Daming Yinghua

Chapter 402 I won’t tell you

As soon as business was mentioned, Gullit immediately put away his sly expression and signaled his entourage to open the suitcase in the corner, take out a large paper bag and put it on the table.

In this era, except for precious letter paper, most of the papers in Europe were rough brown paper, which was not comparable to the products of the Ming Dynasty.

But Zheng Haizhu only pays attention to the contents of the inferior paper bag.

Ivory white solid, exuding a very light fishy odor.

"Is this a mixture of fat and oil? So it won't melt at this time of year. Where is the purified oil?" Zheng Haizhu asked.

Gullit waved his hand, and the attendant quickly brought over a tin can.

After opening the lid, there is no smell.

"Click it." Zheng Haizhu said to Zheng Zhilong.

The latter brought over the two oil lamp stands prepared by the postman and put solid grease and liquid oil in them respectively. After lighting them, he took them to the natural light in the yard, observed them carefully, and smelled them closer.

Gulit looked at Zheng Zhilong's back, raised his eyebrows and said to Zheng Haizhu: "My goddess, don't worry, what I brought you is the best whale oil."

Zheng Haizhu didn't take his advice and said calmly: "It's not the brain of a sperm whale. It's just ordinary fish oil. It doesn't matter whether it's good or bad. As long as you don't mix any messy things into it to deceive us, it can use."

Gullit's red beard trembled, and his accent became exaggerated: "How can it be ordinary fish oil? This is a whale, madam!"

"Okay Gulit, I have been switching to the Ming Dynasty for several years, and I am not the only one who knows you. You Europeans have a saying that there are as many whales in the ocean as there are bees around you. When you hold a banquet in Amsterdam, click on Isn’t it all whale oil?”

The women of the Ming Dynasty and the men of the Netherlands, as if they did not remember the past of seducing, trapping, tugging, and suppressing each other during the Ming Dynasty naval war, returned to the essence of businessmen and began to pave the way for bargaining.

After a while, Zheng Zhilong came in and said to Zheng Haizhu in Minnan dialect: "It's okay, it's better than the Japanese goods."

Zheng Haizhu leaned back in his chair and directly stated the commercial terms to the Dutch: "Fats and oils will be exchanged for Chinese sugar at a ratio of 2 to 1 by weight; refined oils will be exchanged for Chinese sugar at a ratio of 1 to 1 by volume. One liter of whale oil from Europe is equivalent to a little over 10 kilograms of our Ming Dynasty oil."

When Gulit heard this, he knew that no matter how cunning the woman opposite was, she was sincere in negotiating a deal at this moment.

But now in Europe, the British, who are rapidly rising in the Atlantic, are hungry for cane sugar. Of course, the Dutch East India Company must get more sugar back in order to make a lot of money.

Luzon and America were occupied by the Spanish. Sugar cane grew well in the Indonesian archipelago where the company's headquarters, Batavia, was located, but the sugar refining technology of the local natives was not comparable to that of the ingenious Ming Dynasty people. Sugar from the Ming Dynasty was very popular in several European countries.

Gullit reacted in surprise: "What? Madam, the price you paid is the price for butter, right? This is whale oil! Look, after lighting the lamp, there is no black smoke and it burns very slowly. The world There is no better baby than this.”

Zheng Haizhu did not refute immediately, but changed the subject: "By the way, the Tokugawa shogunate, has it not happened with the Portuguese a long time ago? In several ports, only your Dutch ships are allowed to dock?"

Gullit was stunned, but what the woman named Zheng said was the truth, a fact that made the Dutch complacent. Gullit did not feel the need to hide it and nodded: "Yes, your neighbor on the sea from the Ming Dynasty is not You're so stingy." "How much did they pay you for the whale oil?"

"They hunt their own whales." As soon as Gulit said this, he felt something was wrong.

Zheng Haizhu looked at the red-bearded "gentleman" with a smile: "Yes, I can also ask the Japanese to buy whale oil."

Gulit was still struggling: "When you were the predecessor of this emperor's predecessor, you cut off sea trade with the Japanese. Buying them smuggling will only make it more expensive."

Zheng Haizhu smiled wider: "Gulit, you already said you were your predecessor. Your predecessors are all dead, so what's the use? Your previous masters in the Netherlands were Spanish, and now you still pay taxes for them Really? I’m not bragging, I’ve already persuaded our current emperor to resume maritime trade with the Japanese.”

Zheng Zhilong folded his arms and said impatiently in Mandarin: "What nonsense are you talking to Hongmao? Why do you give this slick guy a chance? Are you attracted to him or something? If you want whale oil, just ask my father-in-law's house to buy it. That's it. "

Father-in-law... As a China expert, Gulit first understood the relationships between various characters in Chinese. Of course he understood what "father-in-law" meant.

No wonder this young Ming man wears an expensive Japanese sword and is so arrogant.

Zheng Haizhu also stopped smiling and said to Gulit: "That's it. I hate wasting time the most. What I pay is the real price."

Gulit twisted the corner of his mouth, tapped his furry fingers on the table for a moment, and murmured: "Mrs. Zheng, to be honest, you have taken a lot of money from your general Yan's command flag over the years, right? ? That was also given to you by our Dutch ship."

Zheng Haizhu said coldly: "Gulit, that should be regarded as the leeway I persuaded our governor to give you the Netherlands, right? In Xiamen that year, if our Ming Dynasty really overturned the negotiation table, you as the So what if you are a defeated country? If you are still profitable these years, it would be great if you can honestly pay our Ming Dynasty flag money and not ask your East India Company for salary."

Gurlitt choked.

This woman's brains and aura were beyond the control of a smart and experienced senior consultant like him.

Zheng Haizhu on the other side suddenly sighed again and softened his tone: "How about this, Gullit, I will sign another wine contract with you? In addition, in Xiangshan Bay, Guangdong Prefecture, I can try to persuade our emperor and cabinet members to open a port for you Dutch people. If the Portuguese are arrogant, you can use your heavy matchlock guns to teach them a lesson."

Gullit studied the cunning in the woman's eyes.

I heard that this woman had hired Frankie gunners for her country's army, but now she made no secret of her intention to use the Dutch to balance the Frankies.

She is a person who is too lazy to talk in circles, unlike most of the sluggish officials in this Eastern Empire.

Gullit finally made a gesture of surrender: "Then let's sign the contract."

He couldn't help but ask: "Mrs. Zheng, are you trying to do some magic when you buy our whale oil?"

"Light up the lamps," Zheng Haizhu said to the two lampstands burning quietly in the yard, "didn't you say so? Whale oil is the best for lighting lamps."