Daming Town Haiwang

Chapter 1705, the unbearable Spaniard

Hong Kong Governor's Mansion, Tang Bohu is receiving the Spanish ambassador to Hong Kong Andre.

"Your Excellency, I heard that you like some paintings very much. I also have two famous European paintings here. I would like to ask you to help me appreciate some of them."

Andre's Daming dialect is excellent, with an authentic Beijing-Tianjin accent, even better than that of Tang Bohu, a native of Suzhou.

"Really."

When Tang Bohu heard this, he immediately became interested.

He himself was very interested in painting and calligraphy, and he was also one of the representative figures of Ming painting and calligraphy in this period. Even now that he is an official, he still has not given up his hobby, and his painting and calligraphy skills are extremely high. high.

Because the trade and communication between Daming and other parts of the world are getting closer and closer, a large amount of overseas painting art was also introduced into Daming. Tang Bohu also spent time and energy on researching this.

When I was in Nanyun Province, I had the most exposure to the painting art from Persia, Tianzhu, the Middle East, and the Ottoman Empire. The painting art of these places is very different from that of Ming Dynasty.

The paintings of Daming pay attention to freehand brushwork, mainly landscape paintings, pay attention to artistic conception, and pay attention to using simple strokes to outline profound artistic conception.

However, the art of painting in these places is different. They are basically full of strong religious colors, and the colors are also bright and colorful.

Now that I have come to Europe, I have already heard about European painting art, and I even spent money to buy some European oil paintings, sketches, etc., and studied them carefully.

European painting art is also full of strong religious colors, mainly figure painting, and now the most popular is body painting, in order to show the beauty of the human body and advocate the concept of humanistic spirit.

Seeing that Tang Bohu was interested, Andre quickly took out some famous paintings that he had prepared in advance.

"I also ask Mr. Tang to help you appreciate one or two~"

"I heard that Mr. Tang is a master of painting. A painting is worth a thousand gold. He must have a very high attainment in painting."

"Your Excellency, the Minister, is over the award, over the award, I just know a thing or two."

Tang Bohu carefully looked at the several paintings in front of him. As a master of painting, his eyesight is unquestionable. Even European paintings, Tang Bohu can identify one or two.

"Not bad."

"These paintings should all come from the hands of famous masters. All kinds of European painting techniques have been used with such innocence that they have reached the pinnacle."

Tang Bohu also loves the European paintings in front of him. People who are good at painting naturally like famous paintings.

"Master Tang, these paintings are actually very average in our Europe. Since Master Tang likes them, I will give them to Master Tang."

"This can't do~ no!"

When Tang Bohu heard this, he shook his head again and again.

If you take bribes, you might lose your hat.

Now that he has managed to become a fourth-rank official, he is expected to regain the glory of his ancestors. How can he be ruined because of taking bribes.

After repeated refusals, Tang Bohu still refused to accept it, and Andre had no choice but to take back the painting.

"Your Excellency~"

"Presumably you have heard about the current situation in Europe."

Andre asked people to put away a few paintings, and then got down to business.

Spain's life is not easy now. The French have always been fighting with Spain on land. The two sides have been fighting on the border for more than two years, with heavy casualties.

The French held their breath and insisted on regaining the dignity lost at sea on land.

Hundreds of thousands of troops from both sides fought on the border, which put tremendous pressure on Spain.

The protracted war has dragged Spain extremely tired. More importantly, the colonies in West Africa are also facing the erosion of the Persians and Koreans. They have never been able to escape to deal with the Persians and Koreans.

In addition, in North Africa, the Spaniards are still robbing Alexandria in Egypt, and the two sides are fighting fiercely. The Egyptians who bought warships from Ming Dynasty are now starting to counterattack the Spanish fleet in the Mediterranean.

Don't look at Spain looking very beautiful and awesome now, but in fact it is under great pressure, and it has been working hard to reverse the situation. At least, it must defeat the French on land first.

And all of this is obviously inseparable from the support of the Ming Empire.

Whether it is arms and weapons, economic support, or the direct dispatch of troops from the Ming Empire, they can quickly reverse the situation and establish Spain's victory.

As the Spanish Minister in Hong Kong, his biggest mission is to persuade Daming to give Spain more support.

"I probably heard some."

Tang Bohu nodded and said.

"Our Spain has always been a friendly state with Ming Dynasty, and it was an important ally in the past."

"Now we, Spain, are facing unprecedented difficulties. On land, we are fighting with hundreds of thousands of French troops. In West Africa, we have to fight with Persian and Korean fleets and armies. In North Africa, we have to fight with Egyptians."

"We desperately need the support of the Ming Empire, the more the better."

"Master Tang is the governor of Hong Kong, please support us a lot."

Andre also said very sincerely.

Jiang Liang was an old fox in the past, and he supported it, but he supported it on both sides. He bought arms and weapons to Spain, and he also sold arms and weapons to the French.

Both sides were fighting with arms and weapons produced by the Ming Empire. They fought to the death, and then emptied the house, and by the way, they owed a whole lot of debt to the Ming Empire.

In just over two years, the original Spain still had huge wealth. Whether it was the king, the nobles below, or ordinary people in Spain, they were all very rich.

The huge wealth plundered by the colonies, the huge profits brought by sea trade, and the slave trade also made Spain a lot of money. The wealthy Spaniards even had ambitions to be the big brother of Europe.

However, now, the Spaniards are really poor. Not only has the huge wealth they accumulated been consumed, but they still owe a loan of 2000 million taels of silver to the First Bank of the Ming Empire.

The point is that Spain can't go up or down now, and it's impossible to withdraw from the war.

The French feel that they have been insulted, and they have always refused to negotiate peace, unless Spain cede land and pay compensation to France. There is no doubt that this is unacceptable to the Spaniards. They are still thinking about ceding land and paying compensation from the French.

It is even more impossible for the Persians and the Koreans. The two sides are in the same situation, and they have to be separated. Fortunately, Spain has no naval battles to fight on the European side, and the navy can be transferred to West Africa. It has already collapsed.

The Egyptians can have a good talk here. If Spain launches Alexandria, they can still talk about it, but the Spaniards are greedy and unwilling to let go.

Because the pressure on Egypt is also great, and it has to fight against the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire, which has suffered a lot, is now moving eastward, preparing to severely damage the Egyptian and Persian coalition forces in the Mesopotamia and Jordan River Basins.

The Spaniards feel that as long as Egypt can't hold on, they still have a chance to occupy Alexandria. The geographical location of this port is very important, and the key is that it can also be used to colonize Egypt.

After all, Spain is still gritted its teeth and does not want to lose any benefits, and is still ambitious to become the big brother of Europe.

As long as the French are defeated on land, coupled with the already powerful navy, Spain is undoubtedly the big brother of Europe, both on land and in the sea.

In addition, the more important thing is that only by winning can the greatest benefits be obtained. Europe is a place for robbers and hooligans. They only recognize their fists.

"How would you like me to support you?"

Tang Bohu thought about it carefully and asked.

I have just arrived here, and I am not very familiar with everything, so you come to ask yourself for support, how does this allow me to support you?

"We in Spain need more arms and more loans."

"In addition, we hope that your Ming Empire will stop selling arms and weapons to our enemies?"

Minister Andre said quickly.

"I can't decide this matter, I need to ask our local side for instructions."

"I think there should be no problem with the purchase of arms and loans. With the relationship between us, it is definitely possible."

"As for saying not to sell arms and weapons to your enemies, this is probably not in line with our Ming Dynasty's consistent principle of neutrality."

Tang Bohu pondered for a while, remembered some of Jiang Liang's explanations before leaving, and replied solemnly.

Among all parties, Ming Dynasty must always maintain a principle, that is, the principle of honor and neutrality. Only in this way can it sell arms and provide loans to all parties, and at the same time achieve the purpose of weakening all parties. This is in the best interest of the Ming Empire.

Of course, support for Spain is also necessary, and Spain cannot be allowed to fall, because Spain owes a huge debt to the Ming Empire, and if it falls, who will pay for the debt?
"Ma Dan, another cunning fox."

When Andre heard it, he couldn't help cursing in his heart. At first, he was thinking about whether the other party was just right, and if he could fool around. Who knows, the other party is similar to Jiang Liang, and he is also a guy who doesn't like oil and salt.

Glorious and neutral, you Ming people are neutral, both sides do business and earn a lot of money, but our warring sides are getting poorer and poorer, and it is getting worse and worse, but no one can withdraw from this war, and neither is willing to withdraw. .

"Then thank you, Mr. Tang."

On the surface, Andre still wants to thank Tang Bohu for getting more loans, after all, he is really poor now.

(End of this chapter)