Chapter 1564: When Will the World Be Unified?

In the long, art-filled Colonna Gallery, Louis XIV, wearing specially made elevator shoes, walked carefully across the polished floor while talking with Zhu Henry, who stood half a head taller than him.

"She not only agreed to go to Brazil, she also agreed to go to Tunisia to beg King Afonso's forgiveness."

"Good God! How could she be so stupid?" Louis XIV was shocked. He stopped walking and turned to look at Henry. "Will she get her head chopped off?"

Louis XIV had only wanted Maria Francisca to agree to go to Brazil, not to surrender herself to King Afonso... If Maria Francisca now went to Tunisia to plead guilty, the factions in Portugal supporting her and Prince Pedro would immediately fall into panic.

Moreover, King Afonso had given no promise whatsoever to forgive Maria Francisca... He could perfectly well order her head chopped off, and indeed he ought to do so!

"No!" Zhu Henry answered with great certainty. "If she and Prince Pedro pack their bags and leave for Brazil before King Afonso returns to Lisbon, then the two of them can keep their lives."

"Is that so?" Louis XIV snorted a few times. "If I were Afonso, that stupid woman's head would certainly roll! The moment she knelt and begged for mercy, I would have someone cut off her head at once... absolutely no wasting words with her! Because that would benefit everyone — except that stupid woman!"

Behind a coup to overthrow a king's rule there must be a great many conspiracies that cannot be revealed! If Maria Francisca handed herself over and let King Afonso deal with her as he pleased, then the Portuguese nobles involved in the conspiracy would certainly hate this foolish woman to death... If they knew that King Afonso had executed this foolish woman at the first opportunity, they would surely breathe a huge sigh of relief.

"But Afonso is not a great emperor like you," Zhu Henry said with a smile. "In fact, he and Maria Francisca are the same kind of person. Both of them are good-natured by nature and unsuited to ruling a country. So under their leadership, Portugal and Brazil will certainly not grow strong — they can only become neutral and free lands under the protection of the Roman Empire."

"Neutral and free lands... like your Austria?" Louis XIV said with a smile. "Neutrality and freedom — in our age, both of those things are extraordinarily expensive!"

"But expensive things always find someone willing to pay for them!" Zhu Henry said. "Certain wealthy small countries will buy these two things from powerful great nations like Rome, the Ottoman Empire, and the Great Ming... If Rome, the Ottoman Empire, and the Great Ming can sign an international convention aimed at protecting the neutrality and freedom of certain countries, then the limited slots for freedom and neutrality will become very expensive, and the Roman Empire can collect a great deal of money!"

Louis XIV laughed bitterly at this and said to Henry, "Henry, do you know that over in the Netherlands, many people call your father the profiteer emperor, saying he can turn anything into a commodity and sell it at a sky-high price. And you seem to have perfectly inherited this talent!"

Zhu Henry burst out laughing. "Your Majesty, he is my father after all! Of course there will be similarities between us. But I am not entirely the same as my father. I am more honest than he is... because I believe in God, while he doubts everything!"

"Believe in God?" Louis XIV asked with a smile. "Are you preparing to be baptized?"

"Yes," Zhu Henry said. "I will be baptized under the officiation of Father Ferdinand Verbiest... And I also hope that he can become the cardinal of the Diocese of Vienna and the Diocese of Graz."

Ferdinand Verbiest had a Chinese name: Nan Huairen. In 1657, on the introduction of Johann Adam Schall von Bell, he went to China, learned Chinese in Macau, and then went to Yingtian Prefecture to serve as a professor at the Imperial Academy. At the same time, he received special permission to preside over a church in Yingtian Prefecture that served Westerners exclusively — because of the ongoing disputes between the Great Ming and the Holy See over "rites" and "the Lord of Heaven versus Heavenly Principle," the Roman Church and its subordinate orders were forbidden from proselytizing within Ming territory. But Zhu Cilang still allowed a portion of churches under Roman Church jurisdiction to operate, in order to provide religious services for Westerners within Ming territory.

And the church presided over by Ferdinand Verbiest was also the church that Maria Mancini frequented, so Zhu Henry had known Ferdinand Verbiest from a very young age. That was why he hoped Verbiest would go and serve as cardinal of the half of Austria he ruled — the Archduchy of Austria, now subordinate to the Ottoman Empire, roughly comprised Lower Austria centered on Vienna and the former Duchy of Styria centered on Graz.

Looking at the map, this territory was long from north to south and narrow from east to west, like a wall. Together with the Kingdom of Bohemia to the north and the Archduchy of Croatia to the south, it formed a buffer zone between the "Eastern and Western Romes."

And the Kingdom of Bohemia, the Archduchy of Austria, and the Archduchy of Croatia all declared themselves vassals of "Eastern Rome" and paid annual tribute. Among them, the Kingdom of Bohemia was a Protestant state and did not accept bishops sent by Rome. Austria and Croatia, however, were both Catholic states and needed Rome to send bishops.

Of course, the bishops sent by Rome also had to obtain the consent of the Archduke of Austria and the Archduke of Croatia before they could take office... That was yet another transaction!

"Very well," Louis XIV nodded and said, "I will dispatch Father Verbiest to serve as cardinal of the Diocese of Vienna and the Diocese of Graz!"

Louis XIV said "dispatch" rather than "request the Pope to dispatch," which showed that he had already risen above the Pope of Rome!

"Thank you very much," Zhu Henry bowed slightly to Louis XIV. "Your Majesty, I hope that before escorting Maria Francisca to Tunisia, we can finalize the draft treaty for protecting neutral and free countries."

"Then let us try..." Louis XIV thought for a moment, then added, "I believe this will benefit Rome, the Ottoman Empire, and the Great Ming alike!"

"Of course it will!" Zhu Henry said with a smile. "The sea coachmen and the free city of money and trade are always indispensable! I believe the Archduchy of Austria, the Kingdom of Portugal, the Republic of Batavia... and perhaps also the Republic of England, can provide excellent services to the four great empires of Rome, the Ottoman Empire, the Great Ming, and India!"

This treaty, promoted by Archduke Henry I of Austria, was later named the "Treaty for the Protection of Neutrality and Freedom." It sounded very lofty and fine, but in truth it would have been more appropriate to call it the "Contract for the Sale of Neutrality and Freedom"... And by the time this "contract" was delivered to Shanghai by an English merchant ship, and then brought by officials of the Foreign Ministry stationed in Shanghai to the Old Mountain Palace in Yingtian Prefecture, it was already the first month of the twenty-ninth year of Hongxing.

"Marie! Our son is so capable — he not only got himself a dynasty, but he is even selling freedom and neutrality as commodities... He really is a master of trade! The people of Austria will surely come to love this wise ruler!"

In the Mancini Courtyard of the Old Mountain Palace, the Emperor of the Great Ming, Zhu Cilang, was reading the text of the "Treaty for the Protection of Neutrality and Freedom" while praising his fine son Henry.

Marie Mancini, meanwhile, was reading a letter full of metaphors and coded language written by Shi Baoluo — the letter had been delivered to Shanghai by another merchant ship of the Portuguese-Macau Company, which operated under the name of the English East India Company. Because that ship had been grouped into the same convoy as the ship carrying the text of the "Treaty for the Protection of Neutrality and Freedom," the letter had also arrived in Yingtian Prefecture together with the treaty text.

After finishing the letter, Marie Mancini merely smiled faintly. "What he got for himself and his children might be more than just one dynasty..."

"More than one?" Zhu Cilang was taken aback, then laughed. "That would be fine too... Those would also be our descendants!"