Daming Yinghua

Chapter 75

Liu Shimin calculated quickly in his mind. From the memorials reported by the Ministry of Household Affairs to the cabinet and the Supervisor of Rituals, the Portuguese in Macao shipped [-] dans of raw and colored silk out of the port last year. There are two hundred tans of silk goods, not to mention the high-end silk brocade and embroidery that ordinary merchants do not have, and only the weaving bureau can get.

If such a large ship of silk and fabrics is successfully sold out of the port, and the cost is taken into account, there will be a profit of 6 to [-] taels of silver.

But it won't all be in the emperor's bowl.

According to what he promised his senior during the secret talks in Songjiang ancient temple, his old Liu would at least collect [-] taels and try to send it to his team.

If the selling price is lowered by one or two, it will make it more difficult for him to make a secret account.

No, we cannot give up an inch.

Liu Shimin then waved to Ma Xianglin: "General Ma, go have a cup of tea with our family and let Ah Zhu talk to them."

Then he turned his head and threw eight simple words to Zheng Haizhu: "Talk how you want, talk about it."

Gullit, the Dutchman, followed the nobles and generals of Ming Dynasty, and saw them sitting at the stone table under the banyan tree, and the servants began to pour tea and offer it.

"Ma'am, your boss, is he angry?"

In Gullit's hypocritical politeness, there was a hint of fake panic.

Zheng Haizhu smiled lightly, and said affirmatively: "Sir, of course we are going to be angry. We Ming people like to deal with honest businessmen the most, but you deceive us like fools."

"Ah? How do you say that?"

Gullit continued to pretend to be a pig and eat a tiger, drawing a cross on his chest: "We who believe in God are the most honest."

Zheng Haizhu took the tobacco pouch from him, and pointed to the poorly embroidered bishop's red dress: "This dye, I guess, is very strange, not from plants, nor from minerals, but from a kind of bug, yes wrong?"

Gullit's blue eyes widened a little, and he immediately put on an expression of neither acknowledgment nor denial, and said in a foolish way: "Thank the merciful God for giving so many beautiful dyes to the world."

Zheng Haizhu thought to himself, this is really a textbook-style diplomatic rhetoric, the essence of which is to avoid answering.

So she stared straight at Gullit and said, "From where we stand to the east, there is a piece of land as vast as our Ming Dynasty. Many years ago, the Frankies discovered it by boat and occupied a lot of land. There is a place called Mexico, Mexico, where there are thorny plants and many small insects on them."

Zheng Haizhu is talking about the cochineal insects discovered by the Spaniards after they colonized Mexico.

Before the Great Geographical Discovery, the Europeans could only use snails to grind them into powder and dye them purple.To obtain bright red fabrics, they can only import them from China through the land and sea silk roads.

But after Columbus's fleet found the American continent, the Spaniards who flocked there not only mined gold and silver, but also seized the industry that the Mesoamericans dyed with the cochineal on the cactus.The colonists drove the Indians to raise cochineal insects, then scraped off the insects' heads and limbs, squeezed their stomachs, mixed the juice and alum in the sun, and dried them into small balls, which were shipped back to Spain as dyes and sold to European merchants.

When Yaxing’s general interpreter translated Zheng Haizhu’s words to Gullit, especially when the name “Mexico” was parroted, Gullit and his Dutch companions pretended to be calm, and were finally overwhelmed by surprise and embarrassment. substitute.

Zheng Haizhu threw out the last few sentences that pointed out the truth: "You can indeed get such dyes, but you can't get them from the land of the Netherlands, and you can't get them from Mexico occupied by the Frankies. The Frankies bought it, um, but you just fought against the Frankies, so you can only ask the Venetians for a higher price."

"Uh……"

Gullit touched his red beard, then pinched his big nose, and smiled sarcastically.

Businessmen don't value face very much, so Gullit did not show any anger when he was offended.

Who told the Chinese lady to tell the truth?

The Dutch were indeed once ruled by the Spaniards. After the fallout, transactions with Spain had to go through a third party, and the cost increased a lot.Otherwise, Governor Cohen vowed to seize as many Spanish overseas colonies as possible!

Gullit just didn't expect that the experience of dealing with Ming people in Macau last year would not work.

It turns out that the officials and staff members of this empire are not all frogs in a well. The eunuchs and women who confronted him today seem to be very familiar with things outside the border and are not easy to be deceived.

On the other side, Zheng Haizhu turned around, beckoned Fan Polu and himself to bring over the hangers with baroque skirts, and then smiled at Gullit with a friendly expression of "there is no deal."

"Sir, in our shop, it's a one-price rule, no matter whether it's silk or cotton, there's no bargaining.

It doesn't matter, I understand that the door is always open, Yuegang welcomes you.

How about this, everyone's time is very valuable, why don't you go to other docks in the county to have a look, and we also invite other overseas friends to look at the goods. "

As soon as the interpreter translated Zheng Haizhu's gentle but decisive chasing order, Gullit laughed out loud "haha".

He first set up the steps by himself, exaggeratedly giving a thumbs up to Eunuch Liu who was drinking tea leisurely, then tilted his head, and motioned for a few accompanying merchants to go to a corner of the courtyard to discuss.

Not long after, Gullit turned back and walked up to Eunuch Liu.

"My lord, we accept the price of raw silk and colored silk. In addition, those gorgeous and comfortable silk and cloth, if the money is enough to buy them, we will also take them away. But we also implore you to give us some convenience, because There are too many of these goods, can we allow one of our sailboats to come in and load and unload the goods directly in the port.”

Hearing what the Dutchman said, Zheng Haizhu began to settle accounts in his heart.

At present, according to the imperial court's decree, the seven major piers at the junction of the river and the sea in Yuegang are absolutely forbidden to berth the galleons of Fan merchants. Merchant ships from more than [-] countries, including the Frankies, must berth on nearby islands. The goods to be taken must be transported by Daming's feeder.

In the past two days, Zheng Haizhu took a break from his busy schedule and went to various docks to find out the shipping price. It is estimated that if the Dutch pay for the shipment of the Weaving Bureau, the ferry freight will be 1000 taels less.If you can bring in your own sailboat, this fee will be saved.

Zheng Haizhu recalled that all coastal ports in modern China did not allow foreign ships to enter.

In fact, as long as a sovereign country does a good job in military coastal defense and provides convenience in transnational trade procedures, there is nothing wrong with it. The big deal is to give some relief for the first two times, and then charge a port entry fee.

Sure enough, after listening to the Dutchman's request, Eunuch Liu did not express the meaning of "this matter is completely impossible", but whispered a few words to Ma Xianglin.

Ma Xianglin nodded, got up and left the official post.

The Dutchman felt that there was probably something going on, so he relaxed a little.Their attention was quickly attracted by the baroque dress.

Without losing the opportunity, Zheng Haizhu ordered Fan Polu to take out the men's collar as well.

"Gentlemen, to be honest, the embroiderers on the clothes you wear are really ridiculous, and the material is as hard as donkey skin. Is it the homemade cloth spun by Luni, Manlajia, and Old Port? It is better than our Guangbu in Daming." It’s far behind, let alone compared with this Songjiang fine cotton cloth.”

Gullit put on layers of large collars with great interest, and walked around the field with a playful spirit, with "Brother handsome" written all over his face.

I also have to admit in my heart that the people of the Eastern Empire are indeed favored by God, with rich products and skillful hands.

Zheng Haizhu took advantage of the opportunity to pick up the silk-cotton blended face towel, handed it to Gullit, and said with a smile: "All textiles that come into contact with the skin should make people feel happy. Sir, it is very comfortable to wipe sweat with the looped part. And its color matching is very similar to your painting with oil powder, right?"

"Ma'am, how much is this shirt-collar and skirt and these veils? Oh God, we're afraid we don't have enough money."

Gullit is back to flamboyant and useless acting.

Zheng Haizhu took off the dress and handed it to Gullit, and his tone returned to his indifferent tone: "Sir, the silk and cotton mixed face scarf is priced by the imperial court, three taels of silver, and a penny cannot be given away. But the dress And a shirt collar, we can give it to you. You can’t get a better one elsewhere, so if you need to buy in large quantities, please contact us. In addition, I want to exchange one thing with you.”

A while later, following Zheng Haizhu's instructions, Fan Polu brought a folding fan from their room.

Zheng Haizhu opened it with a "snap" and showed it to the Dutchman.

The surface of the silk fan is white and delicate, and the top of the fan bone has changed from the simplicity of a Chinese fan, but is decorated with hollow patterns and lace-style curling.

What fascinates the Dutch most is that there are seven or eight oriental beauties embroidered on the fan.

Gullit, who has been trading at sea for nearly ten years, can recognize that some of the beauties wear Dongying and Japan's twelve singles, some wear sari full of tattoos, and some wear Daming skirts and skirts. The kind of shawl that looks like a colorful cloud.

These oriental beauties are embroidered with the unique graceful demeanor, and secondly, what really surprised the man Gullit is that their beautiful facial features are filled with a free and radiant demeanor, solemn and sacred. , charming and romantic, well-behaved and pure, heroic and powerful, etc. have nothing to do with it, but it seems that in front of the viewers who are staring at them, they untiedly unchained and rose into the air.

Gullit reckoned that it would take silk threads of nearly a hundred colors to embroider such a beautiful fan.

However, Gullit, who has seen Cantonese embroidery at the Macau pier, is keenly aware that the style of this embroidery is very different. It does not have the enthusiasm of flowers all over the ground, but leaves a lot of gaps between beauties and beauties. A few oriental characters are embroidered with black silk thread.

"My God, this work of art is beautiful! What would you give it to me, madam? It wouldn't be my life, would it?"

Gullit stared at it for a long time before asking Zheng Haizhu in a tone of voice.

Zheng Haizhu pointed to Gullit's waist: "I want to exchange this for you."

(End of this chapter)