In 1588, Philip II launched a siege against Britain, but Spain's "Invincible Fleet" was defeated by the British navy led by Drake, who was born into a pirate. From then on, Spain lost its status as a maritime power and began to decline.

Now the ruler is Philip IV. When he inherited the Kingdom of Spain from Philip III, he got a country that was strong outside and was strong inside.

By the second year of Chongzhen and in 1629 of the Western calendar, the decline of the Spanish colonial empire is obvious to all.

Pablo arrived in front of Philip IV in early December and presented Zhu Youjian's imperial edict to him.

After Philip IV ascended the throne, he immediately entrusted the important tasks of Count Oliveris, whom he favored.

Neither Philip IV nor Oliverius understood Chinese, so he directly asked Pablo to read it out.

"His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty issued an edict saying that the Spanish Kingdom's occupation of the territory of the Ming Empire and its vassal states was unjust. The Ming Empire has recaptured the areas occupied by the Spanish Kingdom, including not limited to the northern part of Taiwan, Luzon Island and other areas.

The current Ming Empire demanded that the Kingdom of Spain compensate for the invasion of the territory of the Ming Empire, and paid a sum of money to the people of the Ming Empire who were oppressed by the Spanish people to obtain their forgiveness.

The total amount is that the Spanish king needs to pay five million silver dollars to the Ming Empire. If the Spanish Kingdom is unable to repay it in one go, it can pay 1.2 million silver dollars a year for five years.

For the happy life of the people of both countries, I hope the Kingdom of Spain can choose this peaceful solution. Otherwise, the fleet of the Ming Empire will come to the coast of the Kingdom of Spain next year!"

When Pablo read it, he kept his head down, and only after he finished speaking saw the anger in Philip IV's eyes.

Although Spain has declined today, it is still a colonial power with huge colonies in the Americas and other regions, a powerful empire with hundreds of warships.

However, in the eyes of the emperor of this Eastern Empire, Spain is just a mere "kingdom".

Moreover, this country not only occupied East and Southeast Asian colonies that originally belonged to the Spanish Empire, but also had to let the powerful Spanish Empire pay it up to five million silver dollars in war reparations!

Such requests really made the Spanish emperor and ministers feel extremely angry.

Although they had already lost to Britain at sea and France on land, they still felt that Spain was not something that a mere Eastern country could fight against, and it was even more impossible to bow to an Eastern country.

Why should a country that has not even been popularized with the army, the advanced Spanish Empire surrender?

"I remember Capello said that the country called Ming in the East used weapons to defeat the powerful Spanish Expeditionary Force? You are using the most advanced mesh guns! Lord Pablo, I need an explanation."

Earl Oliveris looked at Pablo and said seriously, "There was a big mistake in saying that he would pull Pablo down and send it to the guillotine."

Pablo opened his mouth and did not directly argue, but said: "Your Majesty the King, the Earl, the president of the largest chamber of commerce in the Ming Empire, and the Hou Xiaosheng of Liuli, asked me to bring some gifts to Your Majesty the King. After your Majesty and you all read these gifts, I think you will have a clearer understanding of the current Ming Empire."

"Oh? Are there more exquisite porcelain and gorgeous silk? Let them bring the gifts up quickly!" Philip IV's eyes lit up when she heard this and she couldn't wait to say.

Now no Europa can withstand the temptation of silk and porcelain, it is a truly beautiful work of art.

However, to the surprise of Philip IV and the Spanish nobles, the first gift Pablo sent was not anything they imagined, but a strange thing like a golden trumpet flower.

"Is this a carving? The patterns are very beautiful, but some places still look rough." Philip IV claims to be a clever artist and pointed at this thing.

Pablo laughed and said, "Your Majesty, the name of this thing is a phonograph, or a record player. Let me demonstrate it for you."

As he said that, he carefully prepared the clockwork and then installed a disc.

A burst of intense pipa sounds came from the golden trumpet flower, and then erhu, qin and other instruments joined.

This song is "Ambush on Ten Sides", a symphony produced by the "Royal Performance Team" of the Daming Jiaofangsi. It not only contains traditional Chinese orchestral instruments, but also incorporates new percussion instruments.

It makes people feel excited after listening to it for a few seconds, and a righteous mood arises naturally.

The Spanish king and many ministers and nobles were already shocked by this song and waited until the end of the record.

Pablo took off the record, introduced the song to Philip IV, and then said: "This music is recorded on this record, and then it can be chanted through the record machine.

Lord Liulihou sent a lot of records to the royal family, including many wonderful songs and music.

The record machine is a technological invention of the Ming Empire, and I don’t know the principles very well.”

After saying that, Pablo put down another record, and a melancholy sound came out, making Philip IV feel a sense of comfort.

Pablo then asked someone to carry something in. He pointed to the black box and said, "This thing is called a camera, which can print images on special paper. Your Majesty, please allow me to take a photo for you.

The first photo in Spain should belong to His Majesty the King!”

Philip IV hesitated for a moment and said, "I think this honor will be given to Count Olivieris!"

He was just scared. Of course, he could not take risks when facing something that he didn't know.

Pablo was disappointed, but didn't say anything more.

He has specialized in photography technology and can finally show it now.

Earl Olivieris was also a little worried, but at this time, as the number one favorite, he should have stood up.

So Pablo took him the first photo of the Kingdom of Spain.

The flash scared Count Olivieris, although Pablo had already told him about the flash before.

After taking the photo, Pablo said: "The photo takes one day to develop, so you can see the effect tomorrow.

Next is the third gift, from the Baihua series of perfumes produced by the Huangxia Chamber of Commerce.”

Perfumes are very popular in continental Europe. After all, they need to use perfume to cover up their strong body odor.

But their perfumes are obtained from animals, with simple fragrance and short fragrance.

The perfume that Pablo brought back from the Ming Empire was made using the latest craftsmanship to extract essential oils from plants and flowers.

The aroma is rich, without toxic side effects, and the aroma is pure and elegant, with various choices.

This perfume from the Hundred Flowers series has thirty-three fragrances. In the capital of the Ming Empire, the price of buying a set of perfume is "888 silver dollars".

Moreover, there was a very shortage of goods, and the orders were kept backwards, even until December.

Philip IV originally wanted to say, "As a king, he had never seen any perfume." But when Pablo opened one of the bottles, the queen next to Philip IV suddenly became excited.

She said, "Hurry! Give me that thing!"

After saying that, a longing expression appeared on his face.

Philip IV and others did not find it strange, because when the bottle opened, they also felt a pleasant fragrance.

Pablo delivered the perfume to the queen through his maid. The queen took the perfume and sniffed it gently on the tip of her nose.

A very intoxicated expression suddenly appeared on her face, muttering to herself:

"Oh! This is the fragrance of roses, it's so wonderful!"

Pablo introduced to the king and others after hearing this: "The Ming Empire was very powerful. Not long ago, they had just destroyed two countries located in Asia and the northern part of the Ming Empire and conquered the Mongols there. There was a grassland that was more than ten times the area of ​​Spain. They wanted to plant flowers on it to make this noble perfume!"

A grassland equivalent to a dozen Spanish land areas!?

Pablo's words once again shocked the Spanish nobles. Although they also occupied a vast colony, there was still a difference between colony and truly incorporating a place into the national territory.

Moreover, the Mongols who once trembled throughout Europe were actually conquered by the Ming Empire.

Before they could react, Pablo continued: "My Majesty, there is one of the most important gifts next, but this gift will take some time to install, so you will have to wait until tomorrow and tomorrow morning to see it."

Philip IV waved his hand and said, "Don't worry about the gifts first. Tell me how you were defeated. At the same time, tell us what you saw in the Ming Empire."

Pablo smiled bitterly when he heard this and said, "I dare not hide it from Your Majesty. In fact, I surrendered voluntarily."

"What!?"

Before his words could be finished, they had already aroused the anger and wanted to come forward and tear the traitor apart.

Philip IV also looked very bad when she heard this, and said in a deep voice: "Pablo, what else can you say?"

Pablo sighed and said, "Your Majesty, I chose to surrender at that time because I didn't want to die in vain, nor did I want my Spanish soldiers to die in vain.

At that time, we were at the port of Santo Domingo City, Taiwan, where the fleet of the Ming Empire came and surrounded us there, and we could not engage in mobile operations at all.

But this is not the most terrifying thing. What makes me feel powerless to fight is that the warships of the Ming Empire are all giant ships wrapped in steel outside. The thick steel plates wrapped around the entire warship, and our cannons could not penetrate it.

The artillery of the Ming Dynasty has a very large caliber, with a total of 300mm. It can sink our warships in one shot."
Chapter completed!