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In 1580, due to the royal family's marriage and succession, Portugal was forced to accept Spanish rule for 60 years. As Spain declined and poverty continued to worsen, Spain's rule in Portugal became increasingly unpopular, and uprisings continued in Portugal.
It was not until November 1640 that a conspiracy was hatched by the Portuguese nobles and officially supported by John, Duke of Braganza.
In the early morning of December 1, the nobles occupied the Royal Palace of Lisbon, executed the Secretary of State, forced the Spanish garrison to surrender, deposed King Philip IV of Spain, and made John, Duke of Braganza, the new king, called John IV.
Only then did Portugal break away from Spanish rule again. But the situation of Portugal after independence was not very good.
John IV realized that Portugal was very weak. In order to seek foreign support to fight against Spain and recover lost overseas territories;
John IV launched the so-called "Reconstruction Diplomacy" and sent diplomatic envoys to Britain, France, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Denmark and Rome, expressing Portugal's willingness to join the Bourbon family group headed by France to fight against the Habsburg family group headed by Spain.
For the Portuguese, it was natural that Spain's enemies should accept Portugal as an ally; but for the great powers such as France, it was more profitable to treat Portugal as an enemy than as an ally.
Because in this way, they could openly capture the commercial ports and strategic fortresses held by the Portuguese.
So the so-called "Reconstruction Diplomacy" of John IV resulted in a sad result: Portugal broke away from the Habsburg family group (independence from Spain), but was not accepted by another Bourbon family group headed by France.
The small country of Portugal was excluded from the two major ruling family groups in Europe and became a piece of meat that both sides wanted to swallow.
On the church side, the Jesuits supported John IV, while the Inquisition sided with Spain, and neither side reached a consensus.
In short, the situation is very unfavorable for Portugal.
This time, Jiadier and Mashidu came to obtain trade privileges with Daqin, and then use this as a bargaining chip to help Portugal get rid of its diplomatic difficulties in Europe.
After a little probing, Qin Mu basically figured out their thoughts. He had Ma Shidu and Jia Dier taken away and settled down, and then called Yang Shen, Jin Lei and Shi Chunqiu. The four of them sat in the octagonal pavilion, drinking and discussing the matter.
"King Qin, I think the most important thing for our Great Qin right now is to devote ourselves to expelling the Tartars from the Central Plains. As for the West, it will not be too late to take action tomorrow." said Shi Chunqiu, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel.
Shi Chunqiu's words make sense, but in Qin Mu's opinion, cooperating with the Portuguese has both advantages and disadvantages. In this way, Qin Mu can obtain some advanced technology and talents from Europe through Portugal, and the Qin navy will have a very good guide when it goes out in the future.
The journey from China to Europe is so long that it would be extremely difficult for the Qin Navy to fight its way there step by step.
If the Portuguese help, there are their supply ports along the way, and they guide the route, then Daqin can expand its influence to Europe at the fastest speed.
And the world's largest gold mine, the Rand Gold Mine, was quietly lying at the southern tip of Africa. How could the British get there first
Qin Mu said: "If you don't think about the future, you will have immediate worries. The Tartars in the north are certainly the most important, but cooperating with Westerners will not hinder the Qin Dynasty's great cause of expelling the Tartars. On the contrary, it will have a certain promoting effect."
Jin Lei agreed with this point. He then sighed, "Portugal is just a tiny country, but it can control such a large overseas territory. This is really unbelievable!"
Qin Mu also said casually: "There are countless wealth overseas. As long as you go out, you can easily get it. We, the great China, can no longer watch others come to our doorstep and plunder us wantonly without doing anything. This cooperation with Portugal is just the beginning."
Yang Shen thought for a moment and said, "King Qin, the Great Qin is now striving to unify the world. For Portugal, the Great Qin is a bit too far away to help. In my opinion, the basis for cooperation between the two sides is not solid."
"Yang Qing, you will be the one to negotiate with the Portuguese this time. Luzon is an important colony of Spain. As long as we send our navy to attack Luzon, it will be the greatest help to Portugal. Isn't this the basis for cooperation?"
"But King Qin, don't forget that the Tartars still occupy the Central Plains. Sending the navy to attack Luzon at this time will only lead to unnecessary complications. I ask King Qin to think twice." Shi Chunqiu said bluntly.
Shi Chunqiu always did things according to plan, which was his character, and Qin Mu knew it very well. He believed that most of the ministers in the court held the same view as him, and did not want to cause any more trouble before unifying the world.
But the so-called unexpected events depend on how you look at it. After the battle in the East China Sea, both the Qin Dynasty and the Zheng family suffered heavy losses. However, with the surrender of Zheng Zhilong, the combined naval force was much stronger than before.
The attack on Luzon would not take up much of Daqin's war resources. It would be enough to gather a hundred or so elite warships. The navy was a very expensive branch of the military. It would be a huge waste to leave such a costly branch of the military idle.
Qin Mu said: "Shi Qing, you have to look at both sides of the problem. Some wars will not only not lose money, but also make money. Westerners often just send a fleet to sea and bring back endless wealth for their own country.
Precisely because the Qin Dynasty will face a series of wars to unify the world, it is even more necessary to send the navy out, so that they can bring back a steady stream of wealth for the Qin Dynasty and continuously provide blood for the great cause of unification.
Only in this way can the Qin Dynasty not become poorer and poorer, and the people will not become more miserable because of the war. On the other hand, the goods of the Qin Dynasty must also go out as soon as possible, so that the country can prosper rapidly;
Now that Westerners control the South Seas, if Daqin's products want to go abroad, the navy must open the way first, so that Daqin's products can get the greatest profit. Spain has no more than 3,000 or 2,000 troops in Luzon, so it is not difficult to take it. "
Qin Mu's words made Shi Chunqiu a little stunned. Qin Mu ordered the navy to launch a war abroad just to provide blood transfusion to the country.
This way of thinking completely jumped out of his thought framework, making him very uncomfortable.
Since ancient times, in Confucian thought, war is the most costly and wasteful. Weapons are dangerous tools, and sages use them only when they have no other choice. In other words, unless it is absolutely necessary, you should not resort to war.
Regardless of what he thought, Qin Mu said to Yang Shen: "Attacking Luzon is the sincerity that our Great Qin is showing to Portugal. Yang Qing, you must remember that in the eyes of Westerners, there are only eternal interests, not eternal friends. When cooperating with Westerners, you must never talk to them about morality. This won't work in front of Westerners, they will just treat you as a fool. So, when you negotiate with them next time, you must put interests first, and the more benefits you can squeeze from the Portuguese, the better."
"Your Majesty, I obey your order."
Of course, Qin Mu would definitely not attack Luzon alone. He would have to involve the Portuguese to deepen the hatred between Portugal and Spain.
At dusk, everyone dispersed.
Li Shi came up and said, "King Qin, I have brought you the rifle you requested."
"Oh, bring it up quickly."
When the Zheng family attacked Taiwan, they seized a lot of rifles from the Dutch. Li Shi asked someone to bring one. Qin Mu took a closer look. The barrel of this rifle has rifling. When shooting, the bullet accelerates in the barrel, so the trajectory is more stable and the range is longer.
The biggest problem lies in the rifling, because the rifling makes loading much more difficult than a smoothbore rifle. To load a bullet, you have to hit it hard with a hammer to force the bullet in.
But despite this, it is still a big improvement.
Rifled guns represent the future development trend of hot weapons. Qin Mu is very concerned about this. He remembers that there was a Minié bullet later, which solved the problem of the difficulty of loading muzzle-loading rifles. Before the breech-loading rifle was developed, this was definitely the most powerful gun.
The principle of the Minié bullet is actually very simple. A small hole is dug at the bottom of the lead bullet. When fired, the fire causes the bullet to expand and stick close to the barrel. Under the pressure of the rifling, the bullet can rotate out at high speed, greatly improving the accuracy of the hit.
Qin Mu remembered this principle, and then asked Li Shi to send it together with the rifle back to the Military Equipment Bureau for research and development.
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.(To be continued..)
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