Harry Potter Morning Light.

Chapter 2172 Flower Controversy (Eighty)

Portugal has a parliament in Macau. The difference from the colonial parliament established by the United Kingdom in the United States is that the parliament gradually weakened with the enthronement of Queen Maria I of Portugal and the outbreak of the American War. Correspondingly, the power of the Governor of Macau continued to expand, and the authority of the parliament It is so severely restricted that members of the parliament are only responsible for the government affairs in Macau under the jurisdiction of the governor, and all defense and laws are in charge of the governor of Macau.

In front of the Parliament there is a stone tablet in Portuguese that Nick saw when he was traveling in other countries before, such as the one in Angola that has the following words written on it:

In the 6681st year from Genesis, in the 1482th year of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, the most noble, excellent and powerful monarch, King João II of Portugal, sent his court gentleman, Diogo Con, to discover this land and Erect this stele.

This stele standing in Angola was actually erected in 1483, but it was carved in Portugal and placed on the ship by the expedition. It took nearly a year of travel before it was erected. The task of Diogo Kang He led the fleet down the coast of Africa in search of a sea route to India.

At that time, Portugal was a poor and small country, which was excluded from European affairs. The Portuguese royal family was in great need of gold and spices, so they suggested to Huang that such a voyage plan should be described as a crusade.As a Catholic monarch, the Avis royal family hopes to seek legitimacy on the European stage, and can obtain financial and legal authorization from the Pope.

In China, there is no pope to be crowned, and the legitimacy of the emperor's power is supported by other things. In the middle period of Emperor Qianlong, he deliberately created many unjust cases in order to maintain social stability. , why instead maintain stability?
This approach can prevent people from talking nonsense, and imprison people's thoughts to a certain extent. Under the oppression of imperial power, everyone is equal.

The vassal states that paid tribute to the Celestial Dynasty did not live in peace. The first Portuguese king to contact the East was Da Gama. Like Zheng He, he was finally buried in Calicut. At that time, the ruler of the city was Zamorin , he said to Vasco da Gama, since you come from a rich country, why don't you bring gifts?Where are the king's letters?

Tang Xuanzang had been to India. Although he had not been to Calicut, the story of him taking a customs clearance disc to the west to learn Buddhist scriptures has been spread all over the world. Moreover, there is also Zheng He, who also led the Xingcha Fleet when he landed. The emperor's edict will be read out.

Although Calicut is not in the tributary system, Zamorin knows the "etiquette", and Da Gama knows nothing, which makes him have to respond accordingly. This is a journey of discovery, and there will be more journeys in the future. Bring more gifts.

There was a gilded statue of the Virgin Mary on board. Zamorin asked Vasco da Gama for it, but da Gama refused, insisting that it was made of wood, which made the return to the ship very tense.When Da Gama had an unpleasant raid across the Cape of Good Hope along the new route discovered by Dias, they landed in an open bay and used the opportunity to repair their ships, hunt for meat, and replenish fresh water with The astrolabe recorded the exact position.

The sea is choppy, and the astrolabe cannot be used, which is the measuring tool Nick lacked on that isolated island, where the Portuguese met the natives.They were not friendly, and the Portuguese crew did not carry weapons when they went ashore. The two sides finally clashed, and Da Gama was slightly injured by the native thorns.

It took them six days in stormy weather to successfully round the Cape of Good Hope, and when they passed the bay where Vasco da Gama was attacked again, they made a show of force, wearing breastplates and crossbows ready to go, and then they landed again, throwing an Angolan stele Similar stone monuments stand on the beach.

A few days later, the Portuguese were afraid of being ambushed, and fired from the ship with their rear-mounted swivel guns to disperse the aborigines on the shore. , the Portuguese sailed while bombarding a colony of seals and flightless penguins with cannons.

"What's the matter?" asked Bonaparte.

"The Cape of Good Hope is in the tropics, isn't it?" Georgiana asked. "There are penguins in the tropics?"

"Do you think there are no penguins in the tropics?" Bonaparte asked her strangely.

"Have it?"

He laughed out loud.

She knew that her expression must be very stupid, but she still couldn't help thinking, aren't penguins only found in the ice and snow Antarctic?
According to Dias's records, to go east around the Cape of Good Hope, they must go west for a while, so the wind will help them.In 1483, while Kang was groping south along the coast of Africa, Columbus came to the court of Lisbon and proposed a new plan for him to reach India, the country of spices, bypassing Tibet.

Prior to this, João II had already known his plan. The famous mathematician and cosmologist Toscanelli in Florence gave him a letter and a map. When the vast majority of people in Europe believed that the earth was flat. At that time, he believed that the earth was round, so India could be reached no matter whether one went west or east.But he made a fundamental mistake and underestimated the circumference of the earth, Columbus probably knew the content of the letter, maybe had a copy of it, so asked the king to give him enough resources to try it, the king said he would wait until Kang came back Answer Columbus again.

Kang returned to Lisbon in 1484, he found the end of the African continent, but not the end of the world, and brought back a report about the extension of the African coast to the east, which meant that Columbus' hope was broken, so Columbus went to Spain to lobby Isabella and Ferdinand, taking advantage of the rivalry between Spain and Portugal, lobbied their plans, and the Portuguese set sail again with more pillars.

These stone pillars are all over the entire African continent, and continue along the coastline until Macao, but the stele in Macao was inserted after Da Gama. The discovery of Da Gama's route will mean that Venice and Genoa will lose their monopoly on spices. threatened the interests of trade routes through the Red Sea, so they would do everything in their power to undermine the Portuguese efforts.

Da Gama's fleet had a Venetian spy in it, a man with knowledge of the monsoons would never have sailed west in October, this horrible mistake put da Gama's fleet off course after 10 miles from India and worse But they encountered calm without wind, which meant that the ship was motionless on the sea like molten zinc, and the fresh water stored in it was gradually stinking. Keep pouring water on the board.

When people's despair was approaching the peak, a favorable east wind suddenly blew up. For six consecutive days, the bruised Portuguese fleet saw the coast of Africa. It only took them 23 days to sail from Africa to India, but it took 93 days to return. The secret is to suffer a lot to learn.

This is also the weakness of European sailing ships. When there is no wind, they lose power, while Venice uses paddle boats, and the Chinese navy also has them. They can still have power when there is no wind, but this kind of ship is difficult to sail in the ocean.

The season and wind direction have a great influence. In summer, the southeast wind will blow along the coast of China. At this time, it is not suitable to go north.

There are many typhoons in summer in China. Chinese sailboats have bamboo sails that are very suitable for wind resistance, although their speed is affected, while European sailboats do not have such wind resistance ability, so they must be anchored in harbors.

The Spanish galleon was characterized by its high bow and stern decks, which allowed two ships to jam each other side by side in naval battles, and easily board the enemy ship. Its intimidating castle shape also acted as a deterrent, but they The wind area is too large, which also means that it can sail against the wind.

The Spaniards regarded warships as floating fortresses carrying an army, and so did the Portuguese, who were the first to design such sailboats. The British were unwilling to waste space and manpower on board to load land troops who did not understand naval warfare. Rely on sidestring guns, and train sailors to leave the guns or drop the rigging, take up the spear and dagger, board the enemy ship or try to drive the enemy from his own ship.

The reason why the "Country ship" is daunting is that it is higher than the ship building above the sea. This height cannot be climbed by pirates with bare hands.

It is said that the "stars" of Zheng He's fleet were also very large, but they had disappeared for a long time when da Gama arrived in the Indian Ocean. The Indian Ocean left a power vacuum to be filled. Unfortunately, the communication between the Portuguese and Zamorin became It's getting colder and colder.What Vasco da Gama didn't understand was that all merchants had to pay port taxes, and that the measly merchandise they left ashore wasn't even collateral, save for the gilded Madonna.

During the negotiations, the two sides forged a grudge. When the Portuguese ships were unable to move because of the calm sea, the Calicuts chased them. The Portuguese shot stones to drive them away. to Africa.

The ability to build big ships is seen as a show of strength. Nick remembers Guo Xuexian's big ship, which did not appear in Hong Kong's harbor.

Small sailing boats also have their advantages, such as speed and agility, like South American piranhas.

Nick couldn't forget the pirate who killed a big rooster and drank its blood as medicine. He said that he met the forbidden woman, a monster in South Sea legend. It was very dangerous and had long, black hair. , will be poisoned if touched.

European sailors said that the singing of mermaids, if you listen to their singing and be attracted by their beautiful appearance, you may suffer misfortune.

Therefore, sailors will survey and map every time they go to a strange place, measure the reef with a plumb line, determine the latitude and longitude with an astrolabe, and record the local customs, whether there is fresh water, or other edible animals and plants.

Maps are the storybooks of explorers and travelers. In the eyes of many people, these maps contain the temptation of gold, not only the rich resources along the coast, but also the treasures of pirates. The pirates must have an unknown secret hideout , where he hid his looted treasure.

The port is always full of exoticism and vitality. Lisbon in the 15th century not only has spices, parrots and sugar, but also the forefront of navigation and cosmology. There is also a golden map where you can also meet sailors. People describe their thrilling, narrow escape stories.

In 1493, Spain and Portugal held a meeting in a small town to bargain for the division of the world. They wanted to draw a straight line from the North Pole to the South Pole, divide the Atlantic Ocean into two, and move the Pope's meridian to a position. Joao II and his More experienced astronomers may have drawn the line between Cape Verde occupied by Portugal and the Caribbean Islands discovered by Columbus, accurately bringing the coast of Brazil into Portugal's sphere of influence.

If Spain had a more accurate map, or more accurate coordinates, it might not agree, so the quarrel about this line continued until 1777.

Scientists participated in political struggles based on the interests of the secular state, and Francis I sarcastically said, "Let me see if it is written in Adam's will."

In fact, in the Qing Dynasty, like Zheng He, he was ordered to go to sea by the emperor, but he was not a eunuch, but Fan Yu, the governor of Guangdong. He once rode the monsoon to Japan and exchanged silk and other things for a large number of copper ingots for the Zungar War. need.

There is a kind of stationery called "Water Prime Minister", which is a container specially used for grinding ink, but copper is strong, and whether it is a lake brush or an ordinary brush, it will become brittle after being soaked, so "Shui Prime Minister" can only use ceramics.

The Fan family is a well-known "imperial merchant". Because they lost money in the copper business, they used the profits from Changlu salt to make up for the shortfall. Later, even the salt also lost money, which led to insolvency and owed more than 150 million taels of silver. This is the end of his career, but Juren didn't think that it had anything to do with him at the time.

In the hands of navigators, the astrolabe is used to determine the direction, and in the hands of astrologers, it is used for fortune-telling. When Da Gama traveled, the astrologer even chose an auspicious day.

"Obviously he was not right," said Bonaparte teasingly.

Nick has seen local fishermen catch fish. They will put a collar around the cormorant's neck so that they can't swallow the fish and keep breathing normally. There is also a thin rope on the collar. If the cormorant forgets to return to the boat When the fish is caught, it is pulled back with a thin rope, and then the fishermen will let them stand on both sides of the boat to keep the boat balanced.

This fishing method is much better than fishermen using nets that weave more and more densely. After all, all the fish caught are relatively large, and the fishing nets do not let go of even the fry.

There are very few fish in the Pearl River, and fishermen can only go to sea, where they are easy to meet, so pirates hide in this fishing port.

At the same time, it was "Min" who informed the government. Juren took the opportunity to tell Nick the story of "Shui" and "Jun", and Nick didn't agree with him very much.

Calm and no waves are not always good, and Da Gama's fleet was very happy that the storm was coming, not only bringing fresh water, but also a favorable wind.

For at least seven or eight hours Nick didn't know what to do, even though he didn't come of his own free will.

He wandered aimlessly, and finally spotted the medical team, who were preparing the "gold sore medicine", and Nick joined them.

He knew well enough that his Spanish jack-knife would be of little use in a naval battle, although he felt that the battle was likely to be a bluff and would not be fought at all.

(End of this chapter)