Back to the end of Ming Dynasty to be a warlord

Chapter 464 Hong Chengchou's Decision
"Yes, of course! The lord promised to buy the warship of the Dutch last time, and there is no reason to go back. But I hope that you will guarantee as a gentleman that you will never make any humiliating price. The matter. The lord is not hiding it, in fact, our shipyard in Jiangkou has been able to manufacture warships. The price is very fair, I wonder what price the Dutch plan to offer?"

As soon as the negotiations started, Nassau went straight to the point, asking whether the agreement reached last time to order warships was still valid.

At that time, it was only a verbal agreement, and the negotiation was not over, and no treaty was signed, so all the terms could still be renegotiated.

Yang Chao's statement gave Nassau a reassurance. He can only think of warships. The more he is familiar with the Ming market, the more he feels that this country does not need Western products.

"As for the question of the price, I can't answer your Excellency Earl for the time being. It needs to go through a formal calculation and evaluation. However, I can assure you with my personality and the reputation of the Nassau family that our price is absolutely reasonable and fair, at least it is better than the battles you purchased in your country. The boat is [-]% lower."

Yang Chao sold Longjiang Shipyard's 5 taels of silver for 5000 taels, and one achievement for 3 taels, but that was to support Daming's shipbuilding capabilities, and Yao Jiang dared to sell it for the first [-] taels.

Yang Chao nodded and said: "I'm sure of this. I don't hide anything. The 5 warships I purchased from my country cost 5000 taels of silver, but at least 5000 taels of silver were used to support the shipbuilding industry. Developed. I hope that the Dutch ships can provide a discount at the price of 500 taels. If this can be satisfied, the lord is willing to order [-] warships from the Dutch. And the lord hopes to get a bigger warship For this reason, the Lord is willing to set aside a budget of [-] million taels of silver as funds for the purchase of Dutch ships!"

Nassau quickly calculated the exchange rate between silver and Dutch guilders. One tael of silver was around three Dutch guilders, and 500 million taels of silver was equivalent to 160 million Dutch guilders.This purchase amount is enough for the Dutch to trade for two years.Of course, the calculation is based on the trade volume of this year. If a commercial agreement is successfully reached with the Chinese, the trade volume can only increase.

"This point cannot be answered at present. However, since your Excellency Earl purchased ships at a price of 5 taels in your country's shipyard, but you want us to discount them at 5000 taels, this is trade discrimination. It is difficult for us to accept the attitude. This is not a fair transaction, and I don’t think the earl has shown any sincerity.”

Nassau said bluntly.

Yang Chao smiled and said, "5 taels is fine, but I need a [-]% discount. I know that the Dutch are the most capable shipbuilding country in the world."

Nassau silently calculated that in Europe, apart from the Netherlands, it is the main competitor, the United Kingdom. The Dutch shipbuilding industry is also one-third to half lower than theirs. The standardization, systematization and standardization of the Dutch shipbuilding industry are not others. With highly standardized operations that can be imitated, the Dutch can build a ship in a day, which no one in the world except the Netherlands can do.

Nassau nodded at this time: "If it is based on your country's ship price, then I can accept a [-]% discount."

After the first agreement was reached, Nassau was relieved, which meant that the order of 500 million taels had been obtained.

Negotiations then went much smoother. Nassau obtained a number of permits, such as permits to freely dock at various piers on the Yangtze River, but soldiers on board were not allowed to carry weapons into and out of Daming City at will, so as not to cause unnecessary conflicts.At the same time, Nassau received an order for 300 war horses, each of which was priced at 300 taels, with a total value of [-] million taels of silver.

Even when Nassau once again proposed to build a permanent warehouse on the offshore islands in the south of the Yangtze River, it was allowed, but Yang Chao put forward an additional condition.

That is, the Netherlands assists Daming to build a university that covers all the natural subjects of the most lethal university in the Netherlands, including mathematics, geometry, astronomy and navigation, and only takes out the subject of theology. If the Dutch can provide this help, Yang Chao will allow them in Set up warehouses on the Zhoushan Islands in Hangzhou Bay, and allowed them to station no more than [-] unarmed staff.

Nassau did not immediately agree to this request, but his inclination was to suggest that the East India Company meet it at all costs, because he had already received an order of 800 million taels. If this permanent stronghold closer to the south of the Yangtze River is built, then It is very promising to open up the trade of Ming Dynasty and get a trade volume of 1000 million taels a year, which means that the profit of the East India Company can be at least doubled.

The negotiation was over, and Nassau immediately replied that he would stay in Daming as a representative, and after being authorized by the Governor of the East India Company, he would sign a formal treaty with Yang Chao.

After all the negotiations were over, Nassau was able to sort out what he had seen and heard during this time, and wrote to his mistress again.

Jiangxi.

Hong Chengchou received it as soon as the Jiangnan army was mobilized.

At this time, Hong Chengchou was on the South Great Wall, and he was making careful calculations in his mind, but he was always in a dilemma.

The Jiangnan army marched westward from the north to the south, and one of them attacked Jiujiang along the river. There were ten large ships and hundreds of two-masted gunboats. Obviously, there was no hope for the Qing army's navy, even if there was a water warrior like Shang Kexi. no.The other road goes straight to Nanchang.

The two armies, each with 2 elites, have been supplemented after the last battle. As for Hong Chengchou, what can really fight is the Han army under King Sanshun, but the number is only [-], and they can deal with the opponent all the way. It is still difficult, how to deal with the two roads, so Hong Chengchou is very embarrassed, his best choice is to give up one place and stick to the other.

But where to give up?
Geographically, Nanchang should be abandoned, because without Jiujiang, Jiangxi would be meaningless.

Without Jiujiang, Hubei and Jiangxi would be cut off and become an isolated island surrounded by the Ming army.

However, Nanchang is the provincial capital. If it is lost, it will have too much political significance. The criticism and suspicion of Hong Chengchou in the court have been very deep, and it all depends on Dorgon's support. If he loses Nanchang, Dorgon is not willing to continue to support him If not, the only option is to take him under the knife.

As a Han Chinese, and in a high position, it is really difficult.

"My lords, I would like to ask you a question, what happened to the recruits in your hands, you must answer honestly."

Hong Chengchou had to be sure of the strength in his hands, and had to let King Sanshun answer him truthfully.

Kong Youde sighed, "It's been less than a month since the recruits were recruited, of course we can't count on field battles, even defending the city would be an embarrassing task."

Shang Kexi and Geng Zhongming nodded, they also agreed with this point of view.

After Hong Chengchou received Dorgon's secret decree, he did not recruit an army himself, but expanded the recruits into King Sanshun's team, so that in the future, the Eight Banners would ask him to settle accounts and would not talk about private expansion of the army. Throw the burden to King Sanshun.

However, King Sanshun was also willing to accept it. The reason for their prosperity and wealth was not because they had soldiers in their hands.

Now that Dorgon has a secret decree to expand the army, it would be a fool not to seize such a good opportunity. If he misses this opportunity, he wants to expand his strength under the watchful eyes of the Eight Banners. He doesn't know when he will go.

But the time is really short, and the language barrier, the quality of the soldiers recruited is also uneven, most of them are some desperadoes, or even bandits in the mountains and lakes, Liangjiazi is not willing to apply at all.

"That is to say, you are not sure that you can hold Jiujiang and Nanchang at the same time?"

Hong Chengchou smiled wryly.

King Sanshun replied: "That's true. If you can unite your troops and have 10 people guarding the city, you can still fight the Yang family's army. If you divide your troops, you can only be defeated one by one."

The name of Yang Jiajun started from Haizhou, and it still spread all over the north and south of the river. The whole Nanzhili has called it that way, and King Sanshun also accepted this name from Jiangxi soldiers. Otherwise, I really don’t know how to give it to Yang Chao. The army is positioned.

Hong Chengchou is not a hesitant person, it is already very rare to be forced to this point by Yang Chao.

At this time, after receiving the exact statement from King Sanshun, Hong Chengchou made a decisive decision: "Then join forces. You wait to lead the army and join forces with Bashan immediately. At that time, 13 troops will defend the city, and they must be able to defend it!"

King Sanshun nodded, that was all he could do. Bashan's elite Eight Banners, combined with their Han army, had [-] elites, plus [-] recruits, they should be able to cope with the attack of the Yang family army.

Nanjing City.

Nassau has already summed up some of its own experiences.

During this period of time, he did not waste his time. In addition to investigating the life of the Chinese people and the organizational capabilities of the government, he paid more attention to the business situation, from the goods on the market to the large transactions on the exchange, as well as banks and bonds, etc. Waiting for things.

Nassau is very keen to grasp that Zhongyi Boyang Chao is carrying out a reform to revolutionize the business situation of the Ming Dynasty, and these are the only places where Nassau believes that the Dutch are better than China.

Therefore, he compared his investigation situation with the situation in the Netherlands, and wrote a detailed summary report. After hesitating for a while, he copied a copy and sent it to Yang Chao for reference. He hoped that his goodwill could be conveyed to Yang Chao, so that Let the East India Company obtain commercial benefits.

Nassau didn't know that the report he transcribed in French made Yang Chao feel like a treasure, and he read it four or five times until late at night before giving up.

In any case, you have to admit that the Dutch are the most commercially developed country in this era. The precious metals that Spain plundered from the Americas stimulated the country’s business. The central bank, the stock exchange and the first listed company appeared one after another. Commercially, the Netherlands The first stepped into the modern age.

Although Yang Chao has some simple common sense, he is not a serious professional after all. He seems to understand the detailed rules of the financial industry.

Previously, he had been groping according to his own subjectivity. This very professional report from the Dutch made Yang Chao understand a lot of things at once.

In particular, I understand a truth: I am still far behind!
(End of this chapter)