Zhou Chong had already seen that although Zhengde was not very concerned about the gains and losses of the Southeast Asian Sea, he was worried that Portugal was too powerful, which would pose a new threat to the coast of Ming Dynasty.

After understanding this, Zhou Chong deliberately focused on the strong military force of the Portuguese, especially the many wars that the Portuguese had fought with the locals in the Indian Ocean. He even emphasized the astonishing proportion of casualties in those wars, and the result was Zhengde.

He was stunned after hearing this, and even suspected that Zhou Chong was lying, but with Zhou Chong's repeated guarantees, Zhengde barely believed in the amazing results.

Finally, in order to deepen the sense of crisis of Emperor Zhengde, Zhou Chong specifically emphasized: "Your Majesty, although Portugal has strong maritime power, it is not the largest country in Europe. It is even a small country with a population of tens of millions in Europe. In addition, Europe also

There are Spain, France, England and other countries. The territory of these countries is several times larger than that of Portugal. However, they continue to fight each other, so there is no threat to our Ming Dynasty for the time being, but if Portugal is allowed to gain a foothold in Nanyang.

, then it undoubtedly opened a door to the Ming Dynasty for European countries. If all these countries come, then for our Ming Dynasty, there will be another group of powerful enemies from the sea!”

Anyone who understands world history knows that Zhou Chong's words exaggerated the threats from European countries. For example, Portugal's current national strength has made rapid progress, both in terms of economy, politics and technology, far surpassed Europe at that time.

All countries and Spain were defeated by Portugal in a row, so although Portugal was small, this period was the heyday of Portugal. Its strength among European countries was extremely strong.

In addition, the war between European countries is not so easy to end. Especially the two old enemies, France and Britain. Although the Hundred Years War has ended, the two countries have also formed a feud and conflicts will break out from time to time.

In addition, there is no peace between France and Spain. It can be said that the entire Europe is shrouded in the dark clouds of war and has no time to develop to the East.

Unfortunately, Zhengde didn't know the above inside story. In his opinion, a small Portugal already has such strong strength. If we let those countries such as Spain and France come to Nanyang and other places again, then the southern coast of the Ming Dynasty would be

Don't think about being quiet anymore.

Thinking of this, Zhengde also showed a firm expression on his face. He raised his head and said to Zhou Chong: "Zhou Chong, since you know so much about the overseas situation and understand the consequences of letting the Portuguese enter Nanyang, what can you do to stop the other party

Is it?"

Hearing the meaning revealed in Zhengde's words, Zhou Chong said happily: "Your Majesty, Caomin has already found out the exact time when the Portuguese sent troops to Malacca. In addition, although the Portuguese ships are strong and cannons are profitable, they are not many people, Caomin estimates that

After a while, they could only send two or three thousand soldiers at most. Although these forces were enough to occupy the city of Malacca, they would definitely not be easy. If the Portuguese attacked Malacca, our Ming navy suddenly broke out from behind,

You can definitely defeat the opponent in one fell swoop, thereby shattering the opponent's plan to invade Nanyang!"

Hearing that Zhou Chong even knew the time when the Portuguese sent troops, Zhengde was also very shocked by his intelligence ability. Unfortunately, he didn't know that Zhou Chong's powerful intelligence ability was not his intelligence ability, but his time traveling to the Ming Dynasty from later generations.

Remember the specific time of some historical events very clearly, so he dared to make such a promise.

After hearing Zhou Chong's plan to attack Portugal, Emperor Zhengde walked back and forth in the big tent uneasily for a few times. Finally, he stopped and slapped the table and said, "Okay, I agree. Many countries in Southeast Asia are the Ming Dynasty."

If the Portuguese enters the South China Sea, it will definitely bring endless suffering to the countries in the South China Sea, and will also bring many threats to the Ming Dynasty's sea front in the future. After I return to the palace, I will immediately call Li Dongyang and the others to discuss.

Whether they agree or not, I will support you to the end!"

After hearing Zhengde finally agreed, Zhou Chong stood up and saluted: "Your Majesty is wise. Today, Your Majesty will make a decision and will reduce endless troubles for our Ming Dynasty in the future. I believe that Master Li and others will definitely understand Your Majesty.

Work hard!"

However, just after Zhou Chong's flattery, he suddenly found that Emperor Zhengde was looking at him with a smile, and then he saw the other party say, "Zhou Chong, when you just talked about Japan, you only want to contact Japan on behalf of the court.

But you don’t want to be an official, but you have to be an official when the Portuguese invasion of Nanyang!”

"Uh?" Zhou Chong was stunned when he heard this. He couldn't understand what Zhengde meant. He just wanted to borrow troops from the court, but he didn't want to lead troops to fight in person. Why did he have to be an official?

"Hehe, I know what you are trying to do, it's just to use the power of the imperial court to repel the Portuguese, and then you will still be your smuggling merchant, but Zhou Chong, you must know that it is impossible for the imperial court to hand over the army to private command

Yes, I can't convince Li Dongyang and the others just by this. And even if I hand over the army to you, if you are just a sage, why should you let the generals listen to you? If they don't obey the command during the battle

, Then no matter how many troops there are, it is probably difficult to defeat the Portuguese, right?"

Zhengde paused when he said this, then looked at him with a meaningful look, and then said: "In addition, your words just now remind me that the threat from the Ming Dynasty not only comes from land, but also from sea.

There may be a strong enemy, and the power on the sea of ​​our Ming Dynasty is too weak. So from today on, I decided to pay attention to the development of maritime power and at least build another fleet like Zheng He to protect our Ming Dynasty coast.

It's safe, and besides you, I can't think of another person who can do this!"

Hearing Zhengde's words, Zhou Chong was in tears. He didn't expect that the words above made Zhengde start to pay attention to the ocean in order to rebuild the maritime power of the Ming Dynasty and give this matter to him.

, This is simply shooting oneself in the foot.

"Your Majesty, although your idea of ​​rebuilding the maritime power of the Ming Dynasty is very good, it is not an easy task. Not to mention anything else, the manpower, material resources and financial resources alone are not a small amount. With the current situation of the court, it can

Support the reconstruction of the maritime power of our Ming Dynasty?” Zhou Chong raised a very realistic question at this time. He did not want to take on the matter of helping Zhengde rebuild the maritime power of the Ming Dynasty. After all, this is not a small matter, and the difficulties he faces are also

It is hard to imagine that if it is true, he will probably have to work for Zhengde for the rest of his life.

"The treasury of the imperial court is now empty, so naturally it cannot support the reconstruction of the maritime power of the Ming Dynasty!" Zhengde was honest and did not conceal the current situation of the Ming Dynasty at all.

Zhou Chong was about to breathe a sigh of relief when he heard this, but Zhengde continued: "But it doesn't matter. Although the court cannot pay money and supplies, it can provide people. I decided to grant you an admiral of the Four Seas. The Ming Dynasty is in Guangzhou and Ningbo. The naval forces stationed in the area are also placed under the name of your admiral. As for the financial and material resources required to rebuild maritime forces, any ship that goes out to sea to transport goods will pay taxes to your admiral’s office in the future. In this way, , don’t you have money? Hahaha~”

Zhengde was probably also proud of his genius ideas, so he finally let out a series of arrogant laughter. However, when Zhou Chong heard this, he wanted to slap himself hard, because Zhengde said that the four seas admiral yamen was from. The function is almost a copy of their Nanyang Chamber of Commerce. By guaranteeing smuggling for other chambers of commerce, the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce is actually collecting taxes from other smuggling ships in disguise. The only difference is that the Sihai Admiral’s Office has an official identity, and his Nanyang Chamber of Commerce is But it is just an ordinary private chamber of commerce and has no ability to compete with the government.

Thinking that the first thing the Admiral of the Four Seas was to harm his own interests, Zhou Chong no longer cared about it, and immediately advised him again: "Your Majesty think twice, there has never been any Admiral of the Four Seas in the official system of the Ming Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty has been implementing the maritime ban. If it is established, This admiral in the Four Seas will have a conflict with the maritime ban. I am afraid that the ministers in the court will not agree!”

As soon as Zhou Chong finished speaking, he saw Zhengde suddenly sighing and said, "Zhou Chong, you are a smart person, but why are you confused now? The Four Seas Admiral's Office did steal the business of your Chamber of Commerce, but have you ever thought about it? Without official support, no matter how capable you are, you may be able to develop the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce into a land tyrant on the sea, and its influence is limited to Shuangyu Port. But if you become the admiral of the Four Seas, the entire sea will be You are in charge of everything. Even if you don't deliberately develop the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce, the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce will probably develop into a hegemony in the maritime trade industry. Even with the help of the Ming Dynasty's maritime forces, the power of the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce will be extended outward, and then it will be Arriving in Europe is not difficult!”

Zhou Chong was also shocked when he heard Zhengde's words. He had tried his best to overestimate Zhengde before, but now it seems that he still underestimated Zhengde. He had already known the detailed business model of the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce. Knowing that the establishment of the Sihai Admiral's Office would harm his own interests was beyond Zhou Chong's expectations, and even made him involuntarily develop a sense of awe for Zhengde.
Chapter completed!