Ming Jiajing: Starting from Immortality

Chapter 298 Qin Hui is everywhere, fourth-level tactics!
First snow in Beijing.

The new prime minister’s residence, the Gao Mansion.

Gao Gong, the prime minister of a country, was at his busiest at the end of the year, but suddenly he was off duty according to the normal office hours.

Lanterns were hung high, illuminating the entire city with a bright red glow. Gao Gong was not in a hurry to eat, but asked the chef in the city to prepare some cakes and cakes, and asked him to add more sugar.

Then, under the eaves, they started to brew black tea from Huangmen, Qishan, Anhui.

Like flowers, fruits and honey, the fresh, sweet and mellow aroma rises up and lingers for a long time.

The aroma of tea is alluring, and guests from afar arrive as expected.

Facing the visitor's strange greeting, Gao Gong nodded, motioned for the other party to sit down, and personally poured him a cup of tea.

Gao Gong's adopted son, Gao Fushi, who was also a secretary in the Cabinet, brought four kinds of cakes and asked all the servants to leave, leaving him alone to serve.

The visitor lifted up his black robe, revealing the face of Alfonso the Younger from the Portuguese delegation. He leaned forward slightly and said, "Dear Prime Minister, long time no see."

"No need to be so polite. It's a snowy night and the wind is strong. Duke Alfonso might as well drink some tea to warm himself up." Gao Gong placed the tea bowl in front of little Alfonso.

Little Alfonso quickly caught it with both hands and took a sip. Although it was boiling hot, the taste of the top-grade roasted tea made him squint his eyes.

The taste is long and lingering, which you will never get in the West.

Feeling Alfonso's gaze, Gao Gong smiled and said, "This is tribute tea, a gift from the emperor. I don't have much, but I can give some to Duke Alfonso."

Keemun black tea, this is one of the tribute teas.

Especially the one or two most precious tea trees, the tea produced by them was always tributed to the palace only.

From the Hongwu Emperor to the present, no emperor of the Ming Dynasty has lost power or been completely sidelined. Naturally, no tea grower or tea merchant dared to embezzle the precious tribute at the cost of the lives of his entire clan.

The top-quality roasted tea from the East is simply out of the reach of businessmen. The same was true for the Jin, Hui and Chao teas of the past. It was impossible for it to flow into the West, and little Alfonso would never have tasted it.

"Thank you, Prime Minister."

Little Alfonso expressed his gratitude to Gao Gong with joy and took the piece of sweetened osmanthus candy in front of him. The rich sweetness and the lingering fragrance of osmanthus made little Alfonso smile brightly.

Oriental pastries always take "not sweet" as the highest standard, but Westerners, including Alfonso Jr., have always believed that desserts should be sweet, as sweet as possible, and that drinking it with black tea is the most wonderful enjoyment in the world.

Mr. Prime Minister, you are my confidant!

Gao Gong also tasted the osmanthus cake and felt as if his throat was blocked by something. How much sugar did the chef put in it?

After taking a sip of tea, the greasy feeling rushed straight to the top of his head. Gao Gong felt as if he had fallen into sugar water. His temples and blood vessels began to swell and he felt slightly dizzy.

Greetings and drinking tea.

Little Alfonso ate more and more, alternating between cakes and tea. After Gao Gong had tasted that one bite, he never touched the sugared cakes again, and even stopped drinking tea.

As a duke of a country, Alfonso Jr. was also a man who understood etiquette. This process did not last long before he talked about business and said, "Excuse me, Prime Minister, does your country have any idea of ​​stationing troops in other countries and leading political affairs?"

"Oh!"

Gao Gong was rarely distracted, and the tea in the bowl spilled, and it trickled onto the ground like a stream.

The troops of other countries are stationed there and they take charge of government affairs.

If he had not misunderstood, these two things could be combined into a more appropriate name.

Take over other countries!

Through the two previous negotiations with the Portuguese delegation, the imperial court was certain that Alfonso the Younger was overly friendly to the Ming Dynasty and was even willing to give up some of Portugal's national interests to show goodwill to the Ming Dynasty.

But no one would have expected that this guy with golden curly hair was actually a "Portuguese traitor".

Seeing Gao Gong's loss of composure, Alfonso's aristocratic upbringing made him ignore the matter of turning over the tea and said seriously, "Please allow me to tell you a story, Prime Minister."

Gao Gong burned his finger, but he was not aware of it at the moment and motioned Alfonso to start speaking.

"In the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula in the ancient European continent, there is a country..."

Little Alfonso spoke slowly and raised his eyebrows. In such an introduction, it would be better to write the name of the country, "Portugal".

Alfonso continued: "This country has no valuable output. A hundred years ago, it relied solely on textiles, shoemaking, and winemaking to maintain the country. The lives of the people were not poor, but very difficult.

Fortunately, the country, which has experienced countless hardships, has achieved a rare stability from the upper-level regime to the lower-level citizens.

This gave the country the opportunity to open its eyes to the world, and with the support of the prince, those adventurous navigators and explorers discovered and conquered pieces of land.

Ceuta, Azores, Cape Verde, Bioko, São Tomé, Principe and Annobon, among others.

With land and islands, it has become a world maritime power.

That country defeated its hated neighbor and recaptured the northern Moroccan city of Tangia from it.

At that moment, there must be no country in the world greater than that country.

The country's footsteps never stopped. It rounded the Cape of Good Hope, arrived in India, Madagascar, Bat Island, Malacca, and even the Far East.

He comes! He conquers!
Except for its annoying neighbors, that country has become a world-famous entity.

Countless wealth, like the wind howling from the north, is continuously sent into that country..."

At this point, Gao Gong's mouth twitched slightly, thinking back to forty years before Jiajing, when the rulers and ministers of the Ming Dynasty always revealed the word "poor".

The king is poor, and the minister is jealous. Looking back at the proud little Alfonso at this moment, Gao Gong could only comfort himself silently in his heart, it's all over.

The poverty of the Ming Dynasty is over, and so is the glory of Portugal.

But why do I still feel so sad?

Why didn't the eunuch Zheng He, who was also the founder of the Ming Dynasty, think of letting the world celebrate the great rise of the Ming Dynasty when he made seven voyages to the West?

why?
why?
why?
……

Gao Youshi noticed the subtle change in his father's mentality and gently tugged at his father's collar.

Envy, jealousy and hatred make people twisted!

Gao Gong came back to his senses and managed to calm himself down. Little Alfonso on the opposite side was still talking about the glory of Portugal and obviously did not notice the little action between father and son.

As he spoke, Alfonso's mood took a sharp turn for the worse. In the three naval battles of Sintra, Diu and Goa, Portugal had lost everything in the East. Although there was no news from the Governor's Palace, Alfonso knew that the Governor's Palace would probably never send any news. Even though he and his father Alfonso Sr. had long predicted the end of the Portuguese Empire, he still couldn't hide his sadness when that day really came.

Little Alfonso collected himself and continued, “Although the empire seems huge, the internal divisions are becoming more and more serious, even to the point of division.

In that country, there are seven types of people: one type is those who think they are governing the country, one type is those who think they should govern the country, one type is those who are actually governing the country, one type is those who are actually in control of the country, one type is those who think the country should be governed by other countries, one type is those who think the country is being governed by other countries, and the other type is those who don’t care who governs the country and only care about enjoying themselves in front of them…”

Hear the words.

Gao Gong and his adopted son Gao Youshi could no longer hold back.

How could there be so many "weirdos" in one country, and such a country even once became the overlord of the sea?

Let's look at East Asia. No matter whether it is a big country or a small country, as long as there is a king or emperor, they all want to eliminate domestic ills, expand territory and achieve the highest ideal of both civil and military governance.

Afonso the Younger is labeling the seven types of people he calls the people who he believes are governing the country, and this is of course the current King of Portugal, the eight-year-old Sebastian I.

The person who believes that he should govern the country is Enrico, the Duke of Évora, who is also a cardinal and the king's great-uncle.

The people who actually govern the country are the House of Commons of Parliament.

The people who truly control the country are the House of Lords in Parliament.

The king's grandmother Catarina was one of them, as was Afonso the Younger. There were many other people in Portugal who believed that the country should be governed by another country.

However, Catalina, who came from the Spanish royal family, believed that Portugal should be governed by Spain, while Alfonso the Younger, as well as other nobles and priests, believed that it should be governed by a country other than Spain.

It is precisely because of the above chaos that some Portuguese nobles and priests believe that Portugal is being governed by other countries.

It also led some Portuguese nobles, clergy, and citizens to believe that it made no difference who managed the country and that they should just enjoy themselves while they could.

After saying so much, Gao Gong also sensed that Alfonso Jr. believed that Portugal should be governed by another country. The next words of Alfonso Jr. also verified Gao Gong's guess. He said: "Dear Prime Minister, I wonder if your country is willing to take over all the affairs of Portugal, so that Portugal can always be attached to this great and ancient Eastern civilization?"

Little Alfonso stood up, knelt on one knee, placed his right hand over his heart, and saluted Gao Gong solemnly.

Gao Gong had never expected such a turn of events. The imperial court had never imagined that a duke from a maritime hegemonic country, although it was once a maritime hegemonic country, was actually a top-level "admirer of the strong".

The Ming navy defeated the Portuguese navy repeatedly at sea and on the beach. Although he was the Duke of Portugal, and the first duke outside the Portuguese royal family, he not only did not show the slightest anger, but instead believed that Portugal should be governed by the Ming Dynasty.

Although Gao Gong had never quite understood the Western way of thinking, such a turn of events still left him astonished.

After a long pause, Gao Gong neither accepted nor rejected the offer. Instead, he asked, "Duke Alfonso, your country has suffered consecutive defeats on the Eastern battlefield. Don't you have any thoughts of revenge?"

From the Chinese perspective, losing territory and paying compensation are absolutely unacceptable. From the king to the common people, everyone with blood in their veins will harbor hatred.

Hence the saying "Can a grudge of nine generations be avenged? Even a hundred generations can."

Although Alfonso the Younger listed seven types of people in Portugal, Gao Gong still could not believe that the idea that one's own country should be governed by other countries would become the mainstream trend in a country.

"Your Excellency, Prime Minister, you are worrying too much. Portugal... no, all the countries in Europe always use the 'fourth-order tactics' when faced with things they cannot handle, especially diplomacy."

Little Alfonso shook his head, shrugged, spread his hands and said: "In the first stage, we will claim that nothing happened.

Just as your country arrested and killed all our merchants in Wangxia Peninsula, when the news came back to our country, the royal family ordered the Governor-General's Office in India to send an envoy group to your country to negotiate a trade treaty, and at the same time announced to all citizens that nothing had happened, and those merchants who were killed by your country had merely encountered a collective shipwreck.

In the second stage, one would say that maybe something is happening, but no action should be taken.

Just like your country directly destroyed hundreds of our navy's warships at the mouth of the Malacca Strait, killed or captured all the naval officers and soldiers, and then occupied... no, it was to recapture the Malacca Strait. The Governor-General of the India Governor's Office, that damn Sheffield, immediately requested the royal family to send navy to support, but was unanimously rejected by the royal family and parliament.

The royal family and the parliament both believed that since the Strait of Malacca had been lost and it was impossible to retake it, they should not and could not send the navy to fight with your country. This would only intensify the conflict between the two countries and would be useless. The most urgent task was to negotiate with your country to release or redeem the captured Portuguese naval officers and soldiers. "

Gao Gong, Gao Youshi, "..."

The shadow of Qin Hui, the great traitor of the Song Dynasty, seems to be seen in the Portuguese royal family and parliament.

There are not just one or two Qin Huis, but Qin Huis everywhere.

“The third stage is saying maybe we should act, but there’s nothing we can do.

When your navy warships were heading for the Portuguese port in India, the damned Sheffield sent news back to Portugal. The royal family and parliament told all citizens that nothing could be done at the moment, citing the rebellion of the South American plantation mobs and the lack of extra troops to be transferred to the East.

“The fourth stage is that maybe something could have been done, but now it’s too late.

Your navy seized all of Portugal's ports and colonies in India, and Governor Sheffield was killed in the battle. When the news reached the country, the royal family and parliament said that when your country recaptured the Strait of Malacca, you should have sent the navy to take it back. But now everything is over, it's too late!"

Little Alfonso was talking about Portugal's foreign policy, which is also the foreign policy of the vast majority of European countries. Gao Gong and Gao Youshi subconsciously leaned back in awe.

As the chief minister and secretary of the Ming Dynasty Cabinet, he had never thought that when the country encountered major changes or suffered a major defeat, the king (emperor), royal family (imperial family), nobles (nobles), parliament (court) and other vested interests would be able to shirk their responsibilities so cleanly.

This simply refreshes people's cognition and bottom line!
(End of this chapter)