Chapter 738: National Character

In Rotterdam, the docks were crowded, and the Kingdom of the Netherlands put on a grand welcome ceremony, and the ruling henry personally went to the docks to welcome the fleet returning from the voyage, and Rotterdam was empty.

"Isn't the Netherlands a kingdom?" Li Heng threw a question at Knight, and the vice admiral shrugged his shoulders and said, "That's to facilitate Daming's understanding and acceptance, in fact, we are a republican country." "Li Heng and Zhang Guangde are really crying and laughing, this is a joke, and they haven't understood the political system for a long time. The Dutch were probably worried about the imperial Ming Dynasty's dislike of the republican system.

Compared with the high-profile of the Dutch government, the Spanish and Portuguese envoys were very low-key, and passed on the news to Li Heng and Zhang Guangde through their respective relations, hoping to have a secret meeting. In the words of the Portuguese envoy Almeida, "once the contradictions become public, they will affect the relations between the two countries." ”

For this request, Li Heng and Zhang Guangde agreed, and after a welcome dinner, they did not stay in the accommodation prepared by the Netherlands, but returned to the Marine Corps camp near the dock to stay.

It was already late at night, and Almeida, who had only one entourage, had been waiting anxiously here for more than three hours.

"Sorry! The Dutch are so welcoming! Li Heng said sorry, but in fact he didn't mean it at all. Almeida, who stood up and bent down slightly, kept smiling and said, "I fully understand, I hope it didn't disturb the rest of the two Excellencies!" ”

"Okay, let's get straight to the topic, we all know that you're not here to chat." Zhang Guangde looked a little impatient, he was red-faced, so he naturally wanted to say something ugly, fluent in Portuguese, and Almeida was stunned directly, which was too straightforward. "Yes. It is clear to both of you that our Government hopes to take back Anmarísmo Marsísmo and that some minor misunderstandings will not affect the relations between the two countries. ”

"Joke, Portuguese ships can sail in the Indian Ocean, not because you are powerful. It is because His Excellency the great Xinghai Gong, out of peace-loving considerations, put forward the idea of shelving disputes and joint development. Otherwise, even your few ships still want to get mixed up in the Indian Ocean? Not to mention the Mirror Trench, we haven't driven you away so far, just because we don't want to destroy the hard-won peaceful environment, and for the sake of the Portuguese in the Mirror Trench who have helped the Ming Dynasty. Zhang Guangde was aggressive, with a fierce expression, and he looked ready to fight at any time.

"The unpleasantness that happened at sea. Mainly led by the British and Spaniards, our fleet was just going to see the situation, and there was no intention of meddleling. Almeida could only quibble, at least find himself a step. Zhang Guangde was annoyed, and his gloves slammed on the table: "Strong words!" I don't think I need to talk about it....... ”

Li Heng said in a "timely" manner: "Your Excellency Chief of Staff, please accuse yourself of your own feelings, the issue we are talking about now is related to whether the two countries will be in a state of war. We are here to visit Europe for a friendly visit. Not to declare war on anyone. ”

It seems that there are also contradictions within the Ming Dynasty. When Almeida saw this situation, it seemed that there was an opportunity to take advantage of it.

"Your Excellency, thank you for your calmness and rationality, this is the basis on which we can continue to talk." This guy is sowing discord, although it is very hidden, but it really intends to provoke contradictions between the two commanders. Pity. Zhang Guangde picked up the gloves at this time and said: "Okay, I'll see what results you can negotiate, and if you're not satisfied, I won't sign the resolution." ”

After speaking, he slammed the door and walked out, Li Heng, watching his back leave. He sighed heavily: "Your Excellency Almeida, you have also seen it, because the three live mouths we have captured are from your country, and the senses of the Portuguese have dropped to the bottom of the fleet. ”

"Uh, are there only three alive? So to speak, the scale of naval battles ....... Almeida thought it was strange, he thought there was a mistake in the news channel. It's a pity that Li Heng interrupted very simply: "Yes, there are only three, because we only need three." Others, as you know, we have been on the sea route for more than half a year, and there are not many supplies. ”

"Shhhh......h Almeida's pores exploded, which sounded prosaic, but in fact it was very cruel. According to the intelligence, more than forty ships must have been sunk, the Portuguese ran fast and lost one ship, and the Spaniards were the most unlucky, more than thirty ships were sunk. The details of the naval battle, just like the myths and stories of ancient Greece, all the gods and goddesses stood on the side of the Ming fleet. Just one cannon fire was extinguished for the Spaniards. In the whole of Europe, no one has ever seen such a battle, and they all know that the artillery of the Ming fleet is powerful, with a long range and high accuracy. But who would have thought that it was completely beyond what people knew about the cannon?

Naval battles in the era of smoothbore guns, as well as the mode of putting solid bullets on the fire and burning them red, the shells of the Ming fleet exploded when they hit the target, and the power was huge, and it was not difficult to dismantle your ship directly. If it weren't for the Spaniards who became substitutes, the result would be really hard to say. What is Sansmo Sansto? They beat it down in half a day.

"Well, I guess you can say the conditions!" Almeida was very interested, and lowered her head and opened her mouth to admit it! They can ransack Angra do Merrijo, they can ransack Lisbon. The balance of power between the two is too great. In terms of fortification, the fortress of Sanstomo Sanstomo was far superior to the defense of Lisbon. Of course, Portugal could fight a war with all its national strength, but after the news of the occupation of Sansísmo Sansírío came back, the result of the quarrel on all sides was unexpectedly unanimous, "Even if it wins, Portugal will lose a fortune!" In Almeida's words, "we will lose South America, we will lose the mirror trenches, we will lose a foothold in the Indian Ocean." ”

yes, without these, what is left of Portugal? The current Portugal can barely be regarded as a strong country, once you fight to the death with the Ming fleet, other countries will definitely applaud. For example, the Dutch are competing fiercely with Portugal in South America, and they are really happy to send a fleet to help the Ming fleet, right?

In another room, after Zhang Guangde came in, he saw Tolan, the Spanish envoy. This one's attitude was more low-key, and he said in a flattering tone: "Sorry to disturb your rest, the matter is too urgent, and we must do our best to reach an agreement between the two countries." ”

Well, this guy also knows that he can't hide it. As far as the Spanish battleships suffered the greatest losses, it was impossible to hide them. It is certainly not possible to keep a low profile, otherwise Spain will inevitably lose Manila and even the whole of Luzon. "This ambush was initiated by the British, because of the deep contradictions between Britain and the Netherlands. The two countries have just fought a naval battle on a huge scale. The British absolutely did not want to see the Dutch get the Ming arms, so the British put forward the condition that all the profits go to the other three countries before the ambush at sea, and they want nothing. ”

Betraying the British, Tolan didn't have any pressure at all, in fact, it wasn't that there was no pressure, but he couldn't take care of it. Spain, the old empire, is now declining, and it is also a mortal enemy of Britain. They worked together as pirates for the sake of profit, but they were betrayed by their teammates again.

"There is no need to explain, the Ming Dynasty did not mean to start a war with any European country before, but you must understand that there is a saying in China, those who offend my Han will be punished even if they are far away! Meaning, as long as it violates us. Even if you are on the edge of the sky, we will chase after you and escape to justice. Zhang Guangde said that it was full of murder. Tolan knew very well that there were more than thirty boats, so many sailors and soldiers, and none of them came back, and all of them were fed to the fish in the sea.

"Okay, I guess you can open the conditions!" The negotiations here are smoother. The Spaniards were really frightened, O Porto Sangra, there is no better place than any port in Europe. As a result, they took it in half a day, and the Portuguese did not dare to continue with a single artillery fire. What kind of combat power is this. The more they knew, the more frightened the Spaniards became, really fearing that this fleet would rush to the Strait of Gibraltar and a cannon fire to replicate the battle of Angra Sangra.

The first battle of Anmarísmo Sansímo, in fact, the whole of Europe knew about it, and it was not possible to hide it at all, and it was not intended to be hidden. Even some of the news was sent through Guò Canon's channel, just to deter European countries.

It was already early in the morning, and the two messengers left one after another, Zhang Guangde found Li Heng here, who was smoking, squinting his eyes and smiling very thief. "How?" Zhang Guangde had a relaxed expression, and Li Heng said with a smile: "It's negotiated, we can encircle a piece of land in the Azores, and now we can consider your plan for the Americas." ”

The relaxation on Zhang Guangde's face was pretended, but in fact, he was still worried. Although this fleet is powerful, it is not enough to resist the union of several maritime powers in Europe. So, pretend, but don't push too hard. The point is that they do not have the negotiating power authorized by the General Staff, and they are now acting on their own.

"The Spaniards will do their best to send people to Xinghai City to negotiate with the headquarters. We are also going to send a flying clipper boat back to report the news, the content is written in detail, and we will send it to the grandfather as much as possible. ”

Li Heng nodded and said, "That's much easier, the British and the French, let's go separately." Each brought five boats over to show them the power of the new naval guns. Break their thoughts of dyeing the guide ocean, and in the future, it is good to compete with other countries in other places with peace of mind, Da Ming is not something they can provoke. ”

Zhang Guangde shook his head and said: "No, this attitude is definitely not good, we have to mention the matter of compensation." ”

Li Heng nodded: "Compensation is a must, I won't ignore this." ”

After reaching an agreement, the two went to rest separately in a relaxed mood. Things did not deviate much from their previous judgments, and the contradictions between the European countries were also very deep, and the Anglo-Dutch War had just died down as soon as the Thirty Years' War had ended. Against this backdrop, it is unrealistic to expect the European community to unite. As for the ransacking of Angra Sansmo, this kind of thing was too normal in the colonial era.

I've seen an argument on the Internet that mentions the character of a maritime people, and uses the Japanese as an example. After reading it, I laughed, Zhen Nyima can pull it, and this is the product of under the banner of experts and scholars. This Nima has an egg relationship with the national character, which is obviously a cost problem, right? When the cost of robbery was low, let alone the colonists, it was "my Great Qing" and Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, which was also a loss of human nature. If modern China hadn't cleaned up the US imperialists in Korea, you can see who takes China seriously and the international status of contemporary China. Starting from the US imperialism, India, the Soviet Union, and Vietnam, all of them have been cleaned up, and it can be regarded as a bit of a peaceful life. (To be continued......)