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Chapter 1242 Those who should leave will leave, and those who should come will come

In addition to being shocked, the second feeling was a conspiracy. The queen was fine when he left, so how could she suddenly die of heat stroke? Could it be some kind of conspiracy, that the queen was an eyesore or had discovered some secret and was being silenced?

Therefore, the first order Hong Tao issued was to the Advisory Office and the East Factory, asking them to secretly investigate the case of the Queen's sudden death. All personnel related to it could be secretly investigated regardless of their rank and position.

Next, it was time to go through the usual routine. The royal family had written rules about birth, aging, illness and death, so he didn't have to worry about it. He really didn't worry about it, and he didn't stop them from spending too much, which was tantamount to tacitly approving the extravagant celebration.

This is also a kind of compensation. When she was alive, she didn't show the respect that a queen should have. It's better to enjoy it once after death. This is all I can give her. I hope I won't meet a time traveler in my next life.

"Your Majesty, Deputy Chief of General Staff Tan has submitted a memorial asking whether the military parade can proceed as scheduled."

Wang Chengen tied a white silk around his waist, and respectfully took the memorials that the emperor had read aside, sorted them out, and then presented the new memorials, briefly stating the contents. If the emperor was not interested in reading it, or did not intend to read it immediately, he would switch to the next one.

The emperor personally led the army to conquer the east and the west and returned victorious. Although he did not expand the territory in a practical sense, he opened a westward channel for Ming Dynasty goods and eliminated potential threats from the east. His achievements are undoubtedly outstanding.

However, due to the death of the empress, the emperor ordered the whole country to observe mourning, and all celebrations were simplified or stopped, including the military. The military parade that was supposed to take place had to be postponed.

When was it changed? The nearest time point was the Spring Festival. Although the emperor did not interfere with the queen's funeral, he changed the mourning period to one month. When the funeral was over and the mourning period was over, it would be almost the end of the year.

"Okay, I will be there. Let him cut out all the fancy procedures and save the money to buy more fireworks. The people don't understand the military might, so it's good for them to watch the excitement."

Although Tongzhou is quite cold in winter, Hong Tao had to go to participate in order to show enough respect for the soldiers. However, he had a request, hoping that Tan Mingming could reduce the number of procedures, let the participants suffer less, and enjoy more.

"The Ministry of Rites reported that the ruler of the United Provinces of the Netherlands, Prince of Orange, Count of Nassau, His Royal Highness Frederick Hendrik, arrived in Batavia last month and requested to go to the capital of the Ming Empire to meet His Majesty."

After putting away the memorials from the General Staff, Wang Chengen replaced them with another one, which was also the last one this morning. If there were no special circumstances, the emperor would read ten memorials in the morning, then have lunch and take a nap, and then read another twenty in the afternoon.

On average, hundreds of memorials were sent to the Tongzhengsi and Silijian every day, and 70% of them were intercepted. However, they were not intercepted randomly, but according to regulations. Matters that did not need to be personally handled by the emperor would be diverted to relevant departments for processing.

In order to monitor whether anyone is taking advantage of the opportunity to confuse public and private affairs, the Cuju team would continuously send young eunuchs to these two departments, ostensibly to practice government affairs and better serve the emperor, but in reality to monitor who dared to misbehave.

"Oh, this is a rare guest! Tell the Ministry of Rites to send a boat to pick him up and give him a grand reception as a king." Hong Tao, who was a little bored, suddenly became interested when he heard the name. He personally took the memorial and read it carefully, and actually laughed. "Your Majesty, is this prince an old friend?" This smile made Wang Chengen a little nervous. Although there are many restrictions on selecting memorials for the emperor, and it is impossible to favor one over the other, you can find the trick to any job after doing it for a long time.

For example, through long-term and careful observation, one can generally feel that the emperor likes certain topics and dislikes certain things or people. If you encounter such a memorial, don't send it directly to the emperor, but put it aside and wait. When the emperor shows signs of fatigue, then take it out, and it usually won't cause much reaction.

The memorial about the Dutch prince's audience was arranged last this time. The reason was simple. After the two battles in the west and the east, the opponents were both Europeans. Although the Netherlands did not participate, it was also a European country. The emperor had no reason to like to see their faces.

What I never expected was that the emperor actually smiled. He hadn't smiled so brightly in the past few months since the queen passed away. So I had to find out the details of this prince. If there was any friendship, I would quickly go and greet the relevant departments and don't treat him badly.

"We've only heard of him but never seen him! He's most likely here for Spain. If nothing unexpected happens, he'll probably return in defeat. The honeymoon period between the Ming Dynasty and the Netherlands will be gone forever. From now on, the two sides are enemies, not friends!"

Does Hong Tao know Prince Hendrik? The answer is no. He has never met him, let alone a personal relationship. Seeing Wang Chengen's confused face, he had to explain a few more words, or remind him.

"The Dutch have always been concerned with making money, and they have been at war with Spain for many years. How could they turn friends into enemies and become enemies with the Ming Dynasty? Your Majesty must explain this to me!"

Wang Chengen was even more confused. He had never liked Europeans, especially the Spanish. In addition to the direct conflict of interest between the two countries and the war that had taken place, it was also related to the fact that he had been irritated by Oyani over the years. But there was only one country that was an exception, and that was the Netherlands.

This country seems to be different from the European countries we see and hear about every day. They don't always talk about God, and they are a group of very serious businessmen. Everything will change qualitatively when it is done to the extreme, including businessmen.

They sail across the oceans and travel thousands of miles back and forth between Asia and Europe, really risking their lives. They have only one belief in mind: buy low and sell high to make a profit!
Moreover, over the past few decades, they have never done anything crooked, nor have they coveted any land within the Ming Dynasty's sphere of influence. They have stayed quietly in a few small cities such as Batavia, trading various goods day after day.

It is true that a lot of money was made, but as the emperor said, one cannot eat alone in business. If one wants the business to last long, one must allow others to make money, and the more money the better.

The speed of development of the Ming Empire's maritime trade in recent years is obvious to all. First of all, it is thanks to the emperor's wisdom, who formulated policies suitable for merchants; secondly, it is the leadership of Dutch merchants. If they had not been leading the way, the Ming Dynasty's maritime merchants would not have dared to go too far, but the development speed would have been much slower.

More than 70% of the goods sold to Europe were transported by Dutch merchant ships, and among these 70%, more than 80% of the goods belonged to Ming Dynasty merchants.

In other words, Dutch merchant ships became the means of transportation hired by Ming merchants, and even if they had to pay high freight rates, they could still make a lot of money. Without the Dutch, it would be many times more difficult to sell goods to Europe, and the cost would increase.

(End of this chapter)