Peternats suddenly said with great joy: "Then Mr. Xu, you can directly send troops to exterminate them as pirates, as long as there is a third of the fleet that confronted us on Penghu Fengjiao Island, these Spaniards will surrender." ”

Xu Xinsu glanced at him with disdain and said: "I am now the patrol envoy of the East China Sea of the Ming Dynasty, how can I do such a slanderous thing." ”

Peternats's face froze suddenly, and Xu Xinsu said slowly: "As a trading partner of the Ming Dynasty, the Dutch East India Company was attacked by pirates entrenched in northern Taiwan when it was going to Japan to trade.

Wherefore the friend of the Netherlands, you, Mr. Peter, complain to this Inspector. In order to maintain the security of maritime trade in East Asia, the envoy decided to work with the Dutch East India Company to eliminate the pirate gangs entrenched in northern Taiwan. That's right. ”

Peter Natz smiled wryly, and he realized that he could never think of being with these Chinese, who could always make simple things extremely complicated. But who cares, as long as they can drive the Spaniards away and let him monopolize trade with the Chinese.

Glancing at the smirking Dutchman, Xu Xinsu said casually: "Mr. Peter, I took such a big risk for you, and you have to pay for the cost of summoning the army to go to sea, right?" ”

Peter Natz was taken aback, and he hurriedly said, "Mr. Xu, isn't your fleet the army of His Majesty the Ming Emperor?" Why do you need to pay for going to sea? ”

Xu Xinsu suddenly pulled his face down and said, "When this sailor's brother arrives at the place, can't he tell whether it is a pirate or a Spaniard?" If they don't offer some reward, they will go back and say that they have leaked their mouths. Brother, do you still have to put your life on the line for your favor? ”

Peter Natz was speechless for a moment, and Xu Xinsu got up and wanted to go back to the room. Peternats quickly grabbed him and pleaded: "Allow me to explain to you that it is not that I do not want to pay, but that to use such a large sum of money, it must be approved by Batavia. ”

Xu Xinsu immediately sat down again, and he said casually: "If you can't afford to pay for it, then if I don't say it, let's treat it as nothing." ”

Peter Natz hurriedly persuaded: "I didn't mean that, I just hoped that Mr. Xu could give me a little time." As long as I send this trade agreement to Batavia, then the status of the Taiwan Chamber of Commerce will become very important to the company. I'm sure the Governor will agree to pay for it. ”

Xu Xinsu finally sat up, and said to Peter seriously: "Okay, I should be in Fuzhou before June this year." After that, you can send someone to the Nagasaki Meikoku Merchant House to spread the word, and the Great Imperial Office has agreed to our establishment of a merchant house in Nagasaki. ”

Peter Natz finally put his mind at ease and said: "Then it is decided, there is a Dutch merchant ship in Nagasaki that will return to Batavia in the next few days, and I will take a ship to Nagasaki tomorrow morning to board the ship, please wait for my news..."

After sending Peter Natz away, Lu Jiude and Xu Xinsu stayed in Edo for nearly half a month. During this time, he was summoned by the Daigosu several times, and as the temperature rose, the spring willows in Edo Castle had begun to sprout and leave.

Tokugawa Hidetada finally sent someone to send the pattern he had chosen for cloisonné tableware, and he also sent Inoue Masashi to send a large number of famous Japanese objects, such as Japanese knives and fans, the most valuable of which was 100 horses of Nishijinori, in addition to 500 taels of gold and 500 taels of silver.

Lu Jiude calculated a little in his heart, and found that the value of these gifts was not far from the value of the gifts he brought to the shogunate. In a sense, Tokugawa Hidetada returned the favor to the Ming Emperor, once again emphasizing the equality between the two.

Inoue also told the two that the house they live in has been given to the envoy of the Ming Emperor by the Great Imperial Office, and the copper that the Ming Emperor wants to purchase will be delivered in Nagasaki.

Inoue chatted with the two for a while, then said goodbye and left. Lu Jiude, who was standing in the courtyard, said to Xu Xinsu: "I have finally completed the task assigned by His Majesty, now as long as the goods on the ship are sold, we can go to Nagasaki to load copper materials and go home." ”

Xu Xinsu's Tong'an Suo ship had a displacement of about 180 tons, and due to the rush of time at that time, the goods carried on the ship were directly transferred from the Tianjin warehouse.

Mainly, 30,000 pieces of coarse cloth, 7,000 pieces of fine cloth, 4,800 pieces of silk, and the rest were just bits and pieces.

While in Nagasaki, they unloaded all the coarse cloth, half of the muslin, and a third of the silk, and the rest was shipped to Edo.

With thousands of banners and more than 10,000 samurai warriors in Edo Castle, the city has enough to consume. The Edo people were very fond of the Matsue muslin they brought, and the 3,500 pieces of muslin were soon sold for the usual high price.

Because of the shogunate's order to abolish copper coins, the Edo people used silver taels, about 240 bun for one tael, which means that a piece of muslin cloth is nearly 4 taels of silver.

At first, this price startled Lu Jiude, but when he saw the silver, he was a little relieved. Japan's smelting technology is not good, so the color of silver is between 6-7 percent, which is converted into Taicang silver, which is three taels per horse.

Although it has shrunk a lot, it has nearly 5 times the profit, and the cost price of muslin is twice that of standard cloth, that is, 6 yuan per horse.

But what gave them a headache was the silk in their hands. The Japanese seem to prefer ornate silk or brocade, and they are not very interested in this plain yellow juan. In almost a month, only 1,600 horses were sold, which was sold at less than double the price, and the cost price of yellow silk was about 7 yuan per horse.

Xu Xinsu roughly calculated that after all the goods on the ship were sold, there would be about 90,000 silver taels. Japan is a barren country, and with a history of nearly 150 years of war, most of the daily necessities have to be imported from abroad.

The only thing Japan can exchange for is the only rich precious metal resource in this earthquake-prone country.

The gold and silver mountains throughout Japan provided the impetus for this continuous unilateral import of trade. The Tokugawa shogunate, which claimed to have a treasury of 400 yuan, could not withstand this continuous unilateral consumption, so it began to consciously control the outflow of gold and silver and reform the money law.

After the Dutch East India Company curtailed the outflow of silver from the shogunate, it discovered the Japanese copper trade. There are also a lot of copper mountains in Japan, but they have not been taken seriously in the past, so the price of copper is extremely low.

According to Xu Xinsu's investigation, every 100 catties of red copper is less than 10 taels of silver, and if it can be converted into copper coins, it is less than 2,500 yuan. However, even so, according to the shogunate's regulations on vermilion ships, each ship of copper was 20,000 catties, and the cost of silver taels was about 2,000 taels.

After Xu Xinsu calculated clearly, he said to Lu Jiude: "The silver taels in our hands are enough to buy copper, anyway, we need to keep people in Edo to keep in touch with the shogunate, so we can simply leave the remaining silk here and sell it slowly." ”

Before Lu Jiude could reply, a servant went into the courtyard to report to the two of them, a Japanese merchant named Hamada Yabei, who wanted to meet the two envoys of the Ming Kingdom.

Lu Jiude hadn't decided whether to meet the Japanese businessman or not, since the Great Imperial Palace had hosted a banquet to entertain the envoys of the Ming Kingdom, there was no suspense about the normalization of relations between the Ming Kingdom and Japan. As long as Japanese merchants were in Japan, they immediately began to seek opportunities to trade with the Ming Kingdom.

These days, many Japanese businessmen with shogunate backgrounds have begun to invite or visit the two of them. For this kind of good thing of sending money to the door, Lu Jiude did not refuse much.

However, Xu Xinsu reacted quickly, and he subconsciously said: "Isn't this the Japanese businessman who had a dispute with Peternatz?" What is he doing here? ”

Although the two were suspicious, they still ordered the servant to bring the Japanese merchant into the hall to talk.

Hamada Yabei did not come alone, as soon as he entered the door, he threw himself on the ground and apologized to the two envoys of the Ming Kingdom.

Lu Jiude looked at Hamada Yabei lying in front of him with some surprise, and didn't understand why he apologized to himself so humbly, after all, it was not the businessman of the Ming Kingdom who had a dispute with him.

Xu Xinsu is not surprised at all, he has not been trading with Japanese businessmen for a year or two, and he knows that under the humble appearance of these Japanese, there is a completely different appearance.

And Hamada Yabei came to apologize inexplicably, apparently for another purpose. Sure enough, after the humble apology, Hamada Yabei sent two pictures.

"The villain heard that at the banquet of the Great Palace, the treasure cloisonne brought by the adult shocked the four, so the villain had a reluctant request and wanted to ask Lord Mingguo to fulfill it. It is to ask adults to help make this pair of cloisonne plums**, no matter how much the price, the villain is willing to pay. ”

Lu Jiude suddenly lowered his face and reprimanded: "Don't talk nonsense, this cloisonné is a royal thing in my Ming Dynasty, not a reward from Your Majesty, and ordinary people can have it." Do you, a mere foreign merchant, dare to seek treasures? ”

Hamada Yabei's expression became more humble, but he still didn't give up, "I heard that my lord came to Japan to purchase the export of Japanese copper.

Next to the villain is Yoshinaga Saemon, the owner of Izumiya in Osaka, who owns 3 copper mountains under his name, with an annual output of nearly one million catties of copper.

As long as the adults are willing to make this pair of Mei **, then the copper materials that the Ming Kingdom needs in the future, we are willing to supply them with all our might. ”

Before Lu Jiude could speak, Xu Xinsu had already spoken out: "The copper that the shogunate agreed to export was only 160,000 catties, and I heard that when the shogunate had not issued a ban on copper trade last year, a Dutch ship took away 95,000 catties of copper.

This year, the shogunate issued a ban on copper, so we must not be worried about not being able to procure enough copper. ”

Yoshinaga Saemon, who had been silent on the side, suddenly spoke: "Ming is a country with a very wide territory, but the only fly in the ointment is the lack of copper mines.

Although the villain is dull, he also understands one thing, it doesn't take so much copper to make a few sets of cloisonné. Otherwise, cloisonné utensils are so precious, how could the Emperor of the Ming Kingdom take them out and give them away?

Therefore, the villain thinks that the adult buys copper materials and goes back, presumably the same as the general's idea, which is to drum and cast copper coins. But how many copper coins can be made from 160,000 catties of copper, and is this money really enough for the people of the Ming Kingdom? ”

Lu Jiude, who originally wanted to speak, was stunned for a moment, but Xu Xinsu glanced at Yoshinaga Saemon meaningfully, and then asked: "If the number is not enough, then, what do you think should be done?" ”