After the sea review, Zhu Youzhen, the two envoys and Princess Anna returned to the palace, and only then began formal diplomatic talks.

The reason why he arranged these visits and reviews in front of him was to show the strong national strength of the Ming Dynasty. If you invite an envoy to Beijing, you can see the grandeur of the palace, the prosperity of the market, and countless beautiful scenery, but this can only make outsiders covet the richness and beauty of China, and Nurhachi is an excellent example. He went to Beijing to meet Shenzong during the Wanli period, and when he went back, he vowed to seize the Ming Dynasty.

Only by demonstrating the country's strong military strength can foreign races be cut off from each other, and at the same time, they can maintain the respect they deserve for China. You must know that the Western countries of this era considered themselves to be the representatives of advanced civilizations, and adopted colonial policies against Africa, the New World, India and other places by force. Westerners regard other peoples as primitive, ignorant, and lowly "inferior people", and arbitrarily bully and abuse them, and even sell them as slaves. In this way, he actually claims to be a civilized person! For such a shameless country, the only thing that can make them honest is a strong ship and a strong will to defend the country and the nation!

This arrangement really worked, Polo and Viviani's previous attitude towards Zhu Youzhen was only respect, but now they are a little awe-inspiring. In such an atmosphere, Zhu Youzhen easily took the lead in the diplomatic talks firmly in his own hands.

First of all, Zhu Youzhen welcomed Venice, Genoa and the establishment of diplomatic relations with the Ming Dynasty. He stressed: Regardless of whether a country is big or small, strong or weak, religious or culturally similar or different, it is necessary to uphold the principle of equality for all in international exchanges. When establishing diplomatic relations with Portugal, Zhu Youzhen put forward the "Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence," and now he has reiterated them.

If the Ming Dynasty is weak and Venice and Genoa are strong, Polo and Viviani may not agree with the "Five Principles". In their view, the strong should set the rules and maintain the international order, and the weak must obey the strong or the strong can punish the weak. The development history of Europe for more than 1,000 years, as well as the colonial history of the last 100 years, has always been carried out in this way.

But now it is obvious that the Ming Dynasty is strong, Venice and Genoa are weak, so the Ming Dynasty took the initiative to coexist peacefully, and Polo and Viviani were of course happy to agree. However, based on this principle, Venice and Genoa could no longer make unreasonable demands on Zhu Youzhen to become Catholic, as the Papal States did.

From this point of view, Zhu Youzhen actually scored two nails in Europe. It is important to know that Venice and Genoa are located on the same Apennine Peninsula, next to the Papal States. If even they can get rid of the pope, then other Western countries, especially many small countries, can also carry out independent diplomacy. This is in the interests of the Ming Dynasty, and it is obviously much easier to deal with a group of small countries than with a few large countries that are unreasonable and only recognize fists.

The first and most central element of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence is mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity. In this regard, as with Portugal, Zhu Youzhen expressed his recognition that the Republic of Venice and the Duchy of Genoa are independent states with complete sovereignty, and that Spain's "suzerainty" over the two countries is illegal, and that the Ming Dynasty will never recognize it, and resolutely supports the independence struggle between the two countries.

Correspondingly, Polo and Viviani, as plenipotentiary envoys of the two countries, also expressed respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Youzhen specially sent the "Map of the Ming Dynasty" redrawn according to his intention to the two envoys, telling them that the South China Sea Islands, Taiwan, Wusizang, the Western Regions, Mongolia, and the Northeast were all Ming territories. As for the vast area north of Mongolia and south of the Arctic Ocean, its status is undetermined and it is in no way recognized as Russian territory.

As for non-aggression, of course, there is no problem. Of course, the Ming Dynasty would not go to Europe to invade the territory of Venice and Genoa, and even if Wei and Genoa had this intention, they did not have the ability, so this article was successfully passed. Other matters concerning trade and personnel exchanges were also agreed upon with reference to the Treaty of Beijing between the Ming Dynasty and Portugal.

Another important topic of the talks was how to deal with Spain, which was now the common enemy of the Ming Dynasty, Portugal, Venice, and Genoa. From this point of view, although there were only four countries participating in the meeting, and three of them had not yet achieved full independent status, it could be regarded as a multilateral meeting.

Anna, Polo, and Viviani all wanted the Ming to declare war on Spain as soon as possible and attract the Spanish fleet in the Far East, so that they would have much less pressure in Europe. Zhu Youzhen said: Because Spain has invaded and occupied the island of Taiwan, of course the Ming Dynasty will declare war on Spain, but there are still difficulties at this stage. Because there is still a Zheng Zhilong between Daming and Spain, before eliminating Zheng Zhilong's pirate forces, Daming cannot bypass and fight Spain.

In this way, Zhu Youzhen skillfully led the topic to his true purpose. He said sincerely: "I have also passed on the news to you through Portugal before, and the Ming Dynasty is now undergoing a series of key military operations, and there is a temporary shortage of funds and food. Therefore, I want to borrow money from other countries, and if you two can provide loans, we can quickly eliminate Zheng Zhilong and then declare war on Spain.

"The interest rate and terms of the loan can be negotiated between the parties. As for the ability to repay the loan, you can rest assured. The current annual income of the Ming Dynasty is about 8 million taels of silver, but the actual circulation of silver is more than ten times this amount, and the potential for increasing fiscal revenue is very great. I am confident that within two or three years, I will double my annual income to at least fifteen million taels. If necessary, I can also issue treasury bonds, and I will repay your loan first. Well, do you have anything else to worry about? ”

When it comes to substantial loans, neither Polo nor Viviani can call the shots. But they also know that the Habsburg royal family in Spain also often "loans" to the governments of the two countries, bankers, and businessmen, not only with very low interest rates, but also often default, and some bankers have gone bankrupt because of this.

The two countries have developed economies, and the banking industry is one of the main businesses, even if they do not lend to Spain, they also have to find people who need funds to lend out. Since Daming needs a loan and the national strength is very strong, it is not a good choice to lend funds to Daming and use the power of Daming to attack Spain. Therefore, both of them agreed to report to their own government immediately, and tried their best to persuade the government to lend money to Daming.

In fact, there are many more specific contents of the talks, and this historic meeting has lasted for a day and a night. The final outcome of the negotiations was written into writing, which is known as the Sino-Portuguese Joint Statement. Taking advantage of the strong spirit of the representatives of all parties to finally check the documents, Zhu Youzhen yawned with satisfaction and said with a smile: "You have worked hard. We Chinese have an old saying: come and don't be rude. Now you are all in China, and if I have the opportunity in the future, I will definitely visit Europe! ”