From Chief to Ball

Chen Jian did not contact the Dutch, but sailed directly to Pattani.

Pattani, also known as the country of great mud, was a vassal state of the Ayutthaya Dynasty in Thailand at this time. Nearby spices, Chinese silk and porcelain, Indian cotton cloth, and Thai rice would all be traded here.

From here, you can find interpreters who are familiar with Dutch, Ming Dynasty Mandarin, Hokkien and Thai, and as long as you give money, you can find businessmen who can curry favor with such figures as Ming's tax inspector and chief soldier.

This is a very important stop. You can find someone who can talk to the King of Thailand, put forward a request to establish a business hall, and express their dissatisfaction with the Portuguese spreading Catholicism. If the King of Thailand agrees, Nanyang Trading Company can Establish a fortress for mutual defense between the two countries in Tanasarim or Moji.

For the Thais who are eager to find an ally at this time, although this condition has lost part of their sovereignty, they will not take it too seriously. If they can intervene, they will gladly accept it.

In addition, Thailand at this time is a very worthwhile time to stay.

Counting two years ago, King Naresuan, who was regarded as a legend by the Thais, had just died, and his younger brother White Prince Ergatuo Salud had just succeeded to the throne.

Before Narisuan's death, he invited the Dutch to establish a nominal tribute relationship with the Ming Dynasty in the form of tribute in accordance with the order of "Asia is the world", opening the door to trade.

But once Narishon died, the Dutch couldn't wait.I found a few Fujian businessmen in Pattani and forged a letter of credentials from Thailand, but the level of forgery was too low to be spotted at a glance.

Narishon has a broad vision, and has black, Japanese, and Portuguese mercenaries under his command. He has bought Milan plate armor and used Goan muskets.

Ergatuo Salud's vision is not low, and after succeeding to the throne, he sent a mission to Europe.The Thai mission went to The Hague for a tour, and also visited the Morris barracks and the Dutch system.

It is always easier to communicate with such broad-minded people, at least they still have interests in their eyes, and they know how to control barbarians with barbarians.

At the same time, Thailand is also within the marginal range of the East Asian tributary system. It is familiar with European things, and it is also very clear about some rules of the local behemoths. This is a force that can be relied on.

The Dutch were unable to trade with the Ming Dynasty. On the one hand, there was a cultural conflict, which led to a complete lack of understanding of what the Asian political system was all about. The concept that the Celestial Dynasty is the world made many problems go wrong from the beginning.On the other hand, it is also reluctant to bribe. The money for bribes is too little, and the briber is too single. If you are reluctant to spend money, you can't get things done.Furthermore, as to what the hell the Dutch are, the few missionaries in the Ming Dynasty who knew Europe were all Jesuits, a Catholic with a strong root, and it would be hell if they could say a good word about this Calvinistic heresy.

But Thailand is different.At least the Ming Dynasty knew about the existence of Thailand, and this kind of tribute was easily allowed.

Chen Jian felt that if he could take advantage of the king of Thailand's desire to pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty, he would really have a chance.

Chapter 43 Pattani

After the fleet arrived in Pattani, after negotiating with the Great Ni Kingdom in a friendly manner, it quickly got permission to trade at the port and open a business house.Pattani is just a state. It needs and desires trade. As long as it pays taxes, of course they welcome it.

When the fleet docked, it happened to catch up with a merchant ship from the Ming Dynasty docking here.

Almost instantly, everyone in the fleet who disembarked was stunned.

Looking at the hair ornaments and clothes of the Ming Dynasty people opposite, the abacus used in the account room, the way of pronunciation when speaking, and the vaguely similar pronunciation of those newly appeared names given by Chen Jian in the previous life...

Everything in it makes the people in the fleet feel like they are looking at another distorting mirror. Those people on the opposite side have their own shadows everywhere, or they have the shadows of those people on the opposite side.

This kind of strange and familiar familiarity is a mysterious feeling.Thousands of miles away, the most difficult thing to find is the local accent. After passing through white Europe, black Africa, and brown South Africa, this similarity of yellow skin, black hair, curly hair and square characters exploded in the loneliness of the journey There was great excitement.

The words are not exactly the same, but there are many similarities.The pronunciation is different, but there is a sense of familiarity, like a dialect.

Chen Jian endured the trembling of his body and listened attentively to the conversations of these people. Although he didn't quite understand, his heart was still beating wildly.

After going around in such a big circle, I finally saw the person I wanted to see again, but because of my status, I could only keep silent.

The words engraved in his bones jumped before his eyes one by one. He knew every word, but he had to pretend not to know each word. This kind of depression was tightly pressed in his heart, and he had nowhere to express it.

Lan Qi whispered in Chen Jian's ear: "Look at those people, they always feel so familiar. It's like... It's like a vague shadow. No wonder those Spaniards and Dutch people regard us as people from the Ming Dynasty. I was still wondering what the similarities were, and now I realized their surprise when I saw them with my own eyes. You said... Could there be such a coincidence in this world?"

Chen Jian calmed down for a moment, moved his eyes away from the boat, and said with a smile: "Maybe it's not a coincidence. Then why do you say that people in Africa are all black? Why are people in Europe all white? Maybe our ancestors came from There may be a bridge or an island for those who rowed a boat to their homeland... Otherwise, from a scientific point of view, it is really difficult to explain."

Lan Qi nodded and said: "Yes, that's the only way to explain it. Isn't that right? If we continue westward from here, isn't it our homeland? It's just a vast sea, how did they get there?"

The merchants of the Ming Dynasty were also very curious about Chen Jian and his group. They were familiar with the flag of Yin-Yang fish hanging on the fleet, but they usually appeared next to Taoist priests or fortune tellers.

The most curious thing is that there is actually a woman in the fleet, and it is unbelievable that this woman can appear in the fleet in public.

Other than that, it didn't reveal the astonishment and closure that had never seen the outside world.

The marketers in the Ming Dynasty knew a lot about the outside world. In "Du Shiniang Sinks the Treasure Box in Anger", the first sentence after the opening poem is "During the 20 years of Danbiao Wanli in the words, Japan's Guanbai made chaos", so it can be seen that at that time The name Guan Bai is also known among the market.

As for the merchants who can go to Pattani, they travel all day long. The black slaves, Muslim Catholics, have seen everything, and there are translators who can speak many languages ​​on board.

The merchants of the Ming Dynasty saw that Chen Jian's fleet was large and equipped with guns, which were no less than that of Hongyi's ships, and there were soldiers in strange costumes. They wondered secretly, but they didn't know where they came from.

The businessman talked about profit, and saw that there were a lot of goods in the fleet, rich in gold and silver, so he wanted to get in touch with Chen Jian, but at this time they were not familiar with each other, so it was difficult to open their mouths.

Chen Jian put away this strange citrus and restrained everyone so as not to cause any trouble.

First asked people to rent several houses in Hong Kong for business offices, and then asked people to find people who are proficient in Thai and Dutch, and went to the big city of Thailand to ask for trade. They wrote documents and sent them along with gifts.

There are many merchant ships in Beida Nian, and there are a lot of goods that are transshipped. The lions, ostriches and other food that survived the ship can be bought with money. when sending it out.

While waiting for the King of Thailand's reply in Beida Nian, Chen Jian brought many people into contact with the merchants of the Ming Dynasty.Although there are differences in pronunciation and writing between each other, the grammar is figured out, especially the vernacular market words, the grammar is similar.

Chen Jian was able to understand the text on the other side, and after listening to them for a month, he became familiar with them, and the people in the fleet didn't think it was different.One is that Chen Jian became famous when he was young, and he is naturally smart in the hearts of everyone. He dare not say that he will never forget it, but it is acceptable to learn a similar language so quickly.

They also spent money to hire a few interpreters to teach the people in the fleet to learn the spoken and written words of the Ming Dynasty, and they could understand some of them within a month or so.

……

Chen Jian's act of opening a trading post in Pattani aroused the vigilance and reaction of all parties.

Although the Portuguese did not receive domestic news, the local governor also expressed great concern and anxiety about the fleet that passed through the Strait of Malacca not long ago.

Taking advantage of the advantages of being able to preach and trade in some ports in Myanmar and Thailand, they kept sending people to inquire about the news here. They were worried that the scene they managed with great difficulty would be destroyed by these people.

However, all the news I got was vague, either I didn't know where it came from, or it was exaggerated.

What worried the Portuguese governor most was that these people were said to speak Dutch.The Dutch have been making trouble here since four or five years ago, and Portugal has been a little overwhelmed. If these people are mercenaries of the Dutch, it will be troublesome.

The Dutch business house in Pattani also expressed great vigilance for the arrival of Chen Jian and others. Fortunately, Chen Jian had a letter from the director of the Dutch India Company. In the eyes of the Dutch, Pattani was nothing more than a transit point for trade with the Ming Dynasty. , They don't care at this time, and they don't have enough energy.

On the contrary, if a fleet with the common will to drive away the Portuguese appears here, it can make the stretched troops and fleet here much more abundant.

The Dutch even proposed to find an opportunity to discuss with Chen Jian to capture Malacca together.As long as Chen Jian does not get involved in the spice trade, after the capture of Malacca, the two sides can jointly garrison troops and repair the fort.At this time, the Dutch do not have much confidence and lack of strength, so this method can be allowed.

Furthermore, some letters from the Netherlands also stated that if possible, they should provoke the conflict between Chen Jian and the Portuguese. If they can be drawn into the war against Spain and Portugal, it will be great news for the Dutch and Indian companies.

Meanwhile, this fashion is a small fishing village north of Bangkok, among Thailand's Ayutthaya.

Thai King Erjia Tuo Salud looked at the documents sent by Chen Jian's envoy requesting trade and remained silent.

There are many things that make this document different from others. There are a few photos in it that are extremely miraculous in the eyes of Erjiatuo Salud, all of which are scenes in the city of Min County and the size of the fleet.

For this country that popped up suddenly, Ergato Salud didn't know whether he should believe it, or whether this country had the strength to counter Portugal.

But for the request of trade, he is very happy in his heart.

With the foundation left by his brother, the country is still stable at this time. It can be seen from the fact that Pattani did not rebel against himself but chose to surrender. A barometer of domestic stability.

But years of wars have left the country devastated and the treasury empty.In the previous battles, there were black and white mercenaries in Thailand, who knew the power of firearms and cannons, which also made Ergato Salad not resistant to communication with the outside world.