After listening to Song Xiance and Li Yangeng's report on the Houjin side, Zhu Youzhen tilted his head and thought for a while, and then said to the two: "But, just follow your revised plan, Yanghe, you go back to do things first, offer advice and stay for a while, I still have something to talk to you about." ”

Although Li Yangeng was a little envious of Chongzhen's trust in Song Xiance, he still respectfully retreated and left, and his face did not show anything unusual.

After watching Li Yangeng go out, Zhu Youzhen nodded in the direction where Li Yangeng left, and asked in a relaxed tone: "You have been coming back from Shenyang for many days, what do you think of Yanghe?" ”

Song Xiance blinked, pondered in his heart for a moment, and then replied to the emperor: "Researcher Li is an upright person, cheerful and heroic, and his intelligence is also the best choice, the only fly in the ointment is that he acts too informally. However, his loyalty to Da Ming is still nothing to be faulted with. ”

Zhu Youzhen's answer to Song Xiance was just a noncommittal "hmm", and then he continued to ask him: "So, what do you think of that Kurtang in the East Asia Tongwen Museum?" ”

This question made Song Xiance think for a longer time, it was really that Kuer was entangled in the East Asian Tongwen Pavilion and had never interacted with people very much, even if he was a sociable person, it would take him a long time to remember who the emperor was asking was.

"Your Majesty asked Kuer, although this man is silent, but the things that have been given to him have never been wrong. In the East Asian Tongwen Museum, he is also a researcher who has learned the most types of written languages so far. This person's talent can be seen from this.

It's just that in the eyes of the minister, the home that Kurtang is tied to in his heart is still Houjin, not my Daming. Confined to the East Asian Tongwen Museum to translate books from various countries, it is still somewhat useful to my Ming Dynasty, once he has a chance to go out, I am afraid that he will still flee back to Shenyang. ”

However, Zhu Youzhen smiled at this time and said: "If the Ming Dynasty wants to rise again, how can he only use the talents of his own country, and I don't know how many Mongolian and Semu generals have been used by Emperor Taizu and Shizu."

It is precisely because I can use the wisdom of the world that my Han people can successfully recover the Central Plains and drive the Northern Yuan to the desert outside the Saiwai. Whether it is Mongolia, the Later Jin, or the ethnic minorities in the southwest, if there are talented people, the imperial court will use them.

Talented people cannot be used by the country, causing them to become enemies of the country, which is the greatest misfortune of the country, and it is also the responsibility of the ruling princes of the court that cannot be shirked.

Although Kurtang is concerned about Houjin, I have bound him to the capital for several years, and none of the things I told him to do are prevarication and messing, and it is already very good to be able to do this.

But what you just said is right, if he is released from the capital, I'm afraid he will still have to escape. However, it would be too much of a waste of talent to lock him up in the Tongwen Museum for the rest of his life to translate foreign books.

Therefore, this time I plan to throw him farther away, throw him on the other side of the ocean, and appoint him as the ambassador to Britain and chargé d'affaires for European affairs of the Ming Dynasty, so as to expand diplomatic relations with European countries for the Ming Dynasty..."

Song Xiance was taken aback when he heard this, not surprised by the emperor's appointment of Kurtang, but frightened by the emperor when he talked about this matter to him, obviously something bad was going to fall on his head.

Sure enough, just when Song Xiance was slightly shocked in his heart, Chongzhen had already continued: "Kuer pesters this person, he is stable in his work, his language skills are strong, and although his personality is gentle but his heart is firm, let him go to England, I have nothing to worry about in terms of talent."

However, as you said earlier, he always tends to have more money in his heart, so I can't help but add an insurance. Song Qing, I hope that you, as the deputy envoy to the UK, will go to Europe with Kurtang, what do you think? ”

"That's not a good idea." Song Xiance suddenly complained in his heart. To tell the truth, after retiring from Shenyang, Song Xiance felt that he could finally rely on this credit to get ahead, and he had already designed his future career path for himself, thinking that in the future, he might be able to join Jinyiwei and get a hereditary commander.

However, he had not yet taken the position of the Social Investigation Department, and the Emperor had appointed him to a more distant place, and he was already very resistant to the thought that he would have to walk by sea for eight or nine months before he could reach Europe.

Song Xiance hesitated for a long time, and then he said: "Back to Your Majesty, the minister doesn't know anything about foreign languages, and the minister's body is weak, even if he takes the ferry, he will be dizzy, this voyage across the ocean is really..."

Zhu Youzhen lowered his head and personally refilled a cup of tea for Song Xiance, and didn't look at the embarrassment and pleading on his face, so he interrupted him and said, "It's nothing in foreign language, can you learn it again when you get on the boat." Besides, you have your own Kur to deal with the affairs of communicating with outsiders, you only need to check for him, and I didn't let you go to Europe to be a receptionist.

Seasickness is a nuisance, but it's not a big deal. The hospital has developed a pill specifically to prevent seasickness, you should bring more when you arrive, and I will send a few better doctors on board to ensure that you can arrive in Europe safe and sound..."

The reasons that Song Xiance came up with were all resolved by Chongzhen one by one, he looked at the tea that the emperor personally poured for him in front of him, and finally gave in to the emperor and said: "Since Your Majesty has a life, the ministers should do their best to repay the grace of the saint..."

Just when Song Xiance thought that his marginalization by power had become a foregone conclusion, Zhu Youzhen got up and beckoned him to the side of the wall, opened the world map hidden by the silk tabernacle, and told him about the United Kingdom and the European continent where he was going to work.

Zhu Youzhen's finger drew a trace from east to west on the map of Europe and said: "There is a war going on the European continent now, which started in 1618 in the European calendar, that is, in the forty-sixth year of Wanli, and has not been able to distinguish a winner until today.

Now no one knows how long this war will last, but almost half of the land and population of the European continent are already involved in this war.

According to the intelligence we have gathered, this war in Europe, although nominally a war of religion, is a war of faith between the Catholic League and the Protestant League. But it also has the significance of territorial annexation between states and in determining the ownership of European hegemony.

For example, the war between the Spaniards and the Dutch had the intention of recovering their homeland and destroying the Dutch Republic. The Kingdom of Spain and the Holy Roman Empire's support for the German Catholic princes to attack the German Protestant princes undoubtedly had the significance of the Habsburgs' desire to annex the entire German region, form a two-sided attack on France, and finally complete the great cause of unifying Western Europe.

If you have read the books I sent you before, then what do you think the significance of this war in Europe is for the Ming Dynasty? ”

Song Xiance was also flustered, he didn't know what the books the emperor gave him meant, and he also felt that Europe thousands of miles away had nothing to do with his future, so he only turned a few pages slightly.

But fortunately, he was quite quick-witted, and thinking of the conversations he had with the bankers and the directors of the Four Seas Trading Company these days, he could not help but subconsciously say: "The minister is dull, and he can't see much useful things in books.

But I think that this great war in Europe should be harmful to my Ming Dynasty..."

Once he opened his mouth, Song Xiance calmed down and spoke more and more fluently, "... Since the opening of the sea in China, overseas trade has not only brought a lot of taxes to the imperial court, but also increased the income of the coastal people.

The most important thing is that there are insufficient gold and silver deposits in our country, and it is precisely because of the export of materials from overseas trade that a large amount of gold, silver and other precious metals can be exchanged from overseas to meet the reserve requirements of the bank's banknotes.

Therefore, any event that leads to a contraction in the scale of overseas trade will eventually evolve into an impact on our country's financial situation and the peace and contentment of our people.

Although China has tried its best to import various raw materials from overseas, to ensure that overseas countries have sufficient means to pay for the value of China's export goods. However, in fact, the gold and silver currency imported from overseas is still the main means for countries to pay for the value of China's export goods.

And the bulk of these gold, silver and precious metals are from Japan, the Americas, and Europe. With the exception of Japan, the latter two are actually one, and the gold and silver deposits of the Americas are now in the hands of Spain and Portugal.

A peaceful Europe will naturally be able to import more goods from our country. And a Europe that is constantly fighting will only keep a large amount of gold and silver currency in its own country to prepare for war, which will undoubtedly cause damage to our export trade..."

Zhu Youzhen turned his head to look at him, nodded approvingly at him and said, "You haven't read these books in vain. Yes, the continuation of this war in Europe is already more bad than good for our country. ”

Song Xiance was still thinking about the benefits of the European war for the Ming Dynasty, Chongzhen had already pointed out directly: "It was the outbreak of this European war that dragged the exploration of European countries to the sea, so that the Ming Dynasty had the opportunity to integrate the power structure of East Asia and Southeast Asia, so as to develop to the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean."

So I say that this war in Europe is not without benefits. But when it began to hurt the Ming Dynasty's overseas trade exports, it was time for the war to come to an end.

Although, the Ming Dynasty is thousands of miles away from Europe, and it is actually impossible to intervene in this war. However, war is not limited to military means, politics and economics can also determine the outcome of war.

I want you to go to Europe in the hope that you will be able to use diplomatic and economic means to bring this war to an end as much as possible. Of course, as outsiders, we don't expect you to play much of a role, but we have to make sure that the outcome of the war is in the interests of the Ming Dynasty.

The winner of this war can only be the Protestant Alliance, the European continent does not need an empire that unites Western Europe, the world does not need it, and the Ming Dynasty does not need it..."