Lu Ming

Page 264

Immediately afterwards, Zheng Bing turned his head to look at the key figure who was sent to the enemy ship today: Zheng Chuntang.

"Zheng Chuntang, tell me, did the Ming people really intend to overthrow our country when they came here?"

Zheng Chuntang, who was silent at the side and tried to reduce his sense of presence, broke out in a cold sweat at this moment.He knows that now is a critical moment, and the next answer will affect how the whole northern Zheng family will face Ming people in the future.The extreme pressure made Zheng Chuntang sweat profusely.

"Report to my lord." No matter how he feels, Zheng Chuntang, as the envoy of the Shangming ship, has to make it clear: "In the eyes of the lower officials, the Ming people are well-armed and arrogant, so they must have come prepared. "

"The current situation is dangerous. I have strong enemies abroad and dissatisfied ministers inside. In my opinion, I might as well make a little lie and wait for the future."

Zheng Bing is now very clear about the opinions of the officials below.

Except for a small number of diehards, the rest, including most of the civil servants, are "surrenderers" who agree to sign a treaty with the Ming people.

The most important reason for this, apart from strong ships and sharp guns, the civil officials have already made it clear: the Ruan family in the south.

Annan's land is long and narrow, so it is easy to form a situation of confrontation between the North and the South.In history, the Annanites themselves engaged in North-South confrontation for a long time.Even in the later generations, in the 60s, the North and the South reunified after a fierce battle.

Therefore, for a long time, for the Zheng family who "holds the emperor" in the north and has a legal system of justice, its biggest enemy is the Ruan family in the south who has ruled half of the country.This point cannot be changed even if Mingren's giant ship cannons hit the door.

That's why during the debate just now, the civil servants either explicitly or implicitly reminded those in power: You can't fight to the death with the Ming people, otherwise the Ruan family will benefit from it.

In fact, there is no need for a civil servant to remind him. As the minister of Bingguo, Zheng Bing can naturally see this.And he foresaw another worse situation: the Ming people colluded with the Ruan family to directly overthrow the Hou Li Dynasty and establish a new dynasty.

Zheng Bing was very sure that the Ming people could do this.Because for a long time, in Gaoping City, which is further north of Shenglong Mansion and close to the border of the Ming Dynasty, there is still a small group of "remnants of the former Mo dynasty" who survived under the separatist regime, and the Zheng family has never been able to eradicate it.The reason for this is because this remnant of the Mo Dynasty was canonized by the Ming Dynasty back then, and still maintains the "orthodox" brand, with the support of Ming people behind it.

This kind of thing has happened many times - as long as there is a small country that survives in the tributary system of the Central Plains dynasty, once there is a struggle for a position in the country, the winner will often send envoys to request the canonization of the Chinese emperor immediately.

To sum up, after collecting a lot of opinions and weighing all the pros and cons, Zheng Bing finally made up his mind to "negotiate peace" with the Ming people.

"I have made up my mind, even the poisoned wine, I have to drink it for now."

"Zheng Chuntang!"

"The minister is here."

"Early tomorrow morning, I will send people to the Ming ship to discuss with the Ming people."

"As ordered!"

After making up his mind, Zheng Bing quickly decided on the candidates for the peace talks.

Now that the general direction is set, the next step is naturally to find a way to bargain with the Ming people: "Come on, please go to the palace with Merchant Lan."

Chapter 599 Fuyuan Treaty ([-])

The Annan people's obedience is not surprising to the traveler.After all, history has long proved that backward indigenous civilizations cannot resist foreign invaders.

You can't blame a certain force for being strong and domineering. The persimmons are meant to be picked up softly.

If Annan's current national power is in the stage of strengthening the Tang Dynasty and the prosperous Han Dynasty, then some people may still have a little concern before firing the gun, calculating the cost and even the possible protracted war expenses.

However, at this point in time, An Nanguo itself was in a messy era of warlords.The country is in decline, the people are in poverty, and the country has been fighting endlessly for years.Encountering a sudden and powerful foreign aggression, his small body collapsed in an instant.

As for local warlords like the Zheng family, the first enemy they face will always be their own kind... the Ruan family in the south.

The so-called anti-foreigner is not as good as Annei.

So, only one day after bringing back the treaty documents, the Annan mission boarded the Fuyuan again.This time, the size of the mission was increased.The leader of the negotiations has also become An Nanguo's current chief minister, Ma Lisun.

Although Le Duan is the leader of the "curve to save the country" faction, it does not mean that he is willing to sell the "national" interests.

Regardless of the fact that the two sides are in the stage of "country enmity and family hatred", the Li family is also a political family in the Thang Long Mansion, and its interests are all tied up in Annan's country, and it has no connection with the time-traveling forces.

So logically, like all negotiations, the first round of formal negotiations on the Fuyuan was full of gunpowder from the very beginning.

This situation is really normal, after all, everyone was not prepared for the sudden incident.Like the later generations, it will probably take a period of time to adapt to each other before a certain force can find a spokesperson in the local area.

Li Sima raised objections on all terms.

However, this is of no use.

Any kind of negotiation is based on the equal strength of both parties.Once one party is weak, the terms will definitely be tilted towards the strong.

The negotiation taking place on the Fuyuan now is similar to the one I had on the Gaohuali in the Qing Dynasty.Now that the indigenous regime has been bombarded on the negotiating table abruptly, it is naturally a lamb to be slaughtered, and there are no cards to play.

As for the various negotiating methods used by the Annan people, such as verbal attacks, arguments, threats, sophistry, delays, etc., they are like clear wind and rain in front of Shao Qiang and his like, and have no effect at all.

Everything is determined by strength.Without strength, no matter how exquisite the performance is, it is child's play.Shao Qiang and his generation don't even bother to play with the Annan people at this moment.They simply told the Annan people: The ceasefire period between the two warring parties is 36 hours.Once an agreement cannot be reached... Hehe, Li Sima, you understand.

Li Sima, an old bureaucrat, naturally understood.

So the flower work was gone, and the negotiation speed suddenly accelerated.

Here, the benefits of the traveler's foresight are reflected: take action first and show off your muscles, which can save huge time and cost.

In the war of one crow in history, before the final agreement was signed, the Qing and British sides carried out a complete set of international standard reversal procedures including the sale of cigarettes in Humen, diplomatic exchanges, escalation of the situation, and the start of war.

After that, there were a series of wars in Guangdong, Taiwan, Ningbo, Zhenjiang, Nanjing and Xiaguan.In the end, the Qing Dynasty finally couldn't hold on in Xiaguan.

The entire Yicrow went from Humen to Xiaguan, and the time span was as long as two years. During this period, the Qing and British sides communicated and negotiated countless times, but in the end it was the cannon that played a decisive role.

Travelers who know history, in this incident, will not let themselves fall into that slow process.This is a waste of time, and the changes are changing with each passing day, and the time-traveling forces aiming to conquer the world can't afford it.

There are still countless indigenous forces to be conquered in the future. If it takes two years to go north and south, the crossing people will not be able to lie on the beaches of Miami.

So some people really don't talk about martial arts this time, and bombard Shenglong Mansion for no reason as soon as they get started - anyway, they will see the real chapter sooner or later, why don't I do it first, after you know how powerful it is, everyone will save trouble.

In the [-]th century, there was no such thing as world public opinion, political correctness, human rights organization, satellite monitoring, war reporters and paparazzi taking sneak shots. I just do whatever I want, what can I do?

Facts have proved that the effect is remarkable.During the negotiation, once some people showed their impatience and the attitude of "I'm busy today, let's contact another day", the Annan people immediately softened, and the controversial clauses were also accelerated.

It is not so much a negotiation as a notification.

It is worth noting that during the whole process, there was another third-party force that also made an indelible contribution to the signing of the treaty: the Dutch.

The Dutch are actually of one mind with the Annan court.

Prior to this, the North Annan Zheng court handed over trading privileges to the Dutch in exchange for advanced and comprehensive military assistance from the Dutch.

After the shelling incident, like the Zheng court, the Dutch business house stationed in Thang Long Mansion quickly assessed the impact of the war on its side.

The answer is obvious: Monopoly is always the most profitable way of doing business.The random entry of the traversers broke the Dutch monopoly in North Annan, so the Dutch must stand on the side of the natives and retain as many native rights as possible.

On this point, the Zheng family quickly reached a consensus with the Dutch, and the two families felt like they were huddling together for warmth.

In the ensuing negotiations, the Dutch, who played both the roles of "special consultant" and "mediator", also worked hard to help the poor natives protect their rights and interests.

In this regard, the traveler somewhat gave the Dutch some face.

First, it took into account the current good foreign trade relations between the country and most of the European business forces.This kind of foreign trade relationship, in the long-term planning of the traversing forces, will definitely be transformed into some kind of relationship between countries.You must know that Spain now owns a large area of ​​American land, and the Dutch also have a presence around the world... On that day, these can be discussed, right?

In addition, some things can be done unscrupulously behind closed doors, but if there are third-party information channels... there is no loss of profit, but the work cannot be done so rough.Travelers are also worried that a certain businessman's "Memoirs of the Far East" will appear in the Dutch historical archives in the future.

So, in the end, before the end of the "temporary ceasefire period", the text of the treaty, which was mediated by many parties, made its debut.

The text of the final "Fuyuan Treaty" is still [-] main treaties.This treaty, with silky words and a gentle attitude, has taken care of the interests of Ming, Zheng and Holland to the greatest extent. It can be called a successful treaty, a successful treaty.

The treaty agreed: From now on, the boundary of Hengpu County (Hongji) in Annan will become a "free trade zone" under the trusteeship of the Ming Dynasty.For the import and export of commodities and raw materials in the free trade zone, neither An Nanguo nor Mingguo can collect taxes.

The treaty agrees: From now on, many Annan ports will allow free trade of foreign ships berthed.

The treaty agreed: From now on, a Min Lane in the eastern suburbs of Thang Long Mansion will be allocated as the embassy area, and the business houses of the Ming Dynasty and other countries will be built at their own expense, and they will take care of their own safety. (Note: The embassy area of ​​the Ming Dynasty enjoys the right to garrison no more than 200 people and extraterritorial rights. As long as any Annan people step into the embassy area, the political asylum clause will be activated unconditionally. PS: See Appendix 2 for this article.)

The treaty agreed: From now on, Ming merchants can freely purchase all kinds of agricultural products in Annan.The tariffs between the two parties are decided by the annual "tariff conference", and An Nanguo has no right to change the tariff amount without authorization.

It was agreed in the treaty that An Nanguo would be responsible for compensating the Ming Kingdom's military expenses of 300 million taels of Kuping silver for the "conflict" between the two sides. "Note: This military expenditure is allowed to be repaid in stages, and An Nanguo is allowed to make up for it in various forms such as labor export, mineral products, and agricultural products."

The above are a few key items that are more concerned by the time travelers and involve their own vital interests.

The next few items are the items that the Annans and the Dutch are concerned about.

It was agreed in the treaty that the trade privileges enjoyed by Dutch merchants in Annan State were retained.Regarding the future business status of Dutch merchants in the free trade zone and the ports of Ming Dynasty, the Ming and Dutch parties will discuss separately.

The treaty agreed that the Ming power represented by the Cao family must issue a public statement from now on, identifying the Houli Dynasty as Annan Zhengshuo, identifying the Gaoping Mo family and the southern Ruan family as rebellious, and promised to support the Qing Dynasty. The representative Zheng's establishment continued to be in power.

The treaty agreed: From now on, the Zheng family in the north will accept Cao's military ideological guidance and military assistance in an all-round way.Both Ming and Zheng must cooperate closely to try to wipe out the southern Ruan family within the next five years.

The above are most of the key points of the Fuyuan Treaty.

Among them, apart from some obvious terms related to commerce and trade, the few items that the traversing forces are most concerned about have been signed as they wished.Of course, what outsiders care about must be what Annan people have lost painfully: once sovereignty is lost, the country will soon decline, but sometimes it is not obvious.

But as the saying goes, everyone settles their own accounts.On the surface, the Fuyuan Treaty is not really harsh.In addition to the existing commercial terms and the Houli Dynasty, which suffered losses for Lizi, the Zheng family who cared most about strength was actually quite satisfied in private—the Ming people not only allowed the long-term return of "reparations", but also promised the most crucial Dongxi: Help the Zheng family wipe out the Southern Buchen.

The latter one is very attractive to Annan Cao Cao Zheng Bing, who has been coveting the imperial power for a long time: once the Zheng family goes south to destroy the Ruan family, it will have enough political prestige.At that time, Zheng Bing can hold a grand abdication ceremony like Cao Wei, replace the Houli Dynasty in one fell swoop, establish the Zheng family's own dynasty, and complete the great achievements of the Zheng family that have lasted for several generations.

Now, it depends on whether Mingren can fulfill the promise in the treaty.If it can be completed, then in Zheng Bing's view, a few ports in the area bring some commercial interests, and if you give it up, you will give it up. What can be more important than a big position?

However, regarding this point, Zheng Bing was over-concerned: the traverser would definitely help him unify the entire Annan territory with all his strength, and he would never break his promise.

After all, the traversers came from later generations. Once it is written in black and white, the spirit of the contract must be abided by.

As for after unification... this is not within the scope of the treaty.

Chapter 600 Crowley's Fantastic Journey

At noon, thick clouds floated over the ocean.In the Annan Sea, which has also become quiet and dark, a large European-style merchant ship is sailing along the coastline from south to north.

Judging from the name on the ship's side, this armed merchant ship with a distinct Herbert style should be called "Lady Jacob".

In the 17th century, the ships of the Dutch East India Company in East Asia were usually divided into four types.Among them, the "speedboat" has a small cargo volume, but has artillery at the bow and stern, and is the main ship type used for combat.

The Dutch in history formed a revenge fleet after the Battle of Liaoluo Bay. Among the 15 ships, 11 were speedboats.In addition, the Dutch sent ships to the waters of Manila to block and harass the Spaniards all year round, mainly speedboats.

In addition to speedboats, the East India Company also had weakly armed, big-bellied merchant ships that were mainly used to carry cargo, and flat-bottomed sailing ships with shallow drafts that were suitable for inland transportation.

The last type is a small number of large armed merchant ships with a length of 45 meters and a crew of two to 300 people.This kind of merchant ship is powerfully armed and has a high cargo capacity. It is mainly used for long-distance travel between the Netherlands and East Asia. It is called a "returning sea ship".

The Lady Jacob is just such a large armed merchant ship in its prime.

Suddenly, on the distant sea level, several sail shadows appeared.And these sail shadows have become much larger in the lookout's lens barrel in a short period of time.

There is no doubt that this heralds the high speed of the comer.

The watchman rang the bronze bell urgently.

The captain who got the news got out of the cabin and saw that the visitors were two schooners with a large aspect ratio, and they were speeding like arrows. In just a short time, they had already rushed in front of them.

The Lady Jacob had been on the Batavia-Amsterdam route before, and this was the first time she had come to East Asia, so the captain did not recognize the identity of the person who came.So the captain ordered to load the artillery on the ship to prepare for the battle: as far as the aggressive flanking formation of the comers was concerned, it didn't look like they were visiting.

Fortunately, at the next moment, a Dutchman with a short staff and fiery red messy hair came out of the cabin, and immediately stopped the escalation of the situation.

William Janes, an old Luxembourg mercenary.In 1627, this person served as the captain of the lieutenant guard of the Dutch Trading House in Dayuan Island.

After that, they crossed the crowd to land on the beach, snatched the shop from the Dutch with the M2 machine gun, and occupied Dayuan Island.

William Janes was so lucky in this battle that he was not shredded by the 12.7MM bullet, but was wounded on the leg and made a prisoner.

Afterwards, the turning point took a turn for the worse, and the traversing forces finally reached a trade agreement with the Dutch.And old William also changed from time to time, relying on the friendship he established with the time-traveling people when he was a prisoner, he suddenly became an "old friend of the time-traveling people".

In the end, Old William obtained a "jewelry loan" from the travel crowd, and embarked on the return journey.

Cultured pearls and various faceted crystal ornaments from later generations, as well as high-end goods such as kerosene lamps, caused a sensation in Batavia.

The "captive group of four", including Old William, became the brightest boys in Batavia overnight - "experts in the study of mysterious oriental forces" because they had more daily contact with the time-traversing people.

This incident changed the trajectory of William Sr.'s life.

From then on, old William used the loan from the sale of the pearls and his own personal savings to buy goods needed by the cross-border public, and started a single gang between Batavia and the officials.

Because he maintained a "primitive friendship" with some time-traveling people, Old William was often able to obtain some scarce commodities from certain forces, such as bleaching powder, such as vitamin pills.

In the world of the colonists, not to mention ordinary businessmen, the church system soon discovered the magical effect of bleaching powder: turbid raw water that would make people sick after drinking it, after the priest's "purification" ceremony, it became edible. The "holy water" to drink...is there anything more capable of showing miracles and fooling believers than this?

Vitamin pills are more effective.It can not only cure nautical sickness, but also cure many other diseases.European aristocrats in this era ate cooked fruits and various meat products, and would suffer from various vitamin deficiencies.

As for poor people who get more diseases... poor people don't even deserve to hear about magic pills.

The church in the seventeenth century, regardless of the East and the West, belonged to the richest and most arrogant class of big landowners.After the church intervened, the prices of these small and extremely miraculous goods quickly rose to sky-high prices.

Comrade William Sr. quickly accumulated a large amount of personal wealth in just a few years.

Today's old William has become a shareholder of the large Dutch armed merchant ship "Lady Jacob" during his latest voyage.

This time, he spent more than half a year shuttling between various ports along the coast of India, and he did not hesitate to take people deep into the inland, and finally completed the planned procurement task and "returned to the court with victory".

After returning to Batavia, William Sr. rested for less than a month, and took advantage of the South Asian monsoon in January to rush to Guangzhou.

The journey has not been smooth.The Lady Jacob was not only hit by a storm, but also hit by some unknown severe infectious disease, which caused the ship to throw dead bodies into the sea every day.

Fortunately, there were colonies of the Dutch and their allies along the way from Bacheng to Guangzhou, and the ships could continuously call at the port to replenish sailors, which prevented the old William's voyage from being delayed for too long.

However, what he didn't expect was that this time he encountered the patrol boat of "Lord Earl" in Annanhai.

Old William, who has dealt with time travelers all the year round, recognized the unique lines of the two boats and the flags on the boats at first sight.