On September 15, 1676, two 650-ton flute-type transport ships affiliated to the South China Sea Transportation Company sailed into Haji Port, and also brought Li Qing a lot of documents that he needed to handle personally, including things related to the relationship with France.

Simply put, the East Coast and France now have established relatively normal relationships (compared with the cold and even hostile relationships before), and the impulse and plan to develop trade and commercial exchanges. Compared with the dilemma of the East Coast people who wanted to go to Paris many years ago, the French are much smaller now. This change in attitude is undoubtedly inseparable from the increasingly powerful national strength and influence of the East Coast Republic of China.

Once upon a time, the Kingdom of France was once the largest sales market for industrial products on the east coast, especially for various colors of textiles, dyed leather goods and metal agricultural tools, which was larger than the Ottoman Empire, which had a stable annual trade volume of more than 2 million yuan. However, the French's intention to develop industry was quite obvious. Whether in the Mazaran era or the Colbert era, a large number of workshops, including textile workshops, were built, including state-owned and private ones, but the operating conditions were very average, which was just a large French population and a vast market. If it was said that it would not exist to rush abroad to sell it into other countries' markets.

But even so, the domestic market in France has indeed been occupied a lot, especially the big-headed textiles, ironware, leather products, etc. exported on the east coast, overlapping with French self-produced goods and having a high degree of competition. On the contrary, the United Provinces, because of the numerous product categories, have a lot of trade turnover with France every year, making a lot of money. Of course, after the outbreak of the war, this trade gradually stagnated, replaced by a large influx of goods from Britain, Italy and Germany.

This time, the French took the initiative to ease relations with the East Coast, which actually began more than two years ago. Although the East Coast sold a lot of goods and sent two battalions of mercenaries to the United Provinces, this was not a problem in the French and had little impact on the war situation. Therefore, under the strong suggestion of Colbert, King Louis XIV of France finally agreed to contact Li Qing, the East Coast plenipotentiary of the East Coast to Europe, and then reached some agreements on opening up the cooperation of imports of some goods. After the war of transfer of heritage, the East Coast people obtained equal tariffs on some goods in the French market (the average tax rate of the British, Dutch, Western and Portuguese countries), but the quota restrictions still exist, which made exports quite a lot of obstacles.

After clearing these obstacles this time, the commercial exchanges between the two countries naturally slowly began. The first thing to recover was woolen exports. Because the export-union province was blocked, the East Coast people are now looking for sales all over the world. They not only found the Kurlans to act as agents, but also contacted other potential consumers to save the wool textile industry that had finally grown up in China and not to shrink its scale too much. Among these potential consumers, the Russians are one and the French are another.

As we all know, the whole country of France has a mild climate, humid and fertile soil. It is a good farming area and has a high population density. It is impossible to have large grasslands like England and Spain to raise sheep. Therefore, for many years, the French have been importing wool and even woolen products from England, Spain and the United Provinces to meet the needs of the domestic market.

However, after the war broke out with the Union Province and Spain, two of the three major import channels of French wool products were cut off. Only the English continued to supply France. They also made a lot of benefits in this war because of limited production and occupied many markets. The supply of wool products could not keep up with demand for a while and raised prices against the French, which made the French very indignant. You should know that they were already very upset because the British betrayed the so-called neutrality with their alliance. Now that you come again, the French are naturally very upset.

Moreover, from the perspective of war, it is a very taboo thing to import the single source of important materials including iron, textiles, arms, etc. Because no one can say whether the British will form an alliance with the United Provinces when they wake up. This is a difficult thing to say. So what should the French do when they are? Imported from Germany? Imported from Italy? Can the production capacity keep up? What if they are also threatened by the Dutch? Therefore, there are many realistic considerations in strengthening commercial cooperation with the East Coast, and the French are very clear about the benefits and risks.

Therefore, last year (1675), the French government spent huge sums of money to build a large and beautiful Golden Lily Flower Store in Qingdao Port, the largest city on the east coast, and rented it to many French merchants or captains who were determined to develop ocean trade with the east coast at a relatively low price.

This year, the first batch of French merchant ships have returned to Bordeaux, La Rochelle, Nantes and other ports from the east coast, bringing back many naval and army artillery and many supporting ammunitions, including 80mm (similar to the British 6-pound cannon), 105mm (8-pound cannon), 120mm (12-pound cannon), 135mm (18-pound cannon), and many supporting ammunitions. It is worth mentioning that due to the high machining accuracy of the East Coast, the actual caliber of each cannon is poor.

The distance is very small, which makes large-scale standardization and low-cost production possible, so the caliber of four commonly used artillery guns is fixed. However, this caliber is actually different from that of Europe. For example, the caliber of the 12-pound gun cast by the United Kingdom or Germany is generally 117 mm, but the caliber of the east coast is only 120 mm, which makes customers who purchase East Coast weapons still need to import a large number of ammunition to stock up, and then slowly modify the old domestic molds to make ammunition self-produced.

Most of these weapons are long-barreled artillery, used to replace the old bronze artillery in French ports to consolidate the safety of their country's maritime borders. You should know that Dutch warships still appear in the North Sea, the Bay of Biscay, and the Mediterranean from time to time, which poses a significant threat to the safe navigation of French merchant ships, and also makes its harbor unsafe. For example, once before, Dutch Admiral Druittel led a fleet to appear in Toulon and Montpellier, which caused chaos in several southern French provinces. Local officials had to send all the "looks good" long-barreled artillery to the base of the Eastern Fleet, Toulon Port, to strengthen defense here, so as not to be forcibly attacked by the Dutch fleet due to weak firepower.

Therefore, don't think that the French army is so prestigious on the battlefield. However, in front of the Dutch, known as the sea coachman, the two French fleets still hurriedly in the port of Dunkirk and Toulon, leaving the port to perform missions when the Dutch were unprepared, and avoiding head-on battles with them most of the time. This time, the French realized the weak of their maritime defense power, so they spent huge sums of money to import a large amount of 105 mm from the east coast (the cannon of this caliber is in the east).

The shore is not equipped as a standard for the coastal defense artillery, because the Navy thinks it is not powerful enough. The high diameter ratio of 120 mm and 135 mm is 120 mm, and the long-barrel cannon is safe in Toulon, Marseille, Montpellier, Bordeaux, La Rochelle and other places (Dunkirk's defense is already relatively excellent, and there is no need to add artillery for the time being) to prevent sea raids by the Dutch, causing a series of embarrassing events like being bombarded by the East Coast fleet on the coast.

After this successful arms transaction, with a certain basis for mutual trust, the French side planned to further deepen trade cooperation. Therefore, through the Doria family of Genoa, the French government found a diplomatic agency temporarily living in the port of Cadiz, Spain. As a result, because Li Qing had already set out to arrive in the Black Sea, these business documents were sent to the port of Haji, and several French envoys were also present.

Li Qing first asked those Frenchmen to settle down, and then found Gao Wengang, Malati, the two generals of Hum and Ha, and held a small meeting with them to discuss the contents of these business documents and documents had been translated by the people from Cadiz in advance. Li Qing quickly scanned the contents of the contents at a glance, probably the Kingdom of France requested to carry out more in-depth commercial cooperation with the East Coast Republic of China. To put it bluntly, the French asked the East Coast people to supply dozens of goods including arms, textiles, metal farm tools (including blades), leather, spices, tobacco, sugar, and sisal to France at a certain discounted price. Although the total amount has not been estimated, it is definitely not small.

To be honest, it is actually normal for the French to make such a request. After all, the demand is large, so it is appropriate to give some discounts. However, he still needs to communicate with the local government to confirm whether every commodity purchased by the French can be supplied in sufficient supply, and then he can conduct the next negotiation with the French. Of course, for some obvious overproduction in China, he can now make the decision to sign a supply agreement with the French.

"France recently sent troops to occupy half of the island of Santo Domingo that was lost during the last war. They sent a small fleet from Bordeaux to carry hundreds of army soldiers. The Spanish were really useless and lost the western half without any fierce battle (this part was occupied by Spain during the Heritage Transfer War. In exchange, Strasbourg and four nearby free towns were ceded to France). Then in the next two months, they lost the eastern half. Now the entire island of Santo Domingo has been occupied by the French, and the Santo Domingo trial court area was forced to move to the Western land." After the meeting was held for a while, because Li Qing asked, Gao Wengang told the recent situation of some of the French battlefield: "The above is The people from the Caribbean Shipping Company told us that they had received an invitation from the Spanish to send troops, but they politely refused. In addition, the news that Tobago was occupied by the French had reached Amsterdam. It is said that the Dutch were already dispatching ships and personnel, intending to sail to the Caribbean Sea and regain the island. The West India Company was really lucky. The financial situation was not very good, but the cost of seizing the island was directly raised by the United Provincial Government. I wonder if Prince Orange was showing goodwill to these business leaders and republican officials. If so, the problem would be complicated. The influence of Dewit and others who are currently exiled in the South Netherlands will be further reduced. We seem to contact them and think of a solution."

"Don't go so far for now, solve the problem with the French." Li Qing waved her hand and stopped Gao Wengang from continuing to talk, and then continued to speak on the French and Eastern trade: "Although the French occupied Santo Domingo Island, and the islands such as Martinique, Guadrup, Saint Lucia, Saint Christopher, Tobago were also controlled by the islands, their naval strength was not strong. Although they could not ignore the weak Spaniards, the threat from the Dutch was also real. This time, the Dutch was very concerned. If the island of Tobago is lost, they will definitely find a way to recover it; if the Spaniards lose Santo Domingo, they are temporarily allies with the Dutch, so they will naturally ask the Dutch Navy to send troops to recover it. At that time, the French may not be able to save the other islands, so it should be difficult for them to obtain stable tropical commodities, namely the import of goods such as sugar, dyes, cotton, coffee, cocoa, tobacco, etc. This is our opportunity, and the business of the Caribbean shipping company will usher in a major turning point."

"The opportunity for Dayuhe Machine Textile Factory and Huangyang County United Textile Factory has come, and even the opportunity for Ping An Weaving Factory has come. The French lack both wool and cotton. Of course, we may need to face the fierce competition between the English and Italians, but we have certain advantages." Gao Wengang also echoed: "Dafeng Agricultural Machinery Factory and the various metal tools produced by Dayuhe Arsenal have also had a market share. The trade volume along the coast of France has now dropped by more than 50%. Many merchants dare not trade at the risk of being robbed by the Dutch fleet. This is our opportunity. Haha, I didn't expect that the trade agreement torn by the Dutch people actually made up for a lot of it with the French. Although it is impossible to completely fill the big pit, it is also quite good. The Dutch people's expression will definitely be very exciting when they know it."

"I have no objection. These are very beneficial to my country's industrial and commercial sectors, and we have no reason to refuse." Malati, who had not made any comments before, also said at this time, and at this point, his opinions are basically very unified.

"By the way, can the French people's energy be involved in the Black Sea more? I heard that France's domestic grain harvest has not been very good in recent years, and the trend of famine has gradually become somewhat obvious, so it is urgent to import grain from the outside world. So when it is difficult for Russia and Polish grain to arrive in France, is it a good choice to import grain from the Ottomans and even the Crimean Khanate? Especially in the Crimean Khanate, where the grain plantation plantation on the north coast of the Black Sea, the Venetians and the Hot Nayans import a large amount of grain from here every year
Chapter completed!