Lu Ming

……

The moonlight was like washing, scattered like pieces of silver on the sea outside Dayuan Harbor.With gusts of sea wind blowing, the silver-scaled waves fluctuate, and at the same time, the sailboats floating on the sea are also drifting with the waves.

"Oh God, is that the legendary 'City of Light'? That's amazing." Alonso de Rojas Vargas stood at the bow of the boat, looking into the distance with a telescope The brightly lit castle, said in surprise.

Alonso is a Portuguese nobleman with a big beard.His ancestor was the famous Alonso de Rojas knight, who had followed the King of Aragon in the 13th century to attack the North African Moors (Muslin) entrenched in Valencia, so he hid in Alonso. Among the long list of real names, the honorable aristocratic surname "Rojas" is the most important part.

As a senior member of the Macau City Council, Alonso was entrusted by the city council to formally come to establish diplomatic relations with the owner here.

At this moment, Alonso was looking at the imperial city on Dayuan Island from the armed sailboat Cascais at midnight.

The Cascais departed from Macau a week ago.According to the guide's plan, the ship first took the south wind to go north to Xiamen, and then crossed the strait from Xiamen Port with several junk ships behind.

Due to the existence of lighthouses along the way, the fleet did not suffer much trouble along the way. The Cascais arrived at Dayuan smoothly at midnight at the end of September.

Usually, when a ship comes to the nearshore area in the dark, it cannot move easily: no one knows whether there are reefs or dark beaches ahead.

But because of the brightly blazing castle, the leading junks quickly calculated their positions with reference to the castle and the lighthouse at the entrance of the Daman Passage, so those junks scrambled in the dark night It rushed into the Dayuan channel and walked away.

Unknown road conditions were left behind, and the large and heavy Cascais was blowing outside the channel mouth.

Fortunately, even in the dark night, here is not alone.A traffic command boat whose whole body was painted bright red and emitted bright beams of light quickly approached.

The beam of light began to sweep across the Cascais from a long distance, and the strong light made the sailors whose eyes were pierced exclaim.Here's the irony: people don't yell out the words heathen and devil.After all, the appearance of white light in the boundless night is in line with the description of various holy scenes in the Bible.

The next moment, there was a huge human voice on the traffic boat.

Since the Portuguese set off from Macau, there would naturally be no shortage of Chinese translators on board.After the interpreter replied loudly, an instruction came from the traffic boat soon: wait in place and enter the port tomorrow morning.

The Cascais, with a displacement of 350 tons, is quite clumsy in this situation. Instead of taking the risk of entering the port under the guidance of lights, it is better to talk about it tomorrow morning, and this night is not bad.

Early the next morning, a short-haired pilot boarded the ship on the gangway of the Cascais.Although Congressman Alonso had obtained a lot of information from the merchants before, he was still dazzled when he entered the port.

The next step is the complex parking process.The Cascais first berthed at the Northern Line Oshima Wharf, which is next to the exit of the channel.

All short-term foreign personnel will stay on Beixian Island, which will greatly reduce the pressure on the health department for epidemic prevention.Most of the Cascais crew disembarked here, and they quickly liked it—the rum punch at the Pirate's Bar, the sound stage, and the pole dancers were already famous among East Asian sailors.

After that, the Cascais was towed by a traffic boat to the Chikan Wharf area on the other side of the Taijiang River for unloading.

Because the trade between Macau and Dayuan is not complementary, the Portuguese also took a lot of trouble to raise goods for this diplomatic operation.

Fortunately, Macau is stuck at the throat of the Pearl River Delta. As long as there are silver coins, it is not difficult to temporarily prepare some "crude goods".So when Special Envoy Alonso set off, the Cascais had already been filled with rice, buffalo hides, rough iron, and coal, which were said to be more popular cargoes in Daguan, according to the merchants' suggestions.

Of course, the Cascais also has a lot of silver coins used to fill the trade deficit when merchant ships and officials from various countries trade.

Chapter 269 The Origin of the Portuguese

After watching the astonishing gas crane unloading performance, Alonso ordered his entourage to show the dock officials diplomatic documents.After waiting patiently on the boat for nearly two hours, he boarded a beautiful triangular sail boat and turned back to the other side of the Taijiang River—this time the boat came directly to the pier of Dayuan Island.

Different from the bustling and noisy wharves along the Taijiang River, Dayuan Wharf is quiet and beautiful.The trapezoidal concrete gravity pier is paved with dark red terrazzo marble slabs, and the taste of power and wealth comes out strongly the moment outsiders board the pier.

There were already two young men in hand-cut gray linen suits and blue muslin shirts waiting at the pier.Next to them is the only 8-seat electric sightseeing car dedicated to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the "world" used to receive distinguished guests.

After a few simple greetings, the Portuguese envoy was invited to board a milky white sightseeing car with a canopy.

Both young men are staff members of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and one of them is taking French as an elective.So when Alonso got on the sightseeing car, he began to communicate happily with the young people in French.

The 17th century was the era when French gradually replaced Latin. By the end of the 17th century, French would officially replace Latin in the upper class.Therefore, in this era, European aristocrats with backgrounds can often master both French and Latin.

After the sightseeing car started, it quickly bypassed the original Dutch business hall that had been bulldozed and rebuilt into the port hall, and then slowly drove towards the embassy area along a cement scenic road along the riverside.

Although Alonso has tried his best to maintain due restraint, when he saw those glass halls, electric cars, concrete roads, and garden-style coastal landscapes on both sides along the way, he still couldn't help talking about it with his master. everything.

However, he didn't get answers to these questions: the electric car quickly and quietly parked in front of the official hall of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Since some bungalows along Binjiang Road had already been sold to foreign powers, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs left the official hall in its original location considering the reasons for daily dealings.Except for the addition of a podium on the original basis, no major changes have been made.

Cai Feiming had already taken his seat with a smile in front of the official hall.After talking to Special Envoy Alonso in Spanish, which is more familiar to him, the two parties returned to the official hall. After the special envoy handed over the documents, everyone made a few simple polite remarks, and the set of diplomatic etiquette was completed.

Today's cross-country diplomacy is no longer the grass-roots team it used to be.After Alonso met Cai Feiming as a courtesy today, it will be difficult for the two sides to meet again in the future.Generally speaking, for envoys from places like Macau, Tang Xiaoqiao, Cai Feiming's deputy, is in charge of negotiations.

After the courtesy cutscenes, Alonso and his two entourage were invited to board the sightseeing car.After running along Binjiang Road for about ten minutes, the car stopped in front of a beautiful Chinese-Western villa.

Mr. Special Envoy didn't have time to look at the scenery along the way. His attention was all on the passing villas along the way: the flags of the Dutch, Japanese, and British were flying on the roofs.

After staring at the Japanese trading house for a few moments, Mr. Special Envoy, whose face became heavy, sighed secretly.

……

Alonso certainly had reason to sigh.

In this plane, due to the existence of the crossing people, history is slowly deviating from the previous track.Not to mention the increasingly obvious changes in the Ming Dynasty, but the fate of the colonists who traveled thousands of miles to East Asia is also changing little by little.

First up is the Dutch.

Due to the secret mischief of a certain force that is familiar with history, the time when the red-haired people were closed by the Japanese in this plane was a year earlier than in history.

Of course, the Dutch didn't actually suffer too much.After all, they got special goods in Dayuan that were hundreds of times richer than in history: local products of Ming Dynasty + industrial products.

The Portuguese also felt the change in history, although this change came a little later: not long ago, the shogunate officially ordered the closure of the Portuguese trading house in Hirado.

In real history, the Portuguese business house was not closed until 11 years later when the shogunate locked up the country.

As for the superficial reason for doing so?There are too many—the bewitched Christian daimyos in southwestern Japan, and the "Chechitan" rebellion one after another, have been selling Japanese slaves to Macau since 1534, and assigning them to Malay and African slaves to produce offspring. The act of slave appreciation...

The Portuguese have so much dark history that the shogunate can find a lot if they want to find it.

In fact, the expulsion of the Portuguese this time was the result of a number of Japanese maritime merchants uniting again to attack the shogunate at the beginning of this year under the strong demand of the entrenched powers.

The current shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu formally ordered the expulsion of the Portuguese not long ago under the combined effect of political lobbying, money, and various industrial products.

Sometimes, it is as simple as turning around: the mainstay of the Portuguese existence in history, the large Japanese business group that kept using gold and female slaves to trade with the Portuguese, turned their backs this time.Without it - the big staff can provide more benefits.

……

Different from the happy atmosphere of the previous months, after receiving the news of the closure, the nobles and businessmen in the Macau City Council suddenly wailed.

You know, just before yesterday, among the chats before the meeting, the happiest, most enduring, and most enjoyable topic was that the Dutch were kicked out of the Japanese trade...

Now that everyone is even, the Portuguese know that it won't be long before all the forces in the East Asian seas can laugh at them... just like they laughed at the Dutch.

What shocked the Macau Parliament even more was that the official document from the shogunate that came to Macau was another official document brought back by a businessman who went to the Daguan—"Notice on Blocking the Taiwan (Formosa) Strait from Now On" .

The content of the announcement is very simple: Japanese trade has been monopolized by the Cao family. From now on, all ships trying to go to Japan, regardless of nationality, will be sunk.

The issuer of this official document is Fujian Coastal Defense Guerrilla: General Cao Chuan Cao.

The Portuguese were completely outraged, and this was a naked provocation: the official document, with its front and back feet, clearly stated the fact that the pirate leader was behind the closure of the Portuguese business house.

The MPs couldn't believe that a pirate who had just obtained a small official position from the Ming Empire dared to make such an announcement to all the sea powers in East Asia so arrogantly - even though this Cao's power defeated other Fujian pirates not long ago.

However, the anger of the congressmen was quickly extinguished in front of the witnesses sent by Liu Xiang—10 pirates who had personally participated in Li Kuiqi's series of battles against Cao Chuan testified in the parliament.

After combining the testimonies of the Portuguese businessmen who came back from the senior officials, the parliament, which had a new understanding of the guerrilla general's force, urgently sent Mr. Alonso, a senior member of parliament, to investigate and negotiate with the senior officials.

Chapter 270 Cousins

The ancestors of the old Qin Dynasty said: far away friends close to attack.

In fact, the cross-travelers have long wanted to vote for the Portuguese.

From a geopolitical point of view, a certain force that has occupied Xiamen and Dayuan is now fully capable of blocking the strait.

It is no longer possible for European ships to go to Japan, no matter whether they go north along the mainland or along Taiwan's inner and outer coastlines: all routes have to pass through the gate of Shan Dawang.

For the colonists, from this moment on, the area north of the line between Tainan and Xiamen was sprayed with the fog of war again, and the situation returned to before the Portuguese discovered Japan in 1534.

The ancestors of the Han Dynasty also said: Delong and look forward to Shu.

The transmigration forces that are vigorously integrating the existing land, transferring the population, and investing in the development of basic industries in various places naturally set their sights on Macau-this is the closest "unfaithful" place to their home.

Perhaps the emperors and ministers of the Ming Dynasty could pretend to be deaf and dumb to Macau, but in the eyes of the monarchs and ministers of the crossing kingdom, the Portuguese and their entrenched Macau... the place called "Hao Jing Macao" in this era has gradually become a favorite place for some people. A thorn in the side.

First of all, unlike the red-haired Dutch, the Portuguese not only competed with the Transit Group for gold, silver and copper, but also for another very precious resource: maids in trade activities related to Japan.

When it comes to slave trading, the Portuguese are a global role model in this era.Leaving aside the thriving black slave trade in South America, even in East Asia, wherever the Portuguese went, they always put the slave trade at the forefront.

After Portuguese merchants and Jesuits entered Japan in 1543, they began to buy Japanese as slaves and sell them all over the world, including Portugal.It also sold Japanese women to Portuguese brothels.

Hideyoshi Toyoshira had a good impression of the Portuguese Jesuits. In addition, in the plan to invade China, he hoped that the Portuguese Jesuits would provide military and force support.

However, more and more Japanese female slaves were being trafficked by the Portuguese, which aroused Hideyoshi Toyoshira's resentment.

On July 1587, 7, he sent a letter to Coelho, the deputy head of the Jesuit Japan, condemning the slave trade of Portuguese merchants and the Jesuits and prohibiting them from preaching.

The Jesuits in Japan were afraid that the Roman Church would sell their female slaves, so they lied to the Jesuit headquarters about military information...Using Toyotomi Hideyoshi's translation to reverse the truth...This is the Jesuits.

On the Chinese side, there are historical records of the first Chinese slave in Lisbon, Portugal, which occurred in 1540.

Chinese slaves were expensive in Portugal, and they were mainly bought by the Portuguese nobles and royal family, who were responsible for complex mental work: such as translating documents.It was not until 1595 that the Portuguese government legislated to prohibit the slave trade in China and Japan.

By the mid-17th century, the Portuguese Jesuits in Macau had about 5 slaves of all kinds, the largest being African slaves.Until the end of the Qing Dynasty, Portuguese Christians in Macau were still selling child slaves one after another.

Therefore, there is a natural conflict between the time-traveling forces and the Jesuits, a global slave trade group: everyone is interested in population, especially women and children.

In such a competitive situation, coupled with the fact that the Portuguese in Macao control a large part of the import and export trade around Guangdong—this is an even more heinous crime in the eyes of some people. Why did World War I and World War II start? ?

In short, the dignitaries who traveled across the country are not pleasing to the Portuguese.The reason why they just use a method similar to closing down the Japanese business hall to fight cattle across the mountain, without further action, is nothing more than the fact that they are currently integrating the interior and cannot make a move.

Then there is a reason for the low-level reception that Alonso received in the senior staff today.

……

Special Envoy Alonso, who hadn't noticed that the strategic environment had reached a dangerous level, was excitedly visiting the tiled bathroom and toilet in the villa.

Since the ceramic tile production line cannot be imported, the existing ceramic tiles are all handicrafts that are fired in kilns and then manually cut and polished.The automated production lines with huge floor space and complex processes in the later generations cannot be imported or produced by the big staff here.

Guests will wow with the crisp white tiled bathrooms and toilets.Thanks to the surroundings of the imperial city, the villas on Binhe Road all have 24-hour hot water supply.After his entourage learned how to operate the faucet, Alonso couldn't wait to take a hot shower.

After eating lunch delivered from a nearby special restaurant, Alonso has decided to buy the house, which is paid by the chamber of commerce anyway.

At this moment, someone suddenly visited outside the door.

A dark-haired European dressed as a servant in a black button-up jacket, stockings, and wooden boots stood in front of the door, holding a gorgeous invitation card on a copper tray in his hand.The content of this invitation is very simple: Baron Juan de Belver Vargas invited Senator Alonso to attend an afternoon dinner at the Spanish Chamber of Commerce.

"Oh... this is good news." After seeing the invitation, Alonso hurriedly ordered his followers to open the suitcase, and took out a set of exquisite black velvet coats.

At exactly three o'clock in the afternoon, Alonso brought his servants to another shop not far from the villa on time: this is the territory of the Spaniards.Baron Juan, who has black hair, has already lined up in front of the door with his servants and several merchants living in the shop to welcome the guests.

Although in another 12 years, Portugal will become independent from Spain and establish the Braganza Dynasty; but the cousins ​​are connected by broken bones-whether it is belief or life, they are still inseparable.

This can be seen in the clothes: both envoys wore short coats in September weather, and except for the different materials of silk and velvet, the coats were of the same style as the Purpovan coat.

It has been eliminated by emerging countries such as the Netherlands, and the round "Raff" collar is made of white crepe silk, which is still put on their necks.

In addition, including the chest filled with fine linen, the classic image that looks like leggings but is actually stockings also appeared on Dayuan Island where thieves are entrenched...

A bit similar to Alonso's name, the ancestral name of Vargas in Baron Juan's surname was also passed down by a brave knight-Knight Juan de Vargas, Alfonso in 1085 The king recaptured Madrid and rose, and later moved to Zaragoza.

In fact, the Vargas family entrenched in Zaragoza is a very powerful "county" family in the local area. This family has been a loyal vassal of the Duke of Zaragoza for hundreds of years, and they are only 30 years old. The reason why Baron Belfer was able to "operate" as the third son to this non-hereditary title of baron also reflected the strength of the Vargas family from the side.

The two were in a similar situation, and the little nobles who went to East Asia to pan for gold because they were not valued by their families quickly became acquainted.

Chapter 271 Afternoon Tea

...In the afternoon tea party called Small Drinks, which was actually promoted by the time traveler decades in advance, the participants enjoyed great pleasure both mentally and physically.

In the riverside garden full of green plants, guests sit on rattan chairs with simple lines, in front of them are smooth as mirror marble tea tables and crystal glass tea sets.Delicate cakes are served on bright red, glazed Clarke porcelain platters with Bible stories painted on them.

All this is accompanied by the cool breeze blowing from the Taijiang River, and the guests all feel refreshed.

After the two gentlemen under the banner of "Do as Romans do" took off their bulky coats and ruffled collars, leaving only cool silk short shirts, they tasted the black tea and salt soda provided by their masters together with six or seven Manila businessmen. Cold beer.

Black tea is a class of commodities that the commercial sector has begun to promote.It is the beginning of the 17th century, and Europeans have not yet learned how to drink tea. The Dutch and Portuguese who were the first to sell tea just put the leaves of this plant in pharmacies as medicines.

The lifespan of the time-traversing people is limited, and the Portuguese princess will marry and go to England to promote afternoon tea in less than a few decades.Therefore, with regard to tea, which is a gold-absorbing weapon that can trigger the opium trade in later generations, the commercial sector has a huge promotion plan: just wait for the new tea to go on the market next year.

The black tea that the two gentlemen drank today is the standard European way of drinking with sugar cubes and milk.

The tea is prepared by a short Filipino servant who has been "appointed" by the crossing congregation, using a set of glassware.After tasting this fresh black tea with sugar and milk, all the guests nodded one after another—this is the preparation method developed by their descendants according to the taste of Europeans, and it will taste better naturally.

"It's delicious, the real value of this leaf has been ignored." After drinking a cup of strong black milk tea, Alonso said after smacking his lips.

"It's the ancient way of drinking tea brought by the masters from the interior of the Ming Dynasty, and they are providing training for the servants for free." A thin-faced Spanish businessman in a silk shirt, Fizel, added: "Most of the Ming Dynasty We've been fooled all along by the way Chinese people use that weird way of boiling water."

"Tradition is always important." Viscount Juan answered at this time: "Only real nobles can master some seemingly inconspicuous and important skills... It is said that they migrated here from the snow-filled northern land. "

"I think there must be many stories between the nobles of the officials and the royal family of the Ming Dynasty." Alonso said this, and secretly thought: "I must write a letter to the priests in the capital of the Ming Dynasty. The parliament needs to know this. The origin of helping the pirates, especially the pirate king Cao Chuan."

……

After drinking the black tea, the iced salt soda and self-brewed beer also make the guests and hosts feel comfortable.In the process, everyone is guessing about the origin of these magical ice cubes.Several businessmen are even discussing the possibility of selling ice to the hot South Asian colonies and states.