Zhu Linmiao glanced at the letter of state handed over by Helan, "Well, the Ming merchant ships that docked in Helan paid thirty percent of the tax?" The annual landed cargo must not exceed 1.5 million taels? Seven ports including Yuegang and Ningbo are open and no tariffs are levied? Ensuring that Batavia is safe and inviolable? ”

He tore the national letter into two pieces and threw it on the ground, and said with a smile: "Do they really take themselves seriously, do they think it's Gengzi Year?" It's better to rush it. ”

Xu Erlu and Huang Zongxi were both stunned, "Gengzi year? ”

"Ah, it's fine." Zhu Linmiao waved his hand and looked at several other national letters, "The French demand is similar to that of the Helan, but instead to ensure that their colonies in North America and North Africa are inviolable.

"Ah, Ezeba, youa and Franc are more polite. Abolition of previous trade agreements, adjustment of tariffs, quotas for export goods...... Otherwise, a seventy-percent tariff will be imposed on all Ming merchant ships. ”

Huang Zongxi angrily bowed his hand and said: "The barbarians are simply too deceitful!" Seeing that our maritime merchants are profitable, they will be angry and act as scoundrels! ”

"It's just trade protectionism."

Zhu Linwei is indifferent, only the weak will be angry, and the strong have enough strength to correct injustice, so why be angry.

"These Westerners have the words 'bullying the weak and fearing the hard' engraved in their bones. Our tiger is not powerful, he is a sick cat. I can't say that I can only let them know the pain first, and then I can do business honestly. ”

He threw the Chinese book in his hand to the eunuch beside him, and instructed Huang Zongxi and Xu Erlu: "Reply to these barbarians, everything is still according to the previous rules, and today's events should be treated as if nothing happened." Otherwise, they will be wrathed by thunder! ”

Today's Daming is no longer what it used to be. Three years after the recovery of all the land, with the support of the huge profits of maritime trade and colonies, the Ming Dynasty successively built a powerful fleet of two first-class battleships, five second-class battleships, and eighteen third-class battleships! There are also nearly thirty cruisers of the fourth rank, and there are countless smaller warships.

Such a fleet size is enough to wrestle with any Western maritime power head-to-face. Moreover, Daming also has things that are beyond the times such as Caron cannons, canned food, and Nelson's tactics brought by Zhu Linmiao, all of which are "artifacts" that can multiply the combat effectiveness of the fleet!

This is also the capital that Zhu Linwei has the confidence to compete with European countries.

The next day, the envoys of Henan, France, Spain, and Portugal all received a notice from the Ministry of Rites of the Ming Dynasty, and they all left with their noses crossed.

A few months later, Helan took the lead in attacking Ming merchant ships around the world, and several other countries also began to levy extremely high taxes on Ming merchant ships, including all the colonies in mainland Europe and overseas.

The Ming Dynasty also reacted very quickly, and the Pacific Fleet, which had been prepared for a long time, then attacked Batavia, Helan's largest colony in Asia.

This base in the Far East has already been strong from outside, and the Ming Dynasty has not even used the main warships, and only seven or eight fourth-class cruisers have been able to deal with it.

After the landing of the infantry of the Daming Water Division, the governor of Helambatavia reluctantly announced his surrender.

When the news reached Europe, Helan immediately declared war on the Ming Dynasty, followed by France, and the Propaganda Department and Helan formed a "Far Eastern Alliance" and joined the war together.

However, to their surprise, less than four months later, the Ming Pacific Fleet Expeditionary Force, composed of more than 80 large and small warships, had arrived west of the Strait of Gibraltar. Obviously, this fleet had already anchored and sailed for Europe long before the declaration of war with and France.

The Strait of Gibraltar was the gateway to and from the Mediterranean, and at the same time the connection between West Africa and Europe, where a large fleet was blocked, and the maritime trade of European countries was immediately shocked.

For a time, only the Holy Roman Empire, which had signed a treaty of friendship with the Ming Dynasty, was happy. Their maritime power is considered the weakest of the European powers, and it is rare to show their faces in normal times, but now they have a de facto monopoly on the entire Eurasian trade. In the months before and after the Battle of Gibraltar, HRE earned six or seven times as much as the previous year.

After successive groups of merchant ships passing through the Strait of Gibraltar were seized and sunk, Helan and France finally hastily assembled their combined fleet and began to move south to seek a decisive battle with the Ming Navy.

North of the Strait of Gibraltar.

Marton Tromp, commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet of Andris and France, stood on the deck of the Bradrod, his gaze sweeping over the Combined Fleet behind him.

The admiral, who had led the Holan fleet at the Battle of Downs to end the Spaniards' supremacy at sea, was worried at this time.

The French admiral Vignheiro on the side glanced at him, pointed to the largest French battleship in the distance, and said in a sincere tone: "General, I still suggest that you use the Royal Dauphin as the flagship." Trust me, she can give you endless confidence, and standing on her deck, maybe you won't be as sad as you have been in the last few days......"

"I'm confident!" Tromp interrupted him, "The Bradrode is a little smaller, but it's a good fit for a flagship. ”

He paused, then continued, "Don't you think it's strange? ”

"Strange what? Your preference for small battleships? ”

"No, I mean the fleet sent by the Easterners."

"It is said that they had two battleships of one hundred guns, and five battleships of eighty guns and nearly twenty battleships of fifty guns. So they thought they were amazing, and they came here. Nero shrugged his shoulders with a glance, "Nothing strange. ”

Tromp frowned, "Their fleet is no more powerful than our combined fleet, and even much weaker. ”

Behind him were three French hundred-gun battleships, including the Royal Dauphin, and more than thirty battleships of the second and third classes combined. There were also smaller warships and armed merchant ships, and the number of warships in the entire fleet exceeded one hundred and thirty.

"Why does he think he's good at naval warfare?" Nero glanced, "Or, did they misintelligence?" ”

Commander Helan shook his head and said, "The Ming fleet has traveled tens of thousands of nautical miles for a long time, and even if they have a supply port in the Gulf of Guinea, the morale of the sailors must be very low. It is impossible for their commanders not to know this, but still come to Gibraltar to seek a decisive battle......"

According to the current seafaring ability, the warships sailed from the Ming Dynasty to Europe, not to mention the low morale of the sailors, and they usually killed at least three or four percent of the crew by sepsis.

If you want to avoid this situation, you can only repair and replenish along the way, and the voyage may take about a year. But the Ming fleet did not do this, and they apparently sailed to the waters of Europe in one go.

Nero glanced vigilantly and said, "You mean they hide their strength?" That's impossible. The reconnaissance ships of the Spaniards had been confirmed many times, and the size of the Ming fleet was by no means more than ninety. ”

"I hope so." Tromp sighed, "This Eastern Empire is too terrifying, it must be completely crushed once and for all, or ...... In the future, they will become a master who will devour Europe. ”

(End of chapter)