Cutting over the end of the Ming Dynasty: a dog-leg knife at the beginning

Chapter 1074
The city-state was in danger, and Catherine didn't dare to waste even a second. She immediately went to Yang Menglong and cut straight to the point: "Now the whole of Europe is besieging Venice. Our end is approaching. No one is willing to save us. I can only count on you! You... ...Can you save us? Please!"

After Yang Menglong asked to understand the ins and outs of the matter, he frowned and said, "It's not easy...Europe is too far away from us. It is difficult for me to persuade the emperor to send troops to fight for a city-state of Venice thousands of miles away."

Catherine's voice choked up: "I know all this, but we really have nothing to do. The whole of Europe is besieging us. We can't find even one ally who is willing to help us. We can only ask you! As long as we can win this battle War, let our city-state survive, we are willing to give you all the gold in the city-state as a reward!" She said desperately: "If you are not willing to send troops, please sell us some shells, without these powerful shells, We're going to be completely screwed!"

After obtaining the 130mm caliber naval gun, the city-state of Venice also organized a large number of experts to imitate it, and finally came to the conclusion: "The gun is not difficult to manufacture. With the resources of Venice, it is no problem to manufacture sixty or seventy guns a year. The shells!" Yang Menglong sold them two types of shells, one is a sulfur bomb that emits a large amount of thick smoke with a strong pungent smell after burning violently, and the other is a mixture of oil and gunpowder in proportion , Fire mine bombs made after air-drying, the power of the latter is particularly terrifying. Those warships with a displacement of more than a thousand tons are basically finished after two shots.These two types of shells require a strong chemical foundation to produce, and these are not possessed by the city-state of Venice, so of course they cannot produce them.So when Siegfried struggled to make a bloody road, bypassing Africa and going straight to Asia, he also brought Catherine 20 gold coins as funds. The consul asked her to use the funds to buy as many shells as possible, one gold coin Don't stay.She also knew Daming's difficulties, and she had no hope of directly sending troops to support him, she only hoped to buy more shells.

Seeing her red and swollen eyes from crying, Yang Menglong felt a little distressed, and after a moment of silence, he said: "Let me go back to Beijing with you... After all, the city-state of Venice was the first country to establish diplomatic relations with Ming, and now you are under siege, if we stand by , It is estimated that there will be no country willing to establish diplomatic relations with us in the future.”

Catherine smiled through tears, took Yang Menglong's hand and said repeatedly: "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

So the Marshal of the Navy took the Countess and left the South Asian subcontinent on the clipper ship Haiyan and headed straight for Beijing.

The Haiyan was the fastest ship in Ming Dynasty, with an astonishing speed of fourteen knots. Its appearance meant that the shipbuilding industry of Ming Dynasty had reached a new peak.This light and beautiful petrel took Yang Menglong and Catherine day and night, across the Straits of Malacca, across the vast South China Sea, all the way north.When crossing the Strait of Malacca, Catherine noticed that the beautiful Strait of Malacca was already full of wars, and the Ming army fleet was mercilessly besieging the colonial stronghold that the Dutch had finally established in the Strait of Malacca, together with tens of thousands of armed immigrants. Surround Batavia.Obviously, the Dutch's act of robbing the flagship of the Daming Navy has completely angered the Daming Navy, and they want to uproot the Dutch power!Burma and Siam are also in full swing. After two years of recuperation, the barbarian army that migrated to Annan has gathered enough strength and began to launch an overwhelming offensive against Burma and Siam.Perhaps the memory of being squeezed out and hit for thousands of years made them fearful. In order to avoid history repeating itself, they did not miss any opportunity to expand their territory. Even if Annan could not be kept in the future, they could still go to Myanmar, Siam, Chenla , Khmer and other areas, so as not to be desperate-this way of thinking is like buying the whole city because you are afraid of having no house to live in. These mountain people are so simple.

Their simplicity is a nightmare for all ethnic groups in Indochina.Their invincible heavy infantry legion held muskets and long cannons in front, and a large number of armed immigrants followed behind with swords, axes, bows and crossbows. Every time the legion conquered a place, the armed immigrants would expel or even massacre all the civilians there. Just like in real life An official in Latvia said: "These barbarians swept across our land like locusts. Where they swept, few civilians or livestock survived!" These countries also went to Beijing to cry. , but it is obvious that the expansion of the Baiyi Republic was approved by the Ming Emperor, and their complaints were of no use.

Seeing all this, Catherine felt extremely bitter in her heart.The Venetian city-state has performed countless times in its 800-year history, but now, these splendors are gradually disappearing like the setting sun, leaving Venice with an extremely dark future.Ancient Venice, the great motherland that has inherited the glory of ancient Rome, can you survive the endless night and usher in the dazzling moment of sunrise?
The Haiyan was extremely fast and arrived in Tianjin in just over 20 days. This speed is really staggering.Yang Menglong was not in the mood to stay in Tianjin, and took Catherine straight to Beijing as soon as he got off the boat.

Beijing Catherine has been here several times, and every time she is shocked by the rapid development of the city.However, she used to enter this city as a tourist, but now she is an envoy of Venice. The status is different, and the mood is naturally different.Facing the majestic city walls and palaces, she felt uneasy. If Yang Menglong hadn't been by her side, it would have taken her a long time to muster enough courage to enter Beijing.

In the past two years, Beijing has changed a lot. Most of the streets have been widened and turned into cement roads, clean and beautiful.The bottom of many flying mast painting buildings have been demolished, and turned into buildings made of reinforced concrete and red bricks, with tiles on the outside, and each building is a fortress.Sewage pipes and water pipes have covered most of the blocks, especially the water pipes, which were laid all the way from Miyun. For Beijingers, the sweet and pure water in Miyun used to be a luxury. It has become a daily necessity for thousands of households, and it is very convenient to drink it just by turning on the tap.However, there are signs nailed up in many conspicuous places, with the words "Save Water" written in red paint, reminding citizens to save water.Almost every block has set up factories, some of which are textiles, clothing, leather goods, and grain processing, with a full range of varieties.The surge in the number of breweries also indirectly proves that the history of food shortage in Beijing has completely passed. A large amount of phosphate fertilizer and manure have caused a surge in food production, and the food delivered to Beijing's surrounding areas can basically meet the needs. The purchase of Liaodong encourages more people to immigrate to open up Liaodong.Now the price of grain is unbelievably low, and it is still falling all the way. The supply is oversupplied. There is no way. Some officials in the DPRK and China even began to worry whether such a low price of grain will dampen the enthusiasm of farmers to grow grain...

Big projects in the Beijing area are still going on.Water conservancy is the top priority. Beijing and Tianjin have vigorously built reservoirs, dug irrigation wells, and dug canals to ensure agricultural water use.The largest project is the Miyun Reservoir. The emperor ordered to cut off the river and build a huge reservoir upstream. It would be so big that it could not be washed away by a once-in-a-century flood. It could prevent floods during floods and open the gates to release water during droughts. This project was approved. The enthusiastic support of the people, everyone has money and strength to contribute, and they are very busy.The first phase of the project is nearing completion, and the second phase of the project is being intensively prepared. It is estimated that this great project will be completed and put into use in at least ten years. This is a project that will benefit the present and future generations. No one has high expectations. Will not work.

Catherine sighed: "It's really energetic... It's great, it's great to have such a strong vitality!"

Yang Menglong said: "We have never lacked vitality, only leaders with brains."

After spending one night in the vacant Marshal's Mansion, Yang Menglong took Catherine straight to the palace the next day.Catherine was a little uneasy: "Would you like to inform the palace officials first? His Majesty the Emperor may not be available..."

Yang Menglong curled his lips: "Come on, I have never passed on him when I went to see him. When he doesn't go to court in the morning, he will go to the Imperial Study Room to look for him, and he will be sure when he finds one."

Catherine was very timid: "Will he blame us for being rude?"

Yang Menglong gave 120 disdain: "What gave you the illusion that that guy attaches great importance to etiquette? In his eyes, most etiquette is no different from shit, okay?"

Catherine didn't believe it: "I don't believe it! It's not that I haven't met His Majesty the Emperor, he is a very serious person!"

Yang Menglong's response was: "Hey, serious! You will know how serious he is when you get to the Imperial Study Room!"

The martial law in the palace was far from strict. If any other emperor dared to relax so much, he would have died countless times. Only Emperor Longwu dared to kill a large number of palace guards to save money, and he was still alive and kicking.Along the way, the pitifully few palace guards just saluted Yang Menglong, did not question him, let alone search him, and let him drive straight in.Emperor Longwu said that Yang Menglong, Lu Xiangsheng, Fang Yizhi and other ministers do not need to be interrogated or passed on when they enter the palace. It is enough to let them in by themselves. This is his trust in these ministers.After entering the Forbidden City, Yang Menglong was familiar with the road and found the Imperial Study Room. Seeing that the door of the Imperial Study Room was closed, he smiled mysteriously and said to Catherine, "Guess what he is doing inside?"

Catherine became more and more anxious: "Is he not here?"

Yang Menglong sighed: "You really don't understand him...he may not be there when the door of the imperial study is wide open, but if the door is closed, he must be there!" Pushing hard, the door opened.

Then Catherine saw a figure flashing quickly and disappeared.Her whole body was petrified, she stood there blankly, her neck was stuck and turned like a rusted bearing, and it took a lot of effort to turn her head to look at Yang Menglong: "just now... I seem to see Seeing a man sitting there shirtless, gnawing a huge ham in his hand? I’m not dazzled, am I?”

Yang Menglong said: "Can't we find out if we call him out?" He raised his voice and shouted: "Stop hiding, come out!"

A serious and rigid voice came from behind the screen: "Your Majesty is not here, please wait outside!"

Yang Menglong put his hands on his waist: "You're still pretending to be me, right? Believe it or not, I'll pull you out by your ears?"

Then Catherine saw the Emperor of the Ming Empire, who was shirtless, with a huge ham in his left hand, a small wine flask in his right hand, and a thick book under his arm. It looked like a novel like "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms". He walked out with a smile on his face...

Click!

The countess clearly heard the crisp sound of something breaking from deep inside her heart.Where is the promised majesty of the emperor?Where is the promised Ninth Five Lord! ! !

(End of this chapter)