Yang Sichang and Heiwa first went to the Ottoman Empire, here, the Ming Ministry of Foreign Affairs Shangshu has officially reached a deal with the Ottoman Governor of Egypt, the Ming Dynasty will provide technical support and the Ottoman Governor of Egypt will provide labor and funds, the two sides will jointly develop the Suez Canal, and after the development of the Suez Canal, the Ming Dynasty will be leased to operate the Suez Canal at a price of one million silver dollars for 99 years.

Now that Yang Sichang is here, he wants to directly use the English indemnity to pay this part of the lease money, hold joint military exercises with the Ottoman Empire, and prepare to sign a military arms trade agreement and alliance treaty with the Ottoman Empire.

Because Wen Tiren, a diplomat, had succeeded in making the Ottoman Empire realize that cooperating with the Ming Dynasty, a distant super empire, would be of great help to him to resist the expansion of the European powers and occupy the interests of the Mediterranean, which also prompted the Ottoman Empire to be very willing to cooperate with the Ming Dynasty in depth.

At this time, the Ming Dynasty's ocean-going combat capability was not yet improving, and it could not be an old enemy with countries around the world, and the Ottoman Empire was an ally, which also helped the Ming Dynasty to obtain more overseas benefits at a smaller cost, of course, the basis of cooperation between the two was also related to the fact that both were monarchical empires.

After a three-month official state visit to the Ottoman Empire, Yang Sichang finally departed for China in the autumn of the 25th year of the Apocalypse and returned to the capital in the summer of the 26th year of the Apocalypse.

This is regarded as the farthest traveled member of the Chinese Empire in the diplomatic history of the dynasties in the past 5,000 years, and Yang Sichang was praised by the "Daming Daily" as "Zhang Qian of the world".

Zhu Youxiao made an exception to personally go out of the palace to greet Yang Sichang, and accepted Yang Sichang's noon gate prisoner, and now Yang Sichang has been crowned as a young master.

In Zhu Youxiao's view, Yang Sichang's trip to England this time successfully fulfilled his expectations, not only opened up the opium trade, but also successfully established a colony of the Ming Dynasty near England, which is like planting a nail in the entire Europa, and the Ming Dynasty will be able to influence the situation in Europa in the future.

Zhu Youxiao personally summoned Cromwell, and he was somewhat interested in this figure who would become a hero of the bourgeois revolution in England in later generations.

"Get on your knees!"

After Xu Xianchun took over Cromwell from Yang Sichang, in order to prevent this Cromwell from doing anything excessively in front of His Majesty, Xu Xianchun starved him for three days, whipped him with an iron whip for a whole day, and then handcuffed him with a hundred pounds of shackles.

Therefore, when Cromwell was escorted to Zhu Youxiao now, he was already extremely tired, and he only had to take his last breath, and when Xu Xianchun shouted loudly, he pressed the shackles, and he had to kneel for the next term.

Zhu Youxiao smiled slightly, and couldn't help but secretly think that this was the person whose name had to be remembered when he was studying in his previous life was more important than remembering Zhang Juzheng, the first assistant of Wanli, to prepare for the high school entrance examination.

With a bang, Zhu Youxiao pulled out a spring embroidery knife that he had already ordered someone to prepare, and held the handle of the knife with both hands, raised the embroidered spring knife to dance at Cromwell's neck, and after determining the accuracy, he decisively slashed down!

Like a stone falling into a clear spring, after a muffled sound, Cromwell's head fell directly to the ground like a kite with a broken string, his white face was covered with blood, his eyes were wide, his yellow curls were soaked directly in a pool of blood, and his neck was still bubbling with blood before he had fallen.

Zhu Youxiao hadn't killed anyone for a long time, but now he still didn't feel the slightest rustiness when he cut off Cromwell's head.

Zhu Youxiao picked up the embroidered spring knife, took the handkerchief from the eunuch's hand and wiped the blood on the blade clean.

"Carry it out and chop it up and feed it to the dogs, find a few people to wipe the floor clean, and the other criminals will be divided into five horses, and those who deceive me must be severely punished!"

As he spoke, Zhu Youxiao put away the embroidered spring knife that cut off Cromwell's head, and ordered: "Put this knife on display for future generations to admire!" ”

Cromwell's death, coupled with the further consolidation of the Stuart dynasty with the support of the Ming dynasty, meant that the bourgeois revolution in Britain would be delayed, and there would be no more potential rivals to compete with the Ming for world supremacy in the coming decades.

Naturally, the Ming Dynasty can take this opportunity to further recommend the comprehensive promotion of the steam industry, vigorously develop the application of electricity, and at the same time speed up the training of the standing army, especially the scale of the navy.

Zhu Youxiao can foresee that with the exploitation and suppression of England and other colonies by the Ming Dynasty, the profits brought by the opium trade will definitely reach the maximum in the future, and the domestic capitalists who are so insatiable that they desperately increase their productivity will make the entire empire fall into an economic crisis again, and when the Ming Dynasty wants to get out of the predicament, it can only expand further, and even launch large-scale wars on a global scale, as in the original history after the twentieth century AD. The capitalist empires would have had to wage two world wars in quick succession.

With the development of productive forces and the development of global economy and trade, there will be fewer and fewer obstacles caused by geographical isolation, contradictions and frictions between countries will definitely become more and more frequent, and the possibility of war will become more and more likely.

If the Ming wants to compete for the world, it must participate in the competition for world interests, and even take the initiative to start a war, that is to say, the Ming must continue to increase military spending from now on and arm its fangs.

……

"Your Majesty, this one is bright, it's really bright!"

Liu Ru clapped his hands excitedly, jumped up, and immediately pulled Zhu Youxiao over and pointed to an electric light under the beam of the house that had just been built by the newly established Royal Power Company and shouted.

Zhu Youxiao just smiled faintly, this kind of ordinary tungsten lamp with only a faint yellow light is a rare thing in this world, and it is indeed much wider than the lighting range of candles, but for Zhu Youxiao, it is naturally not an uncommon thing.

Seeing that Liu Ru was naughty and wanted to step on the stool to touch the light bulb, he directly hugged Liu Ru is down and pinched her buttocks: "If you are disobedient, this can also be touched, be careful to burn your hands, even if your hands are not hot, what if there is a leak." ”

"No, they say the wire is made of natural rubber, which is an insulator," Liu said, pouting.

"You can't touch it, although it's not three kilowatts, but if it leaks, you can be crippled if you don't die!" As he spoke, Zhu Youxiao patted Liu Ru is shoulder: "Go and call all the queen mothers and let them see this new thing." ”

Liu Ru ran out excitedly, and after a while, the concubines, eunuchs, and maids in the entire palace came to watch this new thing, and some people couldn't tell what electricity was and what was an electric light, and after seeing the electric light hanging under the beam, they just shouted: "Electricity, electricity!" It turns out that this is electricity! ”