Late Ming sea owl

Chapter 335: Negotiation on Spoils Division
Seeing that Ruan Fuyuan was a little embarrassed, Lin Hai tried to make up for it a little: "Of course, the impact of elephant soldiers is absolutely beyond doubt. If used well, it can be a decisive killer move. There are many savages in Jinhe Kingdom. They don't have firearms. Elephant soldiers happen to be their nemesis. Lin thinks that it is necessary for Bi Kingdom to form a small-scale elephant army..."

At this point, he changed the subject: "However, the main reason why I want to import more elephants from your country is to transport timber. The main warships of the Jinhe Navy are large plywood ships with dozens of guns. One warship will use hundreds or even thousands of large trees. It is not easy to transport these large trees. Elephants are the most suitable for this task."

Although Lin Hai said this to demonstrate to Nguyen Phuc Yuan, he was not lying. Elephants transporting wood was still common in Cambodia hundreds of years later, especially when the road was rugged, it was almost the only option. This was very useful in both Jinhe Kingdom and Yulin Port, after all, the company needed a lot of wood for shipbuilding and charcoal burning.

Nguyen Phuc Yuan didn't want to see Lin Hai showing off, but when he thought of the intelligence about the Jinhe Kingdom's navy that Nguyen Siqi's mission brought back last year, he didn't know what to say for a moment.

Lin Hai continued, "Jinhe State is willing to exchange light field artillery for elephants. The return gift from the king is a bit too generous. 100 small artillery pieces can be made in one month by the firearms bureau of Bi State. How can they be worth ten elephants? In the future, it is better for our two countries to conduct trade according to the principle of fair trade."

Last year, the Nguyen Si Qi delegation was also arranged to visit the Firearms Bureau. Nguyen Phuc Yuan knew that what Lin Hai said was true. He wanted to say something to get back his position, but he was afraid of ruining the deal. In the end, he could only nod and say, "What the Prime Minister said is very much in line with what I want."

"In addition to firearms, Jinhe also has many minerals, including iron, copper, lead, saltpeter, sulfur..." What Lin Hai said before was the truth, but now he started to brag. However, even if these things are not produced locally in Jinhe, he has a stable channel for bulk imports.

This statement once again accurately hit Nguyen Phuc Yuan's weak spot. Annan was originally the country with the most complete mineral resources in Southeast Asia, especially metal mines. The only pity was that all these mineral resources were in the areas controlled by Zheng Zhu, and Hue and Quang Nam were completely blank.

Because of this, Guangnan needs to import a large amount of minerals from overseas every year. Especially those that Lin Hai mentioned are important military supplies. Guangnan’s army’s advantage over Zheng’s army is mainly in firearms. Iron, copper, lead, saltpeter, and yellow would be fatal if there is any shortage. In addition, Guangnan’s main currency is copper coins imported from overseas…

This is why the Nguyen Lords attached so much importance to the navy and overseas trade. Nguyen Phuc Yuan would personally meet with important foreign businessmen and decide on matters such as the issuance of trade licenses and tax exemptions, which was rare among the monarchs of the Indochina Peninsula.

In Hoi An's overseas trade rules, the Nguyen Lords implemented a semi-exclusive purchase system, where foreign merchant ships had to first report their cargo to the Quang Nam shipyard, and officials were allowed to purchase only after the Nguyen Lords had purchased the goods they needed, and finally merchants. Under this system, military supplies were basically purchased exclusively by the Nguyen Lords.

Seeing that Nguyen Phuc Yuan was somewhat interested, Lin Hai took the opportunity to put forward his own request: "In order to better develop trade with your country, the queen wants to set up a trading house in Tuonang Haimen. If your country needs it, you can also set up a trading house in Jinhe. What do you think?"

But Nguyen Phuc Yuan did not agree immediately, but just replied vaguely: "Let's discuss this matter later. The Prime Minister may not know that I am old and retired to the mountains and rivers two years ago. The ordinary political affairs of Guangnan are now decided by my younger brother. Only the military affairs will be personally handled by me."

Nguyen Phuc Yuan was not lying, as he was already 66 years old. Two years ago, when he broke with the Zheng Lords, he announced his retirement and gave his younger brother Nguyen Phuc Khe, who was in his forties, the post of the general governor and promoted him to the Duke of Xiang County, responsible for handling daily government affairs.

Lin Hai was on a diplomatic mission on behalf of Jinhe State. Nguyen Phuc Yuan showed up in person to show his respect, but the latter gave him a blow. But there was nothing he could do about it. The demand relationship between the two sides was here: Jinhe could provide Guangnan with vital weapons and strategic military supplies, while Guangnan's main export commodities were pepper, hemp wood, silk and sugar, in addition to rare luxury goods such as rhinoceros horns, ivory, agarwood and bird's nest. These were only of economic value to Jinhe State, not strategic value, not to mention that Guangnan's silk and sugar were not competitive at all in the Ming Dynasty.

Nguyen Phuc Yuan certainly understood the purpose of Lin Hai's mission. Seeing that Lin Hai was showing off his power in various ways, he decided that Nguyen Phuc Khi would be the one to handle the next round of negotiations.

This can be considered a negotiation strategy that combines both firmness and flexibility. Since Nguyen Phuc Xi had no power to make the decision, he could only be tough to the end. At the same time, the fact that the Nguyen Lord himself did not show up prevented the two sides from tearing each other apart over a disagreement, and it created a buffer between him and Lin Hai.

The negotiations began on the next day. The plan proposed by Nguyen Phuc Khe was exactly as Nguyen Si Qi said. He wanted Lin Hai to accept the prefectures northwest of Tonle Sap Lake, while Guangnan would monopolize the Mekong Delta.

Lin Hai would naturally not be fooled by Nguyen Phuc Khe's clever words, and he put forward his own proposal in response, which was that the two sides should divide the Mekong Delta equally.

Specifically, the Kingdom of Jinhe occupied the lower reaches of the Mekong River system, while the Kingdom of Guangnan occupied the Dong Nai River and Saigon River basins. The two sides were separated by the Cochin River, the easternmost of the nine tributaries of the Mekong River.

This plan took into account the vested interests of Quang Nam to a certain extent. After all, the future Ho Chi Minh City was located on the Saigon River, and the former Cambodian King Ky Chettha II had agreed to the Nguyen Lords' immigration to the area.

After all, Nguyen Lord is the father-in-law of the former Cambodian king, and his political advantage is his biggest trump card. Only by joining forces with him can Lin Hai provoke civil unrest in Cambodia and support Benha Tho to take the throne. This is an indispensable political move.

After all, Cambodia is also a big country with a population of millions and a profound cultural heritage. Simply conquering it by force will inevitably lead to a protracted security war, just like the Ming Dynasty's expedition to Annan in the early Ming Dynasty. This is obviously an impossible task for the current member companies.

Of course, Nguyen Phuc Khe would never agree to Lin Hai's plan. He firmly insisted that the Jinhe Kingdom should not interfere in the Mekong Delta. Everything else could be discussed. This was also the bottom line that Nguyen Phuc Yuan gave him.

The two sides were deadlocked for several days, and the negotiations did not make any substantial progress. Lin Hai knew that it was useless to talk to Nguyen Phuc Khe, so he asked to see Nguyen Phuc Yuan again, but the latter said he had a cold and was sick and could not go out.

At this time, Ruan Siqi secretly gave Lin Hai an idea - to meet Tao Weici, the military advisor of Ruan Fuyuan.

(End of this chapter)