Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 840 The Role of Hong Kong

Gonzales frowned as he looked at Van der Lantron, who was lying on the bed, drunk and snoring loudly.There was a strong smell of alcohol in the room, which made it impossible to sleep.

"Alcoholism without alcohol." Gonzalez wiped his mustache, and he drank a lot.In the damn place of Batavia, the wine is scarce, bad, and expensive.The most popular drink is the beer that the Dutch often drink.Southern Europeans who are used to wine don't like this thing at all, and call it "piss".

At the reception, rum was served, as well as fruit wine brewed by Xue Ziliang and other wine lovers in the demonstration farm.Although grapes for winemaking cannot be grown here in Lingao, the farms and communes promote the planting of "ten sides" and the garden economy, but they still grow a lot of fruits. Apart from supplying the army, students and workers, the rest of the fruits are Mostly used to make wine.When Xue Ziliang was in the United States, brewing his own wine was a hobby. He also had special small fermentation equipment at home and was very familiar with the process.

This kind of fruit wine produced by small-scale brewing workshops has a wide variety and a small quantity. It is basically used by the elders and banquets, and a few are sold in stores as special supplies to the high-level naturalized people.

Of course, Gonzalez did not give up this rare opportunity to drink booze: the Spanish soldiers are as good as anyone in drinking.He killed several bottles of cider, jackfruit, and wild fruit wine one after another, and then drank a lot of rum in one breath, and still went to talk to Miss Mendoza who was acting as an interpreter without changing his face—he hadn’t seen him for a long time "The motherland wins women".Although this charming woman speaks Spanish with many words that he does not understand, she also has an accent.Gonzalez guessed she was a native Spaniard from the American colonies.Immediately, he was very enthusiastic and courteous.Although it can be seen that the other party has a good impression of him, he always avoids him when he gets too close.This made Gonzalez very puzzled.

Miss Mendoza though felt close to seeing a European who also spoke Spanish.But the stench emanating from the Spanish soldier was making him sick.In fact, Gonzalez is better than most of his compatriots at the same time in terms of hygiene habits-serving in a place like Batavia, it is difficult to survive without taking a bath frequently.After arriving in Lingao, I was forced to take a bath after checking into the Sailor Hotel.

After the reception, he and Trini returned to the room where they were staying. Although there were single rooms available in the commercial building, Van der Laantelon insisted on staying in a three-person room because he was afraid of spending too much of the company's public funds.By the standards of a 17th-century inn, the three-person room was luxurious and comfortable.But with the addition of such a drunk guy in the room, the room became a little unbearable.The Italians also couldn't stand the stench from the Dutchman.

"How about we go outside for another drink?" Gonzalez asked in Italian.As a soldier of the King of Spain, he had served in Italy, and there were many Italians in his robes.

"Of course. I'm very happy." Trini's task is to draw pictures, and walking more and seeing more is his task.He thought for a moment, "But we don't have an interpreter."

"No need for an interpreter." Gonzalez pulled out a real. "This is an interpreter."

"What if we get lost?"

"They'll get us back," Gonzalez said nonchalantly. "Don't you want a woman?"

"The Dutch seem to be happier with the outcome of this negotiation than we are." After the reception, a group of people from the Ministry of Colonial and Trade gathered in the conference room of the office building.Said Hong Hong Yin, the commercial representative in Hong Kong who was temporarily transferred back from Hong Kong to participate in the negotiations.The reason why he was transferred back was because Xu Tianqi, who is the best Chinese and German among the veterans, has gone to the mainland, and he is the only one who can communicate in German fluently.

"Of course. The Dutch played hard for Zheng Zhilong. How can they be unhappy when they finally meet such honest people as us?" Skaide was very happy.The trade agreement signed a few days earlier with the Dutch East India Company was approved by the Senate after its third reading.Although everyone is not very fond of the Dutch, this agreement is really beneficial to the Lingao regime.

"I still propose to include Hong Kong as an entrepot port." Hong Hongyin put forward his idea again.

A large number of Ming commodities that the Dutch need are currently mainly carried out through the Zhangzhou Bay trade, that is to say, the goods are mainly shipped from Fujian, and this trade channel is currently controlled by Zheng Zhilong.It's not that the Dutch are unwilling to come to Guangdong for trade. Guangdong's trade is mainly monopolized by the Portuguese.In fact, in terms of the convenience of supply, Guangdong is better than Fujian as a supplier of export products.

Mainland commodities sold to the Dutch, including raw silk, silk, groceries, medicinal materials, etc., can actually be traded directly with the Netherlands at the Hong Kong station, reducing the need for a half-way transfer and storage link, which can liberate the original use of goods between the mainland and Lingao. Transport capacity for loading continental goods traded with the Netherlands.And the spices that the Dutch tried their best to sell can also be traded in Hong Kong, bought by the Hong Kong station and sold directly locally or handed over to the Guangzhou station for sale, earning the difference

Through trade with the Dutch, Hong Kong became an entrepot just like the old time and space, expanding the influence of Hong Kong as a trading port in the mainland, and building momentum for the empire to control the trade route of Chinese businessmen to Batavia.

"In addition, we can also take advantage of the empty space of the Dutch. We are currently specifying half of the cargo volume. Assume that half of the Dutch ships carry rice and half carry spices. After their ships unload the rice at Lingao, they have to Then go to Hong Kong to unload the spices. We can use the half of the unloaded space to hand over the goods we need to transship to Hong Kong and Guangzhou to the Dutch ships for transportation."

This proposal made Skye very tempted-you must know that the biggest problem of the Ministry of Colonization and Trade now is the problem of insufficient transportation capacity.Now not only can the transportation capacity be saved, but also the transportation capacity of the Dutch can be used. Hongshui Yin's proposal is attractive enough.

Skaide nodded again and again: "Well, this idea is very good."

"Actually, Sanya is not in a hurry to open up." Hong Hongyin said, "Except for slaves, most of the goods shipped by the Dutch cannot be digested locally, so we have to transport them back to Lingao or Hong Kong by ourselves. And the goods sold to the Dutch in Sanya are mainly transported to Lingao, which means extra effort for nothing.”

Skade was moved by his words.Building Sanya into an international trading port is the plan of the Senate. Now that international businessmen have come, it seems inappropriate to veto it.After thinking about it, he decided that Sanya's plan is "long-term" anyway, and it's not a big problem to focus on Hong Kong now.

"However, Hong Kong is still under construction. If you really want to open it up, can you do it?"

"The Dutch won't send ships right away. I don't think the first batch of ships will be sent until the second half of the year. By the second half of the year, our basic construction will be in a hurry, and the work at Guangzhou Station will resume. Yes. The Dutch can come with 2-3 ships at most, and they can handle it.”

Skaide nodded. He thought about it. In this case, he would have to discuss with Ji An, the head of the customs, to build a new customs in Hong Kong.Clear customs directly locally to simplify procedures.

"That way you can make a big splash," he said.

"Yes, otherwise, what am I, a business representative, doing in Hong Kong?" Hong Hongyin said unabashedly, "The development potential of Hong Kong is still a bit limited. But it is still good as an outer port of Guangzhou."

Therefore, in the final draft of the trade agreement, Hong Kong was added to the open trade ports.

However, among the open ports, consuls are only dispatched to Lingao.And who to send to Batavia as consul became a new question.

Hong Hongyin resolutely rejected this opportunity-even though he is currently the person who speaks the best Chinese and German among the elders.But he didn't want to go, so he pushed that people who could speak Spanish or other languages ​​could go to Batavia to do the job.Without seeing the Dutch entourage there were Spaniards and Italians.

The Senate was hesitant to send a senator as consul in Dutch territory.Because there are very few elders, each elder's knowledge and skills are very valuable, and it is unclear what benefits will be gained by placing a elder in the territory of a potential enemy thousands of kilometers away.The level of the senior sent here must not be low. He must know a foreign language that can communicate with the Dutch, have considerable negotiation skills, and be in good health.In case something goes wrong, the Senate is completely out of reach for him.

The one most interested in sending consuls was the Foreign Intelligence Service - an opportunity to send intelligence officers overtly.But the risk involved is greater than dispatching to Ming Dynasty, and Batavia is not currently the main target of the raid, so the Intelligence Bureau has not shown much enthusiasm for it.

But it seems that it is a loss not to send a consul.After all, the other party can send a consul in Lingao, and sending a consul can also spread the influence of the Australians to the Chinese in Batavia.After some discussion, Wang Yan of the Foreign Intelligence Agency proposed a compromise plan.Officials who send consuls to Taiwan.

Compared with Batavia, Taiwan Raiders happened in recent years.An intelligence officer is much more useful in Dali than in Batavia, and in case something happens, the distance from Hainan to Taiwan is much closer.

"But it doesn't make sense." At the meeting, Skade questioned, "Our trade agreement is signed with the Batavian authorities, unless they transfer the jurisdiction of trading with us to the Grand Council Otherwise, it would be very difficult for us to propose to send a consul to an irrelevant port.”

　From today to around the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, the family members will go to relatives' homes in other places to celebrate the New Year, and the update will be suspended.If I have time, I will update one or two sections, but I can't guarantee the timing.It will be updated normally after the fifth day of the new year.

　　Thank you for your continued support of this book and the author.I wish you all a happy and prosperous Year of the Dragon.Happy New Year to all readers!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)