The capital of the Kingdom of Castile, Seville, the Grand Aleuce.

It's time to enjoy big pieces of meat, big bowls of wine, and big lumps of bread again. In a large dining room with a decoration similar to that of the Juyi Room, Alfonso X, the king of the mountains of Castile, was at this time warmly entertaining Liang Chongru, the ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of the Ming Dynasty.

"The friendship between Daming and Castile lives on forever!"

"I wish His Majesty the Emperor of Daming eternal health!"

"God bless His Majesty!"

"Cheers, for friendship!"

"Cheers, for the sake of health!"

Latin toasts rang out one after another, and the 1260-year-old wine from Champagne in France was consumed like plain water.

Although they are all of the rank of the king of the mountain, the king of Castile is obviously richer than the king of Portugal, and the house he lives in is larger, and the decoration is more elegant, although it is still in the style of the Juyi Hall. Liang Chongru was thinking in his heart at this time. He now follows the locals, like the natives of Europa, clutching a chunk of juicy beef in one hand and a well-made glass full of red wine in the other.

He is actually in a very good mood now, because the treaty with Castile has been signed, officially known as the "Agreement between the Ming Empire and the Kingdom of León and Castile", known as the "Treaty of Seville". Unequal treaties, of course! According to the later Europa revolutionary leader Napoleon. Bonaparte concludes that the inequality of the Treaty of Seville is mainly reflected in these aspects.

First, it was agreed that the Ming Empire, after the fall of the Granada Sultanate, would occupy about 2,300 aransadas (a unit of land in Castile, one aransada was equal to about 40 to 50 hectares) of land around the Gulf of Gibraltar. This area of about 1,500 hectares was much larger than the tiny island of Gibraltar, which came to be known as the Viceroyalty of Macau (a bad taste of Chan Tak Hing) and became an important stronghold of the Ming Empire's entry into the Mediterranean - although it was debatable for later generations whether it was an unequal treaty. Because the Bay of Gibraltar was then the territory of the Kingdom of Granada. The Ming only divided Granada with Castile, and Castile got most of the territory of Granada.

Second, negotiated tariffs and one-sided most-favored-nation treatment. According to the provisions of the Treaty of Seville, all goods exported from the Ming Empire (including overseas dependencies and vassal states) to the Kingdom of León-Castile were subject to customs duties not exceeding 10% of the value of the goods in the Kingdom of León-Castile, and no entry taxes and fees were required in addition to customs duties. And the Kingdom of León-Castile shall not increase customs duties or other entry taxes or fees without the consent of the Ming Empire. Meantime. The Ming Empire had most-favored-nation status in the Kingdom of León-Castilian, meaning that it would enjoy the lowest tariffs and the freest trade rules. Moreover, the tariffs and most-favored-nation treatment of the agreement are one-sided, and only the Ming Dynasty unilaterally enjoys the rights, while the goods of the Kingdom of León and Castile are imported into the Ming Empire, and there is no such preferential treatment.

Third, one-sided extraterritoriality. According to the provisions of the Treaty of Seville, where subjects of the Ming Empire are not subject to the jurisdiction of the Kingdom of León-Castile, all legal disputes and judicial trials related to the subjects of the Ming Dynasty will be jointly tried and adjudicated by the judicial officials of the two sides on the Macao Peninsula.

Fourth, the Ming Chamber of Commerce was allowed to buy or lease land in the Kingdom of León-Castile and establish trading towns with limited autonomy (this is the concession).

These four articles. It was widely criticized by the revolutionaries of the European Datong Party that it was a criminal shackle that restricted the freedom of Europa and reduced the countries of Europa to the colonies and semi-colonies of the Ming imperialists. Cardinal Pontaléon (later Pope Sirisius II), who signed the Treaty of Seville (later Holy Roman Emperor Alphonse I), was called a traitor by later European co-ops for his country's glory.

However, in August of the fourth year of the Heavenly Dao, the number one and second sinner of Europa in the future was overjoyed to think that he had just effectively defended the interests of Europa and Christianity—and at last he did not sell too much!

No one cared about political correctness in 13th-century Europe. The monarchs of Europa were realists, and there was nothing that could not be exchanged, faith. Title, homeland. Even the crown itself is a tradable bargaining chip.

And not many were sold by Alfonso X, and the Gibraltar peninsula did not belong to Castile in the first place, so it could not be sold. Negotiated tariffs, extraterritoriality, one-sided most-favored-nation treatment, and so on, were nothing in the eyes of Alfonso X, or even the creation of autonomous trade municipalities...... It's always good for the kingdom to have someone come to do business, right? It's just limited autonomy. Besides, most of the land in the kingdom of León-Castile was not under the jurisdiction of the king, but was the domain of the nobility and the church.

With only such a small concession, it was well worth the opportunity to destroy Granada and become Holy Roman Emperor. And they've stuck to the bottom line, which is the most critical of all. Celestial Taoism could not spread freely in the lands of the Kingdom of León-Castile, and the Taoist temples of Celestial Taoism could only be established in the autonomous trading towns established by the Daming Chamber of Commerce, and Taoists could not preach outside the autonomous trading towns.

With this restriction, combined with the destruction of Granada and the expulsion of the Celestial Cult from the Iberian Peninsula, Cardinal Pontaléon was eligible to elect the Pope of Rome after the death of Clement IV.

Merit alone is not enough to convince more than 70 cardinals (more than 100 cardinals are required to elect a pope, with two-thirds plus one vote) to vote for the old scoundrel of Pontaleón, who has a bad reputation and is too close to the kings of Castile and Portugal.

If he is elected Pope, he will definitely support Alfonso X as Holy Roman Emperor. The result would be an emperor backed by powerful Iberian states, and Alfonso X would be the rightful heir to the House of Hohenstaufen. His mother was a member of the Hohenstaufen family, and in the event that the Hohenstaufen paternal lineage was severed, he was eligible to enter the German royal family as a matrilineal heir, which is why he received four electoral votes. And once he became Holy Roman Emperor, he was eligible to inherit the domain of the Hohenstaufen family, and was supported by the Hohenstaufen vassals. It will be an unprecedented and powerful emperor, and it will be the resurrection of Frederick the Great! This is not in the interest of the Ecumenical Church.

Therefore, Pontaléon needs to have ample ...... Money to convince cardinals who are qualified to elect a pope!

That's right, money!

It takes a lot of money to buy votes! In fact, not only does it take a vote to elect a pope, but it also costs money to buy a vote to elect a Holy Roman Emperor. Alfonso X's four electoral votes were all spent money.

The scandal of Cao Kun's bribery of the presidency was nothing in Europe before the 20th century, and the problem was that this kind of thing could not be operated openly, but could only be carried out quietly in a secret room.

"Mr. Ambassador, the city of Granada must be occupied by the army of Castile...... The Ming army was only responsible for bombarding the walls of Granada with artillery. ”

In the study of the Grand Castle, Liang Chongru, Alfonso IV, Archbishop Pontaléon and Sophia, who acted as interpreter, gathered together again. Just the four of them, close the door and whisper.

Alfonso X made a new request, and he said very frankly: "Granada is a very rich city, the Sultan's coffers are overflowing with gold and silver, and the cardinal and I are in dire need of money to bribe the elections. So, my army is going to sack Granada! ”

Rob a rich city and use the proceeds of the robbery to buy votes to become emperor and pope! The politics of the indigenous people of Europa are too dark, right? Rao is a traitor with no conscience like Liang Chongru, and he was taken aback when he heard Sophia's translation.

The shocked words continued, and Alfonso X said without a hint of shame, "The sacking of the city alone may not be enough to raise enough money...... I need to buy at least 5 Electors, and although I once got 4 votes, that was 10 years ago. If a new electoral council is to be convened, it will need to be re-canvassed. It takes a lot of money! The cardinal needs to buy at least 70 cardinal tickets to secure the Pope. For this reason, we intend to sell all the Celestial Cultists in Granada City as slaves to the Ming Dynasty! ”

What the! Sell the people of a city as slaves and exchange money for the emperor and the sect leader! How can this Europa native be hacked like this? It's so dark!

The cardinal archbishop did not feel any uneasiness, and added as a matter of course: "Your Excellency, there are many skilled craftsmen in the city of Granada, and there are many scholars in the University of Granada who are famous in the entire Celestial Sect world. I think your city of Macau will need these people...... You can let them work as laborers and die of exhaustion on the construction site! ”

Exhausted to death......

Is there still a little bit of love?

Liang Chongru felt disdain in his heart for a while, and then stroked his beard and thought: "We need a lot of labor, uh, in order to help the king and the bishop, the Ming can buy some slaves." It's just that these slaves are a bit of a hassle to manage, right? ”

"It's not troublesome, it's not troublesome at all." The archbishop listened to Sophia's translation and laughed, "There are still many Jews in the city of Granada, and the Ming can hire Jews to manage the slaves of the Heavenly Sect, those Jews are born foremen and stewards, and keeping them can help you squeeze out the last drop of oil and water from the slaves!" (To be continued......)