Back to the end of Ming Dynasty to be a warlord

Chapter 431 Joao Nassau
"Mr. Jones, welcome to Daming again!"

At Xinjiangkou Wharf, a huge ship was parked at the berth, and a group of people stepped down from it. It was the Dutch East India Company, and the leader was still Jones.

Jones smiled and said, "Thank you, Mr. Earl, for coming to welcome me personally."

Yang Chao didn't come here to welcome them, but happened to be inspecting the construction behind the pier.

"Mr. Jones, you are very lucky. If you can stay a few more days, the lord invites you to visit the lord's fort."

Jones immediately performed an aristocratic etiquette for Yang Chao.

He didn't care too much about Yang Chao's words, and said lightly: "Thank you so much, but please allow me to introduce a guest to you, Earl!"

After speaking, let Yang Chao see a middle-aged man wearing a typical Western aristocratic costume, a black velvet coat, white socks, a pair of wooden high-heeled shoes, and a woolen hat on his head , with a bright feather in the hat.

"This distinguished guest is the most prestigious Duke of Nassau in the Netherlands."

Nassau!

Yang Chao couldn't help being taken aback, he had certainly heard of this name after studying abroad, Nassau is a surname and a place name, a surname derived from a place name, a noble family.

And it is the most famous family in the Netherlands. According to the custom of the Ming Dynasty, the Nassau family is a famous family in the Netherlands.

The Netherlands became independent from Spain and was led by the Nassau family. The first and second Dutch rulers were both members of the Nassau family. The first ruler William I was even called the founding father of the Netherlands.

Therefore, Nassau is a Dutch wealthy family, and it is the first wealthy family.

Moreover, the Nassau family also inherited the title of Prince of Orange from France, and they are a famous family throughout Europe. Decades later, William III of the Nassau family will not only be in power in the Netherlands, but will also be called the British because of his wife. The king, and devoted his whole life to defeating Louis XIV, completely strangled the hegemony that France had just established, thus paving the way for the British hegemony.

The Nassau family is aristocratic, and the Nassau in front of him is a duke, which means that he is a high-level figure of the Nassau family.

"Nice to meet you, Duke of Nassau, welcome to Daming!"

Yang Chao smiled softly, looked into Nassau's eyes, and stretched out his hand.

Nassau didn't understand what he meant. Handshakes were not very popular in this era. He just took off his hat, his front legs were slightly bent, and his head was slightly lowered.

After Jones translated, Nassau nodded and said, "It's nice to meet you too, the Loyal Earl of Daming!"

Nassau speaks French. Although the 30-year war in the West has not yet ended, the Holy Roman Empire and Spain have obviously been crippled. France has become the new overlord. French has not yet become popular, but the Nassau family has He is a French nobleman, so he still knows French.

Yang Chao nodded, and said in French: "Duke of Nassau, in order to express my welcome, I have hosted a banquet to welcome you."

Westerners actually have welcome banquets, but obviously the food culture of Westerners is not very developed. Banquets are basically dances and receptions, and a large group of nobles will be entertained.

But now that you are in China, you have to follow the Chinese rules, eat and drink a lot, and don't do anything if you drink less.

Today's wharf is no longer what it was a few years ago. Not only are warehouses built on it, but there are also people running restaurants here.

Jinfeng Restaurant, opened by a Yangzhou native.

Yang Chao found the best private room, which is located on the second floor, with the window open to cover the area around the river mouth, and the front is where the Qinhua River and the Yangtze River meet.

The restaurants opened by Yangzhou people are naturally based on Yangzhou cuisine. The dishes are exquisite and varied, and they are served with fine porcelain.

Yang Chao could tell at a glance that the Duke of Nassau was a bit cautious, he didn't know how to use chopsticks, so Yang Chao had someone prepare a spoon for him, so be careful with the spoon, there is no fork.

Seeing the Duke of Nassau eating clumsily with a fork, and paying great attention to etiquette, he always secretly watched Yang Chao, how Yang Chao ate, he ate, obviously worried that he would be rude.

Thirty dishes in a row, eight soups, no duplicates at all, not even the same bowls and plates for serving dishes and soups, completely shocked Nassau.

China's food culture of thousands of years is not covered, but Yang Chao has not done much research on the Western food of this era. If he knows the menu of Louis XIV, which is famous for its luxury decades later, he will understand. Sao was shocked.

When Louis XIV entertained the most expensive guests, it was basically a menu like this, soup: three old marinated chickens, three partridges boiled cabbage soup, six pigeons' creamy soup, cockscomb pie soup; appetizers : marinated chicken and partridge; side dishes: [-] kilos of veal and side dishes, twelve pie pigeons; side dishes: six stewed chickens, two partridges, three baby partridges in sauce , six char-grilled pies, two roast turkeys, two truffled chicks; the main meal consisted of a roast and four flan, of which the roast consisted of: two marinated chickens, nine chicks, nine pigeons, two young pigeons, six partridges; dessert: two barrels of fruit, two dried jams, four candied fruits and jams...

Louis XIV can be said to be the founder and authority of Western etiquette culture, but his diet can basically be summarized in three types, poultry meat, beef and fruit salad, and the only methods are boiled, roasted and eaten raw.

And Yang Chao's Yangzhou cuisine in Nassau is fried, fried, roasted, fried, slipped, boiled, boiled, steamed, stewed, simmered, stewed, stewed, grilled, baked, stir-fried, fried, collapsed, marinated, sauced, etc. Mixing, cooking, marinating, freezing, soaking, drunk, grilled, smoked, everything is available, this is specially prepared.

Apparently Nassau, which was born before the era of Louis XIV, couldn’t even think of this, and Westerners actually pay attention to food culture, but they haven’t developed it yet, so nothing but meat is meat, plus fruit and jam, so simple and boring People sigh.

At the same time, it is obviously impossible to use so many fine porcelains for dinner in Nassau.

"Duke of Nassau, the hospitality is not good, the port is no better than Nanjing City, everything is a bit rough."

Yang Chao pretended to say.

Nassau nodded in thanks: "It's very, very rich."

Yang Chao said with a smile: "It's still a little rough. If there is a chance, please invite the Duke to sit at the Nanshi Building in Nanjing City."

Nassau hit the snake and climbed up the pole: "Your humble Joao Maurizio de Nassau, I am very willing to accept the invitation of the Earl of Loyalty."

Yang Chao paused, the Dutchman seemed to have wanted to go to Nanjing for a long time.

Haha smiled: "I am very happy to receive the Duke of Nassau."

Jones, who was eating a bellyful next to him, was delighted, and at the same time sighed, after all, this kind of old-fashioned aristocrat still has face. After all, they have come to China, and they are still popular and spicy. Nanjing City will enter as soon as it is said, and I have worked hard. For so long, there has never been such an opportunity before.

"However, before, the Lord formally invited the Duke of Nassau to visit the castle built by the Lord. I believe you will not be disappointed."

It's no wonder that Yang Chao couldn't wait to show off. The exchange he built in Xinjiangkou was finally completed, but that wasn't the main reason. The real reason was that the exchange was originally used to show off to the Dutch.

"my pleasure!"

Nassau accepted the invitation.

Settle Nassau party in the best inn on the pier.

In the evening, Yang Chao received a letter from Fujian.

It is about the background of this group of Dutchmen, especially which Joao Nassau is the key figure.

It's not that Yang Chao's intelligence network has been established in Fujian, but the news he got through Zheng.

As the only westerner who did business with Yang Chao, Yang Chao had to learn about the East India Company, so he had already greeted Mrs. Zheng and asked them to try their best to inform him about the East India Company.

The Zheng family is still keeping the promise, and has been sending information about the East India Company to Yang Chao. In fact, the Zheng family is also paying close attention to the East India Company's movements, but the focus is different. In the past, the Zheng family only paid attention to the East India Company. However, Yang Chao was concerned about the operation of the East India Company.

The superstition sent by Mrs. Zheng briefly introduced the background of this Nassau.

There is no doubt that this is a real nobleman, and his identity has not been faked.

And this is a very strange nobleman.

He is said to be weird because, as a nobleman, he owns tens of millions of wealth, and his family has a lot of stocks in East and West Indian companies. The Indian company worked for seven years and did not return to the Netherlands until the 17th year of Chongzhen (1644).

Brazil is an overseas colony of Portugal, but Spain has annexed Portugal since 1580 AD, and Brazil has become a colony of the Spanish Empire. The Netherlands is also a territory of Spain. Its independence from Spain has not been recognized by Spain, so The two countries have been at war.

In this case, the Dutch had a legal reason to attack Brazil, so from 1620, they captured Recife in the northeast of Brazil.

Like the East India Company, the Dutch privilege to run the Americas belonged to an organization called the West India Company, and it was this company's army that occupied northeastern Brazil.

It’s just that the West India Company’s management of the northeastern part of Brazil has always been very unsatisfactory, and the income has not been able to expand, so they sent this Joao Nassau to be the governor of Recife to manage the Pernambuco colony where Recife is located.

Where is Nassau's business is very effective, building water conservancy facilities, buying black slaves from Africa to develop sugar cane plantations, which have contributed to the local economic development, but the West India Company is eager to make profits, and has taken measures to increase taxes and recover debts owed by sugar factories , Squeeze and expand sugar production through forced labor, all of which are not in line with Nassau's philosophy, so he resigned.

I only returned to the Netherlands three years ago, and this time I came to Daming.

What really interests Yang Chao is that it is said that Nassau came to Daming this time, and was sent by the Dutch East India Company to negotiate with Yang Chao on behalf of the East India Company. They intend to use all means to expand trade with Daming scale.

(End of this chapter)