Wei Zhongxian followed behind the two, looking a little surprised.

He only found out about the arrival of the Portuguese mission in Beijing the day before yesterday, and he planned to show the emperor tonight, but he didn't think about it, and everyone already knew about it.

In addition to his own Dongchang, could it be that the emperor heard it from Xu Xianchun of Jinyiwei?

Or is it another meritorious work of the Qianhu Tian Ergeng who was meritorious during the southern tour, and was transferred to the capital after being transferred?

This is a trivial matter, even if it is not made clear by the factory guards in the past few days, the department in charge of receiving foreign envoys in the court has to play, but people like Wei Zhongxian find that they are not ordinary from the usual, this is only one of his many skills.

He was always the first to know about the bloody storm in the court, and even the restlessness in the place, and then faithfully reported it to the emperor.

In the past, everything was known by Dongchang Fanzi first, and then reported to the emperor by himself, but now the situation has changed, and Fanzi is not the first to know.

Either Jinyiwei, or the emperor has other means.

Wei Zhongxian just thought about it like this, he didn't dare to delve into what was going on, he also understood that this was just one of the many powers of the Son of Heaven.

Since ancient times, those who covet the authority of the Son of Heaven have been a great rebellion, and this great rebellion has no good results.

The corpses of the five horses were divided, Ling Chi was executed, and even the nine clans abounded, and the saint seemed to be confused, but he seemed to understand.

For example, if the Holy Majesty already knew about a small matter of the mission's visit, did he also know about other things before he made it clear?

The more Wei Zhongxian thought about it, the more he felt palpitations, this emperor had succeeded to the throne for less than four years, but at the age of his early twenties, his mind was so deep and stable.

Sometimes, confusion and understanding are like this, and they can't explain it clearly, and the shrewdness of the Emperor of the Apocalypse is far beyond Wei Zhongxian's expectations.

Several people used this church as a place of reception, and soon John Tang led the delegation back and saluted respectfully.

"This Yiren's hat is good, I haven't seen this kind of thing in the Ming Dynasty." Wei Zhongxian looked at one of them and said with a smile.

John Tang always felt a little strange when he said this, as a missionary of the Holy See, and entrusted by his own king, he was now an official of the Ming Dynasty.

He coughed twice and said:

"This is the envoy of the mission, born in Lisbon of the royal family, this time the Portuguese mission came to Daming, with gifts of great value, many of which have never been seen in Daming!"

Wei Zhongxian snorted coldly: "Even if it is a royal family with teeth, you have to salute when you see Your Majesty here in Daming!" ”

Tang Ruowang was noncommittal about this, but his thoughts were not like Wei Zhongxian's monarchical courtesy.

He wants to follow the local customs, and the regulation here is the emperor, which is indeed one level higher than the Portuguese royal family, and the salute is also the most basic respect.

"Dias has seen His Majesty the Emperor."

Zhu Youxiao looked up and down at this middle-aged white man who was about forty years old, and found that he had thick golden curly hair, and he was taking off his hat and bending down to salute himself, looking polite, and indeed a bit aristocratic.

Zhu Youxiao didn't care about the details of whether to salute or not, motioned for the messenger to be flat, and then said:

"Your country's mission came to my Daming to bring such a rich gift, is it to pay tribute, or is it for the cooperation between the two families and trade at sea?"

Dias, the Portuguese ambassador in his forties, glanced at Zhu Youxiao in surprise, and then said: "I didn't expect Your Majesty to be so straightforward, so I will also say it directly." ”

"I was entrusted by His Majesty the King of Portugal to establish a trade route with the Ming Dynasty, and continued to live in Macao on lease on the day of the Apocalypse."

"These gifts, whether they are tributes to the dynasty or meeting gifts, are all decided by the Ming Dynasty, and our country will cooperate with whatever they say."

Zhu Youxiao chuckled lightly when he heard this, and said slowly: "It seems that your envoy has studied Daming before coming?" ”

Dias felt that there was nothing to hide, and said directly: "It is true that I have studied the language and culture of your country, and my country knows that your country attaches great importance to whether to pay tribute or not, and has decided to cooperate." ”

"That's fine..."

Zhu Youxiao said: "Regarding the lease of Macau, I think it is better to sign a treaty, bind the period, and agree on obligations, so as not to use force when I take it back in the future." ”

"As for trade between the two sides, I have the same intention."

Hearing the words "use force", Dias's eyelids jumped, and it was obvious that he also understood the threat in these words.

However, before coming here, King Philip IV of Portugal had already discovered from the first missionary replies that the Ming Dynasty was not an ignorant and backward eastern country.

Philip IV, the son of Philip III.

In fact, he was a co-king of Spain and Portugal, and in most cases was not a Portuguese king, generally referred to as the Habsburg monarch of Spain.

At this time, Philip IV still nominally ruled the Netherlands, and his army had been routed by the Dutch in the previous two years, and the Armada had been heavily damaged by the British, but he did not recognize the independence of the Netherlands.

In fact, the Netherlands is now substantially independent and developing rapidly, but it has not yet been recognized by Western countries, just like the current Mingjin.

Philip IV was also the lord of the South Netherlands, and the Spanish and Portuguese colonial empires under his rule were inevitably in decline, although they still possessed vast territories around the world.

Since Philip IV succeeded to the throne, internal and external troubles have not stopped for a moment.

Internally, he suffered from the rebellion of the Netherlands and the Dutch, and the global colonial territory was shrinking, and even the British took advantage of the fire to loot abroad, and had to look to the East for opportunities.

Philip IV learned from the first missionaries that the Ming Dynasty was still powerful and had guns as weapons, and he understood that it was not advisable to conquer by force alone, and his attitude quickly shifted from conquest to joint development.

The original purpose of this mission was only one, to use various means to promote trade between the Ming and the Spanish Habsburgs, so as to obtain rich trade income from the East.

You must know that the current global trade is centered on the Ming Dynasty, and eighty percent of the silver mined by the West from Africa is frantically flowing into the Ming Dynasty through various trades.

For Western countries, trade with Daming is definitely a good thing that can not only ease finances but also ensure domestic stability.

On the way here, they learned from John Tong that the Emperor of the Apocalypse was very dissatisfied with Portugal's lease of Macao, so he temporarily changed his tone and wanted to renegotiate the lease of Macao for a while.

In response to the threat in Zhu Youxiao's words, Dias showed neither humility nor arrogance, and it was obvious that he was prepared, and it was imperative to deal with trade and continue to lease Macao.

After this simple meeting, Zhu Youxiao decided the tone of trade with Spain, and the next step was to convene Jiuqing Kedao to discuss the matter at the court meeting.

When he returned to the palace, Zhu Youxiao threw a civilian suit on the ground, sat down on the couch, and pondered there.

Wang Chaofu hurriedly instructed the little eunuchs and palace ladies of the Qianqing Palace to clean up, and after a while, Wei Zhongxian came in happily and said:

"Master, the old slave has calculated, among the gifts brought by the Spanish mission this time, the tribute is worth more than 200,000 taels!"

"There are some strange things, I can't estimate the price, but the old slave can see that they are all priceless treasures!"

Zhu Youxiao was also a little surprised, so much?

It seems that Spain is in big trouble, and also, at this juncture, Spain is in decline, and Philip IV must be trying to ease the tense situation in Spain at this time by trading with the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Youxiao still understands the reason that you want your life while you are sick, in this case, why don't I bargain with him?