Inviting Western missionaries to come to the capital to spread Western scientific knowledge is a major event related to the future of the country, and Su Hao naturally needs to report to Wanli and Wang Xijue. According to the normal procedure, he should raise the matter at the court meeting, and then ask the ministers to deliberate. However, Su Hao knew in his heart that if this matter was brought to the court meeting, it would be 100% vetoed, and he had seen the stubbornness of the thoughts of those civil officials in the court.

The method that Su Hao considered was to discuss with Wanli and Wang Xijue in private, as long as they agreed, Su Hao could quietly do this matter first, and then make it public when certain results were achieved. By that time, the value of Western science and technology would have been able to be seen by some, and the opposition in the court would not be so strong.

After careful consideration, Su Hao came to the palace and asked the eunuch Li Long to inform Wanli and ask for an audience.

"Anyway, what do you want to tell me today? As I said, you can come to talk to me if you don't have anything to do, but I stay in this palace alone, and there is no one to talk to, so I am extremely depressed. As soon as Wanli saw Su Hao, he said to him with a smile.

Wanli was a very intelligent person with an extremely active mind. Since he had been suppressed by Zhang Juzheng in his childhood, his surname Gerry had some rebellious elements, which made it difficult for him to communicate with the conformist ministers in the court. Su Hao is a person with modern thoughts, and he is quite disdainful of the Qing rules and precepts of the Ming Dynasty scholars, which can resonate with Wanli.

When Su Hao first entered Beijing, Wanli had met Su Hao in disguise. At that time, Su Hao recognized him as the emperor, deliberately did not say anything, and talked to Wanli about the statecraft, which was quite appreciated by Wanli. Since then, Wanli has been paying attention to Su Hao, watching this young man rampage in the backwater of the Ming officialdom, and he was stunned to break out of a path.

In the past few years, Su Hao has been traveling around the field and rarely meets Wanli. It wasn't until the end of the Battle of Ningxia and Su Hao returned to the capital that Wanli had the opportunity to often summon Su Hao into the palace to chat with him. Su Hao came from later generations, did not have much awe of the imperial power, dared to speak out in front of Wanli, coupled with his own knowledge accumulation of hundreds of years beyond the times, when chatting with Wanli, he was able to repeatedly make Wanli feel that the mouth was suddenly opened, and the relationship between the two became closer and closer.

In Su Hao's view, Wanli is actually a very good leader, not as mediocre and incompetent as later historians said. Wanli's neglect of government was largely angered by the ministers. Just think about it, an emperor is pointed at his nose by the ministers in the court all day long and asks which son he intends to set up as the crown prince, and there is no other serious thing to talk about, and he can only strike the dynasty on whom.

Hearing Wanli greet him cordially, Su Hao did not get carried away, he first knelt down and bowed to Wanli according to the rules, and then sat down according to Wanli's instructions and said: "Holy Lord, the minister entered the palace this time, mainly because he got a novelty, and he wanted to invite the Holy Lord to take a look." ”

"What's that? Something new, it's going to be a lot of fun. Wanli said with interest.

Su Hao took out the Chinese version of the world map drawn by Ricci from his arms, spread it out in front of Wanli, and said: "Holy Lord, please see, what the minister said is this thing." ”

"Is this a map?" Wanli frowned and looked at it for a while, then said hesitantly: "This is not a map of the territory of the Ming Dynasty, is it a map of all countries?" ”

"Exactly." Su Hao replied, "This is a map of all the countries drawn by the Francois through the Great Voyage, and these places on the map are called Asia, Europe, Africa, North America and South America. The location where my Ming is located is in the eastern part of Asia, and what we usually call the Franc machine is in the western part of the Eurasian continent, which includes dozens of countries. ”

"The world is so big." Wanli said to himself, "Then these countries, can they be as powerful as my Ming Dynasty?" ”

Su Hao said: "I, Daming, am currently the most powerful country in the world. All European countries are small countries, and their current strength cannot be compared with our Ming Dynasty. However, through the Great Voyages, these countries expanded many colonies overseas, and their power continued to rise. If I continue to close myself off from the country, I am afraid that I will soon be surpassed by these small countries. ”

"Closed off the country?" Wanli looked at Su Hao and asked puzzled.

Su Hao was also quick to talk for a while, and brought the concept of the future to the present. However, the Ming Dynasty had a ban on the sea, prohibiting private shipbuilding from going to sea, and the economic and trade exchanges with overseas were very depressed. He thought for a moment and said to Wanli:

"Holy Lord, although our Daming is vast and rich, compared to the whole world, Daming is only a very small piece. Holy Lord, please see, this continent is called America, the size of four or five Ming Dynasty, rich in products, and almost ternullius. The natives there are called Indians, and they are ignorant and cannot keep their land. Europeans discovered the land 100 years ago and then frantically migrated to it to claim it for themselves.

As the most powerful country in the world today, I am indifferent in the face of such a territory. The territory of the world is limited, and once it is carved up by others, we have no chance. ”

Then, Su Hao gave Wanli a detailed introduction to the situation of the European voyages and overseas colonization, some of which he had seen from movies and books in his previous life, and some of which he had learned about when chatting with Matteo Ricci these days. Wanli listened very carefully, and sighed at the difficulties of the European voyage.

"You entered the palace today just to tell me about it?" After listening to Su Hao's words, Wanli asked.

Su Hao said: "Actually, the minister has been thinking about this matter all along, but this time he got this map of the world from a Buddhist missionary, which made the minister feel that this matter should not be delayed." ”

Wanli shook his head and said, "Change it, you think too simply." No matter how good the America you are talking about, after all, it is also a wild place overseas. The Europeans are small and poor, so they want to go to the Americas to develop. I have a lot of land, what is the use of these lands? Besides, if I propose to open up overseas territories, the officials in the court will not scold me for being a bloody dog, saying that I am a ruthless and unscrupulous king. ”

"Those officials know what a fart!" Su Hao couldn't help but burst out foul language, if he let outsiders hear this, I'm afraid he would have to be out of honor in front of him again. However, fortunately, this was just a private conversation between him and Wanli, and Wanli would not care about his remarks.

"The Holy One, the promising kings that people have praised since ancient times, are all kings who can expand their territory. My country of China was limited to the Central Plains before the Qin, and then after the development of the Ming Dynasty, I had the Ming Dynasty. If the saint wants to be a virtuous monarch like the Qin Emperor and Han Wu, he should do something in this regard. Those officials are just rat-eyed people, listening to their words, how can I carry forward the Ming Dynasty and dominate the world forever? Su Hao said impassionedly.

"But...... What is the use of opening up these wild places for my Ming Dynasty? In addition, to open up these places, it is necessary to use sailors, and the cost of sailors to fight is immeasurable. ”

Wanli was still hesitating. Su Hao's words were not untouched by him, a restless king like him, such a thing as expanding the territory undoubtedly had a strong attraction. However, he also has a lot of concerns, and the obstruction of the speech officials is only part of it, and worrying that the national strength will be difficult to support is also an important reason for his hesitation.

Su Hao said: "Holy Lord, the minister said that these places are not wild places, but places with extremely rich products. The Americas have fertile fields that can be cultivated. There are also a lot of mineral deposits in these places, and the gold mines in these places alone are much more than all the gold I have in the Ming Dynasty. ”

"Really?" Hearing the word gold, a spark flashed in Wanli's eyes.

For Su Hao's prospecting skills, Wanli is convinced. Since Su Hao said that the Americas are rich in gold resources, then ten are true. How much gold is in the Ming Dynasty, Wanli can imagine, if that America has more gold ore resources than all the gold in the Ming Dynasty, then to open up such a land, it seems to be a very valuable thing.

Su Hao continued: "The population of my Ming Dynasty is increasing with each other, but the number of fields is fixed. To feed so many people, how can you do without land? If we can open up the country, we can allow landless farmers to develop overseas, where every family can casually enclose 10,000 hectares of fertile land, and then there will not be so many people to cultivate. ”

"It makes sense." Wanli was moved by Su Hao's words, "Change it, in your opinion, what should we do?" ”

Su Hao said: "Expanding overseas is not something that can be achieved overnight, and it needs to be passed on for several generations. However, we must build our sailors from now on, and we must actively learn from the techniques of the Europeans in order to improve our firearms and seafaring capabilities.

In fact, the minister entered the palace today to meet His Majesty, and he wanted to ask His Majesty to issue a holy decree, allowing the minister to gather the missionaries of the Franc machine in the Ming Dynasty, gather them in the capital, open a school, and teach the various techniques of the Franc machine. If possible, the minister also asked His Majesty to issue another decree to recruit shipbuilders and sailors with seafaring experience from the Franco, so as to improve the level of our Ming Dynasty's seafaring skills. ”

"Well, I can agree to this, but I need to discuss it with the cabinet again. Well, let's change it, you write a statement, write down what you want to say, and I will give your statement to the cabinet and ask them to come up with a charter on the matter. Wanli said.

Su Hao reached into his sleeve, took out a fold, and said, "Shengshang, the minister has already written the note, just waiting for Shengshang's words." (To be continued.) )