Nanming: I can build wonders

Chapter 137 "The Kingdom of the Netherlands" has abundant martial virtues

On the pier, the group performances from the Spanish Confederate Army were preparing to welcome them. Li Xiangen saw that the opponent had a huge lineup, and was afraid of losing face, so he quickly straightened his clothes and was about to walk forward with a smile on his face when suddenly there was a bang, it was a cannon in roaring.

boom! boom! boom!
It turned out that Zheng Kezang arranged a salute to meet them, it was so authentic, it sounded like a war, the earth shook and the mountains shook, and the sky was dyed gray and black.A group of Qing officials who had never seen a war scene, the timid ones were frightened and fell to the ground, and the courageous ones, such as Li Xiangen, fell to the ground without knowing it.

"Western artillery, so brutal!"

His brain was buzzing, and it took him a long time to hold back this sentence.

Ma Hetai, who pretended to be in Jiaxi, stepped forward and explained with a smile: "Master Li, don't be afraid. Fire the salute. This is the tradition of Westerners to welcome distinguished guests! It's the same as setting off firecrackers during the Qing Dynasty."

As for the origin of the salute, there is a saying that it originated in the Middle Ages in Germany. At that time, in the city of Augsburg, in order to grandly welcome a triumphant emperor from the front line, it was decided to fire a 100-gun salute.

But the officer in charge of firing the cannon was confused and fired 101 rounds. Since then, the tradition of firing 101 salutes has been carried on.

Another theory is that it originated in Britain. From the 17th to the 18th century, Britain had become the number one colonial empire at that time, and almost every continent in the world had their colonies.

When British warships sailed past foreign forts or entered foreign ports, they arbitrarily asked the country where they were located to salute them to show their respect and submission to Britain.

Li Xiangen nodded, feeling honored to be valued by such a powerful Western country.

"Even the cannons are fired for the welcome ceremony. The Dutch country is really full of martial arts! It seems that this time the allies are right!" Although the sudden salute scared them, but after all, he is a well-known diplomat, and Li Xiangen didn't mind. Do as the Romans do, but boast about the Netherlands.

"Allies?! My lord, didn't we come to negotiate with them about the Makassar Kingdom?" Ma Hetai was still acting, pretending not to know the purpose of the mission.

"Mr. Ma, it's like this. The Qing Dynasty is going to form an alliance with the Dutch. At that time, the Dutch will be the allies of the Qing Dynasty, and your Makassar country will be a tributary country of the Qing Dynasty. Everyone is a good friend, and the Dutch will also It’s not good to bully you anymore!” Seeing that he had slipped his tongue, Li Xiangen hurriedly made up for it, and they had to rely on them to return to Daqing.

"My lord, Daqing is really great!" Ma Hetai looked very moved.

As soon as the gunpowder smoke of the salute dissipated, a few luxury western-style carriages with tall horses came to them.

At first, Li Xiangen was very calm, because he had seen even the best carriages.

It was only soon after stepping on the cement road that I realized that the situation was wrong. The gray-black road on the ground was so smooth and solid. The Dutch were not easy. Li Xiangen sighed again!

"Mr. Ma, how was this road made?" Li Xiangen asked curiously.

"My lord, I'm not very clear about this. I only know that this is called cement road, which is a secret of the Dutch people. Don't explore it lightly, my lord, otherwise the Dutch will be against you." Ma Hetai felt that he had to scare this man Master Li who is curious about everything.

"Master Li, let's get in the car, the Dutch are urging us!" Seeing that Li Xiangen still wanted to continue studying the cement road, Ma Hetai urged him.

"Don't be impatient, Mr. Ma, I heard that Batavia is a first-class prosperous place in Nanyang. The city in front is Batavia, why don't we walk there so that we can travel around." Li Xiangen suggested that he had been floating on the boat for too long and wanted to take a walk.

"It doesn't matter, Mr. Li, it's the same when sitting in the carriage. The Dutchman is leaving, let's get in the carriage!"

In order to prevent cheating, the place where Li Xiangen's carriage passed today was filled with ensemble performances by the Spanish Confederate Army, and some progressive female white slaves also came to participate in the performance, which looked like a European city.

Fortunately, Mingyan City is full of Western-style buildings and cathedrals. No matter how strong Li Xiangen's diplomatic skills are, he can't tell if this is the territory of the Dutch.

Besides, Easterners tend to be face-blind when looking at Westerners, and the Dutch and the Spaniards can't tell the difference at all.

The carriage galloped all the way and quickly entered the "Governor's Mansion".

"The land in Batavia is flat, the houses look like houses, the rice paddies and the traffic, it's a good place!" With the cement road, Li Xiangen quickly changed his attitude from the original disdain.

As soon as they got out of the carriage, several white maids and aboriginal maids came to greet them.

When the mission entered the slightly shabby-looking Governor's Mansion (everything valuable was stripped away by the guards), Li Xiangen was a little puzzled. This Westerner shouldn't be greedy, and how could he be so frugal.

When Ma Hetai saw Li Xiangen's situation, he probably guessed what he was thinking, so he said: "My lord, the name of this governor is Cornelis Spielman. I heard that he is diligent in government and loves the people. But the ambition is quite big, adults should be careful when they meet, don't be fooled by the Dutch."

At this time, a middle-aged man in a white tuxedo and top hat, with two big beards on his mouth, looked like a big capitalist. This man was Julio.

Not to mention, Julio's calm and majestic makeup, coupled with a special suit, sat there, and he really looked a bit majestic from a superior.

And beside him is Zheng Kezang who also put on middle-aged makeup!
"Dare to ask, but Master Li Xiangen? The person sitting in the main seat is Cornelis Spilman, Governor of the Dutch East India Company, and I am the interpreter for this negotiation, Parker Zeng."

Following Zheng Kezang's introduction, Julio, who seemed to trigger the mechanism, quickly stood up.

He waved his generous palms at Li Xiangen a few times.

Seeing this, "Parker Zeng" looked very nervous, and said, "Master Li, hurry up and shake hands with our governor!"

As the name suggests, although Li Xiangen has never tried the Western handshake ceremony, he probably knows what to do, so he quickly took Julio's big hand.

The scene is very harmonious, who said that the Qing Dynasty would only close the country!

No, after being beaten by Zheng Kezang, I knew I came to find foreign friends.

After a pleasant meal, in order to show his sincerity, Li Xiangen presented a high-quality gift from the Qing Dynasty—a glazed eight-lens teacup, which seemed to be of great value.

Parker Zeng hurried forward and graciously helped the governor to collect the gift.

However, the size of this gift was somewhat small, and Li Xiangen was also embarrassed. They were a little stingy when they treated them so grandly.

But fortunately, Li Xiangen saw that the Governor-General opposite seemed to like it quite a bit, so he breathed a sigh of relief, and took the opportunity to say: "Your Excellency, what the Qing Mission asked for this time, I think you also know that the Qing Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty Ming Zheng's grievances, I, Qing, want to buy warships from the Dutch!"

(End of this chapter)