North of Luzon, Chenlai Island.

The sun shone on the snow-white beach, and in the reinforced concrete dragon and tiger road temple built under the shade of the slightly crooked coconut trees, Chen Mu threw down the reins of the black baby and looked up at the seven-fold turret.

"At this moment, Chen Chaojue's troops should have defeated Philip's fleet in Guam."

Chen Mu raised his head slightly, waved his hand to exempt the defenders who came from the temple, looked up at the dark muzzle of the pagoda sticking out, and said to Pinto, who was also following the pace, with a smile on his face: "Fifteen heavy artillery, not afraid of fire and shelling, the garrison of a hundred troops can block a thousand people, it is very beautiful." ”

Pinto recognized the previous words, he didn't know what material cement was, but he knew that this thing could withstand heavy artillery bombardment, but beautiful?

Without those hideous muzzles, this temple that exudes oriental mystery in Pinto's eyes has a different kind of art, but with the muzzles of guns, it is different.

No matter how chic the shape is, it can't change the reality that it is a murderous weapon.

"The general defeated the fleet of King Philip of Spain, England and Ireland in Guam, what is next?" Pinto was always curious about Chen Mu's next move, and the white-bearded old man with thick glasses shrugged his shoulders and made funny movements, saying, "Lisbon, Goa, and Macau are not the general's enemies. ”

Philip II was a true son of heaven.

After the abdication of his father, Charles V, he inherited all the Habsburg lands except Austria and Germany, where the family originated.

Including Spain, the Netherlands, Sicily and Naples, Franche-Comté, Milan and all the Spanish American and African colonies, and then through marriage to the king of England and Ireland, he became the most powerful aristocracy in the entire Western world.

Naturally, he was criticized, and the biggest denigration of him was his bloodline, with his family's iconic shoehorn face and awl chin, and people would even blame Philip II's belligerence on marrying his cousin.

Philip II was the most belligerent and crazy man Pinto had ever known, until he met Chen Mu.

He still doesn't know why Chen Mu declared war with Spain, as if he just mentioned it casually. During a routine trip to the Ho Mirror to burn the suggestion box, he entered St. Paul's Cathedral and decided to declare war on Spain.

At that time, he obviously did not fully grasp the power to declare war, and he still needed to direct and act in a pirate attack on the mirror.

In the words of the Chinese Empire, the present is different from the past.

When such a person held the authority to declare war on the foreign countries of the Ming Empire, the elder Pinto certainly hoped that he would regard Portugal as his most loyal friend.

Chen Mu, who was staring at the turret, finally withdrew his gaze from the seven-story pagoda in silence, turned his head and looked at Pinto expressionlessly for a short time, his eyes didn't know what he was thinking, then he smiled and walked forward, and said, "Let's go, it's hot outside, let's go in quickly, Portugal is certainly not my enemy." ”

The temple is not as magnificent as it seems from the outside, although it is also carved and painted, but sitting in the hall Pinto always feels that the yin qi is compelling, especially when the two Chen Mu are looking at him at the same time.

I don't know how the statue on top was carved, and no matter where I sat it, I felt that the statue's eyes were looking at me.

The Chen Mu sitting below was even more amazing, took a sip of the iced coconut water presented by the flag army, put down the tea bowl and asked, "Actually, I've always been curious, how did you start the voyage?" There are merchants, there are armies, there are expeditions, for what? ”

The Great Voyage?

Pinto asked himself to be well-informed, but suddenly heard Chen Mu mention this name and thought about it fiercely, only then did he react, wanted to answer and thought about how to change his mother tongue to Chinese, and then stammered a little and said: "No one has ever linked these together, the general asked this, the old man has to think about it." ”

Yo, return the old man!

Pinto followed Chen Mu, more and more like a Luzon who could speak Chinese, wearing a coarse cloth shirt and a square scarf, and said to Chen Mu in an organized language: "I know what the general means by asking this, but for us these are two different things, and - we are exploring the sea, and the Chinese Empire is not." ”

Chen Mu was interested and asked, "Two different things, how do you say them?" ”

"Just like what the general often talks about, politics, military, economy, your huge bureaucracy, we don't have any of them, just like you said about the Great Voyage, that's not like the general, who undertakes the voyage and journey of the huge empire."

"In my country, the only equivalent is Prince Henry, who in the name of the prince set up a nautical school and encouraged sailing, but only to spread the faith of God, and as a pious servant of the Lord, it is the duty of the servant to explore unknown lands and spread the glory of the Lord in the past."

"Of course, there are more important reasons for Marco Polo's travels, wealth, the wealth that everyone wants to have."

"The Portuguese fleet got yellow turbans and ivory in Africa and captured black slaves, but what I must say is that it was just a personal act, and it had nothing to do with Portugal, just like General Lin Feng and General Lin Daoqian, and Li Yuxi, a businessman, if Your Excellency ignores them, they will also obtain wealth."

"Prince Henry is great and visionary, and he should not be responsible for these bad things."

Chen Mu bowed his head and spread his hands and said, "You distinguish the individual from the official very clearly." ”

"Of course, one or a few nobles, one captain or several captains of a ship, do not represent Portugal, and if you have the chance, you should really go to the Rees...... Well, don't go. ”

Halfway through speaking, looking at Chen Mu's smiling face, Pinto spread out his hands and said, "If you are a guest, the king should welcome you very much." ”

Chen Mu smiled, the Portuguese old man who served as half of the staff beside him guarded himself like a thief, this feeling was very mysterious, and he asked: "Then why did you just say that the Chinese Empire can't explore the sea?" ”

"It's not that it can't, it's not like us, I've only been to Macau and Weigang, that's the best land I've ever seen, I heard that the country is bigger than ten Luzon, it produces gold and silver, and the iron of Foshan can supply the expenses of a huge fleet, and we go to sea in pursuit of wealth, and even then not many people are willing to risk their lives to sail away."

"We seek wealth, and wealth is ivory, spices, silk, porcelain, sugar, gold and silver, and you have all these things, more than all the lands of Portugal and Spain combined." Pinto pushed the glasses on the bridge of his nose, looked at Chen Mu and asked, "What are you pursuing?" And what is the general pursuing? ”

"The Catholic world has been fighting with the Moorish heretics for hundreds of years, and no one has ever wanted to go to war with the Chinese Empire, Da Ming just needs to sit here and wait, we will ship the goods, the silver and gold you want, everything is endless, although there will be some arrogant people, but every sane survivor knows very well that Da Ming has no enemies in this world."

"No one wants to be an enemy of this empire." Pinto pursed his lips, looked at Chen Mu calmly, and said, "Until the general starts looking for the enemy." ”