"His Excellency the Consul, congratulations on having a healthy son and a great country right away." In the Senate at the base camp, Macau Governor Schrobao respectfully saluted Lee Mingxun and said with a smile.

While busy with the work at hand, Li Mingxun said to Schrobao: "His Excellency Schrobao, your Chinese is getting better and better. I really didn't expect that you even learned Beijing Mandarin."

"Today's society and the future United States say that we are the most trusted partners of the Portuguese Macau. As a representative of the Portuguese, of course, I should be proficient in your official language." Schropp responded with a smile.

Yes, the official language of the United States of China is Chinese, and Beijing Mandarin is the official language. With the formulation of the official language, there have always been competition between Cantonese and Shandong dialect. Of course, there are competitors such as Nanjing Mandarin and Minnan dialect, but in the end, Beijing Mandarin, which is similar to Shandong dialect, won. First, this is the official language of several generations of Chinese people. Secondly, Shandong is the first source of immigration for the community. At least one-third of the more than three million people in the United States are Shandong. The most important thing is that Shandong people are the first wave of large-scale immigrants and have the advantage. Compared with immigrants from other places, Shandong immigrants have a higher political and economic status. For example, among citizens, Shandong immigrants account for more than two-fifths.

Seeing Li Mingxun busy on the table, Schrobao came over and saw that he was still a model of the ship and was polishing parts bit by bit. Schrobao remembered that when he met Li Mingxun last time, Li Mingxun was making a model for the navy's first sinking battleship. He couldn't help but wonder, did the club have some naval battles recently and the battle damaged the battleship?

"Your Excellency, is this..." Schrobao looked at the wooden model that Li Mingxun created, and the more he felt that this was not the war damage ship of the club. The reason was very simple. This ship had a tall stern tower, and the main battleship of the club's navy had no or lowered the stern tower.

Li Mingxun placed the model in front of Schrobao and asked with a smile: "Is this ship beautiful? Lord Schrobao, this is a gift from the United States to you, the armed transport ship of the Free Trade."

"Oh, so that's it. It's so exquisite. I hope to see this ship launching earlier!" Schrobao said sincerely.

Taipei shipyards are now the main source of Portuguese merchant ships. The armed Ahat merchant ships and the newly launched Frote merchant ships Portuguese merchants have purchased them. Sometimes, the Portuguese even sent some ships from the Macau fleet to Taipei for overhaul.

However, the Free Trade does not belong to the above-mentioned ships. The Free Trade is a Garen-style sailboat improved based on the Manila Sailboat and the Dutch return sailboat. The Free Trade is the first, with a three-masted full sail, with a full displacement of 1,800 tons. It has a layer of artillery deck with eighteen-pound guns and an open-air artillery deck with nine-pound guns. This provides the Free Trade with fifty heavy artillery. In an emergency, twenty-four cannons can be added to the stern of the ship. Of course, the firepower is not the core of the Free Trade. The purpose of the construction of the Free Trade is to cross-continental trade, and the purpose is to sail to Europe.

Any merchant knows that the countries of Taixi are thousands of miles away, so they are for money. Everyone knows that the huge profits of trade between Europe and the East are profits of more than 300%, which makes merchants crazy. This is the case with European merchants, and the same is true for merchants in the East, especially those of the United States.

Therefore, as early as three years ago, the society began to plan the East-West sailing trade. Obviously, the risks to sail thousands of miles away were extremely high, so the merchants of the United States had to find a trustworthy partner. The only countries of the Netherlands, Britain, Portugal and West were able to conduct large-scale East-West trade, while Portugal was the only one who could be a partner of the United States.

Both the Dutch and the UK are East India privileged companies with trade with the East. They monopolized local trade with the East and naturally did not want any party to import Oriental goods into their own country, thereby reducing the price of their own company's Oriental products. Although the Spaniards were not East India companies, they only maintained the Pacific route for a long time and went to Europe through the Spaniards, which was almost equivalent to surplusing the earth and passing through many dangerous seas in the middle. In the Americas and Europe, the Spaniards almost became public enemies, and it was too risky to cooperate with the Spaniards.

The situation in Portugal is completely different. The country has just been independent from the Spanish. It has not had a decent navy when there are a large number of colonies overseas. Although Portugal and the Netherlands have already ceased to fight, in the East, the two sides are still engaged in a protracted spice war. The worst is the Portuguese in Macau. As the Dutch occupied Malacca, the trade between Goa and Macau was almost stagnant, and the Portuguese could only sell the tight goods in their hands to the enemy of Spain.

After purchasing a large number of armed merchant ships, the Portuguese resumed the route from Macau to Java, but the armed merchant ships could not break through Malacca.

The Portuguese in Macau is miserable, and the Portuguese in Goa is not much better. In Ceylon, Goa, the war between the Netherlands and the Portuguese never stopped. In West Africa, East Africa and Brazil, Portugal was also challenged by the two major companies of East India and West India, and lost many strongholds and industries in succession. Dutch merchant ships traveling between the East and the West often turn into pirate ships to harass the Portuguese strongholds, making the already depressed trade difficult. Obviously, it is difficult for the Portuguese to restore the glory of monopoly spices in the past. If you want to trade, the best result is to find a partner.

The Portuguese were interested in the shipbuilding ability of the United States and the strength that the Dutch dared not insult. The United States needed to rely on the Portuguese's legacy that had been preserved since the Dagama era. This legacy originated from Portugal, passing through the sea walls of Africa's west coast, east coast, West Asia and South Asia, which were like pearl chains. On the route from Europe to the East, the Portuguese had countless fortresses, forts and merchants. If these ports could be used by the United States, the security and cost of East-West trade would be reduced exponentially, and the United States only paid part of the storage space concession for Portuguese merchants to use.

Since both sides have common interests, they have a foundation for cooperation. With the in-depth cooperation between the two sides, cooperation on East-West trade has been underway, first of all, shipbuilding.

In the East-West trade, it is undeniable that many small boats of hundreds of tons such as Aharat and Forrot have come from thousands of miles away, but the risks they bear are indeed extremely great. Organized intercontinental trade requires real sailing ships to take into account costs and safety. The Dutch East India Sailing ships and the Spaniard Manila Sailing ships are among the best. Facts have proved that this type of Galen ship has advantages that other ship types cannot match in the ocean voyage. Therefore, from the very beginning, the United States used existing ship platforms and workers in the Krabi shipyard, based on Manila Sailing ships and advanced technology in community ship manufacturing, to transform the free-trade-class intercontinental trade sailing ships.

In addition to shipbuilding, there is a route. The top priority of the route is to break through Malacca. After the Dutch seized Malacca from Portugal, they deliberately reduced their trade status in Malacca, requiring ships to go to Batavia for trade. The East-West trade with Malacca as the midpoint must use Batavia as the transit station. Without Li Mingxun, this situation would continue until the rise of the British East India Company, but after Li Mingxun, everything changed.

First, the United States Shipping Department, together with the British East India Company, and the Sultanate of Aceh, cooperated to open the Sunda Strait route and successfully bypassed Malacca. This route is dangerous and long, and is completely inferior to the Malacca route, but it has added chips in negotiations with the Dutch East India Company.

Just half a year after the opening of the Sunda Strait route, the Dutch came to ask for a stop to similar trade. However, the United States and the British united to oppose the Dutch's monopoly on East-West trade. The Spanish and Portugal also joined in and sold favors to force the Dutch to stop the monopoly of East-West trade. Of course, the price was that ships passing through the Strait of Malacca only paid a high tax of 7%. Portugal and Spanish ships did not have the right of way.

After solving this problem, merchant ships set sail from Taipei could easily go to Surat, Madras, Goa, and Colombo controlled by the Portuguese to trade. The United States had more partners in direct trading with the Mughals, Persians and Ottomans. At least in recent years, United States merchants had already traveled all the Indian Ocean routes.

It is expected that from next year, the intercontinental trade between the United States and Portugal will begin. Schropp is more than anyone looking forward to that day, because it means that his achievements will leave a strong mark. It is precisely because of such a huge bargaining chip that Schropp came to Li Mingxun and put forward harsh conditions with a respectful and humble attitude.

"Your Excellency, this is a secret letter sent by Tong Yangjia, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi of the Tatars. This kind of matter is related to the common interests of us and the United States, so I hope you can know. If you can understand and support it, the Portuguese Merchant Association and I will be extremely grateful to you." Schrobao said with a smile, handing over a secret letter.

Li Mingxun disconnected casually. Now it was the secret letter written by Tong Yangjia to Schrobao. The content of the letter was to respond to a trade request made by a Portuguese. In addition to expressing the consent of the Beijing court, he also hoped that the two sides would conduct private trade before the court replied.

Obviously, after the Ming Dynasty lost Guangdong, Portuguese merchants urgently needed to protect their commercial interests. Guangdong was not only an important source of goods and the largest market. Now that most of Guangdong is in the hands of the Tatars, Schropp is more calm than the merchants. He knew very well that the core interests of Portuguese merchants were in Guangdong, but the right to survive was in the hands of the United States Navy. Without the commercial exchanges in Guangdong, the Portuguese were just a little more difficult. But if they annoyed the United States, they would not even have room for survival, and the sound of cannons in the Battle of Macau was still echoing in their ears.

"Do you think I will agree?" Li Mingxun shook the letter and asked.

Schrobao nodded without hesitation and said, "Of course, you will definitely do it, you will definitely do it. Because you are Lee Myung-hoon, the great consul of the United States, with your political wisdom, it is impossible not to understand that this is a good thing that both sides benefit."

Li Mingxun did not agree with Schrobao's slightly exaggerated flattery technique, but as Schrobao said, Li Mingxun would indeed agree with this matter.

Not only this letter, but also the information provided by the Security Bureau can prove that Tong Yangjia's contact with the Portuguese is not an official trade, but a smuggling trade by those in power. Tong Yangjia, who was appointed as the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, and Li Chengdong, the admiral of Guangdong and Guangxi, could not wait to use the authority in his hands to seek actual benefits.

As Guangdong and Guangxi entered a state of war, serious trade had ended, and smuggling trade became the mainstream. This type of smuggling was repeatedly banned in Guangdong and Guangxi, and Fujian and Zhejiang, mainly because the interests were too great. Many upper-level members of the Qing Dynasty also participated. Some green camp generals even blatantly smuggled to the Zhoushan Islands in eastern Zhejiang. If there was any slight disturbance, they simply led their troops across the sea to join the Shandong Supervisor State. This kind of thing happened in Fujian.

Moreover, all smuggling trades are participated by real power figures from both sides. Zheng Chenggong and the generals under the command of Lu Jianguo have all their power, and they have formed a situation where each company has exclusively occupied a piece of smuggling territory. Compared with those smuggling, smuggling through Macau is safer, larger and more stable.

The United States could fully participate in it. Just like the original permission of Portuguese merchants to conduct authorized trade in Manila, it gained a larger share. Smuggling was beneficial to both Tong and Li. The difference was that the interests of the United States would be used to expand the army and prepare for war, while Tong and Li were used for personal enjoyment.

Li Mingxun thought for a while, picked up the pen and started writing. In a quarter of an hour, he made a secret agreement and placed it in front of Schrobao.

The content of the secret contract is not complicated. First, it was the issue of sovereignty in Macau. The Portuguese did not allow the payment of rent and customs tax to the Qing court, which means that the Qing court cannot be recognized in disguise as the orthodox of China. As for whether to continue to pay to the Ming Kingdom, it was the matter of the Portuguese and the Ming Kingdom. Li Mingxun stated in the secret contract that if the United States thinks the time is right, the Portuguese must pay rent and customs tax to the United States to recognize the United States' sovereignty over Macau.

The second is trade. All trade must be monitored by the intelligence part of the United States. The United States controls 60% of the trade volume through capital injection, and the trade location can only be in Macau. The Portuguese cannot intend to restore the Guangzhou Trade Association before Shen Youlong took charge of Guangdong.

Finally, Macau maintains its original state and does not build new city walls, artillery and other military facilities. It is not allowed to provide firearms, military technology and military personnel to the Qing emperors, and guarantees not to participate in the war between the Ming and Qing emperors, the Qing emperors and the United States.
Chapter completed!