open sea

Chapter 803
Acosta saw Chen Mu, no, he said he saw Zou Yuanbiao doing magic tricks.

He had only left Acapulco for more than a month, and everything from the port to the village was completely new.

The only thing that has not changed is the isolated Spanish-style mansions with white walls and orange tiles gathered next to the port office. Besides, in the eyes of the monks, the mud houses that originally belonged to mixed-race aborigines and mixed with corn stalks have all disappeared, and they are all blue and blue. Ming-style house with brick, gray tile, wood and stone structure.

Of course, this is only Changsheng County in the eyes of Acosta.

The Ming army had enough manpower to make Changsheng County look like that, but it didn’t have enough material resources. After all, the brick factory had limited output of bricks. Moreover, the wood and stone bricks in the county had been monopolized by the Ming army’s sawmills and kilns. Have so much money to buy bricks and wood?
The reason for the illusion in Acosta’s eyes is that Changsheng County has become bigger—more than 400 tribal chiefs contributed a lot to this matter. The Ming army provided building materials, and the chiefs provided manpower. Reasonable construction doubled Changsheng's residential area in a short period of time.

The newly built courtyards surrounding the Daojun Temple and the county government are the most conspicuous, so that Acosta can barely see the villages south of the Daojun Temple.

Compared with the chiefs who came from afar, the people who used to live in the port villages were a little more wronged. The houses they lived in were also being remodeled, but they used under-fired and over-fired bricks fired in brick kilns.

These unqualified products that should have been put into the brick kiln to make clinker were asked by the county magistrate Zou Yuanbiao to the military government and given to the people to rebuild their old houses.

Chen Mu didn't want to do this at first. His original plan was that after this period of excessive brick and wood consumption, the price of brick and wood is not high, and within two years, the people in the port can use good bricks and tiles to renovate their own. House, don't have to rush for a while.

Not to mention that he also thought that these chiefs would leave in half a year at most, and that the original people in the port could move directly into the new houses that had been built, and the old houses would be left for the people who moved in later.

But Zou Yuanbiao said that people don't worry about scarcity but inequality. The Ming army came here, and the frontier troubles are not peaceful.

Zou Yuanbiao's "average" is not average, and the meaning of the Confucian sages who pay attention to the rules of respect and inferiority is not average in the original words, but means "everyone gets his own share". Wealth is not distributed according to the rules.

The superiors must know their respective responsibilities, and the self must guarantee the rights they deserve.

However, in the eyes of Zou Yuanbiao, in the county under his rule, we must pay attention to both the dignity of status and status, and we must also pay attention to rules. The rights cannot be less.

Even if the houses they build are not good according to their dignity, they still have to have them.

In the end, Chen Mu could only sign this order and allow the military craftsman to expand the scale of the brick and tile factory to meet the construction needs of the county.

Changsheng County has become what it is today.

Chen Mu chose to meet Acosta in the newly completed county government office. Compared with the port government office, it seemed more suitable to meet, but Chen Mu didn't want the Western negotiating team to feel familiar and comfortable.

He wanted Acosta and the others to feel from the bottom of their hearts that this was the Changsheng County of Daming, not Acapulco in Spain.

"These three are Baitao from the White Horse Alliance, Zheng Tu from the Yizu Alliance, and Niu Pingzhang from the Shi'er Alliance."

Chen Mu introduced to Acosta with a smile that Niu Pingzhang was the previous Bull Demon King. The name was chosen by him from a thousand-character text, which means that he has the ability to discern and discuss matters.

This name was chosen not only because it was an important official position in ancient China, but also because the leader of the Shi'er Alliance was negotiated as if playing a family game, and he was harmonious, far inferior to Bai Tao's overwhelming power or Zheng Tu's hard work.

Lao Niu hopes that the name will bring him good luck.

Chen Mu, who was in the seat, turned to the side again after speaking, and said with a smile: "This is Fu Geer and the old governor. The monks know each other, so I won't introduce much about Chen -- what does Duke Alva think of Chen's proposal?"

The old governor was released from the yard under house arrest by Chen Mu after he heard that Acosta was coming, but Fu Geer was not.

Before Acosta came, Chen Mu was discussing business with Fu Geer.

Some things don't need to be written into the contract between the two countries. Chen Mu prefers to find individuals to cooperate with him-the treaty between the two countries is relatively formal, and people can tell right from wrong, but it is different when it comes to individuals.

Right and wrong are still matters that everyone can figure out, but some marginal things are not so clear.

For example, if Fu Geer wants to use Changsheng as a transfer point to monopolize the future Ming Dynasty porcelain trade that flows into Europa, firstly, it is impossible for Chen Mu to agree, and secondly, even if he wants to monopolize a part of the proportion, how can Chen Mu not let him bleed?
They have discussed this many times, and Fu Geer has nothing to do with him.

Let's do business, Chen Mu is a bit greedy, at worst, change to a businessman, anyone can do this, but only Chen Mu can do his business.

If in the past, the nobles in the court could run against the king and send troops to fight, they could just grab the benefits, but... Spain can't beat Chen Mu.

Until today, in the business deal between the two of them, Chen Mu compared his fingers four times, once five, twice three, and once eight.

He can allow [-]% of the porcelain goods shipped from Daming to Changsheng within five years to be sold directly to Fu Geer at a price lower than the market price, but in exchange, Fu Geer needs to hire Chen Mu in Europe and send them to other countries , a total of [-] craftsmen in various industries, and [-] western books excluding religious classics.

If it doesn't work, Chen Mu doesn't plan to continue talking with Fu Geer.

Fogger is about to agree, and Acosta is here.

"The Duke of Alva brought you the meaning of King Philip. The king is very satisfied with your previous proposal. After the war, we have sent your treaty back to Madrid from Havana, but it will take nearly four months to go back and forth."

"The Duke of Alva does not agree to hand over the Potosi silver mine and Mexico City to the Ming Dynasty. If you insist on doing so, even though we are very reluctant, even though Spain is not ready yet, I am afraid we can only continue the war. .”

Spain cannot live without silver mines.

"Before I express His Majesty Philip's wish, please allow me to ask." Acosta looked at Chen Mu seriously and asked, "Is your Excellency really sincerely negotiating peace with us? Or is this going to be like Mingxi Nanjing?" Same, sign a treaty, and then prepare for the next battle?"

Chen Mu didn't say a word, he didn't need words at all, his expression could perfectly explain: I'm not, I don't, don't talk nonsense.

Acosta doesn't believe it at all, because he knows a lot about the Ming Dynasty. For example, the Nanyang Military Mansion was established in the past to snatch Luzon, Sulu, and Java, which were occupied or tried to be occupied by Spain and Portugal. It was set up again to snatch the New World occupied by Spain.

"The Dongyang Military Mansion has been established for nearly three years, I know." Acosta smiled, and immediately said seriously: "His Majesty Philip expresses the greatest goodwill to Your Excellency. Even if he heard that the Ming army entered the war with New Spain, he was still willing to cease the war and reach a trade agreement." Agreement, but you must think clearly, we should not continue to fight."

"For this reason, His Majesty the King mentioned a very friendly proposal - all the lands of the Ming Kingdom and Spain in the New Continent will be jointly governed by the two countries, and jointly honor His Majesty Philip and Emperor Wanli of the Ming Dynasty."

Chen Mu raised his eyebrows unconsciously.

(End of this chapter)