After a cup of tea, two officials wearing blue official robes with mandarin ducks and trousers came out, surrounding a fifth-rank official with white eagle trousers. The official in the middle was in his thirties, with a thick beard and a pair of bright eyes. Yes, his expression was a little innocent. Seeing the order outside the door, he even put a smile on his face.
After a slight cough, the official said, "You are fine as you are, don't make any noise. Well, please translate." Luo Mingjian and the fat man from Ryukyu looked at each other, and the fat man made a gesture, telling Luo Mingjian to translate.
Luo Mingjian translated this sentence. The official continued: "The imperial court ordered that porcelain, silk, silk and other goods must be taxed when they leave the customs. It was not decided by me, Mr. Lei, nor by this customs yamen - all over the world It’s the same with customs!”
After Luo Mingjian finished translating this sentence, he thought to himself, this bunch of ship owners and merchants are really annoying. Previously, the Ming Dynasty only had one customs office, and it was not effective in combating smuggling. Now you have become famous for collecting smuggled goods.
The man surnamed Lei continued: "Besides, it's true that the tariffs have been increased. It's true that your costs have been high, but you can increase the selling price. What's the use of coming to my yamen to make trouble? I can make the decision and exempt you from the tariffs. ?”
While Luo Mingjian was translating, the deputy next to Chief Lei asked the fat Ryukyu man to check whether Luo Mingjian's translation was correct. The fat man listened to the translation carefully and kept nodding.
One of the Portuguese shipowners walked out of the crowd, waved his arms and spoke in Portuguese with a very excited tone. Luo Mingjian translated for him: "Dear Your Excellency, I understand that you must fulfill your responsibilities. But I also implore you to express your gratitude to your Majesty." The Chinese court expresses our intention. We are willing to accept a 10% tariff on goods. If it exceeds 15%, our profits will become very meager. If it exceeds 20%, we will be unprofitable. At that time, your goods will also be taxed. If it causes a blow, the imperial court you belong to doesn’t want the goods to be backlogged at the port and not be sold!”
After hearing this, Chief Lei showed a somewhat innocent smile on his face. He smiled and said: "Oh, no, no. The court is very reasonable. If you take the porcelain from Guangzhou and transport it to Malacca, the profit will be three times; if you transport it, it will be three times more profitable. When it is shipped to Goa, the profit is five times; when it is shipped to Lisbon, the net profit is about ten times. The court only adds a 50% tariff on the price of the goods, so how can the capital be lost?"
Luo Mingjian translated this, and the Portuguese shipowners looked at each other, knowing that the trade information, which was not a secret in the first place, had been grasped by the Ming Dynasty. They thought that this official could not understand this, so they came here with the idea that they would not suffer a loss if they made a fuss. , it turned out that this official was quite knowledgeable, and he revealed their profit level in one sentence, which made everyone speechless for a while.
Seeing that they were silent, Chief Lei Guan said with a serious face: "Previously, you colluded with the smugglers and earned a lot of money from the court's customs duties! Today, the court has standardized the regulations, and you are here to make a noise. But do you think the court is easy to talk to?"
Luo Mingjian tried his best to translate these words in the tone of Chief Lei. Seeing Chief Lei sweep his eyes at the people on the steps, he shouted: "Who is the leader?"
Luo Mingjian fulfilled his duties as an interpreter and also shouted: "Quem é o líder?"
Not only the Chinese love to stir up troubles, but also the Portuguese. Seeing that the officials of the Ming Dynasty wanted to be held accountable, and there was no one who could stand up, the collective took a big step back, and those who had just stepped forward to protest and those who were hit on the head were still confused. The two of them were thrown where they were.
The Ming Dynasty official surnamed Lei didn't care about the truth. He waved his hand and said: "Yellow up! If there is any trouble again, I will give you a fifty-fifty beating!" After saying that, he swung his sleeves and took two deputies with him.
He turned around and went back to the Yamen.
The Jinyiwei Xiaoqi waved his hand, and a few wolves and tigers came up and shackled the feet of the two unlucky guys, and used big wooden shackles on their necks and hands. Luo Mingjian stood aside and took a breath, seeing the wooden shackles
The yoke weighed at least thirty kilograms and covered a large area. The two men could not straighten their backs after being put on the yoke, so they could only kneel there and put the thick wooden board on the ground to support them.
Seeing how horrific the punishment was, all the Portuguese were so frightened that they fell into silence. Although the two men were kneeling, their mouths were not blocked, and they cursed loudly.
The little flag looked fierce and asked Luo Mingjian: "What are they two talking about?"
Luo Mingjian quickly explained: "They are scolding these people, saying that they were not the ones who were the instigators and were harmed by these ship owners. These ship owners do not have any civilized manners in them."
The little flag turned to look at the Ryukyu fat man again. The fat man was stared at with sweat on his face. He quickly said: "He translated correctly."
The little flag sneered, raised his hands like a chicken and duck, and shouted: "Everyone spread out, don't stand here!"
After receiving a beating, the Portuguese shipowners dispersed. Although they did not achieve their goal, they were lucky to not be shackled. They dispersed in twos and threes, and a few of them were more sophisticated and wanted to help the two unlucky guys.
.
One of the older Portuguese men shouted to the members of the mission who had been standing by: "Oh God, if you can enter the customs, I hope you can intercede for poor Mr. Castro and Mr. Mello. They
Just a warm-hearted, kind person.”
As the head of the Portuguese mission, Fan Li'an, like everyone else, saw that the two Portuguese people who were shackled were indeed wronged. He promised: "We will. But we can't guarantee anything. After all, we can't interfere with the Ming Dynasty.
Legal Affairs of the Empire.”
Seeing that he was wearing religious clothes, the man nodded respectfully to him and made the sign of the cross on his chest.
After this matter was dealt with, the customs gate reopened, signaling the Yamen to continue its normal operations.
Fan Li'an led the delegation and walked into the Yamen to go through the immigration formalities. Commissioner Lei looked over the documents issued by the Chief Secretary of Guangdong several times and called an old official from the Customs Entry and Exit Section to check the authenticity of the seal of the Chief Secretary of Guangdong.
Fake.
The old official came over and scanned the report: "Sir, this is true."
An innocent smile appeared on Guanzhang Lei's face again, he scratched his head and said with a smile: "I'm sorry, this is probably my first mission to come through the customs in the Ming Dynasty. I'm new to this and have no experience."
Both Fan Anli and Luo Mingjian knew that this guy was simple on the surface, but actually had a very deep heart. Fan Anli followed the principle of politeness to many people without being offended, and asked the chief officer Lei, "May I ask your name?"
Lei Guanchang smiled and said: "My surname is Lei, my given name is Yingzhi, and my courtesy name is Yuan Shu. You can just call me by my official position. You don't have to call me sir. I am a fifth-rank official and cannot be called sir."
"My lord, be humble. Lord Lei already knows our purpose and the court's intention. I don't know when we will be allowed to set off." Fan Anli and Luo Mingjian were really hurt by the bureaucracy of the Ming court, and they were prepared.
Preparation for bleeding.
Unexpectedly, Chief Lei was very talkative. He stamped the document with a big seal, handed it back to Fan Li'an and said, "You can go."
Fan Li'an was so happy that he felt uncertain in his heart. He asked, "I wonder how we can go?"
Chief Lei said with a smile: "If you are willing to be a sea-going ship, you can go to the dock to find one. You can go to Tianjin. If you are willing to take the canal, there is no problem. Just hire a few carriages and ride on it, and get on the ship in Hangzhou. But this season
, there are no boats across the Yellow River, so you can only take a carriage."
After hearing this, Luo Mingjian said: "Master Lei, there are many people in the envoy. I'm afraid it will be difficult to find such a big ship. Can you help me?"
Lei Yingzhi turned away again and sneered: "I can't help you with this. I came from the capital to take office, and I spent my own money along the way." After a pause, he said again: "The shipping terminal is at Nansha Port, and there are plenty of ships! You guys
Find a place along the coast, it will be safer."
After hearing this, Fan Li'an and others felt that their mission was not taken seriously at all, and Matteo Ricci was already a little discouraged. Fan Li'an had no other choice, so he took out a pocket watch and handed it to Lei Yingzhi and said: "This is from our mission.
A small gift, please accept it." I thought to myself that this official came from the north and must have never seen anything like this.
Unexpectedly, after Lei Yingzhi took it, he dug into his pocket and took out a pocket watch produced by Rishenglong. When comparing the two watches together, the one given by Rishenglong looked like a princess, while the one given by Fan Li'an looked like a country girl.
.
As the saying goes, there is no harm without comparison. Fan Li'an's pocket watch didn't cost much, and it wasn't cheap when he bought it in Lisbon. However, he never expected that the Ming Dynasty had already had pocket watches, and it looked so high-end in appearance.
All the Portuguese envoys showed awkward but polite smiles, and Fan Li'an cursed in his heart. Luo Mingjian said at the side: "Sir, this is a small gift, just take it and reward it."
Lei Yingzhi nodded and said: "Thank you, your Majesty is considerate." Naturally, he put the pocket watch on the table in front of his subordinates. Fan Li'an said: "Master Lei, the two Portuguese people outside were indeed wronged.
, can you be noble and let him go?"
Lei Yingzhi nodded after hearing this and said: "Since your envoy has proposed it, give them a chance and let them go tomorrow morning - originally I planned to take out one hundred and eighty kilograms of silver and put it on the wooden shackles for these profiteers.
Later, I thought that the customs didn’t have that much money, so I let it go.”
Fan Li'an said hurriedly: "Thank you, sir. Your quality is very noble. Thank you again."
Seeing that he didn't understand, Lei Yingzhi became cold and cold again, and winked outward, which meant that it was time for you to leave and find a boat.
Luo Mingjian couldn't help but want to speak, but was pulled by Fan Li'an, and he immediately became speechless. Fan Li'an smiled and said, "I will convey your message to these two people - let's take our leave now."