Harry Potter’s Morning Light

   Chapter 2172 Flower dispute (eighty)

Portugal has a parliament in Macau. Unlike the British colonial parliament in the United States, 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 severely restricted so that members of the parliament are only responsible for the government affairs of Macau under the jurisdiction of the Governor, and all defense and laws are under the responsibility of the Governor of Macau.

   There is a Portuguese stone tablet in front of the parliament. Nick saw it when he was traveling in other countries. For example, on the one in Angola, the following words were written:

In the 6681st year from Genesis, on the 1482nd year of the birth of our Lord **** Christ, the most noble, distinguished and mighty monarch, King Joao II of Portugal, sent his court gentleman Diogo Can, to discover the land, and erect this stone.

This stele standing in Angola was actually erected in 1483, but it was carved in Portugal, placed on the ship by the expedition, and erected after nearly a year of travel, Diogo Can's mission He led the fleet south along the coast of Africa, looking for the sea route to India.

   Portugal at that time was a poor and small country, excluded from European affairs, and the Portuguese royal family was in great need of gold and spices, so they suggested to Jiao Huang to carry out such a voyage plan, describing it as a crusade. As Catholic monarchs, the Avis royal family wants to seek legitimacy on the European stage, from which the Pope can obtain financial and legal mandates.

There is no pope coronation in China, and the legitimacy of the emperor's power is supported by other things. In the mid-term of Emperor Qianlong, in order to maintain social stability, many unjust cases were deliberately created. This may be difficult for many people to understand. , why is it maintaining stability?

   This kind of practice 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 Empire did not live in peace. The first Portuguese monarch to contact the East was Da Gama, who, like Zheng He, was finally buried in Calicut, when the city was ruled by Zamorin. , he said to Da Gama, since you are from a rich country, why don't you bring gifts? Where is the king's letter?

Tang Xuanzang had been to India, although he had not been to Calicut, but the story of him taking the customs clearance disc to learn scriptures from the West has spread all over the world, and there is also Zheng He, who led the Xingcha fleet when it landed. Will read the emperor's edict.

Although Calicut was not in the tributary system, Zamorin knew "etiquette", and Da Gama knew nothing, which forced him to respond according to his needs. This is a journey of exploration, and there will be more journeys in the future. Bring more gifts.

  There was a gilded statue of the Virgin Mary on the ship. Zamorin asked Da Gama for it. Da Gama refused, and insisted that it was of wood, which made the atmosphere tense when returning to the big ship. An unpleasant attack occurred when Da Gama crossed the Cape of Good Hope along the new route discovered by Dias, and they landed in an open bay, using the opportunity to repair their ships, hunt for meat, and replenish fresh water, with The astrolabe records the exact position.

   The undulating seas made it impossible to use an astrolabe, a measurement tool Nick lacked on that isolated island where the Portuguese met the natives. They were not friendly, and the Portuguese crew came ashore unarmed, and the two ended up clashing, with Da Gama being lightly wounded by a native thorn.

It took them six days in the storm to get around the Cape of Good Hope, and when they passed the bay where da Gama was attacked again they showed off their force, cuirassers and crossbows, ready to go, and then they landed again, placing an Angola stone with Similar stone tablets stand on the beach.

A few days later, the Portuguese were afraid of being ambushed. They fired from the boat with their rear-mounted revolving cannons to disperse the natives on the shore. When they left the boat, they found that the natives were tearing down the stone tablets and crosses they erected soon, in order to vent their anger. , the Portuguese bombarded a colony of seals and flightless penguins with cannons as they sailed.

   "What's the matter?" asked Bonaparte.

   "The Cape of Good Hope is in the tropics, right?" Georgiana asked. "There are penguins in the tropics?"

   "You think there are no penguins in the tropics?" Bonaparte asked her curiously.

"Have it?"

   He laughed.

   She knew that her expression at that time must be very stupid, but she still couldn't help thinking, aren't penguins only found in the icy South Pole?

  According to Dias' records, to go east around the Cape of Good Hope they had to drive west for a while, so the wind would 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 bypass the *** and arrive in India, the country of spices.

Before that, Joao II already knew his plan. Toscanelli, a famous mathematician and cosmologist in Florence, gave him a letter and a map. When the vast majority of people throughout Europe believed that the earth was flat At the time, he believed that the earth was round, so either west or east could reach India. But he made a fundamental mistake of underestimating the circumference of the earth, Columbus probably knew what the letter was about, maybe had a copy of it, so begged the king to give him enough resources to try it out, the king said he would wait until Kang came back Then answer Columbus.

Kang returned to Lisbon in 1484, he found the end of the African continent, but not the end of the world, and brought back reports of the eastward extension of the African coast, which meant that Columbus' hopes were shattered, so Columbus went to Spain to lobby Isabella and Ferdinand used the rivalry between Spain and Portugal to lobby their plans, while the Portuguese set sail again with more pillars.

These stone pillars covered the entire African continent and continued along the coastline until Macau. However, the stele of Macau was inserted after Da Gama. The discovery of the Da Gama route will mean that Venice and Genoa will lose their monopoly of spices. threatened the interests of trade routes passing 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 mixed in, a man with knowledge of monsoons would never have sailed west in October, this terrible mistake made Da Gama's fleet veer off course 600 miles from India, and worse The only thing they encountered was the calmness of the wind, which meant that the ship was motionless on the sea like molten zinc, and the fresh water stored was gradually stinking. Keep pouring water on the board.

When people's despair was approaching the peak, a favorable east wind suddenly blew. For six consecutive days, the bruised Portuguese fleet saw the coast of Africa. It took them only 23 days to sail from Africa to India, and 93 days to return. The mystery of the monsoon is learned through a lot of hardship.

   This is also the weakness of European sailboats. If there is no wind, they will lose power, while Venice uses paddle boats, and Chinese sailors also have them. They can still have power when there is no wind, but this kind of boat is difficult to sail.

  The season and wind direction have a great influence. In summer, the coast of China will blow the southeast wind, which is not suitable for going north.

  There are many typhoons in China in summer. Chinese sailboats with bamboo poles are very suitable for wind resistance, although the speed has an impact, while European sailboats do not have such wind resistance ability, so they must be berthed in the harbor.

The Spanish galleon is characterized by a high bow and stern deck, which allows two ships to jam each other side by side during naval battles, and then easily board enemy ships. Its scary castle shape also acts as a deterrent, but they The area of ​​the wind is too large, which also means that it can sail against the wind.

The Spaniards regard warships as floating fortresses at sea that carry the army, as are the Portuguese, who were the first to design such sailboats, and the British are reluctant to waste space and manpower on ships to carry land troops who do not understand naval warfare. Rely on the side-string guns and train sailors to be able to leave the guns or drop the rigging, wield spears and daggers, board enemy ships or try to drive the enemy off their own ships.

  The reason why "Countryship" is so daunting is that it is higher than the ship building above the sea. This height is not something that pirates can climb with bare hands.

It is said that the "stars" of Zheng He's fleet were also very large, but they were long gone by the time Da Gama reached the Indian Ocean, which left a power vacuum to be filled, unfortunately the communication between the Portuguese and Zamorin became getting colder. What da Gama didn't understand was that all merchants had to pay port taxes, and the miserable goods they left on the shore weren't even collateral, except for the gilded Madonna.

During the negotiation, the two sides forged a hatred. When the Portuguese ships were unable to move because of the lack of wind at sea, the Calicuts chased after them, and the Portuguese shot stone bullets to drive them away. At this time, there was an east wind and a storm, blowing them to Africa.

  The ability to make a big ship is regarded as a show of strength. Nick remembers the big ship of Guo Xuexian, which did not appear in the harbor of Hong Kong.

   Small sailboats also have their advantages, such as speed and agility, like the piranhas of South America.

Nick can't forget the pirate who killed a big **** and drank its blood as medicine. He said he met the forbidden woman, a monster in the legend of the South China Sea. It was very dangerous and had long, dark hair. , will be poisoned when touched.

  European sailors have a legend about the singing of mermaids. If you listen to their singing and are attracted by their beautiful appearance, you may be miserable.

   Therefore, sailors will survey and map every unfamiliar place, use plumb lines to measure reefs, use astrolabes to determine latitude and longitude, and record local customs, whether there is fresh water, or other edible animals and plants.

Maps are storybooks for explorers and travelers. In the eyes of many people, these maps have 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 hiding place. , where the treasures he plundered are hidden.

The port is always exotic and vibrant, 15th century Lisbon is not just about spices, parrots and sugar, it is also a frontier of navigation and cosmology, there is also a golden map where you can meet sailors who will pass by People describe their thrilling, near-death 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 to divide the Atlantic Ocean in two, and move the papal meridian to a position. John II and his The astronomers of , possibly more experienced and more skilled, drew the line between the Portuguese-occupied Cape Verde and the Caribbean islands discovered by Columbus, accurately placing the coast of Brazil within Portugal's sphere of influence.

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

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

In fact, in the Qing Dynasty, just like Zheng He, he was ordered to go to sea by the emperor, but he was not an eunuch, but Fan Yu, the governor of Guangdong. need.

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

The Fan family is a famous "Imperial Merchant". Because of the loss of copper business, they used Changlu Salt's profits to make up for the shortfall. Later, even the salt lost money, which resulted in insolvency and more than 1.5 million taels of silver. This was the end of the royal merchant's career, but Juren didn't even think that it had anything to do with him at the time.

  The astrolabe is used to determine the orientation in the hands of navigators, and it is used to fortune-telling in the hands of astrologers. When Da Gama traveled, the astrologer also chose an auspicious day.

   "Obviously he's not right," said Bonaparte wryly.

Nick has seen local fishermen catch fish. They will put a collar around the neck of the cormorants, so that they can't swallow the fish and can maintain normal breathing. There is also a string on the collar, if the cormorants forget to return to the boat When they are slack, they are pulled back with a string, and the fishermen will let them stand on the sides of the boat to keep the boat balanced.

   This method of fishing is much better than the more and more densely woven nets used by fishermen. After all, they only catch relatively large fish, and the fishing nets do not let off even fry.

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

   The person who also informed the government was also "Min", who took the opportunity to tell Nick the story of "Water" and "Jun", but Nick did not agree with him very much.

   Calm is not always good, and Da Gama's fleet was glad that the storm was coming, bringing not only fresh water but also a tailwind.

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

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

   He knew that his Spanish jackknife would be difficult to use in a naval battle, even though he thought the battle was likely to be a bluff and would not be able to be fought at all.

   (end of this chapter)