New Shun 1730

Liu Yu's "performance" gave Phillips an inexplicable sense of familiarity.

Twenty-five years ago, the Netherlands was also so "young", and Phillips was also a young man at that time.

A small country the size of a palm wants to be the hegemon of the world.

The enthusiasm of patriotism has made the Netherlands mobilize all its forces.

The result is... in the War of Spanish Succession, it was bled dry by France.

140,000 Dutch soldiers, armed with enthusiasm and armed with silver coins, went to fight against a France whose manpower seemed to be inexhaustible compared to the Netherlands.

Their families behind them bear the highest taxes in Europe; Dutch merchant ships are sunk one by one by France; the naval tonnage is rapidly declining and cannot be supported at all...

The patriotic enthusiasm that has been cultivated since the Seventy Years' War of Independence and lasted for more than a hundred years has completely disappeared after this war.

Fuck the governors of the federation! Fuck the world powers! Fuck the coachmen of the sea! Fuck the first-class military power! Fuck the right to speak at international conferences! Fuck the Seven Provinces Alliance! Fuck the glory at sea!

The Netherlands didn't even want a consul at this time. The seven provinces were fine, so why did they have to have a consul to unify the seven provinces and build a navy and army? Why did they have to become a world power and participate in the world's disputes?

Twenty-five years ago, there were many "spirited" guys like this Chinese earl at this moment in Amsterdam, Zeeland, and Rotterdam.

It was also with this patriotic enthusiasm that the palm-sized Netherlands fought with Spain for eighty years for independence; in order to obtain the monopoly of maritime trade, it donated money to build ships and fought with Britain for twenty-three years, and the fleet was completely destroyed and rebuilt; in order to prevent France from taking Belgium and for the strategic buffer of the Netherlands, it fought with France for twenty years.

And now, there are not many "spirited" guys like this Chinese earl at this moment in the seven provinces.

What the big bourgeoisie in each province wanted was "real freedom". They no longer wanted to pay for shipbuilding or military expansion. They only wanted a progressive tax rebate policy and provincial independence.

The East India Company, which was once a newborn calf, gave up its development and turned to the financial industry, which was easier to make money. It invested domestic capital in Britain, Sweden, Austria and Russia to collect interest.

The "South China Sea Bubble" made a lot of money by cutting leeks. But the ordinary people bled dry and their patriotic enthusiasm faded.

Many years later, the France at that time must be the "confidant" who understood the Netherlands at that moment the most.

Now Liu Yu's wild words did not seem too ridiculous to Phillips.

China is too big. It does not need everyone to be fanatical like the Dutch in the fanatical patriotic era. Even if only one percent of the population can achieve the patriotic fanaticism of the Dutch in the century 25 years ago, it is a dragon that can swallow the whole world.

Decades ago, the Netherlands was still fighting against the British and French coalition forces alone, almost fighting against the world's first navy and the world's first army. It is not funny for the huge Chinese Empire to say a few words like this at this time.

The only funny thing is that this young earl was too angry and almost directly stated the strategic intention of Dashun.

And the stated strategic intention made Phillips secretly proud: this confirmed his judgment that Dashun's previous actions were for Russia, and Japan was an accident caused by the Ryukyu incident.

The Duke of Qi on the side immediately understood that Liu Yu was taking the opportunity to deceive, and the deterrence had been imposed, which was to make him go in this direction, instead of the original plan of soliciting bribes and selling out the country.

Sure enough, the angry Liu Yu added another sentence.

"Duke Qi is so polite to the Dutch, is it possible that he has accepted benefits from the Dutch? This is related to the dignity of the country!"

Duke Qi said angrily: "What nonsense are you talking about? This is a diplomatic matter. The emperor asked me to take charge of diplomatic affairs. You are so young, what do you know about long-term planning for the country? Please leave!"

The two pretended to look at each other for a while, and the seventh prince came out to make peace at this time, and "forced" Liu Yu to leave.

As soon as he left, Duke Qi immediately returned the gift list to Phillips, and said seriously: "I have always been impartial, and you should not do such things in the future."

It was completely different from the standard bribery look a few days ago.

Phillips hesitated for a moment, and suddenly understood, thinking that the Duke did not dislike bribes, but because the young earl just now thought that he had accepted benefits, so he must not accept them.

But if so, would the Duke Qi show a tough attitude to prove that he was not a person who accepted bribes?

Just when he was worried, he heard the Duke of Qi sneer again: "I will not be partial to me for a mere mirror and a few pieces of glass. You are using these mere hundred taels of silver as gifts, are you kidding me? Today I might as well teach you that if you really want to give gifts when you enter the capital, such gifts will be regarded as insults."

Phillips didn't know about the changes in Dashun over the years, and his mind was still stuck in a few years ago. The "clever story" of the captain of the Folding was very famous in Amsterdam. Could it be that mirrors are so worthless now?

Could it be that... the French are going to make big moves against Austria and Russia, so that even glass and mirror technology are used as diplomatic conditions?

He didn't know that the Duke of Qi was taking this opportunity to make it clear in order to prevent the delegation from getting suspicious when they saw many glass windows and glass mirrors, which were common objects, when they arrived in the capital, so as to avoid any mistakes in the future.

Phillips's face was a little ugly. Judging from his attitude in the past few days, this foreign minister of Dashun liked bribery. But his ignorance led to a failed bribery.

Fortunately, there was the young earl who disrupted the situation, otherwise he thought he had given a very expensive gift and misjudged the situation, which would be very unfavorable to the negotiations.

Now it is inevitable that it is a little embarrassing.

If he could use gold and silver, he could still make peace at this time, saying that these gifts were only carried on the ship, and the real gifts would be delivered quietly in the future.

But now he couldn't even make peace, because he couldn't say that there would be more gifts later, and he didn't dare to guarantee whether the Seventeen-member Committee would reply to his letter in two years to allow him to give gifts. Saying to give gifts but not giving them would cause big trouble.

In the awkward atmosphere, it was the Duke of Qi who took the initiative to break the awkwardness. He did not mention the gift anymore, but talked about diplomatic affairs.

"Liu Yu is still too young and does not understand what the interests of the country are. This is why your majesty likes him very much. He also follows the "Vice President of the Society of Jesus in China, Dai Jinxian" to learn about Western affairs, but he cannot be in charge of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Young people are always too enthusiastic and do not know where the interests of the country are."

These words resonated with Phillips. In his opinion, the fanatics of his country were the same. And their fanaticism drained the blood of the Netherlands.

Thinking again that the Duke of Qi said that the earl just now had studied with the vice president of the Society of Jesus in China, Phillips felt that he seemed to understand something.

In addition, the young earl just now kept saying that France could fully undertake export trade, and it seemed that this person had a good impression of France... Could it be that this was a hidden Catholic?

The Dashun banned religion, so this young earl pretended to convert and regretted it later? Is this earl actually a fanatical crusader?

The Dutch still believe that the biggest reason why they failed to conduct official trade with China during the Ming Dynasty was that Jesuit missionaries slandered the Protestant Netherlands in the Ming Empire, and many Catholic officials in the Ming Dynasty had a natural aversion to Protestant countries.

They called the Portuguese saying in Japan that "the Dutch are all a group of pirates" slander.

Thinking of this, all these things formed a logically self-consistent circle in Phillips' mind.

I thought it was no wonder that this aggressive young earl was hostile to Orthodox Russia, banned Japan, and Protestant Netherlands. It turned out that there were hidden religious factors.

Maybe the prince was also a hidden Catholic. Maybe after arriving in the capital of the empire, he could inquire about the prince's public beliefs before the ban on religion.

After thinking that he had figured out the key, Phillips quickly threw away his worries. It sounded like the Duke, the foreign minister of Dashun, was not fanatical about going to war.

The previous attitude might just be to ask for bribes? Even Dashun itself does not have such a strong attitude. Is this duke just taking the opportunity to enrich himself?

If so, it seems that not giving gifts is a good thing.

Sure enough, after hesitating for a moment, Duke Qi said: "His words are not what most people in the Celestial Empire mean. He is just a small group of people in the court. These people are eager for military merits and even put their personal military merits above the overall interests of the Celestial Empire."

Phillips hurriedly said: "Your Excellency the Duke is right. Young people are always enthusiastic about war, and officers always like to rely on war to enhance their reputation. The war between the Netherlands and the Ming Empire was all caused by the Ming Empire being deceived by Catholics and the Jesuits slandering the Netherlands. It was just an accident. The Netherlands will never have similar ideas again. And we just wanted to trade at that time..."

"Your country now bans religion, the Netherlands Lan is not a Catholic country, I think we will have a deeper understanding. "

After repeating the bandit logic, Duke Qi could only hold back his sneer in his heart and praised: "The Ming Empire is our enemy. You went to war with the Ming Empire. Why should we hate you for it? Only fanatical young people like Liu Yu, whose minds are full of ideas such as empire, honor, and ethnicity, will say such childish words. These words can be said to others, but if you believe them yourself, it is unwise. "

Phillips hurriedly said yes, thinking that this is a mature and smart person. He likes to deal with such people instead of dealing with those fanatics.

"Don't be happy too quickly. Some young officers in the Celestial Empire are still very easy to be incited. Especially the naval officers he is in charge of, you must know the saying, you reap what you sow. He is a bean planter. "

This is a warning to Phillips. Although the attitude of the court seems to be that it does not want to cause trouble, you Dutch should not go too far.

After making sure Phillips understood what he meant, Duke Qi said calmly, "During the Wanli period of the previous dynasty, the Spanish massacre in Luzon was something the court did not want to happen. Although merchants are the lowest class of the four classes and are profit-seeking people from distant countries, if such an incident happens again, I am afraid that public opinion will be difficult to control. These young officers and young nobles headed by Liu Yu will definitely use this force to demand war. This is something the court cannot allow. It is not in the interests of the Celestial Empire."

"The people there are all thieves who have left the country and are really difficult to manage. Moreover, the Celestial Empire still has many internal disputes, including the rebellion of local chieftains in the southwest, the old members of the Junggar tribe, the believers in the Western Regions, the Mongols... These have greatly distracted the court's energy."

"Since the Qin Dynasty, the destruction of the Celestial Empire has always come from the north, which is the most dangerous place for the Celestial Empire. The court does not want to use too much power in other directions, and does not want a large amount of exported silver to be affected, which is related to the court's finances."

It is no longer an attitude of taking money to do things after accepting bribes, but a mature and far-sighted consideration for the country, or more like a sanctimonious attitude after being unable to accept bribes.