In the palace of the Spanish Empire, Charles V was constantly consulting Alfred, Torres, and Pelos about all aspects of the East.
The ambitious Charles V had a lot to learn if he wanted to build a powerful and unified empire.
"Your Majesty, another very important reason why the Ming Empire is so powerful is that the Ming Empire has an extremely large population!"
"According to the latest census data of the Ming Empire, the population of the Ming Empire now has exceeded 400 million, which has doubled from 20 years ago. With such a huge population, the vast majority of them are still Han people.
, This is the basis for the strength and stability of the Ming Empire."
"Our European countries are not only scattered, but most importantly, our population is far less than that of the Ming Empire. Our current total population in Spain is only over 10 million, not even a fraction of the Ming Empire's."
Torres mentioned the population of Ming Dynasty to Charles V.
"Your Majesty, what Torres said is true. The population of the Ming Empire is indeed very large. Not only the Ming Empire, but also the populations of vassal states such as Korea and Japan are very large."
Peros also nodded and said.
"The population in the East is huge, which has a lot to do with the Eastern people's emphasis on inheritance. They attach great importance to this, so in the East, as long as there are conditions, they will take in as many concubines as possible, in order to
Increase the number of people in your family."
"Most of our female slaves in Europe eventually became concubines of the Ming Dynasty. Among the newborns of the Ming Dynasty, a large part are mixed-race offspring."
"On the other hand, we in Europe have not always had a strong population. This is largely because we in Europe attach great importance to the so-called bloodline. Therefore, from kings to ordinary people, they often only marry one wife.
, the result is that our population growth is far less than that of the Ming people."
"This is why I persuaded His Majesty to open up the harem and have more children. Your Majesty should learn from the emperors of the Ming Empire and set an example for us Spanish people. In this way, our Spanish population will continue to increase and we will have enough
With a large population, we can also conquer more land like the Ming Empire and become stronger and stronger."
Torres explained some of the stakes to Charles V.
In fact, although it is said that monogamy is a common practice in Europe, Europe's upper class society is famous for its chaos, and incest is commonplace.
This kind of thing is called romanticism by them. It has been very popular in later generations and spread. The result is that everyone just does it for fun and has never thought about the issues and matters of having children. This population
Naturally, there will be no growth.
On the other hand, in the Ming Dynasty, it was impossible to have sex, it could only be done at home, so having concubines was the kingly rule, and good things would never be shared around like European nobles.
This naturally leads to differences. The population in Ming Dynasty has grown very rapidly. Especially in recent years, Ming Dynasty has gradually become stronger, with more land and higher food production. The key is that the level of medical and health care has also been slowly and steadily improving.
This population is growing explosively.
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Some people here in the Ming Dynasty have already predicted that in another 20 years, the population of the Ming Dynasty may exceed 1 billion. With such a huge population, the entire Ming Empire will be so powerful. It is estimated that other countries have no intention of competing with the Ming Dynasty.
The idea of a clash of empires.
"So that's it."
After hearing this, Charles V immediately nodded.
Then he sighed and said: "With a population of 400 million, the Ming Empire has too many people!"
"Your Majesty, the Ming Empire is powerful in all aspects!"
"The Ming Dynasty has an extremely vast territory, and the sun will never set on the land of the Ming Empire. The Ming Empire also has an extremely huge population, more than 400 million people. The Ming Empire can mobilize its millions of people at will.
The army rises."
"The Ming Empire's annual tax revenue exceeds 1.5 billion taels of silver. The huge tax revenue is enough for the Ming Empire to do anything. They can build railways to Sichuan, a country with extremely steep mountains and rivers."
Speaking of the power of the Ming Empire, Alfred also sighed.
"However, we don't have to envy the Ming people, because the Ming people also developed step by step. Thirty years ago, the Ming Empire was actually very ordinary."
"At that time, the Ming Empire's annual fiscal revenue was less than 3 million taels of silver."
"After almost thirty years of hard work and continuous reforms, we have now become a powerful Ming Dynasty. We in Spain only need to learn from the Ming Empire. I believe that in the next few decades, our Spain can also become great.
Rise up and become a great empire as powerful as the Ming Empire."
"Your Majesty, you will become the greatest emperor in our European history, and your name and glory will shine on this land forever!"
Alfred was still very good at flattering him, and he said that Charles V was elated and extremely happy.
"This still requires our joint efforts to push our great Spain into a more prosperous and powerful future!"
Charles V was thinking about the Spanish Empire that would become stronger in the future.
As powerful as the Ming Empire!
"Let's talk about the current matter."
"The Grand Duke of the Netherlands is now openly opposing the provincial system and colluding with the Holy Roman Empire. Our first step is to take action in the Netherlands."
After Charles V was happy, he also ordered someone to open the map, pointed to the Netherlands and said.
The Spanish side has basically stabilized now. Regardless of whether these nobles agree or not, they have now settled down. Moreover, Charles V still holds an elite army of more than 100,000 people, which is enough to suppress everything.
But the Netherlands is different. This lowland area has always been alienated from Spain. It has been ruled by Spain many times in history, but it has also broken away from Spanish rule many times.
Spain has always had no good way to deal with this area.
Because it is not connected to the Spanish mainland and is separated by France. If Spain wants to rule this land, it will often be blocked by France.
"Your Majesty, the Netherlands is nothing to worry about. What really needs to be considered is France and the many states of the Holy Roman Empire. Once we attack the Netherlands, they will definitely be blocked."
Torres thought for a while and said.
"This is also what worries me. France has always been against us, and now many countries in the Holy Roman Empire are also incompatible with us."
"If we start a war on multiple fronts, I'm afraid we will need more troops."
Alfred also nodded and said.
"We also have to consider England, which won't let us go so smoothly."
Perlos reminded.
England and France had lost to Spain twice, so they naturally held a grudge against Spain and were always thinking about how to avenge themselves. England would not let it go if it had the opportunity.
"It seems that we still need to borrow money from the Ming Empire."
After thinking for a while, Charles V said.
"Your Majesty, the people of Ming Dynasty may not be willing to lend it to us, because we still have some outstanding debts."
Torres reminded quickly.
Although Spain won the war with England and France, Spain actually lost because it was saddled with huge debts, and its debts owed to the Ming Dynasty have not yet been fully repaid.
As for the small amount of money that the French and English people paid various places for compensation, they didn't even have a fraction of it. There was nothing they could do, they were all too poor.
"Your Majesty, borrowing money is not the solution after all. In the end, we still need to have money ourselves."
"The really rich people are the Ming Dynasty people. You have to find a way to make money from the Ming Dynasty people."
Pelos thought for a while and said: "The Ming people need wool and cotton, so we in Spain can plant cotton and raise sheep on a large scale. In this way, we can obtain a large amount of silver from the Ming people every year by exporting wool and cotton.
."
“Raising sheep and growing cotton?”
"Then what shall we eat?"
When Torres heard this, he immediately shook his head and said.
"We can import food from the Ming Empire. The price of food in the Ming Empire is very cheap. Compared with growing our own land, it is more cost-effective to import food from the Ming people. The food of the Ming people is not only cheap, but also
The quality is also very good.”
Pelos said: "It seems that I studied in the Ming Dynasty. I once went to Liaodong to visit the agriculture of the Ming Dynasty. Their agriculture is extremely developed and uses a lot of mechanical farming. The efficiency is very high. A farmer can cultivate thousands of acres or even tens of thousands of acres."
acres of land.”
"Therefore, the Ming Dynasty's grain output is very high and the cost is very cheap. Moreover, they have so much grain that they can't eat it all. They need to export a lot of it to all parts of the world. Even if the price is very low, they can still make money."
"So I was thinking that if we in Spain want to become stronger, we must integrate into the global economic system, integrate into the economic system of the Ming Empire, and occupy a position in it, so that we can have a steady stream of money.
Flows into our Spain.”
After listening to Pelos' words, everyone nodded slightly. The food of the Ming people was really cheap and seemed to be endless. This was a fact. Even in the years of famine, they sold it to Europeans at very low prices. Obviously
It is to dump a large amount of their own food.
"This time the new emperor of the Ming Dynasty ascends the throne, it is an important opportunity for Spain and the Ming Empire to maintain friendly relations. We should attach great importance to it, prepare generous gifts, and send important ministers to the Ming Empire to attend this ceremony."
"There will be many, many places where Spain will rely on the Ming Empire in the future!"