After Matteo Ricci and the bishop left, Xiao Ruxun changed places to receive requests from Genoese and French.

The appearance of the French this time was something that Xiao Ruxun did not expect, and the Genoese were not surprised, because the fleet was heading towards them, and the French, who were some distance away from Genoa, were so keen and attached so much importance to the affairs of the Chinese caravan, which made Xiao Ruxun a little surprised.

France is one of the traditional powers on the European continent, and now, under the control of Henry IV, he is trying his best to end the harm caused by the wars of religion, and the contradictions between Huguenot Protestants and Catholics in France have long been intensified to the point that they need to be solved by war, and this war has lasted for more than 30 years, seriously disrupting the production and normal order of France.

Henry IV, as a king with a Huguenot background, was widely resisted when he first entered France, and was forced to convert to Catholicism in order to successfully consolidate his rule, but he still maintained his loyalty to Protestantism in private, and after becoming king, he tried every possible way to use the power in his hands to end the war, and acted as a good man among sects, wanting to restore order in France.

This effort succeeded four years later, in 1598, when he successfully ended the war and issued the Edict of Nantes, which brought an end to the wars of religion that had plagued France for many years, and gave the Huguenots a fertile ground for survival.

But now there were still three years to go before his success, he had just consolidated his position, and was doing his best to end the fighting and restore peace in some areas, looking at the devastated land, he wanted to cry without tears, worried, at this time, the news of the arrival of a Chinese caravan with a large number of goods in Genoa arrived in Paris, the capital of France, and entered his ears.

He was keenly aware that this was an opportunity, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and he immediately let the merchant forces of the Huguenots he trusted form a caravan and immediately went to Genoa to negotiate with the Chinese merchants, and in any case to establish relations with the Chinese.

Chinese people come to Europe unfamiliarly, if you want to do business, you will definitely find a suitable business partner, and Chinese goods in Europe have always been the representative of luxury goods, loved by European nobles and royal families, each goods can be sold dozens of times or even hundreds of times higher than the cost price.

If you can get the source of goods from the Chinese and become a middleman, then you will definitely be able to earn a lot of money and help France restore its national strength.

At present, he is facing a very serious situation, not only the confrontation between the Catholic army and the Huguenot army, but also the Spanish army fishing in troubled waters to conquer the city, he not only wants to end the domestic melee, but also to expel the Spanish army that is fishing in troubled waters.

Under such thoughts, Henry IV took the initiative to send people to contact Chen Longzheng, Xiao Ruxun did not mention the French to Chen Longzheng, he only mentioned Genoese and the Holy See, but Chen Longzheng thought that the attitude of these French people was very low, and their attitude was very humble, as if they were very eager to do business with China, and the conditions proposed were also very superior, exceeding the conditions of the Genoese.

Chen Longzheng thought about it, thinking that the merchants in his hometown were all shopping around, and that it might be good for many Frenchmen, so he agreed to return to Burma with him by boat.

Xiao Ruxun knew that when these French appeared, he was a little surprised, because he didn't expect the French to also appear, and the suitable business partners he thought of were the bankers in Genoa, these capitalist aristocrats had a transcendent status in Europe, and generally there would be no power to get along with them, and their combined strength could already affect these war-torn European countries.

France is a traditional power, but now it is also mired in war, but Xiao Ruxun still decided to contact, because at this moment France and the Holy See are not dealing with each other, and it was not until nearly a century later, after Louis XIV abolished the Edict of Nantes, that France and the Holy See were in cahoots, and now France is a hotbed of Huguenots, and Huguenots are incompatible between Protestantism and Catholicism.

The most important thing is that King Henry IV was a Huguenot, a comrade who had penetrated into the enemy's interior, and was destined to be at odds with the Holy See, and most importantly, the king whom the French respected very much was very bad with Spain.

He was an important opponent during the decline of Spain, in addition to the British, and according to legend, he died because he was assassinated because he wanted to provoke war against Spain and annoy the Catholic fanatics.

Xiao Ruxun decided to attack the Philippines by force, and uprooted all the strongholds of the Spaniards in the South China Sea, and expelled all the Spaniards' forces, then he was destined to fight against the Spaniards.

In Asia, Xiao Ruxun is not worried, he will kill as many Spaniards as he comes, and if they dare to retaliate, they will sink forever in the South China Sea, but commercial activities in Europe will inevitably be retaliated against.

Xiao Ruxun has no background in expeditions to Europe now.

Then it is very important to look for a country in Europe that has sufficient force and determination to deal with Spain.

The Genoese were not enough at this point, as an absolute commercial republic, they took commercial interests very seriously, and once the benefits that could not be obtained from commercial trade with China could not be comparable to those provided by the Spaniards and the Holy See, the bankers of Genoa would not turn their faces for China and the Holy See, and they did not have enough military power.

France was different, with its military power, its inner disapproval of Catholic kings, and its sufficient status to be a country that would be able to shelter China's commercial interests in Europe at that time.

Moreover, China's attack on Spain's overseas power was also beneficial to Henry IV, who hated Spain, and Henry IV would not give up China as a partner with whom he could cooperate for a long time.

Henry IV needs money and time, Xiao Ruxun needs him to contain the power of Spain and Catholicism, everyone takes what they need, as for when Henry IV is finished, when he will be assassinated, Xiao Ruxun does not care, at most three years, he can expel all the power of the Spaniards, consolidate his hegemony in the South China Sea and the waters near Burma, and establish a strong navy.

Of course, before that, he needed an excuse to go to war against Spain, after all, although he actually controlled everything in Burma, he was still nominally a general of the Ming Dynasty, and he was still a courtier of the Ming Dynasty, and this land did not have to pay taxes to the Ming Dynasty for six years, but it still belonged to the Ming Dynasty, and the army was indeed the border army of the Burmese town, but it also belonged to the Ming Dynasty.

This kind of thing can't get around the Ming Court.