The courtiers who were discussing the emperor's review of the navy in the royal study couldn't help but cast their eyes on the young chamberlain. To be precise, they landed on the memorial held in the little chamberlain's hand.
Regarding the Ming Royal Caravan led by Luo Xiang, Jiang Bin and the others, it can be said that everyone present knows that the Ming Royal Caravan went to the Japanese country and earned several times the profits. It can be said that it is widely known.
However, Jiang Bin, Luo Xiang and others immediately led a fleet loaded with goods and headed for Nanyang.
Others don't know clearly, and they only think that Luo Xiang and his fleet went to Nanyang just to sell the goods of the Ming Dynasty to make profits. However, everyone present, as important officials in the court, knew that the purpose of Luo Xiang and his group going to Nanyang was not just for the sake of profit.
Earn profits, and more importantly, find out the intelligence of Southeast Asian countries.
Even further, Li Huan was ordered to verify the accuracy of the charts left behind by Zheng He when he went south, and to make preliminary preparations for the Ming Dynasty's return to Nanyang in the future.
Zhu Houzhao, who was sitting there, couldn't help but his eyes lit up when he heard the words, and nodded slightly towards Qiu Ju who was serving beside him.
Qiu Ju stepped forward to take the memorial and carefully presented it to Zhu Houzhao.
Zhu Houzhao took the memorial and opened it with some hope. To be honest, Zhu Houzhao was really curious about what Luo Xiang and the others would gain from their trip to Nanyang.
As the emperor's eyes fell on the memorial, the smile on Zhu Houzhao's face gradually disappeared, and was replaced by an angry look.
The important ministers who had been paying attention to the changes in the emperor's expression obviously felt the anger in the emperor's heart at this moment, and couldn't help but have some doubts in their hearts.
What kind of news is contained in this memorial that would make the emperor so angry?
You must know that normally, Luo Xiang and others should bring good news when they return from Nanyang. The emperor should not be happy, at least he should not be angry.
Suddenly, Zhu Houzhao slapped his palm on the table, his face full of anger and said: "What a barbarian, how dare you attack my Ming Dynasty royal caravan, they still have my Ming Dynasty in their eyes, but they still have me.
."
After hearing the emperor's words, everyone was stunned for a moment, and then they realized that although they didn't know exactly what happened, they could guess more or less just by listening to the emperor's words. I was afraid that something happened to the fleet in Nanyang.
Wang Yangming and others turned their attention to Li Huan who was sitting there. Because of Li Huan, the strength of the Ming Dynasty's military had skyrocketed, so much so that the Xungui Group had regained its former voice in the court.
And Li Huan happened to be the representative of the Xungui Group, so the first reaction of Wang Yangming and others at this time was to see Li Huan's attitude.
Li Huan's expression was quite calm, as if he was not affected by anything. His voice was somewhat calm, and he slowly said: "Your Majesty, I wonder what happened?"
Zhu Houzhao listened to Li Huan's words, his eyes fell on Li Huan, he took a deep breath and handed the memorial in his hand to Qiu Ju: "Qin Guogong, let's take a look. Luo Xiang and others were attacked by barbarians in Nanyang, and the losses were not small.
"
"What!"
Among the important ministers, some were obviously shocked by the news and subconsciously exclaimed.
At least in the eyes of everyone present, the Ming Dynasty was the center of the world, the celestial kingdom respected by all nations. Except for the Tatar barbarians in the northern grasslands, no one dared to be an enemy of the Ming Dynasty.
But now, listening to the emperor's wishes, there are barbarians attacking the Ming Royal Caravan in Nanyang. Don't these barbarians know that the Ming Royal Caravan represents the face of the court and the royal family? Attacking the Ming Royal Caravan is almost
It is equivalent to declaring war on Ming Dynasty.
Li Huan took the memorial from Qiu Ju and looked through it. Compared with the emperor's anger, when Li Huan read the memorial, he already understood in his heart.
Especially when he saw in the memorial that it was the Portuguese fleet that attacked the Ming royal caravan, Li Huan was not too surprised.
Others don't know, but Li Huan is very aware that in this era, Westerners are rising at an alarming rate on the sea. The Netherlands, known as the sea coachmen in the past, and then Portugal and Spain are carving up the earth together. There will be a war in the future.
The rise of the British who defeated the Armada.
At the same time, the Eastern Chinese civilization, which has been inherited for thousands of years and stands at the top of the world, suffered unprecedented heavy losses, so that the Chinese civilization sank for hundreds of years.
This era was precisely when Spain and Portugal were carving up the world between the two maritime powers, and it was also when Portugal's maritime military power was at its peak.
Whether the Portuguese were ruling India or spying on the South Seas, it can be said that during this period, apart from Spain, the Portuguese had no rivals on this vast sea.
Perhaps other countries did not dare to attack the Ming Royal Caravan, but if it was the Portuguese, Li Huan would not be surprised at all if they were jealous of the caravan's wealth and attacked the Ming Royal Caravan.
These Westerners are like bandits at heart. They have always believed in respecting the strong. They have traveled all over the world and destroyed countless tribal kingdoms because of these Westerners.
Perhaps the name of Ming Dynasty is a bit intimidating to these people, but if it is really to say that it can suppress the opponent's wealth of millions of taels of silver, I am afraid that Ming Dynasty's little intimidating power has long been abandoned by these people.
The back of my head.
A sneer gradually appeared on the corner of Li Huan's mouth, he raised his head and bowed to the emperor: "Your Majesty, Portugal is just a small barbarian country in the west. How dare you attack our Ming Dynasty royal caravan? You really don't take our Ming Dynasty seriously, please."
By sending troops to Nanyang, we will definitely annihilate this group of barbarians and exaggerate the prestige of our Ming Dynasty."
As soon as Li Huan finished speaking, someone heard someone say: "What Mr. Qin said was polite, but I have some doubts and asked Mr. Qin to clarify his doubts."
Li Huan looked around and saw that the person who spoke was none other than Yang Tinghe, one of the elders of the cabinet.
Seeing Yang Tinghe looking at him with a bit of doubt on his face, Li Huan chuckled and said: "If Mr. Yang Ge has anything to ask, just ask him. If Li knows, he will definitely tell you everything."
."
Yang Tinghe nodded slightly and nodded towards Li Huan and said: "As the saying goes, if you know yourself and the enemy, you will be victorious in a hundred battles. I would like to ask the Duke of Qin, what kind of country is Portugal, what is its national strength, and which one is stronger and weaker than our Ming Dynasty..."
The rest of the people also looked at Li Huan. To be honest, although they said they knew some countries outside the Ming Dynasty, the only countries they knew about were the vassal states of the Ming Dynasty. In addition, there were other countries besides the Ming Dynasty.
They really don’t know much about what kind of country it is.
Listening to the meaning now, it seems that in the land of Southeast Asia, people from a country called Portugal attacked the Ming Royal Caravan. They were very curious about what kind of country Portugal was, and how could they have the guts to attack the Ming Royal Caravan.
Although it is said that due to the influence of Li Huan, the Ming Dynasty has now relaxed its sea ban, and a large number of fleets have gone to sea for trade, which has promoted the Ming Dynasty's overseas trade and brought a lot of overseas news.
However, to be honest, the knowledge of those who are important officials in the central government may not be as good as those merchants who make a living from sea trade in the southeastern coastal areas.
At least those maritime merchants who want to make a living by sea trade must know something about overseas countries. Otherwise, if they don't even know the objects they want to trade with, how can they carry out long-term trade?
Li Huan glanced at the crowd, nodded slightly and said: "Since you want to know what kind of country Portugal is and what its national strength is, then today Li will introduce to you the situation of various overseas countries today."
As he spoke, Li Huan bowed to the emperor and said, "Your Majesty, please send someone to your residence to get a map of the world."
Upon hearing this, Zhu Houzhao nodded and said to Qiu Ju beside him: "In that case, let Qiu Daban go there in person. Go and come back quickly."
Li Huan told Qiu Ju a few words, and Qiu Ju immediately left the palace at a very fast speed and headed towards the Duke of Qin's mansion.
In the imperial study room, everyone couldn't help but feel a little confused when they saw this. What was the map of the universe that Li Huan mentioned? Could it be a map?
At this time, Zhu Houzhao asked, asking everyone's doubts: "Li Qing, what is this map of the universe?"
Li Huan said solemnly: "Your Majesty, this map of the world is a rough map of today's world compiled by me based on information from all parties. It covers all countries in the world..."
Li Huan's words made many people look surprised. Although they were somewhat guessing, they were still shocked when they heard what Li Huan said.
Although it is said that Zheng He made several voyages to the West during the Ming Dynasty and left behind a large number of nautical charts, but no one compiled a map of the world based on these fragmentary charts.
A hundred years later, even a lot of information about Zheng He's voyages to the Western Seas has been lost. The important officials of the Ming Dynasty who looked back from overseas really have a very limited understanding of overseas affairs.
Here Qiu Ju went to the Duke of Qin's Mansion. Because he had a souvenir from Li Huan, Qiu Ju met Zhang Jin, one of Li Huan's wives.
Li Huan's study was naturally a forbidden area in the Duke of Qin's palace. It was guarded secretly by several young eunuchs who had practiced evil sword skills. It can be said that without Li Huan's permission, no one could enter without Li Huan's permission.
On weekdays, only Zhang Jin and Zhu Lin could enter the study, and Zhang Jin helped Li Huan clean up the study. After seeing Li Huan's handwriting, he quickly took out a huge scroll after entering the study.
Give it to Qiu Ju.
Qiu Ju hurried back to the palace and took the scroll into the imperial study. Naturally, the eyes of everyone in the imperial study immediately fell on the scroll.
Li Huan unloaded the scroll and slowly opened it. Astonishingly, there was a map of the universe with a radius of one foot, with lines of large and small densely drawn on it, and marked with tiny characters.
Everyone's eyes fell on the map of the world, and soon someone saw a familiar picture. It was clearly the territory map of the Ming Dynasty. After all, as central ministers, they may not be familiar with other things, but they were certainly familiar with the territory map of the Ming Dynasty.
.
On this map of the world, it is not surprising that everyone can see the area where the Ming Dynasty's territory map is located at a glance. Moreover, when Li Huan drew this world map based on the memory of his previous life, he naturally based it on the area where the Ming Dynasty is located.
As the center, so from the perspective of the world map, the territory map of the Ming Dynasty is located in the most eye-catching position of this map.
Based on Li Huan's previous life experience, it is really not difficult for him to get a world map, but even so, Li Huan really doesn't know much about the countries in the world in this era, except for the extremely famous countries.
, so on the map of the world, he only drew continental plates in many areas. As for what countries were on them, Li Huan really didn't mark them.
But even so, this crude version of the world map can be said to be the first map of this era that details all the continents and oceans in the world.
A minister stared at the map that was spread out on the ground. His eyes fell on the area that was obviously the territory of the Ming Dynasty. Looking at the large and small countries around the Ming Dynasty and the entire world map, his eyes were filled with shock.
He was so unbelievable that he murmured to himself: "Impossible, this is absolutely impossible..."
Not only this minister, it can be said that among all the officials present, when faced with this world map that included the territory of the Ming Dynasty, almost no one could remain calm. Even Zhu Houzhao, who was the emperor, could not remain calm.
Shi Ye had a look of shock on his face and just looked at the world map in front of him stupidly.
After a while, Li Huan couldn't help but cough slightly to wake everyone up from the shock and confusion.
After coming back to his senses, everyone's eyes fell on Li Huan almost instantly. As the emperor, Zhu Houzhao stared at Li Huan without hesitation and said: "Li Qing, this... this world
Is the map of the universe true or false? How could I, the Ming Dynasty, occupy such a small area on this map?"
This doubt is not only shared by Zhu Houzhao, but also all the officials present have the same doubt, because the education they have received since childhood is that the Ming Dynasty is the center of the world and the kingdom of heaven. In addition to the Ming Dynasty,
The foreigners are all small countries, and everything outside the Ming Dynasty is a barbarian land. There is nothing bigger in the world than the Ming Dynasty.
However, just a map of the world suddenly shook the solid impression in their hearts. It turns out that the world is so vast. Although the Ming Dynasty is huge, the world is only a palm-sized area. Outside the Ming Dynasty, the world is only a palm-sized area.
There is actually such a vast territory and countless countries exist.
Under the gaze of everyone, Li Huan slowly nodded and looked at the crowd and said: "This is the map of the world we live in. Although Li cannot guarantee that it is 100% correct, it is at least eighty-nine percent accurate.
, even if there is an error, it is not big. Besides, Li is not interested in using a false map to deceive people. After all, for many places on this map, everyone only needs to send people to the southeastern coastal areas to ask about those places.
Shang will be able to ask clearly."
Eighty-eight, as Li Huan said, with such a map, they can send people to confirm it. It is obviously impossible for Li Huan to commit fraud on this kind of thing.
Since what Li Huan said is true, the meaning of the map in front of them suddenly becomes different. At this moment, when everyone looks at the huge world map in front of them, especially when their eyes fall on the Ming Dynasty
Looking at the area where they were, and then looking at the vast area outside the Ming Dynasty, a strange look flashed in the eyes of everyone present.
Especially as the emperor, Zhu Houzhao stepped forward quickly, took off his shoes, and walked onto the world map on the ground with a bit of excitement. He stepped on the map of the Ming Dynasty and looked down.
Looking at the Ming Dynasty territory below my feet, and then looking around the area, I couldn't help but have an inexplicable look on my face.
[It’s the end of the month. Those of you who have monthly tickets can help me smash it.]