A former cottage north of Macau.

Guangzhou Haiphong Tongzhi Yamen.

Kasro and the others bowed their heads and bowed. On the side, Du Chen rubbed his face for a long time, thinking of the cannonball that fell in front of him yesterday, and thinking of the prince in front of him who was the prince of the Eastern Empire, and finally knelt down.

Zhu Linmiao smiled and asked people to show them a seat, and said to Du Chen: "This is Mr. Franc Machine's resident representative, right?" It's not that you're seriously ill, it's getting better pretty quickly. ”

Du Chen tilted his head to listen to Kasro translate for him, so he had to nod awkwardly, "Hmm, okay......"

Zhu Linmiao said "seriously": "Look at you, how good it was to withdraw the garrison a few days ago, you have to let me use knives and guns." No, you're going to have to pay a lot more in war reparations. ”

"Reparations?" Du Chen was about to cry, and asked carefully, "I don't know how much to lose?" ”

"This time, our soldiers have suffered casualties, and they have spent more ammunition." Zhu Linmiao said, "Fortunately, it has little impact on the people of the Ming Dynasty, so it can be counted as 200,000 taels." plus the last 300,000 taels, a total of 500,000 taels of silver. ”

500,000 taels?! Du Chen was taken aback, and hurriedly bargained: "We only have 350,000 taels of cash and 50,000 ducats in gold, there is really no more......

Zhu Linmiao shook his head and said: "500,000 taels can't be less, oh, if you don't have money, you can use those ships in your port to settle the account." ”

Kasro hurriedly said: "Your Highness, we have come all the way to the East, and we must not live without a ship." Otherwise, there are still dozens of cannons in our city and armory, and it would be good to pay the reparations with the cannons? ”

"Mr. Special Envoy, the last time you came to see me, your cannons, including the city walls and forts, were discounted." Zhu Linmiao said unceremoniously, "But now, these things are all trophies that I have captured." Do you pay me with my stuff? ”

Du Chen was stunned when he heard this, but he was irrefutable, and he only felt distressed for a while, and Portugal's century-old business in the Far East was about to be in vain...... Portugal's strength in the Far East was already the weakest among the European countries, and if it lost some of its cargo ships, it would really have to gradually withdraw from the competition in the Far East.

"Your Highness, this ship is really ......"

Zhu Linmiao didn't want to force the Portuguese into nowhere, after all, they could also bring a lot of trade volume to the Ming Dynasty, so he made a statement of understanding and nodded: "In this way, you are allowed to pay with the materials I need, and I can pay a relatively high price and pay it off within half a year." ”

Du Chen and the others also breathed a sigh of relief. Kasro hurriedly asked, "I wonder what His Highness needs?" ”

"Copper, high-quality iron ore, high-quality wood, saltpeter can all be," Zhu Linmiao suddenly thought of something again, "Oh, by the way, and rubber." ”

"Rubber?" Kasro wondered.

"It's a sap from the continent of Amorika."

He also gave a general account of what the rubber tree looked like, and one of the Portuguese attachés said that he had seen it, and gave Kasro a Latin name.

Brazil in South America is now a Spanish colony, and the Portuguese were not long ago a country with Spain, so they still know something about it.

Kasro reacted immediately and said, "It's the black ball that the natives often play?" ”

"Yes, that's it," Zhu Linmiao nodded, "I can buy it for one tael of silver per two hundred pounds." ”

Kasro happily agreed, saying that this thing would invite a group of natives to come, and give them some food to collect at will, almost at no cost, and it seemed that it would depend on this thing to pay off the compensation.

Zhu Linmiao also negotiated with the Portuguese on the handover of Macao's city defense and coastal forts. He then asked Zhang Jiayu to come up with a pre-prepared agreement, one in Chinese and one in Latin, entitled "Mingfo Trade Agreement."

Du Chen hurriedly took over the agreement and looked at it carefully, and the previous ones were all reiterating the "Sea Route Ban Treaty", such as prohibiting the Portuguese from buying and selling human beings, prohibiting the Portuguese from landing with weapons, prohibiting the Portuguese from privately building buildings in Macao, prohibiting the Portuguese from smuggling, and so on. Detailed penalties are attached to the back.

However, the latter part made his eyes shine, "The citizens of the two sides who signed the agreement are allowed to enter the ports designated by the two sides to live, do business, and work, and as long as they do not violate the law, the governments of the two sides will not interfere." ”

"The governments of both sides shall protect the lives and financial security of the citizens of the other side and shall not affect the ...... of their trading practices"

In short, these articles basically ensure that the two sides can trade freely and all kinds of rights are protected. Du Chen and Kasro couldn't help but glance at each other, which means that they can be free from the constraints of the Ming government in the future and trade freely with the Ming merchants?

This is what they have been dreaming of for years! In the past, their trade with the Ming Dynasty had to be controlled in terms of price and quantity, so they had to smuggle to make up for the trade gap.

And then they can finally buy as much as they want! Maybe after a few years of operation, they will even surpass Helan and become the No. 1 country in the Far East in terms of trade volume!

Du Chen continued to look back, but couldn't help frowning slightly. I saw that the last few items in the agreement were:

"Ships trading in Daming are required to pay customs duties of five to three cents to Daming Customs, depending on the type of goods carried. The ships that trade in the Franc machine of the Ming Dynasty do not need to pay any taxes and fees to the Franc machine. The tax rate for specific goods is also attached.

"The people of Langji committed crimes in Daming, and they need to be handed over to the Daming government for trial and punishment. If a Ming citizen commits a crime in the Franc machine, the responsible official of the Ming Dynasty in the Franc machine shall be tried and punished in accordance with the law, and the results shall be notified to the official government of the Franc Machine. ”

This is a clear unequal treaty!

Du Chen whispered to Kasro: "This is too unfair to us, absolutely not......"

"My Excellency, I think this agreement works." Kasro hurriedly said, "First of all, we got the opportunity to trade with Da Ming, which is simply too rare.

"In addition, do you think about it, can the Ming Dynasty have merchant ships to trade with the Franc machine?"

Du Chen was stunned for a moment, shook his head and said, "No." ”

"That's it," Kasro said with a smug expression, "I know the character of the Orientals best, they all have good faces." I dare say that those unfair terms are just to make them feel good about themselves.

"They simply don't have the seafaring capabilities to reach the Franc, and the conditions that are 'favorable' for them are just decorations."

Du Chen lowered his head and pondered, he also felt that he was reasonable, and carefully studied the terms of the agreement, and felt that there were no other problems. Although he didn't understand why Da Ming suddenly agreed to free trade, this agreement should be very beneficial to Franc Ji.

He quickly said to Zhu Linmiao: "Your Highness, we think this agreement is quite reasonable.

"Until then, I can sign a provisional agreement with you on behalf of Franco, and execute it first. But the official entry into force also requires the signature of our King and the King. ”

How did Du Chen know that the "unequal treaty" he strongly signed would make the Ming ocean-going trade fleet that arrived in Portugal in the future earn amazing profits.