The wind in Dunkirk carries a hint of warmth, and Li Mingrui, the governor of the Ming Empire, as the first imperial official to come to this foreign land, likes to come to this castle to blow the sea breeze outside.

The Gothic churches of the Western world, the sound of Bible reading, and the white but unclothed sculptures and oil paintings made him, a Ming official who appeared in the Western world for the first time, curious and strange.

However, what Li Mingrui could feel was that this land was rich and full of vitality, what he didn't expect was that these countries had already issued national bonds like the Ming Dynasty, nor did he expect that these Western countries would have their own colonies all over the world, and what he didn't expect was that the Netherlands, which he was going to eliminate now, was not a country dominated by a monarchy.

And it is precisely such a country that makes Li Mingrui feel that he is not a simple small country, and binds his economic interests to the economic interests of other Western countries in the form of stocks, so that he is not only an enemy of neighboring countries, but also makes neighboring countries dare not let himself go bankrupt.

"The commodity economy here is not generally developed, the merchants have almost no borders, the way of war and marriage makes the country here seem more like the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, they are full of contradictions between the church and the people's thoughts, no less than the fierce conflict between Confucianism and Wang Xueshengxue in China, among which the British Empire has actually broken out before the riots that limit the royal power, and its new successor king has just been successfully restored not long ago, but the people in its country seem to be not satisfied with the restoration of its king, and the ministers feel that they will break out again in turmoil, and after the turmoil, I am afraid that this empire will pose a great threat to our Ming Dynasty, and they have shown great interest in our political system and sacred studies and religious beliefs, while France and Spain are relatively only concerned with commercial trade. ”

Li Mingrui wrote in a note to Zhu Youzhen.

"This is the first time that the Ming Empire of the East has appeared in our world, I have to admit that the governor on behalf of the Eastern Empire is a little incomprehensible, but its wisdom can not be concealed, and what surprises us is that they actually have the same cabinet as the Parliament, but the cabinet is decided by its emperor, and there is no difference from our system at this time, but the Chongzhen Emperor of its empire has great encouragement for the merchants and handicrafts of the empire, this legendary Eastern Empire is not bound by religious beliefs, and has even promulgated the " The Anti-Slavery Act also recognized private property, and the emperor of the empire was more like a big merchant than a king who relied on exorbitant taxes to sit back and make a living. ”

A young nobleman of the British Empire recounted his views after contact with Li Mingrui, the governor of the Ming Empire.

Li Mingrui didn't care how these countries viewed his Ming Empire, he was now more concerned about whether he could maximize the interests of the Ming Empire by coming to the West with Zhu Youzhen's will.

"The Netherlands must be completely eliminated, this is a country more terrible than the British Empire, he raised funds through stock trading and ruled the commerce of the whole earth, if this continues, the wealth of the world will flow into his pocket, fortunately, now my Ming occupies most of his colonies, now as long as we inherit his commerce, we can rule over other Western countries, we should help the king of the British Empire to suppress the reactionaries in his country, let Louis XIV of France continue to dream of his empire, and the Netherlands, Weichen intends to establish an economic and commercial base of the Ming Dynasty here, controlling the economy of the entire Xiyi, and hopes that His Majesty can quickly immigrate and mobilize domestic personnel who understand money law and military affairs to take root here, hold this land in the hands of my Ming Dynasty, and then plot against the Spanish Netherlands and the Holy Roman Empire. ”

On the second day, after Li Mingrui finished writing the note, he ordered the naval combat unit of the ocean-going fleet to lead 240 warships to the North Sea, while the 10,000 marines and 20,000 Spanish troops were to conquer the Netherlands by land.

"The sea power of this Eastern Empire is indeed not comparable to you and me, two hundred and forty warships, if my British Empire had built so many, it would have been dragged down long ago."

"But what you don't know is that he has more than one fleet, they also have three fleets in the North Sea, the East China Sea, and the South China Sea, which are about the same size as this, as Mark Twain remembered, this empire has wealth that we can't imagine, not only to maintain the size of four large fleets, but also millions of troops."

"That being said, he is far away from the homeland to fight, the Netherlands also has hundreds of warships, and there are countless shore batteries, more than 50,000 mercenary army, and more than 20,000 navy, and just defeated your England, morale is high, and it is possible to defeat the Ming Dynasty."

……

Just when these Western countries observation groups were discussing, the Ming flagship "Kaiping Wang" had begun to start.

The buzzing whistle sounded in the Haikou area at the southern end of the North Sea, and the giant ship "Kaiping Wang" quickly broke through the huge waves and advanced rapidly like a dragon out of the water, and the Western observer group was stunned.

"Oh my God, this ironclad is so fast! Even if you come with three top-tier warships, you can't stop it. ”

"My God, fortunately it wasn't us who offended this empire, otherwise I wouldn't believe what the price of being an enemy of such an empire would be!"

While the Western Observation Group was wondering whether the speed of the "Kaiping King" was related to the two chimneys on the deck, other Imperial warships followed suit, showing a wedge-shaped offensive and heading straight for The Hague, the capital of the Netherlands.

……

At this time, the Imperial Marines also advanced north of Rabent with the Spanish Army.

The Spanish Army was still a Spanish phalanx composed mainly of pikemen and musketeers.

Spanish Army Commander Jack originally thought that his country's invincible fleet could no longer compete with the Ming Empire, but the army phalanx that still dominated the world should surprise the marines of the Ming Empire.

But what Jack didn't expect was that the marines of the Ming Empire no longer had spearmen, and musketeers had accounted for a large proportion, and the cavalry even had muskets, and the artillery was very different from his own artillery, and it seemed to be faster in transportation.

"Your country doesn't need spears anymore?"

Jack asked Zhang Jin, commander of the Marine Corps of the Ming Empire's ocean-going fleet.

Zhang Jin replied after translating: "Ten years ago, it was useless, you are such a spear formation, I can sweep you with a battalion of pistols, and you will stay behind to pick up the corpses later, barbarians are barbarians, and in this era, they are still using spears and guns." ”

Hearing Zhang Jin say so arrogantly, this Jack was quite dissatisfied in his heart, and said secretly: "What kind of machine gun, you won't form a formation later, wait for the Dutch heavy cavalry to come, see what you do." ”

(End of chapter)