Most European monarchs and Chinese emperors differed greatly in terms of domestic authority, and the missionaries had a high social status in the Spanish Empire, where the Catholic faith was strong, so it was not surprising that Luo Mingjian was able to write letters to Philip II.

However, Gao Shishi has read several books, including "Spain and Portugal: The Rise and Fall of the Empire", "Philip II's Grand Strategy", "The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II", etc., and he knows that Philip II's rule efficiency is actually quite low, because many European court administrative systems at this time are actually very backward compared to China's three-province and six-ministry system.

For example, Philip II, he was actually a very diligent monarch, but his way of working was actually very similar to that of the Wanli Emperor who "did not go to court for decades" in history, he tried not to meet with his courtiers, but selected important letters for him to approve through the secretary team to manage the country.

As for the reason for this, Philip II felt that it was a waste of time to receive his courtiers, and that it was much more efficient to approve letters and documents - he emphasized on various occasions and in the approval of documents on various occasions and in the approval of documents, and some historical records also say that he almost always approved documents except for sleeping and eating.

However, it is clear that the level of his secretarial team is not very good, or it lacks a Ming-style cabinet and various ministries, so that the kingdoms of Castile, Aragon, Naples and the Netherlands ruled by Philip II, as well as the Kingdom of Portugal, which he forcibly merged last year, are very inefficient.

Therefore, Luo Mingjian's letter was sent, theoretically, and it would definitely be seen by Philip II in the end, but it was ...... I don't know what year or month it was.

Moreover, Philip II's Spain was now at its highest, but apart from the benefits of annexing Portugal, he was raising troops everywhere without getting any decent results, and his government, even though it had the huge gold and silver backing of the Americas, was still bankrupt twice and heavily indebted.

By this time, Spain's relations with England had fallen to freezing point, and the armada expedition against England was about to be launched in the near future, if nothing else, it would be a major defeat, although Spain at this time was still capable of rebuilding a much larger armada in just a year or two, but he would eventually be stuck in multiple quagmires from which he could not extricate himself.

At such a time, it would be unrealistic to expect him to pay much attention to the trivial things raised by a missionary from the Far East.

If you have to make this matter realistic, unless Gao Pragmatic gives Luo Mingjian more weight.

Gao Pragmatic's own increase in Luo Mingjian may not be able to attract the attention of Philip II, but as long as he adds two words, this kind of attention will definitely be obtained immediately - these two words are: Da Ming.

At this time, Europeans' impression of China was still that of the extremely powerful, rich, and widely praised invincible empire mentioned by Marco Polo, which was "full of gold", and the Europeans were cut off from trade ties with the East by the rising Ottoman Empire, and even launched a great voyage......

Therefore, as long as Gao pragmatic expressed to Philip II that the Ming Dynasty was willing to trade with the Portuguese Empire, Philip II would never have taken it lightly. You know, the Portuguese are now desperate to think of all kinds of ways to stay in Macau, but they didn't come with the intention of invading the Ming Dynasty - in fact, they had tried before, but they were defeated by the local army in Guangdong in a row, so they are basically honest now.

The reason why the Portuguese even used bribes to stay in Macao was to have a close base for trading with the Ming Dynasty. However, with the reform of opening up the sea and the relatively high degree of openness of Guangzhou's private port, Macao's status has now declined slightly.

The reason why it was not completely replaced was because of the Ming trade system - foreign merchant ships could not theoretically directly enter the ports of the Ming Dynasty to trade, and they had to find Ming merchants to do this last step on their behalf.

As for the Ming Dynasty, sometimes they will go to Macau to discuss business, both public and private. This is what makes Macau still valuable to the Portuguese.

Isn't this Father Luo Mingjian because he lives in Macau, so he met Gao Mengnan and was introduced to Gao Pragmatic by him?

Gao Shishi smiled and said with a relaxed expression: "In order to thank the priest for his kindness, and in order to make your letter more valued by His Majesty Philip II, I have two good news for you. ”

"First, the Jinghua Group, the largest commercial company in the Ming Empire, is willing to conduct the most direct trade with the Kingdom of Castile and the Kingdom of Portugal, and if His Majesty Philip II allows it, the Jinghua Group is also willing to conduct direct trade with the Kingdom of Aragon, the Kingdom of Naples, and the Netherlands."

The reason why Gao pragmatic added an "if" was that under Philip II, the Treaty of Todesiras, which was arbitrated by Pope Alexander VI, was strictly followed, which divided the world outside Europe to Spain and Portugal as colonial territories along the meridian line. And Spain here is not "Greater Spain", but only one of its main subjects, the Kingdom of Castile.

As soon as this sentence was spoken, Luo Mingjian was shocked and praised again and again. He knew the strength of Jinghua Group, and he did not have the slightest suspicion that Gao Pragmatic called Jinghua "the largest commercial company in the Ming Empire".

Gao pragmatic continued: "Second, although Daming's business rules do not allow you to directly enter Daming for trade, Jinghua Group can fully undertake this huge and immeasurable business. At the same time, Jinghua Group will open two free trading ports in Annam, allowing you – and I mean any merchant from all countries who are willing to come here for peaceful and fair trade – to conduct legal trade activities. ”

"Ah, Your Excellency Gao Qiuzhen, you are truly a great statesman and business leader, and I admire you as much as the waters of the Atlantic!" Luo Mingjian was very excited, with these two promises, his letter would definitely get the highest attention from His Majesty Philip II for the first time, and it might even make him the pride of the whole of Europe! Although he still insisted that the spread of the Gospel of the Lord was his greatest cause, if he had achieved such great success in this matter, the support of the Holy See and the Kingdom of Spain would have been much stronger than it is now.

However, Gao Pragmatism did not just give benefits, the carrots were released, and the sticks were also unveiled.

"However, I would like to remind the priest in particular that I hope that you, including His Majesty Philip II, will truly understand the strength of the Ming Empire, and not try to deal with the Ming Empire through some dishonorable means and the mentality of those who deal with barbarians. I would like you to convey some information to His Majesty Philip II, and ask the priest to take note of it. ”

Father Luo Mingjian said seriously: "Your Excellency, although rest assured, no European with a little insight dares to despise the Ming Empire, we know that the Ming Empire is the most prosperous and powerful empire in the world, even the Ottoman Turks who were once brilliant cannot be compared with the Ming Empire." ”

Gao Shishi did not answer his words directly, but said to himself: "Please tell His Majesty Philip II: Spain has a population of about five million, and I have a population of 200 million; The land under your feet, Annam, also has a population of five million, but it was conquered by me not long ago with only a private army, and in this battle, the Ming Empire did not even need to send a single regular army...... Father Luo Mingjian, what I can tell you is that the Ming Dynasty now has an army of 1.6 million, and if the entire military establishment of the Ming Dynasty reaches its full strength, it will be 3.4 million people. ”

The Europeans are now at war, and if there are 10,000 people dispatched, that is a large army, and if there are tens of thousands of people, it must be a battle of great powers, but ...... The army of the Ming Dynasty is actually at the level of millions?

Although Father Luo Mingjian occasionally heard the self-boasting of Ming officials, saying that the Ming Dynasty "brought a million", he always thought that this was an exaggeration, but today, this highly knowledgeable and knowledgeable His Excellency told him that the standing strength of the Ming Dynasty was as high as 1.6 million, and if the national military establishment was full, it would even be as high as 3.4 million...... That's more than the population of the Kingdom of Castile!

Who can afford to offend this? It is no wonder that after the Portuguese proudly entered the South China Sea from the Indian Ocean, they suddenly honestly begged the Ming to reward them with a small island to live in.

"This ...... This is a staggering amount, and I don't think anyone would dare to say no to His Majesty the Ming Emperor, who has such great power. ”

Gao Pragmatic smiled again and said, "I haven't finished talking yet...... I heard that in addition to the Spanish phalanx built by Mr. Gonzalo de Córdoba, Spain also has a navy that crisscrosses the seas? ”

"Yes, His Majesty Philip II's fleet is the ...... in the world Uh, the most powerful fleet in Europe. ”

Gao pragmatic nodded and said, "I believe that his fleet is second to none in Europe, but ...... You came here on my Jinghua armed transport ship this time, right? ”

"Yes, this is a rather superior ship, with a perfect harmony of carrying capacity and combat capability, and the sails used in it seem to ...... It seems that it is not only the hard sail common in the Ming Empire, but also the longitudinal sail technology of our European sea ships? ”

"There are hundreds of such ships in Jinghua Group alone." Gao Shishi bragged without blushing and without a beating heart, in fact, including the armed transport ships on the slipway, there are only more than 90 in Jinghua now, and 60 of them have been concentrated in this battle of Annam.

Luo Mingjian was completely shocked, and asked with a numb scalp: "If Your Excellency doesn't ...... Don't be presumptuous, I, I'd like to ask about the cost of this class of ships. ”

"The cost of a single ship is about 55,000 taels of silver."

"Forgive my ignorance, Lord...... Your Excellency, you are saying that you alone have a fleet with a total cost of more than six million taels of silver! ”

Gao Shishi smiled happily, and said: "Yes, this does not include the regular navy of the Ming Empire, and according to the laws of our Ming Dynasty, His Majesty the Emperor can unconditionally recruit any sea force within the Ming Empire for his use at any time if he wishes." ”

Blow, blow as much as you want.

The Ming Emperor couldn't even collect taxes from officials and scholars, and still expected him to unconditionally recruit any maritime power within the empire for his use?

However, Luo Mingjian doesn't know!

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