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After Qin Mu ascended the throne, all officials were given three days off. The Jinwu in Tianjie did not stop them and set up various performances for the people in the city to watch and enjoy, to show that the emperor wanted to have fun with the people.
The next day, Qin Mu and Queen Yang Zhi set up a "family banquet" in Fengxian Hall and invited the white-haired Qin Liangyu, as well as Qin Yiming, Qin Zuoming and Qin Zuoming.
Qin Liangyu is still in good health. She has been managing the Military Medical College by Mochou Lake for a year. The three hundred female doctors have learned a lot of medical knowledge under the guidance of Li Zixuan and Wu Youxing, but it will take at least a few years to become qualified doctors.
What made Qin Mu happy was that there were not many people who opposed women practicing medicine anymore, and the ministers all acquiesced to this fact.
Among them, Qin Liangyu, a highly respected heroine, played a very important role.
When Qin Mu was not in Nanjing, Yang Zhi would prepare some gifts and visit Qin Liangyu in person during every solar term, treating her like her own aunt.
Qin Liangyu also praised this virtuous queen highly, but the relationship between the two was extremely unharmonious.
At this time, Qin Liangyu hugged Qin Ye and wiped the rice grains from the corners of his mouth with a loving look, and then said to Qin Mu: "Your Majesty, you have worked hard these years to build this great cause, and it is rare for you to have a moment of rest. These old ministers can understand.
"Your Highness the Crown Prince is extremely intelligent and studious. In the future, he will be able to inherit the throne and spread benevolence to the world. But Your Majesty, please forgive me for being so senior. The prosperity of the royal family is a sign of the prosperity of the dynasty. Since ancient times, the founding emperors have had many children and grandchildren."
Qin Mu had no parents, and Qin Liangyu was old enough to be his grandmother, so she couldn't help but talk about this matter.
Qin Mu has been married for many years, and so far, he only has one son, Qin Ye. If it were an ordinary family, it would be fine, but for the royal family, this is a matter related to the safety of the world, and it is inevitable that people are worried.
Qin Liangyu had mentioned this matter to Yang Zhi many times in private. Now, she brought it up again in front of Qin Mu. Qin Mu felt a little embarrassed and laughed it off.
Yang Zhi rushed to say, "My eldest aunt taught me that. This is all my fault. I should have selected some smart and virtuous girls from good families to fill the harem."
To be honest, the one who bears the most pressure is undoubtedly Queen Yang Zhi. If you don't know, you might think it's because she is jealous.
Qin Mu was touched to see that she actually took the initiative to step forward and take on this responsibility.
He couldn't help but think of Qian Wan. If he had not divorced his wife, Qian Wan would have been the queen. With his domineering personality, it is hard to imagine what the harem would have become.
Qin Mu did not deliberately inquire about Qian Wan's news, but he heard that when the Qing army marched south, she fled to Fujian with her father Qian Shun, who became a local official during the Longwu Dynasty. Now her whereabouts are unknown.
At this point in the family dinner, the commander of the Night Guard, Huang Lianshan, hurried in to report: "Your Majesty, I just received news that the Spanish fleet suddenly attacked Macau six days ago."
"Attack Macau?" Qin Mu stood up immediately after hearing the news. He asked Yang Zhi to greet Qin Liangyu, and he called Huang Lianshan to the side hall and asked, "What's the situation?"
"The Spanish launched a surprise attack at dawn, catching the Portuguese off guard. The losses were very heavy. The Macao port was almost razed to the ground, and two warships were sunk in the port. More than 200 people were killed or injured. Under the desperate counterattack of the Portuguese, one of the Spanish warships was damaged, and then they retreated."
"Returned to Luzon?"
"Your Majesty, there is no definite intelligence on this point. Ye Bushou has already informed all the coastal cities of the attack on Macau to prevent the Spanish from attacking."
"Hmm." Qin Mu put his hands behind his back and paced in the side hall for a few steps, thinking about this matter in his mind;
Spain and Portugal are now at war, so it is not surprising that the Spanish attacked Macau, as the Dutch had also attacked Macau before.
What is strange is the timing the Spaniards chose to launch this surprise attack.
During this period, the Governor of Macau, Vahiki, came to Nanjing to attend the coronation ceremony and is still in Nanjing. The Spaniards chose this time to launch a surprise attack, which was probably not accidental but a result of careful calculation of the timing.
In order to get the timing right, they must have an insider in Macau.
"Has Vahiki heard the news?"
"Your Majesty, I don't know yet." Huang Lianshan glanced at Qin Mu's expression and continued, "Your Majesty, the Portuguese sold two cannons and 600 muskets to Zhu Youlang in Guangdong a few days ago."
Although Qin Mu did not regard the two cannons and six hundred muskets as a serious threat, the Portuguese were still selling weapons to Zhu Youlang in Guangdong at this time. This behavior itself was tantamount to causing trouble for the Qin Dynasty, and Qin Mu was very dissatisfied.
Qin Mu originally decided to cooperate with the Portuguese, not expecting them to drive the Spanish and Dutch colonists out of Southeast Asia, but just wanted the Portuguese to be a guide;
After all, since Zheng He, the Chinese have rarely left the South China Sea and are very unfamiliar with the vast sea areas outside. The shipping lanes, monsoons, ocean currents, reefs, supply points, etc., each of which may cause a fleet that is not aware of the situation to pay a heavy price.
If there were Portuguese as guides, the time it would take for the Qin navy to sail across the oceans would be greatly shortened, and the cost would be much less.
But letting you be a guide does not mean tolerating you to cause trouble.
Huang Lianshan continued, "Your Majesty, in the past few months, Ye Bushou has followed merchant ships to explore the South Seas. The Spanish in Luzon and the Dutch in Dagang have new warships arriving, and they are obviously increasing their troops. In addition, the English also have warships coming from India and stopping in Temasek, and it seems that they intend to build a port in Temasek."
Qin Mu had a general understanding of the current Europe. The maritime powers in Europe, such as Spain, Portugal, Holland, Britain, and France, were dividing up the world. South America and North America should have been divided up by them.
The west coast of Africa, India, and Southeast Asia were also divided up by them. Wherever these colonists' ships went, they would draw any land they discovered on the map and then claim it as their territory.
They had guns and cannons. For most of the indigenous people who still lived a primitive life, they only needed a hundred people and dozens of guns to conquer a piece of land, then enslave the local indigenous people and plunder resources.
Among these countries, Portugal was once annexed by Spain and only gained independence a few years ago. It was not popular with the two ancient ruling families in Europe, the Bourbon family headed by France and the Habsburg family headed by Spain, and even the port of the Cape of Good Hope in Africa was taken away by the Dutch.
After the Spanish Invincible Armada was defeated by the British, it was rapidly declining. In addition, the Netherlands and Portugal had successively become independent, and now it is fighting fiercely with Portugal. The strength of its navy is no longer as strong as before.
The Netherlands was at its peak, known as the "Horse Driver of the Sea", especially in the Far East, where it was the strongest. Most of the ports, routes and trade from Europe to the Far East were controlled by the Dutch, and their East India Company was now the largest company in the world.
After defeating the Spanish Armada, Britain is rising rapidly, and its naval power has surpassed that of the Netherlands. However, Britain originally focused its energy on America and Africa, but now it has developed to India and is advancing into Southeast Asia.
France started its overseas colonization relatively late. However, like Britain, France mainly focused its energy on North America and has not yet expanded its influence to the East.
But in general, the main routes of each continent are almost all controlled by these Western colonizers. It is a fact that the whole world is being divided up by them wantonly.
Thinking of this, Qin Mu's sense of urgency suddenly became much stronger.
With the national strength of the Qin Dynasty, if it can fully develop its navy, these tiny Western countries will naturally be incomparable. Let them colonize, let them build ports and cities, and after everything is done, the Qin Dynasty can snatch the colonies from them. This is also a good choice.
However, this is completely wishful thinking. The naval strength of these countries should not be underestimated, and their naval combat experience is not comparable to that of the current Qin Royal Navy.
What worries Qin Mu even more is that if the Great Qin Army rises strongly and drives all the Western colonists out of Southeast Asia, it is likely to prompt these Western colonists to unite and form a situation of confrontation between the East and the West.
If countries like Spain, England, the Netherlands, and France felt the powerful threat from the Qin Dynasty and really united to fight against it, given their strength, it would be hard to say who would win.
Even Portugal, the so-called "ally", will not be reliable by then. This tiny country will not dare to be an enemy of all European countries. In order to gain a foothold in Europe, it will certainly turn around and join the ranks to fight against the Qin Dynasty.
Qin Mu's mind raced. After thinking deeply for a while, he said to Huang Lianshan, "Just now you said that the British have warships arriving at Temasek, right?"
"Yes, Your Majesty." Huang Lianshan replied respectfully.
"You should immediately send a capable person to Temasek with the merchant ship to negotiate with the British and tell them that Daqin is willing to trade with them and even form an alliance to jointly explore interests at sea."
"Your Majesty, don't we have the Portuguese as allies?"
Qin Mu shook his head and said, "The Portuguese are now in a difficult situation. Once they are threatened by other European countries, they may immediately turn against them. The British are on their own island, and their naval strength is already the first in Europe. It is not easy for other European countries to threaten them.
Furthermore, the British are ambitious and are trying to compete with the Netherlands and Spain for maritime hegemony in India and the South China Sea. If we can separate Britain, things will be much easier. "
"Yes, Your Majesty."
These Western colonists are greedy for profit and forget their principles. For them, there is only eternal interest, not eternal allies. There is no need to talk about benevolence and righteousness to them. If we can cooperate with the British and defeat Spain and the Netherlands first, it will not be too late to fight the British in the future. The most important thing now is not to let them unite.
The fight for sea power is a big game of chess. Just place more pieces and take it one step at a time.
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ps: Today is the 16th. To be honest, I have been eager to open a separate chapter to ask for monthly tickets, but I haven't been able to add more chapters. I am too shy to open a separate chapter. Please have pity and give me a few monthly tickets.
(To be continued…)
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