Since the beginning of the twenty-third year of Chongzhen, Emperor Chongzhen has focused on domestic road construction, economic construction, and taking into account the construction of various disciplines, which can also be said to be the construction of various industries.

And on the eighth day of March of this year, in Lisbon, the capital of Portugal far away in Europe, Joao IV was very unhappy, and it can even be said that he did not have a good thing.

It's not that the Spaniards have hit Lisbon, but a whole bunch of things that make him feel very worried and heartwarming.

The Kingdom of Portugal is a long-standing state, founded in 1139; But in 1581, it was annexed by Spain. At this time, Spain was a powerful country in Europe, and the Spanish fleet was known as the Invincible Armada. However, the Spanish fleet was then defeated by the combined forces of England and the Netherlands, and was mired in the Thirty Years' War.

There is no doubt that Spain's oppression of Portugal was even greater. In response, the Portuguese revolted, elected João IV as their king, declared independence and rebelled against Spanish rule.

At the outset, Spain was at a critical juncture in the Thirty Years' War, so it was unable to free up its hands to clean up Portugal.

And Portugal knew that with its own ability, it would be difficult to resist the Spanish repression. So they asked for help in order to be recognized by other countries.

Originally, Portugal and England had been allies, but João IV had the misfortune to encounter civil strife in England and Charles I was executed. Originally, he wanted to remain neutral in the civil strife in England, and Britain would support whoever came to power in the end, but unexpectedly, a group of British royalists led a fleet loyal to the king to anchor in the port of Lisbon under the pretext of the long-standing alliance between the two countries, and used it as a base to attack Cromwell's fleet, forcing João IV to take sides, but he could not defeat Cromwell's fleet.

In addition, João IV was also seeking support from France. But at that time, France was a big country, and it didn't look down on Portugal at all, even if Portugal promised to give France a lot of benefits, people didn't look at it.

It stands to reason that Portugal, as the side that rebelled against Spain, could be regarded as the victorious side in the Thirty Years' War. As a result, when the contract was signed, they ignored Portugal and did not let Portugal attend. Even in the Treaty of the Pyrenees (1659), signed separately between France and Spain, it was clearly stated that France did not support Portugal in peace talks with Spain. Portugal became a bargaining chip in the game of interests between the great powers.

None of the others, including Rome or the Pope, recognized Portugal.

It can be said that the situation of Portugal after independence was quite bad. Now, more than a year after the end of the Thirty Years' War of Religion, Spain has already licked the wounds of so many years of war, and it is ready to attack Portugal at any time.

So much unhappiness made João IV's hair gray I don't know how many. He was worrying, when suddenly, he heard a loud noise from the direction of the port, which made him furious: "There is no end? If you can't beat those rebels, you know how to be angry here! ”

The British royalist fleet, which could not be beaten and could not be beaten, often went ashore to make trouble when they docked in Lisbon, and asked them a little, and these British people shouted that Portugal disliked them and wanted to betray the Covenant, and that João IV was really annoyed.

At this time, the port was so noisy, and if you think about it with your toes, you must have made trouble after drinking again. However, even so, what can be done, those British are not reasonable at all!

Thinking about this, João IV sighed, told himself to calm down, not to be disturbed by the outside, and then forced himself to calm down and began to continue working.

If it had been in the past, those British would have been in trouble for a while, and then they would have slowly subsided; But this time, the direction of the port has been noisy, and there is a growing trend.

At the beginning, João IV told himself in his heart: normal heart, normal heart! Try to reassure yourself and not be distracted by the noise.

Later, it was evident that João IV's hand holding the pen paused several times, and even tried to stand up as soon as he threw the quill away. But in the end he held back and sat down again.

But the noise continued, greatly exceeding his endurance, and after many attempts to reassure himself, at last, he threw away the quill, and then rang the doorbell, which must be dealt with.

When the bell rang, the squire at the door did not enter as before, which annoyed João IV even more, and rang the bell very hard.

Finally, the door opened, and the attendant at the door rushed in, as if he did not see the gloomy face of João IV who was about to rain, and said excitedly: "Your Highness, look, Your Highness, look at the port, look at ......"

"What do you see? What's there to see? João IV roared angrily, but immediately he felt that something was wrong, and if it was the same as before, the squire would not be so excited!

With a turn of his mind, João IV's voice became a little lower, returned to normal, and asked with a puzzled look: "Could it be that the British, who have come back from victory?" ”

All along, these royalist fleets were beaten by Cromwell's fleet, and it was the same that made these royalists often drink and make trouble. But if it weren't for the victory, why would the squire be so excited?

"No, Your Highness!" The attendant was very excited, walked briskly to the window in the direction of the port, opened it quickly, and after checking it for himself, he immediately turned around and moved out of the way and said to João IV, "Your Highness, come and see, you will know it at a glance!" ”

What kind of joy is it? When João IV saw this, he was suspicious and interested, so he walked quickly to the window and looked.

I saw that the port was already crowded with people. But even so, there are still many people who are flocking in the direction of the port. It's like there's money there, the kind that doesn't pick up for nothing.

Further ahead, there is a fleet docked on the shore, disembarking, and there are soldiers still maintaining order.

"Is the overseas fleet back?" When João IV saw this, he turned back to ask his attendants with some confusion.

Even if the overseas fleet came back with goods, it wouldn't be so lively, would it?

Seeing this, the attendant couldn't help it, so he replied quickly in an excited tone: "Your Highness, it's the fleet that went to the Far East Ming Empire to come back, and you're back with a full load!" ”

"Ah......" João IV sighed when he heard this, and then immediately turned his head and looked at the docks again.

Sure enough, at this time, he finally saw that this fleet was sent to the Far East Ming Empire two years ago!

After confirming it, João IV finally became excited, as if he was going to draw a lottery, and when he was waiting for the prize to be announced, he immediately turned his head and confirmed: "Really full of money?" ”

"Yes, Your Highness, you will definitely return with a full load!" It was not the attendant who answered him, but the voice that came from the door.

Joao IV looked up when he heard the voice, and recognized that it was the commander of the fleet he sent to the East, and he was immediately overjoyed, and hurriedly strode over, and met him with a document handed over by the commander of the fleet: "Your Highness, this is the list of goods in the fleet this time, all of them are specialties of the Ming Empire in the Far East, and we can make several times the profit as soon as we change hands......

João IV could no longer hear what he was saying, and his attention was all focused on the document in his hand, and he quickly skimmed through the pages one by one.

Raw silk, silk, tea, porcelain...... They are really all specialties of the Far East, and they are all the most famous brand specialties, and the most important thing is that there are so many of them......

All of this was far beyond João IV's expectations. So much so that after he turned it over, he looked at it from the beginning again. I watched it three times in a row, and I watched it slower than I watched it again. After reading it for the third time, he closed the document, closed his eyes, and took a big breath.

He opened his eyes and stroked the document with his hand, as if it had become a specialty of the Far Eastern Empire.

Immediately afterwards, João IV turned and went to the window, and when he looked at the warships docked in the harbor again, his eyes wide open and his eyes lit up.

After a while, however, he seemed to be in a much lower mood, and was noticeably less happy, and slowly turned around and walked to his seat and sat down.

"Your Highness, what's wrong?" When the fleet commander saw this, he was a little strange, so he hurriedly asked, "But you are still not satisfied?" ”

When I asked like this, I thought to myself, no! The harvest of this trip to the Far East is far greater than any previous one. It can be said that it can greatly alleviate domestic economic demand. This should be seen from His Highness's performance at the beginning.

Hearing the question of the fleet commander, João IV suddenly sighed and said: "How can I not be satisfied with such a big harvest this time!" ”

Speaking of this, seeing that the fleet commander wanted to speak, he took the lead and added: "It's just that now we Portugal are struggling, so many good things have to be sent to others, hoping to exchange them for their support for our Portugal!" ”

Hearing this, the people in the house understood João IV's thoughts, and couldn't help but be speechless by default.

Weak countries are like this, they can't keep the good things they want at all.

"I'll divide it first, and I'll send it to all countries when I turn around, especially France and England, and we have to prepare a big head." João IV was already thinking about it as he spoke, "Among them, on the French side, in addition to the Queen Mother's Austrian Anna's side, Cardinal Mazarin's etiquette cannot be thin, and there are ......."

In order to win the recognition of Portugal by the rest of Europe, it is best to give Portugal support when Spain attacks Portugal, but Joao IV has no choice but to send it out no matter how distressed he is.

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