To achieve an important goal, it often requires huge investment and even huge sacrifices.

Historians have done relevant research. The Ming Dynasty's navigation history was a hundred years earlier than Europe, and the technology was much more advanced than Europe at that time. Why did the Ming Dynasty not take the path of dominance in Shanghai, but instead allowed Europe, which was much behind, to complete this great cause?

Overall, I think the most important ones are two words - one is "geopolitical" and the other is "sea power".

But in fact, in terms of its essence, the two words do not conflict, but complement each other.

In the history of China, Huang, Xia, Shang, Zhou and Spring battles Qin, and the Three Kingdoms followed the Two Jin Dynasties after the Han Dynasty. The two dynasties in the north and south were Sui, Tang and Five, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties were pacified one after another. But no matter which dynasty or generation, they were always reproductive and replaced on the vast Central Plains.

The powerful Han and Tang dynasties in history have also expanded their territory, but in fact they are limited attacks with active defensive nature, and their main activities are concentrated on the broad land of the Yangtze River and Yellow River basins.

The land is wide and rich enough to carry all the ambitions and dreams of emperors throughout the ages. In addition, China has always been a high central government and centralized power, so the rulers have more - or almost all their thoughts on internal management.

Foreigners tend to declare their strength, and mainly accept worship and surrender from various countries as the superior country of the Celestial Empire. They do not have a strong conquest of foreign countries because there is no need at all.

The best explanation is the result of Zheng He's several voyages to the West.

However, European countries are completely different. Since the Middle Ages, European countries, as big as a province in China and as small as a county in China, have begun to fight each other for hundreds of years.

In this process, these kingdoms of all sizes fought each other and repeatedly squeezed out the last trace of vitality and blood they had. However, because they were all low-end roosters, they had not really destroyed anyone or destroyed anyone after fighting for hundreds of years.

But what is interesting is that these countries do not admit defeat and shout at each other. When their existing strength is not enough to crush their opponents, these small regions and small resources have to expand outward to seize more resources.

As various technical indicators continue to improve at this time, the areas that humans can explore and reach are also expanding, which has forced European countries with greater survival pressure to rush to embark on the path of external colonization.

The most typical of these are the three countries: Britain, the Netherlands and Portugal. The common characteristics of these three countries are that their territory is fully adjacent to the sea, their land is very small, and their resources are highly barren, so they became pioneers of the Age of Discovery.

Objectively speaking, because of the greatest pressure, I have to do so.

From the future, I naturally knew that after the Qing Dynasty entered the pass, despite the exaggerated Kangxi and Qianlong rule, it was actually constantly widening the gap with Europe.

If you fall behind, you will be beaten. Huaxia has been beaten for more than a hundred years because of backwardness, which has brought heavy disasters to the entire country and nation. As the son and daughter of China, I cannot forget this history. Since I have the opportunity to change all this now, why not make my own efforts?

The pampered Ming Dynasty royal family had no pressure to survive and always lived in the lofty dream of unification of the world. They had no idea of ​​the huge dangers lurking around them, nor did they know that Europe on the other side of the earth was running with all their might, and they were planning to embezzle all land, including the Ming Dynasty at any time!

I must awaken it! Let the great powers of the East see the world clearly and recognize their shortcomings!

The best way to awaken it is to let it truly feel the crisis! Feel the pressure and pain from the outside world!

If this will bring war, sacrifice and pain, then I can only say that this is a process that must be experienced. It is either today or tomorrow, and it will never be avoided!

The Oriental Expo was held very successfully. After the three events in London, Amsterdam and Copenhagen, it brought great shock and impact throughout Europe.

Silk, porcelain, embroidery, wood art, tea, wine, food, drama, books, technology, ideas. I have brought everything that Europe can bring!

While the three countries have gained more knowledge and better enjoyed products and benefits from Eastern civilization, the three host countries have also made a lot of money due to taxes and share.

This made the Ming Dynasty's reputation unparalleled in Europe! Everyone yearned for that magical and rich land, and different people even held different yearnings and thoughts.

The result is that many countries expressed their hope that we can increase the number of fairs. Of course, the most important thing is to invite the American Chamber of Commerce and I to attend the fair in their country, and bring them more business opportunities.

These even include Spain - Spain, which has been hostile to me for a long time.

This fully shows that in the face of huge economic interests, no face, dignity, and hatred are all over the world. There are no eternal friends, no eternal enemies, only eternal interests.

So after careful consideration, why not make money that can be made? However, because the Spanish are greedy, in order to prevent them from being greedy for money and being greedy for my property, I made an additional request for Spain.

Pay a deposit.

Of course, it was not handed over to me, but to the third country for custody. If the Spaniard breached the contract, the deposit would belong to me.

The Spaniards were reluctant to agree at first, but the reality was that they had no choice under the strong seller market.

In the end, we reached an agreement to guarantee 55,000 gold coins. The deposit will be kept by the French royal family. Whether the money is in the end or returned to Spain, they will draw a handling fee of 5,000 gold coins from it.

As an intermediary, I am naturally my friend, the Crown Prince of France. In order to discuss this, and to hold another expo in Paris, I met him in the late autumn palace of Chancelise, which was full of maple leaves.

Compared to two years ago, Henry from Navarra is obviously much more mature, but this future French king, who is famous for his casualness, smiles with helplessness, and he just keeps toasting me frequently.

He is asking for drunkenness, so I feel.

"Hi, Henry, my friend, I can't finish drinking." I put down my glass and smiled, "I care more about your sorrow than drinking. Don't you want to talk about it?"

Henry looked at me deeply, shook his head, took a big sip of wine, wiped the wine at the corner of his mouth, and then said hoarsely: "Sun! My best friend! It's not that I don't want to say it, but... it's really helpless."

I picked up the wine glass, touched him again, and then chuckled and said, "I have been in the Ming Dynasty and have been going to sea for more than two years. At this stage, countless people want my life, but I am still living a good life!"

A glimmer appeared in Henry's eyes, staring at me and waiting for me to continue talking.

I stared into his eyes and said word by word: "To do all this, you rely on the word "fight"!"

Henry's hand holding the wine glass was trembling slightly, and after a long time, he whispered: "Future, love, freedom, I have nothing! My friend, I want to fight for it, but..."

I kept silent and waited for him to continue speaking. Henry entered his own emotions and murmured under the influence of alcohol.

"My father and mother, from any perspective, have an in-law relationship with the Valois royal family. I and the dead François, Charles IX, and Henry III are cousins. Henry III has no son, and I am the most powerful heir."

"Margaret is a good woman and a beauty that everyone admires, but I have no common language with her. And my mother-in-law, Catherine de Medici, is a very ambitious woman."

"In the years when she was regent, the current King Henry III was completely under her control, let alone me, a crown prince without real power, could be said to have no value for existence."

"But I am unwilling to give up! Although I am a Huguenot, I do not love France less than any Catholic disciple! Why do I become an alien who is excluded for this reason? I have to be restrained everywhere?"

"I want France to really stand up! Let every French farmer have a chicken in the pot! But... but the hope is too slim..."

"It's so difficult! My friend, it's so difficult! You can't help me."

He murmured, picked up the wine glass and poured a few more sips on himself. When I was about to drink, I pressed it on the wine pot!

Henry looked up at me blankly, not knowing what I was going to do. He had a good impression of my life-savior and fully believed in my strength, but he still had no hope of helping me.

"In China, from ancient times to the present, most kings came from the grassroots. For example, Zhu Yuanzhang, the Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, is an emperor born from the grassroots."

I glanced at Henry, and he was listening, and I continued, "He was poor since childhood and could not even afford to eat. Under the enslavement of the Tatars, all his family fled in dispersion. He had herded cattle for people, worked hard labor, and had a full meal since he was a child."

"Later, he became a monk, well... he was a monk, and this was also for survival. Later, he defected to the rebel army, the revolutionary party. After decades of hard work, he finally completely drove away the Tatars and unified the Ming Dynasty, which was ten times larger than France!"

As I said that, I held the wine glass and said to Henry with a very playful smile: "For him, you have almost everything! Your starting point is something that the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty dared not dream of in his dream! Compared to him, you have nothing but lacking, but what you lack is..."

"courage!"

This word was like a heavy hammer hitting Henry's heart! He looked at me dumbly and repeated the word in a low voice.

After a long time, Henry looked at me again, his eyes regained some spirit, and he asked, "You mean... should I fight once? Right? My friend?"

I smiled without saying a word. Henry changed his position, put his elbows on the table, pressed his center of gravity in front of his body, and asked in a low voice: "Do you think I can do it?"

I snorted and said, "Or do you think I like to waste time?"

Henry asked, "My mother-in-law...Medici, how could she pass this level?"

I said in a deep voice: "After all, she is an outsider. If her name is not upright, she will be dissatisfied. When the time comes, this problem will definitely be solved."

Henry was stunned and then asked again: "What about the sect? I am the Huguenot! My comrades-in-arms and friends shed countless blood for the freedom of faith! Do I want to betray their sacrifice?"

I looked at him coldly and said, "You have no right to speak, you are just a poor Huguenot like a cold bird! Only by standing on the commanding heights can your will be implemented!"

Before he could answer, I picked up the bottle and continued: "Whether the bottle contains red wine or beer, others don't know. What's important is what is written on the label, which is enough!"

Henry pondered: "You mean...I pretend to convert to Catholicism? This...it doesn't seem too difficult to accept than being expelled to the Pyrenees for life."

Henry drank a glass of wine, seemed to have raised his courage, but asked me the last question: "But the biggest question is that Henry III is still very young, can I have consumed him?"

Speaking of this, he poured a glass of wine in a depressed manner, picked it up, but did not drink it, but waited for my answer, his eyes very anxious.

I smiled faintly, picked up the wine bottle, and said slowly in a low voice: "A breath of a man is a stick of incense from the Buddha. For the supreme position that he is determined to win, human life is too fragile!"

"Bang"! The wine glass in Henry's hand slid down to the ground, and his hands were still trembling! It took him a long time to ask in a vague voice: "Are you saying... Assassination!?"
Chapter completed!