The next day, in the study room of Qianqing Palace, Emperor Hongzhi and important ministers were discussing national affairs.
"Your Majesty, there is a report from the Governor of Hong Kong, Jiang Liang, that King Henry VII of England has received the support of the Holy See, trained the army, and formed an alliance with France, intending to conquer Hong Kong, and at the same time refused to continue to pay war reparations to our Ming Dynasty and Spain. .”
Fu Han, the Minister of Rites, stepped forward to report the news from Europe to Emperor Hongzhi.
"England?"
When Emperor Hongzhi heard this, he looked at the huge world map, and then found the location of England in the westernmost part of Europe. He thought about it and said, "What do you think of this matter?"
"Your Majesty, England is a small country. Robbery is prevalent and people are afraid of power but not immoral. There is nothing good to say about such a country. They must be taught a lesson and beaten hard so that they will be afraid. They would not dare to have any thoughts about our Ming Dynasty."
Liu Jian was the first to stand up and say.
It is really not an easy task to be a minister now, because you need to know not only the situation in the Ming Dynasty, but also the situation in all parts of the world.
Liu Jian has been studying European history recently and knows some things about England. In Europe, the English and pirates can be equated.
"This matter is not simple. The one who really supports England is the Holy See. The Holy See must also want to pass England because we did not allow them to preach in our Ming Dynasty last year and killed some of their people because they had a grudge against our Ming Dynasty. Come and cause some trouble for our Ming Dynasty."
"If it were just England, I don't think our Ming Dynasty would need to take action at all, the Spaniards would be enough to deal with them."
"If the Holy See and France are involved now, Spain may find it very difficult."
"Hong Kong is very important to our Ming Dynasty. This is a nail that our Ming Dynasty has inserted into Western Europe. There must be no room for failure."
"I think we can dispatch the Black Sea Fleet from Nanyun Province to support Hong Kong, and at the same time dispatch 20,000 army troops from Nanyun Province. Together with the original strength, it will be enough to cope with all crises."
"Of course, we must give a stern diplomatic warning to France and the Holy See. If the Holy See dares to make any changes, we, the Ming Dynasty, will support the Ottoman Empire's westward expansion. As for France, we only need to express support and allow them to move to West Africa. That’s enough for the colonization of North Africa.”
Li Dongyang stood up again and analyzed in detail.
He is a truly talented man who has a relatively in-depth understanding of the situation in Europe and also knows clearly how Ming Dynasty should position itself.
In terms of European affairs, Ming Dynasty's principled policy of glorious isolation was to protect Hong Kong, let European countries fight among themselves, balance the power of all parties, and prevent one family from becoming dominant, stimulating them to compete for their own interests. This is in the interest of Ming Dynasty.
"Hmm~"
After hearing Li Dongyang's words, everyone nodded, Li Dongyang's arrangement was more appropriate.
The purpose of increasing troops is to protect Hong Kong and Ming Dynasty's interests, but the most important method is to defeat the enemy without fighting and use diplomatic means to realize Ming Dynasty's policies in Europe.
"Just follow Li Aiqing's advice and dispatch part of the Black Sea Fleet and 20,000 troops to Hong Kong. At the same time, we will replenish warships and troops from other places to Nanyun Province."
"Order Hong Kong Governor Jiang Liang to express our Ming Dynasty's attitude to France and the Holy See."
Emperor Hongzhi thought for a moment and immediately ordered.
"Yes~"
The ministers quickly nodded in agreement. Zhang Mao of the Fifth Army Governor's Office was responsible for mobilizing troops and generals, while the cabinet was responsible for contacting European countries.
"Your Majesty~"
"I received a letter yesterday, from Liu Yangzheng, the left prime minister of Ning Kingdom."
Seeing that everyone had nothing to ask or report to Emperor Hongzhi, Liu Jin also stood up.
"Oh, what did you write?"
When Emperor Hongzhi heard this, he immediately smiled and asked.
Emperor Hongzhi had always been very kind to the clan, and he was also very supportive of the vassal kings establishing vassal states overseas.
Because vassal kings going overseas to establish vassal states could not only reduce the financial burden of the Ming Dynasty, but also expand the influence of the Ming Dynasty. The establishment of vassal states could also drive the descendants of Yan and Huang to expand overseas.
For Ming Dynasty, this was a multi-purpose achievement.
Since the vassal kings were able to go to sea, there were not many vassal kings left in the mainland of the Ming Dynasty. Most of the vassal kings went overseas to establish vassal states. There were hundreds of vassal states, large and small. Basically
They are all in places like Tianzhu, East Africa, and Southeast Asia.
When vassal kings went to sea to establish vassal states, the court did not need to support these vassal kings. In the past, one-third of the court's taxes were used to support these vassal kings, which brought a heavy burden to the court.
Now that this heavy burden has been thrown off, the financial pressure on the Ming court has been reduced a lot.
However, this also made Emperor Hongzhi feel a little ashamed of these vassal kings and felt that he owed them as vassal kings, so he supported these vassal kings many times.
Some vassal kings built armies overseas that exceeded the regulations. Logically speaking, Emperor Hongzhi should have reprimanded them, but Emperor Hongzhi acquiesced to such things and did not pursue them.
Even Emperor Hongzhi felt that an army of 5,000 men was still too small for a vassal state, and would affect the vassal state's overseas expansion and even wrong the descendants of the royal family.
Therefore, proper expansion can also better facilitate the expansion of the vassal state, so that the descendants of the old Zhu family will not have to look at others' colors overseas.
Overseas vassal kings privately expanded their armies, and this matter was left unsolved.
"Your Majesty, Prime Minister Liu recently passed through Egypt, which is where he is~"
Liu Jin stood up and came to the map, pointed to Egypt and said: "Egypt is located at the junction of Asia, Africa and Europe. Its geographical location is very important."
"After some investigation, he felt that if a canal could be built in Egypt to connect the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, it would be of extremely extraordinary significance to the exchanges between our Ming Dynasty and Europe."
"Building the canal?"
“Connecting the Mediterranean and the Red Sea?”
When Emperor Hongzhi and the ministers heard this, their eyes widened slightly, and then they all came to the map and looked at it carefully.
"Oh, let's not talk about it. If a canal is built, it would be really big. The distance between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea is very close. It's very close. Once a canal is built, it will be as close as Europe. I don't know.
how much."
Zhang Mao looked at the map and couldn't help but said.
"Isn't that right? If you go to Europe by boat now, you need to go around the southernmost tip of Africa. This journey is tens of thousands of miles. If the canal is built, going to Europe will be simple. You can just plug it in here."
Liu Jian pinched his beard and said.
"How long is the distance here?"
Li Dongyang thought for a while and asked.
"The shortest distance is only two hundred miles."
Liu Jin quickly replied.
"Only two hundred miles?"
"This canal can be repaired."
When Li Dongyang heard this, he immediately said with certainty.
It's only two hundred miles. For the Ming Dynasty, which was good at infrastructure construction, it was nothing at all. We were able to build the Ling Canal in the Qin Dynasty, and we were able to build the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal in the Sui and Tang Dynasties. Going two hundred miles away is nothing.
"Currently, our ships have two routes to Europe. One is to go through Nanyang, Australia, and South Golden Continent; the other is to go through Nanyang and Tianzhu, bypassing South Africa and heading to Europe."
"The voyages of both routes are very long, and the storms in the South Golden Island and South Africa are particularly strong, and ships often have accidents in these areas."
"If this canal can be built, it will be very important for our communication with Europe. It will save time and travel, and it will be safer."
Liu Jin pointed out two routes on the map, explaining the importance of this canal.
Everyone also nodded one after another. Everyone now knows a little bit about navigation. Each of them has a trading company under his command, and there are merchant ships traveling around the world. They all know that sailing on the sea is not an easy task.
In addition to advanced ships and excellent navigation technology, luck is also very important. Sometimes, if you are unlucky and encounter strong winds and waves, even the best ships and technology are of little use.
South Africa and the South Golden Island are also notorious for severe storms. They are places that many ships least want to pass through. The transportation cost of taking this route is several times more expensive, because you are risking your life to make money.
"But this place is not a vassal state or colony of our Ming Dynasty."
Xie Qian looked at it, thought for a while and said: "The relationship between Egypt and our Ming Dynasty has always been good. It would not be good if we send troops to occupy them."
"..."
Hearing Xie Qian's words, Liu Jin was speechless. Nowadays, these civil servants are more warlike than the military generals. They are always thinking about sending troops to occupy. They are no longer the original ones who only know how to open and shut up to convince people with benevolence, justice and morality.
of literati.
"Kanssu II of the Mamluk Kingdom of Egypt has already talked with Liu Yangzheng, and they in Egypt are very willing to join hands with our Ming Dynasty to dig this canal."
"Our Ming Dynasty provided funds and technology, and they produced land and some materials from Egypt. In terms of the manpower required, our Ming Dynasty produced 100,000 slaves, and they produced 100,000 people. A total of 200,000 people, it is estimated that it will take five years
It’s time to dig this canal.”
"After the canal is opened, the proceeds will be divided equally between us, each taking half."
"Based on the number of ships currently doing business in the Mediterranean through Egypt, after the canal is opened, at least tens of thousands of ships can pass through it every year. Even if each ship charges one hundred taels of silver, it can still earn hundreds of taels of silver every year.
income.”
"And as trade between the Ming Dynasty and Europe becomes more and more frequent, there will be more ships in the future, and after the canal is built, they can basically collect cash while lying down."
"So this canal is not only very important to our Ming Dynasty, but it is also a big business that can make money."