Wind Rises in North America 1625

Chapter 113 "I have a big business for you"

"In the 1557nd year of the Jiajing reign (), foreigners came to the moat and said that their boats were torn by wind and waves and their tributes were soaked in water. They wanted to borrow land to dry their tributes. The deputy envoy of the sea route, Wang Baixun, bribed them to agree. At that time, there were only dozens of thatched houses. Later, profiteers in business began to transport bricks, tiles, wood and stones to build houses, and the place looked like a settlement."

By 1572, Haojing had become the only Portuguese settlement in the Ming Dynasty. The settled population included approximately Portuguese, more than slaves plundered from Africa and Southeast Asia, and more than Ming Dynasty merchants.

After more than half a century of development, Haojing gradually became a very large settlement with three churches, a clinic, a charity hall, and more than 5,000 Catholics.

Previously, Haojing was under the jurisdiction of the Governor-General of Portuguese India stationed in Goa and was under the jurisdiction of the commander of the trade fleet that traveled from India to Ming Dynasty and Japan every year.

Every year between May and June, the fleet would set sail from India for Oyster Bay, where they would stay for ten months or a year, purchasing large quantities of oriental goods and waiting for the next monsoon, before sailing to Japan from June to August of the following year.

In Japan, the Portuguese quickly sold Ming Dynasty goods such as raw silk, silk, gold, porcelain, mercury, musk, poria cocos, and cotton cloth at high prices, and then returned to Macau during the autumn monsoon with a large amount of Japanese silver and a small amount of Japanese goods.

After arriving in Haojing, they used Japanese silver to purchase large quantities of Ming raw silk, silk, porcelain and other commodities. In the autumn of the third year, they returned to Goa, India on the monsoon.

Each link formed in this way: Goa-oyster mirror, oyster mirror-Nagasaki, Nagasaki-oyster mirror, oyster mirror-Goa, can make a lot of money, and the whole process can earn more than hundreds of thousands of taels of silver.

Since the Portuguese obtained permission to trade in oyster mirrors in the 36th year of the Jiajing reign, until now, this place has become Portugal's most important trade transit port in the East, and its prosperity has grown day by day.

However, nothing lasts forever, and under the increasingly aggressive coercion of the Dutch East India Company and the increasingly undisguised disgust of the Japanese shogunate, the days of the Portuguese seemed to be becoming somewhat difficult.

A few years ago, in order to defend against the invasion of the Dutch and the English, the Portuguese ignored the ban previously issued by the Ming Dynasty and arbitrarily built cities and forts. This led to repeated frictions between the Oyster Mirror colonial government and local officials in Guangdong, and they were even threatened with expulsion.

This made the Portuguese extremely anxious.

"So, last year, in order to please the Ming Dynasty court, the Portuguese presented three copper and iron guns, seven large iron guns, and thirty eagle-beak guns, and sent more than dozens of Portuguese soldiers to the north to pay tribute as a sign of humility." Deng Shuhan picked up a cup of tea, took a sip, and said slowly.

"Doesn't Haojing have a fairly large firearms factory? Why did they only offer such a small amount of weapons to the court?" Meng Shengxin asked with a smile, "The Portuguese are being a bit petty."

"Brother Meng, you're wrong!" Deng Shuhan shook his head slightly. "Our Great Ming is rich and powerful. How could the imperial court take advantage of these barbarians? I suspect that once the imperial court has verified the power of the Portuguese firearms, they might even allocate silver to purchase some from the Oyster Mirror for military use."

"In fact, the Ming court shouldn't just collect 500 taels of silver in rent from the Portuguese each year, but should tax them based on their total annual income," Meng Shengxin said with a sardonic smile. "That way, the court could potentially collect tens of thousands of taels of silver in taxes from Haojing. This would not only alleviate the Ming treasury's depletion, but could also be used to offset the Portuguese's purchase of firearms."

"The Portuguese are not citizens of the Ming Dynasty, so how can we tax them?"

"Although the Portuguese aren't Ming citizens, Haojing is Ming territory, under the imperial court's jurisdiction. How can we not tax them?" Meng Shengxin picked up the teapot and refilled the other person's cup. "This is called the territorial principle. Naturally, corresponding commercial taxes can be levied under Ming rule."

"Territorial principle? Is this... okay?" Deng Shuhan looked at him hesitantly.

"Whether it can be done or not is just a matter of a word from the Ming court. Do you think the Portuguese dare to refuse to pay?"

"Haha..." Deng Shuhan laughed and shook his head. "How can this be allowed! My Great Ming court has its own laws. How can we... How can we tax the barbarians without any reason?"

"..." Meng Shengxin sighed inwardly after hearing this.

The Ming Dynasty court did not collect taxes from the gentry, nor did it levy tributes on the barbarians. Instead, it exploited the common people to the point that they are now completely exhausted!
Disasters occurred frequently in the Ming Dynasty, causing the people to suffer and their lives to be difficult. Even if the court tried its best to squeeze the people, it could not get much oil out of them.

"Here they come!" Deng Shuhan gestured towards the entrance of the teahouse and reminded in a low voice.

Meng Shengxin looked in the direction of the sound and saw two Portuguese men enter the door, look around, and when they saw Deng Shuhan stand up and wave, they walked over quickly.

"Meng, our Governor has approved your request to purchase firearms."

After a brief greeting, Diogo de Chaves put down the teacup in his hand, chewed the tea leaves in his mouth, swallowed them, and then looked at the unusually tall Ming man with a smile.

"However, this is our first transaction, and we haven't established a formal relationship of trust yet. Therefore, we require you to pay half of the deposit in gold or silver before we can deliver the corresponding artillery and muskets." "Also, considering our increased production costs, the prices of all firearms will increase slightly. Well, approximately 30% higher than the previous price supplied to the Ming government."

In the first year of the Tianqi reign (1621), the Ming court purchased cannons from Portugal and hired Portuguese gunners and an interpreter.

"..." After listening to the interpreter beside him, Meng Shengxin looked at him in surprise. "You mean to say that the price has increased by 30% compared to when we first negotiated?"

"Yes," Shavis nodded. "As you know, the Ming government is about to purchase a large number of artillery pieces from us to defend the north against Tatar invasions. Given this situation, our casting schedule will be extremely tight, requiring the workshop to work day and night."

"In addition, to meet production needs, we will have to urgently purchase a large amount of iron from Foshan, further increasing our casting costs. Therefore, it is reasonable for us to increase the selling price by 30% based on the original agreed price. Meng, do you fully understand all this?"

I understand you, sir!
After hearing this, Meng Shengxin immediately became angry.

You Portuguese are so tasteless!
Last year, I came to you to trade, and you said you wanted to add the necessary number of artillery to the fort under construction to prevent the Dutch from invading again.

In addition, you also said that you would present some artillery pieces to the Ming court, but you currently have no stock to sell to us.

But in order not to lose this business, you agreed to the subsequent transaction and also finalized the unit price of various types of artillery and muskets.

This should be considered an agreement of intent!

However, we never expected that now, due to the reason of too many "production orders", our purchase unit price would be directly increased by 30%. This is clearly an opportunity to raise the price and make a fortune from us.

Damn, it’s amazing that you can cast red cannon!

"Mr. Shavis, since the price of your firearms has increased by 30% for no apparent reason, we may need to adjust our purchasing requirements," Meng Shengxin said in a deep voice. "Our budget is quite limited, and we can't purchase the originally agreed-upon quantity of firearms at the current price."

"Hmm?" Shavis narrowed his eyes slightly and said meaningfully, "Meng, you'd better think carefully. In the New Continent you mentioned, certain forces are extremely powerful and brutal. If you don't have sufficient military force, you may fall into an extremely dangerous situation."

"When the time comes, all your wealth will be plundered, your people will be killed, and your homes will be completely burned down. Everything you have will be devoured by that powerful force. Don't you think it's tragic to suffer such a fate just to save a little money?"

"Well, Mr. Shavis's prediction is terrifying. However, it's impossible for this to happen. Even if we don't purchase enough weapons from you, we still have enough confidence to defend our territory. We can't spend all our limited funds just to buy the necessary defensive weapons, right?"

"As you know, our territory still needs to purchase a large amount of supplies from the Ming Dynasty to maintain basic needs. We must continue to live our lives. We cannot throw the baby out with the bathwater and immediately put all of us in trouble just because of something that hasn't happened yet. And all of this is because you Portuguese unreasonably raised the price of weapons by 30%."

After hearing this, Shavis was silent for a long time.

This Ming person seems to be difficult to deal with!

"Mr. Shavis, I heard that you have some problems with your trade with Japan, is that correct?"

"Hmm? ...There is a small problem in our trade with Japan, but we will resolve it quickly. It won't cause us too much trouble."

"Since there are some minor problems in your trade with Japan, are some of your merchant ships idle to a certain extent?"

“…”Shavis.

"Mr. Shavis, if you can convince your governor or the firearms factory to maintain the selling price at the basis of last year's negotiation, we might be able to reach a new trade cooperation agreement." Meng Shengxin said with a smile, "Well, we can give you a big deal. We will hire your temporarily idle merchant ship to transport a special cargo."

"By then, you will get an unimaginable benefit."

(End of this chapter)