Looking at the three women in the hall, Yan Mei'er and Mei Shan Shilin, as well as Ao Lei Yilan who was laughing and running in the yard with two jade doll-like younger siblings, Dahao and Xiaohao, Li Huaxuan felt a warmth in his heart for no reason.

In the hall, Yan Mei'er led a group of maids and sisters Mei Shan Shilin to pack the clothes and various items for the third son to go out, and kept explaining when this dress should be worn, and that snack is what San'er likes to eat since he was a child.

The line in the mother's hand, the wanderer's shirt.

The family rules of the Li family, all the children, whether they are born to a famous wife, or those children of orchids and maids who are used by Shouhan on a whim to solve physiological problems, whether they are in that field, the seeds are always sown from Shouhan. After weaning, they will all be sent to Yanmeier, and they will enjoy the same living treatment and standards.

Li Huaxuan grew up in front of Yan Mei'er. For Yan Mei'er, he, like other children, called out "Mother!" from the bottom of his heart! ”

"Mother! Don't get too much stuff. You see what you have for the second brother, I will let the boat make a turn and go to Guangxi to see the second brother. ”

The second brother in Hua Xuan's mouth is Li Huabao, who is now building roads in Guangxi, because he accidentally offended the rebel scales of the Han Dynasty, and was "dispatched" to Guangxi to build roads. People also saw the smug and happy smile on the uncle's face when he mentioned the second son on different occasions.

Hearing San'er say this, his biological mother and aunt Mei Shan Shilin sisters were quite appreciative. However, his mother, Yan Mei'er, scolded him with a smile at him who was sitting in the yard drinking tea and playing with his younger siblings: "You bastard! Your father asked you to go to the Wa Kingdom to recruit soldiers, you don't want to do a good job, but you are thinking about going to Guangxi to see your second brother, and it will take at least half a month to go back and forth. Aren't you afraid that your father will be angry and pick your skin? ”

His mouth rebuked, but his face was full of joy.

"Mother, I won't delay the mission. 20,000 people! Where is it so easy to recruit? Let the Qing soldiers contact the Tokugawa family first, divide the soldiers, and then I just have to go and pick up the troops! And ah! I have a message to my father. Said that I planned to go to Guangxi to learn scriptures. Let's see how the second brother built the road over there, and asked him to borrow a few experienced people. Isn't this a combination of public and private? ”

"Madam, Your Highness is right! We are going to the Second Highness to learn the scriptures! ”

Needless to say, from the strange stiff accent, just from the short stature of the speaker. Hair that has just grown on the head. The big toe on the foot is very wide in the straw sandals. Yan Mei'er knew that the leader of the pro-soldiers standing beside San'er was from the Wa Kingdom.

"You're from Dongying? Japanese people? ”

Nowadays, there are too many soldiers of various nationalities in the Nanyue Army, and people have become accustomed to analyzing where the soldiers come from from many details such as skin color, physiognomy, bones, and gait from various strange tones.

"Back to Madame's words. It is true that we are from Dongying, but by the kindness of His Royal Highness, he has already transferred his subordinates to listen to the use, and the lord has also rewarded the household registration, and the subordinates have returned to Dongying this time to help His Highness recruit 20,000 soldiers and horses in the Wa Kingdom. By the way, I also brought my wife and children to Hue! ”

Hearing that this guy was the leader of the soldiers who had just arrived at his son's side, Mei Shan hurriedly ordered the maid to reward him with tea and snacks. "What's your name?"

"Back to Mrs. Hui's words, the original name of the little one was Jingkou Qingbei, and His Royal Highness felt that it was unpleasant, so he changed the name of the villain and gave me a Han surname, and now the little one is called Qin Bingwei!"

"How much do you want to borrow this time?"

In another courtyard of Ning Yuanbo's Mansion, the atmosphere was not so harmonious.

Bai Soya, the colonel of the Restoration Army, was wearing a golden military uniform, but he stood under the eaves of the porch like a little daughter-in-law who came to the landlord's house to borrow food, and he didn't dare to take an extra bite.

He trembled and took out a loan document from the leather bag in his hand, and handed it to Cheng Qiguan on the side with both hands. Through the back of Cheng Qiguan, Bai Soya looked at several giants such as Li Shouhan and Li Peilin who were sitting behind the table at the opposite door.

"Change the name of a small piece of land and give it to us, tens of thousands of miles away, how can we manage it? With this, you plan to borrow a million yuan and go? ”

Shouhan shook the loan documents presented by the Portuguese Restoration Army in his hand with some anger.

His trick was exposed, and Baisoya trembled into a piece of cold powder.

The idea of handing over Gibraltar to the Nanyue Army led by Li Shouhan itself has the meaning of self-protection with the help of the strong combat effectiveness of the Nanyue Army. As for how much money Gibraltar could be exchanged for, that was secondary.

Speaking of this, we have to talk about the shape that Gonzalez and others faced.

They threw the Spanish flag flying over Gibraltar into the Atlantic, only to find that their neighbors were more wary of the Spanish than they were of the Spaniards.

And no wonder.

Portugal said, however, on the basis of the revolts of Évora and Algarve, as well as the uprising in Catalunia, in November 1640 the Portuguese nobles orchestrated a conspiracy with the official support of João, Duke of Bragança. On 1 December, the nobles seized the royal palace of Lisbon, executed the Minister of State, forced the Spanish garrison to surrender, deposed King Philip IV of Spain, and appointed João, Duke of Bragança, as the new king, as João IV. It was an official declaration of independence from the Spanish Empire and the completion of the independence of the Kingdom of Portugal. In addition, Portugal mainland and all overseas territories except Ceuta declared allegiance to the new king, João IV. It has also established diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands and other countries.

But in fact, the relationship between the Kingdom of Portugal and the Spanish Empire was still unclear, and there were constant private exchanges between the two sides. Don't talk about anyone else, it's the new King of Portugal, João IV himself, whose mother and wife were both aristocratic ladies of Spain. Do you think such a person would be able to make a complete break with the Spanish Empire? Did his mother and daughter-in-law agree? If this kind of thing can be done, Comrade Jianfeng's campaign to fight tigers in Shanghai will also be successful.

So. This was an awkward situation within the Kingdom of Portugal: the lower classes supported the new king, hoping that the war to oust Spain would give them the opportunity to change their economic and political status. Many aristocrats were related to Spain (including King João IV. And hesitant (it's not good to put too much weight on your relatives!) Only a part of the aristocracy stood firmly on the side of João IV and advocated a complete break with Spain. Most of the bureaucracy in the government apparatus supported João IV, but a large number of them, after an impassioned patriotic speech in public during the day, quietly wrote a letter of allegiance to the Spanish emperor at night, explaining that they were coerced by the mob. The bourgeoisie, on the other hand, which developed through the guò trade, remained neutral and waited and watched. The church system was also divided into two distinct factions, with the Jesuits supporting João IV and the Inquisition siding over Spain.

And this situation is inseparable from the continuous marriage combination between European royal families for hundreds of years.

From the Habsburgs to the Capetian family, there were constant marriages and successions between major families. There are also branches on the main trunk of the family. There is another collateral on the branch.

In the case of the Capetian-Anjou family, which currently rules Spain, although it is only a side lineage, the intricacies of kinship are enough to dazzle.

So, wars between European royal families. It is a war between a group of cousins, uncles, uncles, nephews, nephews, uncles, and brothers-in-law. I'm done, I'm tired. Or if everyone thinks that there is no benefit in fighting, there will be another one or several relatives who will come out to play a round and say that they will join together, and everyone will drink and hunt and dance together. If you sign a treaty, the world will be peaceful again, and the unlucky ones are those ordinary soldiers who fall on the battlefield.

This kind of war is a bit like playing mahjong between relatives during the New Year's holidays, and winning or losing is all about the money. No matter who loses, everyone eats together in the end.

However, if suddenly a wild boy from the next village said that he was a relative of your family, sitting at the mahjong table and opening a handful of Tianhe, and then he wanted to take the money and leave, what would you think, the people playing cards at the table and the people watching from the sidelines?

Today, the Portuguese Restoration Army is this wild boy. They have nothing to do with European royalty. However, with the army that can fight and fight, Tianhe came to a handful of peace. The European royal families, especially the Spanish and Portuguese nobles, who were in a big fight, immediately turned their attention to it.

Everybody has to see what this guy out of the field is going to do.

Surrounded by Spanish, French, Portuguese aristocrats, and not far away the Ottoman Empire, the leadership of the Restoration Army felt naked in the midst of wolves.

After a short consultation, everyone unanimously decided, first, to expand outward quickly, not to let the people around us react, we must first expand the territory! Second, ask His Royal Highness the Earl for help, we want money! Guns! I ask for various supplies! Third, after several battles, the Restoration Army has discovered the benefits of this group of Japanese volunteers, which is really a good thing with high quality and low price! It's just that there are only a few thousand people on hand, and if you want to complete the great cause of recovering the country and get everyone a noble title, you must have at least 10,000 people.

However, if you want to achieve this goal, you have to find a way to impress the heart of the Earl.

"Your Highness, in addition to the territory we occupy Gibraltar, we sincerely present to you, ten other Moorish slave girls and five Spanish noble female captives for your view."

Suddenly, Baisoya thought of the gifts he had brought, and stammered to offer them to Shouhan.

Well? African Moorish slave girls? Shouhan couldn't help but raise his eyebrows a few times.

"Let's put these first," there is a way that officials do not give gifts, not to mention that they give gifts that they like to see. "Let me ask you, you don't have any other collateral except to give this much-criticized Gibraltar to Lijiakou to Benber?" Shouhan's tone softened a lot.

Seeing that His Royal Highness the Earl's tone was much softened, Bai Soya's psychological pressure was reduced a lot, and his mind suddenly became much more flexible and clear.

"We are willing to hand over the Kingdom of Portugal's colonies in South America entirely to His Highness the Earl, as a reward for your selfless support for our sacred cause of restoration!"

On the one hand, Colonel Baisoya took a map of South America from his entourage. It is marked with large and small color blocks, names are written in Latin, and dense text occupies a large area on the map, probably the construction age, population, troops, production and so on of those colonial strongholds.

Administrative regions can be divided, and countries can be established, but the direction of the mountains and rivers on the map cannot be changed by human behavior.

From the location of the colony on the map, and the nearby rivers and mountains, it was easy to identify the country he remembered as a samba dance, football, and a large amount of iron ore, timber, and, oh, the famous crow's beak.

"These places. All of your Kingdom of Portugal? ”

Shouhan pointed his finger at the large and small strongholds above.

Bite the bullet. I don't care about the fine beads of sweat on my forehead. Colonel Baisoya snapped a few words out between his teeth.

"Oh, of course, right now, indeed. Yes! It's ours! ”

I could hear what Baisoya said. Shouhan leaned back in satisfaction. Sit more comfortably. In Shouhan's impression, the Americas, starting from Mexico and South America, are mostly Latin-speaking countries. Basically, they were colonies of Spain and Portugal. Brazil, in particular, had a relationship with Portugal until World War II. So much so that the Portuguese were able to use the hundreds of thousands of Japanese in Brazil as bargaining chips to blackmail the crazy devils and use them to maintain their special status in Macau.

(Oh, but it seems that Peru, another Latin-speaking country, actually had a devil become president!) ）

"We intend to use these strongholds scattered throughout the American continent, as well as the rich silver mines, vast forests, and fertile land, to borrow five million silver dollars from His Royal Highness the Earl, and to complete our sacred cause of restoration. Our Kingdom of Portugal is a country founded on the Iberian Peninsula. ”

"Wu Bai Yuan? Too much, right? ”

Li Peilin, who had been silent for a long time, looked coldly at the sweat on Colonel Baisuoya's forehead and his slightly trembling hands, and said such a sentence coldly.

"Are those land cities waiting for the Portuguese? Is there still a Spanish flag flying somewhere? You sold us the land of the old Wang family next door?! Li Peilin's voice raised an octave, and everyone present was suddenly shocked that their expressions changed.

It's dangerous! I was cheated out of millions of silver by this guy!

Baisaoya, who had been pierced through the diorama, was even more paralyzed on the ground, allowing a few soldiers to pick him up from the ground like a dead dog and throw him to the corner, and put two long knives on his neck.

The lord was worried about the humiliation of the lord and the death of the minister, and in anger, several guards leaders kept punching and kicking to greet the Colonel Baisoya in front of him.

"Stop!"

After fighting for a while, the evil fire in Shouhan's heart that was deceived also subsided a little, Li Peilin whispered a few more words in his ear, and the two discussed in a low voice for a while, and then ordered the guards to stop.

For Portugal at the moment, there is almost a blank in the historical knowledge that Shouhan is not too rich. The sense of existence in this country is too low.

It is only known that although João IV became the king of Portugal after independence, it was only after his son Alfonso VI defeated Spain during the reign of his son Alfonso VI that it was gradually recognized by various countries. During the reign of João IV, the Portuguese Empire suffered many disasters and diplomatic setbacks. The domestic economy was sluggish, and there were several riots.

Prior to this, Portugal had been showing goodwill to its neighbors and powers. But because of the lack of strength, people don't look at it at all.

In the case of the Netherlands, Portugal made a good faith request for reconciliation. But peace between the two countries was confined to Europe, and the struggle for overseas territories never ceased. Finally, in 1661, Portugal relented by relinquishing the overseas possessions under Dutch occupation at the time, and granting Dutch merchants trading privileges similar to those of English merchants in Portuguese possessions. It was only at this time that the Netherlands recognized the Kingdom of Portugal, and at this time the Netherlands had been abused by the Lord Protector for a long time.

The coachmen ignored the Portuguese, and the Gallic rooster did not bird João IV at all.

At the beginning of their independence in 1641, in order to relieve the enormous pressure brought to them by Spain, Portugal proposed to France to formally establish a multinational alliance against Spain; But the French ignored it. Later Portugal lowered the bar and was only a formal union (i.e., if Spain did not reconcile with Portugal, then France did not reconcile with Spain); But France still avoided mentioning it. At the end of the Thirty Years' War, Portugal, as a hostile power of Spain, demanded a seat in the final peace talks, so that Spain would recognize its independent status and avoid further wars; However, France did not admit Portugal. The final Treaty of Westphalia (October 1648) had nothing to do with Portugal at all. 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. (Oh, isn't it a little familiar, such a plot has been staged countless times in the Republic of China era of Wei Guangzheng.) It's just that the people who are turned are all the Republic of China, and the exchange is just a different attack. ）

The diplomacy with the British was even funnier, after Charles I put on two shirts, Joao IV wanted to remain neutral and see, but a group of British royalists used the long-standing alliance between the two countries as an excuse to lead a fleet loyal to the king to anchor in the port of Lisbon and use it as a base to attack Cromwell's fleet. Annoyed, Cromwell sent a fleet to blockade the port of Lisbon, cutting off the sea lanes for Portugal's foreign trade. I wanted to please both ends, but I was cut at both ends.

In exchange for peace and the support of the British, Portugal was forced to sign an agreement with the Lord Cromwell in 1654, opening up the trading territories of the Americas, Africa and the East to England, promising preferential tariff rates, and even stipulating that Portugal could only lease English ships if it needed to lease foreign ships. The British also demanded that British merchants in Portugal be allowed to practice their own religious activities. This is difficult to accept in Portugal, a traditional Catholic country. Cromwell then sailed to Lisbon with his navy to force Portugal to agree to this clause. In 1660, after the end of the Thirty Years' War, Spain concentrated its efforts on Portugal, and Portugal had to turn to England for help again. Tangier in North Africa was given to the British; And if the British could take back the areas of the Indian Ocean that were occupied by the Dutch, they would cede them to the British; For Ceylon, if the British were able to recapture it, then Portugal would divide the island's cinnamon trade equally with the British. In exchange, the British sent two cavalry regiments and two infantry regiments to Portugal; Britain would send a fleet to Portugal's aid if needed. From then until the time of the First Portuguese Republic, the British had diplomatic privileges in Portugal and carried out pervasive economic penetration.

And more importantly, Portugal at this time did not have a colony in South America at all, (don't tell me about Brazil, Brazil is decades away.) On behalf of the Portuguese Restoration Army, Colonel Baisoyer transferred all Spanish colonies, which is typical of generosity! Brazil, Madeira, and so on were the territories of the Spanish Empire at that time, bathed in the light of the emperor. (To be continued......)