Chapter 407 Love My Home, Clean First
No matter from which angle you look at it, Felipe II is a better choice than Antonio, in terms of power, status, strength, wisdom, and even personal accomplishment, etc. , comprehensive comparison, Felipe II is a complete victory.
But Xu Fan still did not choose Felipe II, but chose Antonio, which made Felipe II sad. He was so serious, and Xu Fan also made him lose so completely.
It's very simple. Antonio has the canonization of the Ming Emperor, but Felipe II does not. This is the fundamental reason.
A canonization imperial edict, a crown of imperial robes, and a gold seal representing the king's title may not seem that important, but to Xu Fan, this was the basis for him to bring the new Ming Dynasty to Western Europe.
What Xu Fan wants to welcome is never the king, but the power from the east, Wang Hua.
There are so many things and it is very complicated to do.
The first thing Xu Fan did was to make Lisbon, a coastal city, clean and hygienic. Under the threat of force, the nobles in the city had to acquiesce to this action, and Xu Fan also Instead of using their people, they spent 10,000 silver coins and hired a thousand homeless people in the city to clean up the excrement.
Ten thousand Wanli silver coins still have enough purchasing power in faraway Taixi. These thousand homeless people were so grateful that they even washed the streets inside and outside with clean water and used hard brushes to remove the old dirt. , cleaned it thoroughly, and unclogged the blocked underground pipes.
The tramps are ready, and they will not hesitate once the Minister of State Xu Fan orders the killing of the new king.
Xu Fan was very satisfied and promised these thousand homeless people that if they collected the dung cans placed in the streets and alleys every day, they would be rewarded with ten silver coins every year, and all of the dung would be used by Xu Fan for composting and then for farming.
These thousand homeless people play more than that. Each person is responsible for a fixed street. If he sees an unfamiliar face, he will take a second look, and he will become Xu Fan's eyeliner. Soon, at the call of the city hall, general cleaning began inside and outside Lisbon.
The "Love My Home, Clean First" campaign has begun.
In less than half a month, more than 60,000 kilograms of garbage accumulated on the outskirts of Lisbon. Scavengers appeared immediately, and Xu Fan did not even need to hire them. The land was vast and sparsely populated. The prosperous Lisbon in the West still has a large number of homeless people.
These scavengers sort the garbage into categories, put the rotten ones into the septic tank, and put the recyclable ones in place according to the type. Some really useless things will also break the pavement. Regarding the collection of garbage, Classification and organization, or in other words, urban management, Daming has its own mature experience.
As early as the Shang Dynasty, if rubbish piled up in front of the door, people would have their hands chopped off; in the Zhou Dynasty, people who defecated in public would have their tools confiscated, and there were special public toilets; the Qin law was even more stringent. Those who litter the main streets of the city will have their faces tattooed.
In the Tang Dynasty, there was a scholar named Pei Mingli who was good at managing biology. He collected discarded things from the world and accumulated them. With this, he had a fortune of tens of millions and made a huge fortune by specializing in garbage recycling business. He was called He was recommended to be the imperial censor in the palace, and was promoted to Taichang Qing.
In the Song Dynasty, with the increase in population, the emergence of large and super large cities, there were no streets and lanes, and the city was inaccessible. The "Song Xingtong" stipulated: Those who invade the streets and lanes , the staff is seventy.
The street department, which is responsible for cleanliness and sanitation, appeared in the organizational structure of the yamen, and was responsible for road construction, greening, cleaning, and cleaning up illegal road occupations. In the Ming Dynasty, the profession of scavenger appeared.
The Ming Dynasty has rich experience in the management of large cities. In the northern and southern capitals, there are more than one million people living in the inner and outer cities alone, and the population of Guocao City attached to the city is not counted, and the entire The Ming Dynasty had more than 32 cities with a population of more than one million people.
In Xu Fan's opinion, Lisbon, a small town in Zuoer, including the unregistered thieves and vagrants in the city, has only 150,000 people. In the Ming Dynasty, this is the size of a county town in the Susong area. Xu Fan is the Ming Dynasty. Jinshi, he even supervised the construction of the royal palace and managed a small Lisbon, holding everything in his hands.
Soon, Lisbon underwent earth-shaking changes. Coupled with the warm spring and the blooming of flowers, this earth-gray city even had scenes of flowers, and then bathhouses were set up in the city. On the streets.
These bathhouses were originally churches.
Xu Fan is really persistent about bathing. He doesn't like Ranuccio, a missionary, just because Ranuccio doesn't take a bath.
The homeless people rushed into the church, smashed and looted it, took away their belongings, and forced the pastor here to leave. Then the city hall took over the churches and turned them into bathhouses.
Everyone is saying that the new Minister of State, Plenipotentiary Advisor, the despicable and insidious Eastern guest Xu Fan, commanded these tramps to rush into the church and snatch away all the wealth accumulated over thousands of years, because these tramps In Han, there are always a few who don't look like tramps. They are tall and powerful and have loud voices.
But everyone can only say this, but there is no way to accuse them. They really dare to be angry and dare not speak out. They can only bury their anger in their hearts, mainly because there is no evidence, and secondly because the palace guards, always It is carrying a blunderbuss and pulling an artillery gun through the city.
The tramps are a loose mess. It is easy to gather them together, but it is difficult to get them to do something. The well-trained pirates become the organizers, and these pirates are very important to the pirates. The wealth of these churches has been coveted for a long time, and they will naturally not let it go if they get this opportunity.
These pirates and tramps contributed the wealth they robbed to gambling houses and brothels. There is no doubt that Xu Fan spent half a month to destroy all these gambling houses and brothels. He grabbed it as part of the military pay recovery plan.
Antonio came to Lisbon in May of the eighth year of Wanli. The five-masted ocean ship stopped in the port, and Antonio fell into hesitation. One thing was from the five-masted ship conferred by the Ming Emperor. Zhang Gun's clothes, one of which is a coronation dress, come from the Holy See.
After much hesitation, Antonio put on the Wu Zhang Gun uniform. As Marcus said, he had already made his choice. The hesitation at this moment was somewhat artificial. Once he lost Ming's investment, he would face the powerful Felipe. II, he has no chance of winning.
The King of Portugal finally returned to the king’s territory. As soon as he got off the boat, Antonio almost didn’t recognize it. Is this Lisbon? !
He actually did not smell the familiar stench, but smelled the fragrance of flowers! Lisbon has a new look, and even the people of Lisbon have changed.
Clean and sanitary!
The citizens of Lisbon enthusiastically welcomed their new king. The enthronement ceremony had some regrets, that is, usually, the Holy See would send a cardinal to the palace to confer the crown, which symbolizes the royal power, with him. On the head of the new king, and this time, the chariot was pulled by Chen Dazhuang. The crown symbolizing royal power was replaced by a crown, which was worn by Xu Fan for Antonio.
The common people in Lisbon don’t know much about Xu Fan, and they don’t know much about the Eastern world. In their view, Xu Fan, a Jinshi of the Ming Dynasty, is equivalent to the bishop of Taixi. This understanding cannot be wrong , is completely out of line.
Amidst the sound of horns, drums, musical instruments and carnival, the first decision the new king made was to expel Ranuccio Farnese, the archbishop of the Portuguese diocese. This decision made Xu Fan His brows were furrowed. It was obviously Antonio's own decision, and it was very sudden.
The expulsion of Ranuccio Farnese was Antonio's revenge. When he was the abbot of the monastery, he could occasionally discuss life with the nuns. It was this Ranuccio who encouraged the old king to be kind. Rick drove him to the boundless sea. Now that he has returned as the king, the first one to deal with is Ranuccio.
Xu Fan did not disturb Antonio's revenge and hosted the grand ceremony until the end.
"This is a map of Portugal. Although it is very simple, it is completely sufficient now." Xu Fan stood in front of a simple map and said with a smile. He had said congratulations many times. Now that he has sat on the throne, there is no need to continue congratulating him.
"Being on the throne is not the end, but the beginning of the war. Those neatly dressed and polite nobles are still waiting to see who will win in this battle for the throne. As long as their status and interests are guaranteed "It doesn't matter who becomes the king." Xu Fan pointed the long wooden pole in his hand at the Strait of Gibraltar and said, "The key point is here."
"Felipe's army is very powerful, with a large square formation." The number of medium musketeers exceeds 75%, and they are equipped with chariots, shield soldiers, and spearmen for close combat. Dealing with this kind of phalanx is really too difficult for the weak Portugal. Fortunately, because Due to the mountains and other reasons, Felipe only had four land attack routes, all of which involved long journeys and long expeditions."
"So, the sea route became Felipe's only choice."
Marchus admired Xu Fan's profound knowledge and rich management experience, but from a military perspective, he felt that what Xu Fan said was wrong. After thinking about it, he interrupted Xu Fan and said: " It is not impossible to attack from land, and we cannot stop it."
Xu Fan said with a smile: "I am not good at military affairs, but a land expedition requires countless manpower, material and financial resources. The price is too high, didn't I say it? Our goal has always been to make Felipe feel it's not worth it."
"If he attacks from land, we won't be able to resist it. Just admit defeat and continue to be a pirate at sea. This is a big gamble."
He is willing to attack from land and pay such a high price, so why not choose to obey?
The cost of attacking from land is extremely high. In addition to the trouble of marching, towns and fortresses must be conquered along the way. In a country with a general sense of resistance, conquering from land is a protracted war. Moreover, they have to face an endless stream of resisters. This is why Portugal has not been annexed yet and Felipe chose to marry and open up the border.
Felipe did not want to pay too heavy a price to gain power.
In comparison, choosing the navy to go straight to Huanglong, attack Lisbon, and force Antonio to abdicate is undoubtedly a cheaper option.
Antonio looked at the map, thought for a moment, nodded and said: "We can't stop it anyway, so we might as well not put up any defenses and use all our strength to defend ourselves against attacks from the sea. I very much agree with this direction."
Xu Fan's long pole points to freedom. The direction of the city said: "The City of Liberty also has ten five-masted transoceanic ships. Once Felipe II's invincible fleet passes through the Strait of Gibraltar, the fleet of the City of Liberty will not come to Lisbon for reinforcements, but will enter the Mediterranean Sea. , destroying the coastal ports and forcing Felipe II's navy to return to the Mediterranean. "
A replica of besieging Wei and rescuing Zhao, attacking the enemy will save it.
“Once Felipe II’s navy returns to the Mediterranean, how will Liberty City’s fleet retreat?” Marcus asked with a frown. This plan sounded fine, but it had a big problem. The Liberty City fleet did not retreat at all.
Xu Fan exhaled and said: "They have completed the task, which means they have completed their mission."
"This..." Marcus understood, in fact, they sacrificed this Detachment of the fleet, this Oriental is as cruel as ever. In doing so, it can destroy Spain's coastal ports to the greatest extent and make Felipe II pay a heavy price.
Marcus said doubtfully: "But after the Free City fleet was gloriously sacrificed, how to deal with Felipe II's next attack? With such a loss, Felipe II will definitely become angry and will definitely Attack with all our strength."
Xu Fan recognized Marcus's concerns and calmly replied: "This year's caravans and envoys have set out for the Ming Dynasty to beg the Ming Emperor for mercy and grant more. The fleet and the reorganized Liberty City Fleet can still form a cornering force."
"If there is time, when Felipe II becomes angry and launches another attack, we can restore the size and strength of the Liberty Fleet. With destructive power, His Highness can secure the throne. If it is too late, the bet will be lost. "Using a small amount to make a big gain is a big gamble in itself, and nine times out of ten you will lose.
Antonio finally approved Xu Fan's plan because he had no better way. Similarly, such an operation required smooth and fast information flow, and the ten three-masted hydrofoil sailing ships from Daming Dynasty became an indispensable tool to ensure information communication. Two sharp weapons, this is a war with asymmetrical strength. The chance of survival lies in the word intelligence.
Xu Fan soon discovered that Antonio was not a qualified king because he was very lazy. There were two reasons for this laziness. On the one hand, it was due to his character. The long sea voyage made him He was quite impatient with government affairs and always felt that he could be killed cleanly. The second reason was that Antonio was not good at government affairs. Those complicated government affairs without a clear context made Antonio even more irritated, and in the end they were all delegated to the Minister of State.
Felipe II was a tyrant, but he was really very diligent. He wrote more than 4,000 letters to officials from various places a year. Antonio could only read them twice. For bureaucratic construction, Antonio Not very interested.
In May of the eighth year of Wanli, the envoy from Spain arrived in Lisbon. The envoy was still the palace secretary and pharmacist Solon. Solon was surprised by the changes in Lisbon and recognized Xu Fan's abilities even more. .
At the Palace of Sintra, Sauron met Antonio, who had become king.
Soren stood on the stall in the Swan Hall, looking around. Occasionally he would pick up a piece of porcelain and examine it carefully. He half raised his head and looked at Antonio, and said with a smile: "Your Excellency, Captain Wearing gorgeous clothes, I seem to be the noble king, but in my opinion, I am like a monkey in a street circus. I come here this time to convey his will on behalf of my king. My king does not Recognizing the legitimacy of your throne, the Holy See also expressed its dissatisfaction with your expulsion of the archbishop."
"Oh, I know that you have the recognition and support of the King of France and the King of England, but their support, my king. "I don't care."
Marchus took out the sword in his hand. Sauron insulted his king, and Marcus wanted to protect the king's face.
"Your Excellency Sword Master, please put away your sword. I am not your opponent. I am a priest. I don't have to accept your duel. Please be patient and listen to me clearly explain my purpose." Sauron walked around the Swan Hall indifferently, saying as he walked: "It is actually very simple to want my king to recognize your throne and to have the Holy See canonize you."
"My King and the Holy See, I hope that you can send a mission to Rome to explain the details of the expulsion to the Pope, and in the witness of the Lord, the ruling will be fair."
"As for this mission, we hope to be led by Xu Fan, your Minister of State and Plenipotentiary Advisor. I am not humiliating Your Excellency. Your group of pirates may cause even greater trouble when they arrive in Rome. I am considering it for Your Excellency."
“My king gave me a letter. This is a promise to you. As long as you send Xu Fan to Rome, after Xu Fan leaves Portugal, my king will immediately declare his renunciation through the Holy See. Regarding the inheritance rights of the Portuguese throne, Spain and the Holy See will simultaneously recognize His Highness’s throne, and His Highness will be the king of Portugal in name only.”
“There is no need to worry about the invalidity of the king’s promise. The king’s face is more important than the position of the king of Portugal. Value, what you value is nothing but dispensable in the eyes of the king."
After saying this, Sauron sat down and looked at Antonio curiously, wondering how Antonio would make his decision.
Felipe II wrote a personal letter, which is to use the reputation of the King of Spain as a guarantee. As long as Antonio gives Xu Fan to Felipe II, the throne and recognition that he longs for will be within reach. .
This is not cheating.
Soren is still using the old-fashioned alienation tactic to drive a wedge between Antonio and Xu Fan. As long as he tells these conditions, the alienation plan will be completely successful. Once the seeds of doubt are planted, it will inevitably Flowers and fruits.
Even if Antonio chooses Xu Fan to stay in Lisbon, Antonio will blame Xu Fan for any setbacks in the future.
Felipe II did not even need to use force to deal with Antonio. This was due to his strength.
"Xu Fan is so important, is it so important that the tyrant wants to exchange his inheritance rights?" Antonio frowned.
Sauron smiled, with a flash of disdain and narrowness in his eyes. Antonio, who had no wisdom, did not understand the value of Xu Fan at all. He was not alone. He was sent to Taixi by the Ming Dynasty. The value of Xu Fan , not only himself, but also the crystallization of wisdom passed down for thousands of years.
Antonio never thought about leaving Xu Fan. Antonio would not be able to play with this disintegrated Portugal. It can be seen from the fact that he expelled the archbishop just after he succeeded to the throne. None, Antonio has no ability to rule this corrupt Portugal.
The death of Enrique the Pure was indeed committed by Felipe II, but without the cooperation of the Portuguese nobles, Felipe would not have been able to do it. Corrupt Portugal was rotten to the core.
Solon said helplessly: "This is a long story. Legas was sent to the Far East as a special envoy, but he broke his promise not to marry and serve God for the rest of his life. He married in the Ming Dynasty. He took Anna as his wife. Later, Anna returned to Tessie with his children. Naturally, my king would not allow such a blasphemer to return and burned them at the stake."
"From this mother and son. On my body, my king got a travel book, but it lacked the Eastern interpretation and it was difficult to understand. The king was a stubborn person. Understanding the travel book was the king’s insistence, so he was willing to exchange it like this. After all, Legas has already He has almost become a minister of the Ming Emperor. Only by becoming a minister of the king can Xu Fan eliminate the anger and persistence in the king's heart."
Sauron's words may seem unreasonable, but they are actually very inadequate.
Just wanting to understand a travelogue, just to avenge the betrayal of Special Envoy Legaz, is like child's play, exchanging the right to inherit the throne of Portugal, this is really willful.
Antonio was not a wise man, so Sauron did not tell the truth.
The feudal system in the West, the feudal system in which my vassals are not my vassals, has come to an end. As the feudal king, Felipe II was very anxious, and the Ming Dynasty was divided The block made Felipe II's heart beat. Similarly, although Spain is strong, it lacks cohesion and is like a piece of scattered sand. Religion is one of the centripetal forces, and money is also a centripetal force. However, the interference of religion in state affairs makes King Felipe more As with dissatisfaction, the role of money is also diminishing.
To be more clear, Felipe II's real intention was to learn from the experience of the East and improve the construction of the Spanish dynasty. This was a more urgent matter than the annexation of Portugal.
"What decision will you make?" Sauron stood up, put on his round pointed hat, and said with a smile: "I'm not in a hurry, I will stay in Lisbon for seven days, I hope you can figure it out in these seven days. , give me an answer."
"The king comes with full sincerity. If there is no need for war, it is the best outcome. My king does not like war."
So. Lun left the Swan Hall, not the palace, but went to the China Hall, where he wanted to see Xu Fan again.
“Dear distinguished guest from the East, when I see you again, you have become the Minister of State of Portugal. I see the light of wisdom shining in you, illuminating the inside and outside of Lisbon. If you are lucky enough, how much I hope. You can light up the whole of Spain. Those damn big rats are longer than arms, and fleas are bigger than fingers. I really have had enough!" Soren took off his hat with full enthusiasm, as if seeing it! We greet each other like old friends.
The changes in Lisbon made Sauron's breathing quicken. In this city, he actually smelled the fragrance of blooming flowers and the clean and tidy streets, which made him feel like traveling in the Kingdom of God on earth. the illusion.
Xu Fan must be brought back to Spain.
It’s just Portugal. Even if it gets the throne with force, it can only contribute 500,000 silver in tax revenue a year. It still needs to pay expensive costs to make repairs. It’s better to just bring Xu Fan with him. Walk.
Xu Fan smiled sarcastically. This Sauron was so exaggerated every time we met. He shook his head and said, "I actually didn't do anything. If Sauron had come to Lisbon seven days ago, he would still be able to see the streets. It's full of big rats. In the past seven days, the sludge in the underground drainage has been cleaned up and all the rats hiding in the ground have been eliminated."
Sauron said with a troubled face: "Dear distinguished guest from the East, I have an inappropriate request. Although it is very rude, I still hope to get your permission. Can you let me take a look at your official documents on the governance of Lisbon? "
"This is not embarrassing. "Request." Xu Fan thought it was a big deal and stammered for a long time. It was just a trivial matter. He handed a stack of organized documents to Sauron.
After Soran thanked him, he immediately began to read it carefully. He really read every one carefully and said in awe: "You are really a genius. You are so generous. I will definitely repay you."
Solan told Xu Fan in detail what he had just done in the Swan Hall, and then explained: "Actually, I shouldn't have told you this. Your light makes me ashamed, although my methods It's very despicable, but I don't regret it. As a servant of the king, I will definitely use all the means I can to bring the distinguished guest back to the summer palace."
"My king needs your help. We also need wisdom from the East. After reading this, I am even more convinced of this fact.”
How can such a thing as a estrangement plan be pointed out directly in front of the person being alienated? But Sauron did this because he knew that nothing could be hidden from the wise Xu Fan.
"Sauron, you are really insidious and cunning." After Xu Fan listened to Sauron's statement, he was really filled with hatred! This guy's strategy isn't brilliant, but it works.
Soren said nonchalantly: "Thank you for your compliment. Antonio is not a smart person. In this huge gamble, he only needs to make the wrong choice once and he will lose completely. "
Xu Fan asked doubtfully: "My Majesty once defined classes, hereditary princes and nobles, elected civil and military officials, famous families that have lasted for thousands of years, Antu herdsmen and rural gentry, abundant food and clothing. Homeowner farmers, long-term tenant farmers who lack food and clothing, poor laborers who are homeless, and lowly slaves who are living in poverty. "
"Your Majesty said that what determines class is the amount of social resources."
< br>"I came from the Ming Dynasty. After migrating, my ability to control social resources will inevitably decline. I really don't understand why your monarch is so determined to win."
Solon's class theory Insufficient understanding, in fact, not only Suolun's lack of understanding, but also Xu Fan's partial understanding. This is the masterpiece Zhang Juzheng is writing since his public and private debates, intending to explain common social problems and try to find solutions.
Soren understood the question and said with a smile: "Your talent should not be buried in Lisbon, but should shine in the sky."
"Let's make a bet. If Antonio chooses to let me stay, How about Sauron not bothering with this anymore?" Xu Fan tentatively suggested, making Sauron give up.
Please give me a monthly ticket, wow! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
(End of this chapter)