Although Lu Jiude is not a professional wine taster, as a little eunuch who wants to work hard to climb up, he still knows a little about the enjoyment of wine, color, anger and wealth. Otherwise, the emperor was interested that day, but he didn't know anything about it, so how could he please the emperor.

Wine tasting boils down to the three words color, aroma and taste, Lu Jiude first gently shook the wine glass to look at the color of the wine, then sniffed again, and finally took a sip carefully.

Lu Jiude closed his eyes and savored it slowly, and everyone in the room watched him with bated breath. In fact, everyone in the room, including Bill, didn't know anything about wine tasting. Even Bill himself is at a similar level to Zheng Zhihu. In this era, wine tasting was a matter for the bored aristocracy to have time to study.

As a naval officer struggling to make money in the waves, Bill could tell the difference between red wine and rum. Lu Jiude's professional wine tasting technique, which has been trained by the Daming Palace, is full of elegant aristocratic demeanor.

Even Bill, who has seen the wine tasting methods of European aristocrats, privately thinks that the wine tasting techniques of this Ming official are more aristocratic than those of European aristocrats. The other people in the room all paid attention to Lu Jiude's performance, and they all wanted to remember Lu Jiude's performance. They thought that in the future, they would be officials of the Ming Dynasty, and they must not expose the bottom of the bun in front of others, and take advantage of the fact that they are not stealing a thing or two now.

After half a ring, Lu Jiude opened his eyes, looked at the cup in front of him regretfully and said, "It's a pity." ”

Bill was taken aback, and he gasped and said, "What's wrong?" Could it be that after a long journey, the barrel of wine has gone bad? ”

"No, I mean it's a shame to serve wine in such a wooden cup. Next time you want to make a wooden cup, you should use the same wood as this bucket. Now the smell of wood in this wooden cup has ruined the taste of the wine itself, which is a pity for this good wine. Lu Jiude said with a sigh.

After hearing that the wine was not bad, Bill was relieved, and he shrugged and explained: "For those of us who often go to sea, the cutlery we need on the ship needs to be not easy to break, so wood is the best material, and the taste can only be placed second." ”

Lu Jiude looked at the surface of the glass with brown dirt, and finally put down the wine glass. As a eunuch trained in the court, cleanliness had become a deep-rooted habit in him, after all, no emperor would get close to an unkempt chamberlain.

This slight cleanliness habit made him really unable to drink this wine without scruples like everyone else.

In order to hide his actions, Lu Jiude changed the topic with a smile and said: "If you have the opportunity, I will give you a set of porcelain produced in the Ming Dynasty, only the best white porcelain can match this fine wine." Glow-in-the-dark glass of grape wine, and amber light in a jade bowl. Drinking this grape wine from this wooden cup is simply a tyrannical thing. ”

After receiving Lu Jiude's compliment, Bill was overjoyed and thanked: "Your nobleman's appreciation of fine wine is the best gift for me. It's a pity that the porcelain style of Daming is completely inconsistent with our European habits, otherwise I would definitely use the gift you gave every day. ”

Seeing Bill's happy appearance, Lu Jiude's mood couldn't help but become happy. He looked at the wooden cup on the table and said, "If you want porcelain that suits your European lifestyle, it is not simple, you can take a set of wooden tableware and give it to me, and I can have someone make a set of porcelain according to the style of wooden tableware and give it to you." ”

Bill looked at Lu Jiude, exaggerated a Western-style etiquette, and said with a smile on his face: "I, Martin Van Beer, will be your most loyal friend, I don't know what you said about allowing trade, what is going on?" ”

Seeing that he finally talked about the right thing, Lu Jiude straightened his posture and said: "Your Majesty is ready to vigorously carry out the foreign trade of the Ming Dynasty, as long as the vassal states that are friendly to the Ming Dynasty, they can get the opportunity to trade with the Ming Dynasty." But in the process of trade, the laws of the Ming Dynasty must be observed. You Dutch have attacked the coast of our Ming Dynasty several times, and also plundered the population of our Ming Dynasty, which should have been among the forbidden trade..."

Bilton defended: "This previous attack on the Ming Dynasty was completely the decision of the fleet commander at that time, and now the company has transferred him back to China, as long as the Ming Dynasty allows our East India Company to participate in the trade with the Ming Dynasty, then I can assure you that the company will not make this mistake again." ”

Lu Jiude waited for Bill to finish his defense before continuing: "Your Majesty also thinks that the previous incident may have been just a lack of understanding between the Dutch and the Ming Dynasty, and this terrible mistake occurred. Therefore, Your Majesty is willing to give you a chance, as long as you return the Ming population that you plundered at the beginning, and promise not to plunder the Ming people in the future, Your Majesty will allow you to send representatives to the capital to negotiate various trade matters. ”

"Send a representative to the capital?" Bill didn't seem particularly excited, but hesitated. As an employee of the Dutch East India Company in Taiwan, Bill Ke was very aware of the company's history of dealing with the Ming Dynasty, but the Ming officials once tricked the commander of Reyeszoon's fleet into going ashore in the name of discussing trade, and then sent him as a prisoner to Beijing to be beheaded.

Other than that, Bill is only a temporary appointee. Legally, he had no right to negotiate trade in Peking, on behalf of the Dutch East India Company, unless he could obtain authorization from the Dutch governor of Batavia or wait for Peternat's return to go to Peking. But in this case, what does he have to do with the credit for facilitating the Ming-Dutch trade?

Seeing Bill's hesitant appearance, Lu Jiude felt a little strange. And Zheng Cai, who was beside him, seemed to think of something, so he quietly came to Lu Jiude's side and said a few words.

Lu Jiude pursed his lips slightly, but he still reluctantly said to Bill: "You can rest assured, this is an order personally issued by the Ming Emperor, even if there is any unpleasantness during the negotiation process, your representative can return safely." ”

Seeing that this Ming nobleman had spoken thoroughly, Bill finally gritted his teeth and made up his mind. As a retired Dutch naval officer, Bill had spent half of his life savings in order to secure a position with the Dutch East India Company.

However, Bill was not transferred to the Spice Islands, where the river of gold flowed, as he wished, but was sent to the backward and barren island of Taiwan. Although there is a rich land across the strait, it is not a wild tribe that has no ability to resist. Moreover, the Dutch attacked the Ming Dynasty several times, which led to the disgust of the Eastern Empire, and even cut off trade activities with the Dutch.

In this era, the salary of an employee of the Dutch East India Company depended on the profitability of his colony and merchant house. For these employees, the biggest annual income is not the salary paid by the company, but the smuggling trade.

For example, company employees in the Spice Islands often exchange their salaries for local spices and bring them back to Europe. This smuggling activity greatly harmed the company's interests, but it stimulated the enthusiasm of the East India Company employees. Even if there are several directors of the company, they also carry their own private goods through the company's ships, because the company belongs to all shareholders, but the profits from the private trade belong to the individual directors.

If the door to Chinese trade could be opened, the trade alone could allow Bill to earn a huge sum of money in a few years, allowing him to return to the country and live as a wealthy landlord.