: "Your Highness, we have come all the way to the east, so we must have a ship. Otherwise, we still have dozens of cannons in the city and in the armory. How about paying the indemnity with cannons?"

"Mr. Special Envoy, when you came to see me last time, your cannons, including city walls and forts, could be discounted." Zhu Linmi said unceremoniously, "But now, these things are all spoils of war I captured. You can use my things to buy them again." Pay me?"

Du Chen was taken aback when he heard the words, and thought, is this an oriental who is gentle and elegant and easy to discuss everything?It's even more ruthless than the Europeans...

But he was irrefutable, and he immediately thought that Portugal's strength in the Far East was originally the weakest among European countries. If it lost some cargo ships, it would really withdraw from the competition in the Far East in the future.

"Your Highness, this boat is really..." He begged again.

Zhu Linmi didn't want to drive the Portuguese into a corner, after all, they can also bring a lot of trade volume to Daming, so she nodded in understanding and said: "Well, I allow you to pay with the materials I need, I will You can pay a higher price and pay it off within half a year.”

Du Chen and the others also breathed a sigh of relief.Castro hurriedly asked, "I don't know what your Highness needs?"

"Copper, high-quality iron ore, high-quality wood, and saltpeter are all fine," Zhu Linmi suddenly thought of something else, "Oh, yes, and rubber."

"Rubber?" Castro wondered.

"It's a kind of sap produced on the continent of Amerika."

He also roughly talked about the appearance of the rubber tree, and a Portuguese entourage said he had seen it, and said a Latin name to Castro.

Brazil in South America is now a colony of Spain, and the Portuguese were a country with Spain not long ago, so they still know something about it.

Castro immediately reacted, gestured and said, "Is that the black ball that the natives often play?"

"Yes, that's what it is," Zhu Linmi nodded, "I can buy it at a price of one or two silver for every two hundred pounds."

Castro readily agreed, saying that he only needs to recruit a group of natives and give them some food. This thing is as much as possible, and it costs almost nothing. It seems that paying off the compensation depends on this rubber.

Zhu Linmi also negotiated with the Portuguese on the handover of the city defense of Macau and the coastal forts.Then he asked Zhang Jiayu to take out an agreement that had been drawn up, one in Chinese and one in Latin, with the title "Mingfo Trade Agreement".

Du Chen hurriedly took over the agreement and looked at it carefully. The first thing was to reiterate the "Sea Road Ban", such as prohibiting the Portuguese from buying and selling people, prohibiting the Portuguese from landing with weapons, prohibiting the Portuguese from building privately in Macau, prohibiting Portuguese smuggling, and so on.And the detailed punishment measures are attached at the back.

But the latter part made his eyes shine, "Nationals of both parties who signed the agreement are allowed to enter the ports designated by the other party to live, do business, and work. As long as they do not violate the law, the governments of both sides will not interfere."

"The governments of both sides should protect the lives and financial safety of the other's nationals, and must not affect their buying and selling behavior..."

In short, these articles basically guarantee that both parties can trade freely, and various rights are protected.

Du Chen and Castro couldn't help but look at each other, that is to say, they can freely trade with the merchants of the Ming Dynasty without being restrained by the Ming government?
This is what they have dreamed of for years!In the past, their trade with Ming Dynasty was strictly controlled in terms of price and quantity, so they had to carry out smuggling to make up for the trade gap.

And in the future they can finally buy as much as they want!Maybe after several years of operation, they may even surpass Helan and become the country with the largest trade volume in the Far East!
Du Chen continued to look back, but couldn't help frowning.I saw that the following items of the agreement are:

"Ships trading in Frangji in Daming, according to the type of goods they carry, need to pay a tariff of five to three cents to the customs of Daming. Ships trading in Frangji in Daming do not need to pay any taxes to Frangji. "The tax rate for specific goods is also attached.

"The citizens of Flangji commit crimes in Daming, and they need to be tried and punished by the Ming government. The citizens of Ming Dynasty commit crimes in Frangji, and the officials in charge of Daming in Flangji need to try and punish them according to the law, and the results will be reported to the Flangji government."

This is clearly an unequal treaty!
Du Chen whispered to Castro: "This is too unfair to us, absolutely not..."

"Your Excellency, I think this agreement is feasible." Castro hurriedly said, "First of all, we have the opportunity to trade freely with Ming Dynasty, which is simply too rare.

"In addition, think about it, does Ming Dynasty have merchant ships to trade in Flangji?"

Du Chen was taken aback, shook his head and said, "No."

"That's it," Castro said with a smug expression, "I know the character of the Orientals best, they are all good-looking. I dare say that those few unfair terms are just to make them feel good about themselves.

"They simply don't have the sailing ability to reach Franji, and the conditions that are 'favorable' to them are just decorations."

Du Chen lowered his head and pondered, and felt that what he said was reasonable, and after carefully studying the terms of the agreement, he felt that there were no other problems.Although he didn't understand why Daming suddenly agreed to free trade, this agreement should be very beneficial to Franz.

He quickly said to Zhu Lin: "Your Highness, we think this agreement is reasonable.

"Before that, I can sign a provisional agreement with you on behalf of Francois and implement it first. But it needs to be signed by His Majesty the King to take effect."

How did Du Chen know that the "unequal treaty" he advocated to sign would make the Daming ocean-going trade fleets that arrived in Portugal in batches earn astonishing profits.

(End of this chapter)