"In addition, we have heard a little bit of rumors recently," Bruce Dimen blinked and said with a smile, "It's just a bit of rumors... After the Kingdom of Spain and the Kingdom of France complete the marriage, they will merge the main Focus on the New World!
You should know that Don Juan Jose, the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of New Spain today, is the illegitimate son of King Philip, and he is also King Philip’s most respected subordinate! "
Li Shaoyou narrowed his eyes, looked at the "special envoy of the profiteer country" in front of him, and thought to himself: Something is weird! Are Dutch profiteers so kind? Revealed Spanish confidential information to Ming Dynasty? Who doesn’t know that you and the Spaniards have turned enemies into friends? Without you, how could the British have lost so many ships in the war with the Spanish?
"Mr. Dimen," Li Shaoyou asked, "are you reminding our country that the Kingdom of New Spain will soon launch an attack on the United States of New Zealand?"
"Yes!" Bruce Dimen nodded, "Actually, King Philip has wanted to do this for a long time, but his power was restrained by France, Britain and Portugal, and he had no spare power for the New World at the moment, so he could only watch the new world. Make the United States of America bigger.
Now, Cromwell Jr. just wants to consolidate his power in Britain. His external goal is to expand his colonies on the east coast of North America, and there will be no more conflicts with Spain for the time being. "
Li Shaoyou nodded slightly, knowing that Bruce was right. England is still a republic under the rule of the second-generation Lord Protector, Charles Cromwell. However, the younger Cromwell's authority is still not comparable to that of his late father, so he can only focus on domestic affairs and will not be like his father. Passionate about European affairs.
Bruce added: "Although Louis XIV is ambitious, his country does not have a strong navy, and at the same time it has many overseas interests, such as the colonies in New France, and the 'gift trade' with your country and the Ottoman Empire. This determines that it is impossible for Louis to attack Spain again without the support of Britain or our country."
No matter how sluggish the Spanish Navy is, it is still a global navy and cannot be challenged by the weak French Navy!
Therefore, without the support of Britain and the Netherlands, Louis could only be Philip's good son-in-law.
"And we in the Netherlands," Bruce said, "we don't want the Spanish Netherlands to become part of France, so we don't want to continue to weaken Spain." He smiled bitterly, "This is Europe...there is no forever here. There are no enemies and no permanent friends!"
"It's the same everywhere!" Li Shaoyuan said, "Everywhere in Nanyang, there are people who don't want to be neighbors with the Ming Dynasty!"
Bruce was expressionless and continued: "As for Portugal... that is a tragedy. Anyone can take advantage of this country, and no one is willing to really pay for Portugal, so it is impossible for this country to contain Spain. strength."
The Ming Dynasty also took advantage of the Kingdom of Portugal to a certain extent.
Because the Ming Dynasty tried its best to promote the anti-Spanish alliance between the Ming, Britain, France, and Portugal, the Kingdom of Portugal lost all its privileges in Macau two years ago. Moreover, the colony of Timor Island was opened to the Ming Dynasty. Timor Island is very close to Australia, just over 1,000 miles away, and can be used as a starting point for exploring Australia.
Of course, Zhu Cixi did not expel the Portuguese residents of Macau, nor did he even cancel Macau's autonomy, nor did he close the Catholic church there. Instead, the Portuguese in Macau were asked to choose between the Kingdom of Portugal and the Ming Dynasty.
Either be loyal to Portugal and become a Portuguese living in Ming Dynasty. Either be loyal to the Ming Dynasty and become a subject of the Ming Dynasty.
The difference between the Portuguese expatriates and the Portuguese subjects of the Ming Dynasty is that the former have no political rights in Macao - they cannot participate in self-government (now the counties and cities in the direct province of the Ming Dynasty and below have certain autonomy rights), and they cannot participate in Macao. He held official positions in the municipal government and its subordinate institutions (but could hold official positions in the provincial court), and could not take part in the imperial examinations (including official examinations and government-run university entrance examinations).
The latter are subjects of the Celestial Dynasty, and are basically equal under the Emperor!
Li Shaoyou didn't want to mention Portugal anymore, so he turned the topic to the New World War. He asked: "Mr. Diemen, I think you can reveal the position of the Dutch Republic on the upcoming war in the New World?"
Bruce Dimen nodded and said: "We in the Netherlands are a commercial country. We will not directly join a war unless we have to. And we have no interests on the west coast of the New World, so we just want to remain neutral... At the same time, we also want to ensure as much as possible that trans-Pacific trade will not be interrupted by war!"
"During the Anglo-Spanish War, the Netherlands was also neutral, right?" Li Shaoyou asked back.
"Yes!" Bruce Dimen laughed, "But the Ming Dynasty is not England. The Ming Empire is the defender of the existing order in Nanyang... As long as the status quo of the Nanyang Islands remains unchanged, the Netherlands is a reliable friend of the Ming Empire! "
The meaning of this is very clear. If the Ming Dynasty wants to continue to advance south, then the Spanish privateers in the Pacific will become very fierce!
"Nanyang..." Li Shaoyou looked at Bruce Dimen, "Where does it include now?"
"Including Luzon Island and the south of Siam!" Bruce Dimen said.
Li Shaoyou shook his head and said: "We believe that Nanyang only includes Spice Island, Java Island and the Strait of Malacca!"
Bruce Dimen's face changed slightly, "Are you going to launch attacks in multiple directions at the same time?"
"We have such ability!" Li Shaoyao, "and we are also willing to protect the interests of our friends...The Dutch interests in Spice Island, Java Island and the Strait of Malacca will not be infringed!"
This is actually a threat!
If the Dutch armed ships fly the Spanish flag and serve as Spanish privateers, then the Spice Island will be attacked by the Ming Dynasty!
"But the Netherlands also has friends in the Strait of Malacca, Spice Island and north of Java Island!" Bruce Dimen said in a calm tone.
"The Netherlands can help its friends," Li Shaoyou said with a smile, "but he will not directly join a costly war for his friends...right?"
"Of course, the Dutch Republic doesn't like war!" Bruce Dimen nodded slowly.
Li Shaoyou twirled his beard and said thoughtfully: "Maybe we can sign a new agreement to regulate free trade in the Pacific and determine the Dutch's sphere of influence in the Nanyang Islands!"
Bruce Dimen frowned slightly. He was "knowing" and of course knew that Li Shaoyou would not sign a contract with a foreign country. You can talk in vain, but to propose a contract, you must have received instructions from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Ming Dynasty.
The new agreement proposed by Li Shaoyou actually requires changing the status quo and achieving the southward advance of the Ming Dynasty's forces!
This shows that as early as a few months ago (it took several months for the order to be transmitted between the Ming and France), the Ming court had already designated a national policy of gradually advancing southward!
After seizing Luzon Island, the Ming Dynasty's goals should be Boni, Sulu, Pattani and Perak (between Pattani and Johor), because these four sultanates all use Tianfang religion as their state religion, which is actually Tianfang. The "area of contention" between the religious civilization circle and the Chinese civilization circle, and there are also Western Christian forces involved, the situation is very complicated, and it may take many years to completely settle it.
Therefore, the Ming Empire could ensure the security of the Dutch territories before pacifying the Boni, Sulu, Pattani and Perak Kingdoms in exchange for the Dutch's "limited intervention" - that is, struggle is struggle, business is business, as long as it does not end in a tear. If you break your face and start a war, you have to keep doing business.
This diplomatic line is of course politically wrong, but after more than ten years as emperor, Zhu Cixi still could not change his true nature as a profiteer. He always settles economic accounts first and then political accounts in everything he does... This is different from the Netherlands. They are quite similar, so the new version of the "Nanyang Guarantee Agreement" is about to be released.
