The Rise of Ming Dynasty 1646

Chapter 309 Guangzhou Customs Department

Zhu Linming was waiting for Du Chen to bargain, but she didn't expect the other party to agree directly, which was a bit unexpected.To be honest, the content of this agreement is indeed not fair, and he himself feels a little embarrassed.

But since the Portuguese agreed, he naturally had no objection, and added: "Then sign the provisional agreement first. But if your king refuses to formally sign it, I will regard it as a serious provocation to Daming."

Du Chen said in his heart that the king definitely didn't want to agree to the previous conditions, but he couldn't beat Daming militarily, so what if he didn't sign it.As for the free trade part later, he was too happy, so how could he refuse.So he hurriedly promised again and again.

Zhu Linmi didn't want to delay any longer, so she asked someone to redraft the provisional agreement, signed it with Du Chen, and it took effect immediately.

Du Chen put away the agreement, and said to Zhu Lin with some embarrassment: "Your Highness, since we have reached a new agreement, please release the soldiers of Frangji who were captured yesterday."

"That's not acceptable." Zhu Linmi immediately shook her head and said, "Wait for the war indemnity to be paid before discussing the matter of releasing him."

Yesterday Shi Lin sorted out these prisoners of war roughly, and there are some talents among them.In the past, he wanted to recruit some Portuguese sailors, but he couldn't find them. Now that these people are in Zhu Linmi's hands, he must make good use of them.

Du Chen argued again, seeing his firm attitude, he had no choice but to give up.

After the surrender meeting was over, Du Chen didn't feel too frustrated about the defeat. The free trade agreement with Ming Dynasty in his hand was enough for him to retire from the post of governor.

He hastily arranged for Castro to act as an agent for Portugal in Daming, and the next day he took a boat to Batavia, which is later known as Jakarta, Indonesia.He waited there, and soon boarded a caravan carrying cargo back to Portugal, returning to Lisbon a few months later.

King Joao IV and his ministers were easily convinced by Du Chen's "teacher" Castro's set of theories, and it is true that because Daming has not been to Europe for hundreds of years, they also feel that giving Daming " Zero tariffs" and "extraterritoriality" have only symbolic meaning.

So Joao IV quickly signed the "Mingfo Commercial Agreement", and ordered the new representative of the residents of Frangji - this name has now been accepted by Portugal and has become the official title of their highest officer in the Far East - Mr. Pereira to carry, Send to Daming.

Together with Pereira, there is also a huge trade fleet organized by the King of Portugal himself, preparing to go to the Eastern Empire to purchase in large quantities.

In addition, although the resigned Du Chen lost the Portuguese stronghold in Macau, he was awarded a baron because of his "excellent trade achievements" in the Far East.

It was hundreds of days before he was hanged for advocating the "traitorous agreement". Before that, he was still enjoying himself for a while.

When Du Chen left Macau, Zhu Linmi was also intensively making arrangements for the expansion and management of Macau.

The first thing to bear the brunt is the establishment of a new "Guangzhou Customs Department". The office will use the former copycat Guangzhou Haiphong Tongzhi Yamen. Of course, it needs to be appropriately expanded.

However, the Guangzhou Customs Department is not under the Ministry of Rites or the Ministry of Household Affairs, but is directly under the cabinet for the time being, and in fact it is directly under Zhu Linming's orders.

Since the opening of Longqing, although Daming has been engaged in overseas trade for hundreds of years, in fact, he has no scientific management experience at all.

Zhu Linming plans to take Macau as an opportunity to set up the Guangzhou Customs Department as a pilot first, and then promote it to all ports in Fujian, Zhejiang and other places.

In the end, the management agencies of these ports were merged and unified into the "Ministry of Commerce", which was responsible for overseas trade, tariffs, combating smuggling, and overseas colonies.It became the eighth department in parallel with officials, households, soldiers, criminals, workers, rites, and Xuan.

The officials under the Customs Department have been ordered to be selected by the Ministry of Officials, but the position of chief executive is temporarily vacant. Zhu Linming plans to promote officials with outstanding performance in the process of foreign trade in the future.

Zhu Linmi also spent a lot of thought on the incoming inexperienced customs officer.He stayed up all night to compile a "Customs Management Regulations", which made detailed regulations on customs collection, port management, investigation and punishment of smuggling, combating piracy, and escorting merchant ships. As long as the regulations are strictly followed, there should be no major problems. .

In addition, for a department with a lot of "oil and water" like customs, in order to prevent Ming officials who are accustomed to corruption, he specially ordered Zheng Guangying to transfer people from Jinyiwei South Town to form a "customs supervision department" to check customs accounts.

Of course, the Department of Customs is still an empty office at the moment, and the construction of Macau Port can only be handed over to the chief envoy of Guangdong for the time being.

Macau is the port with the largest trade volume in southern Ming Dynasty, and it is also one of the important links for Zhu Linmi to support Daming's economic plan with overseas trade, so he spared no expense on the construction of Macau Port.

When Sun Rui, the newly-appointed chief minister of Guangdong, arrived in Macau, Zhu Linmi immediately recruited him and told him, "Flangji's construction of the port is pretty good, it only needs to be expanded a little.

"It's just that the supporting facilities of the wharf are still extremely lacking. Just like warehouses, there are only two in the port of Macau. When more barbarians come to do business, it is not appropriate to sell and buy goods in the open air. We will expand to ten in the early stage, and in the future Rebuild as appropriate.

"In addition, an open space needs to be set up in the port for the trading market, and hundreds of thatched sheds will be set up in it, so that merchants can see the goods and negotiate prices. There can also be more inns, restaurants, carriages and horses around...

"Finally, we need to build a good road from Macau Port to Guangzhou City. There is no need to be stingy on the cost of this road. At least three horse-drawn carriages can run side by side. Especially muddy places can be paved with fairy stone powder."

"Immortal stone powder?" Sun Rui was surprised when he heard the words, "Your Highness, this road construction is extremely expensive. A road with such a wide road costs at least tens of thousands of taels..."

"You don't have to worry about the money, the Franc Robot will help us out." Zhu Linming smiled and said, "This is just the beginning. When the volume of trade increases in the future, it will have to be expanded several times."

After Sun Rui took the order to leave, Zhang Jiayu presented a list of various assets in Macau recently confiscated.

Zhu Linmei took the book and flipped through it, only to see the first page: Macau Nanwan Garth Lane Fort, intact, two 32-pounder guns, three [-]-pounder guns...

South Ring Fort, intact...

Sanba Fort, intact...

Garth Lane Fort, intact...

Foothill Fort, intact...

There are a total of nine forts in all kinds of places, protecting the port of Macau tightly, and setting up a lot of cannons at the same time, which shows that the Portuguese are operating Macau as their own territory.

Zhu Linming was amused. If the Portuguese agreed to hand over these fortresses and the city wall of Macau to Daming at a discounted price, five or six million taels of silver might not be enough.

However, they chose to fight against the odds, so now everything belongs to Daming for free.

　Thank you Robinson and Smile in November for your generous rewards. Thank you very much for your support. I will continue to work hard and write more exciting stories in return!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)