Standing in front of me, there was a typical foreigner about thirty years old, tall figure, tall hooked nose, thick black hair, the beard on the chin was tangled together because it had not been taken care of for a long time, wearing a wide white shirt, unbuttoned, revealing his solid chest, at a glance I knew that this person had been at sea all the year round, although he had been imprisoned for many days, and his body exuded a peculiar smell, but the dark blue eyes in the unkempt face still showed fearlessness and fortitude, the image of a typical Western navigator.

No one in the hall spoke, to be precise, no one knew how to speak, Li Guangzhong and Ling Yurou both looked at me, as if they were waiting for me to speak, but Ling Yuruo looked at the foreigner in front of him with a curious face, his face was full of curiosity, probably he had never seen Hongyi people, so it seemed very fresh.

I cleared my throat, and then raised the letter in my hand, and the foreigner didn't seem to react, but looked at me with a very proud and contemptuous look, probably thinking that I couldn't read the content of the letter, so he was ready to torture me to extract a confession. However, from his firm eyes, I can see that even if he is tortured to extract a confession, it is estimated that he will not reveal the content of the letter, because the content of this letter involves a very important issue, once this letter falls into the hands of the Spaniards, it will be a huge blow to the camp to which this foreigner belongs, and it just so happened that at that time, there were Spaniards in many places, and many officials of the Ming Dynasty were also friends of the Spaniards.

"You Chinese ......," he whispered, ready to curse.

"If you dare to say the latter word, I will send this letter to the Spaniards at once." I smiled and blocked his last word in English, and in an instant, the foreigner's face changed greatly, he looked at me incredulously, his eyes were also wide, obviously he couldn't believe that there were still English-speaking Chinese in this world. And Ling Yuruo on the side also looked at me with a surprised expression, although she quickly pretended to be casual, but she still looked at my mouth intentionally or unintentionally, as if to see how I said these muttered words.

Unhurriedly unfolded the letter in my hand and read it to the foreigner in front of me: "To His Majesty King James I to His Excellency the Earl of Leska, Plenipotentiary of the Crown, I have decided to declare war on the decaying Habsburg Crown and the Catholic League in accordance with God's will, but we are in urgent need of a large amount of money before the war begins, and I have entrusted His Majesty the King with an explanation of this to His Excellency the Earl, and I have heard that Your Excellency intends to go to the East to open up trade, if it is convenient, Can you explain my situation to His Excellency Tokugawa of Japan, that, even though I am in the cold north, I have always heard that Japan in the far east has a great demand for firearms, especially firearms, and therefore may I explain to Shogun Tokugawa through Your Excellency that I am willing to trade artillery and new flintlock fire# guns with Shogun Tokugawa for gold or silver that is urgently needed in this war. Of course, with the permission of the Tokugawa Shogun, Your Excellency may conclude a trade treaty with His Excellency the Shogun on behalf of myself and my kingdom. If not, you can sell these goods in the East at a lower price, and I and my kingdom will be grateful if you can successfully accomplish this thing that will benefit me and my kingdom, for it will make it possible for us to achieve greater victory in the battle against the old heretical alliance, and I hope that you will be able to accomplish this task successfully, God bless you. With all due respect. Gustavus Adolf"

Reska's face turned pale, he couldn't believe that there was such a non-Englishman who was familiar with English in this world, at this time, he had lost the proud attitude just now, as if he was like a defeated rooster, drooping his head, and only after a while came back to his senses and said slowly: "I didn't expect you to be so familiar with English, originally His Majesty was afraid that the letter would be recognized by people who are familiar with Spanish and Latin, so he deliberately chose English, but I didn't expect it to be like this, you won, Your Excellency, I suppose God has one last shred of mercy for those shameless heretics! He apparently understood the outcome of the letter falling into the hands of the Spaniards, who, as the leading Catholic League, the immediate family of the Habsburgs, would immediately besiege King Gustav and his country, Sweden, which was not ready, before King Gustav began his war.

And this will completely change the pattern of the Thirty Years' War in Europe, and it will also change history.

There was no Gustav sweeping Germany, no Wallenstein, no later Battle of Lützen, and no Westfa-Lun Treaty, which later laid the foundations of international law.

I laughed, then slowly lifted the letter in my hand, then my hands were wrong, and after a crisp sound, the letter paper was torn in half by me, and Li Guangzhong's exclamation suddenly came from behind me.

"Ziyun, what are you doing here?"

Ignoring the extremely surprised Li Guangzhong behind me, I looked at Reska, who was also extremely surprised in front of me, smiled silently, and then tore the letter in my hand into pieces, and after a while, the extremely important letter had been reduced to pieces of scraps of paper, and I tried my best to throw the confetti in my hand to the ground in the most chic posture to ensure that I maintained my posture as a victor and suppressor.

It is really very pleasant to use the unique and powerful information advantage of modern people to crush this kind of European foreigner, the Internet age and the era of knowledge explosion, to put it bluntly, the information advantage composed of Baidu and countless books, so that I can easily crush him in front of this foreigner born in the 17th century.

It turns out that cheating feels so cool, no wonder so many people want to cross over.

After stabilizing my mood for a moment, I continued to say what I was thinking.

"I can understand the feelings of His Majesty King Gustav and His Majesty the King of your country, the victory of the Habsburg royal family and the Old Christian army has seriously threatened the interests of the two countries on the mainland, and it is inevitable to go to war, but the current situation is that the Habsburg royal army's army is extremely strong, and once His Majesty King Gustav enters the war, he must get more support. And this support cannot be done without funding. "I specifically emphasized the word 'support'.

As a diplomat, Reska clearly smelled something else in my words, yes, in the forty-sixth year of Wanli, in 1618, a war was brewing in contemporaneous Europe that was about to sweep all of Europe, this is the famous Thirty Years' War, this war was fought by the Protestant allies of England, France, Sweden and the Holy Roman Empire in support of the Protestant princes, and on the other hand, the Catholic alliance of Spain and Austria led by the Habsburg royal family, which was ostensibly a religious war, But in fact, it is a war between European countries for their own interests, and this year, that is, in 1618, the curtain of a total war is about to open, the Habsburg royal army will defeat the Protestant allies, in this situation, with the support and instigation of England and France, the Swedish king Gustav has begun to move, and the letter just now clearly shows this change, so once this letter falls into the hands of Spain under the rule of the Habsburg royal family, King Gustav will be in a difficult situation.

"Your Excellency means that the Ming will support King Gustav and my Majesty in the war?" Reska looked at me suspiciously.

"Of course not, this war has nothing to do with our Ming Dynasty, and the struggle between the two sides has nothing to do with us. Moreover, I myself am not in any way able to represent His Majesty the Emperor and His Majesty's Government. I waved my hand and smiled.

"And what do you mean by that?" Reska's blue eyes were wide open, staring at me tightly, as if he couldn't comprehend my actions at all.

I glanced back at Li Guangzhong, who was staring at me with wide eyes, and he obviously didn't understand why I was talking so speculatively with this black-haired, blue-eyed Hongyi.

"This General Li Guangzhong is the commander of the Imperial army stationed here, and he has been ordered to inspect the ships of various countries passing by, and a large amount of weapons and equipment have been seized on the ships of His Excellency the Count, since relations between the Empire and Japan have not been very pleasant lately, so it is natural that the Count's ships and crews will be imprisoned. According to the laws of the Empire, we will confiscate all the belongings on board. ”

I'm talking nonsense, anyway, Reska is not very familiar with the law of Da Ming, and Li Guangzhong doesn't know anything about English, so I can say whatever I want, and the purpose now is to fool Mr. Reska in front of me.

"It's not fair to us!" Reska protested loudly.

"I remind Your Excellency the Count that there is no point in protesting on the basis of lack of strength. I think Your Excellency should understand this very well, and besides, it was Your Excellency who first violated the laws of the Empire, and General Li Guangzhong was only acting according to the laws of the Empire. Unless you wish to go to the capital of the Empire to protest with His Majesty the Emperor, there are many Spaniard sympathizers in the Imperial Government, and I am sure they will like what I have told them! I'm still smiling, but I know exactly how my words will shake Reska.

"This is a despicable threat! Do you think I'll accept this threat? Reska raised his fist and his eyes widened with rage, if it wasn't for my grip, he would have eaten me alive on the spot.

"Since you have rejected my kindness to the Protestant League, then I can only convey this kindness to the Jesuit bishops in Daming, and I think the Bishops in China listened carefully to my advice instead of losing their temper with me." I gently pushed away Li Guangzhong and Ling Yuruo, who were just blocking me, and the smile on my face probably turned into a devil's smile in Reska's eyes.

Hearing this, Leskaton was like a deflated ball, and he had fully understood whose hands the initiative in the negotiations was. And Ling Yuruo on the side also looked at me in surprise, she was obviously surprised that I was able to give in in a few words, and besides, I was still using a language she had never heard before.

Seeing that the effect I had created was already there, I gathered my thoughts for a moment and continued.

"Well, Your Excellency the Earl, I have to make my opinion, although I cannot speak for the Imperial Government and His Majesty the Emperor, but I can speak for General Li Quang Chung, I wish to establish trade relations with His Majesty King Gustav and the Kingdom of Sweden, and we will purchase these muskets and cannons at a reasonable price, and if His Majesty King Gustav can transfer to us the technology of the new flintlock musket, we will pay His Majesty the King twenty thousand taels of silver in a lump sum. That's enough money for His Majesty's entire war effort! ”

I just learned from Yurou that the Ling family has a fleet and textile factories in Suzhou, Hangzhou and Shandong, and all its assets are about three or four million taels of silver, and it is only a small matter for the Ling family to take out 20,000 taels to buy the technology of the new flintlock gun, but for these weapons and technologies, it will be a big profit, you must know that the flintlock fire gun and the paper bullets used in it have a decisive impact on improving the rate of fire of the fire gun at that time.

Rescata was stunned suddenly, he looked at me incredulously, just now I was threatening him and threw out an agreement that he couldn't understand at all, so that he could complete His Majesty's commission in an instant, which made him dazed for a while, it seemed that his brain was still a little short-circuited, he didn't understand, why did I, who had a completely overwhelming advantage, make this fair suggestion, shouldn't I just grab it?

"Of course, I also hope that after we purchase these muskets and cannons, Your Excellency can teach our soldiers how to use these flintlock muskets and cannons, and I also hope to obtain the techniques of forging flintlock muskets and more and better artillery. Therefore, we hope to fully consider our requirements when trading. Because our cooperation will be long-term, I hope that His Excellency Reska will carefully consider my request. ”

"God, this is not to be considered, for our entire alliance, your Excellency's statement is decisive. On behalf of His Majesty the King, I can conclude a trade treaty with His Majesty King Gustav and Your Excellency, and we will sell all the muskets and artillery to Your Excellency at a 70% discount. As for the technique of flintlock muskets, the craftsmen who accompany the ship can teach you how to make these muskets and paper bullets. As for the cannons, we will provide them to you on an ongoing basis in accordance with our agreement. ”

Reska made a cross on his chest, for him, this seemingly difficult task should be accomplished so easily, for him, this is probably God's will.

I nodded, the agreement had been reached, and the Ming army, at least the Shenji Battalion of Dengzhouwei, would receive the most advanced flintlock guns and paper bullets in the world at that time. The next thing is to explain it to Li Guangzhong.

"Ziyun, how are the talks, has this Hongyi agreed to teach us how to use those muskets?" As soon as he saw me turn around, Li Guangzhong asked hurriedly.

I nodded, "Not only did he promise to teach us how to use these muskets, but he also planned to give us the methods of forging." ”

"There can be such a cheap thing in the world!" Before Li Guangzhong could ask, Ling Yurou was already looking at me with a suspicious face.

"Naturally not!" I nodded, and continued: "The forging method costs 20,000 taels of silver in exchange, and as for the fire system and cannon this time, they all need silver to buy. ”

"Are you stupid, why did you buy so many fires and cannons?" Ling Yuruo immediately shouted loudly, and even Reska on the side looked shocked.

Li Guangzhong also looked at me suspiciously, not understanding why I would choose this way. For a moment, as if he had made up his mind, he nodded and said, "Okay, since it's Ziyun's intention, then do what you want, but I also have one more thing I hope you can promise me!" ”

I didn't expect him to agree so readily, and I was a little moved at the moment, so I quickly nodded and said, "Please Uncle Li give me orders!" ”

"I don't trust the Hongyi people very much, since you and the Hongyi people are responsible for this transaction, then Ziyun, can you temporarily serve as the agent of this transaction, responsible for supervising these Hongyi, and helping to train our Shenji Battalion. In this way, we can give full play to their power by buying these fire systems, otherwise, wouldn't we buy these fire systems for nothing, although Yu Rou money is indeed a lot, but we don't want to be wronged! ”

Basically, none of the above words can be refuted, although it is indeed more troublesome for me to ask me to help train the Shenji Battalion, but since they have already intervened in this matter, then let's take care of it to the end, although I have never fought a war, but if it really doesn't work, I will organize the musket-gun unit according to Gustav's grouping method, and then train them to use the three-stage shooting method.

I made up my mind, so I saluted Li Guangzhong with a fist and said, "Okay, then I might as well obey my fate if I am respectful~!" ”

Specific conditions were negotiated, and Reska's representatives and I signed a treaty under which the Kingdom of Sweden would supply the Dengzhou Guard with muskets and ammunition, as well as some of the most advanced artillery, both in kind and in design. Dengzhouwei, on the other hand, paid the Kingdom of Sweden silver or its equivalent at an agreed price.

After the treaty was signed, Yu Rou and Li Guangzhong set up a reception banquet for Reska, during which we talked about many questions, including questions about the Thirty Years' War in Europe and Britain itself, and Shakespeare with Reska. Resca, on the other hand, was unusually surprised at my familiarity with European affairs and Britain. But during the feast I almost said something to be careful with Gustav at the Battle of Lützen. But in the end, I swallowed the words to my lips, so it was better not to disrupt the cycle of history.

In order to show sincerity, Reska said that he himself would stay in Daming to be responsible for the training of the Shenji Battalion and the manufacture of flintlock guns, and he would send his deputy back to Sweden to exchange treaties and purchase new cannons, and wait until about ten o'clock, the banquet was over, Li Guangzhong sent someone to send Reska to the post house to rest, he did not stay for long, just briefly talked about the situation of the Shenji Battalion and the payment situation, as for the later part, he just said that if Yu Ruoyu Rou would naturally talk to me, he went back to the house happily. I had drunk a lot of alcohol at the time, so I didn't pay much attention to it, just nodded, and got up dizzily to send him out. After that, I didn't know who it was, so he helped me out of the lobby, got me into the room with a twist, and then fell headlong on the bed, and I didn't know anything.