Yes?

Looking at Pan Xuezhong in surprise, Li Long looked a little confused.

Does it matter?

What matters if the facts don't matter?

Just when he was confused, he only heard Pan Xuezhong say.

"Sometimes, the facts don't matter."

Shaking his head, Pan Xuezhong glanced out the window, because of the relationship between the Admiral Yamen on the mountain, he could directly see the sea from his window.

"It's the Batavia ...... that counts"

It's Batavia that counts!

This sentence reached Li Long's ears, and he immediately understood everything, he knew why Da Ming would protest to the Netherlands and demand compensation from the Dutch, no matter how the Dutch justified, it didn't mean anything to them, because, Da Ming had already set his sights on Batavia and the Dutch.

During his tenure at school or at Honglu Temple, Li Long, like many others, had a new understanding of "the world". In the past, for the officials and people of the Ming Dynasty, the world was nothing more than the Central Plains and the surrounding states, but who knew that there was a more wonderful world beyond this, and this world was richer and more vast.

What is even more surprising is that tens of thousands of miles away in Europe, as well as England, the Netherlands, France, Spain and other countries, they are competing with each other, because overseas interests have clashed again and again, although it seems to have the flavor of disputes between countries during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. However, compared with the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, Li Long found that this war was likely to be more brutal, because each war directly determined the rise and fall of the country.

If the Ming Dynasty can't take the initiative to enter it and show them the power of the Ming Dynasty, then in the future, the Ming Dynasty is likely to fall into decay and eventually become the prey of the mouths of Western countries - these are the words of His Majesty. It is precisely because of this that in the past few years, the Ming Dynasty has done everything possible to understand Europe, collecting intelligence on European countries through various channels to analyze the relationship between the forces of various countries.

Although in Li Long's view, it is difficult for those countries in Europe to challenge the Ming Dynasty with the strength they have. But at the banquet when His Majesty personally set up a banquet to see him off, he sensed an extremely crucial signal from His Majesty's mouth.

South Daming Sea - that is, the South China Sea. It must be in the inland sea of the Ming Dynasty, and the Nantianmen is not only an overseas territory, but also the southern gate of the Ming Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty must limit the power of the West to the west of the Nantian, and in the Nanyang, there are colonies of the Dutch and the Spaniards.

According to this conception of His Majesty, the Dutch must withdraw from the South Seas, from Batavia!

This is the key core of Daming's interests!

This also means that for Da Ming, the facts are not important.

Seeing that Li Long was silent, knowing that he had figured out the key Pan Xuezhong, he said with a smile.

"That's the reality, the reality is that everybody has seen a fleet of Dutch-flagged warships attacking our merchant ships, and that's the fact at the moment."

Is this true?

Even Li Long was vaguely aware that that fleet was most likely pretended to be the warships of the Ming Dynasty, and as for the English, who had a conflict with the Dutch, they did not have that kind of strength at all.

"But we're about to sail to Europe......"

At this time, there was a conflict with the Dutch, then, what next? What to do when the fleet arrives in Europe? Is it necessary to continue the conflict with the Dutch there?

Before Li Long could speak, Pan Xuezhong interrupted his words and said.

"Do you know why the court chose the Dutch instead of the Spaniards this time?"

"Because ......"

Li Long thought for a moment, and then said.

"Nanyang is not only the backyard of the Ming Dynasty, but also the bridgehead for my Ming Dynasty to march into the Tianzhu Sea and the Western Ocean. Neither Westerners nor Nanyang natives can bring any threat to the Ming Dynasty, and naturally they cannot tolerate Europeans establishing their colonies here! ”

Without any hesitation, Li Long bluntly stated the facts he was arguing about.

"Moreover, most of the areas occupied by the Dutch were subject countries of the Ming Dynasty in the past, whether it was based on the commercial interests of Nanyang or the dignity of the Ming Dynasty, conflicts with the Dutch were inevitable."

Of course, the so-called "dignity" is just a fig leaf, in fact, interests are the key.

"It's not all!"

Compared with Li Long, Pan Xuezhong understands the essence of the facts better, and he does not have any taboos, and he will not use any fig leaf to cover up the root of the facts.

"The Dutch have a large merchant fleet in East Asia, and their merchant fleet not only sailed into the Ming Dynasty, but also sailed to Japan and India, and the Dutch, as the coachmen of the sea, have threatened our interests, after all, the merchant ships of the Western Chamber of Commerce must compete with them in various places, and the development of seafaring trade is the foundation of the future of the Ming Dynasty......"

The key to the future interests of the Ming Dynasty is to promote overseas colonization through maritime trade, which is the core interest of the Ming Dynasty in the next 100 or 200 years. And this also means that there will be a conflict between the Ming and the Dutch, who are known as the coachmen of the sea.

"Of course, there is another reason for ......"

The corners of his lips lifted slightly, and Pan Xuezhong said.

"The reason why we didn't choose Spain was because we still needed Spain for the time being, we needed their galleons to bring our goods to their colonies, we needed the silver mines of Portosey, and the Ming needed Spanish silver, so the Dutch were the best choice! Kill the chicken and show the monkey the choice! ”

Kill chickens to show monkeys?

After being stunned for a moment, Li Long asked.

"So the court has decided to drive the Dutch out of the South Seas?"

"Not bad. Although the Dutch East India Company was only a company, they already posed a great threat to the interests of the Ming in the South Seas, they not only owned 150 merchant ships, but also 40 warships, they had 50,000 employees and 10,000 mercenaries. For the Ming Dynasty, all this is something that must not be tolerated, so it does not matter whether the Dutch attacked our merchant ships or not, what matters is that we need such a reason, a reason to go to war against the Dutch. ”

Seeing that Li Long seemed to have something to say, Pan Xuezhong said with a smile again.

"And, now that the Netherlands have declared war on the British, they can't afford to look east. Don't sweep them out of the house at this time, but wait for a while. ”

"Admiral......

Facing Pan Xuezhong, who was extremely confident, Li Long asked rhetorically.

"But, Admiral, what shall we do? We are also going to Europe, and at this time, there is a conflict with the Dutch, so is it possible that we will face a threat from the Dutch in Europe? ”

As an envoy to Europe, Li Long had to consider the safety of the entire mission, perhaps, the scale of the fleet he was about to lead was extremely large, but far away in a strange foreign land, for them, it can be said that it was full of dangers.

As soon as the news of their conflict or even war with the Dutch in the South Seas reaches the Netherlands, whether the mission will become a thorn in the side of the Dutch, and whether the Dutch will mobilize their fleet and attack the Ming fleet, these are all issues that he must consider as a positive envoy.

Although Li Long was not a soldier, but as a messenger, he had a certain understanding of the military power of European countries, the Netherlands, as the loser of the last Anglo-Dutch war, they have been lying on their back, after several years of preparation, their navy has been rebuilt, not only in size more than the British, but also several times larger than the fleet.

"That's why you need to solve the problem diplomatically, don't you?"

Pan Xuezhong said with a smile.

"Admiral Pan, there are people in this world who beat others first, and then went to other people's homes to demonstrate, if they do this, the other party will definitely retaliate!"

Li Long was almost a little annoyed, he had always heard people say that the current Ming Dynasty was different from the past, the status of military generals was extremely high, and civilian officials not only could not restrain military attachés, but even military generals could in turn restrain civilian officials, and they could easily overthrow the cabinet.

However, because of the civil and military affairs - the current Ming Dynasty, because the five military governors are in charge of military affairs, so there is a saying that "military generals are not in the dynasty", in addition to a military department, the military generals of the Ming Dynasty are concentrated in the five military governors' palace, if there is military affairs, His Majesty will directly summon them in the Wuying Palace, even so, civil officials do not attend, only in special circumstances, there will be five cabinet ministers to participate, and other ministers can not attend unless special purposes.

Because of this, the vast majority of civil officials rarely have access to military generals, but even so, there is a saying that "the lords are domineering", and the "lords" are almost all military generals, that is, the Pan Xuezhong in front of him, and the lord is the Marquis of Jinghai of the Ming Dynasty. As for the civil ...... "non-military merits are not crowned marquis", the reason why the first assistant Zhang Huangyan was able to be awarded the title is also because of military merits. As for civil officials, it is impossible to be a marquis.

In the past, the so-called "lords and ministers" were actually "military generals", but it was just hearsay, but now, Li Long has finally seen their "domineering".

"This official is a regular envoy visiting Europe, and he must be responsible for the safety of thousands of people in the mission!"

Thousands of people, this is the size of the mission, of course, not only the mission, but also the officers and soldiers on the sixteen warships that accompanied him, and the reason why Li Long said this now is that he is very angry that he will use "this official" to express his identity.

"If someone threatens you, the fleet's guns will naturally speak for you!"

Looking at the envoy in front of him, who was only in his twenties, Pan Xuezhong smiled, then walked to the window, looked towards the sea, and then pointed to the sea and said.

"Europeans respect power, and when they get there, everything is spoken by power, and the reason why we want to drive the Dutch out is not just for Batavia, but to tell the Europeans that here, Daming, is also watching every move of Europe, so this is both a visit and a demonstration, and what is the best demonstration?"

Turning around, Pan Xuezhong looked at Li Long and asked rhetorically.

"The best demonstration is to beat them up and then run to their door and tell them, 'We're coming!'" If you want to fight, then you will fight, of course ......"

After a slight pause, Pan Xuezhong's tone changed slightly, and he smiled.

"At that point, it's the stage for diplomats, how's that? There is no suspense in this battle of Benhou, your battle. Can you win? ”

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