Chapter 549: We in the West Should Join Hands to Resist the Ming!

Great Ming weightlifting champion Zhu Yijun carried the giant thunder of silver damming. According to the degree of silver accumulation in the inner treasury, with tens of millions of taels of silver piled up like mountains every year, if this giant thunder is to be dismantled, the craftsmen of the Weaponry Bureau must be loyal to the monarch and patriotic, and rapidly increase the quantity of silver coins rolled and printed; otherwise, the damming will crush the Great Ming.

This is also the reason for the economic collapse in the late Yongle period. Bai Yin flowed in, but a large amount was accumulated in the inner treasury. The private sector did not benefit from the silver inflow, but instead suffered harm, eventually leading to the suspension of official ships and official trade.

The suspension of official ships and official trade was the best method that could be found under heavy contradictions. Now the Great Ming has reopened official ships and official trade. Global caravans, great sailing ship trade, Japanese silver, Womagang silver mines—these are all making Great Ming silver flow in in large quantities. Through various channels, nearly half of the silver eventually flowed into the Great Ming Emperor's inner treasury. If it cannot be dredged, there will be no currency to use downstream.

But it doesn't matter. As long as the Emperor is willing to distribute downward, there will be no problem with the craftsmen. Great Ming craftsmen can be relied upon. Zhu Yijun chose to believe in the craftsmen.

Philip II's special envoy Solon finally, under the persuasion of another special envoy Legaspi, gave up his plan.

The price to be paid for being hostile to the Great Ming is too great. If the Great Ming Emperor is really angered, I am afraid the Great Ming will spare no effort to arm Antonio and make friends with England. If the Ming, Portugal, and England join hands, even if they cannot destroy Spain, they can block the arrogant Invincible Armada in the Strait of Gibraltar, unable to move an inch.

The narrowest part of the Strait of Gibraltar is only twenty-eight li. It is the only passage from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic. At sea, only a few small ships are needed to complete the surveillance here. Setting up heavy artillery on both sides, plus the firepower of five-masted ocean-crossing ships, completely blocking the Invincible Armada in the bathtub of the Mediterranean is not Solon's groundless fear.

Once the Strait of Gibraltar is controlled by others, Spain, even if it is a giant dragon, can only coil up.

The Great Ming is naturally out of reach now, but England and Portugal naturally hope that there will be one less diner at the dining table, and even put Spain on the dining table.

Solon really went to see Rui De's grave. Originally, Solon wanted to fill in his life, but finally gave up. Rui De's past was actually very boring—a very ordinary illegitimate son of a noble, sent to a seminary, holding the idea of spreading divine grace, and went to India.

John Harrison was very painful. He hoped to communicate with the officials of the Ministry of Rites and the Court of Ceremonial, but the Great Ming sent two people who did not understand Latin to contact John. This was equal to turning off the microphone and refusing to communicate. John had a headache about those square characters and couldn't understand them at all.

John's relationship with Spain was not good, and his relationship with Portugal was also very bad, but the only ones who were proficient in Chinese were the envoys of these two countries.

The impact of the Great Ming's cotton cloth business on the entire England was too great. Coupled with Philip II's constant probing, the English Parliament was overwhelmed, hoping that diplomacy would bring some turning point to the precarious situation, but the hope was very slim.

John tried his best to finally get the Great Ming's meaning from the envoy of the Netherlands. Before revoking the privateering license, the Great Ming refused to have any contact with England's envoys. The Great Ming hated pirates deeply. The Great Ming, which had suffered from the chaos of Japanese pirates, had a consensus from top to bottom to refuse to be with pirates.

With the Great Ming navy's strength and the Great Ming's production capacity, if the existence of pirates were allowed, the Great Ming's pirates would be all over the Southern Ocean and the Western Ocean.

This is not a choice of whether morality is noble or not, but that the Great Ming needs a stable sea frontier to protect the safety of the people along the coast and allow the goods produced by the Great Ming's strong productivity to circulate smoothly.

John found Solon.

Yes, John, this English pirate, found the Spanish envoy Solon. Since the issuance of the privateering license, Spain had closed all channels of communication with England. Philip, who had been proposing marriage to the English Queen, had now severed diplomatic relations with England.

England wanted to have an official dialogue with Spain, but it needed to be in the Great Ming to find the envoy. After all, on the Great Ming's territory, the envoys of both countries had to give the Great Ming face.

"What kind of strange joke are you telling?" John saw Solon, and seeing that Legaspi was not there, he was immediately overjoyed. Without hesitation, he went straight to the point and explained his intention.

In John's heart, Legaspi was already an official of the Great Ming. This cognition was not only him, but Philip also thought so.

England, Portugal, and Spain join hands—only then will the West have a bright future!

The Great Ming is so powerful, the West should unite!

"What kind of strange joke are you telling?" Solon looked at John and said blankly: "We Spain, cooperating with you group of pirates, to resist the Great Ming together? Is there something wrong with my ears, or is there something wrong with your head?"

"I wish England would die immediately. If we can't fight the Great Ming, can't we fight you English people!"

"Being with pirates is a shame!"

John slapped the table and stood up, walked forward two steps, and shouted loudly: "Are there few rotten things you Spain have done? China has an old saying called 'fifty steps laughing at a hundred steps.' When fleeing, those who ran fifty steps laughed at those who ran a hundred steps. We are pirates, and what about you? Aren't you pirates? The whole New World is your pirate!"

"We were forced! No one is born a pirate! After our merchant ships were looted, didn't those goods also trade in your Cape Verde? We are catching slaves, and didn't you catch slaves? The miners of the rich silver mountains and Peru's saltpeter mountains are all voluntary, right!"

Solon also slapped the table in anger, walked forward two steps, and said sharply: "They converted! They are all believers of God. They contributed their strength to God and will eventually be redeemed! After death, they will naturally go to the Kingdom of God."

John and Solon were already nose to nose, and spit was spraying everywhere. John sneered and said with great disdain: "Hypocritical, even more shameless than us English people! At least we admit our robbery behavior, and what about you? Tsk tsk, pushing the blame onto God, and then after sincerely repenting before God, continue to do those evil things!"

"At least we are not as hypocritical as you!"

"You blasphemed God! I want to duel with you!" Solon was very good at debating, but this kind of debate could not convince anyone in the end. Clearly, they were more hateful troublemakers, but this righteous appearance was really too annoying!

John is an adventurer who has been fighting for his life at sea for years. He is naturally not afraid of this request for a duel. He picked up the gloves on the table, threw them in front of Solon, and said with his head half-raised: "Then come! You don't have a clear understanding of your strength. Let me help you wake up."

"Use this." Solon took out a fire gun.

A very exquisite hand gun, a flintlock hand gun. This was a gift from the Great Ming Emperor to Philip II last time to show the Great Ming's fire gun technology. It could not be disassembled. Zhu Yijun had disassembled it once, but he couldn't put it back together after disassembling it. The fire gun was specially made. The structure of the Great Ming's standard fire gun would be simpler, and simple means reliable.

"You!" John looked at the fire gun in Solon's hand blankly and immediately regretted agreeing to the duel.

"You what! Still dueling?" Solon took out the medicine bag and prepared to fill it. John naturally also had a fire gun, but the excitation speed of the matchlock gun was far inferior to the flintlock gun. He would definitely fire faster and let the other party die first.

John's face turned red and he said: "Hmph! Even if you win, it's not by relying on courage, wisdom, and your own strength, but by winning through improper means. This is not glorious!"

Solon shook the fire gun in his hand and said: "Coward, why don't you go and duel with Marcus? He is a sword saint. You don't look for him, but look for me, a secretary without martial arts. Are you very glorious?"

Marcus's sword is fast, but the gun is faster. If it is a sword competition, he is very powerful. In a fire gun competition, with the flintlock gun bestowed by the Great Ming Emperor, Marcus is invincible.

John would not look for Marcus to duel because he couldn't beat him.

Outside the door, the junior ministers Gao Qiyu and Xu Jiugao heard the movement in the room and were also very moved. His Majesty deliberately let John and Solon be neighbors, and it turned out to be for the sake of watching a good show!

Just like the Ryukyu King Shang Jiu and the Japanese King Ashikaga Yoshiaki were neighbors, the two of them splashed feces at each other all day, making the Emperor issue a decree not to let them splash, and the smell was unbearable.

John and Solon were neighbors. If they didn't agree, they wouldn't say half a sentence. After arguing for two sentences, they wanted to use firearms.

Xu Jiugao thought for a while and said in a low voice: "Actually, if we go in now, it is to give them a step down. After all, it is a bit awkward now. John says he is an adventurer, but he is actually a pirate. He doesn't cherish his reputation at all, but he cherishes his life. And Solon doesn't want to really kill John. After all, he is England's envoy to the Great Ming. If John is killed, where does that put the Great Ming?"

"Should we go in?" Gao Qiyu was also a bit hesitant.

The two junior ministers were in front of the room door, neither going in nor leaving. The Great Ming is full of people who like to watch the fun. They wanted to watch the fun and see how the two people who were arguing to the point of dueling would end up.

In the end, John lost his breath and chose to apologize, letting Solon calm down.

"Is my proposal really not considered? We in the West join hands to resist the Great Ming together." After John apologized, his tone became gentle.

Solon asked back: "Can the Great Ming give us goods like the Pacific Ocean, and what can England give us? Cooperating with England, apart from getting infamy, what else can we get?"

"Nothing can be obtained. Even if we annex you, countless vagrants need to be resettled. Ireland, Scotland, and you all have different hearts, and your actions are not consistent. We also need to spend a lot of money to solve these problems."

"Therefore, life and death is the only destiny between our two countries."

"Hmph, we English people are not easy to bully! You will regret it!" John stood up.

Actually, John knew very well that Solon was right. England could not provide enough benefits to Spain. Diplomatic relations only look at interests. The little woolen business that England had conflicted with the interests of Spain's Mesta Association. The Great Ming did not export wool because the Great Ming was opening the borders, and the wool itself was not enough, let alone selling it out.

Last time Solon wanted wool, but was decisively refused by the Great Ming Emperor, and was given cotton cloth as a cheap substitute.

John left in a huff. As soon as he opened the door, he saw the two junior ministers who had not left. These were figures that John wanted to see but couldn't see before. This accidental encounter made John overjoyed.

"Two junior ministers, finally saw you!" John immediately greeted in Latin.

"Do you know Latin?" Xu Jiugao looked at Gao Qiyu and asked in Latin.

Gao Qiyu also said in Latin: "I don't know. Do you know? Can you understand what he is saying?"

"It seems we need to find an interpreter. Otherwise, we can't understand what he is saying. How can we communicate?" Xu Jiugao ignored John. The two junior ministers left the slightly embarrassed John like this and walked into the room.

They were naturally intentional. The Great Ming Emperor said that before the English royal family revoked the privateering license, the Great Ming would not have contact with England.

Xu Jiugao and Gao Qiyu came to find Solon to confirm the commercial cargo list. Silk, cotton cloth, ships, and other bulk commodities all needed to be confirmed in the capital court to buy enough goods. The private purchase price would naturally be cheaper, but it would take a long, long time. For such a large order, only the court could satisfy it.

"Five-masted ocean-crossing ships dropped from 250,000 silver to 180,000 silver, and this year it actually dropped to 50,000 silver. Then what did we Spain buy?!" Solon looked at the ship price on the trade list and said with great horror.

The price drop was so severe that it was unbelievable.

Gao Qiyu said with a smile: "Thanks to the ability of vertical integration, production costs have dropped rapidly. This is a matter of course. Of course, this price drop is only for Great Ming merchants. Every five-masted ocean-crossing ship must have one license per ship, and be verified once every two years. Even if it is reported as damaged, it must be seen alive or dead."

"If the West wants to buy five-masted ocean-crossing ships, the price is 180,000 silver."

If Great Ming merchants resell five-masted ocean-crossing ships and cannot provide written evidence, such as the customs clearance document of the Shipping Department, to prove that it was indeed lost in maritime trade, then this merchant and his relatives and friends will no longer be allowed to purchase new five-masted ocean-crossing ships.

This is "melon vine connection." As long as one person violates the court's ban, he and his relatives and friends will suffer together.

"You think it's expensive, and I think it's expensive. Do you think you can buy as many as you want? That depends on how many the craftsmen of the shipyard can build. Great Ming merchants are not enough to use. You can not buy it. Look at the cotton cloth. The price of cotton cloth dropped again this year, one silver per bolt. How is it? Is it very generous?" Xu Jiugao chose to change the subject. If you think it's expensive, you can not buy it. Great Ming private merchants have high enthusiasm for five-masted ocean-crossing ships!

Love to come or not, love to buy or not.

If the West doesn't buy it, His Majesty can save two scoldings of "giving to friendly nations rather than to one's own servants." That is already a very severe accusation.

"A bolt of cloth in the private sector is only 0.13 taels of silver, and the Great Ming Emperor sells it to us for 1 silver per bolt. This is too dark, and still generous?" Solon said with a painful face: "I can also understand some Di Bao!"

"Well, you can raise it yourself. There are many merchant groups in Songjiang Prefecture." Xu Jiugao still had a smile on his face, mainly polite.

The reason why Solon chose to buy expensive ones from the Great Ming Emperor instead of buying cheap ones is that in the eyes of Great Ming merchant groups, Western merchants are all big fat sheep.

The price in the private sector is only a little lower than the court's price. It is mainly that the Great Ming also has merchant ships. Merchant ships pull goods to Nagasaki and the Mughal Empire and can also sell them at high prices.

The problem with being a little cheaper is that they use inferior goods to pass for good ones. The merchants of the Heavenly Dynasty did not give up profit-seeking because they were from the Heavenly Dynasty.

The quality of goods in the private sector is uneven. Buying from the private sector requires testing one's eyesight. Even cotton cloth is like this. Tea, porcelain, and iron pots are all like this. If you have this effort, it is better to buy from the court. This also involves a judicial problem.

If a trade dispute occurs, the Great Ming court will be more inclined to local merchants, not these barbarians. Therefore, doing business with the Great Ming is still more stable to do business with the Emperor. It is expensive, but the things are really good and very guaranteed. For example, silk and satin—for so many years, the quality has not declined, but the varieties and patterns have become more.

And the bulk of the transaction is still silk, which is an extremely expensive luxury item. To buy it, you can only find the court.

When Solon was talking about business with the Great Ming, the Great Ming Emperor's sparring partner, Zhao Zhenyuan, the son of the Criminal Investigation Guard Zhao Mengyou, led the guards to Legaspi's mansion. Legaspi had set up a mansion in the Great Ming and moved out of the Four Barbarian Halls in the third year of Wanli. As an interpreter for the Great Ming Court of Ceremonial, he received two salaries from the Great Ming and Spain.

And this time, Zhao Zhenyuan led the team, not to arrest Legaspi, but to "raid his home."

"Special Envoy Li, don't make His Majesty feel embarrassed." Zhao Zhenyuan looked at Legaspi in front of the door and said: "The court allows the translated content, you can translate it, but the discussion related to the iron horse, His Majesty does not allow it. If you refuse to hand it over, then I can only dig three feet into the ground."

"I didn't translate it." Legaspi shook his head: "If you don't believe me, just go and check."

Legaspi didn't seem to be lying. Zhao Zhenyuan didn't have any hesitation. With a wave of his hand, the guards scattered and entered Legaspi's home, starting to search cabinets and boxes. The guards were very professional. After all, it was not a crime, and they didn't make a mess of the home.

The professional guards didn't find the documents that shouldn't be translated.

Legaspi sighed and said: "I really didn't translate it, because it's useless to translate it. Instead of translating, it's better to let the West send some smart people to learn. But from my personal example, after coming, I'm afraid I won't want to go back."

The content Legaspi translated mainly focused on the contradiction theory and class theory. Spain's problem is not productivity, but the vassal feudal system has come to an end and needs to find a way out as soon as possible. Steam engines are naturally important, but without a stable dynasty, no matter how powerful the machinery is, it will not be applied.

Legaspi had been in the Great Ming for ten years. He knew where the Emperor's boundaries were. Legaspi could also distinguish what was diplomatic activity and what was spying.

The Great Ming's defense against technology was very strict. Any personnel and goods leaving had to be carefully checked to prevent smuggling.

Zhu Yijun received the memorial from the Ministry of Rites. Regarding the issues that the envoys of various countries were more concerned about, Zhu Yijun made a reply. He held a memorial in front of him and was stunned for a moment before saying: "Although selling arms is very profitable, let's forget it. Give Philip some face."

The special envoy of the Netherlands North Alliance, the Utrecht Alliance, was named Aen Malen. The North Alliance was composed of commoners. This time Aen came to buy arms from the Great Ming Emperor for resistance movements.

Aen hoped to get the Great Ming's help. It was indeed possible to sell some arms, but this would undoubtedly add blockage to Philip II and affect the diplomatic relations between the two countries. Even without the Great Ming's participation, the north and south of the Netherlands had already factually become independent.

"If Solon insists on expressing Philip II's anger, it's not impossible to sell. Tell Solon this news. Philip II had better make a wise choice; otherwise, don't blame the Great Ming for sprinkling salt on his wounds." Zhu Yijun said to Feng Bao.

If Solon roared in the Wenhua Hall, Zhu Yijun could only take him down.

Solon was different from Rui De. The Great Ming and the Goa Governor-General's District were in a state of hostility. As an envoy of an enemy country, Rui De's dissatisfaction and his roaring before the Emperor were more of a kind of courage, a kind of courage to break the cauldron and sink the boat. If the Great Ming Emperor made things difficult, it would appear harsh. When two armies meet, they do not behead the envoy.

But the relationship between the Great Ming and Spain had not yet slipped to the point of hostility.

"This Aen Malen is also a character." Zhu Yijun looked at the memorial in his hand. Aen Malen's surface identity was a miller and a member of the North Alliance Parliament, but in fact, behind his back, Aen Malen was a captain, a pirate captain.

This is not strange. The Netherlands is located at the estuary of the Rhine River. Because the terrain is low, it is also called the Low Countries. The Dutch themselves are very good at shipbuilding. In the Netherlands, swimming and operating ships are like innate instincts.

Although Spain's ocean-going fleet needed goods from the workshops in the Netherlands and also needed the Dutch to become sailors, the Spaniards still contemptuously called them "sea beggars."

Heavy taxes finally broke out in fierce resistance. Since the second year of Longqing, the Netherlands began a vigorous resistance movement and finally achieved success.

And Aen Malen was one of the people who emerged in the resistance movement. He was a resistor and also a pirate captain. His father was burned at the stake for privately hiding books of the new religion, and his mother was treated as a witch, but she avoided the fate of being burned because his mother died inexplicably in the Inquisition.

When Aen Malen was thirteen, he changed from a miller's son to a pirate, and then began his fierce life. He defeated the Spanish army many times, and even the famous Spanish square formation was defeated by Aen.

Solon knew Aen Malen. Aen Malen's head was worth 50,000 florins. The florin is a standard currency unit, each made of 3.5g of pure gold, which means Aen Malen's head was worth 5,000 taels of gold.

Philip II never managed to issue this reward. Aen Malen has always been alive.

Aen Malen's growth experience is actually a microcosm of the life of the Dutch. Under the high-pressure rule of the inhumane Inquisition, the Dutch had no way out and could only go to sea to become pirates.

That is to say, these pirates that Philip II is now extremely headache-ridden and even unable to recruit are all self-inflicted.

Spain's annual tax revenue is 5 million florins. More than half of these earnings come from the Netherlands. Philip implemented high-pressure rule in the Netherlands to exchange for wealth, and now he has to spit it all out.

Except for the English envoy John, all special envoys were arranged to have an audience, and the most special one was the Portuguese King's special envoy, Marcus.

Marcus had a separate audience. The Great Ming Emperor met Marcus in the Guanlong Pavilion by the Dragon Pool in Tonghe Palace. This is a distinction between closeness and distance. No matter what, the Portuguese King also wore the Great Ming's five-chapter imperial robe, and extra preferential treatment is also a posture.

"Last time, that Falanxi envoy Gillian was executed by Queen Mother Catherine. This year, Falanxi did not send any more envoys." Marcus talked about the envoy who came to the Great Ming with a special mission last time. Gillian wanted to use the beauty trap, but the Emperor just wanted to sell cotton cloth.

"Their family affairs, I can't manage it, right?" Zhu Yijun shook his head and said: "Their family's problem is that there is no heir, so they were replaced by the Bourbon family. This is basically the consensus of Falanxi. The Queen Mother's struggle is in vain."

That absurd Henry III had no heirs. This is an unsolvable problem. If there were still heirs, Zhu Yijun wouldn't mind playing a casual game.

"How is Antonio living?" Zhu Yijun asked about the Portuguese King he canonized. He hadn't seen him for several years.

Marcus said with a smile: "Thanks to His Majesty's blessing, His Highness is living very comfortably. Now he has a son. Although there are still contradictions with the nobles in the country, overall, this is the most peaceful period His Highness has lived in these years."

Zhu Yijun rubbed his eyebrows and said with some worry: "I am going to say something that might not sound very good, but I hope Antonio can listen to it."

"I want to remind him to be careful of a handful of careerists, especially the soldiers under his command. I know that those soldiers were sailors who risked their lives at sea and lived and died with the Portuguese King, and established a deep friendship with Antonio. But people's hearts will change. When Philip II offers a high enough price, these soldiers will inevitably be affected."

"To put it more bluntly, be careful of assassination and armed coups. If he doesn't pay attention now, there is still a possibility of chaos. Of course, I also hope that the soldiers under Antonio's command are all loyal to Antonio and loyal to Portugal."

After hearing this, Marcus scratched his head and said: "This problem, State Minister Xu Fan reminded His Highness. After Xu Fan's warning, His Highness only has the coastal defense patrol 'Water Flying' responsible for protection by his side."

"Ah? So he is the Portuguese King, relying entirely on my people?" Zhu Yijun sat up straight, looked at Marcus, and said incredibly: "Does security also have to be handed over to the coastal defense patrol? Aren't you afraid that I will send a decree to let Dazhuang kill him?"

Chen Dazhuang, originally named Chen Zhu, was the victim of the case of crying at the grave of a dog in the Kong family mansion in Yanzhou. He was a guest soldier under Ling Yunyi before, and chose to believe in the coastal defense patrol of the Emperor again. Now he is the special envoy stationed in the West. Zhu Yijun called him Dazhuang, and Ling Yunyi also called him that. Dazhuang's biggest feature is that he is very strong.

"His Highness is the Portuguese King canonized by His Majesty. If he doesn't rely on His Majesty, who does he rely on..." Marcus said as a matter of course.

"Antonio wants to default on his debt?" Zhu Yijun frowned, feeling that things were not simple. He immediately thought of a possibility.

Marcus looked at His Majesty blankly. He looked at Zhang Hong and Feng Bao for help. He really couldn't understand why His Majesty's thinking was so jumpy. How did he jump to the level that His Highness wanted to default on his debt?

"I am dull." Marcus admitted his stupidity. He really couldn't keep up with His Majesty's thinking. ===== CHAPTER 550 =====

Marcus stared blankly at His Majesty. He looked toward Zhang Hong and Feng Bao for help, completely unable to understand why His Majesty's train of thought was so erratic—how did he leap all the way to the conclusion that His Highness was going to default on his debts?

"This subject is dull-witted." Marcus admitted his own stupidity; he truly could not keep up with His Majesty's line of reasoning.