The Marquis of Mendoza brought an interpreter to see Emperor Zhu Da, and the interpreter he brought had been working with Guo Youde for several days, and he could already understand the standard Tianjin Mandarin. So Mendoza immediately learned from his translator that Mr. Guo was talking nonsense again!
What does it mean that God and the devil agree to make peace under the mediation of the Ming Empire?
When did God and the devil ever agree?
"Your Majesty the Emperor!" The Marquis of Mendoza ignored diplomatic etiquette and stood up from his chair to raise an objection in Latin. "Marquis Deyun is talking nonsense. I never said that God and the devil want to make peace. I just Said the Spanish Empire could make peace with the Merchant States...as long as they would stop destroying the territorial integrity of New Spain by supporting the Aztecs and Incas!"
His words were quickly translated into Chinese by the translator in the hall. In fact, Emperor Zhu could understand what he was saying without any translation?
But he still waited for the translator to finish speaking before turning his attention to Guo Youde, who was very good at diplomacy.
"What are you talking about?" Guo Youde immediately became angry, "Why am I talking nonsense? Tell me, Ni, who said that Shang Fangguo and the devil are together? Have you ever said that?"
The words quickly changed to Spanish again.
"Shang Fang is indeed suspected of surrendering to the devil!" Marquis Mendoza said in Latin, "There is a lot of evidence to prove it!"
"Yeah!" Zhu Heji tried his best to hold back his laughter... He was the emperor, and he had to have the majesty of the emperor. "If there is a devil on one side, then there must be God on the other side, otherwise he would have been doomed long ago."
Zhuge Military Advisor beside him couldn't bear it any longer. He waved his goose-feather fan and asked, "Master, I want to ask you, what is the relationship between your country of Spain and that man named God? Is it an ally? Is it a vassal? Is it a benefactor or a monk?" A nation of fathers, sons and brothers?"
This Zhuge military advisor is also capable of telling nonsense! If he hadn't met the wise master Zhu Heji, he would have been a fortune teller who relied on bragging for his whole life.
His words were again translated into Spanish.
The Marquis of Mendoza said sternly: "We in Spain are a country blessed by God, that is, a country under the protection of God!"
God's favor? Zhu Hexin said, "Are you nervous?"
Military Advisor Zhuge pinched his fingers and calculated, "That means God is the sect and Spain is the vassal."
Guo Youde said: "What the military advisor said is very true...This means that God and your Spain are in the same group, and the devil and the merchants are in the same group. Lord Meng, are you right?"
"right……"
Although he said this, Marquis Mendoza thought in his heart: "This is definitely not right! But how can I say this like this? I have been doing diplomacy for many years, how come I can't do it this time? ?”
Guo Youde spoke again: "If God and the devil do not make peace, the peace between Spain and the Shang Dynasty will be considered a separate peace... This is a betrayal of God and the devil. Lord, do you dare to betray God?"
When his words were translated into Spanish, Marquis Mendoza's heart dropped.
It's so difficult to deal with these Chinese people. They are all full of lies and are very clever at getting around. If you continue like this, you will be burned at the stake sooner or later!
Just when the Marquis of Mendoza was feeling desperate. Zhu Heji, who seemed to be quite reasonable, finally spoke: "Mr. Men, I heard someone say that you Westerners believe in giving God's things to God, and to Caesar's things to Caesar. You are the envoy of the Spanish Emperor, and you belong to Caesar's line. Right? It's not your business to get involved in matters involving God and the devil, but your negotiation with the merchant involves God and the devil.
Otherwise, you can find an envoy who can represent God to come to Ming Dynasty... I also sent envoys to the merchants and asked them and the devil's envoys to come to Ming Dynasty. Then the two sides sit down and talk, and maybe they can reach a package peace agreement. "
Messengers of God and messengers of the devil are negotiating in China... and a peace package is to be reached!
While Zhu Heji was talking nonsense, he was thinking in his mind: "Why is this so fantastical? If it goes on, it will be a sequel to The List of Gods."
"Okay!" Marquis Mendoza agreed immediately.
Zhu Heji thought that fantasy things were good to him... He no longer had to bear the responsibility of being burned at the stake or going to hell.
"However, the envoy who represents God has to be sent from Rome, where the Universal Church is located. I'm afraid it will take a long time to arrive in China." Marquis Mendoza put forward another condition this time, "Before the envoy from the Roman Church arrives, I hope your country can abide by its neutrality and not provide any military assistance to Shang Fang. Because that will destroy your Ming Dynasty’s neutral status and put Ming Dynasty on the opposite side of the entire Christian civilization!”
In fact, this is the main purpose of Marquis Mendoza coming to Ming Dynasty!
Leopold I did not want to negotiate peace with the merchants when the current battlefield situation was very unfavorable to the Spanish Empire. He just wanted to use the guise of inviting the Ming Dynasty to mediate, and then used the bait of giving up the claim to the Philippine colony and paying a compensation. , in exchange for Ming’s outsider neutrality.
But before the interpreter present could speak, Zhu Heji spoke in an extremely gloomy tone: "Mendoza, are you threatening Ming Dynasty? Do you know the consequences of offending Ming Dynasty?
Let me tell you, the Ming Dynasty and the Shang Dynasty have been brotherly countries for hundreds of years. Not allies, but better than allies. There is no upper limit to the cooperation between Ming Dynasty and Shang Dynasty, and no country is allowed to interfere. Otherwise, there will be consequences at your own risk...don't be unpremeditated! "
The words were quickly translated into Spanish.
The Marquis of Mendoza immediately realized the seriousness of the problem, but he still pretended to be calm and asked in Latin: "Your Majesty the Emperor, do you, the Ming Empire, want to give up external neutrality?"
"No!" Zhu He said, "The Ming Dynasty will not directly participate in the war in the New World... The Ming Dynasty will remain neutral. But the Ming Dynasty will still continue to cooperate with Shang Fang without an upper limit! Perhaps such cooperation violates the so-called international Tongfa, but you must be aware of the fact that in today’s world, the Ming Dynasty is an exception!”
Although what Zhu Heji said was very arrogant and unreasonable.
But it is indeed a fact!
Great Tomorrow is now an exception that no one can do anything about.
Now, the Frankish Holy Roman Empire is engaged in a fierce and bloody war with the Ottoman Empire. I don’t know how long the war will last? The power of the Spanish Empire and the Kingdom of England was restrained by the Shang Kingdom in North America, and they did not dare to provoke the Ming Dynasty again.
As for the Netherlands and Portugal, in order to continue the spice business in Nanyang and various other large-scale transactions, they began to cooperate with the Ming Dynasty.
Looking at the world, perhaps only Mongolia can compete with the Ming Dynasty... But after the Kangxi Khan arrived in India, he seemed to have lost his previous ambitions and began to build his own comfort zone in northwest India.
Seeing that the threat failed, the Marquis of Mendoza had no choice but to change his strategy. He said to Zhu Heji: "Your Majesty, please calm down. Our Spanish Empire has no intention of becoming an enemy of the Ming Empire. Moreover, we are willing to give up the Philippine colonies and massacre Luzon Island." Negotiations with the Ming Dynasty regarding compensation...Spain is willing to pay large amounts of silver and gold!"
Zhu Heji's tone also softened, but he did not nod, but shook his head and said: "The ownership of Luzon Island does not need to be negotiated anymore. It has been owned by the Celestial Empire since ancient times! As for compensation... There’s no rush, let’s solve the problem of peace between God and the devil first!”
Zhu Heji actually did not want compensation from the Spanish Empire. The Chinese Empire had been providing goods to the world for hundreds of years, and precious metals continued to come. After the establishment of the New Ming Dynasty, this trend not only did not slow down, but also accelerated due to the arrival of the "sweet gunpowder" era!
In addition, because the financial industry of the New Ming Dynasty was far more developed than that of the previous Qing Dynasty and the old Ming Dynasty, the domestic currency of the New Ming Dynasty was not tight at all, but instead expanded year after year.
At the same time, after the war against the Qing Dynasty and the restoration of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty's finances improved greatly. Especially after the land equalization system was widely implemented, the Ming Dynasty court had a wide tax base. More than 70% of the arable land in the country has been equalized. Although it is all under the name of clans or villages, because the scale of those clans and villages is not large, a situation has been formed where small clans and small villages are fighting against the big officials. Resistance to taxes is It's simply impossible. Moreover, the imperial court also had two big pieces of meat that could be distributed, namely, education promotion and a large amount of reclaimable land... so few clans and villages would go against the imperial court for a tiny bit of land tax.
And the commercial circulation tax, which is similar to the value-added tax, has become more and more perfect after years of continuous improvement, and it is becoming more and more like a value-added tax. Therefore, the Ming court was also able to extract high taxes from the increasingly prosperous industrial and commercial activities.
With various taxes such as land taxes, circulation taxes, salt taxes, customs duties, and mining taxes increasing year after year, the Ming Dynasty's finances were certainly very generous. Therefore, the Ming court did not need Spanish reparations to replenish the treasury.
Of course, Zhu Heji just didn't want compensation, it wasn't that he didn't want compensation.
The Spanish Empire now has three good treasures that the Ming Emperor really wanted to get!
One is the cinchona tree. The cinchona cream used to treat malaria is extracted from the bark of the cinchona tree.
The second is cochineal, which is the source of carmine, and carmine is a highly valuable red dye that was very important to the textile industry of the Ming Dynasty.
The third is the seeds of rubber trees. Zhu Heji masters the formula of vulcanized rubber, and he also has land suitable for planting rubber trees...the only thing missing is the seeds of rubber trees. This is a big industry!
To get these three treasures, Shang Fang cannot do it without beating the Spaniards, so now Emperor Zhu will not discuss compensation with the Spaniards at all. He has to beat them first and then make conditions.
"Your Majesty the Emperor," Marquis Mendoza thought for a while, "I understand what you mean... I will convey your intention to the European side and invite envoys from the Ecumenical Church to come to China. Is this okay?"
"Okay! That's it," Zhu Heji smiled and nodded, "You go to Haijing Guangzhou Mansion and talk slowly... Anyway, neither you nor Shang Fang Kingdom can take advantage of the other. On the battlefield, At the end of the fight, you have to go back to the negotiating table and sign an agreement.
In addition, I, as the intermediary, will arrange for the Crown Prince and the American King Zhu Yimei to go to Guangzhou to host talks. "
...
"Crackling, crackling..."
The sound of firecrackers rang all night in the Pingtianfu Banner City of Nanjing in Mongolia, and it did not stop completely until the early morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year.
This is really a New Year’s Eve full of flavor!
However, after the commotion this night, most people in the Pingtian Palace Imperial City, including Kangxi, had fallen asleep, and only a small number of people were still awake. Among them are Sophia Suo'eniang and the eldest brother Zhijun Wang Yinti.
At this moment, the eldest son of Kangxi Khan was in the palace hall of the imperial city, asking for his mother-in-law's greetings and a few words in private.
And he was still speaking in Rakshasa language!
This Yinti is not really stupid, but he is not as good as his younger brother Yinti. He spent two years with little Peter in the early years, and actually learned Rakshasa language by the way. It's not very good, but it's enough to talk to stepmother Sophia Suo's mother.
"Mother, Huang Ama just misses my second brother a little. They haven't seen each other for many years... Don't get me wrong! Huang Ama's favorite is the sixth brother, but he regards the sixth brother as a symbol of the revival of the Qing Dynasty. We, as brothers, can only help the sixth brother. As long as the sixth brother can restore the Qing Dynasty, we brothers will also benefit from it."
Yinti understood Kangxi's thoughts quite well, and seemed to know that he couldn't compete with Yinti at all, but he didn't quite understand Suo'eniang's thoughts.
"Brother," Sofia Sophia sat on a large throne, looking at Yinti who looked filial, "you don't really think that Nicholas (Yin?) has the ability to restore the Qing Dynasty, do you? And do we really need to restore the Qing Dynasty? Do you think India is not good enough or rich enough? We only occupy about a quarter of India now... Even if Nikolai worked for it all his life, it would still be very difficult. Is it difficult to unify a rich but fragmented country like India? So I think it would be great if Nicholas could be a good Indian emperor. As for the area north of Kabul, let his brothers rule it! , you are Nicholas’s eldest brother, you should get more!”
"Eniang..." Yinti raised his head and looked at his fierce stepmother with grateful eyes, "My son is the daughter of Emperor Ama's concubine."
Sofia laughed: "Yinti, I know you are not qualified to be the emperor's heir. This is why Nicholas and I can trust you. Nicholas and I both hope that you can become the supreme ruler of the Northern Empire. Become the Great Khan!”
When Yinti heard this, he trembled and quickly bowed down and said, "I don't dare."
"No! You dare!" Sofia looked at Yinti, "And with the support of me and Nicholas, you can definitely become the Great Khan of the Northern Empire!"
Yinti was told what was on his mind by his mother-in-law, and even his breathing became a little hurried, "Mother, I don't dare to be a great sweat. I can go to the northern Xinjiang to be the king and defend you and Nicholas from the violence." Ming, I will be content to guard the north."
Sofia grinned widely and said, "Yinti, your demands are not high. As long as Yinti falls...I will definitely make you the king of the north!"
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