Late Ming sea owl

Chapter 293 John Company
After the meeting, Li Guozhu took Miguel and Ou Zuoji to the Ministry of Communications headquarters in Guandu City and began to prepare for the diplomatic missions to Spain, Portugal, Britain and the Sultanate of Matalan.

Lin Hai kept Xu Yilong and told him in detail about his trip to Jiangnan to meet Zhang Pu, and said that he would send him to Daming to be in charge of the affairs of literary societies and guilds.

Xu Yilong was surprised after hearing this. At that time, Yingshe was already a well-known society, and Zhang Pu was also famous for expelling Gu Bingqian. As long as there was enough financial support, it was entirely possible for him to rely on Zhang Pu to integrate the national literary societies based on Yingshe.

Recalling the spring and summer of the fifth year of the Tianqi reign, Xu was ordered by his father to go to Zhejiang to donate money for Lin Hai's official position. At that time, Lin Hai proposed to find a famous scholar to help him unify the literary society in the world...

I still remember that he directly rejected this idea and bluntly pointed out its absurdity. Unexpectedly, more than two years later, Lin Hai had quietly completed half of the task. This person repeatedly refreshed his cognition. He was really unfathomable!
Xu Yilong was shocked but also extremely happy. He was well aware of the influence of Yingshe. This matter would not only be of great benefit to the company, but would also undoubtedly be a major opportunity for his personal career and reputation in the literati circle.

"Boss, leave this matter to me, you can rest assured." Xu Yilong patted his chest, completely forgetting the immigration matters that Lin Hai had told him about.

"I will leave all the company's affairs in Daming to you from now on." Lin Hai then asked, "How is the Fujian immigration going? Which prefectures and counties have been connected?"

"Don't worry, General Manager. The connections with the coastal counties of Zhangzhou and Quanzhou have all been opened up." Xu Yilong replied with some pride. The reason why he came a little late this time was because he had to visit many government offices.

"Very good!" Lin Hai was also very happy to hear this. "I have prepared the silver and the boat for you. Please go to Taicang as soon as possible."

Xu Yilong did not even waste a night and went to the mouth of the Tamsui River that afternoon, heading north against the wind, carrying a letter of introduction written by Lin Hai to Zhang Pu.

The next morning, Lin Hai came to Guandu City and went to Keelung with Li Guozhu and others. The second generation of Miura Anzhen, Joseph, was still waiting there.

Joseph was not well off financially, so he only had an old Fu ship on this voyage, with an estimated displacement of about 300 tons. However, the rudder had been replaced with a Western-style rudder connected with a hinge.

"Hi, Joseph, we meet again." Lin Hai met Joseph in Keelung Fort. The two spoke in English, and the maid serving tea beside them could not understand them at all.

"Joseph, nice to meet you here." Li Guozhu also greeted Joseph in English. Although his accent sounded a bit poor, the communication was still quite smooth.

"Mr. Lin, Mr. Li, hello!" Joseph bowed to the two of them repeatedly. He spoke English, but his behavior was still that of a typical Japanese.

"Please take a seat, my friend. I invited you here this time mainly because I have something to ask of you." Lin Hai greeted Joseph and sat down. "It's like this. I heard that EIC is still active in Asia. I want to trade with them. I wonder if you can help me make a connection?"

"Mr. Lin, you have goods from Ming Dynasty and the Japanese market, why do you want to trade with EIC?" Joseph was a little alert when he heard this, mainly because EIC currently has no direct trade with East Asian countries, and he regards this as his exclusive channel.

"There is always more business to do in the world..." Lin Hai understood Joseph's concerns and decided to use money to stun him. "How about this, as long as you are willing to help me, I can sell you 50,000 deerskins every year, and I will only charge you 3,000 taels of silver in total. How about that?"

The market price of deerskin in Japan is three taels of silver per piece, which means Joseph has a business with five times the profit. The conditions can be said to be more favorable than those given to Araki Sotaro.

The reason why Joseph was treated so well was mainly because Lin Hai was impressed by his fluent English, which would be useful in future diplomatic relations with Britain.

After all, Li Guozhu was unwilling to travel on the sea for a long time. It was not easy to find someone who could speak English on the East Asian waters in this era.

The weight of the UK in Europe is naturally self-evident, and its future potential cannot be underestimated. Lin Hai is currently just playing some tricks on the Asian seas. If the country's interests are spread all over the world in the future, why can't he learn from the Anglo-Saxons' offshore balancing tricks on the European continent?

To take a step back, even if it was difficult to turn Europe into the Western Regions of the Han Dynasty during Lin Hai's lifetime, he would at least have to do business with Western European countries. After all, they had silver mines in the Americas, and one more buyer would naturally mean more pricing power.

"Mr. Lin, is that true?" Joseph stood up again excitedly, but what came out of his mouth was a sentence in Japanese.

Fortunately, this sentence was relatively simple, and Lin Hai understood it without translation. He continued to reply in English with a proud look on his face: "Of course it is true. Fifty thousand deerskins sold to Japan are only more than ten thousand taels of silver. Compared with my reputation, this is really not worth mentioning."

Lin Hai once sold over a million taels of goods in Nagasaki at one time, and Joseph couldn't help but believe it. He hesitated for a while and asked, "EIC has a trading house in Banten and Surat respectively. I wonder which trading house Mr. Lin wants to trade with?" "Huh? There are still British people in Banten?" Lin Hai originally thought that the British had completely withdrawn from the west of the Strait of Malacca at that time, but he didn't expect that there was an EIC base in Banten, which was adjacent to Batavia.

"That's right. The original intention of the establishment of the EIC was to get a share of the spice trade. After the Ambon Massacre, they were forced to retreat westward under the aggressive offensive of the VOC, but the EIC has always coveted the Spice Islands. The preservation of the Banten Trading House is proof of this..."

Lin Hai recalled the rumor he had heard from Su Minggang, that the British were planning to join forces with the Banten Sultan to seize Batavia. After a moment's hesitation, he asked, "It's only fifty miles from Banten City to Batavia. So how does the VOC view the EIC Banten Trading House? Or what is the relationship between the two sides?"

"This is a bit complicated... The relationship between the Netherlands and the United Kingdom in Europe is generally harmonious. The two countries have an agreement on the share of the spice trade. However, Cohen, the first general manager of Batavia, ignored the instructions of his motherland and insisted on fighting with the EIC. He also single-handedly concocted the tragedy of the Ambon Massacre. Therefore, the relationship between the two companies can be said to be quite delicate..."

Joseph took a sip of tea to moisten his throat, and continued, "In general, the two countries are still staunch allies in the Indian Ocean. Not long ago, they joined forces to fight the Portuguese in the Persian Gulf. But east of the Strait of Malacca, the hostility between the two sides is very obvious. So the relationship between the VOC and the Surat Trading House should be said to be very good, but the Banten Trading House is guarded very closely like a thief..."

"Wait... From what you said, it seems that there is no hierarchical relationship between Surat and Banten?" Lin Hai keenly caught a hint of information from Joseph's words. He was not very clear about the organizational structure of EIC in Asia at that time.

"Yes, the agents in Surat and Banten are both principal agents. They are at the same level in the EIC and are directly responsible to London..."

Joseph briefly introduced Lin Hai to the EIC agency system, which was one of the most important management systems in the early days of John's company.

As the name suggests, an agent is a person who manages affairs on behalf of a company's shareholders in an important trading base. He is also called a supervisor or consul. Many so-called trading house heads are of this type. Their official title in the EIC is agent.

EIC agents are divided into three levels: principal agent, settled agent, and sojourner agent. The principal agent is directly responsible to London, while the latter two levels are responsible to the principal agent, and the settled agent is directly selected and appointed by the principal agent.

The EIC is managed in different regions in the east, and each region has a main agent. Surat and Banten are the administrative centers of their respective regions. Of course, now the EIC only has one trading base in Banten City, but this does not affect the equal relationship between Banten and Surat. The main agent in Banten can still report directly to the emperor.

In other words, the EIC of this era did not have a strong administrative center in the East like the VOC, which may be one of the reasons why they were at a disadvantage in the competition.

Lin Hai nodded frequently while listening. It seemed that he had made the right choice to find Joseph. Neither he nor Li Guozhu knew the details of EIC. He took the opportunity to ask, "So, what are the respective naval forces of Surat and Banten? I mean, how many large ships with more than 20 guns do they have?"

"Whether it's Surat or Banten, the main agents in these two places don't have direct naval forces..."

Joseph went on to explain: "The EIC sends three to five large ships to Asia every year. When the fleet arrives, the fleet commander is responsible for commanding the maritime forces in Asia. When the fleet returns home, the EIC's maritime forces in Asia can be ignored, because they rarely leave large ships in Asia except for those that are wrecked at sea or in poor condition."

Lin Hai calmly asked, "So, when the fleet commander is in Asia, he is equivalent to the highest commander of the EIC in Asia, just like the VOC's Batavia commander?"

"It was indeed like this in the early days. Even the chief agent could be appointed by the fleet commander. For example, Richard Cox, the director of Hirado Trading House at that time, actually had the official title of Hirado Chief Agent in the EIC. Director was just a common name. This Director Cox was appointed by the then fleet commander John Saliss..."

When Joseph said this, he glanced at Li Guozhu. EIC Hirado Trading Company was located in Li Dan's home. Cox was the employer of Joseph's father William Adams and an old friend of Li Guozhu's father Li Dan. The relationship between the three of them was quite good back then.

But Li Guozhu's face showed embarrassment, because Li Dan later fooled Cox, and Joseph obviously knew about it.

Lin Hai heard the turning point in Joseph's words and asked, "So what now?"

"The current situation is exactly the opposite of that time. The fleet commander's status is no longer as high as the main agent. Whether it is Surat or Banten, they can coordinate the fleet commander to send troops when necessary."

"I see." Lin Hai now had a thorough understanding of the current power structure of the EIC in Asia, which would undoubtedly be of great guiding significance for future diplomatic actions.

(End of this chapter)