Shi Si was just a messenger. He was not good at judging the truth or falsehood of what others said, nor did he know much about marching and fighting, so he could not give a definite answer to Tang Ding.
This made Tang Ding frown, but he had no better way, and he didn't understand what the slave girl was talking about. He sighed, shook his head slightly at Zhu Biao who looked at him, and then said no more.
Seeing that Tang Ding no longer asked him, Shi Si thought for a while, but he still planned to tell the slave girl's request.
"Your Highness, she has something she wants to say to Your Highness. Let me convey it to her."
"Oh? What are you talking about?" Zhu Biao said calmly.
Shi Si lowered his head slightly and said, "She wants to ask us to help her restore her country."
Restoration?
Several people were surprised. They didn't expect that the slave girl would make such a request.
Han Du first shook his head. You must know that the purpose of coming out this time was mainly to broaden Zhu Biao's horizons. After all, reading thousands of books is not as good as traveling thousands of miles. Zhu Biao stayed in the cage in the East Palace all day, just like being in prison. Han Du was a little worried that he would get sick from suppressing it.
He originally planned to patrol Nanyang once and then return to Beijing, but Zhu Biao dragged him to this place. This was enough to make Han Du dissatisfied. Now this slave girl actually asked to help her restore her country?
Are you kidding me? I came here for tourism, not for fighting.
However, Zhu Biao was somewhat interested in the slave girl's request. Not only did he not reject it directly, but he said with great interest: "Help her restore the country? Does that mean helping her kill her brother? Did you say any conditions? Such a big man Busy, she can’t just open her mouth with empty teeth, right?”
Shi Si was embarrassed when he heard this, and quickly explained: "She seems to have never said any conditions, so I asked her immediately."
After asking the slave girl a few questions, Shi Si's face immediately turned red with anger when she received the answer.
Seeing the situation, Zhu Biao asked curiously: "What's wrong? Doesn't she really want to be a free hand?"
Shi Si nodded with an ugly expression, "Your Highness really got it right. She actually said that Daming should help her."
Seeing such an ignorant person, Zhu Biao shook his head slightly, "Since she has no conditions, then tell her to be her slave and stop thinking about other things."
Shi Si immediately spoke to the slave girl and directly rejected her request.
But perhaps the slave girl saw hope and was unwilling to miss such an opportunity, so she had the courage to directly grab Shi Si's hand, and pointed at Zhu Biao with her other hand. Apparently she was asking Shi Si to convey her words to Zhu Biao.
Han Du ignored the two people's pull and moved closer to Zhu Biao.
Zhu Biao glanced at Han Du doubtfully and asked in advance: "What, what do you think?"
Han Du nodded and smiled: "Your Highness still understands me. Your Highness has already guessed it before I even opened my mouth."
"If you have anything to say, just say it." Zhu Biao glanced at Han Du as if he was a little discouraged.
Han Du nodded, the smile on his face faded, and Zhu Biao was shocked as soon as he opened his mouth. "I think we should help her restore her country."
Zhu Biao looked at Han Du intently and said nothing. He knew that since Han Du said this, he must have his reasons.
Han Du did not show off and continued: "Your Highness, actually this place, the location of the Mamluk Dynasty, is very important."
"Well, I really can't see it. What's the importance?" Zhu Biao thought for a moment, then shook his head.
Han Du waved his hand and smoothed the carpet. He took out a few teacups and placed them on the ground.
"These two teacups are land. The sea here is where we are now, and this side is the opposite. Your Highness, please see, there are only three or four hundred miles between these two seas. Does your Highness know that if it is from us? Is it going all the way south from here, bypassing the Sea of Storms, and how far is it to the other side?”
Seeing Zhu Biao looking at him thoughtfully, Han Du said directly: "More than ten thousand miles away!"
Others looked at each other in shock after hearing this. They didn't expect it to be so far away.
"Do you want to..." Tang Ding guessed Han Du's thoughts and spoke hesitantly.
In the eyes of everyone, Han Du nodded and pointed his finger sharply between the two cups on the ground, "If a canal is dug here to connect these three to four hundred miles, then we can go directly without going through the Sea of Storms. You can reach the other side.”
The people of the Ming Dynasty were familiar with digging canals. After all, canals have been dug in the Spring and Autumn Period in history.
As soon as Han Du proposed digging the canal, everyone began to wonder whether this method was feasible. First of all, there is definitely no problem in digging the canal, not to mention that it is only three or four hundred miles away. The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal is five to six thousand miles long. Although it was dug by the joint efforts of all dynasties, with the current national power of the Ming Dynasty, there is still no problem in digging a canal three to four hundred miles long.
The only problem is that this canal is tens of thousands of miles away from the Ming Dynasty. I'm afraid it would be a bit troublesome to dig.
"What do you want to do?" It's so far away. It's definitely impossible to send people from Daming to dig. The manpower and material resources can only solve it here. Zhu Biao said lightly.
It was precisely because it was impossible to mobilize manpower, material and financial resources from the Ming Dynasty that he was so calm. Anyway, no matter whether the canal can be dug or not, Ming Dynasty will not suffer any losses.
Han Du smiled slightly, glanced at the slave girl, and said: "Don't she want us to help her restore her country? Let's use this to negotiate terms with her and let her cede land and pay. And if she wants to restore her country, There will inevitably be war, and when there is war, there will be slaves. The greater the scale of the war, the more people will become slaves. With land, money and slaves, are we still worried that we cannot dig out this canal?"
The future scene described by Han Du was very beautiful, but Zhu Biao still said thoughtfully: "The war will indeed produce a lot of slaves, but in that case, our losses will also expand. If the casualties are too heavy, then the gains will not be worth the losses!"
Zhu Biao also wanted to fight this battle, but he had to consider the casualties of the navy. If fighting for another country resulted in too many casualties, Zhu Biao worried that the soldiers would be dissatisfied.
Han Du shook his head and smiled, and explained: "The navy will participate in the battle, but it will not participate from the beginning until the slave girl returns to the country."
Talking about the naval battle, Han Du instantly became energetic.
Others were also attracted by Han Du's aura, and watched Han Du calmly and calmly without blinking, as if he was commanding thousands of troops.
"The navy only needs to defeat the Mamluk dynasty army first and let everyone see how powerful we are. Then let the slave girl recruit her people to fight for her in the subsequent battles."
"Is this okay? You mean, we only need to defeat the Mamluk Sultan's army once from the beginning to the end?" Tang Ding was a little in disbelief.
"Of course." Han Du nodded matter-of-factly, "That slave girl... didn't that girl say she was a princess? Since she was once the princess of the Mamluk dynasty, and even the first heir, then she should There are subjects who are loyal to her. We can also test the authenticity of her identity as a princess. If she can't even recruit people, then she must be fake."
Zhu Biao nodded and suddenly said, "Your idea is good. In this way, the loss of the navy can be minimized. And it is also very important to find out whether her identity is true or false. If we plan for a long time for a fake princess, If it spreads, it will be a joke.”
"But if we only help her fight one battle, the terms will be difficult to negotiate." Tang Ding sighed with regret. What a great opportunity this is. If we can help this princess until her country is restored, the benefits will be simply unimaginable. "
Han Du chuckled and said in a calm tone: "That's why we have to negotiate the terms in advance, but we must be careful not to explicitly agree to her when we go. By then, even if she is dissatisfied with our help, As long as she sees the strength of our Ming Dynasty Navy, she will be wise enough to keep her mouth shut."
"Moreover, we only need to deter the rest of the Mamluk dynasty. As long as the news of our support for her spreads, those people will definitely turn their backs on her when facing her. This is the greatest help to her."
Speaking of this, Zhu Biao couldn't help but feel excited. There was not much risk, but the benefits were extremely huge. He had to be tempted in the face of such benefits.
"Are you sure that you can intimidate the entire Mamluk dynasty with just one battle?"
Han Du nodded and said directly: "This time we will use cannons. I am going to remove the cannons on the warships and use a thousand cannons to blast the opponent's liver and gallbladder!"
Zhu Biao and Tang Ding glanced at their feet, and then looked along the hillside towards the direction where the cavalry had just charged. The more they looked, smiles appeared on their faces.
Although this hillside is not high, it stretches out and embraces the large plain below. Only now did Zhu Biao and Tang Ding discover that this was actually a battlefield that was extremely conducive to the role of artillery.
The two of them instantly understood what Han Du meant. He wanted to wait here and decide the outcome in a battle!
Seeing Zhu Biao and Tang Ding both nodding in agreement, Han Du turned back to Shi Si with a smile and said: "You are responsible for talking to that woman in the past two days. If you want us to help her restore her country, ceding land, paying compensation, and providing slaves are indispensable. .”
Shi Si didn't think there was anything wrong when he heard this. He nodded and asked, "I wonder if Mr. Hou can give an exact amount?"
Han Du thought for a while and said: "The land must be at least one hundred miles on each side of the sea, the slaves must be at least 500,000, and the gold must be at least one million pounds. Based on this condition, go and talk to her. If you If we can negotiate more, I will ask His Highness the Crown Prince for instructions and I will give you an additional 10% of the benefits."
Zhu Biao and Tang Ding took a breath together. Everyone already knew how long the two sides of the sea were when they came. If we could really get hundreds of miles of land on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, the combined area would not be smaller than a kingdom. Even Horumos may not be as big as this piece of ceded land.
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