On the sea southwest of Wanli Changsha, the Spanish "Galleon de Manila" fleet was sailing southwest under the gloomy sky.
In the captain's room on the fleet's flagship "Galicia", the captain himself was not among them. Instead, there was an old missionary and a gentle middle-aged nobleman.
"President Alfaro, what do you think of my brother governor?" the middle-aged nobleman asked the missionary with a smile while holding a glass of red wine. The missionary's full name is Pedro de Alfaro. , then the vicar general of the Franciscan Province of Manila.
President Alfaro also had a glass of red wine in his hand, but he never took a sip. He looked calm and said slowly: "Sir Diego, I am surprised by your brother's ambition, but unfortunately, I personally do not Be optimistic about his plan. With all due respect, Governor Peña's plan can only exist on paper. Yes, Sir, I insist that if His Majesty Philip II is really persuaded by him, then we are in the East Ten years of hard work is likely to completely collapse within one to two years.”
"President Alfaro." The middle-aged nobleman did not show any anger at all. Instead, he smiled softly and said, "My half-brother is a very lucky man. He once defeated 4,000 people with 300 people, so he can defeat 4,000 people with 300 people." I am always so confident.”
Alfaro saw a look of ridicule on the middle-aged noble's face, and immediately heard the noble continue: "Although he used 300 musketeers armed to the teeth to kill 4,000 Potosi miner slaves, you know, they People are very good at taking credit for themselves, so when the information of these 4,000 people was presented to His Majesty's desk, they had turned into 4,000 well-trained and well-equipped rebels... As a result, my brother also had the opportunity to rise to a higher level. positions until eventually becoming the fourth Governor General of the Philippines.”
The middle-aged nobleman said this, but Alfaro did not answer his words. He just said calmly: "Sir Diego, I have no intention of commenting on the Governor's past achievements - I don't understand, and I don't need to understand."
"No, no, no, Mr. President, I think it is necessary for you to understand these things." The middle-aged noble shook his head and said: "As long as you still have hope for our pioneering career in the East, then understand the true identity of my brother, the governor. Ability is a very important thing - it is about whether you can convince His Majesty."
But Alfaro still shook his head and said seriously: "Sir Diego, I think you misunderstood me. The reason why I don't need to understand your brother's ability is because no matter whether your brother's ability is strong or weak, it cannot change me." Discourage Your Majesty from accepting the plan proposed by your brother."
"Oh?" Sir Diego seemed a little surprised and asked, "Can I ask the president why this is the case?"
"Of course, I have no intention of hiding this from beginning to end." Alfaro said: "A few days ago, Mr. Jazz also saw the Ming Empire's trade fleet in Manila Port. I don't know what you think about this fleet. What do you think?"
"A very good fleet." Sir Diego raised his eyebrows slightly: "I must admit that I am surprised to see such a regular fleet and well-trained crew outside of Europe."
"So, what do you think of the combat effectiveness of this fleet? I mean, if we have a battle with them." Alfaro asked.
"You mean if there is a battle between them and our fleet?" Sir Diego thought for a moment and replied: "We can win - of course, we need to pay some price."
"I'm glad you didn't do what your brother did, always saying things like 'We will be able to win easily and dedicate a great victory to the greatest monarch in the world.'" Alfaro showed a rare smile. , but immediately became serious again and said: "As for the fleet we saw in Manila Port that day, I wonder if you have made accurate statistics?"
"Exact statistics?" Sir Diego frowned: "What kind of 'exact' do you mean?"
"It seems that you have not deliberately counted." Alfaro put down the red wine glass and said: "I have counted and found that the fleet has a total of thirty-four large and small ships, including armed merchant ships with almost identical appearances and flying the same flag. There are twenty of them, and these armed merchant ships are the main targets of our transactions—the ships of Jinghua Maritime Trading."
"Oh, they are our most important business partners in the East? It seems that our partners have good strength. Although I have not participated in these business activities, I think our businessmen will be happy to have such powerful trading partners - this It means they don’t have to worry about the source of the goods.”
"Your opinion is correct, but please allow me to correct your wording a little." Alfaro said calmly: "These Jinghua Maritime Trading fleets flying the 'Book and Sword' flag are just a fleet of Jinghua Maritime Trading Company. A very important part of the squadron."
Sir Diego's face froze obviously, and his smile became a little unnatural. Finally, he was silent for a while and asked: "Are you sure that the fleet I saw that day was just a less important squadron of the company?" Part'? I know that you once specialized in literature before becoming a servant of the Lord, so I hope that what you just said was not so exaggerated that it caused unnecessary misjudgment on my part."
"Precisely because I specialized in literature when I was young, I am very careful in my choice of words. I will never exaggerate when there should be no exaggeration - I take full responsibility for what I just said."
Sir Diego stared into President Alfaro's eyes, as if trying to find out what he wanted from them, but the latter's expression did not loosen at all.
Finally, Sir Diego gave up. He frowned deeply and asked, "That fleet - I mean those twenty armed merchant ships, what proportion of the company's ships are they approximately?"
"Unfortunately, Sir, I don't know a more detailed and definite answer." Alfaro shook his head and said: "But based on my understanding from many parties in the past three years - including communication with Father Luo Mingjian and others - I think this The fleet is no more than one-tenth of the company’s strength.”
"This is impossible!" Sir Diego suddenly stood up angrily and glared: "Do you know what you are talking about? You are saying that this company alone has no less than two hundred such large armed merchant ships? Your Excellency, President, even though I don’t know the cost of Dongfang’s man-made ships, the value of this fleet is at least more than..."
"More than eleven million taels of silver." Alfaro shrugged indifferently and said: "If you mean this, then I don't need your reminder, because the price is open and transparent."
"What do you mean, open and transparent?" Sir Diego was obviously stunned.
"What I mean is that the prices of the Jinghua Shipyard of the Ming Empire for the armed merchant ships they produce and build are open and transparent, and everyone - including us and the Portuguese - can order them. , as long as you are willing to spend money, you can buy it.”
Sir Diego was stunned for a while and said in disbelief: "It's hard for me to believe this is true, even though I can see from your look that you are not joking."
Alfaro sighed and said: "You don't have to doubt that the armed merchant ship you saw that day can indeed be ordered from Jinghua Shipyard. According to the price they announced, the price of a single ship ordered by Jinghua Marine Trading Company itself It’s 55,000 taels of silver, and the Portuguese and our order prices are the same: 60,000 taels of silver per ship.”
"The price of a single ship seems a bit expensive. It seems that Oriental doesn't really intend to sell it?" Sir Diego seemed to want to continue struggling.
It is a pity that President Alfaro broke his illusion and said regretfully: "You are wrong again. Although their single ship cost seems to be expensive, you need to know that their calculation method is different from ours - Seville When shipyards in other places sell ships, they do not include ship-borne artillery or personnel training, but these things are standard services when Jinghua Shipyard sells ships - of course, if the buyer says they do not need it, they will Discounts are also available. However, Sir, please believe that buying the entire ship is the most cost-effective."
Sir Diego did not argue whether it was cost-effective or not, but asked after a moment of silence: "Your Excellency, President, I would like to know what the annual construction capacity of this shipyard you mentioned is."
"The scale of this shipyard is very large." Alfaro explained: "I only know that it has three main branches involved in sea-going ship manufacturing. These three large branches span a large distance from north to south, and one of them is located in Daming. A place called 'laizhou' in the north of the empire, another one in the south of the empire called 'qinzhou', and a newly built branch factory in Annan, a place they call 'jingang'.
Of these three places, the first two should be the main ones, and I only know something about the one located in 'qinzhou'. As far as I know - including Father Luo Mingjian's evidence - the branch can build at least 50-60 armed merchant ships of this class every year. In addition, it can also build a smaller class - that is, models sold to the private sector - about 40-50 ships.
In addition, Father Luo Mingjian and I are also convinced that this branch factory can also build one or two more specialized and large-scale warships. They call them 'cruisers', but what is its construction capacity? , we don’t know yet. Oh, by the way, the construction capacity of Jinghua Shipyard I mentioned above only refers to its construction capacity under normal conditions. If an unexpected situation occurs - such as the stimulation of war - it cannot be predicted due to various reasons. "
Sir Diego's silent face was ashen. After a long while, he took out a letter with a gorgeous envelope and complicated lacquer from his arms, raised it to Alfaro, and said: "After listening to the words of the President, I am very happy now." I want to throw this letter directly into the sea."
Alfaro glanced at the letter and saw that the envelope read: "To His Majesty the Great and Pious Philip II, King of Spain, Portugal and the New World" and the signature was "Your most loyal servant, Philippines Governor Gonzalo Angelo de Peña".
Alfaro did not speak, but looked at Sir Diego calmly and asked: "Your brother, Governor Peña, believes that only 5,000 soldiers are needed to conquer the Ming Empire..."
"I said it before," Diego said with a look of disgust on his face: "Don't take his stupid words seriously - the 'orthodox' successor of the Peña family is a poor guy with two tons of sea water in his brain."
Alfaro shrugged slightly and said: "Sir, the rifle I gave you is not only the current standard equipment of the Ming Empire, but also the standard equipment of the mercenaries under Jinghua Company. I hope you can keep it properly until it is presented to the king. The moment His Majesty inspects it.”
Diego nodded solemnly and asked: "By the way, Mr. President, since the ships of Jinghua Shipyard are sold together with the cannons, why don't we buy one? In addition to studying their unique sail structure, In addition, we can also verify their artillery level, which I think is very meaningful.”
"Please believe me, Sir, that we have not considered this, but later when our people visited this class of armed merchant ships, they discovered a very serious problem, so that we still haven't decided whether to spend such a sum of money. Use the money to buy the ship.”
Diego was surprised: "What's the problem? Are their ships seriously defective?"
"For us, this is indeed the case." Alfaro sighed: "We found that their sail structure is relatively fixed. After we use the sails they provide, it will be difficult to change it back to our own when needed. Soft sails, and their sail configuration is only suitable in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, and once it enters the Atlantic it becomes unreliable and unsuitable."
Alfaro shook his head and said: "Spain is a global monarchy, and its homeland is in Europe. It is impossible for us to use a ship that is not suitable for sailing in the Atlantic. And if we only buy this class of armed merchant ships for research purposes, this amount of money Who will pay for it? It’s impossible for the Franciscans to come up with this money, otherwise we can’t explain it.”
"Okay, I understand what your Excellency means. When I return to Madrid, I will convince His Majesty the King that he will pay this very necessary expenditure."
Diego paused for a moment after saying this, and then said: "I remember you told me before that 'jinghua' is the largest comprehensive commercial company in the Ming Empire. Please tell me, can I understand it as the company?" The actual controller of the Ming Dynasty - that person called Gao Pragmatic, whose status in the business world of the Ming Empire was equivalent to that of the Medici back then, Fugger today, or Spinola, Doria, Centurion, and Gerard. These families like the Limarti and the Lomerini?”
Alfaro was silent for a while and said calmly: "Perhaps you should add up all these families and then compare them with this pragmatic gentleman."
Sir Diego gasped: "Are you sure?"
"Yes, Sir, I'm sure." Alfaro said: "I can't describe his wealth, but you can imagine that in a country with a population of 200 million, he has a near-monopoly on maritime trade and land border trade. Also owning an industrial company like Jinghua Shipyard, what kind of wealth and power is this?
What's more, as far as I know, the Ming Empire's annual steel and iron output is close to 25 million kilograms (converted), of which nearly 15 million kilograms are produced by the iron factories in Beijing - that is to say , the steel output of the iron plants under the name of Jinghua Company even far exceeded that of the whole of Spain (Note: In fact, the iron output of Spain itself is not high. The popular thinking in the country at that time was "let them produce, we only need to buy, because We have the gold and silver of America”). "
Sir Diego was silent again, and after a while, he asked: "I heard that this pragmatic gentleman once proposed direct trade with us and opened Annan's Golden Port as a free port. I don't know why our merchants still only Will wait in Manila.”
Alfaro shrugged slightly: "About this issue, I suggest you consult His Excellency Governor Peña. It was he who issued the ban. It is said - of course I just heard - that he wanted to avoid conflicts with the Portuguese at this special moment. Conflict, because it is very important for His Majesty to smoothly obtain the rule of Portugal."
"Aha! Yes, for Portugal, he plans to attack the most populous empire in the world, and he also said that he only needs 5,000 soldiers! Our Governor of Peña is really the bravest warrior God has given to Spain. I am so proud of him Full of respect.”
Unrepressed ridicule surged on Diego's face, and he continued: "If he were not worried that our trade plan would be implicated by him, I would even hope that His Majesty the King would mercifully agree to his request and let him experience it for himself. The feeling of having 1.4 million rifles pointed at your head!"
Alfaro smiled silently but said nothing.
"Well, Your Excellency, as your Majesty's special envoy, I think I have fully understood your point of view, and fully realized the economic and military strength of the Ming Empire - especially the high pragmatic Excellency. Those who have the blue blood of the Peña family agree with Governor Peña’s foolish plan.”
(Note: "Blue blood" is not really blue blood. At that time, European aristocrats were known as "blue blood aristocrats". If you don't know the reason, you can search it on Baidu.)
"Oh, by the way, is this pragmatic gentleman a noble?" Sir Diego suddenly added a question.
"I'm sorry, Sir, I'm not very sure whether Lord Gao Jingshi holds a noble title. But as far as I know, several generations of his ancestors were imperial officials, especially his uncle, who was the chief minister of the Ming Empire and obtained The highest honorary title in the empire, they call it 'wenzheng' - I'm not sure what the actual meaning of this title is, but judging from the expressions on other people's faces when mentioning it, it may be equivalent to a saint."
Sir Diego was in awe, sat up straight, and made a cross on his chest: "Ah, what a great man. I hope I can have the opportunity to communicate with this saint's nephew in person in the future." He said After a short pause here, he relaxed and said with a smile: "After all, a person who can own such a huge fleet should receive due respect anywhere in the world, don't you think so?"
Alfaro nodded seriously and said: "Yes, Sir, I completely agree with you. To use Mingren's expression, His Excellency Gao Pragmatic's fleet is so powerful that it can 'cover the sea with thousands of sails and cover the waves with thousands of miles'." Power. No matter who he is, he should be given respect that matches this power."
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Thanks to book friends "Cao Mianzi" and "Ding Qi Zhao Bi Xin" for their reward support, thank you! Thanks to book friend "Yue Xiaoyao" for your monthly ticket support, thank you!
PS: The Governor of Peñaloza who appears in this chapter is a historical figure, whose full name is "Gonzalo Ronquillo de Peñaloza". This person did propose a plan or proposal to Philip II to "conquer the Ming Dynasty with 5,000 soldiers," but Philip II ignored it. . In addition, Alfaro is also a historical figure.
