Nan Ming Sun Never Sets

Chapter 387 European Salon
Shuncheon has successively established embassies and offices in many countries. There are not many European countries that have formally established diplomatic relations with Ming Dynasty, including Portugal, Britain, France, and Denmark. The countries that are in formal war relations with Ming Dynasty are the Netherlands and Spain .But even the Netherlands and Spain during the Ming war were allowed to rent temporary facilities in Suncheon for diplomatic negotiations.It's just that Daming's position is extremely tough. Don't think too much about things you can't get back on the battlefield at the negotiating table.The most exaggerated thing is that the Netherlands has even made the worst decision, hoping to stop this war with the world's largest power by completely abandoning Java and Taiwan, and make money from trade through the Ming Dynasty's free trade policy, but still It was delayed by the diplomats of Ming Dynasty using the same method as Tai Chi.

The point is that the Ming people did not even put forward a condition. They are still open to negotiation, but they have no sincerity to negotiate. This phenomenon makes people shudder.

Then there is only one reason, that is, Ming does not want to end the war with the Netherlands, or needs to obtain more benefits.

Anyone who ventured into the waters controlled by Ming Dynasty and got through by changing the national flag, as long as they were inspected by the Ming Navy and exposed their flaws, they would absolutely seize all the ships and cargo.However, this is similar to the income from sea plundering, which is nothing to Da Ming. Da Ming has a huge fleet of hundreds of thousands of tons. In West Africa, North Africa and Europe, there have been Ming merchant ships.In just two years, Daming's presence in ocean trade has increased by orders of magnitude.

Even though Daming was far away from Europe, every breath of this giant dragon could make European countries tremble.Especially the group of diplomats who came to Daming had such a clear and practical understanding.

Mingyue Hotel in the embassy area, a 5-story luxury hotel built just two months ago, quickly became a legend in Shuncheon because of its magnificent decoration and exquisite service.What is even more concerning is that the management behind Mingyue Hotel is a private company, and this private company is the supervisor of etiquette.In other words, Mingyue belongs to the property of the royal family, and it is even more unusual in terms of status and background.

The domestic hotel industry in the Ming Dynasty has just emerged. The State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the Daming Lizhengyuan has established a cheap and numerous express hotel brand Shunjia through the management of the inn hotel system. It features cheap beds and simple meals. It belongs to the majority A hotel that everyone can afford.At the same time, SASAC and local SASAC also have some high-end hotel brands such as Furama.

With the construction of railways and roads, business travel began to increase gradually, and the prosperity of the hotel industry was also natural.

Mingyue Hotel was established in the embassy area, and it has become popular with these foreigners. The main reason is that it provides a lot of aristocratic services.There are exquisite palace-like baths, European-style but delicious food, banquet venues, courts, and horse farms.For many diplomats and stationed personnel who are originally European aristocrats, at least in Mingyue Hotel, they can enjoy and relive the experience of aristocrats.Of course, this all costs a lot of money.

European diplomats especially like to rent the clubhouse of Mingyue Hotel for salon activities. The decoration here is different from that in Europe, but it has a modern and elegant atmosphere. The important thing is that it provides all kinds of drinks and food, whether it is various juices, Sparkling water, or beer, whiskey, rum, red wine or Chinese liquor, snacks that they have never seen before, and Chinese waiters who can only speak a few words of French, and are particularly humble when facing them.In short, the quiet environment and services make European diplomats linger here, and they will have some parties every few days.

In this country, they are foreigners whose physical appearance is very different from the locals. None of their countries can be compared with this great power. At the same time, their understanding of this Eastern Empire is too limited. Almost every diplomat They are all trying to learn Chinese, and each of them strongly recommends in the report to the country that more Chinese translators must be trained to better understand this country that they have never explored in depth.

Here they huddle together to keep warm and even exchange information.What makes them feel comfortable is that their salon is very private, there is no need to worry about leaks, and the waiters here do not speak very European languages.

More than a dozen arty diplomats gathered in the salon, chatting casually.

"Mr. Hasholt, haven't you reached an armistice agreement with Ming Dynasty yet?" British Minister Harvey wore a casual suit bought at a local mall in Suncheon very much like a polo player. Clothes are light, soft, easy to move, and look more expensive.

The British had just fought the Dutch, and although this war allowed them to achieve some goals, such as forcing the Dutch to accept the Navigation Act, the actions of the Dutch in the Mediterranean paralyzed the British trade in the Mediterranean.The British are undoubtedly the happiest when the Netherlands is at war with Ming Dynasty.The essence of the Anglo-Dutch War was to compete for the supremacy of maritime trade.

Britain once wanted to form a substantive strategic alliance with Ming Dynasty, but Ming Dynasty did not agree with Britain's acquisition of any colonies in the Pacific Ocean, so no real progress was made.

The Dutchman Haasholt showed no real sense of frustration. He shrugged: "You can't negotiate with someone who doesn't have the sincerity to negotiate. I think we all know that."

Haasholt's stay in Suncheon is quite comfortable, the life here is not comparable to that in Europe.In addition to the language barrier, this country is very graceful even for an enemy country like him, and he was not stopped even from collecting information through open channels.

The Frenchman Hugo Bassogo put forward a view that is infinitely close to the facts: "Da Ming probably wants to continue to seize the colonies owned by the Netherlands. Where will the next target be, most likely India or Sri Lanka."

The status of French diplomats in Ming Dynasty is more neutral. The French are new guests on the Asian stage. The East India Company was just established this year, and it was formed by the merger of three companies responsible for Asian trade.The focus of the French is still in India, but with the strengthening of Ming’s position in commerce and trade, the French East India Company has also appointed a charge d’affaires in Daming on behalf of the French government to be responsible for communication with Daming. business problem.

The French attach great importance to studying Ming's trends, especially in terms of commerce and colonization. The coast of the South China Sea is basically controlled by Ming, so the next goal of Ming is naturally to go west.

(End of this chapter)