Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 765 Blow, blow as much as you like!

Most European monarchs differ greatly from the Chinese emperor in terms of domestic authority, and missionaries have a high social status in the Spanish Empire (not an imperial system, but a common monarchy at the kingdom level) where the Catholic faith is very firm. Luo Mingjian can give Philip The Second King wrote a letter, which was not unexpected by Gao Pragmatic.

But, Gao Yushi has read several books, including "Spain and Portugal: The Rise and Fall of the Empire", "The Grand Strategy of Philip II", "The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Era of Philip II", etc. He knows that Philip The ruling efficiency of II was actually quite low, because many European court administrative systems at this time were actually very backward compared with China's three-province and six-ministration system (or its evolved version).

For example, Philip II, he is actually a very diligent monarch, but his working method is actually very similar to that of Emperor Wanli who "has not been in court for decades" in history. Important letters were given to him for approval to manage the country.

As for the reason for doing this, Philip II felt that it was a waste of time to meet his courtiers, and the efficiency of replying to letters and documents was much higher. The records also said that apart from sleeping and eating, he was almost always replying to documents.

But obviously, his secretarial team is not very good, or lacks a Ming-style cabinet and various ministries, so that the Kingdom of Castile, the Kingdom of Aragon, the Kingdom of Naples and the Netherlands under the rule of Philip II , and the Kingdom of Portugal, which was forcibly merged by him last year, have very low administrative efficiency.

Therefore, when Luo Mingjian sent the letter, theoretically speaking, it would definitely be seen by Philip II in the end, but... it is not known when it will be.

Moreover, despite the fact that Philip II's Spain is now at its peak, apart from the benefits of merging Portugal, he has raised troops everywhere but failed to achieve any decent results. Even if his government has a huge amount of gold and silver in the Americas, Still broke twice and racked up debt.

At this time, the relationship between Spain and England has also dropped to a freezing point. In the near future, the Armada expedition to England will be launched. If there is no accident, it will be a big defeat, although Spain still has the ability at this time. Rebuilding a larger Armada in just a year or two, but he will eventually fall into multiple quagmires from which he cannot extricate himself.

At a time like this, it would be unrealistic to expect him to pay much attention to a trivial matter raised by a missionary in the Far East.

If it is necessary to make this matter a reality, unless Gao Pragmatism gives Luo Mingjian more weight.

It may not be possible for Gao Yushi himself to increase the size of Luo Mingjian to attract the attention of Philip II, but as long as he adds two words, this kind of attention will definitely be obtained immediately-these two words are: Daming.

At this time, Europeans’ impression of China was still the extremely powerful, wealthy, and invincible empire mentioned by Marco Polo. Here, “gold is everywhere.” Europeans were cut off from trade with the East by the rising Ottoman Empire. Initiated a great voyage...

Therefore, as long as Gao Yushi expressed to Philip II that Ming Dynasty was willing to trade with the Spanish Empire (common monarch), Philip II would definitely not pay attention to it.You know, the Portuguese are thinking of all kinds of ways to stay in Macau. They didn’t come here with the intention of invading Daming—in fact, they tried it before, but they were defeated by the local army in Guangdong. Basically honest.

The reason why the current Portuguese even used bribes to stay in Macau was to have a close base for trade with Ming Dynasty.However, with Gao Gong's sea-opening reforms and the relatively high degree of openness of Gao Gong's private port in Guangzhou, Macau's status has now declined slightly.

The reason why it has not been completely replaced is because of the trade system of Ming Dynasty - foreign merchant ships cannot enter the port of Ming Dynasty directly for trading in theory, they have to find merchants of Ming Dynasty to do this last step for them.

As for Daming, sometimes he would go to Macau to discuss business, both public and private.This is what makes Macau so valuable to the Portuguese until now.

Being close to the water is the first thing to do. Isn't it because the priest Luo Mingjian lives in Macau that he met Gao Mengnan and was introduced by him to Gao Yushi?

Gao Wushi smiled and said with a relaxed expression: "In order to thank the priest for his kindness, and to make your letter more important to His Majesty Philip II, I have two good news for you."

"First, the Jinghua Group, the largest commercial company in the Ming Empire, is willing to conduct the most direct trade with the Kingdom of Castile and the Kingdom of Portugal. If His Majesty Philip II allows, the Jinghua Group is also willing to trade with the Kingdom of Aragon and the Kingdom of Naples. and direct trade with the Dutch."

The reason why the high pragmatism added an "if" is because under the rule of Philip II, the Treaty of Tordesillas, which was arbitrated by Pope Alexander VI, was strictly followed-the division of the world outside Europe between Spain and the United States along the meridian. Portugal as a colonized territory.And Spain here is not "Great Spain", but only the Kingdom of Castile, one of its subjects.

As soon as this sentence came out, Luo Mingjian was greatly shocked, and praised it repeatedly.He knew the strength of the Jinghua Group, and he had no doubts about Gao Wushi's self-proclaimed Jinghua as "the largest commercial company in the Ming Empire".

Gao Wushi continued: "Secondly, although Daming's business rules do not allow you to directly enter Daming for trade, Jinghua Group can fully undertake this huge business that is too large to estimate. At the same time, Jinghua Group will open up two in Annan. It is a free port of commerce, allowing you—I mean any merchant from all countries who will come here to trade in peace and fairness—to conduct lawful trade.”

"Ah, Your Excellency Gao Qiuzhen, you are truly an incomparably great statesman and business leader. I admire you as much as the waters of the Atlantic!" Luo Mingjian was extremely excited. With these two promises, his letter will definitely be able to Immediately received the highest attention from His Majesty Philip II, and might even make him the pride of the whole of Europe!Although he still insists that spreading the gospel of the Lord is his greatest career, if he can achieve such a great achievement in this matter, the support of the Holy See and the Kingdom of Spain will definitely be much stronger than it is now.

However, high pragmatism does not just give benefits. When the carrot is released, the big stick will also appear.

"However, what I want to remind the priest is that I hope that all of you—including His Majesty Philip II—can truly understand the strength of the Ming Empire, and don't try to use some disgraceful means and those who deal with it. The mentality of a barbarian came to deal with the Ming Empire. I hope you will convey a few data to His Majesty Philip II, please keep it in mind."

Father Luo Mingjian said seriously: "Your Excellency, don't worry, no European with a little knowledge dares to underestimate the Ming Empire. We know that the Ming Empire is the most prosperous and powerful empire in the world. comparable to the Ming Empire."

Gao Wushi did not answer him directly, but said to himself: "Please tell His Majesty Philip II: Spain has a population of about 500 million, and my Ming Dynasty has a population of 500 million; the land under your feet is the Annan also has a population of 160 million, but it was conquered by me with my private army not long ago. In this battle, the Ming Empire did not even need to send a single regular army...Father Luo Mingjian, I can tell you Yes: Daming now has 340 million troops, and if the entire military establishment of Ming Dynasty reaches full strength, it will be [-] million troops.”

The Europeans are now fighting, and if there are 1 people dispatched, that is a large army. If there are tens of thousands of people, it must be a battle with all the strength of a powerful country, but... Daming's army is actually in the millions?
Although Father Luo Mingjian occasionally heard the bragging of Daming officials, saying that Daming "has a million armors", he always thought it was an exaggeration. However, today, His Excellency Gao Qiuzhen, who is as knowledgeable as the Atlantic Ocean, Tell him that the standing force of Ming Dynasty is as high as 160 million, and if the national military establishment is full, it may even be as high as 340 million... This is more than the population of the Kingdom of Castile! (Not counting Kingdom of Aragon)
Who can afford to offend this?It’s no wonder that after the Portuguese flaunted their way into the South China Sea from the Indian Ocean, they suddenly honestly begged Daming to give them a small island to live in. At first, they only heard that it was “not good for development”. Come to the head of this huge Ming Empire, and then be taught a lesson!

"This... this is really a shocking number. I don't think anyone would dare to say no to His Majesty the Ming Emperor who possesses such powerful power."

Gao Wushi smiled again, and said, "I haven't finished yet... I heard that in addition to the Spanish phalanx built by Mr. Gonzalo de Cordoba, Spain also has a navy that spans all over the world?"

"Yes, His Majesty Philip II's fleet is the world's... er, the most powerful fleet in Europe."

Gao Wushi nodded and said, "I believe his fleet is second to none in Europe, but...you came here on my Jinghua armed transport ship this time, right?"

"Yes, this is a very superior ship, with a perfect harmony of carrying capacity and combat capability, and the sails used seem to be... It seems that it is not only the hard square sails that are common in the Ming Empire, but also refers to our European The schooner technology of sea-going ships?"

"Jinghua Group alone owns hundreds of such ships." Gao Yushi boasted without blushing. In fact, including the armed transport ships on the berth, Jinghua now only has more than 90 ships. The sixty articles have all been concentrated on this Annan battle.

Luo Mingjian was completely shocked, and asked with tingling scalp, "If your Excellency doesn't...don't think I'm taking the liberty, I, I want to ask about the cost of this class of ships."

"The cost of a single ship is about 5000 taels of silver."

"Lord, forgive my ignorance...Your Excellency, you are saying that you alone own a fleet with a total cost of more than 600 million taels of silver!"

Gao Wushi smiled happily, and said: "Yes, this does not include the regular navy of the Ming Empire, and according to the laws of our Ming Dynasty, if His Majesty the Emperor wishes, he can unconditionally recruit any sea power within the Ming Empire for his use at any time. .”

Blow, blow as much as you want.

The Emperor of Ming Dynasty couldn't even collect taxes from officials and scholars, so he was expected to unconditionally recruit any sea power within the empire for his use?
However, Luo Mingjian didn't know!
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(End of this chapter)