Fan. Dimen listened to Ji Kun's suggestion, and his face turned gloomy.

What does it mean for the four parties to jointly guarantee stability and free trade in the South Seas?

Where are the Quartet? Obviously, there are only three parties: the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain!

Although you Ming Dynasty took the two vassal states of Annam and Siam, Zhenla probably didn't run away. But in the strict sense of the word, it's not the South Seas, there's no oceans, it's the continents. Although the Ming Dynasty passed by sea, it also sailed along the coastline, and there were not many ships to go to the sea.

Now that is, the Zheng family in Dongning can send a small number of sailing ships to Batavia and Malacca, but they have no strength in Malacca, the East Indies, and the Philippine Islands.

As for England...... That's a big problem for the Dutch, and you still want them to go to the South Seas? What do you want to do?

Also, what about Spain? Where did Spain go? Is this excluded? Although the Netherlands and Spain have been fighting for 80 years, they have now made peace, and their interests in the Philippine Islands are also recognized by the Netherlands.

"Mr. Dimen," said Ji Kun with a smile, "the Spanish trade route does not pass through Malacca, and this Philippine archipelago has no other interests than as a transit point for trade in the Pacific. So it's okay for the Quartet to go without Spain...... As for England, it was a great power on the sea! In the past, because of the chaos at home, I didn't do much in Nanyang.

Now that their own mess is over, it is only a matter of time before they come to China through the South Seas to trade. In fact, there are some English ships operating along the coast of Daming now! Shouldn't we pull England in and discuss how to ensure peace in the South Seas? ”

Ji Kunla's entry into the British game was actually his own opinion, and Zhu Cihong's maritime policy was "pro-Dutch and anti-British."

But in these years, there is no telegram, there is no Internet, and Ji Kun, the "all-powerful minister", is really in power - Zhu Cihong also knows that this is really an era when diplomats can give full play, so he will not frame the mission to Europe, but give them enough authorization.

But Ji Kun felt that he should muddy the waters of the South Seas, pull Britain into the game, let Britain and the Netherlands eat dogs, and Daming would sow discord from it, maybe he would be able to get Batavia and Malacca into his hands...... After taking Malacca and Batavia, the Ming Dynasty was complete in the direction of the South Seas.

It was the territory of the Propaganda Division of the old port in the early years, so why was it a good place to build a few forts, set up a few cannons, and arrange a few warships to block the road and collect fees, so why did you lose it?

......

Council Building, City of London, Republic of England.

The Republic of England does not yet have a Lord Protector or Lord Protector, although many people privately call him Oliver. Cromwell. However, his official position now is the chairman of the State Council, and the chairman of the State Council is also!

However, he is not satisfied with this job and is still actively asking for progress - the person who has become the president of the State Council is still working so hard, it is so touching and inspiring!

And those who stand in the way of his chairman's progress are actually the same people who opposed King Charles I of England ten years ago. Now those people must be missing Charles I, the faint king, because Chairman Ke is much more fierce than the faint king.

Before becoming president of the Council of State, Cromwell had already "purged" Parliament three times, the first expelling the heads of the Presbyterian faction who had tried to reconcile with the king.

The second time was Cromwell's henchman Thomas. Pride led his troops to besiege Parliament and screen members of the House of Commons, identifying 71 good people out of a total of 489 Commons, and 83 returning to the ranks of Parliamentarians after correcting their mistakes. The lower house of parliament, which has only 154 members, is known as the "remnant parliament".

The third time, after the execution of Charles I, the House of Commons, controlled by Cromwell, declared itself the representative of the people, the source of the supreme power in England. Then the House of Commons announced the abolition of the House of Lords and the abolition of the monarchy, establishing the Republic of England.

However, Cromwell was still very unhappy with the performance of the remaining members of Parliament!

These damn parliamentarians are just too reactionary, too stubborn...... The kings have been dead for more than a year, and they still have a longing for the Stuart dynasty!

Until now, no member of parliament has jointly implored him, the chairman of the Council of State, to ascend to the throne and become the king of England!

What are these people waiting for? Don't you want to replace a reactionary Stuart dynasty with a progressive Cromwellian dynasty?

When I was sulking alone in the office, the secretary's voice came from outside the door: "Mr. President, it's me." ”

"Come in."

A handsome and tall young man pushed the door in and bowed to Cromwell: "Mr. President, Lord Grey, Minister of Foreign Affairs, asks for a meeting. ”

"What's the matter?" Cromwell asked in a rather majestic voice.

"The Chinese ambassador wants to meet with Lord Grey."

Cromwell was stunned: "What? Porcelain ambassadors? Selling porcelain? ”

"It's not porcelain, it's the ambassador of the great Eastern empire that produces porcelain who wants to see Lord Gray."

"What?" Cromwell was stunned, "The Chinese ambassador? Invite Lord Gray in. ”

"Yes, sir." The young man bowed, turned and walked out the door.

After a while, a personable elderly nobleman walked into Cromwell's office and bowed respectfully to the President of the Republic of England.

"Sit down, Mr. Gray." Cromwell said with a smile.

Lord Gray sat down in a chair opposite Cromwell, then took out two long letters and laid them on his desk.

Cromwell unfolded one of them, and there was a pile of ink squares on it, and he didn't recognize any of them.

"Mr. President, this is the translation." Lord Gray gave another letter to Cromwell.

"It's ...... French? Cromwell looked at it for a moment, "What pen is this written in?" It's weird to watch. ”

This is a letter written in French with a Huizhou wolf brush, the handwriting is thin and hard, the penmanship is exposed, and the technique of thin gold is used.

Thin gold French, Cromwell of course saw it for the first time...... To be honest, I don't understand much.

Cromwell knew French, but the thin French was written upside down, without any regard for grammar, and although Cromwell knew most of the words, he really couldn't understand them together.

"What do you mean?" Cromwell had no choice but to admit that he was not knowledgeable enough to know French.

"Mr. President," said Lord Gray, "this is a letter from the Chinese Ambassador, Mr. Ji, who would like to ask you to send a representative to Amsterdam, the Netherlands, to discuss the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Britain, and the joint efforts of China, the Netherlands, Portugal and the United Kingdom to safeguard the security and free trade of Malacca and the East Indies." ”

Cromwell didn't expect Lord Gray to be so learned, "Lord, can you really understand?" ”

"I don't understand," replied Lord Gray, "I only found out what was going on after I asked the Dutch diplomat who sent the letter. ”

"Shall we send someone then?" Cromwell was suspicious of his dealings with the Dutch.

On the one hand, because the Netherlands was England's fierce rival at sea, and on the other hand, because of Mary, the daughter of Charles I, who was beheaded by Cromwell. Henrietta was in the Netherlands, and was the mother of William III, the head of the House of Orange, and the regent of the House of Orange-Nassau.

Although the Orange-Nassau family was suppressed by the Dutch Parliament, the strength of the family is still there, so there are a lot of old retainers, which can be said to be the confidant of the "Cromwell dynasty"!

"Men ought to be sent," said Lord Grey, "and trade with the East is good for the revival of the British economy, and we should seize the opportunity that China has come out of its isolation and has begun to trade with foreign countries in a positive manner in the last few years."

Also, we took the opportunity to discuss with the people of the Werther family how to crack down on the Orange family......"