If Madrid is compared to Seville, the latter undoubtedly looks more worthy of the capital of a vast and wealthy kingdom like Spain.

Madrid is full of decay in Li Dan's eyes, although the architecture is magnificent, but the rustic tones and the oppressive clothes and faces of people coming and going, even if they are just walking on the street, the hooves of the horses will involuntarily speed up.

He thought that the first place he would go to when he entered Madrid would be a royal palace or something, but he did not expect that the place they were going to was a convent.

El Escorial Palace.

Philip built himself a monastery that combined churches, palaces, and mausoleums.

Here, Li Dan met Fei Lao Er, the famous Oriental Military Mansion, and as soon as the guards opened the heavy palace door for him, he heard the words of the king who once ruled all the lands on the world's oceans.

"For your father's sake, you don't need to be polite, please take a seat."

The dusty Li Dan could not have imagined how much effort His Royal Highness Philip had made for this meeting, and he almost spared no effort to hope that he would retain the majesty of the defeated king.

From how to speak to avoid the embarrassment of Li Dan's refusal to kneel, to wearing a wig that he bought at a high price from an English merchant to hide his increasingly barren hairline, and even what pair of boots to wear to let the illiterate Ming Dynasty know his wealth.

From England to Spain, from Spain to Italy, from Italy to Ottomans, from Ottomans to the Ming Dynasty, the whole world has the ritual of kneeling, which is not exclusive to China.

This rhetoric is not bad, which makes Li Dan, who is halfway arched, a little embarrassed, but he still put his hand up, after all, in the context of the Ming people, 'no need to be polite' is just a polite word, and you should still say hello when you come to someone else's house.

The wig was also well chosen, which made Li Dan secretly surprised in his heart how Fei Lao Er looked different from the painting he had seen in Seville before, and this hair grew too fast, and even the color changed.

Only the boots were not well chosen, which was a bit embarrassing, because His Royal Highness Philip received the news that Duke Alva had returned from the land horse by land half a month ago when Li Dan was still floating at sea, and he began to prepare the clothes for the meeting, and found that no matter what he was wearing, Li Dan, who had the function of an envoy, was difficult to read.

It doesn't matter if it's sheepskin boots from Spain, stockings and boots from England, or precious shoes and hats from Milan or Venice, the people of the Ming Dynasty can't see it.

In the end, he should not have chosen a pair of leather boots made by Almanza, the old governor of New Spain, to pay him tribute, with green satin as the face, and three leather backseams on the front stem; Raw cowhide as the bottom and decorated with eight layers of leather edges, beautiful, majestic, comfortable and breathable, except for one thing - I collided with Li Dan's shoes.

These boots were worn by the third-grade officials, and the leather boots that flowed out from Chang Sheng should be this pair, which was given to Almansa by Chen Mu, after all, he was the viceroy of New Spain; In addition to this, the border trade never sold long leather boots again, only short boots with piza leather feathers.

The so-called leather tie is to tie a leather tube on the calf outside the boots, tied in the line of entanglement, because the ordinary people of the Ming Dynasty can not wear boots, even in Beiyang, it is the small flag above the officer to wear boots, the flag army wears leather shoes.

Li Dan took up the lease of Seville, and his official position was the commander of the Seville Guard of the Oriental Military Government, and he led the governor of Seville with the third rank.

This situation made him happy when he saw Fei Er's shoes: Yo, brother, let's be equal!

Philip, who wore a fake shawl, didn't know the twists and turns of the Ming Dynasty's clothing system, and he thought that the shoes he picked were very good, you see, just like the messenger.

"I heard the monk say that it is your habit to talk about important things during meals, so why don't we make small talk first, and prepare a banquet for you later, and then we will talk about state affairs?"

The so-called monk was naturally Acosta, but Li Dan shook his head and rejected the proposal, he really felt that the Spanish banquet was quite boring, and he actually had to walk around by himself, which made him feel like he had moved the royal tent of the Mongol Great Khan to the palace.

"Your Royal Highness, that's not our habit, it's just that my father-in-law has a lot of opportunities, and he is usually busy with things and doesn't have time to listen to others, so he is used to talking about things during meals."

Li Dan sat on the chair and spread his hands and said: "I don't care, we can talk about business now, His Royal Highness should know how much we have done to come to Spain to collect this leased land." ”

Philip already sensed that the Ming Empire's earliest candidates sent overseas might be the same height as Spain...... Perhaps he will not be able to see the true elite of the Ming Empire in this life and this life.

This elite is not talking about the elite in combat.

Even if you just look at it, you can see that Li Dan is not from an aristocratic background.

"Don't be in a hurry, young man." Philip smiled and asked, "Please tell me, what is the benefit of leasing the land to the Ming Kingdom for me and my kingdom?" ”

As if he had already guessed that the answer given by Li Dan was likely to be 'no benefit', Philip raised his hand and said: "Don't be in a hurry to answer, the treaty does not say how big this leased land is, and Seville is very large, you must know that not every place has a suitable coast and port, which requires us to negotiate, so that both sides can get a good result...... You're very good at doing this. ”

There was no irony in Philip's prowess, and the king could not have imagined that he would also be a beneficiary of the Second Minxi War until Alva returned to Portugal with his army.

He and his country, his enemies, and the empire both benefited from the war, so who suffered from it? Some new aristocrats, some businessmen, anyway, he made money by spending the second child.

Now he wants to earn more.

"Since the king wants to ask, then the first benefit, your country does not have to be an enemy of the Ming Dynasty; We don't go to sea to rule anyone, although we can, but we really don't want to, we just want to make friends and make money. ”

"The second benefit is that we have gained such an ally as the Ming Dynasty, although in order to avoid the fear of your country, the righteous father only decided to station a banner army of 1,000 to 5,000 households in the city, but we can protect the king well. There have been too many palace coups in the long history of our country, and the king often did not have an army to trust, but His Highness could absolutely trust our army. ”

"The third benefit is the income of the royal family, three of the goods sent by the Ming merchants in the treaty became the exclusive domain of the king, and the more goods imported from the leased land, the higher the palace income of the king; In addition, there is also a municipal tax, and the amount of goods tax traded in the leased land is 30%, one of which becomes the construction of the leased land, one becomes the income of the Ming Dynasty, and the other becomes the income of the king. ”

"The fourth advantage is that the Ming Dynasty can bring support to the king's war, as long as the royal family pays, the fleets that cross the ocean every year can bring muskets, artillery, uniforms, armor, flags, tents, and kettles to the king...... With all the utensils imaginable by the king, at the same price, the king can buy the best things in the world. ”

"As for the last fifth benefit...... Your Highness knows, in fact, I, Li Dan, the governor of Seville in the Ming Empire, am also a devout Catholic, and when I don't have the Beiyang Banner Army around me, the king can call me Andrea Didis. ”

Li Dan didn't blush when he said this, and sat down with his fists very serious.

He didn't feel that he had deceived the pious second brother, he did feel that he was quite religious, and every time he went to sea, he worshiped seriously, and never left anyone behind.

Well, the reason why he said that no one was left behind is because he is not only a devout Catholic, but also a devout Mazu believer, a devout believer in the gods and Buddhas, and an extremely devout believer in the Dragon and Tiger Daojun.

If you really have faith, then you have to be wet with rain and dew!