Chapter 338: Civil and military affairs reconcile, and all-out counterattack!
New Year.

For the first time in history, the Cabinet’s Chief Minister Gao Gong cancelled the honor of all civil and military officials visiting the Prime Minister’s residence to pay New Year’s greetings, and stayed in the Cabinet.

At the same time, the Deputy Prime Minister Hu Zongxian and cabinet ministers Li Chunfang, Hai Rui and Zhu Heng also stayed in the cabinet and did not go anywhere.

When the ministers went to the various cabinets’ residences to pay New Year’s greetings according to their closeness to the emperor, they were all told by the doorman that “the cabinet minister is in the cabinet” and then hurriedly turned away.

The destination was the same, so along the way, it was inevitable that they would meet familiar colleagues, say “Happy New Year” and “Happy Spring” to each other, and then go to the cabinet together.

Seeing this situation, many old men in the capital were surprised. Their first thought was, when did the officials of our dynasty become so diligent that they even went to court on New Year’s Day?
Then he was stunned. After more than 20 years, the emperor and father went to court again?
The officials did not explain the people’s suspicion and just kept moving forward. As the crowds grew, some were familiar, while others were “unfamiliar”.

It was the festive season, and they were all respectable people, so it was not convenient for them to have a quarrel. With the help of someone they were familiar with, they said “Happy New Year” to each other. It seemed like they had reconciled, but when they turned around, the ugly expressions on their faces were a true reflection of their hearts.

Those who were teasing and fanning the flames, as if they had smelled something, were talking in twos and threes, always wanting to make it more “lively”.

After the firecrackers exploded, the shattered firecracker paper was red, people’s faces and eyes were all red, and there were many reds, just like the red of cooking oil in a raging fire.

In the Temple of Virtuous and Good People.

The five ministers took their seats according to their rank. The huge auditorium was filled with bowls of tea. Gao Fusi, the secretary of the Central Secretariat, was busy running around, serving tea and water, and welcoming and seeing off guests.

This is called “group worship”.

The Chinese have had the custom of congratulating each other during the New Year since ancient times, especially between superiors and subordinates.

State affairs are busy today. In order to prevent subordinate officials and clerks from sending gifts and greetings to their superiors and disrupting official business, it has been decided that starting this year, cabinet ministers will only hold “group greetings” in the Xianliang Temple, each with a bowl of tea in hand.

In this way, even the cabinet elders, ministers of the six ministries and nine departments, etc. can celebrate the New Year.

As there were too many court officials to accommodate them all, and the cabinet ministers were in a hurry to make decisions, court officials could only enter in batches, drink tea and chat with the cabinet ministers for a few minutes, and then get up and leave.

It was impossible for cabinet ministers to welcome and see off guests, so only Gao Youshi came, saw off a group of officials, and then welcomed in a new group of court officials.

This cycle went on and on, with the cabinet members on duty busy all the time, making tea, serving tea, clearing and washing dishes. They were busy for several hours, and only then did the dignitaries in the capital leave.

While having tea and chatting, the cabinet ministers also took the opportunity to affirm the court’s achievements in the past year, praise and criticize its shortcomings, and preview some state affairs of this year, making some preparations in advance.

In addition, the “year-end rewards” and “New Year gifts” of the emperor and father are also fully exposed, ranging from rare treasures and antiques that are hard to come by to the common and enjoyable food, clothing, housing and transportation, covering all aspects and everything.

I don’t know if it was because I was so moved by the emperor’s meticulous care that I felt warm from inside to outside, or if it was because the stove in the auditorium was too hot that made all the civil and military officials sweat profusely.

When the cabinet ministers saw this, they couldn’t help but smile knowingly. They had already tasted the pain of “reconciling accounts” last night, and it was time to let the other ministers have a taste as well. It was the New Year, so there should be a new atmosphere.

As the end was approaching, the cabinet ministers also noticed that some officials did not come to the cabinet, and they sighed silently, thinking that those who could not come would probably never come again.

……

Port of Lisbon, Portugal.

The East is reconciling its accounts, and the West is also reconciling its accounts.

The salty smell of the sea breeze made the Duke of Jinhua, Bernard Dayon, and the young Duke Alfonso feel disheartened. They scratched their heads but could not figure out what went wrong.

As the first kingdom that the court touched upon in the West, it had shaken the foundation of Portugal by using internal and external means, causing members of the royal family, nobles in the House of Lords, and members of the House of Commons to agree that the Kingdom of Portugal should hand over the country to other countries for management.

The Duke of Jinhua and the Duke of Alfonso the Younger contacted many royal family members, nobles, and parliamentarians, and rooted the idea of ​​the “Oriental Dragon” in the minds of many people.

When the Tulip Plan was successful, the economic crisis hit the entire European continent, and the argument that “Portugal should be handed over to the governance of the Ming Dynasty in the East” became a consensus among the Portuguese kings and subjects.

If Portugal had the help of the giant Eastern country where gold is everywhere, it would never have fallen into an economic crisis and its people would never have suffered.

But just as Dayon and Alfonso the Younger were actively preparing for the Great Council and getting ready to determine the tone, the sudden appearance of Roman orthodox antiquities triggered a massive “War of Orthodoxy” on the European continent.

Neighboring Spain was not afraid of the threat from the Holy Roman Empire at all. It announced its identity as the “legitimate successor to Rome” to the world, announced its promotion from a kingdom to an empire, and even declared war on the Roman Catholic Church.

The toughness of the Spanish Empire led many weak princes, nobles and parliamentarians in the Kingdom of Portugal, under the instigation of the grandmother of King Sebastian I of Portugal, the Spanish Princess Catarina, to believe that the Kingdom of Portugal should be handed over to the Spanish Empire for governance.

No matter how much gold the Ming Dynasty in the East has or how powerful its military is, distant water cannot quench immediate thirst. The Spanish Empire is right next door, and the relationship between the two countries is not good. Once a war breaks out, the fate of the Kingdom of Portugal will probably be no better than that of the Kingdom of France, which surrendered before reaching Paris.

As time went on, the Spanish Empire gradually digested the victory of annexing the Kingdom of France, and in the midst of the economic crisis, there were unexpected signs of improvement.

The ambition of Emperor Philip II of the Spanish Empire grew as a result. He held political power, military power, and even religious power in his hands. He launched large-scale public works to reduce the plight of his people who had nothing to do and no food to eat.

This would have plunged the Spanish Empire into a greater economic crisis, but domestic conflicts were resolved through diversion, and Philip II promoted military expansion.

Relying on launching wars and plundering other countries’ resources to meet their own needs.

The Spanish Empire attacked and landed on Malta, which was guarded by the Knights of St. John, and repelled the Ottoman army that came to assist and occupied Malta.

Subsequently, the Spanish Empire’s Invincible Armada set out and defeated the combined fleet of the Ottoman Empire fleet, the Kingdom of Venice, and other volunteer fleets on the European continent in the Battle of Lepanto.

World War I caused the Ottoman Empire to lose its maritime hegemony in the Mediterranean.

As both were empires, the defeat of the Ottoman Empire brought the Spanish Empire’s national prestige and overseas power to the peak.

The severe economic crisis, the hard-pressed people, and the huge military expenditures had already overwhelmed the great church empire. It could only keep “eating” until its belly was completely burst. The Spanish Empire had long coveted the “big fat meat” at its mouth, and finally issued an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Portugal: surrender or death!

Celestiao I’s grandmother Catalina convened a great council in the name of the king. At the meeting, she forced the real power holder of the royal family, Cardinal Henry, Duke of Évora and the king’s great uncle, to remain silent.

The Spanish Empire was about to annex the Kingdom of Portugal.

Unless, there is a miracle!

at the same time.

A swallow-shaped fleet of more than 60 heavy ships is sailing steadily towards the west coast from the Arabian Sea, through the Red Sea, through the Suez Canal, and into the Mediterranean Sea.

In particular, there is a “large ship” located in the center of the fleet, which is more than fifty meters long from front to back. On this vast sea, it is like a ferocious beast in the wild, with no fear or scruples.

The unique eleven-masted sailing ship, all made of hard sail cloth, makes people believe that no matter how strong the wind and waves are, they cannot shake such a ship.

Such a voyage is bound to be eye-catching, and when such a huge fleet stops for supplies, the oriental faces of the soldiers who disembark are even more unforgettable.

The countries along the Arabian Sea and the Red Sea were tactful and did not provoke them, allowing the Eastern Fleet to come and go. However, after entering the Mediterranean, it alarmed the new overlord of this world.

After winning the Battle of Lepanto, the Spanish Empire’s Invincible Armada developed rapidly with the support of Emperor Philip II.

The fleet expanded from the original 150 light warships to a naval fleet of over a thousand ships, more than 3,000 cannons, and tens of thousands of soldiers.

In the Spanish Empire, Emperor Philip II was ambitious, and successive victories on land and sea made the Spanish army and the Invincible Fleet extremely confident.

Philip II planned to launch a war against the Kingdom of England across the strait immediately after annexing the Kingdom of Portugal.

For this reason, most of the warships of the Invincible Fleet, which had just gained hegemony over the Mediterranean, were withdrawn to the Atlantic Ocean. This was both to threaten the Kingdom of Portugal to surrender as soon as possible and to ensure that the subsequent strategy could proceed more smoothly.

But Philip II was very confident that even if he only left more than a hundred warships, he could maintain his hegemony in the Mediterranean.

The other two empires on the European continent, the Holy Roman Empire was busy fighting internally, from political power to religious power. The German nobles were consolidating the imperial power, and Rodrigo I was consolidating the religious power, and they had no time to take care of other things.

As for the old enemy, the Ottoman Empire, Philip II no longer took the Ottoman Empire seriously after the death of Suleiman the Magnificent and his son Salam II succeeded to the throne. He believed that Salam II, who was timid by nature and appeased in various ways, would never dare to send a fleet for revenge and compete with the “powerful” Spanish Empire at sea.

Therefore, Felipe II’s plan was very grand. First, the Kingdom of Portugal. As the overlords of the East and West seas in the past fifty years, Spain was very clear about Portugal’s financial situation.

As long as Portugal surrendered and Spain obtained Portugal’s wealth, resources and colonies, it would be able to recover and promote greater military expansion.

That is, attack the Kingdom of England.

Whether it was the new king who ascended the throne or the “remnants of the previous dynasty” from the mysterious oriental family Xue Ye who led the Irish islanders to conquer the British Isles, with all these “enhancements and blessings”, the overall national situation of the Kingdom of England is now unstable.

Philip II wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to capture the island of Great Britain when Caesar I was in an unstable position, incite new and old hatreds between the two islands of the Kingdom of England, trigger internal strife between the two islands, and benefit from it.

Once the English Kingdom’s Great Britain and Ireland were conquered, the Spanish Empire controlled the south and west of the European continent.

If handled properly, the African slaves in the south and the American plantations in the west would all be under the control of the Spanish Empire, eliminating the economic crisis and moving towards greater glory.

Then, it reorganized the European continent, attacked the Holy Roman Empire to the northeast, and the Ottoman Empire to the southeast. As long as it completely defeated the two empires, the Spanish Empire would become the master of four continents, Europe, Africa, America, and parts of Asia, and the overlord of the world.

The emperor’s self-confidence (arrogance) infected all people in the Spanish Empire from top to bottom, including the more than one hundred Spanish invincible warships patrolling the Mediterranean.

After learning of the emergence of a “threatening force” in the Mediterranean, Thomas Howard, cousin of Howard, Minister of the Spanish Navy and commander of the Invincible Armada, immediately led the Spanish Mediterranean Blockade Fleet, also known as the Spanish Treasure Fleet, on the battleship “Golden Lion” and led more than a hundred warships to attack in a mighty force.

Thomas Howard was only thirty years old. Although he had participated in the previous naval battle between the Spanish Armada and the Ottoman Combined Fleet, he was promoted to commander of the Treasure Fleet not because of his personal ability, but because of “my cousin, the Minister of the Admiralty.”

Thomas Howard lacked experience in naval warfare, let alone the ability to lead a large fleet of more than a hundred warships and tens of thousands of soldiers.

But the fearless Spanish Navy never lacked the courage and determination to fight, nor the confidence to defend the glory of the empire.

Although they were light warships, the warships of the treasure fleet were like “dolls” in front of the treasure ships of the mysterious fleet.

Relying on his intuition, Thomas Howard believed that the mysterious fleet had ill intentions, and when the two fleets met, he brazenly issued an attack order without any communication.

Hundreds of warships and hundreds of cannons in the Treasure Fleet launched a fierce bombardment, with the shells flickering with flames and launching a fierce attack.

However, artillery fire at the extreme attack distance will often only fall into the water, causing huge waves.

Occasionally, a shell would fall on the hull of the leading warship of the mysterious fleet, but the biggest feature of a heavy warship is its super high defense. Even if it was hit directly, it would only create a big hole at the explosion site, and seawater would pour in through the hole. The elite soldiers on the ship kept their indifferent expressions and never changed them at all, and quickly patched up the hole with new wooden boards.

In the face of the sudden attack, Li Xi, the commander of the First Treasure Ship Fleet of the Ming Dynasty, who was standing on the deck of the treasure ship, saw everything from above through a telescope.

“The local fleet is so rude.” Li Xi put down the telescope and said lightly.

There was no anger, nor fear. Now that a war had broken out, the identity of the enemy was no longer important. Just like what they had done before in the South Asian subcontinent, no matter whether they were Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, Shudras, untouchables, or the Ashes Army, anyone who resisted would be killed without mercy, without any strange emotions.

During the past six months of massacre in the South Asian subcontinent, the hearts of all the officers and soldiers of the First Treasure Ship Fleet had long been as cold as the knives in their hands.

“Pass my order, fire back with all your artillery!”

(End of this chapter)