Going to a country thousands of miles away and cooperating with a big country requires extremely high political wisdom. For more than a year after Xu Guangqi was appointed, Zhu Yijun took him with him and took the time to discuss the general trend of the world with him.
to inculcate the “strategic” concept of political economy.
When it comes to grand strategy from the earth's perspective, Zhu Yijun's level should be considered half-baked in later generations, but in this time and space, it must be higher than that of all humans at this time. Because for people in later generations who are interested in history, various mobile APPs will push a large number of content with
An article with extremely high vision - even if Zhu Yijun browses it casually, the perspective he has cultivated is far beyond that of today's emperors, generals and ministers.
Take the colonial policy as an example. Although the Iberian Confederation now has more than 20 million square kilometers of colonies, its colonies are not as effective as Burma. Although Burma only has a population of 10 million, as its agricultural production capacity increases,
With the increase, these tens of millions of people became the dumping market for the Ming Dynasty's primary industrial products. This market brought investment, job opportunities and tax revenue to the Ming Dynasty's industrial industry. This was astonishing - this was the correct way to open the colony.
In the colonial 1.0 generation after the great geographical discovery, the colonists only had two words in their minds: plunder! Their eyes were only fixed on the so-called "wealth" of gold, silver and slaves, and they were ignorant of the relationship between the colonial market and the local economy.
Can't figure it out.
After Spain occupied South America and discovered large silver mines, it did not implement effective control over the colonies. After building a small town next to the silver mines, it organized slave laborers to dig at their wits' end. The amount of silver transported into the country from America every year increased from hundreds of thousands taels.
Today, it is 5 million taels per year. Correspondingly, prices in Spain have tripled in the past 20 years, and inflation has spread throughout Europe.
In short, if the Spanish monarchs paid less attention to plunder and invested a certain amount of energy in developing the colonial market, then the increase in wealth brought by the growth of local industry and commerce would be healthy. On the contrary, a large amount of money was invested, but there was no corresponding increase in industrial and commercial output -
-Inflation becomes inevitable.
What Felipe II couldn't figure out was that he could obviously obtain a large amount of gold and silver from the Americas every year, but he could not pay the huge domestic expenses and bank interest. At this time, Spain was running on the wrong road without realizing it.
Due to extravagant spending and militarism, Felipe II went bankrupt three times after he came to the throne. The latest time was nine years ago, which resulted in a massive outflow of gold and silver from Spain. The prices of metals used in coinage, such as copper and tin, fluctuated violently.
In order to relieve debts, Felipe II continued to raise taxes, which on the one hand caused turmoil in Europe's financial industry, and on the other hand began to lead to a large number of bankruptcies in its dominant industries, including shipbuilding and industrial companies.
Nowadays, the entire Spanish economy has entered a downward spiral - the empire is prosperous and declining from political system to economy.
Xu Guangqi, who has a lot of information, has no fear at all for such a so-called "power" that is strong on the outside and powerful on the inside. Now the initiative to conquer Luzon and the Spice Islands is completely in the hands of the Ming Dynasty, because the porcelain and silk production capacity absorbed by the galley trade is of great importance to the Ming Dynasty.
In terms of the current production capacity of Ming Dynasty, it is a drop in the bucket.
Although the interruption of the galleons trade will interrupt the flow of silver into China, Zhu Yijun, who was influenced by modern economic concepts, is not as short-sighted as Felipe II - the Ming Dynasty's economy essentially cannot be supported by trade.
.
Felipe's previous threat of "not being able to sell a single plate to Europe" was almost insignificant to the Ming Dynasty. And if war breaks out in Nanyang, for Felipe II who needs to get a lot of profits from the spice trade,
But it is an unbearable weight.
...
Xu Guangqi was thinking, thinking about how to make Felipe II understand that Spain no longer had any initiative without reminding him of the error in its colonial policy.
When Wang Jiaping heard Xu Guangqi's words "Don't do to others what you don't want others to do to you", he couldn't help but feel itchy and said: "Zi Gong asked Confucius, is there any one saying that can be implemented throughout life? Confucius said: 'Forgive me.
"Huh! Don't do to others what you don't want others to do to you.' This is the etiquette that Chinese people follow throughout their lives, and 'benevolence' is included in it."
The Spanish court interpreter was dumbfounded and stared at Wang Jiaping with wide eyes. Xu Guangqi touched his nose and translated it once in vernacular, and then the interpreter breathed a sigh of relief and translated it.
Felipe II ignored Wang Jiaping's pull. He was forced into a corner by Xu Guangqi, who was unwilling to enter the country. Having settled on the conditions given by Zhu Yijun, Xu Guangqi said that Spain could only exchange two major colonies for free trade rights.
, otherwise there will be a war - for Spain, this is a completely unequal treaty.
The more Felipe II thought about it, the more he held his breath. He gradually became angry and looked at Xu Guangqi with a somewhat unkind look.
Xu Guangqi's heart was pounding. He picked up the wine glass and looked at the crimson liquid in it and said: "Although China also produces wine, the flavor is not as good as that produced in Europe. Europe also makes better wool products than China. If the sailing ship trade can expand to China,
By importing woolen products and wine, the trade between Middle-earth and Europe will be more balanced."
After hearing this, Felipe II's anger subsided, and he felt a little entangled in his heart. The golden avenue that Xu Guangqi pointed out to him sounded very tempting - with Seris's wealth, if it could really open up a sales channel for European products, then
You can really collect a lot of taxes.
Xu Guangqi smiled at him again and said: "Your Majesty, if the Spice Islands belong to China, His Majesty the Emperor can further promise that the existing spice plantations will be protected - the transfer of ownership rights here does not involve private property."
Seeing that Felipe II's cheek muscles were almost twisted, Xu Guangqi added the final blow: "Of course, if the two of us are in a state of war, then all the assets of the Iberian Confederation will be confiscated as enemy assets."
Wang Jiaping, who had just taken the plunge, now not only thinks highly of Xu Guangqi, he even admires him a little. The Ming Dynasty is now on the rise, and based on the major policies that Wang Jiaping learned about before his mission, Japan and Annan are both the emperor's priorities.
Within the scope of the strategy, Luo Wilderness is next—Nanyang should be placed further back.
In other words, according to the progress of the Burma strategy, it will take at least five more years for the Ming Dynasty to extend its power to Southeast Asia. Now, the two negotiations between Xu Guangqi and Felipe II have made it look like a real thing.
It was as if Felipe II said "no" and the two sides would immediately start fighting in Nanyang - although Lord Xu is young, he is really a damn talent!
After hearing the conditions mentioned by Xu Guangqi, the Duke of Sidonia felt dry for a while. He kept looking at Felipe II's face with the corner of his eyes. Seeing that His Majesty the King was still hesitant, he beat the drum and said:
"Your Majesty, His Majesty Siris is very rich - perhaps you can sell these two colonies to him."
Before Felipe could speak, Xu Guangqi shook his head like a rattle and interjected: "This is not feasible. If China pays for redemption, the implicit meaning is to recognize that Spain's occupation of Luzon and the Spice Islands is legal -
—This is absolutely not feasible!”
Felipe II was extremely angry and laughed back: "According to what you say, if someone in my colony pays tribute to Seris in the future, then I will withdraw unconditionally?"
Xu Guangqi blinked: "Your Majesty, Jesus said: 'How you would like others to treat you, you should also treat others the same way.' - This is contrary to what Confucius said, 'Don't do to others what you don't want others to do to you.'"
But, it means the same thing."
"If someone is willing to worship China as the supreme country, change his uniform, change his etiquette and customs, and listen to the teachings of saints, then there is no reason why the imperial court should not accept him."
Felipe II was furious: "Then take all America and Africa! I have never heard of such a shameless reason!"
Xu Guangqi smiled warmly and said: "Your Majesty, there is no need to be angry. You have to admit that Europeans and Chinese people have different views on things. What's more, it doesn't matter what we think. As you said, the most important thing is whether we have the strength to realize our ideas.
important."
The Duke of Sidonia interjected: "Your Majesty, what you are saying is that if Siris's strength allows, it will inevitably compete with Spain for the Americas and Africa?"
Xu Guangqi said sternly: "There is a saying in China that 'a thousand years of land is exchanged for eight hundred owners' - Is there an empire in this world that will never decline in power? Therefore, His Majesty the Emperor of our country believes that no matter how much land is conquered, humanity will not be preserved.
civilization is important."
Duke Sidonia said doubtfully: "I don't understand what you mean."
Xu Guangqi smiled and said: "Our Majesty said that there are hundreds of nations in the world with history, etiquette, and language. Of course, their strength cannot compare with China - but this does not mean that China has the right to kill the bearers of these civilizations.
, and plunder them.”
"Therefore, it is impossible to talk about what China will compete with Spain in the future if its strength allows. Before Vasco da Gama and Columbus discovered these continents, those continents were already there, with people and civilization on them. If they are willing to compete with China
Civilized exchanges and the adoption of Chinese etiquette systems, we should protect their lives and property as well as the achievements of their civilization - and ultimately achieve the highest goal pursued by the Chinese people, to rule the world with great harmony!"
How do you evaluate these words? After Xu Guangqi finished speaking, the bandits in the Royal Palace of Madrid felt that they had been crushed in terms of civilization.
It was as if a beggar on the street saw an elegant aristocrat, and a roaring gorilla heard music for the first time - Felipe II and Duke Sidonia had this feeling at the same time.
Felipe II not only felt that Emperor Seris was a noble man, separated from those with low tastes, but he also felt that Emperor Seris was a fool. At the same time, there was also a feeling deep in his heart that wanted to be squeezed out under the cloak.
The "small" general feeling.
Wang Jiaping, who was listening to the excitement on the sidelines, suddenly said again: "Your Majesty the King, during the Northern Song Dynasty in China, Shi Jie once wrote "On China", which said, "Heaven is above, and earth is below. He lives in the heaven and the earth.
It’s called China, and it’s the one that lives on the edge of heaven and earth…”