On the day of the first lunar month, Xu Ping was always busy contacting the gentry of Henan, and at this time he was in Amsterdam......

The harbor is an endless forest of masts, and Mr. Huang had planned to spend a few more days in this thriving commercial country, which is also the hometown of an old friend of his father's. During his time in Holland, Huang also tried to find the brother of his father's friend, and reported to this gentleman the exploits and prominent positions of his relatives in China, but unfortunately he still found nothing.

It took a lot of effort for Huang Naiming to find a neighbor of Fan Shuteng from decades ago, who told him that another Mr. Rosenford had embarked on an emigration to New Amsterdam (New York) with hope on a ship bound for the New World shortly after his brother's departure, and that neighbor remembered Mr. Rosenford's excited expression when he left, and his words: "God will bless me and my children in the new world, and I have a premonition that my children and grandchildren will one day become kings of the new world." ”

The neighbor couldn't help but laugh at the time: "Maybe the Netherlands will need the help of your royal son, and he should not be stingy to help." ”

And Fan Shuteng's brother said confidently: "He will, will, God testifies." ”

Although Fan Shuteng's brother was not found, Huang Naiming still wanted to take a good look at this vibrant emerging country, but unfortunately the clouds of war that began last year shrouded the country, which forced him to leave early.

Compared with the grand hospitality he received in France and England, the Netherlands did not have much interest in this young nobleman from afar, and Huang Naiming and his party left the Netherlands without too many heavyweights to see him off, and only an equally young Dutch foreign affairs official accompanied him to the port.

"Your Royal Highness, this is a little bit of my heart." Basten's parting gift to Huang Xiwen was a precious tulip.

"Thank you, Sir Basten, and I hope to meet you in my hometown one day, and give me the opportunity to thank you for your hospitality to me." During his travels to the Netherlands, Basten was an enthusiastic guide.

"There must be a chance, the sea connects the Ming Kingdom and the Netherlands, and our two countries will definitely have many commercial contacts in the future, and maybe there will be common enemies." Sir Basten had always been positive about repairing relations with China, and he did not think that there would be any resentment between the two countries that could not be resolved, on the contrary, he believed that a solid strategic partnership with China would be of great benefit to Dutch interests in the Far East, especially in the face of British aggressive challenges, which the belligerent British Parliament had already strongly propped up the British East India Company, and Sir Basten feared that sooner or later it would pose a great threat to Dutch and Spanish interests in the Far East.

"Yes, I am convinced of that," said Mr. Wong, who also lamented the failure to fully repair relations with the Netherlands, whose strength in the Pacific and Indian Oceans remained strong, and whose lukewarm relations with China affected Fujian's trade revenues. Through his trip to Europe, Huang was surprised to find that almost two out of every three sea ships he encountered were produced by this humble small country: "There is a saying in my hometown that if you don't fight, you don't know each other, and we want to make friends with your country instead of being enemies." ”

Sir Basten smiled and nodded, the young man opposite had a prominent father, and behind him there was a new and powerful maritime power, with China's amazing manpower and material resources, if this country really focused on the sea, then it was obviously not a wise thing to be her enemy, and the top level of the Netherlands also knew this truth, but it was still a little difficult to wipe off the face for the time being, in addition, the arrogant British attracted more attention from the people: "Ten or twenty years later, the noble viscount will definitely be a high authority in your country, I think at least it will be the Minister of the Sea of your country, and my country will probably need your help at that time, and I will personally lead a delegation to visit His Excellency the Viscount if necessary, and then we can reminisce again. ”

"Anything that is beneficial to our two countries, I will definitely give my full support." Huang Naiming was very impressed by the ocean-going giants produced by the Netherlands, which were far larger than those in Asia, some even had four decks and were armed with more than 50 guns, and such huge warships were more than single digits. Huang Naiming does not see the Dutch as a small and distant country a threat to China, and their population dictates that they can only choose to cooperate with China in Asia, of course, Huang Naiming thinks that with their seafaring skills, they will be a very good helper - it seems to be much better than Japan.

Basten also had two other gifts for Huang Naiming's two friends, Bao Yuanlang and Shi Tianyu, and Bao Yuanlang said enthusiastically after receiving the gifts: "Sir Basten, I believe that your country will be able to defeat the British easily, and there is no need to worry at all. ”

After spending some time in England, Bao Yuanlang had a very bad impression of Britain, a country without a king and a father, and judging from the impression left on him by the two countries, the British navy was no match for the Netherlands. But it's not so much that Bao Yuanlang likes the Netherlands, but that he wants Britain to be unlucky.

Shi Tianyu was a pro-British faction, and he felt insulted by the Dutch's indifferent attitude towards the mission, but at this moment he had to lukewarmly echo twice.

"Of course, the British are not our opponents, and as soon as the British see our powerful fleet, they can only hide in the estuary." Basten confidently said that the Dutch in this era were convinced that the best sailors and shipbuilders in the world were concentrated in their homeland, and after learning that Britain had concentrated one hundred and fifty warships, the Dutch immediately took out two hundred and fifty warships to prepare for battle, and they were now worried about how long this war would last and how much it would cost: "It will affect commerce in the end, and it is a pity that so many ships cannot be used for trade but must be used to blockade Britain." ”

"The British must come out to fish, and if you don't let their fishermen go to sea, they will sue for peace sooner or later." Bao Yuanlang said that London has a rule that there are no meat and only fish for three days a week, which makes the demand for fish meat in Britain very large.

"That's exactly what we're going to do." Basten smiled slightly, and turned his head to face Huang Naiming again: "I wish Your Excellency the Honorable Viscount a smooth journey and an early arrival in Lima." ”

"Thank you, Dear Sir Basten, we'll see you later."

"There will be a date later."

……

The ocean-going sailing ship slowly sailed out of the dense crowd of warships in the harbor of Amsterdam, and the mast raised the mission flag and the red flag of the sun and moon of the Ming Dynasty.

"I'm not optimistic about the Netherlands at all," Shi Tianyu looked at the Dutch warships around him, and poured cold water on Bao Yuanlang and said: "Britain is so much bigger than the Netherlands, and it has a favorable location, the Netherlands wants to brave the wind and rain to block the opponent's fleet in front of the British gate and protect each of its caravans, while the British can sit at home and drink wine, eat barbecue, watch the Dutch drink wind and eat cold noodles at sea, and look for an opportunity to catch them off guard." Unless the Dutch were able to land in England, the Dutch would have lost the battle. ”

"The Netherlands has the best sailors." Bao Yuanlang argued unconvinced: "The naval battle is better than whose sailors are better and who has more sailors, but not more than whom." ”

"Britain, it's not that they can't live without fish, and they have to eat fish three days a week, in order to make more people become skilled sailors," Shi Tianyu said coldly: "I agree with Lord Hou's opinion, although this is a country without a king and a father, it is a very powerful country without a king and a father." ”

After hearing the name of Zhendonghou mentioned, Bao Yuanlang suddenly stopped talking, but his face was still unconvinced.

"Jia Yan once said that in Europa, Spain is an empire that is declining, and Britain is an empire that is about to become a hegemon." Huang Naiming also looked at the forest of sea ship masts outside the port with some fascination, what a small country it is, but from Africa to Europe, there are always the most ships flying the Dutch flag in every port.

"Empire?" Bao Yuanlang asked with some confusion: "Where is the emperor in Britain?" They don't even have kings, and Spain doesn't have emperors. ”

"At first, I thought that empire meant the emperor's country, but Jia Yan said that I misunderstood the meaning of empire, and in Jia Yan's definition, empire refers to the attitude of a country towards other countries. You remember the story of the British hero, the leader of the resistance who was captured by the Roman Empire when it invaded. ”

"Yes." Bao Yuanlang replied.

An English leader, who had resisted the Roman invasion and failed to defeat the Romans armed to the teeth with sticks and stones, was taken captive to Italy and saw the splendid city of Rome, with its majestic buildings and wide streets, and wondered: You live in bright and spacious stone houses, but you have come thousands of miles to loot our thatched houses; You ride in beautiful chariots, but you covet our tattered ox carts; You are clothed in silk and satin, but you will strip us of the skins of the animals; Your women are exceedingly beautiful, but they want to take away our yellow-skinned wives and daughters...... Why is that?

"This is the empire, whether there is an emperor or not, the empire will not give her neighbors because she is rich, there is no need for an ox cart to have a carriage, but you can eat a meal of beef; Stone houses do not need to be roof with thatch, but they can be fenced; I'm not going to rob your woman as a concubine, but I need an old mom who cooks. Huang Naiming laughed when he said it: "Whoever treats his neighbor with this attitude, whether there is an emperor or not, is an empire." Jia Yan also gave this behavior a name, imperialism. ”

"Indeed, Hou Ye is right." Bao Yuanlang agreed loudly this time: "Britain is indeed such a barbaric country, and the whole country is eager for war. ”

"Yes, this is the difference between the empire and my China, we often fight because the monarch likes martial arts, and many of the gains outweigh the losses, and the empire can always benefit from it, so the people of the empire like to fight."

"Of course, the survival of our Celestial Empire continues, and the four seas truly admire it, which is comparable to these barbarians." Bao Yuanlang said proudly from the bottom of his heart: "It's like the Battle of Imchen, the emperor doesn't take an inch of Korean land and doesn't collect a penny from Korea, that is, as long as Japan wakes up and repents, we will not chase after them, and we will give them a throne." ”

"So our people don't like to fight," Shi Tianyu, who had been listening from the sidelines, suddenly interjected: "And the Spaniards like it, and the British like it." ”

For example, if the Spaniards need the gold of Lima, they will never encourage people to farm the land, and if they need slaves from Efica, they will never want people to study law and turn the places they pass through into Spain.

"Oh, that's it." Shi Tianyu sighed: "We are ...... in the South Seas and the Indochina Peninsula."

"Imperialism, hehe." Huang Naiming chuckled: "Jia Yan also learned from the Dutch and the Spaniards, but he said that Britain will do better than them sooner or later." ”

"If we are the Ming Dynasty, it is also an empire." Shi Tianyu suddenly became a little fascinated, these Zhendong Marquis mouthed empires, soldiers are generally admired by the society, and the people are proud of being an excellent soldier. Shi Tianyu couldn't help but wonder if after becoming an empire, the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty could also enjoy glory and wealth.

"Brother Shi!" A hint of anger appeared in Bao Yuanlang's voice: "How can you think so? We are a country of etiquette, the emperor is the son of heaven who does the way for heaven, we are the Celestial Empire and will never be an empire! Bao Yuanlang skillfully used the new words he had just learned: "Hou Ye is by no means an imperialist." ”

"Okay, let's not argue about that." Huang Naiming diverted the topic, he became more and more suspicious of what kind of person his father was, why his father always let him travel between these empires, and let him watch and listen more: "We can finally see with our own eyes, whether we live on the earth or on the same ball." ”

According to Mr. Wong's plan, they would travel to Lima in South America, an important source of gold and silver in Spain, to supply China with large quantities of goods. Compared with the Netherlands, Spain has eliminated all unhappiness with China, Spain hopes to continue to import large quantities of mercury, silk, porcelain and new spices from China, Spain has gold and silver, and the problems that can be solved with money are not a problem, since the Chinese are reasonable and willing to continue to trade, there is no need to use force.

"It's a question that no one who goes to sea should have any doubts." Shi Tianyu said.

"But seeing is believing." Bao Yuanlang argued again.

"Alright, alright, we'll see it soon to be believing." Huang Naiming was playing a round again, and after meeting with the Spanish governor of South America, they would board a ship bound for the South Seas from there, circle the earth and return to their motherland.

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