Zhu Yicheng decided to attack Spain, but this matter has not been officially announced to the public, but several important officials in the court were clear about it.

As the Associate Council, William Adams is one of the few people who know about this. After all, the Associate Council is responsible for foreign trade and relations between countries. Although he is now an official of the Ming Dynasty, he is still a fellow villager no matter how he says it. It is also a normal thing to remind him appropriately.

"No wonder..." George Churchill understood a little. A few days ago, the British merchants who came to him not only expressed dissatisfaction with the issue of reducing trade quota, but also said a message, that is, the Ming fleet recently showed signs of mobilization in the South China Sea, and external propaganda was to crack down on smuggling and prevent pirates.

Indeed, the smuggling situation in the Far East was serious before, and pirates were everywhere. Since the Ming Dynasty, the imperial court has adopted a policy of sealing off the sea, and there are very few countries that can trade with China normally.

In addition to Portugal, which owns Macau, it has some procurement channels, there are probably only vassal states such as North Korea, Japan, and Ryukyu that rely on tribute to trade. However, among the people, private sea trade is constantly changing, especially in the hometowns of the court officials. These officials righteously told the emperor about the disadvantages of opening the sea in the court, but secretly used their families to monopolize smuggling channels and make huge profits from it.

Coupled with the poverty in coastal areas and the rich interests of maritime trade, there were also semi-trafficking pirate groups, which were well-known, such as Wang Zhi, who was known as the King of Jinghai, Chen Zuyi, who was called the Chinese pirate king by Western countries, and Zheng Zhilong in the late Ming Dynasty, etc. These pirate groups are powerful and have many warships. They not only monopolized most of the trade in the East China Sea and the South China Sea, but also controlled the entire sea area. Their military power is no less than that of a Western country.

Before Zhu Yicheng revived the Ming Dynasty, pirates were still rampant. As the Ming Dynasty took the initiative to open the sea and develop maritime trade, and the Ming Dynasty's navy gradually became stronger, these pirates gradually lost their original soil and changed their roles.

In fact, these pirates are just for the sake of profit. They became pirates for life when the imperial court sealed off the sea. Now, the sea trade is booming, and the benefits of doing trade are much more stable than being a pirate. In this case, who is willing to be a pirate?

Therefore, now the East China Sea and the South China Sea, the pirate groups no longer exist. There may be some small pirates who work alone, but these are not the weather. You should know which merchant groups from all over the Ming Dynasty are going to form a huge fleet? Moreover, the Ming Dynasty did not restrict merchant ships from equipping with cannons and other weapons, and even sold several large consortiums between a group of retired warships as armed merchant ships. Faced with such power, how can these small pirates have the courage to seek death?

From this we can see that the pirates in the Far East are almost extinct. Although there are also smuggling, after experiencing the Fujian case, Zhu Yicheng raised his butcher knife and killed a group of people, which scared the courage of the merchants long ago. The profits of maritime trade are already rich, and the tax ratio of imports and exports of the Ming Dynasty is not high. Isn’t it better to make money safely? Just pay for all your wealth and life for more benefits. Which fool would do it?

Not only the Ming merchants, but also the Western countries that do business with China are obedient and honestly conduct trade according to the requirements of the Ming Dynasty. However, now, the Ming Dynasty is conducting a lot of fanfare to inspect smuggling and crack down on pirates, which is obviously a bit strange.

Originally, George Churchill did not associate these things, but just listened to the British businessmen. But now, he suddenly realized and understood the purpose of the Ming Dynasty doing this.

"My friend, thank you very much for your reminder." George Churchill showed gratitude to William Adams.

William Adams waved his hand and said, "Just be clear about this matter in your heart, don't spread it."

Of course, George Churchill would not betray his friends, but he turned his eyes and made a suggestion.

"This..." William Adams seemed to have not expected the other party to make this suggestion, and was stunned for a moment, then hesitated.

"My friend." George Churchill said enthusiastically: "Although you are from the Ming Dynasty now, you are born in Britain after all, and you should be very clear about the situation in Europe. Now that the European War is over, the French have won the war in name, but this war has exhausted France's energy and wealth. Louis XIV has passed away, the French king is just a child, and the powerful France still seems to be a giant. Unfortunately, this giant has no longer had the light of the past."

Speaking of this, George Churchill's eyes revealed a light, and he tempted in a Satanic tone: "As the British minister, I am very sorry for the things that happened in the New World, which not only harmed the interests of the Ming Empire, but also harmed the interests of the British, especially brought a crack to the friendship between the two great countries. However, I believe that the wise Queen will definitely give His Majesty a perfect answer and compensation to His Majesty, and our current misunderstanding is temporary. The alliance between Britain and the Ming Empire will surely be unbreakable!"

"I deeply understand the anger of His Majesty the Emperor's incident in the New World. This is a shameless challenge and humiliation to a great country and civilization! As a party to the alliance, I hope to do my best to help, even if it is a little busy."

"What you call help is..."

"South China Sea!" George Churchill reached out and pointed at the South China Sea, then drew on the table with his hands dipped in tea. Soon he drew a slept with a straw map of the South China Sea.

He pointed to a place on the map and said, "France's power in the Far East is not afraid. Although France also owns the East India Company, their tentacles have not penetrated into the South China Sea. But Spain is different. This country has been operating in the Far East for hundreds of years, not only with a large number of colonies, but also with the rule of Luzon. Although I know that the naval power of the Ming Empire is strong, it will be easier to completely expel the Spaniards from Luzon and even the South China Sea with the help of allies."

"What do you mean... Britain and the Ming Dynasty joined forces in the South China Sea to start a war with Spain?" William Adams seemed to be startled by his wild thoughts and asked with wide eyes.

"Why not?" George Churchill smiled and said, "Although the Spanish army has declined, its navy is still strong. Joining forces between the two sides can not only increase the probability of success, but also reduce their own losses and gain huge benefits from it. More importantly, this is also part of the compensation made by Britain for the incident in the New World to show sincerity and apologies to the Ming Dynasty."

Hearing this, William Adams laughed and shook his head with a smile, "My friend, don't you have to say these words to me. Don't I understand the situation in the UK yet? To be honest, what are your plans for being so passionate about this? What do you need me to do?"

As if he was told, George Churchill's face turned slightly red, but soon returned to normal: "It's very simple. Britain, or the East India Company, came forward to help the Ming Dynasty deal with the Spanish Kingdom. If the Spanish were expelled, Britain would not only need to obtain a colony in Luzon, but also need the Ming Dynasty to resume normal trade and hand over all the trade quota originally given to the Spanish Kingdom to the British."

"That's all?" William Adams looked at the other party with a smile. George Churchill hesitated and said, "Of course there is another small requirement, that is, Britain hopes to gain control of Johor, and hopes that the Ming Dynasty can allow it."

"This is impossible!" Without thinking, William Adams flatly refused: "You know what Johor means, it is the throat of controlling the entire South China Sea. It can be said that whoever controls Johor has the right to cut off the South China Sea passage. How could the Ming Dynasty allow the British to control such a key place?"

"This..." George Churchill was speechless. William Adams said nothing. Johor was the Singapore of later generations. Controlling this place was equivalent to controlling the Strait of Malacca. The importance of the location of this place was self-evident.

其实在多年前,英国人就打过柔佛的主意,甚至还联合荷兰人一起进攻过柔佛,但可惜的是,他们并没有获得成功,所以直到现在,这个地方依旧是柔佛王国的所在地.

However, more than ten years ago, the king of the Johor Kingdom was killed by his prime minister, and the royal bloodline was cut off. Now this country is controlled by the prime minister who usurped the throne, and there is inevitable turmoil in the country's politics.

It is precisely for this reason that the British once again set their sights on Johor, but because Johor belonged to the vassal state of the Ming Dynasty in name, of course, this so-called name was just a noun. In fact, after the Ming Dynasty restored the country, Johor did not submit a tribute, so when George Churchill learned that the Ming Dynasty was preparing to attack the Spanish forces in the Far East, he immediately thought that this might be a good opportunity.

Unfortunately, William Adams' answer directly rejected him. As for Zhu Yicheng's side, I'm afraid he could not convince the other party to agree. After thinking about it, George Churchill settled down and proposed that the Ming Dynasty and the British should control Johor together, but William Adams also said that it was impossible for this suggestion, because the Ming Dynasty would not share Johor with other countries.

In addition, the Ming Dynasty had a powerful navy and elite army. So what if Spain was stronger than Portugal? With the Ming Dynasty's strength in the Far East, it was enough to conquer Luzon by itself and expel Spain completely. If that was the case, why did it take a price to trade with Britain?

Seeing that the talk was about to collapse, George Churchill had no choice but to stop mentioning Johor and only sought the previous request. William Adams could not make any decision on this, but he agreed to report this matter to His Majesty the Emperor at the right time. But as for how His Majesty the Emperor decides in the end, it depends on His Majesty’s intention.
Chapter completed!