The Portuguese palace band played cheerful music, making the atmosphere in the entire palace very relaxed.
King Joao IV of Portugal sat on the throne and listened carefully to his Deputy Foreign Minister Rafael's report on the results of the peace negotiations with the Netherlands and Britain.
This war between the European powers lasted for three years and finally ushered in a draw.
With Li Zhi's support, the Netherlands and Britain, which relied on their own strength, did not take any advantage.
Although the journey was tens of thousands of miles away, Li Zhi still worked hard to ship the key equipment and supplies to Portugal. The superior maneuverability of the steamship was fully demonstrated in this transportation across half the world. The Anglo-Dutch Combined Fleet
Although they controlled the African coastline, they were unable to stop steamships traveling at ten or even eleven knots, taking advantage of the darkness to make breakthroughs again and again.
It is true that a large steamship fleet cannot supply supplies on such a long route. But one or two steamships can find the firewood needed by the steam engine and the fresh water needed by the sailors in the small fishing villages along the coast. Dry food on the ship.
It had been prepared long ago, because the transport ship was not equipped with gunners and the total number of people on board was not large, so the amount of dry food was enough to support the crew in completing the transoceanic transport.
The limited number of people in the fleet also allows the transport team to quietly buy a small amount of fruits in small coastal fishing villages to supplement key vitamins.
All in all, Li Zhi shipped sixteen shiploads of weapons to Portugal.
The supplies of these sixteen ships include front-loading rifles, front-loading rifled cannons, and more than 20 kilograms of conical shells. In short, they have all the weapons that the Portuguese should be equipped with. With the help of Li Zhi, the aging Kingdom of Portugal
He summoned up the greatest courage to defend the country and defeated the ambitious Dutch and British.
The Dutch did not get the Brazil they had coveted for a long time. Brazil is still the most dazzling jewel in the crown of the Portuguese king.
When the war entered its third year, both the Dutch and the British were exhausted. On the land battlefield, the rifled guns supported by Li Zhi allowed the Portuguese to hold the line of defense. Thousands of British and Dutch soldiers were killed on the front line every month.
Although the Anglo-Dutch combined fleet was in an overall advantage, it was unable to blockade Portugal under the terrifying power of front-loaded rifled guns and conical explosive shells.
In the end, both the Netherlands and Britain were tired. Although Portugal was old, it could still fight.
After the last attack on the trenches outside Porto failed, the Dutch and British were in despair. Three years was enough for the Anglo-Dutch forces to open up hundreds of thousands of square kilometers of land around the world, but now all the time was wasted fighting Portugal.
. So a sincere peace talk came without any suspense.
Britain and the Netherlands had no other demands but wanted to restore the pre-war national borders and sphere of influence. Although Portugal still had the strength to fight again, it only had the strength to defend and was unable to attack, so in the end it accepted the peace conditions of restoring the original status quo.
John IV was basically satisfied with this.
Portugal had not been independent from Spain for a long time. The defeat of the two most powerful kingdoms in Europe was enough to prove Portugal's strength and prevent other powers from coveting it.
Raphael didn't take long to introduce the peace agreement. This was a simple agreement. In addition to restoring the national borders and spheres of influence of each country to pre-war, it was a five-year peace agreement. Within five years,
Britain, the Netherlands and Portugal will not go to war again.
King Joao IV patted the armrest of the throne and said: "The biggest key to Portugal being able to resist the joint attack of Britain and the Netherlands this time is the help of the Oriental Li Zhi."
John IV spoke highly of the alliance with Li Zhi.
However, Raphael disagreed with this. Raphael has made great achievements several times and is now a very important figure in the Portuguese cabinet and has considerable say.
He said to John IV: "My king, Li Zhi did not help us for free. He used us as cannon fodder to attract the firepower of the British and Dutch coalition forces in Europe. After the British and Dutch drew their troops from the Far East, Li Zhi
In the past three years, it has swept across the Far East. The entire Indochina has become Li Zhi's territory."
"If the recent rumors in the Netherlands are not wrong, I think even Batavia and some of the larger islands further east have been occupied by Li Zhi, and there are no Europeans in the entire Far East."
Raphael bowed and said: "My king, Li Zhi is using us, taking advantage of the conflicts and divisions among white Europeans to disintegrate us. We have spent three years and tens of thousands of casualties, and got nothing.
Li Zhi has got everything."
"My king, if we do not reach an agreement with the British and Dutch this time and continue to contain the British and the Dutch, Li Zhi will easily take over India and even Persia."
Hearing Raphael's words, John IV fell silent.
Raphael was right. If Li Zhi and Portugal were allies fighting side by side, Li Zhi's side had gained too many benefits, while the Portuguese side had gained nothing.
Alves, the chief foreign minister of João IV, coughed and said: "Raphael, it can't be said that we have gained nothing. We got a muzzle-loading rifle, and now we can imitate this rifle. We have also learned how to make it.
Front-loading rifled gun, although we can’t make qualified rifled gun shells anyway..."
Raphael sneered and said: "Foreign Minister, is this the result of three years of fighting and tens of thousands of sacrificed soldiers? As far as I know, the Dutch did not sacrifice the life of any soldier for Li Zhi.
But he has also mastered the secrets of rifled guns and rifled cannons."
"Furthermore, Your Highness, according to the report of our ambassador stationed in Fanjiazhuang, Li Zhi's army is now using more advanced weapons. It is said that Li Zhi has equipped their army with breech-loading guns, and Li Zhi has not sold any of these new weapons to him.
We are just to prevent us from imitating."
"Li Zhi's treatment of his allies can be said to be extremely stingy."
King Joao IV stood up, walked a few steps back and forth in front of the throne, and said thoughtfully: "We in Portugal did not gain much from this war..."
Raphael said: "My king, we should let Li Zhi know our dissatisfaction and let him reassess the value of our ally."
John IV lowered his head and thought for a while.
Alves bowed and said: "If the king needs it, I am willing to go to the East in person to talk to this legendary Li Zhi and let him understand Portugal's loss and dissatisfaction."
John IV looked up at Alves.
After a long while, he said: "Indeed, Alves, you should go to Tianjin."
"Not only you should go, I should go too!"
"The alliance with Li Zhi is the most critical thing for us in Portugal now. I must understand what Li Zhi's country is like. How powerful he is and what kind of combat effectiveness his army has. I want to go to Tianjin to see for myself.
