Bill was searched by two guards and took away a dagger he was carrying, before he and Zheng Cai were taken into a quiet courtyard by Lu Jiude.

This mansion is the home of a hundred families who live near the chapel. At Chongzhen's request, Lu Jiude found this nearby residence and gave Chongzhen a secret reception with the Dutchman.

Before Bill walked into the courtyard, he was still a little nervous. Before coming to Beijing, he didn't know that the emperor of the Ming Kingdom had such a good relationship with the Jesuit priests.

Although he was a Protestant, he did not want to lose the opportunity to trade with the Ming Kingdom because of religious issues.

This is a typical two-entry triple courtyard, and the east wing of the front yard is the study of this hundred households. When Bill walked in, Zhu Youzhen was looking through the books on the shelves.

This Baihu is obviously not a serious person, in addition to a few military books on the shelf, there are some books, and even a few spring palace paintings wrapped in book covers, of course, this kind of clumsy spring palace paintings are not attractive to Chongzhen, and can only make him smile.

Looking at a thin teenager, dressed in a rather delicate costume in Bill's eyes, standing in front of the bookshelf and looking through books, Bill's heart suddenly settled.

The emperor of the Ming Kingdom was actually a weak young man, which made Bill, who was accustomed to seeing the rude aristocrats and princes of Europe, suddenly feel a lot less pressure.

After seeing Bill and the others come in, Chongzhen returned to the desk and sat down. Lu Jiude and Wang Chengen immediately stood behind Chongzhen, while Zheng Cai and Bill were given seats by Chongzhen.

Zhu Youzhen carefully observed for a while, this Dutchman who seemed to come out of an oil painting, Jinnige, Deng Yuhan and other missionaries wore Ming costumes in front of him in order to preach, and it was the first time he had seen Bill's European costume.

The material on his body looked good, but the edges of the sleeves were worn and tarnished. It looks like a person who was once wide and then down.

Zhu Youzhen looked at Bill and said, "Just now you told Lu Jiude that there was a war between the Protestant League and the Catholic League in Europe, so tell me about this war in detail." ”

Bill, who didn't want to reveal too much European affairs to the Ming people, was finally forced to say helplessly under the pressure of competition among the Jesuit priests.

"Your Majesty the Emperor, I have been in the East for three years, and the distance between the Far East and Europe has been at least more than a year since the news of Europe reached here. Therefore, the latest information I know is also quite limited, and I hope that Your Majesty can understand. ”

After Zhu Youzhen adjusted a more comfortable sitting position, he said gently: "If you know something, just say something, I should listen to you tell a story today." ”

Bill then told Chongzhen what he saw as the reason for the outbreak of the war. The war arose from an attempt by the Holy Roman Emperor Matthias (reigning) to restore Catholicism in predominantly Protestant Bohemia, appointing Ferdinand II as King of Bohemia.

When Ferdinand II ascended the throne, he banned the religious activities of the Protestants in Prague, demolished their churches, and declared the Protestant rallies a mob. On May 23, 1618, armed people stormed the palace and threw the emperor's messenger through the window into the trench, known as the "Throwing Out the Window Incident", which was the beginning of the Protestant Bohemian rebellion against the Austrian Habsburg royal rule.

This was originally nothing more than a rebellion within the Holy Roman Empire, but when the Bohemian revolt, the German Protestant states, nominally part of the Holy Roman Empire, immediately declared their support for the Bohemian people's war against the Austrian Habsburgs.

Within the German states, the Protestant League, headed by Frederick V, Marquis of the Palatinate, and the Catholic League, headed by Duke Maximilian of Bavaria, were themselves in sharp opposition.

Starting with the "Throw Out the Window Incident", a civil war quickly broke out within the Holy Roman Empire. France declared its support for the Protestant alliance in order to establish hegemony over the surrounding countries and prevent the strengthening of the position of the Habsburgs in the vassal states on the German borders.

In June 1619, the Bohemian rebels marched to the outskirts of Vienna, the capital of the Habsburgs, and negotiated with Ferdinand II, who had succeeded to the throne as Holy Roman Emperor.

Ferdinand, pretending to negotiate with him, secretly turned to the Catholic League for help, and promised to transfer the title of Elector of the Palatinate to Duke Maximilian I of Bavaria in the future.

Soon after, the Catholic League sent troops and the rebels were forced to retreat to Bohemia, but the Bohemian Parliament immediately elected Frederick V, the Elector of the Protestant Palatinate, as King of Bohemia.

Next, the Kingdom of Spain began to join the war. The United Provincial Republic, which had been fighting the war of independence with Spain and was a member of the Protestant League, joined the war in the name of opposing Spain.

The following month, the combined forces of Bohemia and the Palatinate were defeated by the Catholic allies under the command of Count Tilly at the Battle of the White Mountains, and Frederick V was forced to flee to the Netherlands, while Bohemia was reincorporated into the Holy Roman Empire.

Ferdinand II thus forced the people of Bohemia to convert to Catholicism, burned Bohemian books, and declared German the official language of Bohemia, ending the war in Bohemia.

But the war did not end there, and King James I did not want his son-in-law, Elector Frederick V of the Palatinate, to lose his domain; Denmark and Sweden did not want to see a highly unified Holy Roman Empire emerge in Europe.

In 1625, French Prime Minister Richelieu proposed an anti-Habsburg alliance between England, the Netherlands, and Denmark, with Denmark in charge of sending troops and England and the Netherlands behind it.

The Protestant King Christian IV of Denmark agreed to the French proposal, and Denmark, with the support of Britain, France, and the Netherlands, formed an alliance with the Protestant alliance in the German state to wage war against Ferdinand II of the Holy Roman Empire.

And these are the news of the war in Europe that Bill knows, and for the names that Bill said, Zhu You's clouds and mountains and fog covered it, and he only remembered one Richelieu.

Thanks to Alexandre Dumas's three musketeers, the great and cunning Cardinal Richelieu, it was deeply engraved in Zhu Youzhen's mind.

"Tell me about the French Prime Minister Richelieu." Zhu Youzhen said with great interest.

Hearing the Emperor of the Ming Kingdom mention Richelieu, Bill couldn't help but show a strange smile, "This cardinal, I heard that there is some ambiguity between this cardinal and the French Queen Mother Marie Medici..."

Wang Chengen suddenly coughed a few times, Zheng Cai suddenly stopped translating, and Zhu Youzhen just smiled and said nothing.

Bill seemed to understand something, and quickly shifted the topic away from the relationship between men and women, "... In April 1617, King Louis XIII of France, dissatisfied with the Queen Mother's seizure of power, staged a coup d'état with the support of the Duke of Rhine, in which Marie Medici was exiled to Blois, Cuccini was killed, and Richelieu was exiled to Avignon.

However, Louis XIII wanted to reconcile with the Queen Mother Marie Medici, so he recalled Richelieu in 1619, and Richelieu did a good job of this task, bringing about a reconciliation between the French mother and son, and in 1624 Richelieu was appointed Prime Minister of France. ”

Bill said with envy and some fear, to be able to become the queen mother and the favorite of King Louis XIII of France, this cardinal can be described as a big man with flexible skills. Moreover, he was also a ruthless figure, and all the nobles who opposed him were brought down by him.

"If Richelieu had only ascended to the prime minister's throne three years ago, then the cardinal's legacy had only just begun." Zhu Youzhen said to himself secretly.

After a little emotion, Zhu Youzhen moved on to another topic, "I heard you talk about European countries just now, but I didn't hear the name of the Kingdom of Portugal. Who is the current king of this country? And who are they supporting in this war? ”

"Your Majesty, as early as 1580, King Philip II of Spain, taking advantage of the crisis on the throne in Portugal, sent the Duke of Alva to lead an army to forcibly annex Portugal, and now Portugal and Spain are already a co-confederation.

The crown of Portugal has been seized by the king of Spain, and the current king of Portugal is King Philip IV of Spain, who only ascended the throne in 1621. ”

When he first walked into this house, Bill was still vigilant, but Chongzhen's sincere attitude during the conversation made Bill slowly open up the conversation.

In the conversation with Bill, Zhu Youzhen finally had a preliminary understanding of Europe in this era.

Towards the end of the conversation, Zhu Youzhen finally asked Bill, "So what do you want from me?" ”

Seeing that the Emperor of the Ming Kingdom had finally talked about the topic, Bill finally said excitedly: "Your Majesty, Dear Emperor, I ask you to hand over the overseas trade of the Ming Kingdom to our glorious East India Company. ”

Zhu Youzhen just spread his hands, made a embarrassed expression and said, "I'm sorry, Mr. Bill, although I am the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, I will not interfere in such a matter as trade negotiations." But Mr. Bill, if you want to negotiate with the Ming on behalf of the Dutch East India Company, do you bring a power of attorney from the Dutch East India Company? ”

Bill was a little speechless, and after a moment of silence, he said cautiously: "But, Your Majesty, didn't you invite me to come and negotiate the right to trade?" ”

Zhu Youzhen smiled and said: "Negotiating trade rights is not the same thing as negotiating the East India Company's monopoly on Daming's overseas trade, isn't it?" Mr. Bill. ”

Bilton was a little dumbfounded, he didn't bring any power of attorney this time, and after hesitating for a long time, he finally said: "Then this trade power..."

Zhu Youzhen interrupted him unceremoniously and continued: "I have just said that when you talk about the trade rights of the East India Company, someone else will talk to you. In return for all the information you have told me about today, what do you want to ask yourself? ”