After Zhu Zhanzhen finished his instructions, he sailed towards the Mediterranean Sea. When he passed the Spanish border, he found a fleet heading towards them.
"Your Highness, this is the Spanish fleet."
"Show the military flag and drive straight over."
During this period of time, the Ming Dynasty's army frequently traveled to this sea area, so the exchanges with Spain gradually increased.
Spain had repeatedly made requests to purchase Ming warships, but was rejected all times, and was given a stern warning in the end. Spain also wisely stopped mentioning it, and instead wanted to establish diplomatic relations with Ming Dynasty.
However, under Zhu Zhanzhen's instructions, the only way to establish diplomatic relations was to pay tribute. Unless Spain itself was willing to pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty, it would be impossible to establish diplomatic relations.
At this time, more than a dozen ships came oncoming, flying the flag of the Spanish royal family.
After the two sides got closer, the other side showed no intention of retreating, so Zhu Zhanchen ordered his men to aim their guns at the other side's ships.
After the other party showed friendship, a small group of people boarded the ship and revealed their identity. The other party was Casilwell, a Spanish prince, but his succession order was relatively low, with several older brothers in front of him.
Caswell is a handsome young man. He looks to be about the same age as Zhu Zhanzhen. As soon as he comes up, he performs a knight's salute: "Casswell pays homage to His Highness the Ming Dynasty Sea King."
"You and I have never met each other, so how did you know I was passing here today?"
"The strait is narrow, and the Ming warships sail regularly. We wait here every day. If there are Ming warships, we will communicate with them. I also learned a few Ming words, good morning (Chinese).
"
Zhu Zhanyi smiled slightly. It seemed that Caswell really had money and time, and more importantly, patience. He had been waiting for Zhu Zhanyi. After looking at a few unauthentic Ming Dynasty words, he knew that he must have spent a lot of money.
Some thoughts.
"What are you waiting for me for?"
"I admire His Highness Daming Haiwang very much and hope to meet His Highness. I also hope to establish friendship with His Highness and become His Highness's friend."
His posture was very low, because the old king's health in Spain was deteriorating, so the fight for the heirloom was intensifying. Caswell's identity and power were not conspicuous among the princes, and it was even said that he had no chance.
Under such circumstances, Caswell came up with a plan to make a comeback, which was to seek help from Zhu Zhanzhen.
The navy of the Ming Dynasty has been coming and going on this sea like no one in the past few years, occupying half of Yinggelan. The powerful Ming Dynasty has put everyone in the surrounding countries in danger. Fortunately, the army of the Ming Dynasty did not attack them.
However, the merchants of the Ming Dynasty also conducted transactions with them, which also gave some of them a taste of the sweetness.
He also wanted the throne of Spain, but normally he would have no chance of ascending to the throne unless his father and his brothers all died, and the ministers in charge supported him.
Caswell had an idea in his mind, and wanted to put his treasure on this unmasked but extremely powerful Minghai King.
What if I could get the support of Daming Sea King?
With this in mind, he kept waiting. Anyway, the life of a prince without power was already so idle, so he just stayed at the beach for vacation.
This day was something he had been waiting for, and he kept his attitude very low.
Facing Caswell who was doing the knight's salute, Zhu Zhanzhen motioned for him to stand up: "You want to establish friendship with me, how to establish it?"
"We hope that Spain can become an ally of the Ming Dynasty. We heard that His Highness seems to have some conflicts with England and France. We are adjacent to France. As long as Spain and the Ming Dynasty become allies, we can attack France from the side at any time.
Attack and lend a helping hand to His Highness."
"There's no need, France is already in the bag." Zhu Zhanchen said lightly.
Facing Caswell's kindness, Zhu Zhanzhen didn't care. Princes without power like Caswell were basically of no use value.
But he has a good attitude.
Caswell said calmly: "I came to see His Highness with friendship. Even if Your Highness does not need my help, if His Highness can use me in the future, you can send someone to tell me that I am always at your disposal."
His Highness’s mission.”
After all, Caswell is a prince of a kingdom. He puts his status as a subordinate because he only has this one chance and can only give it a try.
Zhu Zhanzhen said easily: "When we get off the boat later, I will give you some guns. You can tell everyone that I gave them to you."
Caswell understood that Zhu Zhanzhen was expressing goodwill to him, but it was only goodwill and he would not interfere in anything more.
Caswell wanted to say something else, but Zhu Zhanzhen waved his hand and said, "I have something to do today, so you can go first."
There was an obvious intention to see off the guests, so Caswell couldn't help but understand. After saluting, he said: "Thank you His Highness the Sea King for your gift. I hope I will have the opportunity to do something for His Highness in the future."
The warship set sail again, and Caswell, who was holding three Ming guns, seemed to have a strong desire in his eyes. Although the Ming prince did not say anything about helping him, he returned to Spain with Ming guns.
It all depends on him. He can say that he established a deep friendship with Prince Ming, bala bala, etc. to enhance his status.
Yang Feng asked with some confusion: "Your Highness, you can just send that man away casually, why should you give him a gun?"
"It's just three guns. It won't make any waves. We have enough enemies. It wouldn't hurt to add some friends. That kid doesn't have much power. If he can rely on us to do something, it will prove that he has some abilities. He can use it.
, if it doesn’t work, then it’s just a loss of three guns.”
The strait on the Spanish side is the route that must be taken to enter the Atlantic Ocean. It is not a big problem if we have a good relationship with them, which reduces some security risks.
When Zhu Zhanzhen sailed to the shore, it was already a port city.
Xiaosheng and others were already waiting at the port. When Zhu Zhanyi got off the boat, Xiaosheng led the soldiers and many dignitaries to shout: "Welcome to His Highness the King of the Sea!!"
It looked impressive and neat, and it was no surprise that it had been rehearsed.
Zhu Zhanchen patted Xiaosheng on the shoulder: "Thank you for your hard work."
Just this sentence brought tears to Xiaosheng's eyes: "Your Highness is fighting on the front line, and Xiaosheng dare not say how hard it is."
After a while of greetings, Zhu Zhanzhen looked at the bustling city and said, "This city hasn't been named yet."
"Yes, when His Highness comes back, the city will be built according to His Highness's requirements. All streets will be very wide, and the layout will be according to His Highness's plan." Xiaosheng led Zhu Zhanyi to introduce the city in detail.
This is a completely new city. It was born out of demand. Because it will exist at the end of the Suez Canal near the Mediterranean in the future, business will be busy in the future. Zhu Zhanchang plans to build it into a completely new city.
It's called New Shanghai.
The new Shanghai City has also reserved the location of the railway for subsequent development. The current railway is only used to transport the people and materials digging the canal, fully supporting the digging of the canal.
Zhu Zhanyi was very satisfied with the new Shanghai City. It was a city that was completely uprooted from the ground. There are still construction sites everywhere, and you can see countless people working. The most important thing in this place is population.
After watching New Shanghai City, Zhu Zhanzhen took the train and drove around the canal route to the city of Suez. Along the way, he saw canal pits one after another. In each section, there were densely packed people digging canals.
, along the way, it was divided into hundreds of sections and started working together. The manpower consumed was simply terrifying.
Moreover, under high pressure, it is not uncommon for people to die while building canals.
Standing on the edge of the canal pit and looking in, countless workers were digging continuously, the machines were rumbling, and the sultry air was suffocating.
Zhu Zhancheng and Xiaosheng looked down at the canal pit. Zhu Zhancheng did not speak, and Xiaosheng did not speak either.
The two of them had a tacit understanding. Zhu Zhanzhen did not ask why there were so many slaves, and Xiaosheng did not say that the merchant ships of the Ming Dynasty always brought slaves who dug holes. Likewise, he did not ask the merchants where these slaves came from.
of.
In order to dig the canal as quickly as possible, these continuous slaves are necessary. This darkness has to be carried by Xiaosheng, because to this day, nearly a thousand corpses are buried every kilometer under the canal. This is relying on the corpses.
It was caused by mountains and seas of blood. How should we write this in the history books?
Zhu Zhanzhen and Xiaosheng got on the train again and asked: "Xiaosheng, how long will the canal take?"
"Your Highness, it is expected that we can try it next month, but it will take some time to verify whether the river can pass well."
"Well, very good, much faster than expected." Zhu Zhanzhen nodded, of course he also knew that many more people died than expected.
"Your Highness's plan for the Western Federation has been approved. It was approved by His Majesty the Emperor. Yesterday, I received another imperial edict." Xiaosheng said this, but he could not hide his loneliness.
"What's wrong?"
Xiaosheng took out the imperial edict that had just arrived: "Your Highness, the new emperor has ascended the throne."
Zhu Zhanyi accepted the imperial edict. This was the imperial edict that had just arrived yesterday. The previous one was about agreeing to the plan of the Western Federation. Zhu Zhanyi had proposed it two years ago, and that should be the last imperial edict issued by Zhu Gaochi.
The imperial edict coming now is the imperial edict for Zhu Zhanji's enthronement.
The distance was far, it had been several months since Zhu Zhanji ascended the throne, and it had been a long time since Zhu Gaochi's death.
In fact, when Zhu Zhanzhen received the last imperial edict, he already knew that his fat father might not be able to hold on anymore.
Because at the end of the imperial edict, Zhu Gaochi went against convention and added: "Queen Chang Si'er, I hope you will return soon."
After all, Chinese men are restrained, so they thought long and hard about how they wanted to express their longing for their sons, and finally made up their minds to go against the convention and write family affairs in the imperial edict to talk about the Queen Si'er instead of saying how much they miss her.
The tenderness of a Chinese man is never a raging torrent that intrudes wantonly, but a dam that blocks the flood, hiding and protecting his emotions for fear of disturbing the mountains, rocks, and vegetation.
Zhu Zhanzhen's eyes were red. He knew that Zhu Gaochi approved the Western Federation's plan at the end and wanted to maintain the relationship between his two sons as much as possible.
He also knew the reasons why Zhu Zhanzhen did not go back for such a long time. Firstly, it was to avenge Zheng He, and secondly, Zhu Zhanzhen had already posed a threat to Zhu Zhanji at that time. This threat was subtle, and the whole court
Everyone in the hall would feel that Zhu Zhanzhen was a threat to Zhu Zhanji, and there would definitely be a rift between the two. Zhu Zhanzhen hid far away, and now that Zhu Zhanji has ascended the throne, he is the orthodox emperor.
Zhu Zhanji kept his promise and supported Zhu Zhanchang's Western Expedition. Over the years, the warships and merchant ships coming from the Ming Dynasty were not blocked by the court at all. Instead, all funds and materials flowed unimpeded. With support, Zhu Zhanji did it.
The best effort you can make.
Naturally, Zhu Zhanzhen could not go back on his word. This emperor must belong to Zhu Zhanji.
The Western Federation's plan can alleviate the possible conflict between the two sons to the greatest extent. The Western Federation is part of the Ming Dynasty, but Zhu Zhanzhen is the largest leader of the Western Federation. Without moving to the territory of the Central Plains, Zhu Zhanzhen
Zhanji was also willing to make this compromise. After all, Zhu Zhanyi was allocated lands outside the territory. For the Ming Dynasty, this was not the Central Plains in the traditional sense.
Zhu Zhanzhen received Zhu Zhanji's imperial decree and said: "Xiaosheng, please reply a letter to the court for me, saying congratulations to the new emperor on his accession to the throne, the Suez River will be opened to navigation soon, the situation in England and England is changing, and the Western Federation has just been established.
The business is busy and the distance is long and time-consuming. I cannot return to the court. I will wait until the rebellion between Britain and France is quelled before returning to the Ming Dynasty to apologize to His Majesty. You can ask someone to look at the language and think about the words. "
"Yes, Your Highness."
Zhu Zhanzhen looked at the canal pits along the way, with a lot of thoughts in his heart. People who are carried forward by the times, even themselves, sometimes can't help themselves.
Xiaosheng took Zhu Zhanyi to visit the current situation of the canal and then returned to New Shanghai City together.
At this time, many businessmen were waiting. The Western Federation's plan was passed, which meant that the time had come for them to be promoted to official positions, so they had been waiting in New Shanghai City for a long time in advance. At this time, New Shanghai
The city is very lively and full of wealthy people.
When Zhu Zhanzhen returned to New Shanghai City, he was greeted and hugged by people to the newly built parliament hall.
The main venue of this parliament hall can accommodate nearly a thousand people, and it was fully occupied at this time.
Zhu Zhanzhen stood on the rostrum and looked around for a week. The roof of the parliament hall was not sealed yet and was still in the open air. However, Zhu Zhanzhen insisted that the first meeting of the Western Federation would be held here.
"Everyone, I have worked hard for you all these years." Zhu Zhanzhen's first sentence was condolences.
"This venue has not been built yet, and the roof has not been sealed. The same is true for our Western Federation. It has just begun and there are still many things that need to be improved. But just as the roof of this venue will definitely be sealed, so will the Western Federation.
It will become a dome that protects you from the wind and rain.”
"Follow Your Highness and you will have meat to eat."
"Follow Your Highness, there will be wine to drink."
"Follow Your Highness, I have a aunt..." Before I could say anything, someone held my mouth shut.
There was a burst of laughter, and everyone was in a very good mood.
Zhu Zhanzhen knocked on the table and said with a smile: "The specific matters of the Western Federation have been discussed these days. Starting here tomorrow, we will officially establish a huge Western Federation."