Chapter 243 London Harbor, Immortal Cultivators blasted their artillery! William and his nephew Edward discussed at sea how to sell out the country, so that they could use the power of the Ming Dynasty to allow their family to have unparalleled power in their country in the future. Of course, other envoys and caravans returning from various countries also had the same idea as uncle and nephew William. Each of them knew the function of the spirit stone and what the Ming Dynasty might do to their country in the future, but as Edward said, if they didn't do it, there would be many people who would. From the moment the Ming Dynasty rose, all countries in the world were destined to become a piece of meat on the chopping board of the Ming Dynasty. Because they were against the Ming Dynasty, they didn't have the slightest chance of winning, and they didn't even have the will to resist. They only thought about how to use the power of the Ming Dynasty to achieve their own goals and make profits for themselves and their families. To this end, they did not hesitate to sell out their country to the Ming Dynasty. In the minds of these merchants and envoys, it didn't matter who ruled their country. Furthermore, looking at the history of their own countries, their countries have been ruled by others before, and the races that ruled their own lands were all different. They have long been numb! Besides, during the decades of living in the Ming Dynasty, they realized that it was a blessing to live in a country with such a profound cultural heritage and extremely developed order. When people face creatures more powerful than themselves, their first thought may be to conquer or defeat it.
But when they find out that their enemy is an invincible "God", their thoughts become simpler. They will go from being frightened and scared at the beginning to looking forward to becoming the people of "God". The reason is simple. This is a common phenomenon throughout human history. When people face natural disasters, diseases, unknown forces, or seemingly inexplicable phenomena, they often attribute them to supernatural forces, namely "gods" or "spirits." Then they began to worship various gods and seek their protection and guidance through sacrifices and prayers. This kind of worship often stems from awe of natural forces and fear of the unknown. This is the reason why, when they realize the invincibility of "God", they will turn to seek connection with this power in order to gain a sense of security and belonging and become the people of "God". But the difference is that when a country with "God" really appears in a mortal world and possesses "divine power", all mortals who do not belong to this "country" will be afraid and terrified. Once they have the possibility of contacting "God", they will go all out and grab this sense of belonging without hesitation. In addition, the cultural heritage of overseas countries is very different from that of China. Compared with the Chinese people who have been attached to and proud of their country and homeland since ancient times, the people of other countries are more concerned about personal freedom and interests, and their sense of belonging to the nation and the country is too weak. To put it bluntly, it can be summed up in one sentence: "Selfishness is ingrained in our bones." Just like William and Edward, they treat people well, dress appropriately, and always pay attention to refinement and grace. However, they are actually cold-hearted and greedy in their bones, which are clearly revealed when interests are involved. As for the Ming Dynasty, the bunch of old foxes in the cabinet knew that when the third and fourth stages of the land reform ushered in an era of war across the world, the Ming Dynasty would inevitably go to war with the countries of the world. At that time, the land and fame of the countries in the world would be a problem that the Ming Dynasty had to face. Therefore, the old foxes in the cabinet began to study these people early. All the principles summarized in the end were put into practice, and the result was that there were envoys and businessmen from countries around the world today, such as Britain, France, the Netherlands, Spain, and Portugal. Everyone, without exception, chose to cooperate with the Ming Dynasty and betrayed their country and people. Don't they know the harm of spirit stones? Yes, but they don't care. To them, spirit stones represent power. Moreover, they do not plan to use spirit stones for cultivation. The reason is simple. Those who were sent to the Ming Dynasty were the most shrewd businessmen and the smartest envoys.
They knew one thing clearly, that is, the Ming Dynasty wanted to use spiritual stones to control their countries, and at the same time make their countries produce more spiritual industrial products for the Ming Dynasty. They would not really and naively believe that such a large-scale delivery of spiritual stones to various countries and the export of grain were all done by the Jinyiwei, or the East and West factories behind them. How could the imperial court not know about such a powerful country and its cooperation with overseas countries? Especially, they heard that the emperor of the Ming Dynasty was a real "god"! So, there is only one answer: these were all tacitly approved by the Ming court. Although they have seen the truth, they will not make it public and just need to cooperate tacitly. Now that they understand that the real purpose of the Ming Dynasty is to make overseas countries their spiritual energy factories and produce more spiritual energy products for the Ming Dynasty, then after they return, they only need to spread the spiritual stones and help the Ming Dynasty achieve this goal! As for their respective families, they will be able to purchase a large amount of normal resources from the Ming Dynasty for cultivation. The most important thing is that they can also control all the practitioners in their country through the spiritual stone channels they control. Well, besides, one day, when the Ming Dynasty annexed various countries, their family would become a powerful official. When these merchants and envoys thought of this, they were all excited. As for the land of their hometown, in their eyes, it was a huge springboard for interests. An era of "cultivating immortals" is about to come, and they want to use this springboard to rise to the top. The calculations of the envoys and chambers of commerce of overseas countries were naturally clear to the Ming cabinet and even the provincial governors. For these old hands who are good at playing power games and engaging in political struggles in officialdom, planning for overseas countries is not as difficult as planning for neighboring countries such as North Korea and the tribes in the northern grasslands. After all, these countries and tribes surrounding the Ming Dynasty have been influenced by Chinese culture since ancient times, and they still have some tricks up their sleeves when it comes to political schemes, so it is naturally not as easy to manipulate them as the Western barbarians. But it doesn’t matter. For the Ming Dynasty today, all the countries in the world are just pieces of meat on the chopping board. The only difference is when to eat them. In the early March of the seventy-sixth year of the Jiajing reign, the Lingshi trade was opened, and the huge grain crisis within the Ming Dynasty found an outlet. In this way, the second stage of the shelved "Aura Industry Era", the "Aura Industry Embryonic Era", officially began. After all, the first stage of the "Agricultural Awakening Era" has completely ended, basic agriculture is already mature, and when the second stage begins, the Ming Dynasty will begin to transform and enter the spiritual industrial era. Three days later, the sky was clear. In London, England, the markets at the docks and ports are extremely bustling, and there are countless types of ships docked. There were fishing boats and sailing warships loaded with cannons. Some of these sailing ships were single-masted, some were double-masted, and some were three-masted battleship-class sailing ships loaded with cannons. The rows of large ships looked spectacular. Especially the three-masted sailing ships equipped with artillery and battleships. The largest one was as long as 26 meters, about 30 to 40 meters wide, and 20 to 30 meters high. The entire ship was docked at the harbor shore, blocking the sunlight, and pedestrians walking underneath looked like ants. These warships and sailing ships all demonstrate the strength of the British navy in the 16th century. At the dock market, the shouting sailors and hawking merchants paint a picture of bustling prosperity. "Boom, boom, boom!" At this moment, a huge roar suddenly sounded in the distance. It was like thunder in a clear sky or artillery bombardment, and it immediately attracted the attention of everyone in the port. "Oh, God! What the hell is that?!" At the end of the sea, there was a three-masted warship so huge that any docked at the port seemed as inconspicuous as a bug in front of it. The people standing at the port dock looked at it from afar and it seemed as if they saw a moving island approaching. For a moment, everyone at the port was shocked and terrified at the same time.
"Is that a ship, or an island?!" "I seem to see a sail, but is that really a ship? It's so huge?!" "God, I feel that compared to that thing, all the ships here look like babies..." More and more people gathered at the port terminal. While I was terrified, I was more curious and wanted to see what was going on. The shape they saw was indeed an enormous sailing ship, but it was obviously different in appearance from the largest three-masted sailing ship in the port. As the behemoth approached, everyone finally saw the appearance of the giant ship. It was as tall as a building, with a pointed bottom and a wide top, high bow and stern, and guard plates on both sides that rose and fell like wings. The entire ship is black, and in the middle of the hull there is a huge three-story building that looks like a palace. "Boom boom boom." As the cargo ship made a low roar and the spiritual energy driven by the spirit stone surged, the entire London port trembled slightly. Dense layers of water splashed on the water surface, and many people felt their feet going numb. "Wow!" As a surge of spiritual energy spread out, the goods of the vendors at the port market were blown all over the place. "Get out of the way, get out of the way!" "We are the Royal Guard Fleet of the Port of London. Everyone, get away from the port now. Leave as quickly as possible. Quickly!" At this moment, a rough and loud voice sounded. There was a commotion at the back of the crowd, and then a road was cleared. Then a group of naval soldiers in dark blue uniforms were seen advancing slowly from the back of the crowd with steady steps. Every soldier's eyes were extremely sharp. They held their spears tightly, with cold light flashing in their eyes. Walking at the front of the army was a burly, imposing, blond middle-aged commander. She wore a velvet top with golden lace and a black cape on her shoulders, which fluttered in the wind. Her eyes were deep and firm, flashing with a cold light. Sir Francis Drake. Commander of the Royal Guards in the Port of London. Francis walked step by step towards the core area of the port. His originally cold and deep eyes, when he saw the huge black ship docked at the port, could not help but reveal a solemn look, and his brows were filled with fear at this moment. With the arrival of the naval fleet to maintain order, the originally noisy port suddenly became quiet at this moment. The crowd that was squeezed to the periphery of the dock cast curious and awed glances, and discussions arose again. But this time, everyone consciously lowered their voices, as if even the air had frozen because of the sudden solemnity. On both sides of the harbor, many three-masted warships also turned their hulls around, with their rough and cold gun barrels extended out, aiming at the large ship from both sides. For a moment, whether it was the warship navy on the ship or the fleet navy that had just arrived, everyone looked extremely nervous. A solemn atmosphere permeated the entire port.
Francis stepped forward and stopped, staring at the huge ship that blocked the sunlight like a small mountain. After a moment, he took a deep breath, raised the baton in his hand high, and shouted in a firm and powerful voice: "Be on guard!" As his order sounded, the fleet navy also moved quickly. Everyone raised their spears and aimed at the behemoth. Francis also drew the sword at his waist and stood ready. "Listen," Francis said loudly, "This is London. No matter where you are from or who you are, in order to avoid unnecessary war, please get off the ship and be inspected!" At this time, Francis had already vaguely seen several figures appearing at the end of the ship. But because they were too high, he couldn't see the other person's specific features, but he vaguely found that there were a few figures that looked like them. This made him instinctively think that this huge and strange ship was most likely from Spain or the Netherlands. Since the opening of the new sea route and the development of maritime trade and colonization, Britain and Spain have been at loggerheads. As for the Netherlands, although war has not yet broken out, trade competition and maritime conflicts between the two countries have begun to emerge. Britain was ready to go to war with it at any time, so he had no choice but to be cautious when he thought that the strange and huge warship in front of him might be from the enemy country. He didn't know how this battleship broke through the blockade of the naval fleet, but at least he did not receive any message from the naval fleet, and they had never seen such a large ship before. This means that either the coast guard fleet had been destroyed, or they deliberately let the ship sail into London. But no matter what the situation, as a naval fleet protecting the safety of the Port of London, he would require all the other party members to disembark for inspection. Once any problems were found, they would all be captured. Otherwise, he doesn't mind sinking the enemy directly in the port. He has the power to do so! "Get off the boat, get off the boat, get off the boat!" As Francis' voice rang out, the soldiers of the naval fleet and the navy on the warships on both sides of the port began to shout. At the port dock below the ship, the Royal Navy fleet of the Port of London was on high alert, and uncle and nephew William on the cargo ship were also extremely nervous. Looking at the captain standing in front of them, who was about forty years old, or to be exact, the captain in black, a small flag officer of the Embroidered Uniform Guard sent to the Ming Dynasty, the uncle and nephew didn't know what the other was going to do. Because when the ship docked at the port and they were about to disembark, they were stopped by the other side. "Mr. Edward," the middle-aged flag officer smiled lightly, raised his hand to wipe his beard, turned his head to look at Edward Alexander Sutherland, and said, "Are you going to gather all the nobles and merchant families and ask them to support you next?" "To establish the absolute authority of your Sutherland family?" The flag officer paused and said, "Or, do you intend to become the uncrowned ruler of Britain?" Edward was surprised when the flag officer pointed out his true thoughts, but he did not hide it and said directly: "Your Excellency is right. This is what I planned. After all, supporting a puppet king to take the throne will help me better implement my plan and promote the spirit stones..." Before Edward could finish his words, the flag officer raised his hand and interrupted him, "Too slow." "How about I give you a hand?" As he spoke, the flag officer looked at the British naval fleet below, recalled the arrangements made by the captain before departure, and a sneer appeared on the corner of his mouth. A small flag officer? No, he was a genuine Jinyiwei centurion, a cultivator who had reached the late stage of Qi training! The reason why he is a small flag officer to the outside world is just to better carry out the tasks assigned by his superiors. The purpose is that if something goes wrong in the process, the problem can be solved by just finding a small flag officer to hand it over. Edward planned to unite everyone, rely on the benefits of fairy magic, bind the so-called British House of Lords, and then support a puppet to take power. This idea was indeed a good one, but in his opinion it was completely unnecessary. It's just an ordinary country, why bother playing tricks? Who are you showing it to? It's just children playing house. Sutherland is backed by the Ming Dynasty. Is it necessary to go through so much trouble to control a country? Just use force to subdue people and shock the entire country. At that time, the words of the Sutherland family will be "imperial edicts"! "What is your Excellency going to do?" Edward asked nervously. "I'll help you blow up those artillery pieces and shock everyone. Then, won't your Sutherland family have the final say in Britain?" The flag officer said, taking out a talisman from his fingertips.
"..." (End of this chapter)