Lu Ming

Chapter 596 Embarkation
After several times of non-stop communication on the communication boat, Annan and Fuyuan finally reached an agreement: Annan sent an official envoy to Fuyuan to negotiate.

So in the afternoon of that day, a square-headed Annan official ship finally appeared on the wharf outside Thang Long Mansion, which was originally dead.

Zheng Chuntang stood upright at the bow with a serious face.As the boat under his feet sailed slowly, the warships of the Ming Dynasty with white sails hanging on both sides were also left behind.

Although it has never dealt with the Central Plains Dynasty, there is no doubt that the internal structure of a small remote country with a lack of grammar like Annan still adopts the Central Plains Dynasty.

In today's Annan and Houli Dynasties, the interior of the court hall is a replica of Han culture, including the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Officials and other departments.Confucianism is still emphasized in education in China, and there are formal imperial examination rules.In terms of economy, the distribution of taxes is based on the Tang Dynasty's rent and mediocrity adjustment method.

Today's Shenglong Mansion is controlled by the Annan Zheng family.Therefore, the key positions in the court hall are naturally occupied by the Zheng family, which must include the servant of the Ministry of officials.

Zheng Chuntang is the Minister of the Ministry of Officials of An Nanguo.

He is the in-law of the contemporary Annan power minister Zheng Bing. He is a cultural person who has read poetry and books. He also traveled to Daming and other places in his early years, so he has rich qualifications.So this time Zheng Chuntang was entrusted with a heavy task by Zheng Bing, and he took on the important task of "going to the enemy's big ship outside his home".

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After a long time, the envoy ship sent by the Annan court finally passed through the defensive zone composed of gunboats at all levels alone, and came to the foot of the mountain-like ship.

"God, the rumors are true, this ship is huge!'".

The one who exclaimed was a tall foreigner.Judging from the person's fiery red curly hair, solid figure and prominent cheekbones, it is very likely that this guy is Dutch.

Don't be surprised why there are Dutchmen on Annan's envoy ship.

As early as the early seventeenth century, the Portuguese who attacked all the way along the coastline had already landed in the Indochina Peninsula, and were committed to establishing trade relations with the indigenous governments in various places.

At this point in time, the Portuguese were caught up in the Annan civil war: Annan’s nominal Houli Dynasty had existed in name only, and the two private military and political groups Ruan and Zheng had divided the country into the north and the south respectively.

Exactly from the year when the traverser appeared, Zheng and Ruan began a see-saw civil war that lasted for more than 40 years: the dispute between Zheng and Ruan.

In this process, the southern Ruan Lord, who was on the weak side, accepted the Portuguese who came from India to find opportunities, and the two parties concluded a trade contract.

After that, the Portuguese not only sold weapons to Master Ruan, but also carried out a series of actions to enhance the military strength of the Ruan family, including training soldiers, building fortresses, and opening foundry workshops on the spot.

The Ruan family survived the first "crusade" launched by the Zheng family in the north in 1627 by relying on the advanced military ideas and weapon assistance provided by Portuguese military experts. , On the forts built under the guidance of the Portuguese, they were beaten badly, so they had no choice but to withdraw their troops.

Afterwards, Zheng quickly found out the whole story: it turned out that Ruan had found the support of his foreign father!
Will the plan come out?

"Report to the king, there are Hongmao'helan' businessmen outside the door asking to see you."

that is the truth.

The Dutch, who fought with the Portuguese all over the world, immediately found the Zheng family in the north by smelling it.After that, the two sides hit it off, and the Dutch became Zheng's military adviser and arms supplier.

As military advisers, the Dutch usually also acted as the "international relations adviser" of the indigenous regime.

Regarding the powerful Ming fleet that suddenly appeared a few days ago, the Dutch have much more information than Zheng.After all, the Zheng family was just a closed indigenous farming regime, and the Dutch were the "Sea Rhythms" in the [-]th century. There is a huge gap in the amount of information between the two sides.

This is why there are Dutchmen on the envoy ship that came to the foot of Fuyuan today.

The tall Dutchman who exclaimed was named Van Hermann Hotell.This person is Batavia's trade representative stationed in Thang Long Mansion.

Hearing the astonishment of the Dutch adviser beside him, Zheng Chuntang, An Nanzheng's envoy, was a little puzzled.In his opinion, apart from being a few sizes bigger, the Fuyuan ship in front of the ship with big characters painted with fangs and claws is actually not much different from the Dutch merchant ships that are usually stationed outside Thang Long Mansion.

"Mr. Fan, why are you surprised? Could it be that your country does not have such a huge ship?"

Unfortunately, unlike ordinary people's imagination, the Dutch at this time really did not have a thousand-ton battleship like the Fuyuan.

During this period of time, the Dutch, who have not even resolved the issue of independence, are working on global trade.Most of the seven provincial republics galloping in the global seas are armed merchant ships.Even in a large-scale naval battle with the Spaniards, the Dutch also went into battle with a large number of armed merchant ships, taking the route of beating the old master to death.

And it's not just the Dutch.Even the old maritime powers such as Britain, France and Spain have a three-layer gun deck and can only be used for offshore decisive battles. The number of "first-class battleships" is also very rare.

The reason is simple: first-tier battleships are expensive to build and difficult to maintain.At the beginning of the seventeenth century, the primitive accumulation of countries in continental Europe was insufficient. Whether it was social wealth or science and technology, it was far from reaching the level of the Opium War.

So these days, first-class battleships are usually built in small numbers and used as "national symbols".It is generally used as the emperor's special car, or the flagship of the naval commander.

Unless involved in a major battle, a first-class battleship that moves slowly and has low self-sustainability will never appear in the open sea, let alone sail around the dangerous Cape of Good Hope to East Asia.

And the Dutch really started to build professional warships of the thousand-ton class, and that would have to wait until the first Anglo-Dutch war 30 years later.After that, the Dutch who learned from the pain will start to build a main battleship with three decks.

Therefore, Zheng Chuntang got a definite answer from the Dutch population, which made him a little frustrated.After all, in Zheng Chuntang's mind, the Dutch who can travel across the ocean to come here should have masts and oars like clouds in their old nest, full of large ships.

After a few short exchanges, without waiting for Zheng Chuntang to think about it, the ladder on Fuyuan's hull was lowered.

At this time, Zheng Chuntang had no time to study Chinese and foreign ships.He quickly pulled himself together with a serious expression, and climbed up the Fuyuan along the ladder.After the envoys boarded the ship, they first notified their names and official positions and handed over the documents, and then they were inspected by a group of soldiers, and then led to the bow of Fuyuan by a small official.

The meeting place for the traveler today is arranged at the bow of the ship.

Different from yesterday's Rotten Wine Conference, today was to receive foreign envoys after all, so not only was the place vacant on the bow of the ship, but neat tables, chairs and benches were also arranged.

So Zheng Chuntang saw a rather "grand" reception ceremony.

On the left side of the bow, there are three rows of chairs.Sitting on it are all Ming people with potbellies, silk brocades, various colored headdresses, and traditional robes. Most of them are middle-aged and elderly.

On the right hand side of the bow, there are two rows of chairs that are much smaller in scale.In these two rows of top chairs, most of them are young, strange and bright people who wear short shirts, dark hair, and "angry horses in fresh clothes".

Although the guests on the left and right sides had different clothes and hats, they looked at Zheng Chuntang and his party with the same playful expression in their eyes at the moment: This Annan official seems to be neat, and his clothes are similar to that of the Ming Dynasty officials.However, if you look closely, you can see that the loose robes and official hats, as well as the weird patch on the chest, always make everyone feel awkward.

The next moment, Zheng Chuntang straightened his pirated Hanfu clothes, stepped forward steadily, and bowed to the middle-aged man in the middle chair: "My next officer, Zheng Chuntang, see General Cao."

Travelers were not surprised that this Annan envoy could speak fluent Nanjing Mandarin.Today's younger brothers and high-level people in the Ming Dynasty all speak Chinese and use Chinese.Annan had to wait until the French colonial period before the missionaries "invented" the Vietnamese language of later generations.

I received the document before, so the traveler already knows the origin of the other party's name: "Master Zheng, please take a seat."

After the first middle-aged man made his voice, he continued to laugh and said, "It's good to teach the servant to know that I am Shao Qiang, the counselor of the general army's yamen. As for the general soldier, diplomacy is not equal, so you won't be able to see Mr. Cao today." .”

The principle of "diplomatic reciprocity" not only exists in later generations, but also in ancient times, it was not said that envoys would go directly to the hall as soon as they arrived, so Zheng Chuntang was not surprised when he heard the words. After all, he also went to the capital to pay tribute to the Ming Emperor. person.

"Master Shao sits firmly in the Chinese army, and he should be the one who can take the lead for General Cao, so that's good."

Next, Shao Qiang naturally greeted the Dutch red-haired Van Hermann Hotell who was waiting at the side.

As Batavia's trade representative stationed in Annan, Hotell has lived in this rainy and humid country for more than two and a half years.So at this moment, he can already communicate with the traveler in "Annan's second-hand Chinese" with a strange accent and stuttering.

"Hotel, the trade representative of the Dutch East India Company, on behalf of Governor Korn, would like to present the gift and greetings from Batavia to the old friend of the company, the invincible commander of the East, Earl Cao."

"Hahaha." Shao Qiang looked at the red-haired man in front of him with his three-cornered hat on his chest and bowed at 90°, and said with a big smile, "Governor Cohen was an outstanding man, and my commander-in-chief has always been a hero. Although he has never Masked, but the Governor is an old friend."

"Come here, show Mr. Hotell a seat and serve tea."

Generally speaking, the first meeting between the guest and the host was relatively harmonious.

However, Zheng Chuntang saw the end of the greeting after sitting down for a while, so he immediately stood up, cupped his hands with a serious face, and asked straight to the point: "The army of the Shang Kingdom came and went suddenly a few days ago, destroying my home and killing my parents. What is it?" Whose imperial decree did you follow?"

(End of this chapter)