For Zhang Guoji's question, Song Xiance thought about it for a long time for the first time, and after a long time he said: "This is exactly what I have been thinking about these days. Have you seen the current situation in the UK? ”

Zhang Guoji didn't think there was anything difficult to decide on this issue, and he replied casually: "It is said that last year there was a rebellion in Scotland because of the Reformation promoted by the king, but now the latest news is not that the two sides are negotiating to try to bring about peace?" I guess it has nothing to do with whether or not we're pushing the British to form a central bank. ”

Song Xiance obviously did not agree with his companion's opinion, he immediately shook his head and said: "Of course, this has a stake in us, according to the British themselves, the reason why the king was forced to send people to negotiate with the Scottish rebels was because the king lacked the funds to organize an army to quell the rebellion.

If you have read some British sources, you will know that there is no standing army in this country, and even the king himself can only mobilize a few hundred servants in peacetime. If England was at war, or if Britain wanted to start a war, it had to pass a decree through Parliament imposing an additional war tax and conscripting civilians to form an army.

But after 1629, the English monarch never convened a parliament, which allowed him to rule the country independently without regard to parliament's opinion, but he also put himself in a very dangerous situation.

Before I came to Europe, I had many exchanges with the Englishmen, and I found that although England has a monarchy, the power of the British Crown is not as great as that of our Emperor in comparison with our monarchy.

Of course, this also has something to do with the history of England, a country that has been a region since ancient times that has often been conquered by outsiders, first by the Romans, then by pirates from the north, and then by the Norman conquests. As a result, the nobility and populace of England were accustomed to being ruled by a foreign monarch, but this easy submission did not mean absolute obedience to their own monarch.

In other words, the king of England did not rule the country by his own strength, but by the oath of allegiance of the nobles and his status as religious leaders.

The king's long suspension of parliament was tantamount to denying the nobility's oath of allegiance to him, and his religious reforms in England and Scotland raised questions about the impartiality of his status as a religious leader.

The two pillars of the power of the English crown have been broken off, and the Scottish revolt is only a *, and the real danger is whether the king will negotiate with the English nobles to see if he will be able to regain the approval of the English nobles, or whether he will once again push these English nobles against him.

Scotland has never been the decisive force in British politics, and it is difficult to compare with England in terms of economy and military. Therefore, as long as the King of England was able to gain the support of the English nobility, the Scots' rebellion was only a minor problem. But on the contrary, it is a question whether the king can still maintain his throne.

At this time, we would be in a very delicate situation when we went to London to push for the establishment of the Bank of England. The British crown would see the establishment of a central bank as a way out of its predicament, thus placing the burden of preparing military expenditures on the central bank. The English aristocracy, on the other hand, will see us as those with ulterior motives for interfering in the internal affairs of England.

Our money will be invested in a war of unknown victory, with or without return, but by the time we lend to the Crown, we have erected for ourselves a broad class of hostility in England. So I don't think it's the right time to go to the UK and push for the Central Bank of England. ”

Zhang Guoji was suddenly dumbfounded, he felt that what Song Xiance said was very reasonable, but thinking of the emperor's explanation before departure, he said with some anxiety: "But Your Majesty's order, but let us send an envoy to the United Kingdom, will it make Your Majesty dissatisfied if we stay in the Netherlands like this?" ”

Song Xiance also seemed a little worried, but he quickly recovered, lifted his spirits and said: "When Your Majesty asked us to send an envoy to the United Kingdom, it was obvious that the domestic political situation in Britain would become so complicated, and even if we go to the United Kingdom now, we will probably not be able to talk about any results.

What His Majesty wants is nothing more than to have a long-term ally in Europe. Your Majesty has a crush on the UK, but I don't think it has to be the UK. Conceptually, the French are closer to us, and France is about to be the victor in this European war, so there is no reason why we should not reach out and listen to the cardinal's attitude and views on post-war Europe.

I think it might be more appropriate to go to Paris first, and then cross the sea to London in the spring of next year. ”

Zhang Guoji looked at the other party a little blankly, "Go to Paris?" But we don't seem to have any channels of contact with France, so do we just rush over to it? ”

In response to Zhang Guoji's question, Song Xiance said confidently: "The Bank of Amsterdam also has a loan business to the King of France, and I have already sent an intention to visit France to Paris through the directors of the bank, and if there is no accident, it should not be refused." As for you and the others to stay in Amsterdam and get in touch with the members of the Amsterdam Chamber of Commerce, maybe we will need it in the future..."

The dinghy carrying Song Xiance and Zhang Guoji gradually disappeared into the bigger and bigger rain curtain in the sound of "creaking, creaking" paddles. And thousands of miles away on the island of Luzon, the war against the natives has finally come to an end.

With the help of reinforcements from within the country, the Japanese battle against the Pampanga people immediately became bloody. Previously, the main purpose of the Japanese army was to make a forced landing on the native rebels, restore local order, and immediately resume production. However, when the Japanese entered the traditional residence of the Pampanga people, the Japanese army, deprived of the representatives of the Four Seas Trading Company, immediately turned the battle into a massacre of the rebels.

In the eyes of these officers from Japan's former samurai background, it was a waste for these ignorant natives to occupy this rich land. In particular, after they learned that after the end of the war, Japan would receive a piece of land on the island of Luzon as war reparations, and they began to consciously clean up the natives.

To the Pampanga people, who boasted of their bravery, in the face of the Japanese army, which was armed with advanced guns, such barbarian bravery would only bring about the extinction of the entire village. In contrast to the underpopulated Spanish colonists, the Japanese were not at all concerned with leaving some natives to work for themselves, and were more interested in the land developed by the Pampanga people.

After the massacre of more than a dozen villages in a row, the people of Pampanga finally realized that the rule of the Spaniards and Chinese could be called merciful compared to the brutality of the Japanese army. The Pampangas did not have the power to choose between the Spaniards and the Chinese, they either accepted the rule or chose death.

When the Japanese surrounded the Kavannadi from three directions, the leaders of the Pampanga Tribal Alliance finally decided to surrender to the Four Seas Trading Company in order to gain the company's protection. Only a handful of tribal leaders withdrew from the alliance because of their opposition to surrender, and moved with their tribes to the mountains of the northeast.

Sanada Yukimasa and Mori Katsuya did not stop at the end of the Kawan, and after leaving a wing to garrison the area, they led the main force down the Pampanga River and pounced directly on Manila Bay, preparing to take down the inner lake plain on the edge of the Manila royal city in one fell swoop.

In December, more than 2,000 men from two wings of the Japanese army first arrived at the Marikina River, about 10 kilometers northeast of Manila. The Marikina River is a tributary of the upper reaches of the Bashi River in Manila's royal city. Across the river, to the south is the Inner Lake Plain, which the Spanish have been running for hundreds of years, the quintessence of the Philippine colonies.

However, when the Japanese army prepared to build a pontoon bridge to cross the river from here, the Spaniards in Manila finally couldn't bear it anymore. Similar to the social structure of the American colonies, although there were tens of thousands of people in Manila, there were only about 800 people from the peninsula from China, followed by more than 2,000 native-born whites, followed by the Spanish mestizo and other Europeans, and the black slaves who served them.

Compared to more than 30 years ago, the population of the Royal City of Manila has increased almost tenfold, which is also the reason why Governor Coquilla dared to follow the example of the former Governor Acuna in trying to clean up the rapidly growing Chinese population in the Philippines once again and try to plunder the wealth of the Chinese.

But what he didn't expect was that, compared with the previous unorganized Eight Leagues of Chinese, the Four Seas Trading Company, backed by the state, reacted quickly and placed a fleet at the gate of the royal city of Manila, forcing the Spanish army in Manila not to dare to attack blatantly.

And the Spaniards' helpers, the Pampanga, were like a herd of lambs to be slaughtered in front of the Chinese' servant army, and not only failed to shake the company's trade order in Luzon, but even lost their own territory.

When Guo Qing, the representative of the Four Seas Trading Company, did not arrive in Manila for a long time, but the Japanese army arrived first, Coqueira had to order the army in the city and the indigenous tribes of the Neihu Plain to form a coalition to prevent the Japanese army from crossing the Marikina River and heading south, so as to wait for Guo Qing to arrive in the royal city of Manila for negotiations.

A wing of the Japanese army was about 1,200 men, which was also equipped with an artillery squadron carrying 4 six-pound guns. The two Japanese wings numbered about 2,400 men, while the Manila side had 2,500 natives, 800 arquebusiers, and 1,000 Japanese expatriates. Most of these Japanese expatriates were descendants of Japanese samurai and merchants who fled overseas during the Warring States period, and they had no affection for today's Japan, but were loyal to the Spaniards.

While sending troops to stop the Japanese army from moving south, Coquilla also sent emissaries to warn the Japanese commanders Sanada Yukimasa and Mori Katsuie, claiming that the native rebellion in the Neihu Plain had been quelled by the Spanish army, and that if they dared to continue to attack the Neihu area, they would be declaring war on the Spanish kingdom, and he would definitely punish them by appealing to the ASEAN.

Moreover, Manila has reached an intention with Guo Qing, the representative of Sihai Trading Company, to end the war of peace and rebellion, and as long as Guo Qing arrives in Manila, the war will be over. Now that Guo Qing has boarded the ship, it will not take a week to arrive in Manila. Coquilla's emissaries questioned Sanada Yukimasa and Mori Katsuya if they intended to provoke both the Kingdom of Spain and the Four Seas Trading Company.

The threat and deception of the Spaniards immediately led to the suspicion of Sanada Yukimasa and Mori Katsuie, and although the Japanese army won a series of victories on Luzon, they knew that they were only carrying out the company's orders. If the company and the Spaniards had reached an agreement, they would not have had the courage to challenge it.

The two discussed for a long time, and decided to send someone to the Ming fleet stationed in Manila Bay to confirm whether the company had reached a peace agreement with the Spaniards, and the army would stay where it was for repair.