I'm really not doing business

Chapter 801: Song of the Traveler, Peace of the Resident, Coconut Sea City
Felipe believes that the West needs unprecedented unity in order to resist the awakening of the ancient Eastern civilization and to effectively protect the interests of the entire West.

He sent a large number of envoys to communicate with major Western countries, including Russia, Poland, the Hanseatic League, the three Baltic countries, France, etc., trying to establish a huge Western commercial alliance.

Fight against the dumping of Ming Dynasty goods in the West, protect the Western handicraft workshop industry, and protect the ownership of overseas colonies.

What is more interesting is that the plan of this business alliance even includes the Kingdom of Russia, but not England.

In Felipe's eyes, uniting the entire Western continent, giving concessions to all parties, and being unwilling to give up interests to the English is the consensus of Western countries.

Without the English stirring up trouble, how could Thailand and the West be in such a mess?

The main reason why Felipe was willing to give up his interests and unite the West was to safeguard Spain's core interests and the transcendent status of the British Empire so that it would not be replaced by the Ming Dynasty.

The Ming Dynasty opened up the sea with a surging tide and a fierce momentum, which was too powerful.

But in the eyes of most people in the West, that is to protect the interests of the West? ! It is to protect the interests of you Spaniards!
Why do you, Felipe, as the leader of Tessi, make such a plan!
Zhu Yijun knew very well that it would be difficult for this huge business alliance to succeed, but things are unpredictable. Once more Ming Dynasty goods enter the West, will these countries whose interests are damaged unite because the Eastern Lion has invaded their territory?

This is an issue that the Ming Dynasty court must consider, so it is far from enough for just one Englishman to act as a troublemaker.

Tessie still isn't messy enough.

"Did the Netherlands send any envoys this year?" Zhu Yijun asked Feng Bao about the specific situation of the envoys from the West.

"They still sent two envoys, one from the Southern Alliance, the Alaska Alliance (Belgium), a golden-haired foreigner named Thomas Deville, and the other from the Northern Alliance, the Utrecht Alliance (Netherlands), a red-haired foreigner named Ian Malen." Feng Bao briefly introduced the situation of the two envoys.

The Netherlands is divided into two regions, north and south. The situation is very complicated, even they themselves cannot explain it clearly. The specific situation of the north and south can only be simply summarized.

The South is a capitulationist party, represented mainly by the old aristocracy, and has very close contact with Spain. If the Inquisition had not gone too far, the South would not have recognized independence. Until now, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia still recognizes Felipe as the supreme monarch.

The North was composed of the diehards, and the "Act of Abjuration" was their common program. The Act of Abjuration was a vow to get rid of the brutal rule of Spain, and a preliminary representative administrative system was established, with administrative agencies and officials such as Congress, members of parliament, and chief executives.

The independence of the Netherlands was a bourgeois revolution, which actually referred specifically to the diehards in the north. They would not accept any compromise and must be independent, and had to face the joint suppression of the local old nobles and the foreign god Spain.

"Let's bring Ain Malen here for a private audience." Zhu Yijun made a decision.

Zhang Juzheng had already had in-depth exchanges of views with the Ming Emperor on the cabinet's opinions.

What the cabinet meant was that it did not want to see a united Europe and the West, and would never allow the emergence of a large European and Western business alliance or economic community that would allow them to form a synergy in business and affect free trade.

Zhu Yijun ordered a meeting with Ainmaren, and the cabinet would not object.

When necessary, the Ming Dynasty could sell some goods to the Northern Alliance, such as the salt, firearms, gunpowder, five-masted ocean-going ships, and three-masted frigates that they urgently needed, so as to get rid of their economic and military dependence on the Spaniards.

As long as Felipe could not completely recover the Netherlands, his reputation would not rise to the level of the leader of Tessa, because Felipe, a powerful king, had bankrupted the country twice and was already somewhat notorious.

"Greetings to Your Majesty. Long live Your Majesty. Long live Your Majesty." Ainmaren was very respectful. He had been to Ming Dynasty many times.

He knew very well that the king before him stood at the pinnacle of human power.

Even though there is no substantial exchange of interests, the Northern Alliance still sends envoys every year to maintain basic friendship. Even if they cannot be treated as friendly countries, they cannot become enemies.

"No need to be polite, sit down and talk." Zhu Yijun said kindly, "How did you come to Ming Dynasty? I heard that Felipe blocked your fleet, but you still boarded the ship to Ming Dynasty."

When Ian Mullen was thirteen years old, he changed from a miller's son to a pirate, and then began his tough life. When he was thirteen years old, still a child, he was forced to become a pirate.

If we judge from the perspective of good and evil, the independence of the Netherlands is just, and Felipe's rule there is indeed inhumane.

But the Ming Dynasty had to consider its own interests. Because of Spain's friendly treatment, the Ming Dynasty did not have much contact with the Northern Alliance.

Ian's identity is rather complicated. He is a member of the Northern Alliance, a captain, a pirate, and the son of a miller.

Ainmaren quickly replied: "Your Majesty, His Royal Highness Antonio needs to distribute the goods of the Ming Dynasty in Lisbon, so the Dutch fleet can arrive in Lisbon smoothly. This may also be Felipe's purpose in planning Portugal."

"Your Majesty, the goods from the Ming Dynasty have allowed the Western world to gain some freedom from the heavy pressure of religion."

Zhu Yijun understood and continued to ask: "Has Felipe not cancelled the bounty on your head? I heard that your head is worth five thousand taels of gold."

Ainmaren said proudly: "Your Majesty, who is well-informed and knowledgeable, my reward has increased from 50,000 florins to 100,000, which is 10,000 taels of gold! This is an honor!"

"Two years ago, I led the army to defeat the Spanish phalanx again, which made His Highness Felipe lose face. In anger, he increased my reward."

Zhu Yijun nodded repeatedly. He hadn't seen them for a few years and the price had even increased. He said with a little emotion: "That's really amazing. I have heard of the Spanish phalanx's reputation for being invincible, but now it seems that the Spanish phalanx is not invincible either."

Ainmaren thought for a while and said, "There is no invincible army in the world. The Spanish Phalanx was once invincible until people found a way to defeat it. The Spanish Armada was also invincible, but now several attacks have ended in defeat."

"Wise prophet, just as you said in "On Contradiction", everything in the world is changing all the time. Whether it is a person or a country, if they cannot keep up with the changes, they will be eliminated by the changes."

“Even as powerful as Spain, where the sun never sets, the sun will set one day.”

The title of Ain Malen changed a little bit, from His Majesty to Prophet, and his identity when he said these words changed from a messenger to a believer, a believer of the Great Light Church.

"Oh? Your Excellency actually also studies the theory of contradiction?" Zhu Yijun asked with a little surprise.

"I am a general believer of the Great Light Church. The prophet is not particularly concerned about the Great Light Church. The Great Light Church does not require baptism. As long as you consider yourself a believer of the Great Light Church, you can walk in the world as a believer." Ain Malen explained why he is a believer.

The Great Light Church does not require any baptism ceremony. As long as you think you are one, then you are one. If you suddenly disagree with this narrative, you can always think that you are not one, then you are not one. This is the freedom advocated by the Great Light Church.

What you choose is faith. What others force upon you is not faith but shackles.

"So that's how it is. I didn't know that one didn't need to be baptized to become a believer." Zhu Yijun looked at Ainmaren in surprise. He actually saw the advancement of the Great Light Church. This thing can come and go freely.

"Whether the prophet knows it or not does not affect the believers to live their lives according to the prophet's wisdom." Ain Malen believes this is reasonable.

It is very important that the Catholic Church in Europe is God’s servant, not God’s will on earth.

Because in this way, the prophet himself, the embodiment of wisdom, would not be able to and would not be convenient to directly interfere in religious affairs.

In fact, this phenomenon is extremely common. For example, Confucius himself did not understand "The Teachings of the Sage" as well as Confucian scholars; Shakespeare did not understand "Hamlet" better than his readers.

The emperor created the doctrines of the Great Light Church, but he is not responsible for how the Great Light Church develops.

Zhu Yijun pondered over what Ainmaren said, then smiled and said, "Well, let's talk about serious matters, such as trade. What can the Northern Alliance provide to the Ming Dynasty? What does the Northern Alliance need?"

Ainmaren said helplessly: "The Northern Alliance is in urgent need of salt. Felipe II bribed the traitors and found out about our salt lakes and mining areas in the New World."

"Without salt, we can't convince everyone to rebel against Felipe II. In addition to salt, we need weapons."

"And there isn't much we can offer. Daming doesn't seem to need anything."

The Ming Dynasty produces everything and can manufacture everything. It only needs silver from the West, but the Northern Alliance does not have control over rich silver mountains. This is the crux of the problem and the biggest obstacle to trade, as it is unable to provide the goods that the Ming Dynasty is interested in.

"Then what can you provide? Do you want me to give it to you for free?" Zhu Yijun asked with a frown.

Ainmaren frowned and said, "We can only provide gold, but the Ming Dynasty does not need gold. This makes us very sad. Your Majesty, why doesn't the Ming Dynasty need gold?"

This problem has troubled Ainmaren for nearly five years. Ever since the Ming fleet arrived in Lisbon, the Northern Alliance has not been able to benefit widely from it.

It’s not that the Northern Alliance has no goods to exchange, but that there is not enough silver, and the barter method is too slow.

"We don't have this problem now. The Ming Dynasty has begun to accumulate gold. If gold can be used for payment, then there is a need to discuss this business." Zhu Yijun said with a sunny smile.

The Ming Dynasty did not need gold in the past because it was a policy requirement. It needs gold now, also because it is a policy requirement.

"This is really great news." Ainmaren breathed a sigh of relief. If the Ming Dynasty still simply used silver as the equivalent for trade, the Northern Alliance, which lacked silver, would find it difficult to have in-depth trade relations with the Ming Dynasty.

The gold of the Northern Alliance was earned bit by bit with their own hands.

The Northern Alliance has a total of seven provinces and has the most and largest handicraft workshops in the West. It produces a variety of goods and markets them in Western countries. However, it is very difficult to change the medium of goods from gold to silver.

This involves a re-measurement of the prices of a large number of commodities, not just a simple gold and silver swap ratio.

In fact, Ainmaren understood very well why the Ming Dynasty wanted to accumulate gold, because the silver in the West was a little insufficient. Given the Ming Dynasty's demand for silver, no matter how much silver there was in the world, it would not be enough for the Ming Dynasty to absorb.

"I have a gift for your majesty. Our explorer Henry Hudson has discovered a place in the far New World of North America. We call it New Netherland."

"Here is a sea chart that can reach New Netherland from the West. It is true that it departs from Ming Dynasty, so this sea chart does not seem to be of any use, but I noticed that His Majesty is offering rewards for various sea charts."

"This sea chart is presented to Your Majesty as a gift."

Ion Maren prepared gifts for His Majesty the Emperor, including two nautical charts, thirteen star charts, six needle charts, navigation notes and the longitude and latitude of the New Netherlands.

Zhu Yijun was proficient in Latin and mathematics. He learned the location of New Netherland from the relatively simple geomancy maps and navigation notes. Later generations called it Manhattan. "It can be seen that Felipe has put a lot of pressure on you." Zhu Yijun put away the sea chart and said calmly.

The word "New Netherlands" represents many meanings. One of them is that after the Netherlands disappears, there will be a new Netherlands.

Ainmaren looked at the emperor in surprise, then immediately lowered his head and said, "Indeed, we are prepared for the possibility that the Netherlands will be occupied by Felipe again. He can take our land, but he cannot take away our will to resist."

Zhu Yijun thought for a moment and said, "Then I will give you a message: if you keep the land but lose the people, you will lose both the land and the people; if you keep the people but lose the land, you will keep both the land and the people."

This sentence is not difficult to understand. In the choice between people and land, the most important thing is to keep people. If you choose land, both people and land will be lost; if you choose people, both people and land will be preserved.

This sentence is suitable for all rebels. There is no need to worry too much about the gains and losses of a city or a place. The most important thing is the support of the people.

"Thank you for the enlightenment, Prophet." Ainmaren thought for a moment and thanked the emperor for his enlightenment again.

In fact, the resistance situation in the Netherlands was getting worse and worse, especially since Felipe changed his tactics and began to use gentle tactics instead of the previous blind military conquests. This made the voices of the surrender faction in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia grow louder and louder, and the form of the struggle became worse.

People's hearts are no longer as united as they used to be. To this day, Ain Malen is not sure what changed Felipe's strategy.

What made Felipe change his strategy was that Legazpi returned to Tessa and had a long talk with Felipe for fifteen days in the monastery in Madrid.

The 15th Talks changed Felipe's many ideas and also changed the situation in Taisi.

"I wonder if Your Majesty knows Coconut Sea City?" Ainmaren said nervously, "Coconut Sea City is the name given by the Ming Dynasty. Our fleet can reach Coconut Sea City smoothly. We hope to obtain enough spices from Coconut Sea City and return to Taixi to sell them, so that we can get more gold."

Ian Mullen means please franchise trade.

Jakarta is located in the northwest of Java Island. It is the largest city in the Old Port Governor's Office except Malacca City. The Ming Dynasty has completely occupied Jakarta, which is the territory of the Ming Dynasty.

There is a Han township in Yehai City, with a total of 113,000 Han people, accounting for 40% of the total population of Yehai City.

In the sixth year of Wanli, Yehai City was included in the development area by Zhang Yuanxun. In the fifteenth year of Wanli, nine years later, it has become a place where travelers sing and residents live in peace, a dazzling pearl of the Wanli Seawall.

There are more than 20 plantations in Coconut Sea City. The cinchona cream used in the dissection clinic comes from Coconut Sea City. As the name suggests, it is a place where coconut trees are like the sea.

The prefect of Yehai Prefecture was named Zhang Jirong, the son of Zhang Yuanxun, but the people in charge of the actual affairs were Yang Kun and Pan Mingyan, who were Zhang Yuanxun's aides and were both juren from Guangzhou Prefecture.

Zhu Yijun shook his head and said, "You want a license for the spice trade, but I cannot grant it. You can load and unload spices in the Strait of Malacca and return to the West."

Zhang Yuanxun has reported this matter to the authorities. These Dutch people are probably not only after spices, but also territory.

It is obviously more convenient to ship spices from the Strait of Malacca, and the price is not unacceptably expensive. It can save at least three months of purchasing time. For businessmen, time is money, and they can still make a lot of money by returning to the West. The more trips they make, the more money they can earn.

But the Dutch repeatedly requested trade permission to enter the Strait of Malacca, and one can imagine what these barbarians were thinking.

Zhu Yijun naturally would not agree to this request. Competition and cooperation are the norm in diplomacy between countries. It is somewhat naive to mistakenly believe that countries can be as close as family and treat state affairs as a joke.

Ian Malen thanked the emperor again and chose to leave the imperial study of Tonghe Palace.

This mission was not in vain, at least it solved the urgent problem of salt.

"Feng Daban, do you think that Coconut Sea City really has golden beaches and coconut groves as vast as the sea?" Zhu Yijun asked curiously as he stood in front of the Feng Shui map of the world and looked at the location of Coconut Sea City.

"Everyone says there is, so I guess there is." Feng Bao bowed his head and said, "When the camera technology matures, I will send the eunuchs to Yehai City to take some photos for Your Majesty."

"Lin Fucheng investigated the plantations in Nanyang and also introduced Hanxiang Town in detail. The Nanyang dream is an extremely clear pursuit and it is not difficult to achieve."

Your Majesty is somewhat curious about the Nanyang Dream and has a bit of yearning for it, but as the supreme ruler of the world, Your Majesty may never go to Coconut Sea City in person in this lifetime to witness the charm of Han Town.

The prosperous development of the Old Port Governor's Office has a lot to do with Governor Zhang Yuanxun.

Zhang Yuanxun was a native of Taizhou, Zhejiang Province. He was a hereditary centurion who climbed up from the bottom step by step with his military exploits to the position of general. In the war against the Japanese pirates, he participated in more than 110 battles of varying sizes and his reputation spread throughout the southeast coast.

The largest number of people in Yehai City are from Zhejiang, followed by people from Fujian and Guangzhou. This is a sign of trust in Zhang Yuanxun, just like when Yu Dayou went to Songjiang Prefecture to form a navy, some ambitious people immediately joined him.

In the past, the rewards bestowed upon Zhang Yuanxun by the Ming court were far from commensurate with his achievements.

Now, Zhang Yuanxun, Marquis of Yingyang, has become the governor-general of the Governor-General's Office, and his power is feared throughout Southeast Asia.

Zhu Yijun looked at the geomancy map for a long time before he sat down in front of the imperial desk and continued to deal with the memorial in his hand.

When it was dusk, Li Yashi, who was at home, submitted a memorial, in which he seriously stated his position and expressed his dissatisfaction with the Ming Emperor's private summons of the envoy of the Dutch Northern Alliance.

"Oh, now Legazpi remembers that he is still Felipe's minister?" Zhu Yijun smiled after reading the memorial and said, "Since he has been in Ming for so long, doesn't he know that his memorial is useless?"

Under the lofty moral ideals, it is easy to personify Guo Chao, but in the interactions between countries, if Guo Chao is really personified, then Guo Chao must be a two-faced, profit-seeking, capricious, and extremely rotten person.

Rather than a good-for-nothing with high moral standards.

This was most clearly demonstrated in the attitude towards the Northern Alliance in the Netherlands.

"As a Spaniard, he should express his attitude at this time." Feng Bao didn't think it mattered. Legashi just said it directly, instead of secretly working to bribe the officials in charge of the Ministry of Rites to prevent the situation from being reported to the emperor and causing him to make a wrong decision.

This is enemy spy activity. If Le Ya Shi really did this, he would not be imprisoned but beheaded in public.

Feng Bao felt that as a Westerner, it made sense for Li Yashi to express his attitude.

"Li Yashi asked in his memorial whether my meeting with Ainmaren meant that we would break with Spain and cancel Spain's status as a friendly country. This was the purpose of his memorial." Zhu Yijun said without much concern: "No matter how much we quarrel or make a fuss, we still have to do business."

"King Felipe II went back on his word. We agreed to exchange the market for talent. I exiled the people there, but he used gold to fool me. Of course I have to show my appreciation!"

Zhu Yijun found a very far-fetched reason, which was somewhat reasonable.

The Ming Dynasty had already determined the value of gold since it started to store it, so it cannot be said that Spain was deceiving the Ming Dynasty in the agreement to exchange market for talent. After all, the total value of gold and silver was converted to 590 million silver coins, which did not reduce the scale of trade.

Felipe no longer has enough silver. If the Ming Dynasty continues to absorb silver as much as before, Felipe can only declare Spain bankrupt for the third time.

The reason is far-fetched, but having a reason is already giving face to friendly countries.

"Arrest him and lock him up in the Beizhenfu jail for ten days! He just makes up stories all day long!" After reading the memorial, Zhu Yijun immediately gave the order to arrest the man and lock him up for ten days!
Li Yashi told a Ming Dynasty joke in his memorial.

In his memorial, he said: There are three things that will happen to a person in the Ming Dynasty: birth, death and tax evasion. If a person has never evaded taxes in his life, it means that he is well aware of the tax system of the dynasty, and he must have escaped the Dongjiaominxiang Prison!
Li Yashi had no other intention in telling this joke, except to remind the Ming Emperor that when conducting tax inspections, he must strictly pay attention to the scope of tax inspections and not allow others to maliciously expand the law enforcement, which would eventually lead to complaints.

The day when the Tax Inspection Office was forced to be withdrawn, the emperor might very well become a laughing stock, and there was no telling how the tax inspection would be portrayed by future generations.

The Ming Dynasty made a decision, received the Dutch envoys, and promised to sell salt to the Dutch. This resulted in Felipe's wish to regain lost territory at a lower cost being dashed.

The Ming Dynasty must treat Spain’s reaction with caution.

The sailing of large sailing ships would stop at many ports, many of which were Spanish governorates. The Ming Dynasty would also set up offices in these places to do some small business.

Zhu Yijun pointed at the location of Pengju Port and said solemnly: "Silver is completely dependent on the inflow from outside, which is still the biggest hidden danger. Felipe doesn't even need to do anything. He just needs to stop the sailing trade, and the Ming Dynasty will fall into the dilemma of severe silver shortage."

"In fact, the decrease in silver inflows in the past two years has already caused some harm to the Wanli Reform of the Ming Dynasty."

"The success of the Wanli Reform was also due to silver, and it is a contribution that cannot be ignored. How to make more silver flow to the Ming Dynasty instead of the West is a problem that I and the nobles must consider."

Pengju Port was the plan of the Ming Dynasty.

However, this plan would be difficult to realize in the short term. The Ming Dynasty was at a loss as to how to deal with the landing operation in Incheon, which was so close, let alone the Governor's Office of Peru, which was thousands of miles away.

"Your Majesty, Felipe will not make a more radical decision." Feng Bao frowned and said, "After all, the Ming Dynasty's global trade fleet is very welcome to all governors-general."

"If we cut off the trade with the Western galleons and withdraw the special trade licenses granted to the Ming Dynasty, the various governors-general will also become alienated from the mainland."

"Cutting off someone's financial resources is like killing their parents. Felipe has cut off the financial resources of various governorates. These governorates have suffered losses in their vital interests. I'm afraid they will no longer recognize him as the monarch of the British Empire."

"Feng Daban, your analysis makes sense, but you still don't understand what I mean." Zhu Yijun frowned and said, "Your idea is still relying on the enemy's kindness and internal strife. If the silver flow is cut off, the Ming Dynasty will not have any means to counter it in a short period of time."

"I don't want to be controlled by others."

"I am stupid." Feng Bao hurriedly apologized. He actually understood what the emperor meant, but there was no silver in the Ming Dynasty. The silver mines across the Ming Dynasty produced only 100,000 taels of silver a year, which was really a drop in the bucket.

"Send the next chapter to the cabinet for advice. If the cabinet is unable to come up with a solution, I will think about it further." Zhu Yijun looked at the geomancy map, thinking about countermeasures.

For an emperor with unlimited power, this feeling of being controlled is unbearable.

Isn't this the same as Ming's bell being caught by Felipe? Whether Felipe wants to pinch it or not depends entirely on Felipe's wishes?

(End of this chapter)