Tang Wang stretched out his hand and pressed his temple, and said helplessly: "I sent someone to Madras to talk, although the British said in private that they would not stand on the side of the Dutch. But he has always avoided talking about whether he is willing to stand on my side in this matter. In General Lin's view, the British should not risk an all-out conflict with the Dutch on our side, for they would be the greatest beneficiaries if we were to lose on both sides. ”

After hearing this, Li You pondered for a long time before he said cautiously: "Then judging from the available information, if we interfere in the political situation in Goa, we will not only have to deal with the forces inside Goa that want to support the Duke of Joao, but also take over the hostility of external forces to the Portuguese.

Otherwise, even if we contacted the forces of the Pro-Restoration Committee in Goa and took Goa, the Dutch and the Mughal Empire would not give up. This complicates the situation, and it would be unwise to provoke two of the strongest local powers, a half-hearted ally, and an outsider to sit on the sidelines, with our unstable presence in the Indian Ocean.

However, the higher the risk we take, the greater the rewards. If we can accept the colonies that the Portuguese have been developing on the Indian continent for a hundred years, the various written records they have accumulated alone will be enough to save us decades of intelligence gathering time. It's easy to make the choice of not interfering, maybe..."

King Tang finally interrupted Li You's tirade impatiently and asked him, "So, what is your conclusion?" ”

Only then did Li You sober up from his train of thought, and remembered that the person in front of him was not His Majesty the Emperor. His Majesty the Emperor only needs the ideas of the staff officers, and the final decision is always made by him personally, so he always takes the trouble to explain his thoughts when reporting. As for the Tang King in front of him, what he needs is for others to give him a few conclusions, so that he can choose one that meets his heart.

After thinking about this, Li You smiled at King Tang and said, "The opinion of the lower officials is that the current situation is too complicated, and it is best to conduct a war game deduction, then maybe His Highness will be able to make a decision." ”

Tang Wang suddenly said with some surprise: "Wargame deduction? What is this thing? How much time does it take? ”

Li You replied to King Tang after owing a debt: "Wargame deduction is a small game conceived by His Majesty in recent years, which was originally used in the command and teaching of military schools. However, with the continuous improvement of the rules and the addition of auxiliary judgment methods in the implementation process, it can now be barely used for the deduction of actual events to assist decision-making. The principle is to bring the actual intelligence and our hypothetical decisions into the real scene, so as to induce the subsequent reactions of all parties to the incident, and finally to determine the direction of the matter... The time of preparation is related to the exhaustiveness of the intelligence and the complexity of the event. ”

King Tang was originally a little hesitant to come up with a game to help him decide whether it was too child's play, but after hearing that His Majesty the Emperor also used this kind of game to speculate on the development of events, he immediately nodded and said, "Okay, since Lieutenant Colonel Li thinks that the war game deduction is helpful to the decision-making of the Governor's Palace, then I hope you will hold this war game deduction as soon as possible." I just don't know, what help do you need from the Governor's Palace? I don't know how correct the conclusion reached by this wargame deduction is? ”

Li You paused slightly, and then replied: "Your Highness said that it was a joke, the wargame deduction is just pointing to a direction of development of events, and there is no correctness. The greatest advantage is that it allows us to abandon the worst and most irrational options, and the rest of the options are within the acceptable outcome. As for the things provided by the Doge's Palace, a few houses, all the information of the parties, and some people who know about the incident..."

After listening to Li You's explanation, King Tang, who was still looking forward to it, was suddenly a little lost, knowing that he had just confused the wargame deduction with the legendary tricks. After the expectation weakened, he didn't pay so much attention to the so-called war games, in fact, he still had some doubts in his heart, which was an excuse for Li You to prevaricate himself.

Therefore, after the king of Tang ordered Senator Gu Yan to cooperate with Li You, he himself began to be busy entertaining the visits of the clans who had just come to Ceylon. Although these clans complained along the way, after arriving in Ceylon, they quickly learned about the rich products of the island.

They don't feel much about the cinnamon and other spices that Europeans and Arabs covet. But for the pearls, red and sapphires that are abundant on the island, there are few people who are not impressed. Therefore, in the name of being ordered to practice, some clans directly approached the Tang King, wanting to see the pearls, red and sapphire sources on the island.

Tang Wang is not Chongzhen after all, although he also dislikes the clan's cunning and prerogative nature, but he really can't pull his face in front of these smiling and begging relatives. Fortunately, the red and sapphire on the island are almost all over the island, and the local natives do not regard this gem as a rare thing at all, which allowed the Tang King to arrange for these clans to visit various places one by one, thus quieting the governor's mansion, which had been lively for several days.

At this time, Li You also came to report to him, saying that the wargame deduction had been prepared, and asked Tang Wang if he was willing to come to the scene to observe. Tang Wang looked at him with some surprise and said, "Didn't you say before that the more complicated the incident, the longer the preparation time, but now it's only been four days?" ”

Li You smiled bitterly and spread his hands and said, "Yes, Your Highness, that's what I said before. However, the Governor's Palace has very little information on this incident, so it is impossible for us to continue to prepare. ”

Tang Wang wisely interrupted the topic and asked instead: "Then you see, according to the available information, is it very likely that this incident will be resolved by force?" ”

Li You was silent for a long time before he cautiously replied: "It should be unlikely that a large-scale armed conflict will solve the problem, or it is beyond the ability of the Governor's Mansion to solve the problem. But small-scale armed conflicts are not so certain, and these need to be deduced after wargames before further judgment can be made..."

King Tang finally made up his mind and said, "Then tomorrow, I will call all the subordinate officials of the Governor's Mansion to observe." Hopefully, this wargame will make them think more carefully about how to resolve the Goa incident. ”

The subordinate officials of the Governor's Palace, who had already gathered in Colombo, gathered in the large conference room on the first floor of the Governor's Mansion under the orders of the Tang King. At this time, the large conference room has been rearranged by Li You, the large conference table in the room has been moved out, and then the room has been divided into two parts, one part is full of chairs and becomes an observation seat, and the other part of the ground has become a simple sand table, and there is a large blackboard hanging on the wall behind the sand table.

Li You and several young officers were busy on the sand table to make final preparations for this weapon deduction. When the observation seat gradually filled, Liu Xiangcai, the envoy of the East Indian Ocean Tour, slowly walked in with a few cronies, although there was a seat reserved for him in the front row of the observation seat, but Liu Xiang looked at the people sitting in the front row, and then said to the officers who came to guide the seats: "Forget it, the smell of our old coarse bodies is too strong, so don't bump into a few adults... I found a place to sit on my own. ”

After leaving Li Kuiqi, who also didn't go to the front row and was nested in the corner, Liu Xiang interrupted the conversation with the officer in front of him and walked in the direction of Li Kuiqi. After driving away the people sitting next to Li Kuiqi, Liu Xiang sat down unceremoniously, and greeted the other party affectionately: "Patrol Envoy Li, you are really not slow to come, I just ran to you and wanted to come with you." With all the bells and whistles arranged, what kind of play is the Governor going to sing? ”

Li Kuiqi glanced at each other, to be honest, although everyone is a member of "Eighteen Zhi", he is really not familiar with Liu Xiang. It's just that now everyone is begging for a life in the unfamiliar Indian Ocean, and at this time, even if the relationship with colleagues is not good, it is better than those indigenous barbarians who don't know, so there is no need for him to lose Liu Xiang's face here.

After these thoughts flashed in his mind, Li Kuiqi, who was leaning on the chair, said lazily: "I am not much earlier than Lao Liu, what do you think, Lord Governor, you have to ask Su Changshi, ask me if I have a fart." However, I heard that this is a wargame deduction, but it is something designed by His Majesty, isn't it good that you openly slander His Majesty's design? ”

The smile on Liu Xiang's face stiffened, and he immediately said: "Who said that I slandered His Majesty's design, you are not old, but your ears are back." Forget it, don't talk about it. Let's talk about Goa, what do you think? This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and there may not be someone else to do it next time. ”

Li Kuiqi's attention was really diverted by Liu Xiang, he stared viciously at the back of a certain civil official in front of him, and then said angrily: "These literati are just cowardly, let's make a living at sea, isn't it just to talk about wealth and danger." This Goa has been run by the Portuguese for more than 100 years, and it has been blockaded by the Dutch for several years, and there must be a large amount of tax money that has not been shipped back to China, so that we can take Goa, which is not much less profitable than conquering the princely kings.

The one on their left is cautious, the other on the right is cautious, thinking about it and thinking about it, and they waste all their time. If they regret it, or if the Dutch take Goa first, won't we miss this opportunity..."

Liu Xiang was overjoyed when she heard this, and couldn't help whispering tentatively: "So, do you want us to join forces and do it ourselves?" ”

Li Kuiqi looked at Liu Xiang in surprise and said, "Old Liu, are you stunned by the sun in the Indian Ocean?" Those Portuguese recognized us as the governor of the Ming Dynasty, not us former pirates with dirty hands and feet. They are not crazy, and there is no guarantee from the Governor's Palace that they will cooperate with us in taking Goa. Moreover, Goa is the property of the women around His Majesty, do you want to plunder it and go back to the sea as a pirate? ”

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