Start with Baihuguan

I have to say that Li Huan's world map really made everyone present react differently, but after everyone got used to the impact, Li Huan pointed to a place on the map and said, "Just now, Elder Yang Ge once asked What kind of country is Li's Portugal? Let's see, this is where Portugal is located."

After hearing Li Huan's words, everyone couldn't help but looked at the place Li Huan pointed at, and saw that in the area above the Ming Dynasty, there were dozens of countries densely distributed. It is as big as a province of Ming Dynasty, and the small ones may not even be as big as a prefecture of Ming Dynasty.

So many countries are densely gathered in a small area, and among the countries marked in the area Li Huan pointed to, there is a country called Portugal.

The territory of this Portuguese country does not seem to be large, at most it is about the size of an ordinary province of Ming Dynasty. It can be said that the territory of Daming is at least ten times larger than that of this country called Portugal.

So when they saw Portugal, some people couldn't help but exclaimed: "This...is this the territory map of Portugal that Duke Qin said? Such a small country, Da Ming, dares to disrespect me! , I really don’t know what my Da Mingwei is!”

After all, when anyone sees the territory map of Portugal and compares it with the territory map of Ming Dynasty, he will instinctively have the same idea.

Li Huan's eyes swept across the crowd. It can be said that everyone present, even the emperor, had the same expression, and even Zhu Houzhao said with an angry face: "It's so funny, such a small country can How dare you disrespect me, Daming."

Li Huan was not at all surprised by everyone's reaction. After all, everyone in Daming didn't know the power of such a small Portugal. Who made the high-level officials of Daming not cast their eyes on overseas places? With this piece of land.

With a light cough, Li Huan said with a somewhat indifferent expression on his face: "You don't think Portugal is a small country, do you?"

It seemed that they could hear the different meaning hidden in Li Huan's words. All the people present were all elites in the officialdom. Even if their faces were straightened, some people even stared at the map of Portugal's territory and began to meditate.

Judging from what Li Huan meant, it was obvious that the country called Portugal was not as simple as they thought.

At this moment, Zhu Hou looked at Li Huan and said, "I don't know how strong Portugal is. Compared with my Ming Dynasty, which one is stronger or weaker?"

All eyes fell on Li Huan for a moment. They didn't know Portugal well, but Li Huan obviously did. They were also very curious about what in Portugal deserved Li Huan's serious treatment.

Li Huan opened his mouth slowly, and said solemnly: "Everyone, if Li said that among dozens of hundreds of countries in the world, in terms of strength, Portugal can at least be among the top three, I don't know. Can you believe it?"

As soon as Li Huan's words came out, everyone immediately showed astonishment and shock, and their eyes fell on the large world map on the ground again.

On that map of the world, there are at least dozens or even hundreds of countries marked by Li Huan. Among so many countries, the territory of some countries is almost comparable to that of Ming Dynasty, the size of Portugal. There are no fewer than dozens of countries.

Just looking at the territory map, in their view, it would be difficult for Portugal's national power to be among the top ten, but now Li Huan actually told them that Portugal's national power is so strong that it can be ranked among the top three in the world. How not to shock them.

Li Huan ignored everyone's reactions and continued: "Now my Ming and Western countries are expanding wildly towards the sea, and among them, Portugal and Spain are the two countries with the strongest strength on the sea. It can be said that these two countries The power at sea is so strong that even my Ming Dynasty could not compare with it before. To say that these two countries are almost invincible at sea, even a few years ago, these two countries even signed a treaty, the two countries Carve up the whole world..."

"Arrogance, it's really extremely arrogant, a small barbarian country dares to do the thing of dividing up the world, did you ever ask me if Da Ming agrees!"

Zhu Houzhao showed disdain almost immediately, and said with a bit of sarcasm.

Zhu Houzhao had such a reaction, Li Huan just smiled slightly, bowed his hands to the emperor and said: "Your Majesty's words are very true, but there is one thing I have to admit, that is, if Portugal is only talking about the strength of the sea, it is indeed able to compete with me. Let's compete."

Since ancient times, the Central Plains Dynasty has always regarded itself as the center of the world, the kingdom of heaven, in the eyes of the Central Plains Dynasty, except for the Central Plains, everyone outside the Central Plains is barbarians.

Now that he suddenly learned from Li Huan that the world is so big, and that some countries are not weaker than Daming, at least the important officials present have been greatly impacted ideologically.

As the chief minister of the cabinet, Wang Yangming looked at Li Huan with a solemn expression on his face and said, "Qin Guogong, now I am open to the sea, and the sea trade is flourishing, and the Portuguese are expanding wildly on the sea. From this point of view, we There will definitely be conflicts between Da Ming and him!"

Li Huan nodded and said: "What the chief minister said is true, as long as I open the sea, no matter what, sooner or later I will have conflicts with these western barbarians, just like what happened to the royal caravan of the Ming Dynasty in Nanyang. Similarly, those Western barbarians will not do business with us honestly, as long as they have the opportunity, they will definitely not mind using force to deal with my Daming caravan."

"Then fight with him, completely subdue these barbarians, and let them know that my great tomorrow is inviolable."

Zhu Houzhao said firmly.

Some people couldn't help opening their mouths after hearing Zhu Houzhao's words, and subconsciously wanted to persuade the emperor. After all, wars involved must mobilize troops and mobilize people, and waste money and money. Now the Xungui Group has gradually regained its former power through several wars. If things go on like this, won't these civil servants be overwhelmed by the nobles?

But when he saw the cold light in the emperor's eyes and Li Huan's indifferent expression, he couldn't help swallowing the words that came to his lips.

Especially at this moment, Wang Yangming, who is the chief assistant of the cabinet, just pondered for a while, then nodded without hesitation and said: "Your Majesty's words are true, I must teach these barbarians a lesson."

Since Wang Yangming became the chief assistant of the cabinet, Zhu Houzhao felt that his life as the emperor had become much easier. Now seeing Wang Yangming's support, Zhu Houzhao couldn't help showing a little smile on his face.

When Zhu Houzhao's eyes fell on Li Huan, Zhu Houzhao said: "Li Qing, since this Portuguese is so powerful, in your opinion, is my Daming's current naval strength his opponent?"

Li Huan said without hesitation: "If the Portuguese try their best, they will be able to form a fleet of more than a thousand ships. My Ming Dynasty may not be able to win the opponent steadily, but the Portuguese occupy too much of the world. There are so many places, the power can't be concentrated at all, and in this case, the opponent is really not my opponent."

Li Huan said with a light smile: "Not to mention anything else, just the newly formed navy of our Ming Dynasty gathered at Tianjinwei Port. If all of them go to battle, their strength will not be weaker than the Portuguese."

After hearing what Li Huan said, they knew that the Portuguese were so powerful, so the worry in their hearts naturally dissipated. After all, according to what Li Huan said, although the Portuguese were very strong, Daming had built so many ships. It's not weak at all.

If we really want to talk about war, Daming is really not afraid of any barbarians.

Li Huan suddenly bowed to the emperor and said: "I implore Your Majesty to personally review the fleet of our Daming Navy to boost the morale of our Daming Navy officers and men."

Everyone was discussing this matter before, but most of the people present at that time were against it. In their opinion, the emperor should stay in the imperial city instead of going to Tianjin Wei to inspect Naval fleet, this is not something an emperor should do.

If they had reason to object before, then when they learned that there are countries as powerful as Portugal and Spain in this world, at least everyone felt a sense of crisis in their hearts.

Zhu Houzhao looked down at the reaction of the crowd, and saw that many of the courtiers who had opposed before lowered their heads, Zhu Houzhao showed a smile on his face and nodded and said: "Okay, if this is the case, then after three days, I will come in person Tianjin Wei, review the Daming Fleet personally."

From Tianjinwei to the capital, if it is said to be a fast horse, it is only half a day's journey.

When Luo Xiang and Jiang Bin's memorial arrived at the capital, Luo Xiang, Jiang Bin and the others were already halfway there. By the evening, the group had already arrived at the capital.

In the imperial city, Zhu Houzhao immediately learned of the news that Luo Xiang, Jiang Bin and others had entered Beijing, and Luo Xiang, Jiang Bin and others were also brought to the imperial city, and at the same time got the emperor's will to arrange for the emperor three days later. Li Huan, who was on a trip, was also called into the palace by the emperor.

In a palace, Zhu Houzhao sat upright, while Li Huan sat down at the first place under the emperor, his eyes fell on Luo Xiang and Jiang Bin who were walking into the palace.

Seeing that Luo Xiang's eyes were a little red, he trotted into the hall and fell down at the feet of the emperor with a plop, tremblingly saying: "This old servant pays homage to His Majesty, woo woo woo, this old slave thought he would never see His Majesty again..."

Looking at Luo Xiang, Jiang Bin and others, Zhu Houzhao coughed lightly, waved his hands and said, "Your family went to Nanyang and returned after untold hardships. I am very relieved. Get up without ceremony."

When Zhu Houzhao ordered to get up, Luo Xiang and the others slowly got up.

At this time, Zhu Houzhao said slowly: "Daban Luo, please tell me, Duke Qin, and the elders about your experience in Nanyang this time."

Zhu Houzhao obviously didn't forget to call several cabinet elders.

So Luo Xiang, Jiang Bin and others told each other in detail what happened to them when they went to Nanyang. It can be said that it was really ups and downs and full of dangers.

After all, sea voyage in this era is really full of dangers. Maybe if you don't worry about it, the ship will be silent and there will be no bones left. A storm can destroy a caravan. And they have experienced such danger more than once.

When it was mentioned that they attacked the Portuguese fleet in Sumatra, escaped from life after paying a terrible price, and returned in a state of embarrassment all the way, Luo Xiang, Jiang Bin and others still think that they are chasing those Portuguese for thousands of miles. Gritting his teeth on the matter of killing.

When it came to the end, Luo Xiang almost cried: "Your Majesty, the old slaves are incompetent. Originally, there were more than a dozen large ships and four or five million taels of gold and silver, but because of the Portuguese, they only brought back less than ten ships. Even gold and silver have lost millions of taels, please forgive me, Your Majesty!"

"What, you said that you have earned millions of taels of gold and silver during your trip to Nanyang, but the Portuguese robbed millions of taels?"

Liu Yu, one of the elders of the cabinet, couldn't help but exclaimed, his eyes widened, and his face was full of disbelief. Seeing his reaction, he was obviously shocked by Luo Xiang's words.

Not just Liu Yu, in fact, except for Li Huan, almost everyone present was shocked when they heard Luo Xiang's words.

Zhu Houzhao knew that the goods carried by the Royal Caravan of the Ming Dynasty that accompanied Luo Xiang to Nanyang were worth only a few hundred thousand taels. However, when they arrived in Nanyang, they turned over more than a dozen times. How crazy is this? interests.

Forty-five million taels of gold and silver, before the tax reform was implemented, it was comparable to the tax revenue of the Ming Dynasty for a year, and it was earned by just taking a trip to Nanyang.

Suddenly Zhu Houzhao understood why Emperor Taizongwen was able to conquer Mobei several times during his reign, but he never worried about the shortage of money and food when he used troops abroad for years.

It should be said that Emperor Renzong took care of the government and provided logistical support for Emperor Taizong Wen, but Zhu Houzhao would not believe it if Zheng He went to the West several times to say that he did not bring back huge benefits.

However, when Zhu Houzhao thought that the Portuguese had snatched millions of taels of gold and silver that should have belonged to him, Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but angrily said: "Damn the Portuguese, I must make them pay cost."

Zhu Hou took a look at Luo Xiang and the others, then cast his eyes on Wang Yangming and the others and said, "Do you have any questions, gentlemen?"

Several people looked at each other, and Wang Yangming saw that Li Huan didn't intend to ask, so he said: "Supervisor Luo, Jiang Qianhu, Mr. Wang, let me ask you how strong those barbarians are. In your opinion, is it necessary for my Daming to mobilize the army and make an expedition?" thousands of miles away?"

[It's the end of the month, the bosses have a monthly pass for you to drop]