Governor Fan Delang held a grand reception banquet for Wei An and others. At the banquet, he proposed to allocate a large piece of land beside the canal outside the city to build an embassy for Wei An.
"Every inch of land in Bacheng is precious, and the canal is even more precious. We can't occupy such a precious land." Wei An held the wine glass in his hand. He took a sip of the rum in the glass but couldn't drink it, so he held it in his hand.
Pretending, "I have an unkind request. I would like to ask Governor Fan to designate a piece of wasteland for us outside the city. As long as it is by the bay and far away from Bacheng, it doesn't matter."
"We can hire craftsmen to build an embassy ourselves."
Fan Delang's face turned red. The land he gave to Ming was not big, but it was indeed a prosperous location in the city. But he didn't expect that Ming would not appreciate it.
After thinking for a moment, he finally nodded in agreement for the sake of the six shipments of goods, especially the raw silk.
After the banquet, Wei An directly asked Yang Kun to help him find a piece of land. Yang Kun was also very flattering to the new ambassador to Pakistan and quickly found a piece of land.
The land is adjacent to the city of Batavia and across the river. It can not only build a wharf to berth merchant ships, but also has a large area of open space around it for development.
Not to mention building an embassy, in the future we will build a business hall, or even a castle, or a big town.
Of course, this land is also adjacent to Yang Kun's own land. If this side of the river is developed, he will naturally benefit a lot.
At the banquet just now, Yang Kun was specially asked to sit next to him by Wei An. At the banquet, they talked to him about some of his missions during this trip, and even the future positioning of the embassy. In short, Wei An will serve as an official of the Ming Dynasty from now on.
The representative, the emperor's special envoy, is stationed in Bacheng. He is mainly responsible for communicating with the Dutch, and is also responsible for affairs related to expatriates, but will not interfere in specific affairs.
Kapitan is still the leader of the Chinese, and their privileges such as collecting taxes remain the same.
The real influence of the embassy on them may be the consular rights requested by Emperor Shaotian. This power is in Batavia. If there are disputes among the Chinese, the embassy can handle disputes between businessmen in the country in accordance with the laws of the Ming Dynasty.
When there are disputes between Chinese and Dutch and other foreigners, although they must abide by the laws of Bacheng, cases involving Chinese must be notified to the embassy. The embassy not only has the right to know the case, but also has the right to supervise the case.
In other aspects, the embassy is mainly responsible for liaison between the two countries, trade cooperation and other matters.
For example, Dutch people in Bacheng who want to go to Daming must first go to the embassy to obtain a visa. Merchant ships heading to Daming also need to register.
The Chinese in Pakistan have to register when they want to return to their country. If they want to bring wives, concubines, children, or even slaves or friends of other races back to the country, they need to obtain registration approval and issue a visa.
In general, Wei An will be stationed in Batavia permanently and will have no conflict of interest with Kapitan Yang Kun. He will even protect the interests of the Chinese, which is a good thing for them.
Because of this guarantee, Yang Kun is now very polite and respectful to Wei An.
After all, Wei An also said that in the future, more merchant ships from the Ming Dynasty will come directly to Bacheng for trade. When the ships and goods arrive, they will directly contact local Chinese businessmen like Yang Kun and buy and sell through them.
Daming also expressed respect and support for the Chinese business organization Baguo Gongtang.
The imperial court even authorized him to grant official titles to big Chinese businessmen like Yang Kun.
In fact, it is to give them a special opportunity and allow them to donate money to buy officials.
It is equivalent to paying for an official position, but it is not really buying an official position. It is just a title, buying a casual official. This title can enjoy corresponding grade treatment, such as wearing corresponding grade official robes, even the color of clothes, carriages and horses,
The specifications of houses and even tombs are all different.
In addition, after donating an official position and receiving money, they become a bureaucratic class. Even if they do not have a position, they have a rank, so they also have the power to write letters to the government and the court, to be exempted from kneeling before officials, and even exempted from punishment, but they will not commit any crimes.
He will be arrested and tortured directly, unless he is convicted.
Even today, the Shao Dynasty promotes land ownership according to rank, so it is still very attractive for businessmen to donate their official positions.
Those who are capable can also enter the official career with donations.
However, although the Shao Tian Dynasty allowed donations to confer officials, all the titles conferred were empty titles, that is, they only conferred an official rank without conferring actual duties, and they were only limited to the fifth rank or lower, and each price was clearly marked.
In addition to donating to an official position, you can also donate to a prison, that is, you can pay to go to the Imperial College for further studies. This is equivalent to the Imperial College, a nationally renowned university, which has opened several special training classes and you can get into it by spending money.
In fact, this thing has been around since the Han Dynasty. Even the sales of officials in the Han Dynasty were based on actual official positions and titles. This was not only practiced in China, but also in foreign countries.
For example, the French even sell judges with judicial power and officers with command power, as long as they can be sold for money. It is said that at this time, the income from selling officials accounted for 51% of France's fiscal revenue, which is called
The backbone of the French economy.
It is even worse than the Qing Dynasty in history.
In contrast, Zhu Yihai just sells his status as a casual official and gives those people some trivial privileges, which is already very rare.
After all, even if it was a donation, Zhu Yihai would need five hundred taels of silver.
It's definitely not cheap.
But for some people who are rich but have no political status, five hundred taels can buy themselves or their sons the qualifications of an Imperial College student.
After all, the Imperial College is gold-plated, and even if you can really study hard, you can still make a difference.
Donate from Jiupin, one thousand taels.
Donate the fifth grade, 50,000 taels.
The minimum supervisor is 500 taels, and the highest is the fifth grade, 50,000 taels.
The prices vary greatly, but Zhengwu can wear scarlet robes, and even has the right of benevolence to his children, and can also grant wives as gifts to ancestors, which has more privileges.
Of course, Zhu Yihai also set the target higher on purpose. If there is such a person who has been taken advantage of, it would be a good idea to catch each one.
"If President Yang wants to make a donation, I can report it to the imperial court."
Yang Kun was a little surprised at the price of donating an official position reported by Wei An. He thought it was too expensive, but he did not refuse it because it would be very beneficial to have an official status. For example, he was in Batavia.
Kapitan, who was appointed by the Dutch, was also the president of the Patriarchal Court. This dual identity made him a leader of Chinese businessmen, and his career prospered.
When Su Minggang was fifteen years old, he went to Nanyang from Fujian to make a living. This young man from Fujian, who had attended some private schools and was good at literature and martial arts, managed to carve his own way in the West Java Sultanate and became the leader of the local Chinese.
Later, he also moved to Batavia and met with Li Dan from Tongan in Hirado, Japan, Zhang Jingquan and Ou Huayu from Zhangzhou in Nagasaki, Japan, Xu Xinsu from Zhangzhou from Xiamen, Li Jin from Dadi, Siam, and Huang Mingzuo from Zhangzhou from Manila.
These maritime merchants formed an Asian trade network composed of Fujian compatriots.
In the eastern trade circle, Li Dan, Ou Huayu, Xu Xinsu and others were both partners and sworn brothers.
On the Nanyang route, Sumingang, Mao Ge, Lin Liuge, Yang Kun, etc. were all fellow Fujianese and related by marriage.
However, during the Chongzhen period, the sea trade network that Su Minggang participated in also broke down. First, Li Dan encountered the Spanish massacre in Manila in his early years. His ship and cargo were seized, and he was arrested and worked as a hard labor on the Spanish ship for several years.
, and finally fled to Japan.
Later, Zhang Jingquan, Ou Huayu, and Li Dan passed away one after another, and only then did Zheng Zhilong rise.
The alliance between the Dutch East India Company and Zheng Zhilong finally had a great impact on the traditional business model of the Chinese businessmen in Batavia. In fact, Su Minggang neither helped the Dutch nor the Sudan during the Sudanese attack on Batavia.
, coupled with the resignation of the governor with whom he had a close relationship after the war, Su Minggang had to resign and return to Fujian. However, he found that the situation had changed drastically. He finally stayed in Taiwan for three years and returned to Bacheng.
Now that the Dutch have started direct trade with the Ming Dynasty, it is both an opportunity and a crisis for these Chinese businessmen in Bacheng.
"Donate a seventh-grade donation, how much money?"
"Five thousand dragon silver."
"I'd like to help Mr. Wei to report it to the court." Yang Kun planned to donate a seventh grade, spending five thousand taels of silver, and give Mr. Wei another one thousand taels of silver.
These one thousand taels were his personal gift, and the Baguo Court gave another four thousand taels to Mr. Wei.
Wei An smiled.
"I am an official of the imperial court and an imperial envoy of the emperor. Even if I am overseas, I cannot accept gifts. However, it will cost money to build an embassy. If you overseas philanthropists are willing to fund it, I will accept it on behalf of the embassy and report it to the court truthfully.
, it will also be recorded on a monument and made public."
Private gifts cannot be accepted, but public donations can be accepted.
Yang Kun thought to himself, isn't this still a gift? If it's a private gift or public money, it's not your business how to use it. Of course, he thinks this kind of thing is normal, and there is no need to break it, so he agrees with a smile.
The goods on each of the six ships Wei An brought were worth at least hundreds of thousands of silver dollars, and the total value was several million.
Of course the Dutch are willing to have these goods.
However, Wei An did not give it directly to the Dutch. Instead, he asked Yang Kun to introduce him and give him a corresponding commission.
"Thank you for your trust in me so much. I will definitely try my best to find a suitable buyer and bridge the gap to facilitate the transaction. I will never let you suffer a loss."
Wei An nodded and gave him another task, "I will also hand over the construction of the embassy to Chairman Yang. The expenses will be reported together and settled. I can pay you a thousand in advance."
Silver dollars.”
"In addition, I would also like to ask for the assistance of President Yang to help register all the Chinese in Bacheng as soon as possible and grant them passports. This will serve as the identity certificate for our people of the Ming Dynasty overseas. In the future, with their passports, they can obtain ambassadors
The shelter and help of the museum.”
The millions of goods on the six ships, except for some goods shipped by Chinese businessmen who often go to Nanyang Bacheng, most of them are handed over to Yang Kun and others to be responsible for the intermediary shipments. Even if it is a 12% commission, how much will it cost?
Even if it’s taels, what’s more, the actual benefits don’t stop there.
Yang Kun was very aware of such a huge benefit and even directly told Wei An that he would give him a kickback.
Wei An declined.
"When this batch of goods is sold, the fleet will also have to prepare the goods to go back. At that time, they will need to use rice and sucrose to ballast the cargo. In addition, they will also need to purchase cotton, cotton yarn, spices, etc. to return. We will also have to have President Lao Yang look for the goods for us.
, if you are involved in bridging or intermediary commissions, they will be paid to you according to the rules and you will not be treated badly."
Yang Kun was overjoyed and felt that it was really worth donating the five thousand taels of silver to a seventh-grade casual official.
"Thank you for the honor, sir. I will take care of these few things that you have told me. I will definitely handle them well. The embassy will now recruit craftsmen and purchase materials for you to start the work."
For the goods on the ship, a viewing meeting can be organized immediately, and the owner of the needed goods can be found immediately.”
Wei An was very satisfied with Yang Kun's work efficiency. He was worthy of being a man who could make it in a foreign land overseas. His work ability was indeed strong.
