Volume 1: Birth! Seven time travelers Chapter 024: What Year Is Today in the Western World (I)
In the historical plane, during the 17 years of Chongzhen's reign, the cabinet's ministers were frequently replaced, with a total of 50 people. However, Wen Tihen stayed in the cabinet for eight years - he was able to serve such a suspicious, impatient, hasty and fickle emperor for so long, which must be said to be extraordinary.
The reason why this is possible is that Old Wen has two special skills.
First, pretend to be a lone minister - Your Majesty, I am a lone minister , I have no followers, and I am only loyal to you. The key reason why so many people say that ministers are not worth having is that they have formed a party.
Second, I have a flexible body. What is moral integrity? I will pretend to be whatever the emperor likes.
Look, he is only loyal to his leader, and he pretends to be whatever his leader wants to see. Which leader doesn't like such a subordinate?
But that was all Old Wen could do. He had been in the cabinet for eight years, and the Ming Dynasty was still falling straight down like a weight falling to the ground. Old Wen had defeated countless political enemies, and even pulled out the fallen enemies and whipped them... But as for how to govern the country, haha...
But Zhu Youdong likes this guy.
In Zhu Youdong's plan, when he is in charge of the Ming Dynasty in the future, Old Wen will definitely not be able to do any concrete work. However, he will be a good dog, fighting this and that. Tsk tsk, how long has it been since Yan Song in the Ming Dynasty that there has been a minister who pleases the emperor like this?
Therefore, although he knew that this guy was not very good, Zhu Youdong still politely practiced etiquette with for a while, and then personally sent him out of the palace.
On the afternoon of the second day, the last two of Zhu Youdong’s eight teachers, Matteo Ricci and Xu Guangqi, appeared on stage together.
"Hahahaha~~Mr. Mattiolic, nice to meet you."
"Oh? God. Your Highness, the Honorable Crown Prince, how do you know my real name?"
"Hahahaha, not only do I know your real name, I also know that you are from the territory of the Papal States, right?"
In 1605, Italy was still just a geographical term, so if you say that Matteo Ricci is Italian, he probably wouldn't admit it. In fact, Matteo Ricci's hometown belongs to the Marche region of Italy in modern times, but in this era, it was a direct territory of the Papal States.
"Oh~~ Are there really people in this world who are born with knowledge? It seems that the news my colleagues have passed on recently is true."
"Hmm? Mr. Leach, what news did your colleagues give you?"
"Your Highness, I had to stay in Tianjin when you were born (I was forced to stay there because the eunuchs failed to bribe me), so I didn't see the legendary vision of blue dragons and white cranes gathering in the sky when you were born. In the past one or two years, the Jesuit Order I belong to has sent me letters from Macau, introducing the visions that appeared in various parts of the West more than four years ago. Oh~~ God! It seems that these visions all appeared on the same day, and not long after these visions appeared, the local royal families had new boys!"
"Hahahaha~~ Are there any visions? Come on, Mr. Leach, tell me what these visions are specifically?"
"Yes, Your Highness, let's start with the Spanish Habsburg royal family in Europe..."
…
After listening to Matteo Ricci's description, Zhu Youdong couldn't help but smack his lips: Tsk! Isn't it said that the imagination of our great China is super rich and we are the best at playing various visions! Why do I feel that compared with the holy angel guards and the appearance of the Lord God, my prelude to the appearance feels a bit low? Forget it, this is not the point. The important thing is that Christ can choose two people, and these two people were born into the Spanish Habsburg royal family!
"Well, Mr. Litch, you just said that the royal families that received newborns along with these visions, whether it was the Ottomans or , all had one newborn. And only the Habsburg royal family received twins, right?"
"Uh... yes." At this point, Matteo Ricci couldn't help but feel proud: "This is the glory bestowed by the Lord on believers like me. Thank the Lord!"
Humph, what a cunning Lord God!
But it is true that the saying "Don't put all your eggs in one basket" is not entirely correct. Because besides this saying, there is another saying: Put all your eggs in one basket and then keep an eye on that basket.
If Jesus placed the two representatives of Christ in two different royal families, that would be a big problem: before Christ's power could expand, there would be a brutal civil war.
However, one of the two Habsburg twins definitely understood all the rules of the game, but the other one, haha...
Zhu Youdong, who had figured this out, was no longer entangled. He quickly adjusted his mood and put on a cute smile: "May I ask, Mr. Leach, what is the overall situation in Taixi at this time? Are those so-called Protestants becoming more and more excessive?"
"Oh! These damned heretics! They should all be burned at the stake!"
Xu Guangqi, who had been silent at the beginning, couldn't help but open his eyes wide at this moment: Is this the Matteo Ricci who has always treated the world with humility and kindness? Why does he feel so hideous? Cruel?
Although Xu Guangqi was extremely surprised, Zhu Youdong did not react much: the Renaissance in Western Europe had been laid for two or three hundred years, and the Reformation was also in full swing. The emerging bourgeoisie and the citizen class had more and more political demands, and the Protestants were increasingly dissatisfied with the various doctrines of the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church and the traditional royal family were unwilling to give up power easily. Such a fierce conflict would eventually be decided by a tragic war. In the plane of history, this was the Thirty Years' War that caused the male population of the Holy Roman Empire to be halved.
This was a civil war that began in the Holy Roman Empire and eventually evolved into a large-scale war involving almost all of Europe.
The two sides of the war were the Habsburg dynasty, the Catholic princes in the Holy Roman Empire, the Papal States, and Poland on one side, and almost all other countries in Europe on the other.
In short, this was pretty much a war of the Habsburgs against all of Europe.
In the historical perspective, the Spanish Armada launched an expedition to Britain in 1588, but suffered heavy losses due to bad weather and Britain's stubborn resistance. However, for Spain, which was at the peak of its national strength at the time, the failure of the Armada was not a big deal. Spain subsequently organized four more Armada expeditions, all of which failed, but also caused great damage to Britain. At least in the 16th and early 17th centuries, Spain was still the hegemon of the Mediterranean and the Atlantic.
What really caused the complete decline of Spain or the Habsburg dynasty was the Thirty Years' War, in which Spain fought against the whole of Europe on its own.
This cruel, brutal, and long war completely brought down the Habsburg dynasty. The huge empire built through marriage and conquest was divided and declined. This led to the rise of the Netherlands, Britain, and France...
At least at this time, the most powerful country in Europe was still Spain. The most powerful royal family was still the Habsburg family, which ruled Spain, Portugal, Austria, Hungary, Bohemia, and many principalities in Italy, had vast colonies in America and Asia, and was nominally the Holy Roman Emperor.
