For the infiltration of Western academics, the scholars of the Ming Dynasty were extremely divided into two factions, one faction was like Li Guopu and others, and rarely took the initiative to contact, resulting in little knowledge of Western studies.

On the other hand, such as Xu Guangqi and others, in order to explore the truth of the world, they took the initiative to contact and communicate with Westerners, and they knew a lot about Western affairs.

In addition, because of the popularity of non-governmental smuggling trade, the Ming people on the southeast coast had closer ties with Westerners.

Not to mention the Cantonese people from Fujian who went to Nanyang to make a living in the early years, there are also many Westerners in the major cities on the southeast coast today, not to mention Xiangshan County, which does business with Haojingao all day long.

Zheng Zhilong, who had just been named the Five Tigers guerrilla general by Zhu Youzhen, was proficient in Spanish, Portuguese and other foreign languages, and his first pot of gold was obtained by acting as an agent for Westerners to carry out maritime trade.

Matteo Ricci saw the incredible expressions of the crowd, and felt a little smug in his heart, these scholars who did not believe in my Catholicism were really so ignorant that they didn't even know that the earth was round.

When Matteo Ricci told Xu Guangqi about this for a long time, people already knew about it.

However, the example given by Xu Guangqi is not Magellan's circumnavigation of the world, but that when approaching with an ocean-going ship, the sail is the first to see the sail and then the cabin, and when it is far away, the cabin disappears first and the sail then disappears.

Just this simple natural phenomenon, Xu Guangqi deduced that the earth is not flat, it should be an arc.

Sure enough, I'm a Catholic.

Thinking of this, Matteo Ricci put away his ridicule and decided to work hard to completely suppress these self-righteous Ming Dynasty scholars.

"Of course it's a spherical shape, my lords, as it was confirmed a hundred years ago, and now the ships that depart from the Big Francophone circle the earth every year and return to the Big Franco."

"And with the ship came countless silver coins and spices, which is why the small countries of the Grande Franco, the Petit Franco, and the Netherlands dominated the world."

Speaking of this, Matteo Ricci had a look of resentment on his face.

Matteo Ricci was an Italian with a sense of superiority over the seat of the Holy See, so he naturally had a slight disdain for Spain, Portugal and other wild places that rose later.

Moreover, Spain and Portugal were occupied by the Arabs more than a century ago.

But this trace of resentment was taken into the eyes of Guo Yunhou.

"Brother Xitai, you said that this big Francoji is a small country, so how big is it?"

Matteo Ricci's real name was Matteo Leech, Ricci was his Chinese name, and in order to associate with the Ming Dynasty scholars, he also gave himself the name Xitai.

"Right here."

Matteo Ricci pointed to a country on the map about the size of the Ming Dynasty's Beizhili.

"So small? I don't think it's as big as Beizhili. ”

Everyone was a little surprised for a moment.

"What about the little Franco?"

Xue Fengxiang stepped forward again and asked.

"The one next to the big franc machine is."

Matteo Ricci stretched out his hand and pointed again to the peninsula at the western end of Ctessy, but this time it was much larger.

"Hey, why is this little Franc bigger than the big Franc? Why is that? ”

Li Guopu was the first to discover the problem, and everyone was a little surprised for a while.

When Matteo Ricci heard this, he spread his hands and his expression seemed to say, "Ask me?" It's not because you Ming people don't understand the world and make names blindly.

Glancing at Matteo Ricci's expression, everyone also understood the reason, and if they didn't understand the situation, there would be a lot of jokes, and they didn't want to continue the topic for a while.

"Brother Xitai, you just said that these two small countries dominate the world?"

Li Guopu changed the topic with some embarrassment.

"Yes, my lord of the Cabinet, a full century ago, under the auspices of the Pope of Rome, the Treaty of Zaragoza was signed, from which the earth was divided into two, the western half of which belonged to the Great Franc and the eastern half to the Lesser Franc."

Matteo Ricci said, glancing cautiously at the important ministers of the Ming Dynasty.

Originally, he didn't want to talk about this content, which was easy to arouse the disgust of the Ming scholars, but His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty also knew about the existence of this treaty at some point, and asked Matteo Ricci to tell the Ming scholars by name.

Sure enough, when Li Guopu and the others heard this, their faces turned red.

"What? The west of this line returns to the big Buddha Lang machine, isn't it my Da Ming who is also a big Buddha Lang machine? No wonder this big Buddha machine occupies my Ming Haojingao and doesn't leave, wolf ambition, wolf ambition! ”

Li Guopu pointed to the non-existent seventeenth parallel of east longitude, with a look of indignation.

"Two small countries dare to divide the world, and they are not afraid of breaking their own teeth, they are really ashamed to speak up, Yelang is arrogant, and there is no one to deceive me? Why do they dare to exaggerate so much? Why? Why? ”

Guo Yunhou pointed to the Taixi Peninsula, although he was disdainful, but he was extremely angry.

"Rely on the strength of the ship!"

Everyone was filled with righteous indignation, and a voice sounded from outside the door of the main hall.

Everyone looked at it, but Zhu Youzhen, who was dressed in the clothes of the Ming Emperor, was standing solemnly at the door of the main hall, and under the sunlight outside the hall, he was covered with a layer of gold.

"The ministers knock on my emperor, long live my emperor, long live, long live, long live!"

"Aiqing, let's be even."

Zhu Youzhen walked into the main hall amid the call of the mountain, and while signaling everyone to be flat, he said to Matteo Ricci.

"Father Leach is right, reward."

Matteo Ricci had been in China for many years, and had learned a lot about the ability to read words and feelings, and after thanking him, he went out of the palace with a chamberlain to receive the reward.

Seeing Matteo Ricci walk out, Zhu Youzhen said with a straight face.

"Guo Butang asked just now, why do two small countries dare to divide the world, and even include my brilliant Huaxia in the scope of carving up, then I will tell you today what is the confidence of others to carve up the world."

As he spoke, Zhu Youzhen lifted a red silk covering the table in front of him, and several ship models immediately came into everyone's eyes.

The two types of ships can be seen by everyone, and the fortune ships and sand boats of the Ming Dynasty can not only sail on the sea, but also have a lot of them in the canal, and these ministers have seen them.

But most of the officials don't know the other big ships.

"Dare to ask Your Majesty, these are Western ships?"

Liu Zongzhou is a native of Shaoxing Prefecture, Zhejiang, and has seen many Western ships when he was a child.

"Haha, Lord Liu is worthy of being a master of science, he is well-informed, yes, these are the main warships of the current little Franco."

Zhu Youzhen pointed to the Western ships that were several times larger than the sand boats and Fu ships of the Ming Dynasty, paused and said.

"The big and small Franc machines dare to carve up the world, relying on these battleships full of artillery, I have heard that the little Franc machine has a fleet, the name is invincible, its largest warship is equipped with more than a hundred guns, the largest artillery is much larger than our Ming Hongyi cannon."

When everyone heard this, they immediately gasped, the battleship with a hundred guns was bigger than the Hongyi cannon.

The Hongyi cannon eroded for miles with one shot, and the scene of a hundred cannons firing at the same time was unimaginable.

A hundred Hongyi cannons, even more than the cannons on the city wall of the capital, so many cannons are loaded on one ship, what kind of ship will it be.

Westerners and ships are so terrifying that it is no wonder that they have the confidence to carve up the world.

With Matteo Ricci's foreshadowing, Zhu Youzhen took out the model of the sail battleship again, which was considered to have completely suppressed these stubborn Ming Dynasty scholars, and then asked aloud.

"Do you think that my Da Ming Sailor can fight with the Westerners? What can you do to fight? ”