In the early years of the Longqing period of the Ming Dynasty, various disharmonious voices began to appear in the South China Sea amid a wave of immigrants of Chinese people going south. Some local chiefs of the French kings were worried that the Ming Dynasty would infringe on their interests and began to change from welcoming Chinese businessmen to considering boycotting Chinese people. However, this consideration has never become a reality. Even if there are sporadic actions, they will be suppressed immediately and have not become a wave that shakes the South China Sea.

The South China Sea Circle, which was connected by five major Chinese ports, Zhehe, Palawan, Bharat, Singapore and Feilong, joined Guangzhou at this moment, and completely formed a circular Ming Nanyang naval system. The six major ports in the South China Sea echoed each other. If something happened, the others immediately sent troops to launch reinforcements according to the reverse direction of the South China Sea current. Chinese people from all over the South China Sea have been organized and responded positively, and neutral forces are unwilling to offend Chinese, which puts the Chinese voice in a strong position.

Relatively speaking, the chiefs of the French kings and chiefs everywhere are divided. There is a tradition of confrontation between the Southeast Peninsula and the Java Islands for more than hundreds of years. On the peninsula, the Annan Mo family and Champa have always had conflicts. Myanmar and Siam have been in war for many years. The differences within the Java islands almost surpass their exclusion of the Chinese. In the absence of a unified voice, their weakness compared to the Chinese is becoming more and more serious.

In Singapore, three men are discussing secretly in a tavern. Two of these three men are Portuguese, one is the big businessman Francisco vs. Toscano, the other is his cousin Floyd vs. Toledo, the third is a Chinese, to be precise, a Quanzhou native named Zhan Jin.

Freud V Toledo is a weapon dealer. This time he transported many outdated firearms. He wanted to make a fortune from the East - he bullied people outside Europe, all short-sighted barbarians, so he collected a bunch of junk goods that no one wants in Antwerp, and wanted to go to the East to exchange for spice and ceramics! It is not surprising that many Europeans in this era are like this. But after he arrived in Manlacca, he met his cousin Francisco V Toscano and found that the Orientals - especially the Chinese with the highest purchasing power, are not stupid. In recent years, China's firearm manufacturing has developed rapidly, and the improvement of bird guns has surpassed Europe. Even imitation of the Francisco cannon is enough to be amazed in the European market.

"What should I do?" Floyd V Toledo said with a sad face at the time.

"What can I do? Throw your cargo." Toscano said bluntly. At this time, he bought ceramics and raw silk from Shanghai. He was dreaming that the price of these goods would increase ten times when they arrived in Europe. At that time, he would definitely become a wealthy rich man who could rival a country. Therefore, he seemed a little impatient with Toledo, who was about to become a beggar. Although he had some kinship, what is there to talk about between the richest man and the beggar?

Toledo was very resentful about his cousin's ruthlessness, so he threw out the message he brought from Europe to attack the other party: "Fran, don't be proud, Humph, you borrowed the money for buying these ships of ceramics and raw silk? And when I could raise so much money in a short time, the interest rate must be very high. Haha, haha!"

"Why are you laughing at?" Francisco V Toscano was indeed borrowed, and the interest rate was extremely high. When he returned to Europe, he had to pay off the money with the principal and the interest, at least three times the principal. However, when he thought of the ten times - even twenty times the profit of ceramics and raw silk, the loan and interest became completely acceptable.

"I laugh at you and you will be worse than me!" Toledo said: "At most I have nothing, but you will be in debt! Haha, haha!"

Then he revealed a surprising news.

It turned out that the news that China opened its sea and Shanghai opened its port had already reached Europe. After the vacancies who returned to Western Europe on brisk ships first came ashore, they would inevitably double the description of Shanghai's prosperity and China's prosperity. Although this enhanced many Europeans' desire to go to China, the ceramic, raw silk and spice merchants did not think so. In the exaggerated description of the voyeurs, they noticed some information:

"The ceramics are piled up like a mountain! If you want to get the ceramics below, you must fall down. So you must first pick them up from the top porcelain. However, if you want to get the porcelain at the top, you have to move a ladder that is five people high!"

"Chinese merchants sell silk in markets. The silks are as surging as waves. Some large silks can cover the whole house! So a ridiculous Italian was so angry that he was so suffocating because he was covered in it."

In terms of oriental products such as silk, ceramics, spices, etc., Italians are one of the biggest competitors of Western European merchants, so these Western European sailors did not forget to tease them when describing them. However, this teasing is not the point. Whether in Antwerp or Lisbon, many big merchants have summarized the most critical one from these messy information: a large number of raw silk, ceramics and even spices are coming from the East!

With this expectation, the prices of oriental products in the European market plummeted overnight, especially raw silk and ceramics, which fell to the point where it was difficult to make up for the cost of long-distance voyages!

After hearing this news, Toscano felt like he was hit by thunder!

At first he thought that this might be because his cousin was deliberately attacking him, but when he thought about it, he knew that the news was very authentic. As a businessman who had been walking on the sea for a long time, he still understood the common sense that oversupply would cause a price plummeting.

Looking at his cousin's stunned look, Toledo felt a sense of revenge.

"I advise you," he said, imitating Toscanno's tone just now, "You'd better deal with that batch in Malacca as soon as possible. Maybe the price of selling here is higher than in Lisbon!"

The relatives fell in love with each other's depression, but a few days later they got together again. At this time, Freud V Toledo had already found out clearly that the Chinese were indeed not easy to cheat, and also heard about the military power of the Ming Navy, and knew that my cousin did not lie. Francisco V Toscano also stole from others, learned some of the recent situation of the European market, and believed more about the information described by my cousin.

These two frustrated Folang Jimen got together again, but this time it was to discuss how to deal with each other's crisis. At this moment, a Chinese businessman caught their ideas - or rather, they caught the attention of the Chinese businessman. This Chinese businessman was Zhan Jin, a hundred households in Quanzhou Guard. In order to pull out the hundred-year-old spike of the coastal garrison, Li Yanzhi drove all these people to Nanyang on the excuse of searching for Wang Zhi - which is actually no different from exile. In order to make a living, these thousands of households and even ordinary military households showed their magical powers and found ways. They were useless to ask for a bite of food. Some ambitions were thinking about how to make a fortune, and Zhan Jin was the latter type of person.

After these three men met, Toscano and Toledo heard that Zhan Jin was an intermediate officer. After Zhan Jin heard that the other party was a great merchant in Folangji, they were both moved, but they did not tell each other about their current predicament, but they just brag about each other.

"Zhan Zhen, have you heard of this name?"

It's okay to forget Toledo, how could Toscano never hear about it?

"Of course I heard that he was the governor of Luzon and one of the largest officials of the Ming faction in the South China Sea."

"Hehe, he is actually my cousin."

Toscano and Toledo both felt awe when they heard this. When Zhan Jin knew that Toscano had three ships of silk ceramics and Toledo had one ship of weapons, he also thought that the other party was indeed a big businessman!

At this time, he took the initiative to say to Toscano: "Do you still need goods? Whether it is ceramics, raw silk, or spices." At this point, he lowered his voice: "I can help you avoid taxes!"

Toscano smiled bitterly in his heart and declined tactfully. He was afraid that the goods would not be taken away, so how could he buy them!

Toledo was thinking about how to help him dump the weapons, but after he took out the sample, Zhan Jin frowned, and the topic could not be continued.

Most of the things in the business world were originally necessary to be discussed. When the three men continued to drink until they had to drink for five or six minutes, Zhan Jin suddenly muttered and complained to Li Yan.

In Nanyang, most Chinese people praise Li Yanzhi when they mention Li Yanzhi. Some have benefited from Li Yanzhi's policies, while others want to make money with his power. But Zhan Jin was a "victim". When he was in Fujian, he lived a good life. In addition to having a fixed monthly military pay, he could also do some small business around, or use the little power at hand to extort farmers and fishermen. How happy it would be!

But after arriving in Southeast Asia, everything became unsecured, and every porridge and meal had to be carefully planned.

But Toscano and Toledo didn't understand these things, and they seemed surprised by Zhan Jin's dissatisfaction with their marshal. In the eyes of outsiders, Li Yanzhi was fighting for benefits for the Chinese on different occasions.

"Hmph," Zhan Jin also had to rely on Li Yanzhi's prestige at this time - he pretended to be a relative of Zhan Zhen and Zhan Zhen was Li Yanzhi's person, so he just said: "You just look at it. With the domineering temper of Li's surname, sooner or later, the fire will burn you to your head. This Manraka (Malacca) is so good, he will probably come to snatch it. Humph, even if he doesn't attack Manraka, as long as Chen Chongbing is in Singapore and takes such a crossroads in the South China Sea, you can't buy goods if you want to buy it!"

When Toscano heard this, his heart suddenly moved! He was not having any patriotism that was stimulated, but just repeated: "Cut off the Strait of Malacca?"

Malacca City, or Manlacca City, is located in the middle of the Strait of Malacca, while Singapore blocks the southern exit of the Strait. At this time, Li Yanzhi did not intend to fight with the Portuguese, but Singapore has such a geographical location. As long as Li Yanzhi gave the order, he would block the Strait of Malacca and drive the ship out!

If there really is one day, then Malacca City, now known as the number one fortress in Southeast Asia, will lose its inherent strategic significance!

That is of course a huge loss of interest for Portugal, but for Toscano?
Chapter completed!