"A small island country is in a corner, but it was not you who started the Age of Discovery, but the small country of Portugal!"
"How much money does Prince Enrique have? How much strength does he have? But he can spend all his wealth to explore a route around Africa. It can be seen that at that time, you in the UK were not even as courageous as other nations in pioneering..."
"After Portugal, there was Spain, and after Spain there were France and the Netherlands. The entire first half of the Age of Discovery was completed by others. What are you, the UK, doing? In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, you and the French were at loggerheads. A hundred years’ war, right?”
"It wasn't until the mid-to-late sixteenth century that you defeated the Spanish Armada and gradually gained the advantage in the second half of the Age of Discovery..."
"What a magnificent era! At that time, the oceanic conflict between Portugal and Spain was so cruel, so cruel that it required the Pope's personal mediation!"
"And what could Britain do at that time? It was just issuing privateering licenses and letting those semi-official pirates rob the British Empire of the scraps of maritime trade..."
"Why are you looking at me? I'm sorry, are there any outsiders here? Isn't it just a little bit of black history? Does that nation have any behind it? Don't be embarrassed, everyone has shit behind their butts. Big brother, don't talk about second brother..."
After teasing Gladstone for a few words, Xiao Letian then began his long speech, and the following words were touching.
"Portugal's decline is related to its unique geographical location. Their land is too barren and the population is too sparse. When faced with Spain, which has an extremely powerful army, it is completely passive and beaten. It is inevitable that it will be annexed in the end!"
"But the gap between Spain and the UK at that time was completely between an elephant and an ant. No matter in terms of economic aggregate, military strength, or population potential, the UK was no match for Spain..."
"At that time, the Spanish Armada was the real master of the ocean, and Spain was an absolute supporter of Catholicism. They were deeply loved by the Pope. But what was the relationship between the Protestant United Kingdom and the Holy See? I don't need to say more... …”
"Look, even in terms of religious strength, they are stronger than you! But with such a disparity in strength, you, the UK, actually won! Actually won! Actually won!"
"I say important things three times. I am really surprised by all the miracles you have created in the UK!"
"Many years ago, like many ordinary scholars, I watched the excitement, analyzed the battlefield situation, and commented on the struggle between great powers hundreds of years ago from the perspective of a newcomer...I was also very naive at that time!"
"It wasn't until I started trying to govern the Chinese people and started to analyze the competitive relationship between countries from a different perspective. Because of the different perspectives, I really understood the key to your UK's ultimate victory..."
"There is no luck in this world, let alone attribute the rise of a great power to fatalism! There are actually many inevitabilities behind Britain's success!"
"Are you proud? Haha, dear Gladstone, I see the light of pride in your eyes. Don't hide it. I'm just flattering you, because you did really well in that era!"
"In this long war for maritime supremacy, what is Britain doing? What is Spain doing? Many things can be distinguished by comparison!"
"Because of the vigorous promotion of Protestantism in the United Kingdom, it got rid of various constraints from the Catholic Church, so British natural science research has made great progress. Newton, Watt, Spinning Jenny... scientists and various scientific technologies have sprung up in the UK like mushrooms after a spring rain. Born on the soil..."
"What about Spain? At that time, the Armada was fighting for hegemony in the Atlantic Ocean, and tens of billions of silver and gold from South America were pouring into Spanish ports. The whole society was full of extravagance..."
"They built large churches, wore gorgeous clothes, and ate the world's top wines and food... The gold and silver exchanged with the blood of countless warriors in the Age of Discovery were turned into various ostentatious works of art and buildings, including those for the Catholic Church. Money donated for the expansion of the world..."
"How does this compare? Please tell me, in this situation of ebb and flow, isn't it already clear who wins and who loses?"
"Humans explore the sea and seize its benefits. How should the money obtained through hard work be used? Britain is desperately improving its productivity. The whole country is filled with the sound of towering chimneys and roaring spinning wheels..."
"Steam engines roared on the railway, and the rails spread inch by inch across the land. Various resources were efficiently mobilized back and forth through the railway, thus stimulating the vigorous development of business and further increasing the strength of the financial industry!"
"And you are willing to invest in natural science. Your number of expedition teams is the largest in the world, your Oxbridge is the best in Europe, and your scientific research funding is also the largest in the world!"
"It is precisely because you respect science that science, in turn, further promotes the vigorous development of productivity!"
"Spain's tyranny cannot resist the laws of nature. The market economy will not obey the orders of cannons and warships. The upper class in Spain are arrogant and lustful, but the poor people at the lower class have to live. They can only buy high-quality and low-price British woolen cloth. , cotton, velvet!”
"The textile industry is just a clear example of the competitiveness of British goods. In fact, all kinds of British goods at that time already had advantages over other European and foreign countries. Technology drove the improvement of productivity, productivity increased efficiency, and efficiency reduced costs..."
"Cost is a big killer for Britain to make money all over the world! Maybe the Spanish aristocrats are ashamed of using British products, but the people at the bottom don't think so. They know that British textiles are of high quality and low price, so they will take practical actions Come vote!”
"Look, in this way, the gold and silver that Spain snatched from the Americas have not actually been digested into the muscle and blood of this country. They are just passing by the gods of wealth. After just one change of hands, it will all be in the hands of the British!"
"Haha, the wealth obtained from robbery will always come to an end, but the wealth earned through hard work, production and sales is endless!"
"On the Atlantic Ocean, your privateer fleet desperately robbed Spain of gold and silver, and then in the private commodity trade, you made a lot of money from Spain's gold and silver..."
"You have sucked all the blood away, how can the Spaniards remain undefeated?"
Gladstone and the elites who were eavesdropping on both sides were extremely proud of what he said. Although Xiao Letian's words were somewhat flattering, 90% of the information in them was still true. In that era, Britain was indeed brought down bit by bit like this. Spanish.
Note: The third update is coming!
