readx; "Does Her Royal Highness like snow?" Zhu Youzhen was moved by Anna's childlike demeanor of catching snow with her hands, and asked with a smile. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

"Of course!" Anna smiled with a sparkling snowflake in her hand, "I lived in Bragança from the time I was born until I left Europe by boat. It's cool in summer and warm in winter, and in winter it's just endless rain, which makes people upset, and I haven't seen snow once. That's why I really envy Catherine, both in Szczecin and in Moscow, she had a childhood where it was always snowing in winter! ”

"Oh? Tyulina, did you live in Moscow in the past? What is Szczecin? Zhu Youzhen's heart moved, of course he knew that Moscow was the capital of Tsarist Russia.

"Szczecin is the capital of the principality of Pomerania, and I was born there." "It was only when I was eight years old that I moved to Moscow with my father. ”

"And what is the Duchy of Pomerania?" Zhu Youzhen continued to ask.

Before Tyulina could answer, Anna hurriedly said, "Pomerania is located on the southern bank of the Baltic Sea, on the banks of the Oder River, and is a beautiful and prosperous small city. However, because of this, it has also become the object of repeated competition by several powerful monarchs around. Poland, Denmark, Saxony, Brandenburg, Prussia and the Teutonic Knights all claim Pomerania, which was occupied by Swedish troops just last year. It's a good thing that Catherine has left there, otherwise it would have been the trophy of the savage Gustav by now..."

"What nonsense are you talking about!" Before Anna could finish speaking, she was slapped by Qiulina, and she was so frightened that she stuck out her tongue and didn't dare to say anything more.

Zhu Youzhen felt that Qiu Lina's life experience was complicated, but since Qiu Lina didn't want to let herself know, it was not easy to ask deeply, so he changed the topic and said: "Just now, Her Royal Highness said that those small countries are all vassals of Spain. In fact, just like this snow, when the temperature is low enough, it will be snow; In a warm climate like the Iberian Peninsula, it can only rain. This is not the case with these small countries, they are 'rain' under the control of the Spaniards, but if Spain is defeated and declines, what if they will not seek independence like your country and become the 'snow' that Her Highness loves? ”

These words immediately sent Anna into deep thought. Tyulina also interjected: "Since the Spanish occupation of Genoa and Naples and other places, they have only collected extremely heavy taxes from there, and have not paid any attention to the lives of the natives, and now the situation of these small countries is not as good as a hundred years ago, and there is still the danger of being annexed by the Papal States, I am afraid that the local nobles have long been very dissatisfied with the Habsburgs." Now that Philip was so focused on the war that he had no time to take care of the Apennine Peninsula, he gave them a chance. This contact with the Ming Dynasty was a temptation, and if diplomatic relations could be established behind Spain's back, it would certainly be a major blow to the Habsburgs. ”

"That's right!" Anna's eyes immediately lit up, "I'm going to write to my brother right away and persuade him to change his attitude." Your Majesty, a decision you make thousands of miles away could make a huge difference in the European landscape! ”

Zhu Youzhen saw that Anna was moved by his own words, of course he was very satisfied, and took the opportunity to make another request: "Your Royal Highness, you should also know that because the weather is unusually cold, our country is now in a short-term food difficulty. Can you help you in this regard? ”

Anna blinked her eyes and thought for a while before she said, "Angkor, Siam and Champa, these three countries are rich in rice, and rice is harvested three times a year. The Kingdom of Portugal has trade relations with them, and our territory of Malacca and your country of Macau are also close to these three countries. If our merchant ships depart from Macao, it will only be 650 nautical miles to Cam Ranh Harbor in Champa. The average speed of the Diaz-class merchant ships can reach 12 to 15 knots, and it can be reached in four and a half days. If you get from Cam Ranh to the Gulf of Siam, it will take about four days. Coupled with the loading time, the one-way trip is about ten days, and it can be fully returned once a month.

"However, grain is a commodity that is heavy and low in value, and we generally don't deal in it. A Diaz-class merchant ship has a displacement of three hundred and fifty tons and a maximum cargo capacity of two hundred and fifty tons. The price of grain in Champa and Siam is indeed cheap, and they all use the unit of measurement of your country, which is only two or three coins of silver for one stone of rice. But it's too little compared to the profits of spices, so..."

"Wait!" Zhu Youzhen suddenly stopped Anna excitedly, and urgently asked Xu Guangqi to come to the world map, and picked up the pen and paper from the bookcase and calculated roughly.

After calculating for a long time, he said to Anna with a flushed face and a gesture, "I will settle an account for you." You and I both know that the British shipped a shipload of spices from Temasek back to London at a cost of £3,000, sold for £36,000 and made a profit of £33,000. But from Temasek to London is at least more than 12,000 nautical miles, and it takes at least four or five months, and at most half a year, let's take an average, let's count it as half a year, then the profit is less than 200 pounds a day. One pound is equivalent to about one tael of silver, so let's make a profit of two hundred taels of silver every day.

"And if the purchase price of rice from Southeast Asia to Macao is one stone and two coins of silver, I will buy it at one stone and two taels, and one ton is about seventeen stones, and the profit of one stone is one tael or eight yuan, and the profit of two hundred and fifty tons is seven thousand six hundred and fifty taels. However, this journey only takes a month, and Her Royal Highness the princess, please do the math, is the average daily profit twice as high as that of spices? And that's without taking into account that the risks of long-distance sea freight are much greater than those of short distances! ”

Anna also exclaimed after careful calculation: "Really! How did we not think of it before! ”

"It's not too late to think about it!" Zhu Youzhen said excitedly, "The fleet can sail close to the coast of the Indochina Peninsula, not only to avoid the storm, but also to avoid the attacks of the Dutch and Spaniards, and if necessary, I can also send our fleet to escort the ship." If you deliver goods in Macao, settle in cash, if you save time, you can also give additional incentives to the ship, how about it? ”

"His Majesty the Emperor's proposal is too tempting!" Anna also said happily, "I have no authority to reply to you, I must write to report to my brother." But with such a lucrative business, I don't think my brother will miss it. ”

"Then there is Her Royal Highness Princess Law, please write to His Excellency João as soon as possible!" Zhu Youzhen was impatient.

"Then how can His Majesty the Emperor thank me?" Anna suddenly smiled meaningfully.

"It's... I wonder what kind of reward Her Royal Highness wants from the princess? Zhu Youzhen said embarrassedly.

"It's actually quite simple." Anna said slyly, "This year's Christmas, only me, Catherine and Miss Li Xiangjun are alone. I heard that in a few days it will be the New Year of your country, and this festival, I would like to invite His Majesty the Emperor, the Empress and the Imperial Concubines to the Portuguese Embassy! ”