Back to the end of Ming Dynasty to be a warlord

Chapter 354 The Dutch

"We still need to talk to Mrs. Zheng!"

After hearing what Zhang Dawei said, Yang Chao couldn't help but frowned and sighed.

Zhang Dawei said that he often encountered smuggling boats, and they immediately detained the small boats, confiscated the goods on them, and sent people to the prison just set up by the Municipal Shipbuilding Department.

But recently, they ran into a few large ships and let them escape several times. Zhang Dawei set up an ambush and finally surrounded a large ship. It hit and sank three ships.

The biggest ship with big masts is a two-masted ship, but the thief ship turned out to be a big three-masted ship.

Yang Chao does not have such a ship, the Zheng family has quite a few, and the smugglers also have them. If these huge ships cannot be deterred, they may not be able to control the sea trade at all, let alone the Zheng family, even those wealthy families will not Yang Chao took it seriously.

It’s not that Yang Chao doesn’t want a big ship. Zheng’s largest big ship is two to three thousand tons at best, and it will be the smallest ship in later generations. Let alone sailing in Nanjing, even going directly to Sichuan question.

Therefore, there is no problem with sea-going ships on the Yangtze River. The problem is that Longjiang Shipyard has not manufactured sea-going ships for decades. It can even be said that after the Zheng He era, Nanjing lost its experience in building sea-going ships over [-] tons.

Immediately send someone to inform Zheng Hongkui that he wants to talk to him.

Zheng Hongkui is no longer in Nanjing. As early as when King Fu was in charge of the country, Zheng Hongkui, or the Zheng family, found him a very suitable position, the Chief Soldier of Zhenjiang.

The plan of the Zheng family is clear at a glance. Zhenjiang controls the canal from Suzhou to the Yangtze River. Zheng Hongkui occupies this place, which is of great benefit to the Zheng family in charge of freight. If Yang Chao is still unable to control the Yangtze River route as before, it has to be said that the Zheng family can Own the source of goods.

However, although Yang Chao could not control the route, he had gained the power of the Shibo Division. Unless the Zheng family could compete with the entire court, they would still not be able to control their own destiny.

Unable to contact Zheng Hongkui for a while, Yang Chao could only equip Zhang Dawei with more warships and newly cast cannons, while contacting Longjiang Shipyard, hoping that they could make a breakthrough and try to build a larger ship. boat.

However, Yao Jiangtou's reply made Yang Chao very disappointed. Yao Jiangtou said that larger ships could be built, but inexperienced craftsmen might not be able to build them within a year. If they had to wait for a year, Yang Chao would accept no.

Three days later, Zheng Hongkui finally arrived in Nanjing.

And also brought a few guests.

"Recommended by the official, this is my nephew Zheng Sen!"

At the banquet, Zheng Hongkui introduced his guests to Yang Chao.

Yang Chao was looking at another strange guest at this time, when he heard Zheng Sen, he couldn't help but pause.

"Zheng Sen?"

Zheng Hongkui smiled and said, "That's right, he is the son of my brother. He is currently studying under Qian Muzhai."

Yang Chao immediately understood that Zheng Sen, the son of Zheng Zhilong, is not the famous Zheng Chenggong.

However, the name Zheng Chenggong was bestowed by King Tang. At that time, King Tang was supported by Zheng Zhilong and ascended the throne in Fujian. However, King Tang was just an ordinary vassal living in Nanjing at this time. He probably didn’t think he would be emperor in his heart.

Yang Chao couldn't help but take a second look. Zheng Chenggong really wanted what later generations would say, he was a handsome man with a fair complexion, not at all like the Zheng family's skin that was scorched yellow by the sea.

Zheng Zhilong is also unavoidable. He has worked hard all his life in the sea. For his son, he really tried his best to train him to be a scribe, hoping to be able to become an official through the imperial examination.

Yang Chao looked at Zheng Sen a little uncomfortable.

Then he said: "Sure enough, the tiger father has no dogs! I think that Mr. Zheng has a noble face, and it will be no problem to be named a marquis in the future!"

Although he thought it was a flattery, Zheng Hongkui laughed heartily: "Your Excellency Yang praised you absurdly."

Zheng Sen was also excited. Being praised by someone like Yang Chao was very rewarding to him, and his temperament was a little overjoyed.

"Then this one?"

Knowing Zheng Chenggong, Yang Chao couldn't help but focus on another guest again, because this guest was so special, so special that Yang Chao had to suppress his attention to celebrities like Zheng Chenggong, because this was a Huang Chenggong. Hairy foreigners.

"This is the envoy of the Dutch East India Company, Your Excellency Jones!"

An emissary from the Dutch East India Company?Yang Chao couldn't help being taken aback. Yang Chao originally guessed that this might be a missionary.

The Dutch East India Company had only one purpose in looking for him, and that was for trade. If it was through other channels, Yang Chao would have guessed it immediately, but Zheng Hongkui introduced him, which made Yang Chao dare not guess. .

Why would the Zheng family recommend the Dutchman to themselves?This is unreasonable!Logically speaking, the Zheng family and the Dutch were competitors. If the Dutch were to do business with him, what would happen to the Zheng family?You must know that the Dutch imported silk and porcelain from China, basically they got the goods from the Zheng family, otherwise they would not be able to trade at all.

Let the Dutch contact him directly, wouldn't the Zheng family have to give up a large amount of profits.

While Yang Chao was contemplating, Jones politely left the table, stood aside and bowed to Yang Chao.

"Under Jones, on behalf of the directors of the Dutch East India Company, I would like to extend my deepest respect to Your Excellency Uncle Zhongyi of the Ming Dynasty!"

Unexpectedly, this Dutchman can speak Chinese. Although he has a slight Cantonese accent, he can barely understand Mandarin when he hears it.

Yang Chao also stood up, and gently returned the salute: "On behalf of the Ming Dynasty, I welcome your arrival."

Jones was a little surprised by Yang Chao's demeanor, because he rarely received such courtesy from Daming people, and he felt that Yang Chao's demeanor had a western aristocratic demeanor, which made him, a guy from a commoner background, feel involuntarily. Some inferiority complex.

Yang Chao did intentionally reveal some western etiquette he learned when he was studying abroad in his previous life, but unexpectedly, it had an unexpected effect.

After Jones sat down again, he couldn't wait to ask: "I heard that His Excellency the Earl is currently at the Daming Customs?"

Sure enough, they came here for sea trade. As sea coachmen, the Dutch fight trade with a religious spirit.

Yang Chao nodded: "My emperor has entrusted the Department of Shipbuilding to my lord, and my lord is indeed taking care of the customs."

Jones couldn't help being overjoyed: "I don't know how the Earl thinks about maritime trade?"

Yang Chao said with a smile: "Naturally, businessmen are welcome, including foreign businessmen like Mr. Jones."

Jones has been pleasantly surprised: "That's really nice!"

He couldn't help but lose his composure. It is too difficult to do business with a country like the Ming Dynasty. The Dutch can only hope in their dreams. Although there are supplies from the Zheng family and some merchants from the Ming Dynasty, the Dutch always feel that They were constrained, because whether it was the Zheng family or other maritime merchants, they dismissed their Dutch goods and could not directly export the goods to Daming, and the Dutch could not spend enough silver to purchase goods from Daming. interests are deeply affected.

The Dutch never believed that Ming Dynasty did not need Dutch goods. In their view, the whole world needed Dutch goods.

(End of this chapter)