Gonzalez looked at Van Drentrön, who was lying on the bed, drunk and snoring loudly, and couldn't help but frown. The room smelled so strong of alcohol that it made it impossible to fall asleep.
"You have to drink too much if you don't have the ability to drink." Gonzalez wiped his mustache. He drank a lot. In this hellish place like Batavia, the alcohol is scarce, bad, and very expensive. The most popular one is
The drink is beer, which the Dutch often drink. Southern Europeans who are accustomed to wine don't like it at all and call it "pee".
At the reception, rum was served, as well as fruit wine brewed by Xue Ziliang and other wine enthusiasts at the demonstration farm. Although grapes specially used for winemaking cannot be grown here in Lingao, the farm and communes promote the cultivation of "ten grapes".
In addition to being supplied to the army, students and workers, most of the remaining fruits were used to make wine. When Xue Ziliang was in the United States, making wine by himself was a hobby.
I also have special small-scale fermentation equipment at home, and I am very familiar with the process.
This kind of fruit wine produced by small brewing workshops is of various types and small quantity. It is basically used by elders and banquets. A few are sold in stores as special supplies to the higher classes of naturalized people.
Of course, Gonzalez did not give up this rare opportunity to drink: the Spanish soldiers were as good at drinking as anyone else. He drank several bottles of cider, jackfruit and wild fruit wine, and then drank a lot of Lang in one breath.
After drinking rum, he still went to talk to Miss Mendoza who was acting as a translator without changing his expression. He had not seen the "woman of the motherland" for a long time. Although this charming woman spoke a lot of Spanish that he could not understand.
She had a vocabulary and an accent. Gonzalez guessed that she was a native Spaniard from the American colonies. He immediately showed her enthusiasm and hospitality. Although he could see that the other party also had a good impression of him, he always waited until he got the chance.
He would avoid him when he got too close. This made Gonzalez very puzzled.
Although Miss Mendoza felt close to seeing a European who also spoke Spanish, the stench emanating from the Spanish soldier made him nauseous. In fact, Gonzalez was better than his contemporaries in terms of hygiene habits.
On behalf of most compatriots - serving in a place like Batavia, it is difficult to survive without frequent bathing. After arriving in Lingao, he was forced to take a bath after staying at the Sailors Hotel.
After the cocktail party, he and Trini returned to the room where they were staying. Although the hotel had single rooms available, Van Drentron was afraid of spending too much of the company's public funds, so he insisted on staying in a triple room.
According to the hotel standards of the 17th century, this three-person room was luxurious and comfortable. But with such a drunk guy in the room, the room became a bit unbearable. The Italians also couldn't stand the Dutchman's odor.
Got a bad smell.
"How about we go outside and have another drink?" Gonzalez asked in Italian. As a soldier of the King of Spain, he had served in Italy, and there were many Italians in the army.
"Of course. I'm very happy." Trini's task is to draw, and it is his task to walk more and see more. He thought for a moment, "But we don't have a translator."
"No need for translation." Gonzalez took out a rial, "This is the translation."
"What if we get lost?"
"They will get us back." Gonzalez said nonchalantly, "Don't you want to find a woman?"
"The Dutch seem to be happier with the outcome of this negotiation than we are." After the reception, a group of people from the Ministry of Colonization and Trade gathered in the conference room of the office building. Hong Kong commercial representative Hong Kong was temporarily transferred back from Hong Kong to participate in the negotiations.
Yin said. He was transferred back because Xu Tianqi, the one who speaks the best German among the elders, has gone to the mainland, and he is the only one left who can communicate fluently in German.
"Of course. The Dutch have played hard for Zheng Zhilong. How can we be unhappy when we finally meet honest people like us?" Skade was very happy. The trade agreement signed with the Dutch East India Company a few days ago was announced in the Senate.
The House of Representatives approved it after the third reading. Although everyone is not very fond of the Dutch, this agreement is really beneficial to the Lingao regime.
"I still propose to include Hong Kong as an entrepot." Hong Hongyin once again put forward his idea.
A large number of Ming Dynasty goods that the Dutch need are currently mainly traded through Zhangzhou Bay. That is to say, the goods are mainly shipped from Fujian. This trade channel is currently controlled by Zheng Zhilong. It is not that the Dutch are unwilling to trade in Guangdong. Guangdong's trade
Mainly monopolized by the Portuguese. In fact, in terms of convenience of supply, Guangdong is a better supplier of export products than Fujian.
Mainland goods sold to the Dutch, including raw silk, silk, groceries, medicinal materials, etc., can actually be traded directly with the Netherlands at the Hong Kong Station, reducing the need for transit and storage, which can free up the original use between the mainland and Lingao.
It has the transportation capacity to load mainland goods traded with the Netherlands. The spices that the Dutch are trying to promote can also be traded in Hong Kong. They are purchased by the Hong Kong Station and sold directly locally or sold to the Guangzhou Station to earn the price difference.
Through trade with the Dutch, Hong Kong became an entrepot just like in the old days, expanding Hong Kong's influence as a trading port on the mainland, and building momentum for the empire to control the trade route for Chinese merchants to Batavia.
"In addition, we can also make use of the Dutch's empty cargo space. We are currently specifying half of the cargo capacity. Assume that half of the Dutch ships carried rice and half of the spices. After their ships unloaded rice at Lingao, they also needed
Then go to Hong Kong to unload the spices. We can fully utilize the half of the unloaded cargo space and hand over the goods we need to transfer to Hong Kong and Guangzhou to Dutch ships for transportation."
This proposal made Si Kai very tempted - you must know that the biggest problem of the Ministry of Colonization and Trade now is the problem of insufficient transportation capacity. Now we can not only save transportation capacity, but also make use of the Dutch transportation capacity. Hong Yin's suggestion is attractive enough
It's human.
Skade nodded repeatedly: "Well, this idea is very good."
"Actually, Sanya is not in a hurry to open up." Hong Hongyin said, "Except for slaves, most of the goods shipped by the Dutch cannot be digested locally. We have to transport them back to Lingao or Hong Kong ourselves.
And the goods sold to the Dutch in Sanya are mainly transported through Lingao. It's like a lot of extra work for nothing."
Si Kaide was moved by his words. Building Sanya into an international trade port was a plan of the Senate. Now that international businessmen are here, it seems inappropriate to veto it. He thought about it and decided that Sanya's plan is "long-term" anyway.
"Sex", it's not a big problem to focus on Hong Kong now.
"However, Hong Kong is still under construction. Is it possible for you to open up?"
"The Dutch won't send ships right away. I guess they won't send out the first batch of ships until the second half of the year anyway. By the second half of the year, our infrastructure construction will be completed, and the work of the Guangzhou Station will resume.
Okay. The Dutch can handle it with at most 2 to 3 ships."
Si Kaide nodded. He thought for a while. In this case, he would have to discuss with Ji An, the director of the customs, to build a new customs in Hong Kong and clear the customs directly there to simplify the procedures.
"That way you can go big," he said.
"Yes, otherwise what would I, a business representative, be doing in Hong Kong?" Hong Hongyin said unabashedly, "The development potential of Hong Kong is still a little limited. But as an outer port of Guangzhou, it is still good."
Therefore, in the final draft of the trade agreement, Hong Kong was added to the open trade ports.
However, among the open ports, consuls could only be sent to Lingao. Who to send to Batavia to act as consul became a new problem.
Flood Yin resolutely rejected this opportunity - even though he was the best German speaker among the current senators. But he didn't want to go, so he suggested that people who knew Spanish or other languages could also go to Batavia to do this job.
I didn't see the Dutch's entourage, including the Spaniards and Italians.
The Senate was hesitant to send a senator to serve as a consul in Dutch territory. Because there were so few senators, each senator's knowledge and skills were valuable, putting a senator thousands of kilometers away in the territory of a potential enemy.
It is unclear what kind of benefits there will be. The level of the veteran sent cannot be low. He must know a foreign language that can communicate with the Dutch, must have considerable negotiation skills, and must be in good health. Just in case something happens.
If something goes wrong, the Senate is completely beyond its reach.
The one most interested in sending consuls is the Foreign Intelligence Service - this is an opportunity to openly send intelligence personnel. But the risk is greater than sending to the Ming Dynasty, and Batavia is not currently the main target, so intelligence
The Bureau did not show much enthusiasm for this either.
But not sending a consul seems to be a loss. After all, the other party can send a consul in Lingao, and sending a consul can also spread the influence of the Australians to the Chinese in Batavia. After some discussions, the Foreign Intelligence Service
Wang Yan proposed a compromise plan and sent a consul to Taiwan's high officials.
Compared to Batavia, the Taiwan strategy is only a matter of recent years. An intelligence officer is more useful in Daguan than in Batavia, and if something happens, the distance from Hainan to Taiwan is even closer.
Much more.
"But that doesn't make sense." Skade questioned at the meeting. "Our trade agreement is with the Batavia authorities unless they transfer jurisdiction over our trade to the Council of Chancellors.
, otherwise it would be difficult for us to propose sending a consul to stay in an unrelated port."