Chapter 796
Zhu Linmei glanced at the letter of credence handed by Helan, "Well, the Daming merchant ships that dock at Helan pay 150% of the tax? The annual arrival of goods should not exceed [-] million taels? Seven ports such as Yuegang and Ningbo are open and there is no tax. Tariffs? Keeping Batavia safe?"

He tore the letter of credence into two pieces and threw it on the ground, and said with a smile, "They really take themselves seriously, thinking it's the Year of Gengzi? Why don't you grab it tomorrow."

Both Xu Erlu and Huang Zongxi were taken aback, "Gengzi year?"

"Ah, it's all right." Zhu Linmi waved her hand, and looked at the other credentials, "The French demanded the same as the Hollanders, except that their North American and North African colonies were not violated.

"Ah, Zebana and Frangji are more polite. Abolish the previous trade agreements, adjust tariffs, export commodity quotas... Otherwise, [-]% tariffs will be imposed on all Ming merchant ships."

Huang Zongxi clasped his hands angrily and said: "The barbarians are simply deceiving people too much! Seeing that my maritime merchants are making profits, they will be so angry that they will act like rogues and bandits!"

"It's just trade protection."

Zhu Linming is indifferent, only the weak can get angry, the strong have enough power to correct injustice, so there is no need to get angry.

"These Westerners have the words 'bullying the weak and fearing the hard' engraved in their bones. If our tiger doesn't show his power, he will treat Daming as a sick cat. You can only let them know the pain before doing business honestly and dutifully."

He threw the Chinese book in his hand to the eunuch beside him, and told Huang Zongxi and Xu Erlu, "Return to these barbarians, and everything will still follow the previous rules. I will just pretend that what happened today didn't happen. Otherwise, they will be hit by thunder." angry!"

Today's Ming Dynasty is not what it used to be.Three years after recovering all the land, with the support of huge profits from maritime trade and colonies, Ming Dynasty built a powerful fleet of two first-class battleships, five second-class battleships, and eighteen third-class battleships!There are also nearly thirty fourth-tier cruisers, and countless smaller warships.

Such a fleet size is enough to wrestle with any Western maritime power face to face.What's more, the super-era things brought by Daming and Zhu Linmei, such as Caron cannon, canned food, and Nelson's tactics, are all "artifacts" that can double the combat effectiveness of the fleet!
This is also the capital that Zhu Linming has the confidence to compete with European countries.

The next day, the envoys from the four countries of He, France, Spain, and Portugal all received the notice from the Ministry of Rites of the Ming Dynasty, and all of them left with their noses up and their eyes up.

A few months later, Helan took the lead in attacking Ming merchant ships around the world, and several other countries also began to levy extremely high taxes on Ming merchant ships, including mainland Europe and all overseas colonies.

Daming also reacted very quickly, and the Pacific Fleet, which had already been prepared, then attacked Helan's largest colony in Asia - Batavia.

This base in the Far East is already strong on the outside and strong on the inside. Da Ming didn't even use the main battleships, and only seven or eight fourth-tier cruisers were able to handle it.

After the Daming Navy infantry landed, the governor of Lambadavia reluctantly announced his surrender.

When the news spread back to Europe, Helan immediately declared war on Ming Dynasty, followed by France. The Propaganda Department and Helan formed the "Far Eastern Alliance" and joined the war together.

However, what they didn't expect was that in less than four months, the Ming Pacific Fleet expeditionary force composed of more than 80 large and small warships had arrived west of the Strait of Gibraltar.Apparently this fleet had weighed anchor and sailed to Europe long before peace and France declared war.

The Strait of Gibraltar is the gateway to and from the Mediterranean, and it is also the connection between West Africa and Europe. A huge fleet is blocked here, and the maritime trade of European countries is immediately in shock.

For a while, only the Holy Roman Empire, which had signed a treaty of friendship with Ming Dynasty, was happy.Their sea power is considered the weakest among the European powers, and it is rare to show their faces at ordinary times, but now they actually monopolize the entire Eurasian trade.In the months before and after the Battle of Gibraltar, Shinra earned six or seven times the income of previous years.

After successive batches of merchant ships passing through the Strait of Gibraltar were seized and sunk, Helan and France finally assembled their joint fleet in a hurry and began to seek a decisive battle with the Daming Navy in the south.

North of the Strait of Gibraltar.

The Commander-in-Chief of the Combined Fleet of Japan and France, Marton Tromp, stood on the deck of the Bradrod, looking at the combined fleet behind him.

The admiral, who had led the Helan fleet to end the Spaniards' maritime supremacy in the Battle of Downs, seemed worried at this time.

The French Admiral Vigneiro on the side glanced at him, pointed to the largest French warship in the distance, and said sincerely: "General, I still suggest you use the Royal Dauphin as your flagship. Trust me, she can give you Bring infinite confidence, stand on her deck, maybe you won't be so frowning like in recent days..."

"I'm very confident!" Tromp interrupted him. "Although the Bradrod is small, it is very suitable as a flagship."

He paused, then continued, "Don't you find it strange?"

"Strange what? Your preference for small battleships?"

"No, I'm talking about why the people from the East traveled thousands of miles to challenge me."

"It is said that they have two battleships with [-] guns, five battleships with [-] guns and nearly [-] battleships with [-] guns. So they think they are great, so they come here." Nero shrugged his shoulders. "Nothing strange."

Trump frowned and said: "Their fleet size is not stronger than our combined fleet, and even a lot weaker."

Behind him, there are three French 130-gun battleships including the Royal Dauphin, and there are more than [-] second- and third-tier battleships combined.There are also smaller warships and armed merchant ships. The entire fleet has more than [-] warships.

"Do they think they are good at naval warfare?" Nero glanced, "Or, they made a mistake in intelligence?"

Commander He Lan shook his head and said: "The Ming fleet has traveled tens of thousands of nautical miles. Even if they have a supply port in the Gulf of Guinea, the morale of the sailors must be very low. It is impossible for their commanders not to know this, but still Come to Gibraltar to seek a decisive battle..."

According to the current sailing ability, when a warship sails from Daming to Europe, the morale of the sailors is more than low, usually at least [-]% to [-]% of the crew will be killed by sepsis.

If you want to avoid this situation, you can only repair and replenish along the way, and the voyage may take about a year.But the Ming Fleet didn't do this, they obviously sailed to European waters in one go.

Nero glanced warily and said: "You mean they are hiding their strength? This is impossible. The Spanish scout ships have been repeatedly confirmed many times, and the fleet size of the Ming Dynasty will never exceed [-] ships."

"I hope so." Tromp breathed out, "This Eastern Empire is really terrible, and they must be completely defeated at once, otherwise...they will become a giant beast that devours Europe in the future."

 Because there is a double monthly ticket activity recently, Tianhaishan is here to beg for a monthly ticket!If there are more than 10 monthly tickets today, I will add a new chapter, please help my brothers!

  
 
(End of this chapter)

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