Liu Shimin quickly calculated in his mind. Judging from the memorial reported by the Ministry of Household Affairs to the Cabinet and the Supervisor of Ceremonies, the Portuguese in Macao shipped two thousand tons of raw and colored silk out of the port last year, and he finally brought it to Yuegang this time.
There were two hundred tons of silk goods, not to mention the high-end brocade and embroidery products that ordinary merchants did not have and could only be obtained by the Weaving Bureau.
If such a large ship of silk goods and fabrics is successfully shipped out of the port, and the cost is factored out, there will be a profit of 50,000 to 60,000 taels of silver.
But it won't all be in the emperor's bowl. According to what he promised to his seniors during the secret conversation at the Songjiang Ancient Temple, he, Old Liu, must find at least 20,000 taels and try to send them to his own team.
Giving up one tael on the selling price will make it more difficult for you to make a secret account.
No, I can't give in even an inch.
Liu Shimin then waved to Ma Xianglin: "General Ma, go have a cup of tea with our family and let Azhu talk to them."
Then he turned to Zheng Haizhu and threw eight simple words: "Let's talk however we want."
Dutchman Gullit's eyes followed the nobles and generals of the Ming Dynasty, and saw them sitting at the stone table under the banyan tree, and the servants began to pour tea and serve them.
"Ma'am, is your boss angry?"
Gullit's false politeness was laced with a hint of even more fake fear.
Zheng Haizhu laughed lightly and said firmly: "Sir, of course we are going to be angry. We Ming people like to deal with honest businessmen the most, but you deceive us like fools."
"Ah? How do you say this?"
Gullit continued to play pig and eat tiger, and made a cross on his chest: "We who believe in God are the most honest."
Zheng Haizhu took the tobacco bag from his hand and pointed to the red clothes of the bishop with poor embroidery skills: "This dye, I guess, is very strange. It does not come from plants or minerals, but from a kind of insect.
wrong?"
Gullit's blue eyes widened a little, and he immediately put on an expression that neither admitted nor denied, and Hu Nong said: "Thank you to the merciful God for giving so many beautiful dyes to the world."
Zheng Haizhu thought to himself, this is really textbook diplomacy. The essence is to avoid answering.
She then stared straight at Gullit and said: "Going eastward from where we are standing, there is a land as vast as our Ming Dynasty. The Frankies discovered it by boat many years ago and occupied a lot of land.
There is a place called Mexico, Mexico, where thorny plants grow, and there are many small bugs living on them."
What Zheng Haizhu is talking about is the cochineal insect discovered by the Spanish after they colonized Mexico.
Before the great geographical discovery, Europeans could only grind murex snails into powder and dye them purple-red. If they wanted to obtain bright red fabrics, they could only import them from China through the Silk Road on land and sea.
But after Columbus's fleet found the American continent, the Spanish who swarmed over not only mined gold and silver, but also seized the Mesoamerican industry of dyeing with cochineal insects on cacti. The colonists forced the Indians to raise cochineal insects and then scraped them
The head and limbs of the insect are removed, the stomach is squeezed, the juice and alum inside are mixed and dried into small balls, which are then shipped back to Spain as dye and sold to European merchants.
When the interpreter from Yaxing translated Zheng Haizhu's words to Gullit, especially when he parroted the name "Mexico", Gullit and his Dutch companions' pretended calmness was finally overcome by surprise and embarrassment.
Replacement.
Zheng Haizhu threw out the last few words that revealed the truth: "You can indeed get such dye, but you can't get it from the land of the Netherlands, and you can't get it from Mexico, which is occupied by the Frankies. You can only ask Fu
The Langi people will buy it, well, but you have just fought with the Franki people, so you can only ask the Venetians who charge a higher price to buy it."
"Well……"
Gullit stroked his red beard, pinched his big nose, and smiled.
Businessmen don't take face seriously, so Gullit did not show any anger when he was offended.
Who told this Chinese lady to tell the truth?
The Dutch were indeed once ruled by the Spanish. After the fallout, transactions with Spain had to go through a third party, and the cost increased a lot. Otherwise, Governor Cohen vowed to seize as many Spanish overseas colonies as possible.
!
Gullit just didn't expect that his experience in dealing with Mingren in Macau last year would no longer work.
It turns out that the officials and subordinates of this empire are not all frogs in the well. The eunuchs and women he is confronting today seem to be very familiar with things outside the country's borders and are difficult to deceive.
Over there, Zheng Haizhu turned around and asked Fan Polu and himself to move the hangers with the baroque skirts over. Then she made a friendly look like "there is no friendship before the deal is concluded" and smiled at Gulit.
"Sir, our place has a one-price rule. No matter whether it is silk or cotton, there is no bargaining.
It doesn't matter, I know the door is always open and Yuegang welcomes you.
Let's see, everyone's time is valuable, why don't you go to other docks in the county to have a look, and we will also invite other overseas friends to come and look at the goods."
As soon as the interpreter translated Zheng Haizhu's gentle but decisive eviction order, Gulit laughed loudly "haha" several times.
He first built the steps himself and gave an exaggerated thumbs up to Eunuch Liu who was drinking tea leisurely. Then he tilted his head and motioned to several of his entourage businessmen to go to a corner of the courtyard for discussion.
Not long after, Gulit turned back and walked up to Eunuch Liu.
"Dear Sir, we accept the price of raw silk and colored silk. In addition, if the money is enough to buy those gorgeous and comfortable silks and cloths, we will also take them away. But we also implore you to give us some convenience, because
There are too many goods. Can we allow one of our sailboats to come in and load and unload the goods directly in the harbor?"
Zheng Haizhu heard what the Dutch said and began to calculate in his mind.
Currently, according to the imperial decree, the seven piers at the intersection of the Yuegang River and the Sea are absolutely prohibited from berthing merchant ships. Merchant ships from more than 40 countries, including the Franchis, must berth at nearby islands. They bought
The goods must be transported by Daming's feeder ship.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! In the past two days, Zheng Haizhu took a break from busy work and went to various docks to check out the freight rates. He estimated that if the Dutch covered this batch of goods from the Round Weaving Bureau, the ferry freight would cost
, it also costs a thousand taels of silver. If you can bring your own sailboat in, this cost will be saved.
Zheng Haizhu recalled that none of the coastal ports in modern China prohibited foreign ships from entering.
In fact, as long as a sovereign country does a good job in military coastal defense and provides procedural conveniences for cross-border trade, there is nothing wrong with it. At most, it can provide some exemptions and exemptions for the first two times, and then charge a port entry fee.
Sure enough, after hearing the Dutch's request, Eunuch Liu did not express the meaning that "this matter is completely impossible", but whispered a few words to Ma Xianglin.
Ma Xianglin nodded, stood up and left the official post office.
The Dutch felt that they were probably having fun, and their expressions relaxed a little. Their attention was quickly attracted by the Baroque style dress.
Zheng Haizhu lost no time in telling Fan Polu to take out the men's collars as well.
"Gentlemen, to be honest, the embroidery work on these clothes you are wearing is really ridiculous, and the material is as hard as donkey skin. Are they based on the homespun cloth spun from Ni, Manlajia and Old Port? It is better than our Guangfu in Ming Dynasty.
It’s a long way off, let alone compared to this Songjiang fine cotton.”
Gullit put on layers of big collars with great interest and walked around the venue like a showman, with "Isn't he handsome" written all over his face?
I also had to admit in my heart that the people of the Eastern Empire were indeed favored by God, and they were rich in products and skillful.
Zheng Haizhu took advantage of the situation and picked up the silk-cotton blended face towel, handed it to Gulit, and said with a smile: "All textiles that come into contact with the skin should make people feel happy. Sir, it is particularly comfortable to wipe sweat with the looped part."
And its color combination is very similar to your paintings drawn with oil powder, right?"
"Madam, how much does this shirt collar and skirt and these veils cost? Oh God, we are really afraid that we don't have enough money."
Gullit began to show exaggerated and useless acting skills again.
Zheng Haizhu took off the dress and handed it to Gulit. His tone returned to his cold and crisp tone: "Sir, the price of the silk and cotton mixed face towel was set by the court. It costs three taels of silver a piece and cannot be given away for a penny. But
We can give you the dress and shirt collar. You can't get better custom-made ones elsewhere, so if you need to buy in large quantities, please come to us. In addition, I would like to exchange something with you."
After a while, Fan Polu followed Zheng Haizhu's instructions and took a folding fan from their room.
Zheng Haizhu opened it with a snap and showed it to the Dutch.
The silk fan surface is white and delicate, and the top of the fan bone has changed from the simple Chinese fan, but is decorated with hollow patterns, such as lace-style curls.
What fascinates the Dutch most is that there are seven or eight oriental beauties embroidered on the fan.
Gulit, who has been doing trade at sea for almost ten years, can recognize that some of the beauties are wearing Japanese clothes, some are wearing Mangla saris, and some are wearing Ming Dynasty skirts and skirts.
The kind of shawl that looks like a colorful cloud.
These oriental beauties are embroidered with the unique grace of birds and birds. What really surprises the man Gulit is that their beautiful facial features are filled with a free and refreshing look.
They have nothing to do with being solemn and sacred, charming and romantic, well-behaved and pure, heroic and powerful, etc., but they seem to take off their chains and rise into the air in front of the viewers who are staring at them.
Gullit estimated that nearly a hundred colors of silk thread would be needed to embroider such a beautiful fan.
But Gullit, who had seen Cantonese embroidery at the Macau Pier, keenly noticed that the style of this embroidery was very different. It was not as lively as flowers all over the ground, but left a lot of blank space between beauties and beauties.
A few oriental characters are embroidered with black silk thread.
"My God, this work of art is so beautiful! Madam, what do you want to exchange it for me? It won't be my life, right?"
Gulit stared for a while, then asked Zheng Haizhu in a tone of voice.
Zheng Haizhu pointed at Gulit's waist: "I want to change this for you."