Lu Ming

Chapter 605 Crowley's Fantasy Journey ([-])

Old William stood on the slipway of the Lady Jacob, with his beard dancing in the wind.

The next moment, old William touched his arms, and a flat, molded and carved sterling silver vial appeared in his hand.After taking a sip of the "authentic" Taiwanese rum in it, the old William pointed forward in the sea breeze and shouted: "That's Macau, see that, Crowley boy!"

The time is already the beginning of April in 1632.

After the banquet at Hongji Port before, the Lady Jacob stayed in Hongji Port for another half a month.

The reason why he stayed for such a long time was because old William relied on his status as a prostitute to "catch" an important insider news: Guangzhou's door is open.

In other words, for things like opening the door, being smashed open by others with naval guns is an operation, and actively opening up to attract investment is also an operation.

For the Chinese, both operations have deep experience.The former will turn the country into a "semi-feudal and semi-colonial" sick man, while the latter will turn the country into an old hooligan with the second largest GDP in the world. The contrast is extremely stark.

In short, it is no good to close the country.The decline of China's modern history actually laid the foundation as early as the sixteenth century: when foreigners knocked on the door across the barriers of the ocean, it already indicated that the indigenous civilization was falling behind.

Otherwise, why do all science fiction films assume that alien civilization is advanced?It's very simple, because crossing time and space itself represents the leading technology.

In this plane, when the time came to 1632, the transmigration forces entrenched in the southeast coast of Daming finally began the process of guiding the people under the rule and actively opening the door.

This time the door was opened, although it was because the imperial court finally made acquiescence in the latest decree.But to be honest, for some people who are well prepared, the court will not acquiesce, and they all plan to act according to the existing timetable.

It's nothing more than a question of how much face to save for the court.

Fortunately, the imperial court now has a well-informed and stable presiding officer, so they did not get entangled in such side issues.

Therefore, the Lady Jacob reserved one of the first positions to participate in the opening of the door by virtue of the shareholder status of the old William.

Next, in late March, the large fleet, which had been settled, finally departed from Hongji Port in Annan and returned to the court.The long-awaited Lady Jacob also entered the formation and set off together with the transport fleet.

Since the total number of ships exceeds a hundred, the formation of the large fleet is spectacular, and it has drawn a long trajectory of more than ten nautical miles on the sea.

On this day in early April, the Grand Fleet arrived off the coast of Macau.

Arriving at the three-way intersection in Macau, the previously well-organized large fleet immediately parted ways.A large number of transport ships and some frigates scattered away, some continued northward to Taiwan, Fujian and Zhejiang along the coastline, and some disappeared in various water systems in southern Guangxi.

The remaining main ships of the Grand Fleet anchored on the same day.

The Lady Jacob was among them, and instead of entering the inner harbor of Macau like the European ships that came with her, she honestly dropped anchor in the open sea.

Early the next morning, four new ships joined the fleet from the inner harbor of Macau.Immediately, the large fleet pulled anchor and began to sail up the vast Pearl River, sailing directly outside Guangzhou.

Of the four ships that joined later, three of them were European-style soft sailing ships, with the flags of the Netherlands, Spain, and Portugal flying on their masts.The only hard sailing boat is the red single boat from the Wa Kingdom.

At this point, the truth is revealed.These "foreign" ships are the icebreakers used to respond to the "open door" policy this time.

Unlike the temporary stoppers like the Mrs. Jacob, the latter ships are undoubtedly prepared diplomatic ships.

These include the Dutch, who have always had a relatively high degree of cooperation, and the Spaniards, who have had a good life in the past two years.

In addition, there are Japanese samurai standing on the bow of the red single boat, looking greedily around the banks of the Pearl River, with Tsukidai haircuts.

Historically, as early as the "tributary dispute incident" in the early years of Jiajing, the Ming government officially banned trade with Japan.

But this time the Japanese trade ships entered Guangzhou, which implicitly contained a hidden meaning: the Ming government officially lifted the trade ban on Japan. At least under the protection of a certain force on the southeast coast, the Japanese could freely enter and exit the port.

So the Japanese are in a very happy mood this time.

If there is a happy mood, there will naturally be unpleasant ones.

In a bad mood, it was the Portuguese ship that was at the end of the big fleet.

Originally, since the Jiajing Dynasty, the Portuguese were the only foreign businessmen authorized by the Ming government to come to Guangzhou City to purchase silk and porcelain at designated times every year.The Portuguese took advantage of this advantage, and with the help of Macau, an excellent transit point, they have earned countless trade profits for decades.

Now, Franji's days are over.

First, the city of Macau was forcibly breached, and the Frangji people lost their core trade base.And this time the door was opened, and the Frangians lost their trade privileges in Guangzhou, and fell to the same trade status as their sworn enemy, the Dutch.

Everything that the Portuguese had established in the trade with Ming Dynasty in the previous decades was wiped out.

Of course they were in a bad mood.

But no matter how bad the mood is, the Portuguese still actively participated in the opening of the door this time.They don't have the capital to be arrogant now, if they don't understand the situation clearly, they won't have their share in the sea trade in the future.

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In this way, the fleet, led by two mighty and domineering ships that suppressed sea power in East Asia, traveled all the way up the main channel of the Pearl River that was newly cleared and planned. Finally, on the evening of April 1632, 4, it was berthed outside Guangzhou. In the White Swan Pond.

Feeling the oppression of Guangzhou City in the dark night, looking at the brightly lit fireworks in the night, and even the bright lights of the new district in the distance, the Dutch and Spaniards including Crowley were extremely excited.Due to the desperate efforts of the Portuguese for many years, the former did not get the opportunity to enter the interior of the Ming Dynasty, and this time he finally got his wish.

When the sun rose at the beginning of the second day, the scheduled grand ceremony began.

First of all, there were bursts of roars on the White Swan Pool, which was another salute from the fleet.

Next, the eight gates of Guangzhou City were opened together, and a large number of standard inspectors escorted Xiong Wencan, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, and a group of government and county officials to rush out of the city.

Next came a large number of ordinary people who got the news and came to see the excitement.

The scene is in good order.In the past few years, Baietan has often staged similar dramas, so everyone knows where to stand now.

Before Xiong Wencan's brigade arrived at the pier, Zhongyong Bo Cao Chuan (false), wearing a red earl's robe, disembarked from the Zhenman first, and brought his generals to the pier ahead of time to wait.

The two sides met cordially at the pier.

Next comes standard procedure.

Master Cao first reported the outline of the expedition to Governor Xiong in his capacity as the deputy commander of the Guangdong Military Region: "Fighting endlessly against the enemy depends on the hard work of the soldiers, and we have won all the merits."

After simply listening to a few words of the report, Governor Xiong returned his congratulatory speech: "A mere Samoyed jumping on a beam, even if I think about it, I can't stop General Taishan's blow. I am also prepared for today's scene."

At this point, the host and guest smiled knowingly, and everything was silent.

At this point, the peripheral audience all smiled knowingly, as if what everyone heard and saw was the same thing.

But that's not the case.

For most of the people who eat melons, Cao Zongbing took his subordinates to Haidong this time to teach the Samoyed country who dared to block the trade route.

As far as Xiong Wencan and other well-informed dignitaries from all walks of life, Cao Zongbing took his subordinates to sea this time to teach the Annan people to grab the territory.

Only the people who traveled across knew that this trip to the sea was not only for Annan, but also to avoid the imperial court's conscript and not to give Emperor Chongzhen an excuse.

After the scene with Xiong Wencan was finished, a group of officials from various yamen in Guangzhou came forward to congratulate.

As for the military officers before the Ming Dynasty, they couldn't make such a big picture.Not to mention going out to "suppress bandits", even if the new general takes office, few civil officials will come to congratulate him.

However, times have changed, and the surname Cao has clearly become powerful now. The tiger occupies the southeast and covers the sky with one hand. Suffering immediate loss. Thief Cao has a lot of money and sources of wealth. He can't bear to corrupt the official every day, so let's make connections first.

After exchanging cordial and brotherly greetings with a group of civil servants, according to the usual practice, it should be a session for everyone to go back to the city to eat, drink and listen to music.

But this time there are more procedures.

In the next moment, representatives of foreign businessmen from various countries, who had already prepared well and dressed in costumes, lined up.

Seeing the sudden appearance of a large number of Semu people, the crowd of onlookers suddenly whispered.

But that's about it.These blond (red-haired, black-haired, brunette) and blue-eyed gringos showed up and caused little sensation.In previous years, in Guangzhou City, Gein would also see Frangji people regularly.

Xiong Wencan, who had already made preparations, received envoys from various countries one by one.

The procedure is very simple: businessmen line up to bow and salute, and then hand over letters and gift lists written by the governors of East Asia to the governors of the Ming Dynasty.

After Lao Xiong's subordinate took over the document, he said a few words of encouragement, regardless of whether the foreigner could understand it or not, it was dismissed.

Soon, the procedure was short and convenient, but the significant opening-door New Deal completed the historic first order.

On the Lady Jacob, which was not far from the pier, Crowley and Old William's uncle and nephew watched the whole play with relish.

After all the welcome procedures were completed, it was almost noon.At this point in time, the bosses are naturally going to the city to spend their time, and most of the rest of the people are also scattered.And the fleet, which had been in a spectacular formation on the White Swan Pool before, finally came to the moment to disperse and go home. The main battleship turned around and went to the downstream Huangpu Naval Port. The guests, including all the trading ships, all went to the pier in the new area.

Crowley and the others can finally set foot on land now.

In order to welcome the first batch of foreign businessmen, the new area has already made preparations in terms of quarantine, trade, and tourism training.

(End of this chapter)