In terms of history, during the 17 years of Chongzhen's reign, the number of bachelors in the cabinet was changed frequently, with a total of fifty people. However, Wen Tiren stayed in the cabinet for eight years - he was able to bring such a suspicious, impatient, worried, and changeable person to the forefront.

Having served the emperor for so long, I have to say that this guy is great.

The reason why this is possible is that Lao Wen has two unique tricks.

The first is to pretend to be a lonely minister - Your Majesty, I am a lonely minister. I have no party members and am only loyal to you. The key reason why so many people say that I am not allowed to be a minister is that they have formed a clique.

Secondly, the body is soft. What is moral integrity? As long as the emperor likes something, I will pretend to be that way.

Look, if you are only loyal to the leader, he will pretend to be whatever the leader wants to see. What leader wouldn't like such a subordinate?

But that's all for Old Wen. He stayed in the cabinet for eight years, and the Ming Dynasty's national power still plummeted as fast as a weight falling to the ground without hesitation. Old Wen defeated countless political opponents in battles, and even pulled out enemies who had fallen down and whipped them...

…But as for how to govern the country, haha…

However, Zhu Youdong likes this guy.

In Zhu Youdong's plan, when he takes charge of the Ming Dynasty in the future, Lao Wen will definitely not be able to do specific work. However, let him be a good dog and fight this and that. Tsk tsk, how long has it been since the Ming Dynasty since Yan Song?

Is this a minister who pleases the emperor like this?

Therefore, although he knew that this guy was not very good, Zhu Youdong still politely practiced the etiquette routine with him for a while, and then personally sent him outside the palace.

In the afternoon of the second day, the last two of Zhu Youdong's eight teachers, Matteo Ricci and Xu Guangqi, appeared together.

"Hahahaha~~Mr. Mattiolic, nice to meet you."

"Oh? God. Your Royal Highness, the Crown Prince, how do you know my real name?"

"Hahahaha, not only do I know your real name, but I also know that you are from a territory of the Papal States, right?"

This was in 1605, and Italy was still just a geographical term. Therefore, if you want to say that Matteo Ricci was Italian, he probably wouldn’t even admit it. In fact, Matteo Ricci’s hometown belongs to the Marche region of Italy in modern times, and

In this era, it was the direct territory of the Papal States.

"Oh~~ Are there really people in this world who are born aware? It seems that the news my colleagues recently passed on is true."

"Hmm? Mr. Leach, what news have your colleagues given you?"

"Your Highness, the Grandson of the Emperor, I had to stay in Tianjin when you were born (I was forced to stay in Tianjin after being asked for bribes by the eunuchs), so I was not able to see the legendary vision of the blue dragon and white cranes gathering in the sky when you were born. In the past one or two years

, the Jesuits I belong to have sent me letters one after another from Macau, introducing the visions that appeared in various places in the West more than four years ago. Oh~~ God! It seems that these visions all appeared on the same day, and they all appeared.

Not long after these visions appeared, various local royal families had new boys!"

"Hahahaha~~ Are there any visions? Come on, Mr. Leach, tell me what these visions are specifically?"

"Yes, Your Highness, let's start with the Spanish Habsburg royal family in Europe..."

…

After listening to Matteo Ricci's description, Zhu Youdong couldn't help but smacked his mouth: Tsk! Didn't it mean that my imagination in Greater China is super rich, and I am the best at playing with various visions! How do you feel about being escorted by other people's holy angels?

, compared with the appearance of the main god, the prelude to the appearance of the young master feels a bit lo-y? Forget it, this is not the point. The important thing is that Christ can choose two people, and both of them were actually born in Habu, Spain.

Castle royal family!

"Well, Mr. Leach, you just said that the royal family that received a newborn baby along with these visions, whether it is Ottoman or Ming Dynasty, is a newborn. And only the Habsburg royal family received

Are they twins?"

"Uh...yes." After saying this, Matteo Ricci couldn't help but feel proud: "This is the glory bestowed by the Lord to us believers, thank the Lord!"

Huh, what a cunning Lord God!

But it's true, the saying "don't put eggs in one basket" is not entirely correct. Because besides this sentence, there is another saying: put eggs in one basket, and then watch that basket.

If Jesus placed the two representatives of Christ in two different royal houses, the problem would be huge: before Christ's power could expand, there would have to be a fierce civil war.

However, one of the two Habsburg twins must understand all the rules of the entire game, and the other one, haha...

Zhu Youdong, who had figured out this section, no longer struggled. He quickly adjusted his mood and put on a cute smile: "May I ask Mr. Leach, what is the overall situation in Taixi at this time? Those so-called Protestants

, isn’t it becoming more and more excessive?”

"Oh! These damn heretics! They all deserve to be burned alive on the stake!"

Xu Guangqi, who had been silent at the beginning, could not help but open his eyes: Is this Matteo Ricci, who has always treated the world with humility and kindness? Why does he feel so ferocious? Cruel?

Although Xu Guangqi was extremely surprised, Zhu Youdong did not have a big reaction: the Renaissance in Western Europe has been paving the way for two to three hundred years, and the religious reform is also in full swing. The emerging bourgeoisie and citizen classes have more and more political demands, and the new

The believers are increasingly dissatisfied with the various teachings of the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church and the traditional royal family are unwilling to give up power easily. Such a fierce conflict will eventually determine the winner or loser in a tragic war. In the standard of history

On the surface, this is the Thirty Years War that resulted in the male population of the Holy Roman Empire being reduced by half.

This was a civil war that began in the Holy Roman Empire and eventually evolved into a large-scale war involving almost all of Europe.

The two sides in the war were the Habsburg dynasty, the Catholic princes of the Holy Roman Empire, the Papal States, and Poland on one side, and almost all other countries in Europe on the other.

In short, this was almost a war between the Habsburg Empire and all of Europe.

On a historical level, the Spanish Armada went on an expedition to Britain in 1588, but suffered heavy losses due to bad weather and tough British resistance. However, for Spain, which was at its peak of national power at the time, the failure of the Armada was not a big deal—

—After that, Spain organized four consecutive Armada expeditions. Although all of them failed, they also caused great damage to Britain's vitality. At least in the 16th century and the early 17th century, Spain was still the hegemon of the Mediterranean and the Atlantic.

What really caused the complete decline of Spain or the Habsburg dynasty was the Thirty Years' War in which Spain fought against all of Europe.

This cruel, tragic, and extremely long war completely brought down the Habsburg dynasty. The huge empire established due to marriages and conquests split and declined. From this, the Netherlands, Britain, and France came to be.

rise...

At least at this time, the most powerful country in Europe is still Spain. The most powerful royal family still rules the principalities of Spain, Portugal, Austria, Hungary, Bohemia, and Italy, and has vast territories in America and Asia.
Chapter completed!