When Bishop Antonio held a banquet in the capital to celebrate Princess Isabella's accession to the throne as Queen of Portugal. The newly baked Queen of Portugal was having a private conversation with Chongzhen in her study.

At Isabella's request, Zhu You sent the others in the study away, and even Wang Chengen and Lu Qi were kicked out by him. He looked at it with interest, with a little shy but bright and moving Princess Isabella in front of him.

"Alright, now it's just the two of us in this room. Now you can tell me what you want to say to me when you see me alone. ”

Living in the palace for more than a year not only allowed Isabella to learn Chinese, but also made her behavior begin to conform to the image of a princess.

When Isabella, who was wearing a red palace dress today, stood in front of Chongzhen, she looked like a real princess, and she was no longer the poor girl who suddenly appeared in front of him and asked him for help.

Although she was at the mercy of Chongzhen for the past year, she received various educational and etiquette training, and met with Portuguese merchants and citizen representatives who had come from Macao. Before them was erected, the image of a royal daughter ready to sacrifice herself for the independence of the Kingdom of Portugal.

However, this does not mean that she is willing to become a puppet of the emperor. When she ascended to the position of Queen of Portugal in front of everyone. Isabella felt that it was time for her to talk to His Majesty the Emperor about her future.

The young emperor in front of her has always been very gentle in front of her, but when Isabella really stood in front of Chongzhen, she still felt a little out of breath. The pressure on this teenager was far greater than that of the so-called big names she had seen before.

Isabella took a few deep breaths of air before she calmly said to Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, the reason why I want to ask to see you today is just to know your plans for the restoration of the Kingdom of Portugal. Now that I've become Queen of Portugal, I think I should have the power to know what the whole plan is about, shouldn't I? ”

Looking at the girl who was trying her best to maintain the demeanor of a princess in front of her, trying to get an equal dialogue with herself, Zhu Youzhen suddenly smiled at her, and then said, "You don't have to be so nervous, sit down first and relax." Now it's just the two of us, and we can just talk like friends. ”

When Chongzhen made a gesture to her to sit down, Isabella subconsciously sat down. As soon as she sat down, she realized that she seemed to be too submissive.

Before Isabella could finish her annoyance, Zhu Youzhen had already continued to speak: "Just now you asked me about my plan for the restoration of the Kingdom of Portugal, to be honest, I don't have any plan for the restoration of the country, even those Portuguese subjects who are loyal to you, they have not thought of any plans. ”

Isabella immediately wanted to say something when she heard this, but Zhu Youzhen stopped her with a strong gesture, and then continued: "Whether you will become the queen of Portugal in the future or not, you will become my wife, so what you need to think about is not the future of the Kingdom of Portugal, but the future of Daming."

If the Ming Dynasty grows stronger, then the independence of the Kingdom of Portugal will naturally be a matter of course. If Da Ming can't even live his own life, who else cares if a kingdom thousands of miles away can succeed independently?

So what you have to do now is to convince those Portuguese to help the Ming build a real navy, and contribute the Portuguese seafaring experience in the past hundred years, so that the Ming navy will have fewer detours.

Don't think about what the Ming can give to the Kingdom of Portugal. Instead, we should first think about what the Kingdom of Portugal can do for the Ming Dynasty. If you want the Ming people to shed blood for the independence of the Kingdom of Portugal, then you must let the Ming people understand that the Kingdom of Portugal is an indispensable distant partner of the Ming Dynasty..."

Although forced by the Spaniards to wander around, even from the New World to the East, Isabella's father never forgot that his father was the king of Portugal, and he never let go of his desire for the Portuguese throne.

And Isabella was also under the command of her father since she was a child, and she really believed that she had the hope of independence of millions of Portuguese subjects. Her mission in life was to free the Kingdom of Portugal from the Spaniards and ascend to the throne of Portugal.

When Portuguese merchants in Macau recognized her identity and took her away from Japan. Isabella had thought that she would be treated in a way that was appropriate to her status. After all, she was the royal daughter of Portugal, and these Portuguese merchants were born to be loyal to her.

But after arriving in Macau, she spent only a short time in the merchant's mansion before she was sent to a monastery of austerity and became a nun serving God.

It was then that she realized that the Portuguese did not seem to have a high respect for the royal family, as her father had said, and would offer her their wealth and loyalty as long as they knew her identity.

Asking Chongzhen for help is out of her instincts, and it is also an adventure for her to escape her life of being imprisoned. Although she was surprised to learn that the teenager she asked for help was the owner of the whole of China and had received the shelter she wanted, she still felt that her life had not changed.

It's nothing more than that the place of imprisonment has been changed from the convent to the royal palace, where her movements are still strictly monitored, except for the drink and the higher walls.

Although she met several noble Chinese women here, there were also those who were dissatisfied with her presence in the palace, because it is said that the young man had taken a fancy to her and brought her back to the palace.

The royal daughter of Portugal was very dismayed, because she had not fulfilled any of her life's missions, and was about to be forced to marry an Eastern heretic, who, though he looked young and handsome, had already married three wives.

However, after a long life in exile and a monastic life in Macau, she had little hope of fulfilling her mission. Therefore, marrying a heathen did not make any objection other than to make her pray a few more times.

However, when the emperor supported her to the throne of the Queen of Portugal, although only a few hundred Portuguese recognized her as the queen, it was half of her life's ideals.

Isabella's soul, which had been dormant, suddenly revived again. She hoped to use the power of His Majesty the Emperor to reclaim her kingdom from the Kingdom of Spain and meet her father's greatest expectations.

Based on the education she received since childhood, she was not willing to become a puppet in the hands of Chongzhen and let the Kingdom of Portugal become part of the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, with the momentum of the newly ascended to the Portuguese throne, Isabella hopes to be able to make herself Chongzhen's partner, not a doll without autonomy.

Let her stand in front of Chongzhen and put forward the conditions, in addition to the power she has over the Portuguese throne. What's more, she thought that Chongzhen's purpose in doing all this was to target the land of the Kingdom of Portugal after all.

However, when Chongzhen* nakedly exposed that she, the queen, was essentially nothing, she suddenly suffered a little. wanted to continue to insist on her own ideas, and she was a little less confident. But she gave up asking Chongzhen, and she was a little unwilling.

On the other side, after beating the new Queen of Portugal, Zhu Youzhen's tone finally eased. "Actually, you don't have to worry too much about the restoration plan, you have been away from the kingdom for many years, and now you are thousands of miles away, and you know nothing about the internal situation in the Kingdom of Portugal and the situation in Europe.

In such a situation, no amount of planning you make will be able to win the support of the people at home. It seems to me that at this stage, you just need to shout the slogan of the kingdom's independence and find out about the state of the various ports of the Kingdom of Portugal in Asia.

Loyal people with independent minds like you will naturally gather under your banner. And those who have taken refuge in the Kingdom of Spain will not defect to you because of an unrealistic plan for restoration. ”

Isabella, who was originally a little pale, finally regained a little bit of anger, and she couldn't help asking: "But if I don't have a plan, how can I persuade those Portuguese merchants to come up with money to support the cause of the kingdom's independence?"

Bishop Antonio and he established a government of the Kingdom of Portugal in the capital, which would soon be dissolved automatically due to lack of funds without the support of the merchants. Then I will have nothing left but the title of queen. ”

Zhu Youzhen thought for a while and said, "Do you know the Queen Elizabeth of the United Kingdom? ”

Isabella hesitated for a moment before replying, "Yes, I know that she once defeated Philip II's Armada and was an outstanding woman. But what does this have to do with where I am now? ”

Zhu Youzhen smiled and said: "In order to solve the financial problem, the Queen of England once openly issued a plunder permit for British pirates to rob the ships of hostile countries.

I think you can give it a try. Let Antonio recruit pirates and rob the Portuguese rebels who had taken refuge in the Spaniards. ”

Isabella's delicate little face suddenly wrinkled, and she said with disgust: "Recruiting pirates to rob Portuguese ships, that will make the Portuguese hate us, why not the Spanish and British ships?" Their power in Asia was not as strong as that of the Dutch. ”

Zhu Youzhen shook his head and said: "Although I really don't want to say this to you, I can only tell you honestly that the British merchant ships are too high, and it is difficult for ordinary pirates to succeed in robbery."

The Spaniards had too few trading ships in Asia to get much money even if they robbed. And it is not yet time to drive the Spaniards out of Asia. It is because they are here that precious metals from the Americas are constantly being transported.

So after all things considered, I think that the number and wealth of Portuguese merchant ships in this sea area are the most worthy of robbery.

In addition, the Portuguese merchant ships did not have much force, Manila was reluctant to maintain Portuguese ships, and Goa, the only one with some strength, was too far away from Southeast Asia.

For Portuguese merchants who are unwilling to submit to you, an occasional show of your power will make them submit to you more than a stack of plans.

Therefore, in the waters of East and Southeast Asia, the ships that fought against the Portuguese traitors were contributing to the operation of independence and restoration..."