Chapter 484

The arrival of the Daming Ocean Fleet in Europe was the most sensational event in Europe. Of course, what is even more sensational is that the Daming Ocean Fleet docked at the port of Madrid, the capital of Spain, with a powerful fleet from the East and merchant ships full of goods.

The Prime Minister of the Spanish Empire, Duke Olivares, held a huge welcoming ceremony and led a guard of honor of the three armed forces to welcome the arrival of Deng Xianwu, commander of the Ming Ocean Fleet, and Xie Jinglin, a member of the cabinet and Minister of Foreign Affairs.

In his speech at the welcoming ceremony, the Duke of Olivares said: "The Spanish Empire welcomes friends from the East, and the Ming people in the Spanish Empire can enjoy the treatment of Spaniards, do business and travel freely, and have diplomatic immunity. ”

Of course, Xie Jinglin said euphemistically: "Daming does not need this diplomatic immunity, although Daming is willing to become the friendliest friend with the Spanish Empire, but Daming's national conditions are different from Spain's, especially the people and women are more conservative, so Daming people in Spain will resolutely implement Spanish laws, and similarly, Spaniards in Daming must also abide by Daming's laws!" ”

At present, the diplomacy and trade of the Ming Dynasty are mostly private in the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean, but in Europe, it is still officially led, but the problem is that the Spanish Empire is mixed between civil and official, and the quality of Spanish diplomats, troops, and businessmen is not flattering.

They will commit countless cases of strong women and round women in Africa, and even black people can talk about it, let alone the Ming people? In case they commit a crime, in Daming, those women who are hurt are just a human life, and there is a chance that they will not have the face to live.

But in the Spanish Empire, it is different, as soon as they land, there are no Spanish women who can scratch their heads and pose, and they don't need to be strong at all, hook their hands, and there will be countless Spanish girls who are willing to go to bed.

Through the introduction of the translator, Xie Jinglin knew that the Spanish Empire at this time was also the last glory of the empire, just like the Ming Dynasty in the same period of history.

Just as the Ming Dynasty was defeated and eventually usurped by the Jiannu, the same was true of the Spanish Empire, which deposed Philip II (then King of Spain) in 1581 by the Utrecht League and established the United Provincial Republic. After that, there was a long war between the Netherlands and Spain.

Due to the fall of the Spanish Armada and the rapid decline of the Spanish Empire's power, in 1621 (the first year of the Apocalypse), Count Olivares (later promoted to duke) succeeded his uncle Don Baltasar as Prime Minister of Spain.

Olivares made the destruction of the United Republic of the Netherlands (the Netherlands) a priority, arguing that the wealth of the Netherlands was the root cause of the opposition to Habsburg rule, and that the Dutch entrepreneurs and colonial pioneers of the world were eroding the foundations of the hegemony of the Spaniards and the Portuguese.

World history often bears striking parallels, with the Spanish Empire's economy on the brink of collapse due to financial problems, and the ongoing wars, as if the Ming Empire had exhausted the Spanish Empire's last strength.

Like the Ming Empire, the Spanish Empire had no money except for the king and government, but the private capitalists and nobles, including merchants engaged in maritime trade, had a huge amount of wealth.

Although the Ming Ocean Fleet was the first to land in Venice, the problem was that Venice was too small, a small country with a population of only two or three hundred thousand people, which was only equivalent to a prefecture of the Ming Dynasty, and even the population of some counties was higher than Venice. The Spanish Empire, however, had great purchasing power.

Boatloads of silk, shiploads of porcelain, ships of steel and swords, ships of armor and shields, and grenades of incendiary black powder, potatoes, liquor, cider, wine, ham, canned food, spices, perfumes, including soap, were all in high demand.

In particular, perfume, which can mask body odor, has become a sought-after item in Spain, and the supply exceeds demand, and Spanish aristocrats have visited Deng Xianwu and Xie Jinglin and others. Of course, their purpose is to bypass the country and trade directly with the Ming Dynasty.

They wanted trade power in colonies around the world, not Spain proper.

For the Ming Dynasty, this is excellent news, which means that the Ming Dynasty can have a vast dumping ground for goods, in addition to the traditional luxury goods of the Ming Dynasty silk, brocade, silk silk, tea, porcelain, etc., many industrial goods are also loved by the Spaniards.

The ocean-going fleet, carrying one hundred and twenty-two four-wheeled carriages, arrived in Europe, sold twenty in Venice, and left an order for one hundred and fifty, which were built and to be transported to Venice by Catherine's fleet.

In Spain, the hundred four-wheeled carriages were looted, and the premium was more than ten times, especially the custom carriages with agate, gold, and silver ornaments, in fact, the most expensive one was ordered by the Count of Moncloa, and the order amount was 48,000 taels of silver.

You must know that even the most precious battleship of the Ming Dynasty, the Giant Shark class, costs only 45,000 taels of silver.

And a four-wheeled carriage, the whole body is made of steel, and the wheels are equipped with rubber tires, such a carriage, the cost is 48,000 taels of silver, and the Liaodong Carriage Factory can easily make a net profit of 47,000 taels of silver with tears.

Of course, the Spanish Empire wanted to borrow the tiger skin of the Ming Dynasty to maintain its rule, but others did not know, but Cheng Shijie knew that the Spanish Empire would collapse in 1643, that is to say, the world's first empire on which the sun never set, died a year earlier than the Ming Dynasty.

In order to suppress the rise of the Netherlands and Britain, and in order to bleed more in Europe, Cheng Shijie instructed Deng Xianwu to hold military exercises with the Spanish Empire in Europe to deter hostile forces.

In the northwest direction of Madrid, about thirty miles from the city center, the Ming and the Spanish Empire raised an army exercise, which of course was a unilateral show by the Ming Royal Army.

The Spanish Empire was worthy of being a barbarian, and they directly transferred more than 4,000 prisoners of war and distributed weapons to the prisoners of war, allowing them to storm the defense line of the Ming Royal Army.

The 800 Ming Army fought against more than 4,000 prisoners of war from various European countries, and they were heavily armed prisoners of war.

With an order, more than 4,000 prisoners of war rushed to the Ming army formation with weapons.

Ying Qiu, the major in charge of commanding the Ming Army, looked disdainful: "That's it......"

The translator smiled: "Dear Fang, don't worry, the Spanish Army will protect you and will definitely not let you suffer any harm......

Without waiting for them to speak, sixteen rocket launchers adjusted their firing angles.

Of course, in order not to overstimulate the Spaniards, and also to dump backward weapons, they are now using the first generation of rocket artillery, which is also the original version of the fire dragon out of the water, with an ultimate range of only 800 meters and an effective range of about 500 meters.

"Woo Woo Woo ......"

Sixteen six-pack rocket launchers began to fire, and a screaming sound that made people's hair stand on end, the air waves rolled, the smoke and flames cut through the air, and the rocket artillery shells streaked across the sky, setting up a terrifying sea of fire in the ranks of the prisoners of war.

Suffering from this blow, the prisoners of war attack phalanx inevitably became chaotic, screaming again and again, and then, the Ming army began a white-edged charge with bayonets......

Then, without that, the battle was basically over.

This exercise made the Spanish Imperial military realize that the Ming Dynasty was more than a little stronger than the Spanish Empire in land warfare, and of course, they also held naval military exercises.

Although the Ming ocean-going fleet consisted of only thirty warships, they played an earth-shattering form, more than a dozen target ships were sunk by the first round of artillery fire, and even the Dutch and British close observation ships were "accidentally" sunk.

This accident was what the Spanish Empire wanted to see, but it was the last thing the Netherlands and Britain wanted to see, and a new round of war of words reopened.

Deng Xianwu looked at the Dutch and the British representatives and said: "In the exercise, we clearly stipulated that the exercise area is a military restricted area, and our warships broke into our exercise area, which is a provocation to the Ming Royal Navy, you must give us a reasonable explanation for the Ming Dynasty, if this explanation cannot satisfy our Ming Empire, we will bear the consequences!" ”

After the black-faced Dutch and British representatives left, Deng Xianwu said with a little weakness: "Am I going too far?" ”

"This is in line with their code of conduct, you wait, they will cover our losses!"

Deng Xianwu was dumbfounded and said, "What do we have to lose? ”

"We used four shells, of course, they certainly don't know how much we consumed, at their level, a few hundred shells sink a battleship, and luck is against the sky!"

Xie Jinglin said: "If you don't pay hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, let them look good!" ”

As a result, the Dutch reparated.

A total of 1.5 million guilders.

Britain paid 40,000 pounds sterling.

This made Deng Xianwu's three views explode.

"How is it possible, and it can be like this?"

"Our previous style of acting will definitely not work in this land!"

Xie Jinglin smiled: "Wait, I need to report to China!" ”

In fact, when Deng Xianwu was on a friendly visit to Madrid, the more than 300 people who had originally been scattered in Venice began to go deep into Milan, Florence, Pisa and other city-states under the leadership of translators and Venetians and Italians.

These intelligence officers originally wanted to make up for reconnaissance, but they didn't need it at all, and everywhere they went, invitations from high society continued one after another, and everyone wanted to see the emissaries from the East with their own eyes.

These intelligence officers were able to play to the fullest, their handsome and elegant appearance made the noblewomen and celebrities fall in love, the excellent eloquence never fell behind in the confrontation with the best Italian debaters, and the breadth and profundity of oriental culture he displayed impressed the well-informed consuls of the city-state.

For a long time, when it comes to the East, the first thing that Europeans think of is rich, very rich, as if there is nothing but money, and then there is terror, and the Mongols implanted this fear in the bone marrow of Europeans with mountains of heads and blood-stained rivers, which can never be erased.

But the arrival of the Ming people made them realize that in addition to the wealth and the terrifying Mongolian iron horsemen, there was also a brilliant civilization in the East, which had been inherited for thousands of years and had not declined, on the contrary, it was becoming more and more brilliant.

The Italians ate this set, and they had always considered themselves the heirs of the Roman Empire, and the city-states were far more civilized than those of Eastern, Central and Western Europe, not to mention Northern Europe.

Even if countries such as Britain, France, and Germany become more and more powerful, Italians can still despise them and call them nouveau riche because these countries are too far behind them in terms of culture.

As for other countries, they are not even qualified to be despised by the Italians. But today they have encountered a more glorious civilization, and there is no other feeling than amazement and yearning.

The splendid culture of the Italian city-states also opened the eyes of the Ming delegates. The Roman Empire has long since fallen, but the flame left by the Roman Empire has been passed on, and it can be seen everywhere in Italy.

They are amazed by the grandeur of the Colosseum in ancient Rome, the craftsmanship of the ancient roads that are still in use thousands of years later, the magnificent cathedrals, the fine wines and food of Italy, and the works of art displayed in the squares......

Just when the ocean-going fleet was still conducting military exchanges in Madrid, Cheng Shijie, who was located in Liaodong, had already received intelligence from Europe.

This was forwarded by Chen Dayong, and the first batch of merchant ships quickly sold out of cargo in Venice, and then purchased a large amount of cargo in Venice, and when it was fully loaded, it was ready to return home.

What these intelligence officers saw and heard, as well as the reports of Deng Xianwu and Xie Jinglin, also returned home with the fleet of seven ships.

Cheng Shijie was lying comfortably in the hot spring pool, and Gu Ziyi, Zhu Weiyuan's personal maid beside him, said in a positive thought: "The current gods have long since fallen to the Roman Empire, they are the same as our Ming Dynasty, in our Han Dynasty, they were the Roman Empire, although they are still called the Holy Roman Empire, but they are already completely different races from the Romans, just like the Khitan, stealing from China......"

Although Cheng Shijie didn't open his eyes, he continued: "Read it! ”

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

Gu Ziyi secretly thought in his heart: "Fortunately, I didn't become an emperor, otherwise, I would also be a faint king!" ”

"It is a pity that our envoys at that time only saw the fierce and belligerent of the Romans, and did not have an in-depth understanding of their culture, art, and laws. Today, we are surprised to find that it is so great and brilliant. Their prowess in construction engineering is unparalleled, and their talent in mechanics is equally impressive......"

Cheng Shijie really has the potential to be a faint king, he actually fell asleep.

With this report, more content has been disclosed, of course, it is the pursuit of Daming goods by various countries, a carriage can be hundreds of times more expensive than in Daming, do you dare to believe it?

A treasure knife that can barely be sold for three or four taels of silver in the Ming Dynasty can be sold for hundreds of taels of silver in Europe, and luxury goods with silver or gold jewelry can be sold for hundreds of thousands of taels of silver.

In particular, the plate armor of the Ming Dynasty is of good quality, beautiful, lightweight, and strong in defense, and it is loved by European knights, especially the armor ordered by the nobles, the kind with the coats of arms of various families, and it is hundreds of thousands of taels of silver.

After all, the Ming Dynasty does not need to use armor, even if the armor is thick, it is almost useless in front of bullets, but the problem is that Europe still likes armor, especially the Ming Ming armor.

Of course, the number is not much, hundreds or thousands, and dozens of them, adding up to more than 30,000 points.

No matter how small a mosquito is, it is still meat.

In addition to blades and armor, the furniture of the Ming Dynasty has also been touted, especially the kind of hollow carved mahogany furniture, which has become the new favorite of the royal family and nobles.

The garment industry has received a large number of orders, and the orders for ready-to-wear alone are as many as hundreds of thousands of pieces, worth tens of millions of taels of silver.

And boots, shoes, and woollen cloth.

Cheng Shijie realized that the Xiaoice River period is actually a problem faced by the whole world, not just Daming, now Britain is very cold, Spain is also cold, they all need light and breathable, comfortable and warm clothes, wool cloth this time out of the country, become the new favorite of the European mainstream market.

Affected by this ocean-going fleet,

More and more merchants set sail to Europe, the shipping lanes between Europe and Asia gradually became lively, and many students crossed the ocean to study in Europe, and the connection between Eurasia became increasingly close, and the achievements of the European Renaissance were quickly absorbed by scholars from the Orient and spread in the Orient at an astonishing speed.

Then the Europeans were stunned to find that many of the results that they had not yet accepted had been popularized in ancient China, and had become a huge impetus for the rapid development of the whole country.

The achievements in the fields of geometry, mathematics, astronomy, medicine and so on are the most concerned about the Ming Dynasty, but at this time there is no patent consciousness in Europe, and it is quickly absorbed by the Ming students who have an almost endless desire for knowledge, and then the students continue to study on the achievements of the teacher, and finally achieve the achievements that make the teachers amazed.

Chinese people are not the smartest, but they are definitely the best at learning and improving. In the fifties of the twentieth century, the Soviet Union brought China with it for less than ten years, and China simply relied on what it learned in those years to turn an agrarian country into an industrial power.

In the eighties, the United States brought China for less than a decade, and then China became a pulverizer of developed countries......

The Italians don't know this, and they look forward to communicating with the Ming and earning huge fortunes while getting what they need from the Ming. They had been looking forward to this moment for 2,000 years, and now the dream has finally become a reality.

Just when Europe was immersed in enjoying luxury goods from the Ming Dynasty, they would soon discover that the Ming goods were of good quality, cheaper and more durable than the ones they made.

So the question is, it's cheaper to buy than to make it yourself, so do you still need to rebuild it?

Under the impact of Daming commodities, the world's first economic bubble soon appeared, which was also the world's first financial crisis, because of the commodity impact of Daming, which came ahead of schedule.

PS: Recently, because of physical reasons, the update is not fast, I hope you will forgive me, Lao Cheng is older, his body is not as good as before, the job of a writer is too ruined, if time can be turned back, Lao Cheng is willing not to enter the pit, the money is not earned, and the body is crossed.

(End of chapter)