Chapter 222 [French Prime Minister Richelieu]

Attack the Ming fleet? Others in the meeting objected.

If you do it, it is tantamount to a declaration of war. According to intelligence, the Ming Dynasty has a population of hundreds of millions and a navy of hundreds of thousands, and if they attack Spain ruthlessly, the consequences will be unimaginable.

In the minds of Europeans, there are now three countries with the most military power in the world: Britain, Spain, and Daming. Daming's weapons were originally a little backward, but there were many of them. In Europe, a war of tens of thousands of people is a major battle, and the Ming army only claims to be doing business, so 20,000 people came. Now the weapons of the Ming army have also begun to improve, not only defeating the Jurchen iron cavalry, but also improving the strength of the navy. As a last resort, no country was willing to go to war with the Ming army.

Duke Duvalt still advises to strike first. "If the Ming army has bad intentions, we still have an advantage in a war at sea, and if they land, the army can defeat the Tatars and Jurchen iron cavalry, and it will certainly not be weak. Moreover, the intelligence said that this time Huang Peng personally came to Europe. If they had cooperated with the Portuguese, they might have known that Philip II had plans to invade the Ming Dynasty. Now in order to control the colony, we have divided our forces in four directions. There is no superiority in forces on the European battlefield, and it will not be good unless France is on our side. ”

In the eyes of Westerners, Ao Bai controls real power, more powerful than the emperor, and the Ming Dynasty has become very strong from a state of etiquette, all of which are his credits. If it weren't for him, the Spaniards did not believe that the Ming army would have developed military power in such a short period of time and ran to Europe.

France itself was Catholic, and only supported Protestantism in order to expand its territory. They have the potential to be co-opted.

Torres, Duke of Spain, said: "Richelieu is a cunning old fox, but Louis XIII is a fool, Princess Anne will definitely come to us, as long as the Ming people come up with a plan to discuss with the king, we will know." The Ming came from the East, and if they took the initiative to participate in the war, it would be unreasonable, and we could say that they were a threat to the entire European continent and called on European countries to attack them en masse. ”

As a result of the parliament, it was decided to adopt a moderate approach. As long as the Catholic League does not take action and the Ming Dynasty takes the initiative to attack, it is a loss and an invasion. However, Ao Bai does not plan to do it as soon as he arrives in Europe, he needs to gain a firm foothold first, and let more and more Ming troops land in Europe.

After more than four months of sailing, the Ming fleet entered the Mediterranean Sea and anchored in Marseille, France.

Marseille is a famous port in the south of France, surrounded by hills to the northwest, northeast and east. The climate is warm and humid in winter and dry in summer. In 1502, Marseille built its first wharf, and by now, the port is among the top 10 in Europe in terms of cargo throughput. Due to its geographical location, the bay has a wide water depth and few rapids. The tide does not change much, and the visibility is strong, which is very suitable for the mooring and navigation of ships. Merchant ships, warships, passenger ships, smuggling ships and other ships of all sizes sailed across the Mediterranean, bringing a high level of commerce to the city, and Marseille entertained travelers from all over the world.

Of course, in Aobai's eyes, this kind of prosperity should be discounted, after all, Europe in the seventeenth century cannot be compared with three hundred years later, and there is a considerable gap compared with the Ming Dynasty of the same era. Dirty streets, low houses, simple people dressed in traditional European costumes, some drunken and sloppy men, and women standing on the side of the street with heavy makeup soliciting customers, this is the impression of the largest port in France, which is much worse than imagined.

Such a small country can rise strongly, and China once had a brilliant opportunity, but it was ruined by not wanting to forge ahead. Ao Bai sighed in his heart and took the lead on the land. He felt that this was very significant, and he became the first Oriental to set foot on the European continent.

When the Sunshine Miles docked, the harbor came alive, and although it was not the national fleet, this did not prevent the people from liking the lively nature, and some idlers stayed on the long sheltered weir and cheered loudly.

A man in red came to Ao Bai under the protection of the guards, he was thin, with a goatee, but his eyes were bright.

The French had prepared an interpreter to communicate, and the man, who was nearly fifty years old, was none other than the Prime Minister of France, Cardinal Richelieu.

When he chatted with the Dutch, he often heard them say that Richelieu was a wonderful man. At the beginning of the 17th century, France was blessed with a unique geographical environment and a long cultural tradition. Since Caesar's conquest of Gaul, the world-famous "Romanesque road" has been used throughout the territory, greatly facilitating transportation, and gradually linking diverse races, foreign and autochthonous, inland and coastal, highland and plain, slowly moving towards a unified French nation.

In this process, France has by no means lacked great men, whether it is Charlemagne, the "beautiful man" Philippe, or the representative of the French national spirit, Joan of Arc, have made their unique contributions and written a glorious chapter. Their greatness, however, does not hide the de facto weakness of France. The reason for this weakness lies in the constant separatism in France and the ensuing years of war. The weak influence of the royal family was often inadequate to restrain the princes of the provinces, and Britain, Spain, and the Holy Roman Empire repeatedly intervened in the internal power struggles in France, such as Calais, which fell to the British for two centuries. To add insult to injury, the Reformation at the beginning of the 16th century, when the Calvinists succeeded in catering to the hopes of a pure church and gathered a large number of Huguenots in France, where the Catholic tradition was deeply rooted, was enough to cause a great schism throughout France, and even the "Edict of Nantes" of Henry IV the "Reconciliation" only eased the opposition between the Catholic pious and Huguenots, and the Huguenots' right to retain the privilege of independent military power left France with the danger of falling into strife again.

The French, accustomed to it, saw no way to quell the years of war and reunite the divided France around the bankrupt monarchy. However, in 1624, a thirty-nine-year-old high priest returned to the Privy Council after an embarrassing life of exile and successfully seized the opportunity in the whirlpool of power struggles to begin his control of France. Internally, he restored and strengthened the weakened autocratic monarchy, and externally dared to seek French supremacy in Europe, and he was Richelieu

In his previous life, he heard and watched the movie "The Three Musketeers" by Alexandre Dumas, and Richelieu was a villain in the film and television drama. But he didn't believe in jokes for a long time. Just like after watching "Kangxi Dynasty", people may imagine Kangxi with a pockmarked face as Chen Daoming; After watching "Joking about Qianlong", I will imagine a portrait of a eunuch, Qianlong, who is less than 1.6 meters tall, as the hero Zheng Shaoqiu.

As a prime minister, Richelieu can only be described as great, and he is undoubtedly one of the most accomplished statesmen in the history of France and even Europe. He solved the problems that had plagued the country for nearly a hundred years, and soon after coming to power, France had the first ocean-going navy, the first colonial trading company, the first official newspaper, the first official post office, the first royal academy, the army was modernized, the government was bureaucratized, and the state was centralized. He was also an unprecedented diplomat, the first to break free from the shackles of royal marriages and religious factions, and to shout the principle of the supremacy of national interests.

"Taifu, welcome to Europe."

"Hello, Lord Bishop."

The two ministers shook hands vigorously.

Richelieu saw Anna behind him and politely complimented, "Your lady is so beautiful!"

Ao Bai smiled: "Where, where!"

This is a very ordinary polite sentence, but the lame translator interprets it literally. Richelieu listened inexplicably, and said in his heart: No. I just politely complimented his wife, and he actually asked me where his wife was beautiful? Seeing Aobai's serious expression, he had no choice but to say: "Beautiful from head to toe!"

After listening to the translation, Ao Bai rolled his eyes and said in English: "Your Excellency, what I said just now is another situation, and this translator must have misunderstood. ”

The Chinese language is broad and profound, and it is not something that Europeans can fully understand, but it can only be translated with this translation, and the English level of Ao Bai will not be enough when it reaches the European level.

Ao Bai, Mao Wenlong, Zheng Zhilong and other officials entered the French royal palace together. The architecture of the Europeans was different from that of the East, and the houses they designed were beautiful, but the size of the royal palace was far from comparable to that of the imperial palace in the capital.

Ao Bai met Louis XIII, a king of medium stature, ordinary appearance, inherited from the matrilineal southern Europeans, with hair and eyes, and dressed in green. If his clothes are green, his hat is also green. What's worse is his temperament, he looks unconfident and speaks with a little stutter.

After chatting for a while and enjoying a French steak lunch, Ao Bai and the others followed Risseliu into a spacious room.

Richelieu said lightly: "Your country is in Europe this time, I don't know what kind of benefits you want to get in return?" I think the business you want to do must be very big. As an ally, I'd like to know more about it. ”

"We want to occupy a place in Europe, do business here, learn advanced European science and technology, and develop together," said Aobai. Your Excellency, I have heard many stories about you from the Dutch when I have come, and we will be happy to work together. ”

Richelieu was anxious to find out the secrets of Aobai, and he wanted to know the ambitions of the other party in order to consider ways to cooperate. Ao Bai also values France. Because he knew that in a hundred years, there would be a man named Napoleon in France. He hopes that Daming and France will maintain long-term cooperation, which will be beneficial in the future.

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