Smuggling Daming

Jiao Huangzhong did not expect that Selim would talk to him about money so directly. You must know that the other party is a king of the empire, and his status is the same as that of the emperor of Ming Dynasty. The ambassador negotiated the price directly, after all, it was too disrespectful.

"Well, if the Sudan is not satisfied with the conditions I proposed before, then our Ming Dynasty is willing to pay part of the construction cost of the Suez Canal, but the cost cannot exceed [-]% of the total cost. In addition, when our merchant ships of Ming Dynasty pass through the Suez Canal in the future, You only need to pay [-]% of the tax!" Jiao Huangzhong said again, but the conditions he put forward at the end were a little too much for him, after all, the merchant ships of Ming Dynasty will definitely be the main ships passing through the Suez Canal in the future, if only [-]% of the tax is paid Taxation, it would be a big loss for the Ottoman Empire.

"No, the conditions given by Da Ming are too harsh. If Da Ming is willing to bear half of the construction cost of the canal, then the merchant ships of Da Ming passing through the canal in the future will have to pay [-]% of the tax. This is already the biggest concession I can make, absolutely not Less!" Selim also knew that the Daming Merchant Ship would be one of the main targets for tax collection on the canal in the future, and every concession would be a huge fortune, so he was also very cautious about it.

"Dear Sultan, you asked our Ming Dynasty to pay half of the cost, but in the future you are only willing to exempt [-]% of the tax on our merchant ships. Don't you think that our Ming Dynasty has paid too much? If I agree to this condition, I am afraid it will not be possible at all. Confess to His Majesty the Emperor, with my authority, I can only agree with us to pay half of the expenses at most, but in the future, we must exempt half of the taxes on our Daming Merchant Shipping, this is also my bottom line!" Jiao Huangzhong has been an official overseas for many years, and he also knows At this time, you must not back down, otherwise you will suffer huge losses in the future.

"It's too much to exempt half of the tax. I'll take a step back now. In the future, your Ming merchant ships will have to pay [-]% of the tax. How?" In fact, Selim was also asking for the same price just now. He also took a step back, after all, this is an equal negotiation between two big countries.It is impossible to make the other party submit with a commanding tone.

"Sixty percent, our Ming Merchant Ships only need to pay sixty percent of the tax in the future. If the Sultan agrees, then we are willing to bear half of the cost of the canal, but at the same time, we must use our technical officials to supervise the use of money!" Jiao Huangzhong saw the other party Backing down, he backed down again.

"Da Ming can send officials to supervise the use of money, but [-]% is too low. I will never agree. At least [-]% is required. If Da Ming is unwilling, then there is no need to talk about this matter!" Selim He said resolutely that he was a soldier in essence, and he didn't like this bargaining way of talking very much. It was just for the benefit of the empire, and he had to personally argue with Jiao Huangzhong about this matter.

"Sudan. Daming is also at war with the Tatars in the north. The treasury is also not very sufficient. It is also very difficult for the Ming treasury to pay half of the construction cost of the canal. If we pay so much However, money can only be exempted from [-]% of the tax, and the whole Ming Dynasty will definitely not agree to it!" Jiao Huangzhong emphasized again.In fact, according to Zhou Zhong's confession before he came, the terms Selim agreed to have already exceeded Daming's bottom line, and his current insistence is only to strive for greater benefits for Daming.

Just when Selim and Jiao Huangzhong insisted on their own demands, and neither one was willing to back down, suddenly Suleiman next to him said, "Father, Ambassador Jiao, I think everyone has some problems with the distribution of the canal's interests. See if this is good, Daming will pay part of the construction cost, but we don't have to exempt the merchant ships from taxes, after all, these tax exemptions will only make those merchants cheaper, and cannot fall into the hands of the Emperor of Ming."

When Suleiman said this.After a pause, he continued: "Since that's the case, why don't we let Daming take a certain share in the canal after the canal is completed, for example, if Daming pays half of the construction cost, we also pay half, but we have to organize manpower Material resources, and the Suez Canal is originally on our land, so we have to take [-]% of the shares, and [-]% of the total annual tax revenue will be given to His Majesty the Emperor of Ming Dynasty in the future, what do you think?"

As soon as Suleiman's words came out of his mouth, Selim immediately attracted some displeased eyes, and Jiao Huangzhong also looked at him with a half-smile, because they all knew that Suleiman's proposal seemed good, but in fact But he was playing tricks, because now although he promised to give [-]% of the canal's revenue to Daming, the Suez Canal was in Ottoman territory, and the officials who collected taxes were all their officials, and Daming couldn't supervise it at all. This place is too far away, so [-]% of the tax revenue may be determined by the Ottoman Empire in the end. For Daming, there is no guarantee at all. Instead, it is better to let the Ottoman Empire exempt part of the tax from the passing merchant ships, which is also more practical.

Seeing the eyes of his father and Jiao Huang Zhong, Suleiman immediately understood that his intentions must have been seen through by them, and even in their eyes, it might still be a low-level trick, which made him a little embarrassed, and immediately lowered his head Did not dare to say anything.

"Dear Sultan, since we have some disagreements on the final tax exemption ratio, I don't think it's better than this. This is the end of our conversation today. Let's all go back and think about it. Maybe there will be a better solution." Scorched Yellow Zhong Finally, he proposed again that he did not expect the negotiation with Selim to be so smooth today, which made him unprepared for the next thing, so he proposed to suspend the negotiation.

"Alright, as long as Daming proposes conditions that satisfy me, I can agree to build the Suez Canal. Now both of us need to carefully consider our respective conditions!" Selim also knows that such an important matter cannot be completed in a day or two. It's decided, especially if Daming needs to hand over the money to himself first, the other party will definitely have to consider more things.

After discussing the business, Selim asked someone to set up a banquet for the scorched and middle-aged people. Unfortunately, Selim's religious beliefs did not allow him to drink alcohol, so although the banquet was rich, there was no wine. However, at the banquet, Selim It was a happy conversation with Jiao Huangzhong. The two sides exchanged some information about their respective countries, which also increased the understanding between the two countries.

In the next few days, Jiao Huangzhong and Selim would negotiate about the canal almost every day, and they waited until ten days later before they finally reached a definite result. Almost, Daming can bear half of the cost of building the canal, but in the future, when the merchant ships of Ming Dynasty pass through the canal, the Ottoman Empire can only collect [-]% of the taxes. The right to garrison troops in the Gulf of Aden area in later generations. The Gulf of Aden is the junction of the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea. Ming controls this place, which is equivalent to controlling a part of the navigation rights of the Suez Canal.

However, in exchange, although Ming controlled the Gulf of Aden, he had to promise to the Ottoman Empire that he would never send a navy into the Red Sea without the consent of the Ottoman Empire. Speaking of which, the Ottoman Empire also maintained a powerful navy. , but their navy is mainly active in the Mediterranean Sea, and their strength is also weaker than that of the Portuguese. Naturally, they are not an opponent of the Ming Dynasty Navy, so they must fight for a buffer zone for themselves. Now the Red Sea has become a buffer zone between the two countries. district.

After reaching an overall agreement, Selim sent some officials to discuss the specific details with the Daming Mission. Finally, after a month of discussions, they finally drew up a specific plan for building the canal, which stipulated the respective rights and obligations of both parties. , written in both Chinese and Arabic, and finally signed by Suleiman and Jiao Huangzhong on behalf of the Ottoman Empire and Ming respectively. This is also one of the most influential covenants in the world.

The above agreement is called the Suez Canal Treaty, and two copies were written, which were preserved by the Ming Dynasty and the Ottoman Empire.After the treaty was signed, Jiao Huangzhong immediately set off to return to Daming. After all, it was stipulated in the treaty that Daming not only had to support some technical officials, but also had to pay half of the canal construction cost. Osman jointly sent technical officials to conduct measurements and estimates, and finally there will be an approximate figure.

However, there is another necessary prerequisite for the Suez Canal Treaty, that is, the Ottoman Empire must remember this war against the Mamluk Dynasty, otherwise everything is empty talk, but based on the current strength of the two sides, even if it is not very important to the military in the burnt yellow. Those who know it can also see that the Ottoman Empire has a great advantage. While they were negotiating, Selim had already started preparing to attack Egypt.

Another thing is that before they left in Burnt Yellow, they were summoned by Selim alone. This time, the other party told him very excitedly that in the past two days, Ottoman's army was just preparing to march into Maradia. At that time, military officers from all over the Mamluk Dynasty actually wrote to him one after another, expressing their allegiance to him secretly, because these military officers were also very dissatisfied with the upper nobles of the Mamluk Dynasty. He chose betrayal without hesitation.

When Jiao Huangzhong heard the news, he was overjoyed at the moment. Although the Ottoman Empire had an absolute advantage before the war, the outcome of the war would be affected by some accidental factors, so before the end of the war, no one dared to say that they had The certainty of victory, and now the officers of the Mamluk Dynasty have secretly surrendered to Selim, which also gave the Ottoman Empire more certainty of victory.