In the Wenhua Hall, in front of Emperor Chongzhen, Zhong Jinwei was at the top, flanked by six cabinet ministries, the admiral of the East Factory, and the commander of the Jinyiwei standing in the middle, discussing matters in a serious atmosphere.
Just listen to Emperor Chongzhen say: "My dear friends, Dongchang reported that the Xiyi fleet also crossed the Atlantic Ocean from Southeast Asia to North America. This matter was confirmed by Jin Yiwei again. There should be no falsehood. I think that our vassal feudal king
Things may change in North America."
All the ministers were mentally prepared to discuss matters in such a large formation. But they did not expect that it would be such a thing, which would definitely affect the national policy of the Ming Dynasty.
Wen Tiren, the chief minister of the cabinet, came out and confirmed to the two leaders of the factory guards: "Why did the previous pirates not talk about this matter, but now they have come to this conclusion? Whether this matter is true or not, it must not be false for half a day!
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This news was so unexpected that even if Emperor Chongzhen said it was true, Wen Tiren still had to confirm it again.
The previous pirates were in charge of Dongchang. When Wang Chengen saw the chief assistant asking questions, he quickly replied: "The source of this information is from the mouth of Hongyi Governor Putmans. Other thieves have also confirmed this matter. They have spoken many times."
Robbing the Spanish fleet at sea from the Philippines to North America and Mexico."
After telling the source of the news, Wang Chengen remembered that he had not yet answered Wen Tiren's other question, so he added: "The previous pirates were probably afraid of being punished by the court, so they did not dare to tell the matter. In this way, the court would take it seriously.
They knew the situation and would not hold them accountable. Only this reason can explain why they did not say anything about the Spaniards."
Zhong Jinwei had never heard of this in later generations. When he first heard the news, he was very surprised, but then he thought about it and figured it out.
The people of the Ming Dynasty had arrived in Mexico City during the Wanli Period, and with so many people passing there, it was natural that the Spanish would not have known about this route.
From Asia and Southeast Asia, around the Cape of Good Hope in Africa and back to Europe, it is obviously farther than crossing the Pacific, reaching Mexico, and using indigenous people and other people to carry supplies on their backs to the Gulf of Mexico, and then across the Atlantic.
Zhong Jinwei wanted to understand this, so he interrupted and asked: "My lord, have you asked about the Spanish route from the Philippines to North America?"
Wang Chengen looked at Zhong Jinwei, nodded and replied: "It is said that it takes a detour to Japan and then to North America. It is similar to the route I went to explore in Ming Dynasty."
In order to show his presence, the commander of Jin Yiwei, Luo Yangxing, followed Wang Chengen's words: "The same is true of the testimony obtained by Jin Yiwei."
After hearing this, the ministers in the Wenhua Hall began to talk about it. Most of them believed the news, but some were still doubtful.
At this time, Zhong Jinwei suddenly turned to Emperor Chongzhen and said: "Your Majesty, the coastal defense guerrilla Zheng Zhilong is crossing the sea. You might as well recruit him to come over and ask. You can also find out whether this news is true through another channel."
Emperor Chongzhen nodded after hearing this and immediately sent an order for Zheng Zhilong to have an audience.
Zheng Zhilong came over in a hurry. When he heard that this was the case, he said with certainty: "Your Majesty, this is indeed the case."
In order to prove what he said, he said another thing: "Japan also sent envoys to cross the Pacific with the Spanish fleet to their country."
This was another piece of bombshell news that exploded in the Wenhua Hall, shocking everyone again.
Emperor Chongzhen's brows twisted into the Chinese character "Sichuan" when he heard this. He didn't know how much unknown news there was, so he immediately ordered Zheng Zhilong to tell Japan's mission in detail.
It turns out that since Spain discovered the route from the Philippines to Mexico in the 16th century by Andrés de Urdaneta, they began to use their territory in the Philippines as a base to carry out shipping across the Pacific between Mexico and Asia and Southeast Asia.
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However, Spanish merchant ships often crashed near the Japanese coast due to bad weather, thus establishing contacts with Japan.
Under the lobbying of the Spanish, the Tokugawa shogunate decided that the Sendai daimyo Date Masamune would be solely responsible for building a large sailing ship, the Date Muramaru, to send as an envoy to Europe. The leader of the mission was Hasekura Tsunenaga, Date Masamune's retainer.
On October 28, 1613, he set out for Acapulco, Mexico, and arrived after three months of sailing at sea. Then Hasekura Tsunenaga diverted to Europe, where he stayed for nearly four years, and then crossed from Mexico
The Pacific Ocean reaches the Philippines, and finally returns to Japan.
Many people were surprised when they heard this, why the return route was not the same route.
This is actually due to their ignorance. In the age of sailing, sailing on the sea mostly relied on wind and ocean currents. The Spanish route to and from the Pacific coincided with the flow of the Pacific Warm Current.
Zhong Jinwei was also extremely surprised when he heard what Zheng Zhilong said. He quickly asked: "What happened to Tsunenchang Hizukura? Does Japan still have contact with Spain?"
Everyone is concerned about this issue, so they are waiting for Zheng Zhilong to give the answer.
Zheng Zhilong thought for a moment and then replied: "It seems that he died of illness soon after returning from the mission, and Japan also cut off contact with Spain due to religious issues."
After hearing this, Xu Guangqi, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, frowned and asked: "How do you know so clearly, especially these things related to Japan?"
He used to think that he was the first person to deal with Westerners and the one who understood Westerners best. But he didn’t expect that there was also the matter of Japan’s mission to the West. After dealing with it for so long, he didn’t even know about it. Logically speaking,
, Zheng Zhilong was just a pirate before, how could he know so much?
Zhong Jinwei heard Xu Guangqi's question on the side and couldn't help but smile and replied for Zheng Zhilong: "His wife, oh, his wife is Japanese, how can she not know about her father-in-law's family affairs?"
After hearing Zhong Jinwei's explanation, Zheng Zhilong was surprised that he knew it, and was also secretly grateful. Such an explanation by Zhong Xinghou was a hundred times better than his own defense.
However, he immediately added: "After the Japanese elementary school teacher, Tsukura Changchang, came back, he told some interesting things about the Western Yi people, so the general will know all about it as soon as he inquires about it."
Zhong Jinwei heard that there was such a thing, and he was also curious, so he asked: "What's the interesting thing?"
"Those Xiyi grabbed food with their hands and robbed him of the tissue paper he used to wipe his mouth..." Zheng Zhilong smiled and recounted the interesting things he heard.
Emperor Chongzhen and the officials in the palace began to laugh. These Western barbarians were indeed barbarians, but they were so uncivilized.
But later on, no one could laugh anymore. Such barbarians had powerful ships and cannons that the Ming Dynasty did not have, and they even came to the Ming Dynasty and slapped them in the face hard.
After Zheng Zhilong finished speaking, the Wenhua Hall was quiet for a while. Finally, Zhong Jinwei said: "There should be no objections to the route matter now?"
No one said anything, obviously acquiescing to Zhong Jinwei's statement.
When Emperor Chongzhen saw it, he said: "Then let's discuss the impact of this matter on the vassal feudal North America."