Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 767: To Be a Oriole
Spain is too busy with family affairs, how much spare energy can be used outside?It is certainly impossible for Gao Shi to organize an expeditionary force to conquer Spain, and it is equally impractical for Spain to organize an expeditionary force to force Gao Pragmatism.

After all, in Europe during this period, frequent conflicts have become the norm, and the cost of conflicts after the outbreak is an unbearable burden for every country.However, all other nations, whether France, England, Sweden, or even the Ottoman Empire, enjoyed a period of peace and restoration.Only the Habsburgs, and especially Spain, were constantly turning from one enemy to another.

No sooner had a peace been concluded with France than war with the Turks; no sooner had the Mediterranean ceased than a general conflict in the Atlantic and a war in North-West Europe.In certain difficult times, the Spanish Empire was even confronted with three enemies at the same time, and the enemies consciously supported each other diplomatically and commercially, if not militarily.

In the words of the Europeans at the time, Spain was like a big bear that fell into a pit, stronger than any dog ​​that attacked it, but it was ultimately invincible to all opponents, and gradually exhausted and bled in the process .

How, then, could the Habsburgs escape this vicious circle?Gao Yushi felt that even if he was in the position of Philip II, it would be very difficult for him to deal with this long-term dispersion of power. Perhaps he should set a priority for the enemies in all aspects and clarify the priority defense plan.In other words, some areas can be abandoned, but which areas can be abandoned?He is also hard to say.

Reflecting from a historical perspective, it can be said that Austria, especially Ferdinand II, had been smarter and would not have moved forward with the counter-reform forces in northern Germany, because the benefits outweighed the losses.The Emperor of the Shinra, however, insisted on keeping a strong army in Germany against the factional tendencies of princes, the tricks of the French, and the ambitions of the Swedes; and as long as the Turks stood arrogantly in Hungary, 150 miles from Vienna, The Habsburg army cannot be reduced.

For the Spanish government, it could not let the Austrian cousins ​​fall into the hands of the French and Lutherans, let alone the Turks, because this was also crucial to Spain's own position in Europe.

Ironically, Austria doesn't seem to think so.After Charles V abdicated in 1556, Austria watched Spain fight single-handedly against many enemies in Western Europe and at sea, but did not feel obliged to help; instead, Spain was aware of this higher interest and was always willing to help Austria .

Perhaps, Philip II was too indulging in the compliment that some had given him: the sovereign of the world.

But now, Gao Yushi intends to remind him - you don't have the capital to be a "monarch of the world". The person who really has this capital is Zhu Yijun, but he doesn't have the desire.

In fact, Zhu Yijun certainly does not have this strength. Unless he can completely subvert the social system of Daming, and even change the spiritual core of the people of Daming, otherwise, from the emperor, officials to traffickers, Daming will treat the world outside of Daming. On the issue, they all have the same mentality: stay in China and govern all nations.

If it is said that most Chinese people after the end of the Qing Dynasty were inferior in spirit, then the people of Ming Dynasty in this period are overly confident in spirit, and the whole country firmly believes that as long as "China" is well governed, all nations will come Congratulate in all directions, no matter where the barbarians are, they should pay homage to Ming Dynasty.

Fortunately, while adhering to this self-confidence, the Ming Dynasty did not stand still like the Qing Dynasty. Therefore, after capturing the Portuguese artillery during the Jiajing period, the Ming Dynasty immediately discovered their advantages and immediately began to imitate them. Shangguo's empty shelf, buy it when you need it.

Even for the small country of Japan, when they found that their bird guns (called iron guns in Japan) were better than their own, famous generals like Qi Jiguang used them without any hesitation, and the "Jiangwa" under the command of Liu Xian and his son "Yi Ding" not only knows how to use bird guns, but is also proficient in Japanese swordsmanship.

On the whole, although Daming in this period was confident, he was still relatively pragmatic, with a spirit of "inclusiveness, tolerance is greatness".

This is also one of the important reasons why Gao Yushi is confident that Daming can persevere and not be replaced by Ta Qing.

After all, he used to be a secretary for a long time, and he is a person who is more inclined to do practical things. If he is thrown to the end of the Qing Dynasty, he is more likely to become Zhang Jian than Sun Dapao, but he knows that Zhang Jian will not be able to save China in that era. .

However, it is not the case in Daming. He is confident that through "actual results" he will drive others to follow his footsteps, and even form a new trend eventually.

His Jinghua Group now has imitators-some people have followed in his footsteps and stepped into the ranks of private military industry, such as Wang Qian, the grandson of Wang Chonggu; The behind-the-scenes owner of the wharf turned out to be Xu Jie’s eldest grandson, Xu Yuanchun; some people quietly bought one or two ships to join Jinghua’s fleet, such as Zhu Yingzhen, Zhang Yuangong and other nobles; Like Li Zongcheng, the young master of Linhuaihou Mansion...

Although except for Xu Yuanchun, most of the people here are a group of people who are relatively close to Gao Yushi, but as long as there is such a trend, it can already make Gao Yushi feel excited, because it proves that his approach is effective of.

As long as I can set an example and make people believe that what I do can be profitable, more and more people will follow suit.And when there are a certain number of such people, it will definitely make the whole country "turn"!
Any politics throughout the ages, but the benefits are eternal!
Where the benefits lie, what people tend to do.

To put it bluntly, if the voyage to the West was not in the hands of Zheng He and the civil service group could not intervene, how could it be possible to give up halfway?Some scholars in later generations have proved that voyages to the West did not actually lose money, or it could have not lost money.It was only because the civil official group could not intervene from the beginning to the end, so it was later said to be a useless act that wasted money and people, and was finally thrown into the garbage dump.

In other words, if voyages to the West were a career dominated by civil servants, and civil servants regarded voyages to the West as a good job to gain fame and career, what do you think the fleet of Ming Dynasty looks like now?Maybe they all went to Europe!
Rather than saying that the civil official group is suppressing the specific matter of Xiaxiyang, it is better to say that they are suppressing the eunuch group, thereby taking the opportunity to suppress the imperial power and strive for the civil official group's own interests.

Why did Gao Wushi dare to do so many outrageous things?One is that he has a close relationship with Zhu Yijun, and Zhu Yijun will not doubt him easily; the other is because he is a civil servant who is highly pragmatic!

Therefore, when civil servant groups are faced with some highly pragmatic novel approaches, the first thing that comes to mind is not "You are so pragmatic!" ? Wonderful!"

This is the difference, and it is also the reason why Gao Yushi insists on looking for the "right way of the imperial examination".

With this identity, as long as he doesn't rebel, all his actions are actually creating new "profit points" for the civil official group. How can the civil official group jump out to make trouble?

Why in history, Wanli collected mining tax (commercial tax), which made the civil servants resist for decades, but now Gao Gong collects commercial tax and can continue to implement it?

Because although some businessmen are "investors" of the civil servants, the emperor wants to collect their money, and the civil officials must of course speak for the investors; but if the money is collected and the civil servants themselves control it, then... It can be negotiated.

Therefore, the dispute over mining tax in history was not because of how serious the tax was after it was paid - that amount of money was nothing to the wealthy Ming people - but because the civil officials felt that you The emperor Laozi can't collect all the taxes into his pocket!

Hmm... It's a great pity that the Briton's "Magna Carta" didn't ask the civil servants of Ming Dynasty to help revise it.

Gao Yushi gave a brief description of the various forms in Europe, which had already shocked Father Luo Mingjian to the point of speechlessness—His Excellency Gao Qiuzhen was far away in Daming, yet he knew many important events in Europe in recent months!
His understanding of Europe must be unparalleled in the entire Far East!
However, what made Father Luo Mingjian even more strange was that His Excellency Gao Qiuzhen seemed to be warning His Majesty Philip II not to provoke Daming in the Far East through his own mouth, but there seemed to be something in his words... ...seems to be making an idea for Spain, why is that?Could it be that he has a good impression of the Kingdom of Spain?
This is purely a misunderstanding. Gao Yushi hardly has much affection for Europeans. He pointed out that Spain has spread its power too much. In fact, it is completely unpredictable-no matter what Spain concentrates its power on, It is absolutely impossible to let go of the affairs at the door of the house and use it to stir up wind and rain in East Asia.

This year, Spain will merge with Portugal—Gao Yushi can’t remember the exact month, maybe it has merged now—and Portugal and Spain are now the biggest forces in Nanyang.Once Spain really listened to its own words, contracted its strength, squeezed into a fist and punched out, it was absolutely impossible for this punch to hit East Asia.

As for whether Philip II's punch will hit England, or Ottoman, or France, or even the Netherlands... What does it matter to him?What's the matter with Guan Daming?

The more chaos you fight in Europe, the better!

If England and France want to rise, they have to pass the barrier of Spain first, so Spain's current war with Britain, France and even Ottoman is only good for Ming, and has no harm!
That's why Gao Pragmatic doesn't mind doing business with the Spaniards, so that their financial situation will be better, and they can fight more inextricably with Britain, France, Holland and other countries.

If you don't fight more aggressively, and the Spanish-Portuguese Empire doesn't shift its main force to the country, won't my Nanyang strategy be more troublesome?

So, His Majesty Philip II, fight as much as you want, I am ready to make this oriole.

(End of this chapter)