I'm really not doing business

Chapter 655: Bring this young man named Galileo back to Ming Dynasty

Some words are not about cultural differences, but cultural barriers, just like the three words "清君塞". "清" is a verb, and "君" and "塞" are both targets.

"The navy really cannot be disbanded. If the money is not invested in the navy, is it going to be kept for war reparations?" Xu Fan repeated his opinion again. He firmly opposed Antonio's decision that was made on the spur of the moment.

Sometimes, Xu Fan always felt that Antonio made decisions just like a child playing house, sometimes one way and sometimes that way.

I really think the name of the Crusaders is not nice. You can change the name to the Portuguese Invincible Armada, and Felipe will not have any objection, because he can do nothing about the Portuguese navy. But once the navy is disbanded, Portugal will have to change its name.

The left and right crusader armies are not controlled by the Great Light Church, but are led by Marcus on behalf of the king.

For a small country like this, making decisions is indeed a bit like playing house.

For example, Mang Yingli of the Toungoo Kingdom slapped his forehead and decided to attack the Ming Dynasty. When Mang Yinglong had just died and Mang Yingli had just succeeded to the throne, the top-level structure was unstable, and the lower-level civilians were increasingly dissatisfied with the long-term state of war, he brazenly launched a war that required the entire country's strength and the mobilization of the lower classes!

Xu Fan really couldn't understand how Mang Yingli had the courage to make such a decision.

When the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Your Majesty, was a ten-year-old child, he did not make such a decision. Whether it was pacifying the Gule Village of the Jiannu Jurchens or resisting the invasion of the Tuman Khan, they were all small-scale local wars involving elite surprise attacks. Mang Yingli was already an adult, and it was a bit of a big mistake for him to launch a full-scale war against the Ming Dynasty.

Antonio did the same thing. He slapped his forehead and expelled Cardinal Ranuccio Farnese. Given the precondition of universal faith in Portugal, how much trouble would this expulsion of the cardinal cause? If Xu Fan had not been quick-witted and created a nondescript replacement, the Great Guangming Church, Portugal might still be in a civil war.

Nonsense, absolutely nonsense.

"Forget it then." Antonio thought about it and decided not to disarm the navy. It would mean that the court secretary died in vain...

"Uh..." Xu Fan let out a long breath. He had never missed the Ming Dynasty so much. Antonio's decision not to cut down the army was as casual as his decision to cut down the army.

"This is what the West is like due to the long feudal era. It lacks the experience of finely managing a vast territory when material resources are scarce and money is scarce. Aren't you used to it after all these years in the West?" Li Yashi looked at Xu Fan, who was so angry that he was fuming, and laughed sincerely.

This is the West, not the Ming Dynasty. The feudal system in the West is essentially slavery. My vassals' vassals are not my vassals. They have no experience in managing a country in a refined manner. They have made a lot of silver from the sea and after they became rich, the management has become even more lax.

If Xu Fan didn't understand this, he would probably have a stroke in a few years. Did he think Antonio was the emperor of the Ming Dynasty? Your Majesty is always wise and receptive to good advice. His understanding of the theory of contradiction is almost instinctive. Your Majesty is an extremely good politician. Antonio is at most a captain, nothing more.

"Hmm? It seems to be true." Xu Fan was stunned. He found that what Li Yashi said made a lot of sense.

The Ming Dynasty could not accept a way of ruling by having overseas colonies, which was not even a form of vassalage. The governor-generals' offices in various places acted like local emperors and even the decrees of the local monarchs were worthless. Therefore, the Ming Dynasty's overseas expansion in twelve years was limited to the development of four major governor-generals' offices and the Founding Islands, and there was nothing more. Moreover, in the short term, the Ming Dynasty had no interest in places that it could not actually rule.

But Taixi accepted this scattered situation very naturally.

"This is what political immaturity looks like. On the contrary, the Ming Dynasty's politics was too mature. Excessive maturity is not conducive to development." Le Ya Shi said with emotion. The overly mature politics of the Ming Dynasty might become a shackle to the process of globalization and the Age of Discovery. Colonization meant burning, killing and looting, and the Ming Dynasty lacked the legitimacy and legality of such burning, killing and looting.

"You seem to be calling me a child, well, I think it's a compliment." Antonio spread his hands and said, "As long as Portugal doesn't fall into the hands of Felipe II, it's fine."

Antonio thought this was a compliment, because although he was not smart, he was not bad, and he did not seek to be an autocratic monarch like His Majesty Felipe, so not being smart was actually not a big shortcoming.

"I need to go from Lisbon to Madrid to meet His Highness Felipe, which may require an identity in the Great Church of Light, the identity of the Left Envoy of Light." Legazpi was an apostate who had broken his vow not to marry. Now he wanted directly to be the Left Envoy of Light of the Great Church of Light.

What Taixi is playing is identity politics. The more vests he has, the more powerful he is. This is also the reason why Taixi is keen on stacking vests and making up a lot of names.

"This is very simple. You have been appointed as the special envoy to the West by the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty. This is natural, but being a Left Envoy of the Ming Dynasty may not be enough to keep you alive in Madrid." Xu Fan said solemnly.

Antonio thought for a moment and said, "Give him a diplomat status. Well, you can also give him a title. How about the Marquis of Pombal?"

"Your Highness!" Xu Fan became angry again. Positions and reputations should not be granted lightly. Xu Fan had told Antonio many times that one should not confer titles on people casually. It is natural for Marcus to be a marquis as a sword master and first mate. Then why don't you confer a marquis on the chef on the ship as well?
This Legaspi is a Spaniard. Although he was sent by the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, can he be given a title just by saying so?

"He has to go back to Ming anyway. Does the Li envoy want to stay in Taixi?" Antonio said confidently, "I believe Marcus is loyal. He has been to Ming many times and never thought of staying there. But as long as he saw the prosperity of Ming with his own eyes, he knew it was a holy land."

"That's where people are alive, whether they are commoners or nobles."

Antonio did not doubt Marcus's loyalty, because Marcus had been on diplomatic missions to the Ming Dynasty several times and had always returned, which was the greatest loyalty.

"Of course I have to go back. His Majesty killed the special envoy Soren. I need to explain the situation to His Highness Felipe and see what His Highness means. In fact, I want to stop His Highness from making any unwise decisions. If Ming Dynasty issues a ticket, Spain will not be able to bear it." Legazpi said with certainty: "One ticket, and Spain will be completely finished."

The Emperor of the Ming Dynasty did not want to be the world hegemon, but if you wanted to do something that the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty disagreed with, it would be impossible to do it, or the cost would be extremely high.

This is the influence that the Ming Emperor believed the Ming should have on the world.

But in fact, Legashi knew more deeply that the power of the Ming Emperor could already influence the West.

For example, a ticket.

In other words, the Ming Dynasty did not like to play tricks that were fabricated out of thin air. Otherwise, it would have used the case of Solon to directly escalate the case to the whole of Spain and demanded that Spain pay a huge fine. Felipe would have had no choice but to admit defeat, otherwise the Ming Dynasty would have cut off trade and the Spanish silver would have lost its value.

Silver without a commodity to anchor it is just a pile of useless metal.

Merchants from the Ming Dynasty who came to Manila refused to accept gold, causing gold to become worthless and a large amount of silver flowed into the Ming Dynasty.

There were many achievements in the great thinking of the Wanli Reform in the Ming Dynasty, but Le Yashi liked the "Explanation on the Anchoring of the Banknote Law" published in the official bulletin by the Ministry of Revenue in November of the tenth year of the Wanli period very much. It analyzed the anchoring of the banknote law very clearly. He believed that this was one of the most important achievements of the Ming Dynasty's economic thinking.

The banknote law needs to be anchored, but the money law does not? Gold and silver are not naturally currency, but currency is naturally gold and silver.

If gold and silver cannot purchase goods, their exchange value will fall, the price of goods will rise, and the value of gold and silver will depreciate substantially relative to others.

Don't make enemies with the Ming Dynasty just because of Sauron. Only the Ming Dynasty has the confidence and ability to do such a luxury. Neither Philip II nor Spain can make such an irrational decision.

There is no other reason. The Ming Dynasty can produce everything, with extremely high output and high quality. The Ming Dynasty can have a temper because it has an absolute commodity advantage, while Felipe II cannot.

"Well, since you are going back, it's no problem to give you an honorary title." Xu Fan was worried that if Li Yashi stayed in Thailand, it would cause a lot of unnecessary trouble to Portugal, but since he was leaving, it was just an honor to testify that the friendship between the Ming Dynasty and Portugal was extremely strong.

Legazpi successfully obtained the identity he wanted in Lisbon, and he planned to take a ship to Madrid. This was the result of Felipe II's efforts against all odds in the 40th year of Jiajing. That year, he moved the capital from Toledo to Madrid.

Madrid has a better geographical location, while Toledo is just a small town with a population of no more than 3 people and can no longer fulfill the obligations of a capital.

Legazpi took a boat from Lisbon to Madrid. After leaving the Portuguese territory, Legazpi felt maliciousness. The captain who led him to Madrid was a naval officer of the Spanish Invincible Armada and also a nobleman. He treated Legazpi like a prisoner.

Li Yashi didn't care. When he resolutely left Ming Dynasty and returned to the West, he had already made plans for the worst.

He deeply loves the land that gave birth to him, so he came back regardless of everything.

After Legaspi got ashore, he was thrown into a closed carriage. Although he could look outside from the window, he was not allowed to leave the carriage. He could only peek at this familiar yet unfamiliar homeland bit by bit. He didn't know what kind of punishment he would face. With this fear of the unknown, Legaspi finally arrived in Madrid half a month later.

After a brief stop in Madrid, the convoy continued on its journey. It took a total of two hours, and Legazpi finally met Felipe II at the El Escorial Monastery, whom he had not seen for twelve years.

The monastery had not been completed when Legazpi left. Its architect was Juan Bautista, a disciple of Michelangelo.

The entire monastery took 21 years to build. It is a square castle. At the four corners of the castle, there is a nearly -meter-high, seven-story corner tower with a pointed top. These are watchtowers and arrow towers.

"The Ming Dynasty sent the Western Special Envoy, the Left Envoy of the Great Bright Church, the Portuguese diplomat, the Marquis of Pombal, to meet His Majesty the King, and His Majesty has completed the construction of the monastery." Legazpi did not perform the half-kneeling ceremony. He was no longer loyal to Philip II. According to the etiquette of the Ming Dynasty's vassal states, if he performed the kneeling ceremony, it would be an insult to the Celestial Empire.

Felipe II was writing this letter. When he heard Legazpi salute him, he raised his head and said with a frown, "Antonio is really a bastard. He actually gave you the position of Marquis of Pombal. He is really a bastard. He doesn't even know what that means."

"I can't seat so many people here. If you are Li Yashi, just sit anywhere. I am not like the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, with so many rules."

After Felipe II finally finished writing the letter and handed it to his secretary, he looked at Legazpi for a long time before saying with a smile, "You dare to come back? Aren't you afraid that the Inquisition will immediately arrest you and burn you at the stake?"

Legazpi did not expect Felipe II to greet him with a smile.

Felipe II was an introverted, melancholy, pious and suspicious man. He built this magnificent monastery to escape the noise of Madrid. There were not even many attendants in such a magnificent palace. When Felipe II was young, he suffered from several serious illnesses due to court struggles and lacked trust in anyone.

Felipe II and the Ming Emperor have many similarities. They are equally diligent and suspicious, they both built new palaces to ensure their own safety, they both worked hard to govern the country, they both have authority, and they cannot tolerate any betrayal.

"Your Highness doesn't seem to be angry about my betrayal." Li Yashi said helplessly, "I have been in Ming for too long. I have become a Ming person. I am no longer worthy of being your Highness's subject. But I am stupid and don't know why your Highness is so kind."

"You have so many great names, how can I treat you? I'm not polite to you. After you return to the Ming Dynasty, if you say a few bad things about me in front of the Ming Emperor, will my Spanish galleon still go to the Ming Dynasty to do business?" Felipe II said this in a joke. Felipe sat up straight and said seriously: "How bad can a person who loves his homeland be?"

"I heard from the captain that you were back. I didn't believe it at first until you got off the ship in Lisbon and I confirmed it was you. At that time, I was also very angry, but soon I found that you actually loved Spain deeply, and that was enough."

“There are so many people in the empire who are rich and secure because of the glory of the empire, but instead of being proud of the empire’s honor, they hate it to the bone, thinking that their achievements were all obtained through their own diligence, without considering that the wealth they were able to rob was all due to Spain’s hegemony on the sea.”

Li Yashi was stunned for a moment and said, "So Your Highness is also troubled by the rebels?"

"Oh? So, the Emperor of Ming Dynasty also has this kind of trouble? Hahaha, I thought that the supreme Emperor of Ming Dynasty would not have this kind of trouble." Felipe II's face showed strong curiosity and some involuntary sincere smile.

It turns out that the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty also had this kind of distress and thought that everyone in the Ming Dynasty was loyal.

"If we want to tell the story of the traitor, we have to start with a minister who changed the Ming Dynasty. His name is Zhang Siwei."

"Before he murdered the emperor, the ten-year-old Ming emperor did not like studying, let alone state affairs. He was not serious about the education of scholars. It was not until Zhang Siwei started to assassinate the emperor that the emperor clearly realized that he was a king whose father had just died and had no one to rely on. He could only rely on himself, his mother, and his brother could only rely on himself."

"You know, before this, the last prime minister of the Ming Dynasty, Minister of State Gao Gong, did not see any hope in the ten-year-old emperor."

"Since then, the Ming Dynasty has had an emperor who works hard to govern the country and will not slack off for the moment." Li Yashi told the story of Zhang Siwei. This story has been mentioned again and again. Gao Gong's judgment was based on his own judgment of his students. The ten-year-old Emperor Wanli was not capable of shouldering the responsibility of governing the Ming Dynasty, and this was generally recognized.

"Oh? Tell me in detail. I have some good tea here." Felipe II decided to put aside all government affairs and listen to Legazpi's story about the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

Legazpi had been writing travel notes for twelve years, and he told the stories in a natural and leisurely manner, describing the causes and consequences as well as the emperor's various treatments in a vivid way. Whenever Felipe heard something interesting, he would comment on it.

"Zhang Siwei was thrown into the dissection hospital, a place where people were cut into pieces. Now Zhang Siwei has been made into a specimen and a teaching aid for the chief medical officers. Dissection has become the cornerstone of the progress of medicine in the Ming Dynasty, the most stable cornerstone. Therefore, there is a medical work, "Treatise on Dissection." After saying this, Li Yashi took out a book from his sleeve, which had been translated into Latin, "Treatise on Dissection."

This book is extremely thick. Li Yashi is not a doctor, and translating this book took up almost all of his free time. It was with the help of the chief medical officer that it took him several years to complete the translation, which is illustrated with both text and pictures.

Philip II did not speak, but quietly flipped through the Latin anatomy. He read about twelve pages and then solemnly closed it with a sincere smile on his face. He smiled and said, "My old friend, the messenger of wisdom, if you had taken out this book earlier, you would not have suffered so much grievance on the road."

The poor treatment that Li Yashi received on the road was instigated by Felipe. Li Yashi had a tooth plate bestowed by the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty on him, and Felipe could not do anything to him, but it was still necessary to make things difficult for him. But now Felipe regretted it very much. He was hit by a boomerang. For a person who deeply loved his homeland, he could not be that bad.

"When you return to Ming, you can still retain your status as the Western envoy to Ming. I will write an edict to confer you the title of Marquis of Dominica. You can retain all your rights in Spain. Every year when the galleon arrives at the port, I will give you an additional salary of 100,000 taels of silver. You only need to translate the books you are interested in into Latin and have the fleet bring them back."

"I don't know how much silver it will take to buy such knowledge, but I want to thank you for your contribution on behalf of all the people of Spain." Felipe said this solemnly. He was as trustworthy as the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty. Once he made a promise, he would fulfill it.

Legazpi is a bridge, a bridge connecting Ming Dynasty and Spain, and Spain cannot lose this bridge.

"Thank you for your generosity, Your Highness." Legazpi said neither humbly nor arrogantly. He knew Felipe very well and he knew Felipe's thirst for knowledge. Spain was excluded from the Grand Tour's study tours. Spain could only hold on to theology and watch other countries progress helplessly.

"The Emperor of the Ming Dynasty actually allowed you to bring back this kind of book. Is His Majesty really the embodiment of wisdom, and was born to spread wisdom?" Felipe even identified with the teachings of the Great Light Church!
It was incredible that Legashi brought back a book like "Theory of Dissection" openly. Felipe really didn't know how to explain it, except that he was the embodiment of wisdom and wanted to spread wisdom.

Legazpi shook his head and said, "That's not the case. Your Majesty has always been disgusted by the idea of ​​gods and ghosts. It's just that the progress of medicine, while benefiting everyone, also requires the efforts of everyone."

"Da Ming preached the Tao. The Chinese believed that true wisdom came from heaven and earth, not from God! Tao is the universal law of all things, the revelation of heaven and earth to people, and the process of exploring all things is called the study of things."

"Your Majesty said that the study of things has no national boundaries, but the people who study things do have national boundaries."

The Ming Dynasty translated a large number of mathematics books from the West. His Majesty the Emperor has never forgotten this. The flow of knowledge will not be restricted by national boundaries, but scholars who study the nature of things must have national boundaries.

Legazpi did not bring the steam engine back to Thailand because it was useless. It required coal, coke, and cylinder polishing. There were so many other things needed.

"The wise Eastern emperor." Felipe thought for a moment and said, "Call Galileo over."

"Galileo was a very smart kid, but because of his research on medicine and astronomy, he was deemed a heretic who strongly doubted God by the Vatican Inquisition. His research was restricted and he was ordered to drop out of school. Now he is looking for a job. I think you can take him with you when you return to Ming Dynasty."

"No problem." Li Yashi said without much concern.

Legazpi sat up straight and said, “The Knife and Knife Hospital was regarded as a symbol of hell on earth in the Ming Dynasty, but all its achievements brought people to health and kept them away from death.”

"The Jiekuiyuan has an extremely important achievement, which is the research on opium. There is a patient in the Jiekuiyuan named Fan Yingqi. He is a scar in your majesty's heart. He was a pillar of the empire, a minister who could support the empire. Because of opium, he became a permanent prisoner in the Jiekuiyuan."

"Can you tell me about Fan Yingqi's story?" Felipe II said to his secretary. "Cancel all the plans for the next ten days. I want to listen to my old friend's stories. If there is no news that the English have reached Madrid, there is no need to bother him."

"Yes." The secretary replied quickly.

After Li Yashi finished talking about Zhang Siwei, he started talking about Fan Yingqi, and then he talked about the emperor who was nearly killed by the inflammatory storm while having his wisdom teeth knocked out in the dissection hospital.

"Your Majesty is a very courageous man. With the negative example of Fan Yingqi, Your Majesty is unwilling to become a slave to opium and would rather die than do so. However, Your Majesty is too strong. During the operation, an inflammatory storm occurred. It was also because Your Majesty was too strong that he survived the inflammatory storm, which made the rebels extremely disappointed." Li Yashi talked about His Majesty's views on the harm of opium.

Felipe II then exhaled and said, "You want to tell me how resolute and strong the Ming emperor's vigilance against opium is. In order to prevent the spread of opium in Ming, the supreme and omnipotent Ming emperor would rather pay the price of his life."

Legazpi said with certainty: "Indeed, His Majesty said that drug control is a war, a war to the death. As a natural noble, he cannot personally go to the front line of the drug control battlefield, but as an emperor, he cannot cause trouble to the front line. He supported the drug control war with his actions."

"Soran's attempt to transport opium into the Ming Dynasty is undoubtedly equivalent to declaring war on the Ming Dynasty!"

"Does Your Highness know that Soran did these things?"

"I don't know. In fact, I only found out that Soren was dead after the sailing ship returned to the West. The Emperor of the Ming Dynasty wrote a letter to the country, detailing the situation. The Far East is still too far away." Philip II shook his head and said, "Of course, you may not believe it, and the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty doesn't believe it either, so I plan to give a little compensation, just two million taels of silver."

"To use the slang of the Ming Dynasty, it's like yellow mud falling off your crotch. There's no way to explain it."

"I have no motive to instruct Soran to do this. Compared to the loss of silver, I am more worried about the inability to buy goods with silver. You know, the rich silver mine is a huge silver mountain, and there are many slaves and cheap labor in that place, which makes the mining cost of silver extremely low."

The grade of the rich silver mine is 60, which means that one hundred kilograms of ore can produce sixty kilograms of silver. Felipe really doesn't have to worry about the loss of silver due to the trade deficit. As long as he can exchange it for goods from the Ming Dynasty, he can earn back the lost silver from other places in the West.

Solon was really acting on his own initiative, and perhaps even in his own interests, rather than as a matter of Spain's trade deficit.

But when his ministers were on a diplomatic mission, this happened. It was not instructed by Philip II, but it was also instructed by him, so compensation was required.

Two million taels of silver, hoping to appease the Ming Emperor's anger.

"Your Majesty is a very frugal person, or even a very greedy person, to be frank. But I think Your Majesty will not accept this compensation. If it was a personal act, Your Majesty would have killed him. If it was instructed by Your Highness, I hope Your Highness will not do such offensive things in the future." Legashi made the decision on behalf of the emperor.

"I was arrested by his majesty's guards and thrown into jail in Ming Dynasty because I criticized his majesty for being stingy and greedy. But his majesty is really a gentleman. Ming Dynasty regards Spain as a friendly country, but if Spain offends again, it will be downgraded, which is roughly the same as England's current treatment."

The emperor was very principled in doing things. He would do things once or twice and would not do them again and again.

This was the first time that Spain had provoked Solon over the issue of opium, and because opium was not particularly prevalent in Spain, Spain did not have a clear understanding of the harm of opium. But now that they had been warned, if they did it again, it would be a provocation. Even though Spain was far away in the West and could not be conquered, Spain must pay a sufficient price for it.

Therefore, Legazpi judged that the emperor would not accept compensation.

"No, no, no. People in the Ming Dynasty are very concerned about their reputation. You should understand the Ming Dynasty better than me. I need to do something to show goodwill and prevent the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty from misunderstanding. How do you say that word?" Felipe II frowned. He couldn't remember how to say that word.

"Reciprocity?" Li Yashi asked tentatively.

"No, I remember now, it's about human relations, yes, human relations." Felipe II said very affirmatively.

The secretary reminded quietly: "Your Highness, Galileo is here."

"Let's bring this young man named Galileo back to Ming Dynasty. I believe he can have more development in Ming Dynasty, and at least he can finish his studies." Felipe II said sincerely as he looked at the young man who was expelled from the University of Pisa.

For a smart person, being unable to complete his studies is a very painful thing. Family changes and the malicious harassment from the court made it difficult for Galileo to move forward.

Galileo came to Madrid because the spread of the Great Light Church in Spain made Galileo feel a cultural shock.

The widespread spread of the Great Light Church in the West is the result of long-term religious oppression of human nature.

(End of this chapter)