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The fourteen-year-old Princess Catalina is good at singing and dancing, has a graceful figure and charming looks. The dance she dances is called pointe dance, which is named because she often uses the toes to touch the ground during the dance.
This dance originated in Italy and has gradually spread across Europe. Its characteristic is that the hip joints open outwards to both sides of the human body. The opening of the hip joints stretches the body's lines and increases the expressiveness of the lower limbs.
This is very different from oriental dance. In Zhang Haoran's opinion, this kind of toe dance is a bit tense, and it feels that the dancer's body is too tight, which is very different from the soft and light style of Chinese dance.
But when the charming Princess Catalina dances, there is a different kind of beauty.
The Portuguese noble men and women present were fascinated by the performance. The beautiful Princess Catherine was the dream lover of many Portuguese noble men. These admirers seldom saw Princess Catherine in normal times, and this time they were lucky enough to see her perform a wonderful toe dance, which made them even more mesmerized.
After Princess Catalina finished her dance, her delicate face flushed slightly pink. She bowed to everyone present, winning prolonged applause. The palms of those young noble boys were almost swollen from clapping.
As the guest of honor, Zhang Haoran was generous with his praise.
King Joao IV was very happy to hear his praise. Queen Gusmao saw that her husband seemed to have other intentions. She secretly tugged at the hem of King Joao IV's clothes and asked in a low voice: "Your Majesty, why did you let Catalina perform singing and dancing on such an occasion? Does Your Majesty have other intentions?"
John IV knew that his wife loved their daughter, and thought it would be a bit too hasty to bring up the matter of marriage right at the welcoming banquet, so he held back.
That night, after the banquet, as soon as they returned to the palace, Queen Gusmao could not help but ask: "Your Majesty, do you want to use Catalina to form a marriage alliance with the Qin State?"
Seeing her anxious look, John IV sighed, "Queen, listen to me, I don't want to marry Catalina to Qin, but..."
"Your Majesty, I heard that the King of Qin already has a queen, and the princes of Qin are still young. How can they marry Katrina? Your Majesty, you are not going to give Katrina to the King of Qin, are you? He already has a queen. How can this be possible?"
In Europe, the king usually has only one queen. If he wants to marry again, he must divorce the current queen. However, most kings usually have several lovers. Lovers are not formal wives and cannot be shown on the stage.
Queen Gusmao would never agree to let her precious daughter become someone else's secret lover.
Joao IV explained: "Queen, you don't know that in the East it is different from in Europe. In addition to the queen, the emperor of the East can marry many concubines. These concubines have a slightly lower status than the queen, but they are also the emperor's legal wives."
"But even if this is the case, do we have to marry Katrina to Qin? Qin is so far away."
"Queen, Portugal is in a difficult situation now. England and France are unwilling to accept us, and Spain is unwilling to let us be independent and is preparing to launch a new round of attacks on us. We are isolated and helpless in Europe. Our overseas colonies are constantly being invaded by other countries. Now, except for Qin, we can't find an ally."
"But Qin is so far away. Even if we form an alliance with Qin, what good will it do?"
"Queen, you don't know that in the past, an alliance with Qin might not have had much effect, but now it is different. Qin has a powerful fleet and sophisticated weapons. They easily defeated the Dutch in the Indian Ocean and seized the dominance of the Indian Ocean. Now if England, Spain and we want to keep our territories in India, we must look to Qin for favor.
I also heard that the fleet that defeated the Dutch in India was only one of the four fleets of the Qin State. I heard that they could build warships as big as islands, and they could take off from warships and attack enemy warships from the sky. Their weapons were very advanced and terrifying. If all the fleets of the Qin State came to Europe, even if the warships of all European countries were added together, they would not necessarily be a match for the Qin State. "
"This... flying into the sky... how is this possible, oh God, this can't be real..."
"Queen, don't be surprised. Qin has many unbelievable advanced technologies. For example, the warships they built are twice as fast as ours. Their weapons, called rockets, are very light and can explode after being fired. The power is very terrible. If we can get some weapons support from Qin, even if Qin does not send troops to help us, we don't have to fear anyone in Europe.
Also, whoever can form an alliance with Qin can gain the trade dominance between Europe and the East. As long as they have this trade dominance, they will have inexhaustible money. England is very enthusiastic this time, and is also trying to form an alliance with Qin in order to gain the trade dominance in the East.
I finally managed to persuade the Qin delegation to choose Lisbon as the first stop of their visit to Europe. I wanted to sign an alliance before the English and become Qin's first ally in Europe. I have already decided. Not to mention Catalina, as long as Qin agrees to my conditions, it will be worth it even if Anna is not married to them."
"His Majesty!"
“All for Portugal!”
It is no wonder that John IV made this decision. Portugal is now struggling to survive in the cracks, and the situation is indeed very difficult. Once it can get the support of Qin, Portugal will not only occupy the trade advantage in the East, but also obtain a huge source of wealth;
He could even rely on the advanced weapons provided by Qin to defeat Spain, England, and France, and become the overlord of Europe. At least that was what John IV envisioned.
For the future of Portugal, let alone sending two daughters to the Qin emperor as concubines, even if the sacrifice is greater, what does it matter
After hearing what John IV said, Queen Gusmao could not say anything. In fact, most of the royal princesses were victims of political marriages. It has always been like this. No matter how much Queen Gusmao loves her daughter, what can she do
The next day, John IV sent his most trusted minister, Count Brewster, to hold formal talks with Zhang Haoran, the chief envoy of the Qin Dynasty, in a side hall of the imperial palace. More than a dozen people from each side attended the talks.
The communication style of Westerners is different from that of Easterners. They don't use much politeness, and they are not like Easterners who chat about everything under the sun for a while and then slowly get to the point after the atmosphere is harmonious.
They were also polite, for example, Earl Brewster started by saying, "Your Excellency, please allow me to pay my highest respects to the Emperor of your country and extend my warmest welcome to your visit to Lisbon."
But Westerners usually only exchange a few words. After a few polite words, Earl Brewster went straight to the point and said, "Our King has always liked Eastern culture. At the same time, Portugal and the East have a century-long history of friendly exchanges. The two countries are thousands of miles apart, but have close exchanges. We hope to further strengthen the exchanges between the two countries. In order to form the closest alliance with the Qin State, His Majesty is willing to marry Princess Catalina to the Qin State and form a marriage with your Majesty. Dear Sir, we in Portugal hope to form a friendly country with your country with great sincerity. I hope you can accept our sincerity."
After Earl Brewster finished speaking, he stood up and bowed to Zhang Haoran with an extremely sincere attitude.
Zhang Haoran recalled that at the welcoming banquet last night, King John IV asked Princess Catalina to come out and dance. Now Earl Brewster wanted to form an alliance with the Qin Dynasty, which was not too surprising to him.
It's just that Brewster's style of getting straight to the point made him a little uncomfortable.
The Qin Dynasty would not allow a European country to monopolize the trade in the Far East. It would not be in the interests of the Qin Dynasty without competition.
In the past, Daqin was worried that Portugal, which was caught in the middle, was unreliable and would betray Daqin under the coercion of European countries. On the contrary, Britain, located on the British Isles, was stronger and more able to withstand pressure. In order to ensure the continuity of Daqin's maritime trade with Europe, Daqin was more inclined to cooperate with Britain.
But that was a different time. With the Qin Dynasty gaining dominance over the Indian Ocean and soon set to seize the Cape of Good Hope in southern Africa, the Qin Dynasty's deterrence against European countries has greatly increased.
Portugal no longer dared to abandon the Qin Dynasty at will. At this time, choosing to support the weak Portugal might be more in line with the interests of the Qin Dynasty.
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