Shengjing, Japanese Embassy in Qing Dynasty.
Ambassador Caballero, wearing a silk robe, sat quietly in the study room of the embassy. A cup of coffee had long since lost its heat in front of him. And he was also uneasy. His eyes were just staring blankly into the distance, as if he was anxiously waiting for something?
Outside the study, there is a Chinese-style courtyard. There is snow everywhere on the ground and the temperature is very low. But there is a stove in the study, which is very warm. The cold air outside and the heating inside the house met on the glass of the window, and a large amount of small water droplets condensed on the inside of the glass window, making the originally not transparent glass window foggy, making the indoor jams It was difficult for Valero to see what was going on outside.
Suddenly there was the sound of gentle footsteps outside the door, and then the study door was pushed open. After a gust of cold wind, two figures flashed in. Caballero just glanced at it. The plenipotentiary ambassador representing the King of Spain immediately stood up and bowed to one of the two visitors, "Your Highness the Bishop!"
The person he called "His Royal Highness the Bishop" was the newly appointed Cardinal of Mongolia, Juan Bautista Don Morales, who also had a Chinese name called Li Yufan.
He was originally a Dominican priest sent to China to preach. He got the opportunity to rise to power because of the "Chinese-Western Etiquette Controversy" that occurred after Matteo Ricci's death. He became the most radical opponent of Matteo Ricci's rules among Western missionaries in China. One of the priests returned to Rome in 1643 to expose to the Pope that Ricci's rules violated Catholic teachings.
On the surface, this matter is a "ceremonial dispute", but behind it is a power struggle between Portugal and Spain - Matteo Ricci is a Jesuit missionary supported by Portugal, while Li Ngoc Fan is a Dominican supported by Spain. Will be a missionary.
Because the Portuguese and Jesuits had more flexible policies, they took the lead in China.
The Dominicans, on the other hand, suffered from the problem of "God favors Spain". They were too rigid in religious issues and looked at everyone like the devil... so they did not develop well in China.
Because the issues involved were too complex, Pope Innocent X was also wavering, not knowing who to support? It wasn't until the Ming Dynasty's mission visited Europe and announced that Ming Dynasty had the right to protect Christianity in East Asia - this incident caused hostility between the Holy See and the Ming Empire.
Of course, the Holy See cannot recognize the Ming Dynasty's patronage, but it cannot deprive the Kingdom of Portugal of the Eastern patronage... Theoretically, the Pope has this power, but as long as Innocent X is not crazy, he will never dare to do this. Son!
If you do it, you might see God soon!
The consequences are obvious. You can deprive Portugal of its Eastern patronage today, but will you be able to deprive the French king of his power to appoint bishops tomorrow? Is this an attempt to start a new religious war?
Now that Viscount Turenne has surrendered to Louis XIV, what should he do if he goes back to lead his troops to Rome to help Innocent X go to heaven?
Today's Holy See is very weak militarily and would never dare to challenge any European military power...
However, the Pope still found a way to disgust Zhu Cixi. He appointed a cardinal of the Great Mongolia - the Portuguese's patronage rights did not include the Great Mongolia!
So Li Yufan picked a cardinal for nothing and was sent to Shengjing - he was supposed to go to Beijing, but Li Yufan was not stupid. He could see that the little emperor of Shunzhi would not last long, so he came to Shengjing. .
And Caballero is also a smart man, and of course he will not be stupid enough to go to Beijing and wait to be surrounded, so he also came to Shengjing.
Anyway, these days, the embassies of various countries in East Asia are not in the capital - the embassies of various countries in the Ming Dynasty are all in Shanghai, and the Ming Dynasty's embassy in Japan is in Uraga Town (the capital of Japan is Kyoto). Therefore, the Spanish embassy in the Great Mongolia (Qing Dynasty) is located in Shengjing, which is in line with international practice in East Asia.
Coming with Li Yufan was Gonzalez Garcia, an experienced businessman of the Spanish Pacific Trading Company in Vladivostok. With an anxious look, he saluted Caballero and hurriedly reported: "Viscount, something big happened... Our fur merchant ships 'Pacific' and 'New Oriental' were attacked by the Japanese fleet. s attack!
The 'Pacific' was captured, and the 'New Oriental' was wounded and escaped to Vladivostok! "
"What? The Japanese state-owned fleet?" Caballero was waiting for news about the "Pacific" and "New Oriental". Among them, the "Pacific" was a giant bird ship with ten thousand stones - the Spanish wanted to understand the Ming Dynasty's shipbuilding capabilities. , ordered several cheap and high-quality Wanshiniao ships through agents to run the Pacific route.
The "New Oriental" is a 500-ton Spanish Galen ship. It is not a warship, but an armed merchant ship.
Caballero himself is a shareholder of the Pacific Trading Company, and he also invested a large amount of money in the "Pacific" - the Kingdom of Spain's overseas trade is completely different from that of the Netherlands and England. The degree of marketization is very low, and there are Powerful people will participate in smuggling, and Caballero is no exception. While taking shares in the trading company, he also uses the "Pacific" for smuggling.
Precisely because of the smuggling business, the merchant ships of the Pacific Trading Company completely ignored Philip IV's orders and secretly engaged in the "Ming Dynasty (New World) Triangular Trade", using New World silver to purchase Ming Dynasty silk. , porcelain and counterfeit muskets (generally the products of small factories), and then transported to Vladivostok to exchange for furs and Dongzhu, and then transported back to the New World...
However, the "Pacific" and the "New Oriental" disappeared after leaving the Busan Port in the Kingdom of Korea!
Unexpectedly, we were robbed by the Japanese fleet!
"But Japan doesn't have a navy!" Caballero looked incredulous.
"It's already there!" Cardinal Li Yufan's face was gloomy. "The envoys from the Kingdom of Korea have arrived in Shengjing, bringing shocking news... Japan's combined fleet has invaded the land of Korea. Occupied Jeolyeongdo Island off the coast of Busanpo.”
"What?" Caballero shook his head, "This is impossible..."
He has been in Asia for many years and knows Japan very well. Now that Japan is closed to the country, how can it possibly have a fleet that can invade North Korea? Not to mention intercepting Spanish merchant ships at sea!
"Did the crew of the New Oriental say what kind of Japanese warship they encountered?"
Garcia said; "It is a Dutch-style sailing warship... There are 7 ships in total, and the largest one has at least 30 cannons!"
7 sail warships intercepted 2 Spanish merchant ships but failed to win completely... Zheng Jiangong's skills in commanding naval battles are still not good!
"That's not Japanese, that's Chinese!" Caballero shouted, "Chinese pretending to be Japanese..."
"What should we do?" Li Yufan asked.
"Can we ask the Philippine fleet to dispatch?" Garcia asked.
"This..." Caballero thought for a moment, "Who will the Dutch support?"
"It must be China!" Garcia said. "The war between Britain and the Netherlands is about to break out...The Netherlands needs China's support in the east!"
The first Anglo-Dutch War actually broke out in May 1652. War was officially declared on July 8, and the war was already fought across the English Channel.
Under this situation, the Dutch East India Company would certainly not fall out with the Ming Dynasty, a friendly country. Although these Dutch profiteers also secretly sold a lot of weapons to the Qing Dynasty, the overall line was still close to the Ming Dynasty.
Zhu Cixiang's external policy is pro-Dutch and pro-French - because he knows that the Netherlands has only that little potential, and now he needs to be wary of the UK!
The pro-law was to gain an anti-Spanish and anti-British ally, because Dutch profiteers were ultimately unreliable.
"But Britain will not support us!" Li Yufan said, "Cromwell is a madman and hates God!"
Cromwell was a Puritan, and the British bourgeois revolution was also called the Puritan Revolution. The Puritans hated Catholics the most, so it was impossible for Britain to join forces with Spain against China.
