Goa, Portuguese Viceroyalty of India.
In the private reception room of Governor Rodrigo da Costa, a group of foreign devils who had just returned from Zigongtang Commercial Store and Ji Dabao were gathering together to study the "bomb" device!
It was impossible for the "Hong" that was said to be passed down from the Zhou Dynasty to be brought back to them for study. They only gave them an "instruction manual" with drawings. However, those few small "Suifa Bang" can still be brought back to them... Of course, these "Suifa Bang" are also extremely valuable!
Baron Churchill, who was very knowledgeable about the cultural relics of ancient Rome, ancient Greece, and ancient Egypt, had already figured something out. He held a "Fuifa Bang" from the Shunzhi period of the Qing Dynasty in his hand and studied it for a long time, and finally came to the conclusion: " This bronze flintlock gun is almost identical to the bronze flintlock gun from the 14th century, except for the surface pattern and caliber. It is obvious that the technological progress of this American merchant country is very slow, and has even stagnated for a long time. "
Ji Dabao was reading a copy of the Shang Dynasty Table that Korea had handed over to the Ming Dynasty. Hearing Baron Churchill's words, he nodded and agreed: "The baron is right. Their technological progress is really slow. Maybe it's because Lack of iron ore and iron smelting technology, every memorial they gave to the Ming Dynasty emperor contained the content of "seeking good iron"... This is probably the reason why they have maintained communication through Goryeo, Korea and China. . And this kind of bronze musket called 'Hong' has always been a tribute gift to the Middle-earth Dynasty. The tubular firearms that appeared in the Song Dynasty are likely to be imitations of 'Hong'."
"But the news coming back from New Spain said that these merchants had long-barreled flintlock muskets and bayonets," Rodrigo da Costa, the Portuguese Governor of India, said while looking at a heavy bronze flintlock musket. "Then It should be made of iron, otherwise it would be too heavy.”
Ji Dabao put down the Shang Fang Kingdom Memorial Table in his hand and said with a smile: "The flintlock guns and bayonets the Spaniards saw must be made of iron, but they should have obtained them from the Ming Dynasty not long ago."
"Why do you say that?" Baron Churchill asked.
"Isn't this obvious?" Ji Dabao said, "This Shang country has always maintained contact with the Ming Dynasty through North Korea. With North Korea as a middleman, it is not easy for them to get something from China. But A few years ago, the Ming Dynasty merged with North Korea. As a result, there was a direct connection between the Shang Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty... With the ambition of the Grand Duke Emperor, how could he let go of this opportunity to get involved in the New World? And the Grand Duke Emperor He has always valued the navy and has the ability to cross the Pacific to the New World, so he will definitely use this opportunity to deliver iron guns to the Shang Fang Kingdom."
Churchill, Rodrigo da Costa and Martin, the governor of the French East India Company, all nodded slightly, with worries on their faces - England, France and Portugal all have large colonies in the New World, although they occupy more territory than It is not as big or rich as New Spain, but it is still more or less threatened by this mysterious American country, the Merchant State.
According to the analysis of various existing evidences, this Shang country probably crossed the Pacific eastward and arrived in the Americas more than 2,600 years ago... although there were certainly not many people who crossed the ocean in the first place. , maybe only a few thousand people. But after 2,600 years of reproduction, it is very easy for the population to grow to several million.
This number might make it an inconspicuous small country in the Old World, but in the New World... with a population of several million, it would be a superpower!
Although New Spain has a population of over ten million, there are only a few hundred thousand whites among them, and the rest are Indo-European or Indians. In the face of the Shang's offensive, it is hard to say whether these Indo-European mixed-bloods and Indians will defect.
"But how is it possible that a country with millions of people has not been discovered?" Dutchman Reijersen still had some doubts.
Although the Dutch East India Company did not enter North Korea, it had close contacts with Japan and the Qing Dynasty, but it had never heard of any merchant country...
"The thing is probably like this..." Ji Dabao took over the topic and took out a copy from a pile of memorial title books and placed it on the large desk, "This copy of the Korean Kingdom was given to Emperor Shunzhi. The credential of the Shang Fang Kingdom states that their Fang Kingdom is located in the depths of a bay with fertile land, pleasant climate, scattered islands, and mountains surrounding it. This bay spans at least five hundred miles from north to south and four hundred miles from east to west. It is quite open and can accommodate millions of people to live and work in peace and contentment.”
Frenchman Martin nodded and said: "There should be many places like this in the western part of North America... That land is so vast that no white people have ever been to most places. Even if white people have arrived, I didn’t go deep, I just walked around the coastline and left. It’s normal that I didn’t find the Shang Fang Kingdom hiding in the depths of the bay.”
John Churchill also echoed: "Your Excellency Governor Martin is right. North America is indeed too big, and there are too few of us there. The territory actually controlled by us white people is very small... and As far as I know, there are mysterious ancient ruins in many places in North America, and you can tell at a glance that they were not built by barbaric Indians."
Sir Churchill paused, and then said in a very serious tone: "It seems that we have found out the truth... There are complete witnesses and physical evidence, and there are also ancient Chinese historical materials and North American ruins as circumstantial evidence. , a complete chain of evidence has been formed.
These evidences can completely prove that the Shang Fang Kingdom is the descendant of the merchants who migrated from China to North America more than 2,000 years ago. Now they have developed into a large country with a population of millions, and they also have as advanced gunpowder weapons as the Europeans. , and also received the support of the Ming Empire... The existence of this country poses a major threat to the territories of our European countries in the Americas, and we must deal with it with all our strength. "
"But Baron..." Frenchman Martin reminded, "We are still at war with the Turks in Central Europe!"
When it comes to the ongoing war between China and Europe, everyone's face doesn't look good. The Ottoman Empire was actually in decline before it captured Vienna. It lost two of the three major foreign wars starting in the 1760s, and only captured Left Bank Ukraine from Poland. But after winning the Battle of Vienna in 1684, the glory of the Ottoman Empire seemed to have returned.
Beginning in 1685, Emperor Leopold I, together with Polish King Jan Besowsky and Spanish reinforcements, counterattacked Vienna three times but were defeated by the Turks!
The Turks also took advantage of their victory and marched into the wealthy Kingdom of Bohemia, and forced the Parliament of the Kingdom of Bohemia to pay protection fees to the Ottoman Empire in exchange for "autonomy"... because in Vienna and Bohemia With the victory, the Ottoman Empire not only increased its prestige, but also gained a large amount of wealth, and its armament level was also greatly improved!
But at the same time, the European Christian camp has been unable to form a joint force.
Now Louis XIV was the only king who could possibly defeat the Ottoman Empire alone! He had the most powerful army and the best generals in the entire Christian camp, and he was also a "centralized monarch" who could mobilize the power of the entire France. But Louis XIV's asking price was high. He wanted the inheritance of the Kingdom of Spain or the throne of the Holy Roman Empire.
But the former means the unification of France and Spain, while the latter means the unification of France and Germany. As long as either of these two situations occurs, it means that the Christian civilization in Western Europe will have a unified trend!
A unified Western Europe is what most European monarchs and the Pope do not want to see... Due to the opposition of European monarchs and the Pope, Louis XIV's conditions could not be met, so he Someone shouted slogans: Send less troops. The slogans against Turkey were shouted loudly, but they did not send large troops. Even if they did send troops, it would only take 3,500 to deal with it.
The Netherlands and England, which also have strong strength, have been unable to send troops due to domestic disputes in the past two years.
The Catholic King of England had a bad relationship with the Protestant Parliament. The Parliament was worried that the King would use the opportunity of sending troops to Europe to aid the HRE to expand the influence of the Catholic Church, so it firmly opposed sending troops.
The Netherlands also opposed allocating funds to William III to recruit troops because the Grand Council took advantage of the opportunity to rescue the HRE to organize the Continental Army and was crowned king after the victory.
In addition, the Nordic power Sweden is also unwilling to send troops to support the HRE due to conflicts with the Poles.
Therefore, on the Central European battlefield, France, England, the Netherlands, and Sweden, which had strong strength, stood still, while the HRE, Poland, and Spain, which lacked strength, had no choice but to bite the bullet and launch wave after wave of offensives against the Ottoman Empire that were almost like killing people. scene.
And the Ottoman Empire has already made the HRE, Poland, and Spain miserable. If another American merchant country comes, how will the Spanish cope? If the Spanish Empire fell, what would HRE and Poland do to resist the Ottomans? If both the HRE and Poland succumbed to France, wouldn't Western Europe be unified?
When thinking about this, England's Churchill and the Netherlands's Regerson turned pale, while France's Martin showed a faint smile.
But the three of them are all running errands after all. How to deal with the affairs of the Shang Fang Kingdom in North America has to be solved by England, the Netherlands, France, Spain, the HRE, Portugal and the Pope.
What Churchill, Regerson, and Martin could do was to get on the fastest sailing ship and quickly send the news back to Europe.
At this moment, thousands of miles away in the Mongolian Qitian Mansion in Shangjing, and outside the Imperial City of Shangjing where the Kangxi Khan was stationed, there were layers upon layers of armored guards. In addition to those Sauron and Xibo soldiers, there were also soldiers from the leaders of Ruba Banner, Horqin and other tribes.
The strange atmosphere in the capital these days is naturally very clear to the great khans, kings, princes, and the guards around the important ministers and generals. During the days when he was sending money for the "double empress dowager", Kangxi Khan held high the banner of opposing the Ming and restoring the Qing Dynasty while spreading money everywhere. After the 10 million rupees he brought before were scattered, it was not enough, so he brought hundreds of thousands of taels of gold from Kaitian Mansion in Beijing to continue spreading!
The good Kangxi Khan suddenly became a rich man!
Spreading money can of course win people's hearts, so Kangxi Khan's "support rate" in Beijing has risen rapidly!
But not all people can be bribed. Kong Shenggong, some elders of the Confucian Eight Banners, and several princes of Horqin cannot be bribed... These people are not stupid either. They know that Kangxi will not only spread money , will also kill chickens to show to the monkeys, and these people may be the "chickens" who are going to be killed!
So they have to find ways to protect themselves!
So Junggar and Heshuote, two khanates that were being attacked or threatened by the Ming army, sent people to Beijing every day to ask for help... Did these urgent messengers come from the snow-covered plateau or Yeerqiang? No one can tell.
But Kong Shenggong and Yin Reng had something to say!
Kong Shenggong served as an "example" to Kangxi every day, while Yinreng, the "young hero", clamored to conquer the Central Plains and return to the old capital every day. They sang and harmonized together, as if one was possessed by Zhuge and the other was reincarnated by Wu Mu.
Although Kangxi was like a mirror in his heart, he knew what the two of them were planning, but he couldn't point it out... He could only be "Kang Adou" now, and definitely not "Kang Wanggou".
Otherwise, not only the Confucian Eight Banners and Horqin would be dissatisfied with him, but even the Qing Eight Banners and the Mongolian Eight Banners would "change their minds."
Therefore, Kangxi, who clearly wanted to settle in India and become a local tycoon, had no choice but to sing along and sing high-profile these days. However, Kangxi was not stupid... His size was "Kang Adou", and he would never be a military commander. Kang Shiwan". Because he became "Kang Shiwan" and was beaten so hard by Zhu Heji, he couldn't even continue to work as "Kang Adou".
If Kong Shenggong wants to be "Zhuge Shenggong", there is no problem! If Yin Reng wants to be "Yin Wu Mu", that's fine!
Anyway, he "Kang Adou" firmly supports it. If he wants a gun, he will give a gun, if he wants a candy, he will give a candy, and if he wants money, he will give money... What is there for the local tycoon?
But having said that, the local tycoon Khan Kang Adou has already been given what he deserves. If Kong Shenggong and Yin Reng can't defeat them anymore, it's because they are incompetent... When the time comes, don't blame Kang Adou for turning his back on others.
In the Dazheng Hall of the Imperial City in Shangjing, "Kang Adou" who was sitting high on the throne smiled and looked at "Zhuge Shenggong" and "Yinwu Mu" who were sitting on the left and right chairs respectively. , the cannons, muskets, sugar, gunpowder, silver, grain and grass you want have been collected for you... If it is not enough, I will immediately order them to be transferred from India to you!"
He stopped when he said this, and then carefully looked at the faces of "Zhuge Shenggong" and "Yinwumu". Shenggong looked melancholy, and he already knew that something was wrong. And Yinreng looked like he didn't know the heights of the sky... You could tell at a glance that he was not a wise king! It’s not okay if he is not a wise king. He cannot be the crown prince of Mongolia. Once he is defeated, he will be replaced!
