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"I have to say that the tea in your country is a gift from God to the world. But the tea you offer, General Tang, is the best I have ever tasted. It seems that this must be the best tea in your country. I think I will never be interested in other teas again." After being surprised, Thomas tasted it lightly, and then his face was intoxicated.
Tang Tong looked at Thomas's expression, wondering if he really understood the quality of tea. However, the tea Tang Tong was holding was West Lake Longjing tea, which was indeed of very high quality. Tang Tong smiled faintly and said, "Sir Roy is right. This is indeed one of the best teas in the Ming Empire, and its production is very rare. Sir Roy, if you like it, I will give you two pounds."
Merchants throughout the ages have always pursued profit. Before the Qing Dynasty, tea sold in the West was all low-grade tea. Few merchants would be foolish enough to sell high-quality tea to such uncivilized places. After all, low-grade tea could be sold at a high price in the West, while high-grade tea might not be sold at a much higher price in the West. For Westerners at that time, those who had tea were already aristocrats and wealthy people, and ordinary people could not afford such things at all.
Thomas had never tasted such high-quality tea before. The price of low-quality tea in the West was already very high. Thomas knew that the price of such high-quality tea must be extremely expensive. When he heard Tang Tong say that he had two kilograms of such high-quality tea to give him, he was naturally happy.
"Haha, General Tang, thank you very much for your generosity. I like this kind of tea very much. As a gift in return, I will give you ten kilograms of opium." After Thomas thanked Tang Tong, he thought in his heart that if he presented this kind of tea to his king, he believed that His Majesty would like it very much.
Opium is opium. The translator did not know this word. At that time, few people in the Ming Dynasty knew the word opium, and there was no word for longevity paste. So he translated it as "happy plant" according to the Western interpretation. Tang Tong did not understand why, but he did not mind.
"Haha, Sir Roy, as friends, it's only natural for us to share what we have. I came to India this time hoping to establish friendship with you, Sir Roy. Last year, although the Ming Dynasty won a great victory in the war with the Dutch in the South China Sea, we failed to completely eliminate that Rayoz. In order to cut off the Dutch supply, I led my men to drive the Dutch East India Company in India out of this sea area. Of course, your British East India Company probably doesn't want the Dutch to show off their power here." Tang Tong smiled and began to lead the topic to business.
"Well, General Tang, to be honest, we are still getting along with the Dutch on friendly terms. Although there were some unpleasantness between the two sides in the past, that was in the past after all." Although Thomas hated the Dutch for driving his forces out of the South China Sea and the China Sea, he was more afraid of the powerful army of the Ming Dynasty. The war between Heipi and the Dutch in the South China Sea and the strength they showed on land were something that all Westerners were afraid of. What's more, the 1,000 troops that Tang Tong brought this time were actually too many for these Westerners. No matter how stupid Thomas was, he knew in his heart that if the Ming Dynasty wanted to compete with Britain for the colonial rights of India, Britain would not be the opponent of the Ming Dynasty at all.
Thomas didn't know that the Ming Dynasty had a regular musket army, that is, Tang Tong's team. He also knew that the current Ming Dynasty army was equipped with muskets. For a huge country like the Ming Dynasty, how could the small Britain be a match?
Seeing that Thomas was trying to evade the question, Tang Tong understood Thomas's idea a little bit. He thought to himself that he had not considered the problem carefully. There are no eternal enemies in the world, only eternal interests. The strength he showed now would naturally scare this damn British guy.
"In that case, forget it. After all, the Dutch commander, Reyoz, is still very peaceful now, and I don't have any deep hatred with them. Let's put this matter aside for now. Sir Roy, since your East India Company is engaged in trade, how about I have some trade cooperation with you on behalf of the Ming Dynasty?" Although Tang Tong wanted to drive the Dutch out of Southeast Asia as soon as possible, he did not have the strength to expand rapidly at present. Keeping the Dutch could also contain the British. Moreover, Tang Tong believed that as long as he could firmly control Southeast Asia, the Dutch would only have India to compete with the British for interests.
"Yes, General Tang, I fully agree with your proposal. Our British East India Company is a large trading company. I feel very honored to cooperate with you, General Tang, in trade." Thomas Swenwen immediately became excited when he heard Tang Tong talking about trade. He currently did not have the ability to extend his tentacles into the Ming Dynasty. If he wanted to develop his power in the Ming Dynasty, he had to cooperate with others first.
At this time, the British East India Company was on the decline. Although Britain's national strength was stronger than that of the Netherlands, and the two East India Companies were established at about the same time, Britain had begun to show signs of civil unrest in recent years. The domestic unrest and the war in Europe made Britain unable to carry out colonial expansion at this time. It was precisely because of this that the Dutch had the courage to drive the British out of Southeast Asia.
㱗In this deteriorating situation, Thomas also needed trade allies. He had a large amount of tobacco and opium in his hands and needed to find a way out. Opium is what we call opium. What Thomas didn't know was that Tang Tong was very clear about these two things. Since 1600, a large amount of tobacco and opium have flowed into the Ming Dynasty, especially tobacco.㱗In the Chongzhen era, a large amount of tobacco and opium poured into the Ming Dynasty through the Dutch and the Zheng family. For this reason, Emperor Chongzhen even issued an order to ban smoking.
The result was that smoking was prohibited, so those who were addicted to smoking turned to opium. This was because of the demise of the Zheng family and the weakening of the Dutch, while the British were fully focused on competing for colonies such as India. As a result, the amount of opium flowing into the country was not very large in the early Qing Dynasty. But when Britain became the maritime hegemon, it began to dump this harmful substance on the Qing Dynasty with all its might. As a result, the Opium War and China's long decline occurred. Therefore, Tang Tong hated these two things very much.
Now, because of Tang Tong's arrival, not only did the Zheng family suffer a heavy blow and was unable to carry out the so-called maritime trade, but also because Heipi and his men controlled the Strait of Malacca, they cut off the Dutch trade route, preventing the Dutch from flowing into the Ming Dynasty in large quantities of tobacco and opium. This could be considered an unexpected blessing for Tang Tong and his men, and a great deed.
After the conversation between the two sides got to the point, they started preliminary negotiations on various trades. Thomas naturally put tobacco and opium in the negotiation conditions. When Thomas brought the opium samples and gifts to Tang Tong, Tang Tong almost got angry when he saw them, because Tang Tong had seen opium in his previous life.
Tang Tong was so shocked that Thomas actually gave him ten kilograms of opium that he really wanted to pick up a gun and shoot Thomas to death. Thomas saw that Tang Tong looked unhappy, but he didn't understand why Tang Tong was unhappy. After Tang Tong thought about it for a while, a vicious intention rose in his heart.
Then Tang Tong started negotiating with Thomas with a smile, expressing his willingness to buy the tobacco and opium from Thomas, but there was a condition that it must be bundled with the artillery trade. After Tang Tong purchased a certain amount of tobacco and opium, Thomas must sell the corresponding artillery to Tang Tong. In addition, Tang Tong did not pay silver, but slaves and other Ming products.
Thomas agreed to the conditions proposed by Tang Tong, because the goods Tang Tong provided him were exactly the hot commodities in Europe. Thomas did not know that these slaves were lazy by nature. Seeing that the price offered by Tang Tong was not high, much lower than that of black slaves, he thought he was getting a bargain and placed a large order with Tang Tong on the spot.
In a friendly atmosphere, the two sides negotiated for more than ten days and finally signed a preliminary trade agreement for one year. This agreement also stipulated the temporary colonial scope of each side. Among them, the territory belonging to the Dutch, under the temptation of Tang Tong, Thomas and Tang Tong signed a secret temporary agreement. The sphere of influence occupied by the Dutch in India belonged to Britain, and Sri Lanka occupied by the Dutch belonged to the Ming Dynasty. To be honest, Thomas would rather occupy Sri Lanka, but now it was in the hands of the Dutch. Thomas had no ability to drive the Dutch away, so he could only generously include it in Tang Tong's sphere of influence.
After the trade agreement was signed, the first transaction was carried out. One thousand slaves and the glass mirrors, soap, scented soap, tea, porcelain and other items brought by Tang Tong were exchanged for a thousand cannons and a large amount of tobacco and opium. After the two sides determined the types and quantities of the second trade, Tang Tong set sail with his men and returned to Malaysia.
The first order Tang Tong gave after getting off the ship was to build a large factory in Malaysia.
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