Chapter 1045, the friendship of the Habsburg family
In the West Pole Port, as the Black Sea Fleet led by Tian Erniu officially arrived at the West Pole Port, the entire port began to become lively. After many days of sailing, the tired sailors and crew members were in urgent need of rest and disembarked in groups.
, and began to appreciate Xiji Harbor with great interest.
As for the many locals working in the West Pole Port, they all looked curiously at the large ships in the port. These large ships were huge, larger than any ships they had seen before.
With such a powerful fleet stationed in the Black Sea, the security here will be more guaranteed in the future, and once again let them feel the strength of the powerful empire.
You must know that this Black Sea Fleet was dispatched from the extremely far east to Europe, and then entered the Black Sea through the Mediterranean Sea. The voyage covered a distance of tens of thousands of miles. Such a terrifying distance is simply beyond imagination.
In the military camp at West Pole Port, Huo Ying prepared a banquet to entertain Tian Erniu, the Spanish envoy Anthony, and the Hungarian envoy Ivan who came from afar.
After a while of drinking and greeting each other, the Spanish envoy Anthony couldn't help but asked anxiously: "Your Majesty, Marquis, will this become an important port for the Ming Dynasty to Europe in the future?"
"Of course, we in the Ming Dynasty worked hard from east to west, opening up territory all the way here, naturally in order to open up the land trade route between the east and the west."
"Now the South Caucasus region is included in the territory of our Ming Dynasty. From here, we go east through the Khazar Sea to the Hezhong area, and then through the Hezhong area we reach the Western Region of our Ming Dynasty. After passing the Western Region, we enter the Hexi Corridor, which almost enters our territory.
There are two capitals and thirteen provinces in the Ming Dynasty."
Huo Ying nodded very solemnly and said.
The Ming Dynasty has always been committed to opening up the land trade route between the East and the West. Now it has basically completed this goal. From then on, the Ming Dynasty's goods can be continuously sold to Europe and West Asia through this route.
The Ming Dynasty brought huge wealth.
Hearing Huo Ying's words, Anthony's face didn't look very good, because this was really not good news for the Spaniards.
Without this route, goods from the Ming Dynasty could only reach Europe by water. Even if the Ming Dynasty did not form an alliance with Spain, Spanish merchants could still earn huge profits on this trade route.
Because no one can replace Spain's presence on the sea now, especially after last year's severe blow to Portugal, England and France, which has strengthened Spain's presence and power on the sea, at least on the European side, they
Its position is unassailable.
But with the addition of an overland trade route, these countries along the way can all get a share of the pie. Spain does not have any advantages on this route, and because of the Ottoman Empire, it may be difficult for Spain to participate in the benefits brought by this route.
came huge wealth.
Compared with Anthony's face, Ivan's face was full of smiles. With Huo Ying's confirmation, his trip was not in vain. In the future, Hungary can rely on this new business route to quickly become rich.
.
Of course, the premise is that you can gain the friendship of the Ming people.
Obviously, Hungary now has no contact with the Ming Dynasty, and they are very strange to each other, while the relationship between the Spaniards and the Ming Dynasty is much better, and they are even allies now, each sending troops for the other.
"Your Majesty the Marquis~"
"This is a gift from our King Vladislas II of Hungary to His Majesty the Ming Emperor. I also ask Your Excellency the Marquis to forward it to His Majesty the Ming Emperor."
Ivan stood up very formally, ordered someone to bring a few things, and also took out a letter: "This is a letter written by our king to His Majesty the Ming Emperor. We, the Kingdom of Hungary, hope to establish friendship with the Ming Empire."
relationship."
"At the same time, we, the King of Hungary, hope that His Majesty the Ming Emperor will allow us to send a mission to the Ming Dynasty."
Hearing Ivan's words, Huo Ying, Tian Erniu and other Ming people all stood up very respectfully, especially the generals who came from the army, and they were even more respectful.
In their daily study and training, they were instilled with the idea of absolute loyalty to the emperor and patriotism. They must be respectful to the emperor of tomorrow, even if they only say these few words.
Huo Ying and Tian Erniu looked at the gifts presented by Ivan, a wolf skin from the Alps, a whole snow-white wolf skin without any damage; a scepter inlaid with various gems; several
This is a thick book that looks very ancient, plus some miscellaneous things.
“Thank you very much for the gift from the King of Hungary~”
"I will report this matter to our Ming Dynasty. However, this place is far away from the Ming Dynasty. It may take some time to get news."
Huo Ying respectfully accepted the letter from the other party and solemnly expressed his gratitude.
"I can understand, I can understand~"
Ivan replied with a happy smile, and then looked at Anthony, the meaning couldn't be more obvious.
Anthony looked a little annoyed, but he didn't show it.
Because of the friendly relationship between Spain and Ming Dynasty, gifts from each other had already been sent to each other, so he did not prepare any gifts when he came this time, which seemed a bit embarrassing.
"Your Majesty the Margrave, this is a gift entrusted to me by the Habsburg family to give to His Majesty the Ming Emperor. At the same time, this is a letter written by a member of the Habsburg family, the Holy Roman Emperor and the Archduke Maximilian I of Austria to His Majesty the Ming Emperor.
Through the handwritten letter, the Habsburg family hopes to establish friendly relations with the Ming Dynasty."
Ivan ordered others to bring several boxes of gifts, took out a letter, and spoke to Huo Ying very solemnly.
"A member of the Habsburg family?"
"Holy Roman Emperor?"
"Archduke of Austria~"
"Maximilian I?"
Hearing Ivan's words, Huo Ying, Tian Erniu and others were slightly shocked. This person sent by the Kingdom of Hungary actually offered the friendship of the Habsburg family at the same time.
They had heard of this Habsburg family not once or twice. They were famous throughout Europe and had extremely strong influence. You could tell from this title alone.
Huo Ying had to solemnly accept the letters and gifts again, and expressed his gratitude.
As for Anthony on the side, his expression was even worse.
If it were just the Kingdom of Hungary, Spain wouldn't have much to fear. The Spaniards have strong maritime power. At most, they would occupy a piece of land on the Black Sea and build a fleet to ensure Spain's wealth route.
With the strength of these countries around the Black Sea, Spain does not need to fear anyone except the Ottoman Empire and the Ming Dynasty. The Ottoman Empire was severely damaged by the Ming Dynasty, and it will be difficult to recover in a short time. The Ming Dynasty is an ally of Spain and has a good relationship with them. , so there is nothing to worry about.
Antony was even ready to write a letter to the King of Spain, suggesting that the King of Spain occupy a colony at the mouth of the Danube River to safeguard Spain's interests.
But now that the Habsburg family is involved, things are not that simple.
The Habsburg family is so powerful and influential that Hungary is already in the possession of the Habsburg family. The weak King of Hungary even had to announce that after his death, he would be the King of Hungary. The position was passed to the Habsburgs for inheritance.
This is just the Kingdom of Hungary. The Habsburg family now controls the Holy Roman Empire and Austria. At the same time, Emperor Maximilian I of the Holy Roman Empire and King Fernando of Spain are in-laws and are married to each other. The Spanish king will also do so in the future. It was inherited by the Habsburg family, because the current Spanish king has no sons, only daughters, and his daughter Juana married the son of Maximilian I.
In addition, Maximilian also had great influence in France and Portugal. He married the only daughter of the French Duke of Burgundy, and the territories from southern France to the Netherlands were incorporated into the Habsburg family.
His mother was a princess from Portugal, and his son also married a princess from Bohemia. Through his marriage to his children, he spread the influence of the Habsburg family throughout Europe.
Competing with the Habsburg family will put a lot more pressure on Spain, and Spain will also be included in the scope of the Habsburg family in the future. After all, they are actually one family.
One family is one family, but when it comes to countries, Spain's interests and Hungary's interests are now in conflict. How to coordinate between them, I'm afraid we still have to look at the meaning above.
It is very likely that Spain and Hungary have joined forces to take advantage of this benefit and prevent others from intervening.
Spain knows very well how much profit there is in the trade with the Ming Dynasty, and once the land and sea routes are opened, the scale of trade between them will be even greater in the future, and the wealth involved will be enough to make People are jealous.
The Ming Dynasty was extremely huge, extremely rich, and its territory was so huge that the entire Europe combined was less than one-fifth of the Ming Dynasty. The population of the Ming Dynasty exceeded 150 million, and the combined population of the entire Europe was less than a fraction of the Ming Dynasty. many.
The Ming Dynasty's annual fiscal revenue exceeded 100 million taels of silver, and the taxes collected by all European countries combined were less than one-fifth of the Ming Dynasty's annual tax revenue.
The porcelain, silk, spices, tea, sugar, cloth, glass products, etc. of the Ming Dynasty were popular throughout Europe, attracting people from the upper class. This meant that trade with the Ming Dynasty was enough to earn huge amounts of money. Achieve unimaginable profits.