readx; "Congratulations to His Majesty the Emperor for another great victory!"

Princess Anna's people haven't come in yet, and the hearty laughter can't wait to float in, and the Chinese is much purer, it seems that there has been no less practice for more than a month. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

When she came in, Zhu Youzhen found out that she had come with Qiu Lina. Anna is still so enthusiastic and unrestrained, full of youthful vitality; And since Qiulina lived in the Portuguese Embassy, she has increasingly recovered her inherent noble and elegant temperament. She just saluted Zhu Youzhen silently, and Zhu Youzhen didn't say much, and at the same time, a trace of melancholy rose inexplicably in her heart.

"Why doesn't His Majesty the Emperor always receive me at the Imperial Palace?" Before she could take her seat, Anna complained, "Am I not entitled to the highest level of hospitality in your country, the Portuguese ambassador?" ”

Zhu Youzhen couldn't help but smile and said, "Your Royal Highness Princess, have you forgotten the last time you kissed me?" If you enter the Forbidden City and so many ministers are staring, you will have to kneel and bow according to the etiquette of our country, presumably you are unwilling. It's a place where we can talk freely and openly. ”

"It turns out that His Majesty the Emperor is thinking about me, then I will thank you!" Anna smiled mischievously, "You just returned to Beijing to meet me, do you miss me, or miss Catherine, or Miss Li Xiangjun?" ”

"Uh...," Zhu Youzhen smiled awkwardly, "Her Royal Highness the princess is really joking." Let's get down to business first, I heard that you are in a hurry to see me, has your country answered our country's loan request? ”

When it came to national affairs, Anna also restrained her smile, took out a letter from her bosom and respectfully handed it over: "Your Majesty, your luck is really good. Originally, to send a letter from Beijing to Portugal, it was necessary to take an ocean-going ship through Macao, Malacca, Goa, Mozambique, and Madeira, and under normal circumstances, it would take several months at the earliest, and it would take a year to go back and forth. I sent the letter to Goa as quickly as I could, but I didn't expect my brother to be in Goa, and he would reply to you there, so it was less than two months. ”

"Oh? Didn't Lord João go back to Portugal to fight the Spaniards, why are you still in Goa? Zhu Youzhen said in surprise.

"The power of the Spaniards is still very strong." Anna sighed lightly, "Philip's army has always been stationed in Lisbon and Porto, especially at sea, where the Armada patrols. Although our Portuguese navy is brave and good at fighting, if we attack rashly, we still have little chance of winning, so my brother has been mobilizing and gathering warships from various territories around the world for more than half a year, preparing to launch a surprise attack when the Spanish fleet is leaving, and attack Crispen in one fell swoop. He happened to be in Goa a month ago and saw the letter I had written. ”

Zhu Youzhen hurriedly opened the letter, but saw that it was written in Portuguese and Latin, and of course he couldn't understand it. Qiu Lina naturally wanted to translate for Zhu Youzhen, so she opened her mouth and read softly.

In this letter, Joao first complained a lot of bitterness about Zhu Youzhen's loan request, which was nothing more than "the landlord's family has no surplus grain" and the like. However, he still said that for the sake of the friendship and common interests between Portugal and China, he was willing to lend Daqing 3 million taels of silver for a period of three years, at an annual interest rate of 15 percent as Zhu Youzhen said.

Zhu Youzhen was overjoyed when he heard this. You must know that a big reason for the fall of the Ming Dynasty in history was that the financial crisis could not be solved, and the imperial court had no food and no salary, so it naturally assigned no army. However, now Zhu Youzhen has finally opened up a route of borrowing from foreign countries, and although Portugal is now the only country, although the interest rate is very high, after all, it can greatly alleviate the financial difficulties in a short period of time.

However, João also imposed harsh stringent strings on the loan. These conditions include:

First, Daming must guarantee the loan. Once it fails to be returned in time when it expires, in addition to Macao being reassigned to Portuguese rule, the Zhoushan Islands must be leased to Portugal free of charge, and the loan must be repaid.

Second, the Ming Dynasty must send troops to attack Spain's military presence in the Far East, including the island of Taiwan, the Philippines, and the Thieves' Islands. After defeating the Spaniards, these colonies had to be transferred to Portuguese administration.

Third, João also learned that the Ming wanted to establish diplomatic relations with the rest of Europe. He demanded that the Ming Dynasty should not give any country more than the treatment given to Portugal, especially in terms of trade, and demanded a monopoly on Sino-European trade.

Zhu Youzhen sneered for a while before he said to Anna: "Your Excellency Joao is really shrewd, but these three conditions are too harsh, and I can't agree to them. ”

Anna was originally very happy, but when she heard this, her face sank, and she said very unhappily: "So, His Majesty the Emperor has officially rejected the request of the Kingdom of Portugal?" ”

"Not really." Zhu Youzhen waved his hand and said with a smile, "We have a saying in China, called 'asking for a price in the sky, sitting on the ground and paying back', which means that both the buyer and the seller can put forward their own conditions, and the gap may be very large at first, but we can slowly narrow the gap until a compromise is reached." Taking these three conditions as an example, firstly, I can provide security for the loan, but I will never use the land as security. At this point, your country can rest assured, China has a vast land and resources, can't it even afford to pay back this little money? If I really can't afford to pay it back, I will have to pay it back even if I sell the Forbidden City!

"Regarding the second condition, I can send troops to fight the Spaniards, but Taiwan is our territory, and it will naturally belong to our country after recovery. As for other places, because our navy is still very weak, it may be difficult to reach it, and a grace period will be needed.

"On the third condition, I can promise that in the first half of the sentence, no country will be treated more than the Kingdom of Portugal. As for monopolizing Sino-European trade, firstly, those small countries may not have the strength to send merchant ships all the way to China, and secondly, the Spaniards and the Dutch are still threatening the shipping routes. ”

Although Anna is young, her diplomatic talent and insight are not inferior to her brother's, otherwise Joao would not have made her ambassador to China. As soon as she heard this, she felt that Zhu Youzhen's "counteroffer" was quite reasonable, and after pondering for a moment, she said: "His Majesty the Emperor's request, I will convey it to the kingdom as soon as possible." As an ambassador, I also very much want to facilitate this loan, so I will also help His Majesty the Emperor to persuade my brother. However, those small countries were all vassals of Spain, and it was not appropriate for the Ming Dynasty to establish diplomatic relations with them. ”

"I think Her Royal Highness is wrong about this." Zhu Youzhen said with a smile.

"Why?" Anna was unconvinced.

As soon as he said this, the cold wind suddenly blew open the window, and large snowflakes like goose feathers were carried into the room. Anna couldn't help but exclaim, "What beautiful snow! ”

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