New Shun 1730

The bigger the gift, the bigger the request.

Fazaklai had to pay a bribe of four or five thousand pounds, equivalent to about fourteen or five thousand taels of silver, in one go, so he had a lot of requests.

After discussion, they decided to invite Duke Qi to come on the pretext of a dinner.

They planned to give gifts during the meal and then talk about a few things.

Fazaklai believed that since Dashun had chosen to ban religion, he must make it clear to Dashun: my country has believed in Christianity but not Catholicism since the Reformation. It is not a country like Portugal and France.

And he took the opportunity to whitewash it, saying that the unpleasantness between the empire and China was mainly due to the slander and defamation of Portuguese missionaries because of religious issues.

It is true that when the Dutch attacked Taiwan, they had some cooperation with the Dutch, but that was definitely aimed at Catholic countries such as Spain and Portugal. When the Dutch wanted to occupy Taiwan afterwards, my country knew that this was a damage to the interests of the Chinese Empire, so it firmly opposed it and gave up the "Southeast Asia Mutual Defense Treaty" signed with the Dutch. Moreover, the Dutch broke their promise and massacred the British on Ambon Island, and we were also victims.

These two things, one reminds Dashun that France is a Catholic country; the other reminds that the Dutch are a villain who does not keep their word and even kills their allies.

If everything goes well, these two topics can lead to France and the Netherlands, thus getting the opportunity to spread rumors, slander and instigate.

Then, this led to "Spain's missionary policy", pointing out that Spain is a fanatical Catholic who thinks about missionary work all the time, and Luzon is close to the coast of Dashun - in the second year of Tianqi in the previous dynasty, the East India Company captured missionaries hiding on a merchant ship from Manila to Nagasaki, which shows that Spain is a bad guy for Dashun, which prohibits religion.

In order to ensure that the people of Dashun have the freedom to believe in Confucianism and are not eroded by Catholicism, Britain is willing to fight Spain when Dashun needs it.

This led to the topic of hoping that Dashun would open its ports for the British fleet to supply. If the Duke of Qi, who was in charge of foreign affairs, could be bribed to cede a piece of land for the purpose of hoarding goods or supply, it would be even better.

The overall plan has been completed. Now we have to wait and see what will happen between Dashun and the Netherlands. Once the situation on the Dutch side is clear, we can carry out this plan.

Before that, we can use the good relationship between Britain and the Netherlands to spy on how much bribe the Dutch are prepared to give to the Duke of Dashun to ensure that the bribe we give is more than the Dutch.

…………

The British did not expect that the Dutch bribe would be a mirror, some glass and some decorations in the captain's room.

Not only did the British not expect it, but the Duke of Qi did not expect it either.

Looking at the mirror sent by the Dutch, the Duke of Qi's cheeks twitched a little. He felt that this was really an insult to himself.

Bribery is not a very glorious thing, but the Duke of Qi thinks that either you should do it in a fair and impartial manner, or you should just show your appreciation.

The problem is that you gave gifts of glass and mirrors that are now mass-produced in Weihai and have long been popular in the capital. What's the matter with this?

Converted into silver, it is less than 100 taels.

Duke Qi thought to himself, I am at least a hereditary duke of Dashun, you gave me a gift of 100 taels, is this a slap in my face?

I am not as good as those petty officials who received the tribute envoys from Korea?

The more I thought about it, the angrier I became, thinking that what I have to deal with now is the life and death of tens of thousands of Chinese in Batavia. In your opinion, a few pieces of broken glass can get rid of me?

There are people who accepted bribes in history books, such as the sentence "Although General Lian is old, he still eats well, but when he sat with me, he left three feces in a short time", which is at least worth 100 gold. People can only curse that this person is blinded by greed, betrayed the country for profit, and misled state affairs for personal gain.

But what about me? If this really happened, how would it be recorded in history books? Duke Tian of Qi received 100 taels of silver from the Dutch, so he didn't ask about the affairs of Batavia, and even 10,000 people were slaughtered?

Duke Qi thought that he couldn't even get the evaluation of "misleading state affairs for personal gain". At least he was not stupid, but the future generations would definitely say that he had "no vision like a village gentry".

Thinking about the business to be done, he finally suppressed his anger, collected the document written by Phillips, shook his head and looked at it for a few times, and he really couldn't help it.

Hundred taels of silver plus the words that fooled a fool made Duke Qi want to laugh, but he could only hold it back.

After holding it back, he was in trouble. Obviously, the Dutch didn't understand the situation of Dashun at this time, at least they didn't know that glass and mirrors were no longer rare in the capital a few years ago. Once they went to the capital, they would find out.

If I protect them for this little thing, it will make the Dutch realize that something is wrong. Originally, I thought, for such a big thing, why not take 70,000 or 80,000 taels? When the time comes, it is reasonable to take money to do things for the sake of money.

I'll cheat the Dutch out of their money and get the job done.

Who would have thought that the Dutch would just give me these junk? How could I convince them?

While I was thinking, I heard a welcoming voice from outside, shouting, "The Seventh Prince is here, and Earl Ying Suo is here!"

After the interpreter translated, Phillips was startled, thinking that this was bad, one more person meant more bribes. Now two more people have come, what should I do?

Then I thought, I heard that Earl Ying Suo was the person in charge of the warships that were now staying in Tianjin, what was this person doing here?

After greeting, Phillips quietly looked at the two people who came.

One person looked like a prince by his clothes, and the other one was dressed like a military commander with Chinese characteristics, wearing a suit of armor. When he came in, he shouted: "Mr. Qi, what can you ask from this Dutchman?"

Duke Guo of Qi smiled and said: "It turns out there was some misunderstanding. The Dutch envoy said that those people were thieves and robbers who talked nonsense after being punished."

After the interpreter translated, Pripps quickly said yes.

Unexpectedly, Liu Yu kicked the table and chair next to him and asked: "Qi Guogong thought the news brought by my people was false? The ship to Sweden was forced to stop in Batavia, so where is my face?" The man driving the boat is one of my own. I am fighting against Luosha and attacking the quasi-community. Even the Count and Marquis of Luosha knows my name and is polite to me. Why don’t the Dutch stop my ship without giving me face? "

The Dutch interpreter looked very unhappy. After translating these words, Phillips suddenly realized.

It turns out that this person doesn't care about his compatriots on Batavia Island and is just making use of the topic. This man was an earl at such a young age. He was a spoiled young nobleman, perhaps the kind of young man who could duel for the sake of appearance. This was actually more difficult to deal with than the lives of tens of thousands of Chinese.

Pripps quickly apologized and said repeatedly: "There are many pirates in Southeast Asia, and they often rob Chinese merchant ships. Moreover, these pirates often fake the flags of various countries. The governor of Batavia also wanted to protect the safety of trade. When he learned that it was your Not only did he let the ship go immediately, but he also took the initiative to help replenish supplies. "

"Your Majesty, this is really an accident."

After listening to the interpreter's translation, Li Han sneered in his heart. Liu Yu explained the details to him very clearly. Needless to say, during the Wanli period of the previous dynasty, in order to force maritime merchants to trade in Batavia, they robbed ships in Manila and supported Zheng Zhilong.

Just talking about what he said today, Li Han felt that it was a pity that Ying Suobo had already made it clear that you were just taking the opportunity to arrest the ship to delay, but you said it so grandly.

Ying Suobo has long said that you are not good people, and there is not a word of truth in your mouth. It is true that seeing is worse than hearing a hundred times. How can such a shameful thing be said so righteously?

Liu Yuzheng was going to follow the previously planned script and wait for Qi Guogong to come forward to smooth things over. Normally, the Duke of Qi should come forward at this time and say something like: "Since it is a misunderstanding, don't go into it further," but at this time, the Duke of Qi said: "Since the Dutch said it was a misunderstanding, you might as well ask clearly and see what he said. "

Liu Yu and Li Hua were both stunned, wondering, isn't this script wrong? Glancing at Duke Qi and seeing what he was writing there, Liu Yu knew something might be wrong, so he took a step forward and stood between Phillips and Duke Qi, blocking his view, and asked Batavia to force the Free Trade No. to stop. thing.

Duke Guo of Qi picked up his pen and told the Dutch in Chinese characters that they had sent a few pieces of broken glass as bribes. He only said that he could not "acquire money to do things", and the Dutch might be suspicious.

After Liu Yu asked a few more questions, Qi Guogong came out to smooth things over and said: "Okay, okay, I think it's probably a misunderstanding. Shou Chang, look, this is the Batavia thing written by the Dutch. I It seems believable.”

After saying that, he handed the piece of paper to Liu Yu with the "accident" he wrote on it. Liu Yu glanced at it and thought that the Dutch people's reputation for "generousness" was indeed well-deserved.

After thinking about it again, it made sense. After the ban on Christianity, Westerners were not allowed to roam around at will and could only live in places specified by the customs, and they had no chance to go deep into the capital.

The Dutch are famous for "not selling machinery, music boxes, and fancy skills." Since they took over Nanyang, they have no intention of pioneering. They just stick to spices, sumac, lac and other goods, and eat the old stuff. Book.

But think about it, France has gone to great lengths to carefully transport glass, music boxes, clocks and other ingenuity, but it still ends up with an annual deficit of four to five million taels.

The Dutch did not waste any effort and rested on their laurels. They still have the smallest trade deficit with China among the Western countries. So why care? Even if France and England try their best, what will happen?

Spices will always be sold anyway, so why bother paying attention to the changes in Dashun?

I'm afraid the Dutch don't know the situation in Dashun at all. Their minds are still stuck on a hundred years ago, and nothing has changed at all. That's just right.

It's just that Qi Guogong didn't receive the money, so he couldn't act out the script of taking money to do things. After thinking for a while, Liu Yu directly opened up the old accounts.

"Dutch, I can't believe it."

"During the previous dynasty, they occupied Zhoushan, Penghu, and Taiwan. I heard from the French that the Dutch don't care about credibility either. A dog can't change its habit of eating shit!"

The translator was quite capable. He translated the essence of the saying that dogs cannot change their eating of shit by using the line from the Bible: "A dog will always eat its own vomit, just like a foolish person will repeat the same mistake." .

Then Liu Yu said: "If you ask me, we can directly cut off the Dutch's trade. We don't have to worry about no one buying our tea and silk. If the Dutch leave, the French will make up for it. Don't the French not be able to pay? Can’t afford the goods?”

"With France and Sweden, we still have common enemies and can help each other. I think there is nothing to talk about with the Dutch, who once invaded us, and we even want to trade. This is simply unreasonable."

"Duke Qi, don't say that the overall situation is the most important thing, and the current war is the most important thing. What are you afraid of? If the Japanese invade my Ryukyu, then fight! If the Russians occupy the Jungbu pasture, then fight! If the Dutch really bully the remnants of our dynasty, just fight. My Celestial Empire is vast and rich in resources, with a population of millions. Even if we fight three kingdoms, what can we do? Now I have more than ten warships. If we really want to fight, am I afraid of them? I am willing to sail to the Netherlands and capture the Dutch king!"