This negotiation is still in progress. The Portuguese Municipal Council in Macau has a certain interest in the suggestions of the Guangdong officialdom - after all, ensuring trade with China is their biggest concern. The Australian Yang Fan fired a cannon and entered the Pearl River Estuary in a swagger.
The action also made the Portuguese feel an unprecedented threat.
Although this group of so-called "Australians" in Lingao have not directly harmed the interests of the Portuguese so far - apart from granting India-Lingao trade concessions to a few ships, they have not done anything in overseas trade.
A big move was made. Most of the transactions with the Chinese in Guangdong were bulk goods such as basic livelihood products such as grain, cotton, and various minerals, metals, and wood that the Portuguese had no interest in.
Generally speaking, the Portuguese and the Australians in Lingao are not in conflict with each other, and they each get what they need - the Australians sell a large number of high-quality and low-cost industrial products to the Portuguese, which makes the Portuguese in many distribution and transfer areas.
They made a lot of money in the sales market. The Portuguese also sold a lot of "Indian goods" to Lingao. This made the Portuguese, who were originally desperate to open the Chinese market, become very interested in the Australians and thought that if they could
Establishing stable trade relations with the Australians may open up channels for selling goods to Australia.
However, the Australians defeated the Ming army in Lingao, and the subsequent movement of the fleet into the Pearl River alerted the Portuguese - the Australians were obviously not a group of pirates or businessmen who were just content to stay in a remote small county. They had a larger
attempt.
Among the Chinese in Guangdong, a vague rumor has reached the ears of the Portuguese: the Australians are Chinese who went overseas centuries ago, and they are coming back to regain the throne, title and fiefdom of their ancestors.
Geranzani can get the latest progress of the meeting every few days - it is not surprising that the intermediary in the Guangdong officialdom who came to negotiate was Li Luoyou, who lived and studied in the Jesuits when he was young, although he was
He has his own residence in Macau, and the Jesuits still come to visit several priests he is familiar with every few days.
Li Luoyu did not conceal the purpose of his visit and the content of the negotiations. In Macau, the Jesuits have great influence on the Macau Municipal Council. Therefore, he believed that it was beneficial and harmless to let the Jesuits understand the negotiation process.
Li Luoyou was shocked that the Ming government launched an attack on Lingao. He did not expect that the government would attack Lingao so rashly - didn't they know that they would send people to investigate in advance? Li Luoyou felt regretful.
He thought that if they could send people to take a look in person, this war might be avoided. And the officers and soldiers should save more energy. From his knowledge, the officers and soldiers of Guangdong are no match for the Australians. Li Luoyou knew that if
Without a numerical advantage, the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty may not even be able to deal with the Portuguese army, which was cobbled together by various people. Not to mention the Australians, whose weapons quality and training organization were ten times better than the Portuguese.
When the wealthy businessmen and gentry in Guangzhou were involved in the fight for the purple title, and many merchants cut off business dealings with the Australians for various reasons, Li Luoyou still quietly continued to maintain the transaction with Lingao. One Ship
A shipload of medicinal materials, metals, grain, and cloth was transported to Lingao. In exchange, he needed various Australian goods. It was not stopped until the officers and soldiers crossed the Qiongzhou Strait. This kind of trade made his Qionghai Trading Company in Lingao earn a lot of money.
Gu Baocheng, who was doing business for the first time in person, was greatly surprised by the large amount of money he received.
In Li Luoyou's business, in terms of scale and efficiency, the Qionghai ship was not ranked high at all, but Li Luoyou set up this place as an important business base, and it was Gu Baocheng's first business business -
―He very much regards this property as the basis for reviving the Gu family's business in the future, so his investment in it can be regarded as generous.
Li Luoyou spent a lot of money to buy a large piece of land in the newly developed area of Dongmen City. On part of it, he built houses and built Qionghai Trading Company. For the rest, he asked Bao Cheng to build up the place first.
If you are in a hurry to use it, don't sell it easily.
"Isn't it a pity that this wonderful world has been abandoned like this?" Gu Baocheng asked.
Li Luoyou asked him to find a few vegetable farmers and rent out the vacant land to grow vegetables. Growing vegetables is a very profitable project in Lingao - the large industrial, mining, administrative, military and other non-agricultural populations require a large number of people.
of vegetables as supplementary food.
"Growing vegetables is not only to make more money." Li Luoyou taught earnestly, "but also to prevent others from gossiping! Good land is left with long grass. When others see it, they will not think of anything else, but will only think that we are wasting natural resources.
"
"My nephew understands."
"If you want to get the land, you can't let it go unused. This is your advantage." Li Luoyou expressed his appreciation for him.
On the eve of the officers and soldiers' attack on the Qiongzhou Strait, Li Luoyou, who received the news, sent a messenger secretly to Lingao. Because the officers and soldiers' attack on Lingao was so powerful, some of the crew members and stewards on the Qionghai were in panic all day long.
He encouraged Gu Baocheng to return to Guangzhou first to avoid the limelight.
"The master said that if the young master feels that the situation here is critical, he can come back. The master will never blame the young master," the messenger said.
"You go back and tell the master." Gu Baocheng said confidently, "Although the Australians have a hard battle, it is extremely difficult for the officers and soldiers to win."
The messenger replied to Li Luoyou exactly what Gu Baocheng said. Li Luoyou nodded secretly. Although this kid's vision was still a little bad, after all, he no longer followed others' opinions. He had his own knowledge - his knowledge was not bad at all.
.
He Rubin's entire army was destroyed in Chengmai, and then he was besieged in Qiongshan. This was not beyond Li Luoyou's expectation. Even when Li Fengjie secretly sent someone to summon him and asked him to act as an envoy to negotiate in Macau, he was also dissatisfied.
I feel surprised. The attack launched rashly by the Governor is bound to fail. After the failure, someone has to clean up the mess. Of course, the person who cleans up the mess is Li Fengjie.
Li Fengjie is Li Luoyou's biggest backer in Guangdong. Li Luoyou handles many of the governor's commercial affairs, including investment and lending, and also runs many pawn shops, maritime trade and smuggling that are invested by the governor. Either he has a bad reputation, or
Officials were not allowed to get involved in the lucrative industry. The collusion between the two was close. When Li Fengjie proposed to compete for the post of governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, Li Luoyu immediately asked someone to send five dollars to the governor's office in Beijing.
Thousand taels of silver were used as activity funds.
This kind of friendship is certainly not trivial. So as soon as Wang Zunde fell ill and Li Fengjie came out to arrange the defense of Guangdong and secretly prepare for payment negotiations, he invited this "business partner" out - and asked him to come forward to deal with the Portuguese.
Talk about cooperation in defense of the Pearl River Estuary.
"Brother, I'm afraid you know it too." When Li Luoyou met He Chengzong, who was visiting Foshan on a starry night, the other party looked very ugly, "The thieves have fled into the Pearl River! Now they are looting, burning and killing everywhere! Dongguan, Xin'an, Shunde,
Counties in the South China Sea were shocked three times a day..."
"I heard that they occupied Humen?"
"Humen is so dangerous that it only took two days for the bandits to do it." He Chengzong was frustrated and uneasy. "It was a complete defeat." He gave a brief summary of the battle of Humen. When he mentioned that the Australians had "strong ships and powerful artillery", Li Luoyou
He was secretly surprised, because he heard from the other party's words: the Australians did not dispatch either large iron ships or iron clippers. They only used fifty or sixty ordinary sailing ships and self-propelled small boats that emitted black smoke to capture the enemy.
In Humen, which has multiple forts and hundreds of artillery positions, 2,000 officers and soldiers were defeated.
Unexpectedly, the Australian navy was so powerful! Li Luoyou was secretly satisfied with the defeat in Guangdong, thinking that it was an excellent lesson for those arrogant officials. But now he is worried - the Australian military strength is so
As powerful as he is, and now he is at odds with the Ming Dynasty, there is no guarantee that he will not be another slave-builder in the future!
"Dong Weng has entrusted me with something important." He Chengzong whispered, "Only me can handle this matter. Once the matter is accomplished, Dong Weng will be grateful!"
"I don't want to thank you so much." Seeing his strange expression, Li Luoyou knew that it must be an important matter - this matter was probably related to the Australians. Could it be that he was asked to come forward and talk to the Australians? He also whispered, "Sir
What do you want to do down here?"
"This matter is not enough for outsiders to understand." He Chengzong continued.
"rest assured!"
He Chengzong then whispered his purpose. Li Fengjie asked him to go to Macau in person and ask the Portuguese to send troops to attack the Pearl River Estuary.
"...the Fo Langji people have seven or eight large ships like a city in Haojing, with cannons like forests on them. Even the warships of the Kun thieves may not be able to win." He Chengzong said, "The Kun thieves are now rampant and wreaking havoc on the river, but what they use
Gunpowder and artillery are all transported thousands of miles from Lingao. As long as the Folangji cut off their supplies and the thieves are short of weapons and ammunition, they will have no choice but to retreat."
Li Fengjie chose Li Luoyou as this envoy, first of all, of course, because he was his confidant and he could be assured of it; secondly, Li Luoyou had a close relationship with the Portuguese; finally, Li Luoyou was a businessman, not an official, and neither was he.
People in the shogunate.
The matter of asking the Portuguese to send troops to help was, to put it bluntly, to seduce the foreign vassals. If the imperial censor knew about it, it would cause an uproar. Only a businessman with no official background like Li Luoyou could intervene to prevent the news from leaking out.
Afterwards, officials denied it - after all, he was a serious "civilian" and not even a "temporary worker."
Li Luoyou was silent. He found this matter very difficult. He was not sure whether the Portuguese were willing to do this. As a Chinese who is very close to the Portuguese and understands their way of thinking, he knew that the Portuguese
They are willing to maintain the smooth flow of their commercial trade, but there is a question mark as to how determined and capable they are. In addition, since the Portuguese opened port in Macau, the relationship between the Ming Dynasty and the Portuguese can hardly be said to be harmonious - at most
They are just tolerating each other. The calls in the official circles to expel the Portuguese have never stopped. Especially recently, there are rumors circulating in the market that the high patrol officials want to expel the Portuguese and ban trade. The words are so clear-cut and vivid that even the Portuguese have heard about it.
Already.
Under such circumstances, if the Portuguese still wanted to send troops, he was not sure what the other side would think about it.
"This matter is very difficult." Li Luoyou decided to tell the truth, "The memorial of Gao Xunjian has already become a storm in the city. Most of the people from Fo Langji also know about it. How will they deal with it when they ask about it?"
"Just say that there is absolutely no such thing."
This is simply child's play! Li Luoyou thought to himself that the matter of Gao Xun's memorial would not come out of nowhere, and he would reject it without any explanation. If the Portuguese got the exact information in the future, they would not treat the Ming officials as innocent.
A person of integrity?
"This...if something happens in the future, wouldn't it be a huge loss of face for the government..."
He Chengzong smiled calmly: "Have the government ever said this?" He looked very proud.
Li Luoyou glanced at him in disbelief - he completely understood what He Chengzong meant. This was not said by anyone in the Guangdong government but by him as a representative. And Li Luoyou was not an "official", so he did not
There is a problem of the government lying. Besides, at that time, the government can completely deny that Li Luoyou has any relationship with the government.
What this group of people thought was so ridiculous! They actually regarded lying as a strategy! And from the fact that He Chengzong was so proud and said this without any subtlety, he obviously thought that it was nothing to let a businessman like Li Luoyou tell a few lies.
No big deal. I suddenly felt extremely chilled.
"This class of scholars has read every book into the dog's belly. They can come up with all kinds of despicable and shameless ideas." Li Luoyou was furious in his heart. But his face was calm and he just smiled slightly and said: "This,
Isn’t that appropriate?”
He Chengzong still had a smug look on his face: "What's wrong? You're always a businessman, so what does it matter if you say a few wrong words? Just deal with what's in front of you first."
"Haha, haha." Li Luoyu said haha. He can rely on "integrity" to gain a foothold in the shopping mall. If he deceives the Portuguese this time, it will be difficult for him to gain a foothold in Macau's business community in the future. So this "Li Daitao Zong"
"He would never tell a lie like that.
If the Portuguese really wanted to ask about Gao Xun's memorial, he decided to make a straightforward statement: saying that he didn't know the matter. Let the Portuguese judge for themselves. There are many people in Guangzhou who are willing to sell out for foreign money.
All people will naturally find the real answer themselves.
After He Chengzong left, he began to seriously consider this task. Of course, unless he no longer wanted to do business in Guangdong, Li Fengjie's request could not be refused. And he had to find a way to achieve it.
Although he is a business partner of the Australians, he thinks that the Australians have gone too far this time. Disturbing Guangdong will only further bleed Ming's already severely weakened body - in his opinion, the Australians should continue to stay.
It is better to sell Australian goods in Lingao. Although the Portuguese may not be able to succeed immediately, a little pressure will be useful.
The tricky thing is that this is very difficult to do - the Portuguese may send out warships to patrol and try to expel the Australians for the purpose of safeguarding commercial interests. But their naval power - quite impressive in East Asia, can even make Liu Xiang heartbroken.
They were afraid to attack the Portuguese merchant ships wantonly, but they were simply vulnerable to the Australians. As long as one of the four clippers appeared at the Pearl River Estuary, they could single-handedly defeat the entire Portuguese naval force in Macau.
He had no doubt of this.
Regardless of whether the Portuguese had the ability to expel the Australians, since the government was asking for help, it did not offer any conditions that were beneficial to the Portuguese. The senior bureaucrats of the Ming Dynasty had a mentality of "drinking water without forgetting the man who dug the well".
He always regarded himself as a well digger. In the view of Li Fengjie and his staff, the Portuguese's ability to settle in Macau was entirely due to the grace of the Ming Dynasty. If the Portuguese wanted to stay here, they had to serve the local officialdom unconditionally.
If they could not understand this, the bureaucrats were prepared to use threats to force the Portuguese to realize this.
In other words, this is not a reciprocal negotiation, but a constant threat that "you may suffer losses if you don't do this."
Of course, threats are also a means of negotiation. As long as the strength is strong enough, the threats can be fulfilled at any time. But when his own side is in urgent need of help, he is still threatening possible allies, which really makes him feel embarrassed. The Macau Municipal Council affirms
I want to know what benefits can be gained by spending a large amount of military expenditures and dispatching warships to attack the Australians, who have always been friendly with us?
After much thought, Li Luoyou had no choice but to use the major issue that the Portuguese were most concerned about, the maintenance of China's trade, to persuade them to dispatch warships: if Macao wanted to maintain its position as the Ming Dynasty's foreign trade gateway, it was necessary to maintain water security in the Pearl River Basin.
Ensure the safety of ship traffic.
The request of the governor of Guangdong brought by Li Luoyu was immediately submitted to the Macau Municipal Assembly for discussion. Portuguese dignitaries and dignitaries from the Chamber of Commerce held a long discussion on this issue and formed two completely different opinions.
Although the Portuguese did not like the Ming Dynasty government, after all, this government gave them a place of residence and gave them the monopoly on trade with China under the mentality of not wanting to deal with foreign businessmen. Once the Australians and the Ming Dynasty fell into a long-term war,
The lucrative trade operated by the Portuguese in the Pearl River Delta would be unsustainable. Therefore, there have been strong calls to help the Guangdong government fight against the Australians.
But other people thought that the Ming Dynasty was not a good trading partner. They constantly restricted the Portuguese's trade, restricted the types and quantities of goods they purchased, restricted the cash they carried, and even prohibited them from hiring or buying local slaves in Guangdong.
And there are constant proposals to expel them from this small colony. Some even believe that this "arrogant" government should be taught a "profound lesson" - if the Australians are willing to do this, there is no need for the Portuguese to intervene
.On the contrary, the Portuguese can even use their transcendent status as a mediator in peace talks between the two parties to gain greater benefits.