Harry Potter’s Morning Light

   Chapter 2138 Flower War (forty-six)

The East Asian waters in the 18th century were not the century of the Europeans at all. Although the Dutch seemed to seize the trade hegemony in the East Asian waters for a time in the 17th century, they did not enter the scope of the tributary system. When the Dutch tried to buy sumac and tin in Siam Difficulties were encountered when mining and transporting goods into Siam.

   The first is the increasingly effective royal monopoly. At that time, the Siam court was one-sided and pro-Chinese, and did not give the Dutch any preferential policies.

Followed by Japanese, other European merchants, and Chinese merchants after the lifting of the maritime ban, in the 17th century, Toyotomi Hideyoshi began to issue seals to merchants with strong economic strength in Kyoto, Nagasaki, Osaka and other places, encouraging them to send money to Annan and Nakakun. , Bei Dacheng and other places traded, and soon Siam became the main area for the Japanese Zhuyin ships to trade, but they almost never went to the south of Siam.

   However, Chinese businessmen sometimes face positive challenges from Japanese and European businessmen. Chinese immigrants have been there since the Song Dynasty. Due to the inflow of Siamese, in addition to the tributary envoys, Siamese unofficial envoys also received official acquiescence, thus forging an indestructible alliance between the Siam court and the Manchu Qing Dynasty, playing a similar role as a transit port. effect. The vassal council hired Chinese as deputy envoys, which made Siam's tributary trade in the hands of a family of Chaozhou merchants, and even the royal ships were handled by Chinese both in Siam and abroad.

At the same time, Taiwanese Zheng family used the properties of Zhangzhou, Quanzhou, Chaozhou and Huizhou to trade with Siam. They also bought back silver and lead from Japan to cast money, or resold silk to Southeast Asia in exchange for important strategic materials, such as Tin, saltpeter, etc. for military needs.

Due to the preferential treatment of Chinese by the Siam court, allowing the Chinese to have the right to move freely in Siam, coupled with the fact that Siam has many opportunities to make a living, and the famine continued for years, the number of Chinese immigrating to Siam in the 18th century continued to rise. Maintain close cooperation with Siam, especially to help Siamese make Chinese sailboats.

There will be tax incentives for such ships to enter Chinese ports, but Siam is very hesitant about this, because European-style sailboats will bring Western firearms, and the King of Siam is very interested in purchasing these. With the withdrawal of the Dutch, and the The European country with the most Siamese contacts became the United Kingdom.

Although Siam was invaded by Burma, he was expanding into the Malay Peninsula. As he was unable to resist the Siamese invasion by himself, the Sultan of Malacca turned to the United Kingdom to provide industrial materials produced in the tropics, hoping to gain the support of the other party to gain the effect of checks and balances. .

"Ha ha."

   Bonaparte laughed with schadenfreude.

  Georgianna looked at the book in silence, what is "shooting yourself in the foot"?

"In the 17th century, the Siamese ruling group was obsessed with the Europeans' involvement in Siam's fateful affairs. With the envoys of Louis XIV, there was also the tax system, and the taxpayers in Siam came to Siam with the envoys. Mainly Chinese."

  Georgianna didn't know what to look like at this time, but she just paused and continued reading.

After the overthrow of the Ayutthaya Dynasty, the Thonburi Dynasty did not end this system, and even continued to the Bangkok Dynasty. The King of Siam even appointed Chinese people who contracted bird's nest taxation as governors in two islands near Songkhla in return. He was "an honest, efficient and successful tax contractor", a position his heirs could inherit, and Songkhla became the main center of Qing-Siam communication and royal power in the south.

Corruption and inefficiency were the reasons for the bankruptcy of the Dutch East India Company, and the bankruptcy of the Dutch East India Company also led to a further decline in the status of the Dutch European powers, their influence in East Asia was also quieted, and they closed Edo in 1700 They also abandoned the Arab and Persian trading posts in 1750 and had to evacuate Taiwan, so they have never been able to establish trade relations with the Central Plains regime.

Different from the land market in Guangzhou, Siam has a large floating market. Merchants set up stalls on the covered deck to sell their goods. There are many kinds of goods, including tea, porcelain, silk, paper, incense. , folding fans, umbrellas, flowers, etc., the river becomes colorful and delicate and beautiful, but not all floating markets are like this. In some markets, vendors will throw vegetables and fruit peels directly into the river, and the river will It got messy and the smell didn't smell so good.

   "Remember the Parisian market?" asked Georgiana.

   Bonaparte did not make a sound, he seemed to be dreaming, and Georgiana understood him. I am afraid that few people are not fascinated by that river full of luxury goods, "the gorgeous side of the East".

Nick woke up sore, maybe because he slept on a hard stone bed, or maybe because he didn't sleep soundly all night, and when he woke up, someone was standing beside his bed with his back to him. He looked at the pictures on the wall.

  Nick woke up immediately. It was the tall man who drank chicken blood from yesterday. He was still wearing a red cloak.

   "Who is she?" the tall man asked.

   "I imagined," Nick said.

  The man looked back at Nick.

   "He should be here."

  Nick looked at him in confusion.

   "Do you want to go by yourself or should I let someone help you go?"

  Nick looked at the two people standing at the door, they were the gangsters who kidnapped him.

  Nick stood up immediately and followed the man in the red cloak out of the cave. When two people passed by the door, one of them pushed him arrogantly, as if warning him not to make any resistance.

They did not come to the small courtyard yesterday, but came to the place where he got off the boat yesterday. A large sailboat was parked not far away, and a man in a black cloak was standing on the shore. man in black turban.

   The red cloak looked young and handsome, but Nick's mind was filled with blood after he drank chicken blood yesterday.

  The black cloak didn't look so handsome, but he had a special temperament, and he gave Nick a salute.

   This is the ceremony to be performed when going to the Confucius Temple to worship Confucius, and it is also a meeting ceremony between literati. Nick quickly returned the ceremony according to the method taught by the Confucius.

   "Little surname Guo, name Xuexian, you are..."

  Nick had absolutely no idea what he was talking about, even though he spoke English.

   "Do you have a Chinese name?" Guo Xuexian asked.

   "No," Nick said.

   "He's the one you're looking for." The red cape said impatiently, "Take him away."

   Guo Xuexian asked Nick to get on the boat beside him like a "scholar". Nick hesitated, but went on anyway.

A Siamese once said that the Europeans are coming now with sweet talk, pretending they just want to trade, and before long they will build a storehouse, then beg for a wall around it, and soon on the wall again Assuming cannons, in the end they will take over the country.

  Nick didn't know what to expect when he got on the other side's boat, maybe worse than his experience on the island, but he decided to take a risk.

   As their little boat approached the big one, he found a couplet on the bow:

  The way is not good, it floats in the sea on a husk; when people suffer, the girdle stands in the court.

  This ship is as high as two stories and requires a rope ladder to climb up. Not long after boarding the ship, Nick was "invited" into the ship's cabin, which is Guo Xuexian's cabin.

   There are many books in it, and there are also charts drawn by Europeans, as well as drawing tools such as compasses, which look like a European captain's room.

   "Do you understand the couplet just now?" Guo Xuexian asked.

  Nick nodded.

   "Do you know what that means?"

  Nick thought for a moment and shook his head.

"'Tao is not good, ride on the husk to float in the sea' is what Confucius said to his disciples, 'people's trouble, girdle to stand in the dynasty' is my own perception. Just meet a few more friends who love to read." Guo Xuexian said with a smile, "Why don't you have tea and talk with me on the way back?"

  Nick froze for a moment.

   "Or do you want the bottom cabin?"

   "You are not a scholar of the Qing Dynasty at all." Nick said in Mandarin.

   Guo Xuexian laughed.

   "Fate can be remedied, long relatives are contemptible, do you understand the meaning of this sentence?" After laughing enough, Guo Xuexian said

   "This is a connection code? If I can't answer it, will I not be able to verify my identity? Why don't you say it on the shore?"

   Guo Xuexian pointed to Nick's hair "yellow hair."

Then he pointed at Nick's eyes, "Blue eyes, this kind of appearance is rare among foreigners, not to mention that you painted a picture at your residence, I'm looking for a painter, I think I'm not wrong, right? "

  In Nick's view, this kind of threat is unquestionable, so he can't answer. Guo Xuexian saw that he didn't answer, so he was very calm and took a blank sheet of paper to him.

   "You can also draw me a sketch and use it as your shipping fee."

   (end of this chapter)