Kangxi, your Qing Dynasty is dead

Chapter 343 We cheat, we steal, we are heinous! (Seeking a monthly pass, asking for a subscription)
In May of the third year of the Ming Dynasty, Guangfu, Macao.

This port city once belonged to the Portuguese is still full of the crowded, noisy and dynamic place where the East and West cultures meet.

People of all skin colors are thronging everywhere, Western sailors in dirty shirts, often drunk and rampaging in the streets.Caucasian or mixed-race Macau locals, dressed in Chinese-style clothing, are busy with their own livelihoods.The landowners and gentry who moved from the coastal counties of Canton Prefecture were all crying for the land when they came here, as if they had been wronged by the sky, and now most of them are charterers, supplying them with the land of the expanded Macau City in Canton Prefecture. There are buildings or shops built on it, which are rented out to foreign visitors who come to Macau to do business or work.And they themselves either gathered in small groups in teahouses to talk loudly, or enrolled in the most common new-style academies in Macao for "teaching classes" to make up for new imperial examinations such as "New Confucianism", "Law", and "Accounting" The knowledge to be tested - they have all bought the status of national scholars now, and they can go to the test to become an official!
In the center of Macau near Haojiang, there is one of the most open and luxurious avenues. Because there is an official office of the Minister of Nanyang at the end of the avenue, it is named Nanyang Avenue.The streets are full of luxurious and decent buildings, some of which are surrounded on all sides with a large courtyard in the middle (very common in Chaoshan and southern Fujian), and some of which are stacked on top of each other. Chinese-style buildings, but the most eye-catching ones are several Western-style buildings lined up in a row. There are tall flagpoles outside these buildings, and various flags are hung on the flagpoles, including the Red Cross of England. flag and the red cross and red stripes flag of the British East India Company, the golden fleur-de-lis flag on a white background of the Kingdom of France, the red, white and blue tricolor flag of the United Provinces of the Netherlands (Netherlands), and the red cross on a white background of the Kingdom of Spain Cross flags, and even Portugal's crown and shield flag.These western-style buildings are the commercial offices and consulates of several domineering sea power countries in the world today.

Although the Qing Dynasty forcibly took back Macau, the Portuguese were crying and begging for help everywhere in Europe, but no one paid attention to this former world empire that had long since lost its former glory. Anyway, the Portuguese overseas bases were occupied by local princes. It's not the first time either.

Moreover, during this period of time, the Franco-Dutch war in Europe is in full swing. France, England, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Germany (several German states plus Shinra), Denmark, etc., all European countries that are on the table They were all involved, and they were beaten so badly that no one had the time to help Portugal bully the Qing Dynasty.Not only did no one assist Portugal, but even England, France, the Netherlands, and Spain, several maritime powers, went to Macao to open commercial offices and consulates, with the intention of seizing the East Asian market.Later, the Portuguese knew that Daming had recovered, and Macau had become the domain of Ming, so they came back to do business holding their noses.
However, these Western businessmen are not well-behaved businessmen. They are adventurers at best, and robbers, thieves, and fraudsters at worst!In their eyes, a rich oriental country like Daming is the next target for robbery, fraud, and theft!

Although the military power of this Ming Dynasty seems to be very strong, and it has also implemented a damn or very progressive (for whom) "Republic of China". part, or even just a small part.And it is in the middle of a civil war of unprecedented scale!Once it fails, the consequences will be disastrous.

And this civil war gave the colonists of England, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal and other countries the opportunity to defraud, steal, rob, and grab colonial benefits.

They have done this kind of thing in India, in Southeast Asia, and in the New World, and they have already done it countless times, and they are already familiar with it.

Of course, the strength of Ming Dynasty is not comparable to those of India, Nanyang native states, and the natives of the New World, so these Western colonists must deal with it carefully, and they must communicate with each other. Even if their mother country is fighting in Europe, they are on the Chinese side You must also maintain harmony, collude with each other, and plot evil together.

Because the strength of the Dutch East India Company in the East is the strongest, and its commercial building in Macau also occupies the largest area, occupying a piece of land with a radius of more than one li, and built several very beautiful buildings.Therefore, the consuls and commercial embassy managers of England, France, Spain, Portugal and other countries meet every week in the Dutch embassy to coordinate policies towards China.

In a very luxuriously decorated conference room, Thor Brouwer, the consul and chief commercial commissioner of the Dutch East India Company in Macau, a man in his 30s, always wearing exquisite and gorgeous clothes, with an elegant smile on his face Corrupt and profiteers are hosting a routine meeting of consuls from five countries at this time.

"Gentlemen," Brouwer can speak fluent French, which is also the common language at the meeting of the consuls of the five countries, "I will first report some news that our Dutch East India Company has just received. The rumor of the conqueror has been confirmed. Mr. Cai, the co-organizer of the Ming Dynasty, personally confirmed it!"

The Mr. Cai he was talking about was Cai Yurong who had just taken office.Cai Yurong's co-organizing minister was originally an idle job, but because the real minister Li Zhongzhen went to Zhaoqing to defend Sun Jiqing, so he, the co-organizing minister, could only come to Macau to handle errands.

But Cai Yurong didn't know about Geng Jingzhong's recovery of Ryukyu, but a foreign devil envoy came to ask about such things, how could he say "Ryukyu is not in the imperial court's hands"?It's not his first day as an official.

"Mr. Brouwer, did Minister Cai of Ming Dynasty say whether Ming and Japan are at war? Also, did Minister Cai say that General Zhengdong of Ming Dynasty stationed in Ryukyu was a vassal of the Ming court or an official directly under the Central Government?" asked the question. It was Gonzalez, the consul of New Spain in Macau—he was not sent directly by the Kingdom of Spain, but from the Governor's Palace of New Spain.

These days, because the means of transportation and communication are relatively primitive, the rules of this "distance diplomacy" are quite different from those of later generations.The position of consul is not necessarily sent by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it can also be recommended by the colonial governor's office, or even by a businessman operating in a certain country
Brouwer glanced at the elderly former Madrid street walker and thought: You Spaniards must be playing tricks again!Do you want to grab our company's business share in Japan by provoking a conflict between Daming and Japan?

Thinking of this, he said vaguely: "Of course General Zhengdong was sent by the Ming court. Minister Cai didn't say whether he was a vassal, but the possibility is relatively high. After all, the Ming court just eliminated the Great Jing Kingdom and recovered Zhejiang. It is also normal to accept the refuge of some Dajing army leaders during this process. As for Daming and Japan, they are not yet at war."

The Spanish consul nodded, and seemed to have received a satisfactory answer.

Thor Brouwer went on to say: "In addition, the Guangxi rebel General Sun has now been canonized by the Emperor of the Great Zhou, and has become the General of Guangxi of the Great Zhou Kingdom. In addition, the younger brother of the Emperor of the Great Zhou, a The prestigious prince has recently been appointed as the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, and is about to go to Guangxi. His representatives are likely to contact you in the near future to purchase weapons and ammunition. I hope that you will treat this matter with caution, so as not to bring trouble to all of us. unnecessary trouble!"

In fact, the envoys of Wu Sanwei and Sun Jiqing have already arrived in Macau and found the Dutch East India Company. They came to purchase flintlock guns from Westerners!
And the Dutch East India Company didn't want the deal to succeed.
Johns, the consul of the British East India Company, took over the topic and said slowly: "Mr. Brouwer, the ongoing war. I mean the ongoing war in East Asia. It may last for many years, or it may be in a short period of time. At the end of the civil war, China will be reunified again, which will be a huge empire with a population of more than 1 million, or even a republic! She has now given up the 300-year-old closed-door policy and has begun to actively expand her interests overseas. They have forced Annan The Nguyen regime handed over the Hoi An port, and sent troops and prisons to North Korea by sea, and now they have included Ryukyu! As far as I know, they also plan to lease a port at the entrance of the Strait of Malacca from the Dutch East India Company. In this case, the construction of a trading port on an island that does not belong to the Dutch East India Company, can I think that the Netherlands is ready to join the Ming Dynasty in this war?"

This British intelligence capability is still very strong!

The Dutch East India Company really wants to stand up to Ming Dynasty. This is because the corrupt corporate governance of the Dutch East India Company caused losses to the company in the past 1675, and it will probably lose money this year!
This road toll and overseas zero-yuan purchases are also due to the capitalist spirit of the Dutch people!
The reason why the Dutch East India Company lost money was actually corruption!

There are no good people in this company, and it is impossible for a good businessman to travel tens of thousands of miles to deceive, steal, and rob!And the 17-member committee as far away as Amsterdam cannot effectively monitor the company's behavior in the East.As a result, the corruption within the company has become more and more serious, fewer and fewer people are willing to work, and more and more people want to share money.

In addition, the Dutch East India Company also has a huge employee team, with as many as 11000 employees in Southeast Asia and East Asia alone, 70.00% of whom are military employees.

This in turn creates a huge overhead for the company!

Although there are so many employees, after the company has occupied the "toll booths" in Java, Malacca, etc., the interest in entering the coast of East Asia for trade has become less and less. Isn't he good at lying down and charging?

Therefore, the top executives of the East India Company are most interested in doing the toll station business at the mouth of Malacca. They tend to agree with Daming's request to rent an island near the Strait of Malacca to establish a trading port!

In the future, if a trade pattern can be established in which Chinese sailing ships manage the coast of East Asia to Malacca, and Western sailing ships manage Malacca to Europe, wouldn't the Dutch East India Company be able to lie down and make money?

Moreover, the Dutch East India Company can also get a "lease land" in Macau. In exchange for them selling a small island near Malacca, this is very fair!
The British, of course, are firmly opposed to this!
As soon as the British consul's words came out, the Portuguese consul Lopez, a dark-skinned Portuguese nobleman who looked a bit like an Arab, immediately said vigilantly: "Mr. Behavior!"

The Qing Dynasty robbed Macau of Portugal, and the officials of the Qing Dynasty who carried out this operation have now become the generals of the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, the Portuguese regard both the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty as the same threat!

If you must stand in line, then Portugal must stand in line with the United Kingdom. Whoever the United Kingdom supports, Portugal will support!
After all, Britain has become a staunch supporter of the Portuguese independence movement as early as after Portugal was annexed by Spain, until now!

This is a century-old friendship and a century-old benefactor!
"The Kingdom of France is also opposed to interfering in the Chinese civil war. We should not take any action!" Albert, the senior commercial commissioner of the French East India Company, also raised objections.

He opposed the Netherlands not because France was attacking the Netherlands, but because Louis XIV hated the republic of Ming Dynasty. Louis XIV said "I am the country", and he wanted to establish an absolute monarchy!

The Ming Republic advocated that "the world is the master and the guest" - this is the "absolute world system", that is, to make the "country" absolute, and to deny that the monarch is the country.

This system is actually the "evolution" of the absolute monarchy advocated by Louis XIV. After the country is made absolute, a modern nation-state can be constructed.

But how could Louis XIV have endorsed such a claim?this is too scary!

In France, there are many "fans of Chinese culture". They can understand the "absolute monarchy", and of course they can understand the "absolute world system" more easily!
So Louis XIV is now ready to support Wu Sangui, because Wu Sangui is an absolute monarch!

For this reason, he also sent a Jesuit mission headed by Hong Ruohan to China, preparing to teach Wu Sangui the advanced military technology of the West. This Hong Ruohan has now led people through Guangdong controlled by Ming Dynasty, and walked into Hunan controlled by Da Zhou , should be able to see Wu Sangui soon.

Brouwer glanced at that "absolute monarchy" supporter in disgust. He is a republican himself, so of course he thinks that Ming's republic is right!In the past few years, he has sent Daming's progressive books to Europe!

But in China, he is still a heinous Western colonist first, he must first protect the collective interests of the colonists, and absolutely avoid the situation where Ming Dynasty dominates the world unless Ming Dynasty is willing to give more benefits to the Netherlands!

Thinking of this, he nodded and said, "We still have to adhere to the principle of unanimity. Since everyone opposes interference, let's continue to remain neutral!"

After announcing their neutrality, today's meeting is over, and the few foreign devils who remained consistent went back to the representatives of the Chinese warlords they had contacted to discuss how to conduct transactions in secret.

Among them, Brouwer went to Cai Yurong's yamen after leaving the back door. He and Cai Yurong still had a big private business deal to discuss!
This Cai Yurong seemed to be very rich, and wanted to trade spices for porcelain and silk with the Dutch East India Company.

But Brouwer does want to make the deal a private-to-private affair...

The consuls or commercial commissioners of France, the United Kingdom, and Portugal went to the British business house together, secretly discussing how to support Wu Sangui and oppose the Ming Dynasty.

Gonzales of Spain returned to his consulate, where there were two guests from Ryukyu!
Geng Jingzhong sent Yu Renying and Tiaosuo Qingjiu to contact the Spaniards in Macau. These two were nominally here to buy arms from the Spaniards, and they also brought a large deposit—all stolen from Hangzhou. Fine silk!

Gonzalez had doubts about the identity of this Ryukyu Geng Dongzheng before, but the silk given by the other party looked very good, and it would definitely fetch a lot of money when shipped back to Europe.So he wanted to close the deal!Now Brouwer in the Netherlands has endorsed Geng Dongzheng's identity again, so it shouldn't be a big problem.

As for the possible war between Ming and Japan, it is obviously good for Spain, among other things, it can at least improve the cold relationship between Spain and Japan due to religious conflicts.

Because Ming and the Netherlands are obviously very close, and Britain, France, and Portugal are unable to intervene in the conflict between Japan and Ming, the only one who can help Japan is Spain
(End of this chapter)