Zhu Mindu nodded at Li You, and said in a normal tone as much as possible: "Yes, Lieutenant Colonel Li." I wish I could talk to you about it, before I get on board and head to the island of Ceylon. ”

Li You's eyes looked at him from top to bottom, and then he replied nonchalantly: "Ao, then you'd better make a long story short." I still have a lot of things to sort out before I get on board. ”

Although he knew that Li You's perception of himself had never been very good, Zhu Mindu also knew that this was his last chance to turn over. He was isolated by his relatives along the way, but now he has figured it out, if he follows this group of people to learn and do things under Tang Wang, it is estimated that he will not be able to wear out his small shoes.

If that's the case, it's better to try his luck here, so he lowered his head and asked Li You: "Next, I hope to be able to follow the mission, whatever you do, and ask Li Zhong's permission." ”

"Follow the mission? His Majesty seems to have asked His Highness to go down to the Tang Dynasty to learn. And you have to talk to the King of Shu about this, he is the envoy of the mission..."

Zhu Mindu raised his head and met Li You's gaze, and said with some openness: "Although I am a little stupid, I am not stupid." I can still see who is in charge along the way.

Your Majesty asked us to come out to see the world, and King Tang was just studying. And following the mission is also to learn from the King of Shu and the lieutenant colonel.

What's more, there are tens of thousands of children in the middle of the country, and I don't believe that our group is the last group of clans to go to sea to study. In this case, if a model can be erected in the clan, when the court calls on the children of the clan to go to sea to study in the future, won't there be an example to set an example? I don't know what Lieutenant Colonel Lee thinks. ”

Li You looked at King Yangqu and thought for a while, then tilted his head to look behind him and shouted: "Zhang Wuyi, these days on the ship, you will teach him the most basic common sense of life when you are free." ”

After shouting this, Li Youcai turned his head to look at King Yangqu and said, "If you want to follow the mission, you must at least understand how to talk to ordinary people. The objects that our mission faces are not necessarily all dignitaries. ”

Looking at Li You's back walking up the stairs, Zhu Mindu finally felt a little more relaxed. What he is most afraid of now is that he will be forgotten by the emperor, and a named clan like him, without the emperor's personal pardon, it is estimated that he will really have to stay overseas for the rest of his life. Therefore, he put down his body and asked to join the mission, hoping that Li You would be able to remember himself in the next few days, so that when he returned to the capital, he might be able to mention his name in front of the emperor, maybe this casual sentence could change his fate.

Li You, who walked towards the room on the second floor, finally put aside the two plans that he remembered when he took a bath, this kind of specific step is too nerve-wracking, so let the staff officers judge and supplement the details after going back. As for now, let's pack up our personal belongings and get ready to get on board.

The island of Ceylon, which resembles a pear, is less than 2,000 kilometers from Kolkata. The two warships, which had escaped from the merchant ships, even dodged several storms on the way, arrived at Lion Rock on the northeast coast of Ceylon 15 days, which the locals used to call Trincomalee.

Although the Portuguese in Goa were forced to cede power in Ceylon, the Portuguese in Ceylon were not so willing. After all, the island was rich in pearls, ruby sapphire, and cinnamon, although the Portuguese's control over Ceylon had greatly decreased since the Dutch stepped in.

At first, the Portuguese on the island only ceded Trincomalee on the northeast coast of Ceylon, while they held on tightly to Jaffna in the north and Colombo on the southwest coast, trying to delay the transfer of power.

However, the Portuguese colonization of Ceylon has made the natives resentful. In particular, the Kingdom of Kandy, which was driven into the inland mountains by the Portuguese, was even more desperate to drive the Portuguese out of Ceylon, and even united with the Dutch because of this.

The Dutch have long been eyeing the island of Ceylon, not only because of its bounty, but also because it is the only way back to Europe from Southeast Asia. As a seafaring nation that lagged behind the Portuguese in their exploration of the New World, the Dutch made their mark by discovering the westerly shipping lanes from the Cape of Good Hope to Java.

The discovery of this shipping route allowed the Dutch to avoid the Portuguese-controlled Indian Ocean strongholds, but the westerly shipping channel was not suitable for returning from Southeast Asia with valuable spices and other goods. This led to the Dutch East India Company's movement through the Strait of Malacca to open another route back to Europe in the Indian Ocean.

And with the breaking of the monopoly trade in the Spice Islands and the liberalization of China's foreign trade, this safe route from the Indian Ocean back to Europe is even more important. Therefore, after occupying the port of Gower south of Colombo, the Dutch began to plot to drive the Portuguese out of Ceylon and thus monopolize the island.

When they discovered that the Chinese had also entered the island of Ceylon, they accelerated the squeeze on the Portuguese on the island, and even made certain concessions with the originally conflicted Kingdom of Kandy, in order to join forces with Rojasinha II to capture Colombo, the most important on the southwest coast.

In September last year, the Dutch concentrated 2,500 men, plus 8,000 soldiers sent by the Kingdom of Kandy, to besiege Colombo. At this time, the Portuguese colonial officials on the island reluctantly bowed their heads to the Chinese and asked the Chinese to send troops to relieve the siege.

At that time, the Tang King had just moved the Governor's Palace and other institutions to the Lion Rock, and Liu Xiang, Yang Tiansheng and others were participating in the war in Burma, and the Tang King's troops were only one or two thousand, and it was difficult to send troops to relieve the siege for the Portuguese in Colombo.

However, the Tang king listened to the opinions of his subordinates, Shi Su Guansheng, the chief of the left, and Gu Yan, the senator, and agreed to the request of the Portuguese, but first sent someone to take over Jaffna. He then sent envoys to the Dutch and Rajasinha II to mediate the settlement through negotiations.

To put it bluntly, the Governor's Palace did not think that it could help the Portuguese keep Colombo, but just wanted to take the opportunity to get Jaffna into their hands. Next, whether the Dutch and Rajasingha II were willing to accept the mediation of the Ming Dynasty or not was left to fate.

However, unexpectedly, the Dutch suddenly relented and expressed their willingness to accept the mediation of the Ming Dynasty. Without the artillery of the Dutch, Rajasingha II, who had just ascended the throne, naturally would not let his army attack the Portuguese castle with his flesh and blood, so he had to give the Ming people a face.

Tang Wang and his subordinates naturally did not realize that the reason why the Dutch could not wait to attack the Portuguese was actually because they were afraid that the Ming would claim to have taken over all the rights and interests of Ceylon from the Portuguese. As a result, the Dutch would find themselves in a very awkward position, they would either declare war on the Ming or withdraw from Ceylon.

Both of these options were unacceptable to the Dutch East India Company, and as a result of declaring war on the Ming Dynasty, the Dutch East India Company would lose all its interests east of the Strait of Malacca. The interests of the island of Ceylon are insignificant in comparison with those interests.

However, to withdraw from Ceylon is to abandon the previous years of operation and lose an important east-west route relay point. Therefore, the Dutch believed that they would either completely drive the Portuguese out of Ceylon before the Chinese could react, and the other side would lose their possession of Ceylon. Either let the Chinese sit down and talk to the company, or at least let the other party recognize the company's rights and interests on the island.

Therefore, the mediation envoy sent by the Tang King was an excellent opportunity for the Dutch. So what seemed to the Governor's Office to be a perfunctory mediation proposal was so inexplicably successful.

So in October 1640, the representatives of the Ming Dynasty, the Portuguese, and the Dutch, together with the envoys of Rajasingha II, gathered in Negombo, a small town north of Colombo, a small coastal port town with beautiful scenery. It was also the season when the local cinnamon was ripe, and the representatives of the Quartet began a long and nerve-wracking negotiation surrounded by the scent of cinnamon.

In fact, in this mediation negotiation meeting, there are only three parties who are really exchanging interests, and as for the interests of the Kandy Kingdom, they are basically ignored by the other three parties.

So after a month and a half of negotiations, such a plan was discussed at the meeting. The Portuguese ceded all rights to Ceylon to the Ming, but Portuguese merchants and commoners were able to retain their legally acquired property on the island and have the right to trade freely.

The Ming recognized the city of Gower and the surrounding area now controlled by the Dutch as the property of the Dutch East India Company, and enjoyed the right to trade freely on the island.

The Portuguese and Dutch sides also confirmed that all but the property of the Dutch East India Company on the island, which was now controlled by the Kingdom of Kandy, belonged to the Ming Dynasty.

In addition, the number of troops of the Kingdom of Kandy and the Dutch East India Company on the island should be limited and not to be equipped with movable large-caliber cannons. The Dutch East India Company may retain the 12 cannons currently in the city of Gower, but may not increase the number of cannons.

Naturally, such a negotiation result was difficult for Rajasinha II to accept. But after nearly two months of delay, the Governor's Office has already transferred back a fleet and more than 2,000 well-trained troops from Burma. At this time, if Rajasinha II continued to oppose it, he would face a joint attack from three sides.

So, after obtaining assurances from the Ming people, returning part of the land of the Kingdom of Kandy, and reducing the heavy annual payment, Rajasingha II returned to the interior with his men.

By the time the fleet carrying the domestic mission arrived at Lion Rock, the Tang King had already moved the Governor's Palace to Colombo, and was busy handing over various affairs with the Portuguese. After hearing this, the fleet had no choice but to continue south, skirting half of the island to Colombo.

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