Beiyang new warlord

Page 663

It is said that foreign monks can recite scriptures, and Huxuan dance was popular even in the Tang Dynasty. Orchid Restaurant, Mao Jue was no exception. The whole banquet was held in the style of a Western buffet, and a group of bands playing pipa and erhu pretended to be Western bands there. Pulling Yangchun Baixue, Mao Jue's group of high-ranking livestock officials were also ordered by him to put on woolen velvet Dongjiang army generals' formal attire.

It's just that these bandits don't look like princes in dragon robes. Except for Zhao Cheng, who has become a gentleman in the merchant army over the years, Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming are pouring expensive wine and drinking tap water, and they are placed on the table. The cold pastries were messed up by the two of them. As for Shen Rong, he couldn't take his eyes off the low-cut evening dress specially put on by the Qinhuai beauty Mao Jue had brought to accompany him.

Fortunately, most of the high-ranking officers were wiped out, but the staff members who came from colleges were not influenced by their own officers, and all of them seemed polite. Anyway, the next generation of the Dongjiang Army had a positive attitude, which made Mao Jue heave a sigh of relief.

Beside the dance floor, a red-haired, hairy monkey-like man, but he thinks he is good, is eagerly and blatantly extending his salty pig's hand to an unknown Huadan on the Qinhuai River to invite him to dance, and suddenly ignores him Not far away, the ugly face of the officer's wife in a bubble skirt and a big-brimmed hat, not far away from him, an old man wearing a western medieval general's military uniform, with a large part of gray hair and beard is cautiously left and right Looking around, seeing Mao Jue approaching, the Western old man jumped up as quickly as if his butt was burned, and walked in front of Mao Jue in three steps, and bowed heavily.

"Governor of Taiwan Vanderbilt greets His Majesty the Regent!"

"Sir Lu Feili, this is His Majesty the Regent of Daming, the owner of the Great Ming Dynasty! Please come quickly and salute!"

"Oh? You are the Regent Mao? You have heard of your name for a long time!"

But in the greeting from Vanderbilt, the hairy ape aristocrat first blew hot air on the earlobe of the famous Qinhuai lady, and the face of the molested girl was flushed, and then she laughed and shouted. He greeted me in broken Nanjing Mandarin.

And what is even more frowning is that instead of bowing, he stretched out a hand carelessly.

Their expressions tightened, full of anger, Kong Youde and his brothers threw down their wine glasses and were about to surround them, but they were stopped by Zhao Cheng, who had already received Mao Jue's orders, and muttered a few words in a low voice.

Mao Jue was different from Chongzhen, as long as it was profitable, it didn't matter if he shook hands with the monkey, but when the atmosphere was embarrassing, he had a look of disbelief and reached out his hand.

"Your Excellency Lu Feili, I have admired you for a long time!"

This guy is completely like a dude. After shaking hands, he rushed to Mao Jue's side in an extremely disrespectful manner. He glanced at the Qinhuai beauty who was fleeing for his life, and said with a wretched smile: "Oriental women are soft and lowly. Men's accessories really have a special flavor, master of the East, when I leave, can I bring a few women back? Anyway, this coercion is worthless to you!"

"of course can!"

Insulting an oriental woman face-to-face can be regarded as a provocation to an oriental man, but Mao Jue was scornful in his heart, but his smile did not change. He nodded with a smile, and turned his head to the British-style butler, Mao Lian, who hurriedly whispered orders Get up: "Find some Japanese women to come over to him, the kind that can squeeze him dry!"

"Publica!"

He glanced at the young master of the ape clan for a second without changing his face, and Mao Li went down calmly.

Strolling around, the four of them found a corner and sat down with Zheng Zhilong and Mao Jue. Lu Feili was still looking at the oriental beauty, while Vanderburg smiled humbly and respectfully and cupped his hands at Mao Jue. : "Congratulations to the regent king for taking power in the East. Even the royal family surnamed Zhu bows to you. The whole country has planted your banner!"

"I don't know if these places, like Dongjiang, open their doors generously to your humble servants?"

All-round trade with Ming Dynasty, no matter which great power it is, is extremely eager. These Westerners do not have the convoluted and reserved philosophy of the Easterners. As soon as they sat down, before the wine was ready to drink, Vanderbilt hastily asked up.

Picking up the wine glass and shaking it gracefully, Mao Jue saluted with a more brimming smile.

"Your country is becoming more and more powerful, and my king has been well-known in recent years. I naturally welcome you to trade with your country. However, on this basis, I have a suggestion to make our cooperation a little bit higher. How about it?"

"What do you mean by the regent's words?"

"This king wants to invest in your country's East India Service Company!"

"no!"

Before Vanderbilt could wake up from the shock, a resolute voice of refusal suddenly came from the mouth of that dude, Ru Feili.

Zheng Zhilong's old eyes instantly turned scarlet, and Mao Jue's smile stiffened...

Chapter 631. It's not good to be ignorant of flattery

All of a sudden, the atmosphere became awkward again, Mao Jue's smile gradually subsided, Zheng Zhilong coughed heavily, and said in a gloomy voice.

"Mr. Lu Feili, you must know that you are talking to the Regent of Ming Dynasty!"

"Your Excellency Lu Feili has only just come to Asia and is not aware of the situation. The regent wants to take a stake, right? This is my East India Company's honor. This matter is easy to discuss, easy to discuss!"

The governor of Taiwan, Vanderbilt, was originally a very strict soldier. However, after hearing Zheng Zhilong's threats, he had to put on a smile at the moment, trying to smooth things over like a businessman, nodding with a stiff smile.

There is no way, no matter how tough and strong, there is no absolute strength! Not to mention Mao Jue, he can’t afford to provoke Zheng Zhilong alone. The whole Southeast Asia, as long as it is close to the Ming trade, Zheng Zhilong has to pay tribute to him, even if he is in the East India The governor of Taiwan distributed by the company has to discuss with Zheng Zhilong every year how much money to import, otherwise you will never want to leave the port.

Besides Mao Jue, even if he put aside his status as the regent, not to mention the fleets in his hands, just his cough in Japan can make Japan tremble three times, which is enough for Vanderbilt to be afraid. The Taiwan branch is The most profitable stronghold of the Asian Department of the East India Company, and the largest source of trade in Taiwan also came from Japan.

This family is newly enthroned and in power, and the first one to come to you to get some lucrative water is to think highly of you. If Mao Jue can be favored, Vanderbilt is willing to hand over half of the profits of the Taiwan branch to him even a year.

However, there are always people running wildly on the road to death. As soon as Vanderbilt finished speaking, Lu Feili shook his red hair again, and shook his head righteously.

"Your Excellency Vanderbilt nonsense said that the first rule of the company is not to accept foreign capital control! So there is no need to discuss this matter, there is no need to discuss it at all!"

Mao Jue's brows were furrowed, but he still didn't get angry at this moment, let's talk about business!

Newton once said that he was not a giant, but he just stood on the shoulders of giants! Today’s Dutch East India Company is indeed a giant to Daming. You must know that the sea route was not developed casually overnight. It took a lot of time and human life to wade out one by one in the rough sea.

Regardless of the fact that Mao Jue and Zheng Zhilong are quite powerful at sea, Daming's ships are still limited to the coastal waters of the East China Sea and the South China Sea. A few years ago, Mao Jue launched an expedition, hoping to sail east along the North Sea to see if he could reach Canada However, it ended in failure. Two of the five boats were broken, and more than 200 people froze to death. Therefore, finding a shortcut became what Mao Jue was eager for.

Mao Jue had planned to become a shareholder of the Dutch East India Company for more than a day or two. The Dutch are really good partners for Daming. First of all, in terms of hardware conditions, the Netherlands, known as the sea coachman, is undoubtedly very suitable for Daming's needs. !Secondly, both countries have a common enemy, Spain!

A few years ago, Spain carried out two massacres against the local Chinese in Manila with a butcher's knife raised high. Mao Jue never forgot this hatred. At this time, the Netherlands had not completely gained independence, and it was still in the bloody 80-year war with Spain, and the Ming Dynasty In order to open up new colonies, the Dutch East India Company also had to expand, and conflicts with Spain, the old colonial empire, were inevitable.

"Your country is at war with Spain in order to seek independence. The Spaniards also massacred my Ming Chinese in Manila. If the king becomes a shareholder of the Indian company, the king will also send troops to deal with Spain. Even if necessary, as a partner, Daming will also You can organize an expeditionary force to go to Europe to help the Netherlands fight against Spain! Once we cooperate, dozens of large and small ports along the coast of Daming will be equally open to the East India Company, and the tax rates can be negotiated fairly by both parties, as well as shipbuilding!"

Suppressing the unhappiness that still hopes to complete this cooperation, Mao Jue once again explained the advantages of Daming.

"It's not that you look down on your country, but the seven lowland provinces of the Netherlands plus one piece may not be as large as the Xuzhou state that this king won in this southern expedition. Your forest area is far less than that of Daming, and in my dynasty, There are traditional shipbuilding bases in the south of the Yangtze River. The Daxing’an Mountains in the north, Namba and Hengbo in the country of Japan are all excellent timber producing areas. The shipbuilding bases in Dengzhou, Lushun, Tieshan, and Dandong in our dynasty are also booming. Daming even has Plenty of sailors!"

"I heard that Portugal and Spain once arrogantly divided the world at 46 o'clock and the seventh degree of west longitude. If our two countries join hands, this world will truly be ours."

"Don't you think about it, sir?"

After saying these words, Vanderbilt, an old soldier, is about to lose his temper. Daming's advantages and conditions are too great. It was so full of black humor, the Batavia chief still shook his head so proudly.

"Your Excellency also knows that our country is in a decisive battle with the Spanish Empire. The Netherlands is fighting for the freedom of the seven provinces and vetoing the unreasonable rule of King Philip of Spain! With all due respect, your country is also ruled by such an ignorant and backward royal family. How can our country fight against the Spanish Empire?" Leaving Spain and attracting another Ming?"

"As for your country's kindness to send troops to help the war, I fully appreciate it. Our country has the strength to independently resist Spain and maintain its colonies everywhere. We don't need Da Ming to intervene. Of course, Da Ming is willing to open the port, and the East India Company is also willing to continue doing business with Da Ming. Bringing wealth, but this shareholding is absolutely impossible!"

"Cuo'er barbarians, how dare you reject Daming!"

Half calm, half angry, Zheng Zhilong couldn't help but slammed the table and stood up, yelling angrily, but Mao Jue sat still, and just calmly raised his hand back to stop After stopping him, he immediately raised his wine glass to the still arrogant young master of the ape clan with a blank expression.

"My king is very sorry!"

Dried the wine suddenly, put down the glass, Mao Jue left the table so gracefully, watched him go away in astonishment, stretched out his hand to push him away, but immediately, Vanderburg put down his hand weakly, turned around full of sorrowful reminders He threw his hands heavily at Lu Feili, and shouted helplessly.

"My lord! You are rejecting God!"

But with the same complacent look, Lu Feili hummed indifferently while sipping the wine in the glass.

"Your Excellency Vanderbilt, how dare these barbaric and backward Easterners become enemies of our East India Company? Just because these barbarians seem to have bought shares in our company, if it is passed back to Amsterdam, those shareholders will laugh their ass off? Don't worry, anyone who dares to touch us will be fighting against the entire Protestant Alliance! Don't worry about anything!"

"Come on, have a drink!"

Seeing him raise his wine glass high, Vanderburg couldn't help but let out a groan again, but he also left the table, which made the playboy mutter a few words involuntarily, but only for a moment, Faced with peach blossoms, Lu Feili held a wine glass and greeted several Qinhuai ladies with a lewd smile.