Xu Jiugao was originally going to die, Liu Ji, as an outlaw, did not have too many shortcomings except for liking robbery, and the experienced captain could bring the fleet back to Daming, and he clearly felt the passage of his vitality at sea, he was already dying, and suddenly heard the rhetoric of prying his head.

The dying sick sat up in shock, and there was himself in the hospital!

Xu Jiugao is alive, he has a strong desire to survive, no matter what, he can't die in Taixi, he can't separate his body, at least he can't be pried open!

Xu Jiugao lives in the House of the Wise in the City of Freedom, which is located near the equator, the sun is shining, and the number of people who come and go is not small.

Within the scope of the House of the Wise, Xu Jiugao and the others did not receive any harsh criticism, the local pirates often turned to the House of the Wise for help, and some difficult questions were asked to the House of the Wise for advice, which was better than going to the church to pray, because the House of the Wise would respond.

Going to church to pray will only be sold indulgences, but going to the House of the Wise for help, you will get some answers, after Xu Fan left, the consulting business of the House of the Wise did not close its doors, but became more and more prosperous, and even opened many branches, Xu Fan's family, these doglegs, played the role of the wise.

After Xu Jiugao recovered from his illness, he assumed the role of a wise man for a few days, dealt with some of the pirates' doubts, and made the House of the Wise more famous.

Xu Jiugao liked this role-playing game of the wise man very much, because he keenly realized that this could be an excellent platform for intelligence gathering, and soon, Xu Jiugao completely understood the operation logic of the house of the wise.

In fact, solving doubts is not solving doubts at all, Xu Fan just tossed a set of words.

Everyone seeks the answers of the wise, but in fact, everyone has a certain choice in his heart before coming to the house of the wise, and all he needs is the support of the thoughts in his heart.

So a set of rhetoric that leads the other party to say what he really thinks and gives affirmation has emerged.

This set is called speech therapy by Xu Fan, and the fee is extremely expensive, for example, in the house of the great wise man in the city of freedom, one communication, it costs fifty taels of silver, or the equivalent of silver coins, while in the ordinary house of the wise, it needs five silver coins once, which is more expensive than indulgences, and more effective.

Xu Jiugao did not spend more time in the Free City, but immediately led the fleet to Lisbon after his health recovered.

It is worth noting that there are also many houses of the wise in Portugal.

In the palace of the Portuguese king in Lisbon, the Portuguese king Antonio welcomed the envoy with a grand welcome ceremony, of course, Antonio did not abide by the content of the vassal ritual note to salute, not that Antonio has a heart of disobedience, but Antonio does not know that there is such a thing as a vassal national ritual note, he is a monk of the Ming Dynasty, there is no inheritance, and no one tells him that this kind of thing exists.

The envoys of the Ming Dynasty did not remind Antonio that because Portugal was too far away for the Ming Dynasty to effectively restrain the military, economy, politics and culture, everyone remained silent, and maintaining the status quo was also a kind of political wisdom.

Antonio said in an extremely exaggerated tone: "After I left the Ming Dynasty, the level of Chinese did not decline, thanks to the timely communication of the Minister of State, I sincerely thank the Ming Emperor for his support to me, the despicable Felipe actually wanted to drive a wedge between me and His Majesty, trying to portray me as a traitor, Felipe's treacherous plan did not succeed, His Majesty's threat made Felipe cast a mouse and did not dare to act rashly." ”

"Whether it's punitive tariffs, or the complete loss of Mindanao, or even the Viceroyalty of Mexico and Peru, it's a price Felipe can't afford."

"Thank you to His Majesty the great Emperor of the Ming Dynasty for his generosity to allow me and my subjects to have a peaceful time."

Xu Jiugao glanced at Xu Fan, Xu Fan smiled and didn't speak, Xu Jiugao was strange about Antonio's words, not that kind of exaggerated thanks, but Antonio actually mentioned civilians at the end.

Antonio's wisdom may not be enough to make him king against Felipe, but he has never changed, and he has always had the figure of a commoner in his eyes.

"Your Royal Highness, it's time to consider Felipe II's military threat." Xu Jiugao figured out in the Free City that Antonio's life was not stable during this time, and Antonio lived a period of hiding in Tibet.

Antonio shook his head and said: "The envoy's understanding of the situation is a little behind, and after a while, the Spanish god of war, the Marquis of Santa Cruz, will personally come to Lisbon for peace talks." ”

"Is that so?" Xu Jiugao frowned.

In May of the eighth year of Wanli, Felipe sent his armada to Lisbon and attacked the ancient city of Évora, Duke Fernando defeated Antonio's army on the banks of the Tagus River outside Lisbon, threatening the royal city, and three of the four ministers of Lisbon chose to surrender Felipe.

For Antonio, the situation immediately became precarious.

At this time, France, which could not defend itself, was sent by the Queen Mother Catherine, and two Gallese warships (three-masted plywood class) appeared on the Tagus River to repel Felipe's army, and the stalemate did not last long, because Felipe's invincible armada showed its terrible power, strangled all the French navy, the river was completely emptied, and Lisbon seemed to be within reach.

But to everyone's surprise, Felipe withdrew his troops at this critical time.

While the ground war was going on, both Felipe and Duke Fernando were thinking about a terrible question, that is, where did Antonio's navy go, knowing that all Antonio's strength was in the navy, they soon learned that Antonio's navy was stealing.

Felipe originally planned to take Lisbon in one fell swoop and then order the withdrawal of troops, but the destructive power of the Freedom Fleet's ten five-masted ships was extremely amazing, in just two months, dozens of ports were breached, and they burned and looted along the way, and even Seville, the home of the New World Trade, was broken.

Felipe had to bring out the Marquis of Santa Cruz, Álvaro de Bazán, again to preside over the situation.

Marquis Álvaro, who has never been defeated in Tessie, and Qi Jiguang is the god of war in Daming, Marquis de Alvaro is the god of war in Spain.

Felipe did not want to use Álvaro, because Álvaro had already achieved great success, but the situation was too critical, Álvaro did not live up to the expectations of the Spaniards, began to transfer back to the Armada, and began the campaign, completely strangled all of Antonio's five-masted ships in the Mediterranean, and then completely wiped out the Freedom Fleet.

Alvaro could have taken the opportunity to eliminate Antonio in one go, because Antonio was completely unlicensed and Antonio himself even ran to Porto, ready to run away at any time, because the defeat was assured.

But Álvaro, the god of war, did not continue the attack, returned to the Spanish summer palace, handed over the military power, and after a long conversation with Felipe all night, returned to the state of retreat, as before.

No one knows what was being discussed, some say that Alvaro was worried about the safety of his son in Daming, Diego de De, some say that Alvaro staged a palace coup and was defeated by Felipe, some say that Felipe and Alvaro had a big fight, and Felipe asked why he didn't attack Lisbon.

Only Felipe and Álvaro themselves were told, but to the relief of the Spaniards as a whole, the king and the general did not come into direct conflict over the campaign, avoiding a rift in the country.

Felipe sought to keep Portugal's heart alive and still gathered forces to attack Lisbon, but Tessie's galleon sailed back, and the Freedom Fleet was formed again!

Freedom Fleet: I'm back from the ashes!

The core of the Freedom Fleet is the five-masted cross-ship, and Alvaro knows a lot about it, so in the process of clearing the Freedom Fleet, Alvaro wiped out all the five-masted cross-sea, at the cost of reducing the size of the Armada by at least 20%, and Álvaro did not pursue the escaped three-masted and two-masted ships.

However, Antonio bought ten more five-masted ships in Daming, and after this core came back again, it quickly formed a combat power in just one month, or once again had the ability to harass the Spanish coast.

This poured cold water on Felipe II and completely calmed down.

It is true that the Ming Dynasty is beyond the reach of the whip and cannot directly interfere with the situation in Taixi, but the Ming Emperor's investment in Antonio exceeded Felipe's expectations, and the Ming Emperor's punitive tariffs and threats to the New World colonies made Felipe angry, but somewhat helpless.

"It's that I don't know much about the situation, I hope this god of war is really here for peace talks." Xu Jiugao was still worried in his heart, was this military god coming over for peace talks or was he attacking in the name of peace talks? Xu Jiugao's worries were also Xu Fan's worries, but Xu Fan felt the need to talk about it, this was an adventure.

Antonio's run back to Lisbon to compete for the throne was an adventure in itself.

Antonio didn't stay long, and after a brief chat with Xu Jiugao, he chose to leave, the Minister of State and the special envoy of Daming are fellow villagers, so they naturally have a lot to say.

"In this war, which lasted for seven months, what surprised me was that Catherine, the Queen Mother of France, sent sailors to support, and the Duchess of Bragança in the city, the Duchess chose to support Antonio, well, as you think, the two heirs are together and are planning to have children." Xu Fan and Xu Jiugao came to the China Hall, sat down and talked about the previous war.

The situation in France is a mess, and the Queen Mother's support at a critical moment is extremely surprising to Xu Fan, and the Duchess seems to be obsessed with Antonio, at least for now, this choice is not too bad.

Xu Jiugao asked with a puzzled face: "If I'm not mistaken, Antonio and the Duchess's grandfather are the same person." ”

Xu Fan nodded and said, "Yes, you remember correctly, their grandfather is Manuel I, and Felipe II is the grandson of Manuel I, so this is a family infighting." ”

Xu Jiugao and Liu Ji's eyes widened, and Xu Jiugao said in disbelief: "Forget about this messing together, do they still plan to have a son?!" ”

"Tessie is like this, you have to sort out the blood relationship between the Tessie nobles, it's really difficult, because they themselves don't know the relationship between each other." Chen Dazhuang held back a smile, when Xu Fan knew that Antonio and the Duchess were together, he had an expression with Xu Jiugao and Liu Ji, and Taixi was really messy.

Xu Fan leaned back in his chair and said, "So those ladies are keen on friendship and don't do anything to prevent accidents, because what they pursue is about accidents." ”

"The marriage between close relatives like Tessie, the pursuit of pure blood and nobility, led to the fact that the offspring often suffered from madness, premature death, and deformity, such as the only son that King Henry III of France ever had, was a lordosis with a large jaw that could not chew food, and a tongue that was too large to pronounce accurately."

"The child who was full of tragedy, was not weaned until he was five years old, could not walk at the age of eight, could not communicate with others at the age of twelve, and was so angry that the Queen Mother took the child's life with her own hands."

"A lot of people say it's the children of the Queen Mother and Henry III that they will be cursed like this."

"Is that really the case?" Xu Jiugao asked with some curiosity.

Xu Fan shook his head and said: "No, the Queen Mother is sixty-two years old this year, Henry III has been staying in the Chteau of the Duke of Anjou before becoming the King of France, and when he became the King of France, the Queen Mother was fifty-five years old, on the contrary, the Queen Mother has been doing her best to ensure that the position of King of France belongs to the French." ”

"The current King Henry III of France likes male favorites, resulting in him having no heirs, France belonging to Valois, after the death of the Queen Mother, will be extinct, this is a conspiracy, but the Queen Mother has nothing to do."

"Henry III is too uncompetitive."

To understand the history of how France changed from Valois to Bourbon France, it is enough to look at the life of the Queen Mother.

Xu Jiugao got Xu Fan's notebook, which was brought back to the Ming Dynasty and could complete the overseas national chronicles, which was not an important content, but it was a historical record and lesson.

"Here is a letter from His Majesty to Special Envoy Xu." Xu Jiugao took out a letter, which was written by His Majesty.

Xu Fan picked up the letter, first looked at the fire paint, the original fire paint means that the letter has not been opened, he opened the letter, glanced at the monogram, determined that it was His Majesty's signature, determined the authenticity of the letter, Xu Fan began to read the letter.

The monogram is an anti-counterfeiting mark.

Before the Song Dynasty, some people specifically attacked the Jinshi who had won the meritorious examination, which was called robbery and bullying in the Central Plains.

For example, in Journey to the West, Tang Seng's father Chen Guangrui was beaten down into the river by his father-in-law Liu Hong in the process of going to work, and Tang Seng was put into a wooden basin and drifted with the flow, which opened the main story of Journey to the West.

Journey to the West is naturally a mythical story, but this kind of Li Dai Taostiff thing has happened repeatedly.

During the reign of Renzong of the Northern Song Dynasty, there was a flower monograph, and the students who won the Jinshi would definitely go to the flower hall to ask for a flower of their own, and then after practicing, they would then go to the official department to exchange the flower for the official seal, and the flower charge was the standard anti-counterfeiting mark, which was poor information, and the heroes of the green forest did not know the existence of the flower, as long as they wrote an official document, they would be exposed.

Zhu Yijun's monogram is not the emperor's name, this is something that needs to be completely avoided, so His Majesty's monogram is Zhu Zhongxing.

Zhu Zhongxing is the will of the empire and the embodiment of the will of Ming Zhongxing.

In the letter, the Ming Emperor bluntly stated that he was Xu Fan's father-killing enemy, and the head was cut off by the emperor himself, the specific experience, the Ming Emperor had no intention of concealing it, Xu Fan is a smart person, there is no point in lying, and there is no one else who dares to kill a murderer in the prison, except for the emperor, and the Yongle Emperor killed Xie Jin in the early years of Ti Shuai Ji Gang, which is also the will of the Yongle Emperor.

The letter came to an abrupt end here, with no more explanations and no tasks, but Xu Fan was very, very glad that His Majesty did not seem to intend to continue the pursuit.

Chen Dazhuang is the descendant of Ling Yunyi, the imperial eagle dog and the emperor's minions, Chen Dazhuang wants to kill Xu Fan is easier than killing chickens.

This letter specially sent by His Majesty can be regarded as telling Xu Fan that this matter has been settled and that he will no longer pursue, so isn't this his Xu Fan's life talisman?

"The scholars of Jiangnan are always excessively greedy." Xu Fan put down the letter and said to Xu Jiugao: "In the thirty years of Hongwu, there was a big case in the north and south, and the Jiangnan scholars refused to give even a jinshi quota to the north. ”

"Huh?" Xu Jiugao was stunned for a moment, and then relieved, this north-south list case is so famous that there are countless discussions about it, but Xu Fan's understanding of this matter is obviously a very novel angle.

"Well, it's always an inch, after Emperor Yang of Sui died in Yangzhou, which emperor dared to let the wang clan and the ruling layer merge? Isn't the case of the North and South List an attempt by local nobles to break through their own class and firmly occupy the ruling layer of official electors or even hereditary officials? Xu Fan said something inexplicable.

Xu Fan had only heard a little bit of class theory in Taixi, and he analyzed the world according to class theory.

That is, the class of the family in the world during the period from the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty to the fall of the Sui Dynasty, during that time, the family completely controlled the official class through the Jiupin Zhongzheng system, and then obtained the status of hereditary officials through the resources under their control.

At that time, the generals and officials in the court were all from famous families, and then Emperor Yang of Sui was eager for quick success and quick profit, and finally died under the joint strangulation of the family.

Xu Fan carefully put away His Majesty's letter, and was even more convinced that he wanted to obtain the Portuguese throne, otherwise he would not even be qualified to obtain the Ming Holy Decree in the future, he continued: "If you look at the North and South List Case from the perspective of class theory, you will find a terrible fact, the scholars in Jiangnan hope to completely drive out the Northern Scholars through the North and South List Case, and then gain control over the official election officials, and then weaken the power of the hereditary officials through the general trend of Xingwen and Wuwu, and then become a new family class. ”

"They are halfway through the success, and through the trend of reviving literature and martial arts, they have weakened the power of the hereditary officials, but the officials have not been fully controlled, because there is infighting, and everyone wants it."

Xu Fan talked about the greed of Jiangnan students, why not talk about the cause of his father's death, Xu Jie had no way out, and finally died under the emperor's blade, but the son did not say anything about his father, Xu Fan couldn't say straightforwardly, his father deserved to die, he persuaded him bitterly and didn't persuade it.

"Envoy Xu, when do you plan to go to France? I bought some silk from Da Ming and gave it to the Queen Mother as a congratulatory gift, the Queen Mother has not given up, she is a very fashionable person, and she intends to save Henry III's estrangement from women again, and needs silk. Xu Fan asked about Xu Jiugao's itinerary.

Queen Mother Catherine is a very fashionable woman, she single-handedly created the romance of Paris, this kind of behavior is very popular in Paris, a woman's waist is only a foot or even less, as the old saying goes, the golden gun does not fight the thin waist.

Henry III also liked women, otherwise there would not be a deformed child born, and the sixty-two-year-old Catherine prepared more than 70 very beautiful women, intending to awaken Henry III's liking for women through fashionable methods, give birth to a healthy child, and inherit the throne.

At the same time, the Queen Mother Catherine was also an extremely violent woman, she once launched a St. Bartholomew Night, at her daughter's wedding, the Queen Mother brazenly launched a purge of the opposition, turning the wedding into a bloody wedding.

More than 5,000 people died in Paris on the night of the killings, and at least 30,000 people died in the purge.

Considering that there were only 150,000 people in Paris, only 5 million in the whole of France, and 30,000 people died from butcher knives, this is really a high percentage.

The Queen Mother has planned it, and if the fashionable method does not work, then use the violent method.

Once Henry III gave birth to a healthy child, whether it was a man or a woman, Henry III himself was of little use, which may be the reason why Henry III liked men.

"I'm going to meet this Spanish god of war, and then I'm going to Paris and the Netherlands, the Strait of Gibraltar is under Spanish control, otherwise you can go directly to the Ottoman kingdom by sea." Xu Jiugao explained his itinerary, he really wanted to go to the Ottoman Kingdom to explore, but Felipe would not let the Ming envoy get his wish.

If Daming colluded with the Ottomans, Felipe wouldn't even be able to sleep.

"About three days later, he arrived." Xu Fan nodded, feeling that there was no need.

In fact, the combat power of the Marquis of Santa Cruz is far beyond Xu Fan's imagination, and all the passive situations of Felipe have been changed immediately after the appearance of this person, and the Invincible Armada has fought back and forth, and even the Freedom Fleet, which has vaguely gained the upper hand, was kicked to death by the Marquis of Santa Cruz.

If it weren't for the new five-masted ship that the Ming Dynasty supported again, I'm afraid Portugal would now be Felipe's.

Four days later, the Marquis de Santa Cruz's fleet appeared in the port of Lisbon, where Antonio, the Duchess, Marcus, Paulino, Xu Fan, Xu Jiugao, Liu Ji, Chen Dazhuang and others greeted the Marquis de Santa Cruz.

The Marquis of Santa Cruz is old, he is a little rickety, and there is some hair loss, only two temples and some hair, deep eye sockets, and a white beard under his nose, he took out a pair of glasses and put them on, looked at Antonio and the Duchess, and then shook his head and said: "I said to the king, from the beginning the Duchess has supported Antonio as king, the king does not believe it, and now it seems that the Duchess has never supported my king and inherited the throne of Portugal." ”

The Duchess is one of the heirs, because there are no supporters to withdraw directly, and the old Álvaro can see at a glance that Antonio and the Duchess are afraid that they have long been mixed together.

"Is this the special envoy from the eastern powers, the Portuguese Minister of State, Xu Fan?" Álvaro looked at Xu Fan, and said with a smile: "I can see ambition in your eyes, of course, Your Excellency Antonio, you can also be when I am instigating your relationship." ”

"Sauron is a capable person, he learned something from the Minister of State, and after returning to China, the city no longer stinks so much that it is difficult to enter, thank you for your careful teaching."

"Actually, the attitude of His Excellency Antonio is not important, what matters is the attitude of the great powers in the East, Your Excellency Xu Fan, did Daming stretch his hand too long!"

Álvaro doesn't care about Antonio, without his move, Felipe can play with three fingers to kill such a fool, Álvaro cares about Xu Fan, Xu Jiugao, these strange oriental faces, their arrival makes Álvaro extremely jealous, as soon as he gets off the boat, he begins to attack the orientals.

In a simple sentence, Antonio was beaten as a traitor who lured the wolf into the house, Da Ming interfered too much in Tessie's affairs, Da Ming was beyond the reach of the whip, and dared to stretch his hand so far, and Alvaro personally led the Invincible Armada and chopped off the hand that came over!

Helplessly, the hand reached out again.

"If the admiral is twenty years younger, where will the Freedom Fleet have a chance to resurrect." Xu Fan didn't care about Álvaro's attack, because Álvaro was here for peace talks, and what he couldn't get on the battlefield and didn't want to get it at the negotiation table.

"Your Excellency, is this Captain Xu Jiugao of Daming who recently arrived in Liberty City?" Álvaro looked at Xu Jiugao with a slightly helpless expression, the Ming exploration fleet arrived at Taixi, which is not good news for Taixi, which means that the route that is completely monopolized in the hands of the Spanish royal family has been opened by Daming.

This means that even without the Tessie galleon, the five-masted ship of the Ming Dynasty can sail across the ocean and reach Liberty City, reviving the Freedom Fleet.

"Yes, the prestige of the general, even in the Ming Dynasty, I have heard of it." Xu Jiugao didn't mean to underestimate Álvaro, he asked with some doubts: "Actually, it's very strange, how did the general defeat the Freedom Fleet?" Previously the Armada has been at a disadvantage. ”

"The old thing still has the use of the old thing, the Armada is too bloated, each family has its own mind, everyone is afraid of my conquest from the land, so they are willing to listen to my orders, in terms of strength, the Armada is far stronger than the Free Fleet, the huge empire, bloated and rigid is a common disease, the Ming Dynasty cannot be an exception, and Spain is no exception." Álvaro waved his hand, completely crushed in strength, but the record was extremely ugly, the reason is that everyone has their own careful thoughts.

Álvaro is the father of soldiers, the god of war on land and sea, as long as he lives and leads the army into battle, he is only twisted into a rope.

Winning is due, but the bloat and rigidity within the empire leads to different choices for parties with misaligned interests, which is ultimately reflected in the record.

What did Álvaro and Felipe II talk about in the summer palace? Álvaro actually agitated Felipe II and launched a purge resembling a bloody wedding, taking the empire under his control, and then annexing Portugal entirely.

Álvaro will be the first to be purged.

Felipe II did not approve of this overly radical approach, and as the overlord of Tessie, Felipe believed that there was no need for such a radical approach in the empire on which the sun never sets.

On the way to the palace of the King of Portugal, a man hurriedly ran to Antonio and whispered: "There is news from Spain that Felipe has done something, and on the day of the Migration Festival, Felipe purged the nobles who came to participate in the Migration Festival. ”

Felipe didn't want to purge Álvaro, the price of moving him was too great, the morale of the army would be scattered, and the invincible phalanx and the invincible armada would lose confidence in the king, but it didn't mean that Felipe wouldn't do anything to others.

"What a ruthless tactic." Xu Fan looked at Álvaro, who arrived in Lisbon, and said sincerely.

This old man is dying of old age.

(End of chapter)

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