Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 1518 Portuguese (Part [-])
The carriage traveled another distance, and Envoy Alfredo suddenly remembered an important matter, and asked with a frown, "Captain Di Fradish..."

"You can call me Pedro, Mr. Envoy."

"Okay, Pedro." Alfredo showed a slight smile, but quickly restrained his smile, and asked seriously: "I heard that the etiquette of the Ming Empire is very different from ours, so I would like to ask you for advice. Do you need to master any common etiquette here in Dingnan?"

"Ah, what are you talking about... As far as I know, the Ming Empire has something in common with us in terms of the so-called general etiquette, that is, the higher etiquette is kneeling. Moreover, the etiquette requirements of the Ming Empire are more We need to be stricter, many etiquettes that only require bowing in our country will be strengthened into kneeling in the Ming Empire."

"Which occasions do you need to kneel down? Oh, by the way, is there any restriction on the identities of both parties?"

"Uh, this... Actually, I don't know much about it, but according to my observation, if the other party is a civil servant and you are a military officer, then you usually need to kneel down, even if your rank is higher than the other party. exception."

"Praise the Lord, I am a civil servant." Special Envoy Alfredo breathed a sigh of relief, and continued to ask, "Does this guarantee that I don't need to kneel down?"

"I'm not sure, sir." Captain Pedro smiled wryly, "The Ming Empire called itself the 'Heavenly Dynasty', and their officials rarely treated foreigners, including foreign envoys, as equals—please understand, I It means that most of the time they don't pay attention to 'diplomatic reciprocity'."

Alfredo frowned and said, "You mean, they treat us as natives... No, I mean they treat us as uncivilized and uncivilized primitive people?"

"I don't know if it should be understood in this way, but I'm sure they will rarely hand over the principle of reciprocity accidentally." Captain Pedro said awkwardly: "What I know is that in the past, the Governor of Malacca wrote to the local officials of the Ming Empire The letter, that letter was originally written to His Excellency the Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, but in the end it was only a county magistrate—or the mayor, sorry, I don’t remember exactly.”

"The governor of Malacca is subordinate to the governor of Goa, and he only manages the city of Malacca. From this point of view, I think this is actually a diplomatic equivalent." Alfredo's words may be making excuses for himself, he continued Said: "What is the job of Your Excellency Gao Mengnan?"

"Ah, it's a bit complicated to say about this issue." Pedro scratched his head in confusion, and said, "In fact, His Excellency Gao Mengnan does not have an official position in the Ming Empire, but he does have an official position in the Kingdom of Siam. He is Chief advisor to the King of Siam, and was bestowed with the title of Chao Phraya - perhaps you can understand it as Duke.

Of course, I think you should also know that his real power comes from his brother: His Excellency Gao Yushi, the chief teacher of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of the Ming Empire, and the Minister of Finance of the Empire.His Excellency Gao Mengnan is the adopted son of His Excellency Gao Yushi's uncle. He has made a lot of contributions in southern Xinjiang over the years, so he was entrusted with an important task.I think he actually assumed the duties of the palace minister in the Kingdom of Siam. "

"Thank you, your explanation is very detailed, which is very meaningful to me." Alfredo nodded and said: "Besides, before I set off, Your Excellency the Governor had repeatedly explained that the current southern Xinjiang region - including Siam, Burma, Cambodia, Annan and other countries—the one who exercises power on behalf of His Excellency Gao Yushi is his wife, Ms. Huang Zhiting, I wonder what you know about this lady or Your Excellency the Countess?"

"This lady is an extremely rare female official in the Ming Empire. Her deeds sound amazing. If I have to make an analogy, then I think she may be a bit like the French Joan of Arc—of course, she is luckier than Joan of Arc. much better."

"Explorers who are often active in Nanyang like to talk about this lady, so I have heard a lot of rumors about her. It is said that she was originally a local nobleman of the Ming Empire, and was born in a nobleman with a history of at least 600 years. The family, whose family was powerful in the Guangxi Province of the Ming Empire, held several major local official positions, and enjoyed hereditary inheritance without time limit.

Later, His Excellency Gao Yushi took up an important position in Guangxi Province—forgive me for not knowing how to explain this position, but you may understand its power: it is roughly equivalent to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and Chief Prosecutor, and can be used when senior officials and garrison commanders cannot perform their duties The times exercise their power. "

Alfredo laughed: "Let me guess: His Excellency Gao Yushi's power made the then Lady Huang Zhiting very satisfied, and His Excellency Gao Yushi also needed the support of a powerful local noble family, so the two sides quickly reached an agreement." A marriage agreement?"

"Ah? No, no, no, that's not the case." Pedro quickly explained: "With all due respect, the family of Mr. Gao Yushi does not need such a marriage, because... If Ms. Huang Zhiting's family is a powerful local faction, then Your Excellency Gao Yushi's family is the top civil servant family in the empire.

His great-grandfather was a senior official of the empire, his grandfather was a minister of the empire, and his uncle Gao Gong was the teacher of the previous emperor and served as the prime minister of the empire for ten years, and another uncle was the vice-president of the empire Attorney General.His Excellency Gao Gong also received the imperial government's highest honorary title after his death in office - you could almost see the importance of this title as a national hero.

His Excellency Gao Yushi was born in such a family, which is already honorable enough in itself, not to mention that he also won an unparalleled honor in the imperial official examination: in the six-level examination from local to national, His Excellency Gao Yushi I took No.1 six times.I must remind you to understand that such an honor is equivalent to the knights who participated in the knight meeting from the selection, all the way through all the trials without losing.

In addition, His Excellency Gao Yushi accompanied His Highness the Crown Prince to study as the sole attendant of the Crown Prince as early as his childhood, which made him quickly regarded by the political and military circles as the future prime minister candidate after he won the No. The classmate has become the emperor of the empire.

Given the size of the Ming Empire, we generally believe that a candidate for the prime minister and his family who are well-received by everyone do not need to marry a local nobleman. "

"You are really a China hand!" Special Envoy Alfredo praised sincerely: "I think that after you retire from the navy, you can take up important positions in the Governor's Palace of Goa or Malacca."

Pedro smiled happily and said, "Thank you for your kind words." He paused, his smile faded, and he sighed, "But I'm very worried. At that time, the Governor's Palace in Malacca may no longer exist."

The smile on Alfredo's face froze, and he forced a smile: "God will bless us."

"Praise the Lord." Pedro replied subconsciously, and then said: "Let's get back to the topic: Although your guess is not correct, the result is not too big. Your Excellency Gao Wushi and Ms. Huang Zhiting finally got married, and At that time—I mean before they got married, they had already defeated the entire Annan Kingdom."

Alfredo quickly took up the conversation and asked: "About this point, I have never figured it out: After the Ming Empire defeated the Annan Kingdom, why did it not directly annex it, but only existed as a puppet state? According to the Ming Dynasty Given the strength shown by the Empire in the Battle of the Philippines, I have reason to believe that it will not be difficult for them to annex the Kingdom of Annan."

"Mr. Special Envoy, I'm afraid you made a mistake, a very important matter." Pedro suddenly said very seriously: "During the Battle of the Philippines, none of the troops of the Ming Dynasty participating in the battle—including the navy and army—were The regular army of the empire."

"What did you say!" Alfredo was so startled that he almost jumped up: "Such a scale is not a regular army?"

"No, not at all." Pedro said with a sullen face: "I only noticed this after the fact: the flags hoisted by the navy and army that appeared in the Philippines are not the flags of the regular army of the Ming Empire. Most of them What is hung is the "Book and Sword" banner of His Excellency Gao Yushi's Jinghua Company - that is a private army, belonging to His Excellency Gao Yushi's personal."

Alfredo took a deep breath, swallowed a mouthful of spit after a long while, and said with a toothache: "So, the army that attacked the Annan Kingdom at that time...was also a private army?"

"Yes, that army includes His Excellency Gao Yushi's private army, as well as the private army of Ms. Huang Zhiting and another powerful Guangxi local nobleman."

"This is amazing... It's amazing. More than 100 gun-carrying warships, more than 2 troops, this is just a private army!"

"No, this is not surprising, Mr. Special Envoy." Pedro emphasized: "It is said that during the Battle of Annan, His Excellency Gao Wushi used about [-] private troops." [Note: Here are the rumors he obtained mistaken. ]
"Damn, what a hell." Alfredo said with a dull gaze, "When King Charles VIII of France launched the Italian War, he only used 3.8 troops, which caused great turmoil throughout Europe..."

"Yes, yes, but we all know that the Ming Empire has an almost endless population, and its military strength is just a number to them." Pedro reminded: "Mr. Special Envoy, let me be blunt: what we should pay attention to is The financial power possessed by Your Excellency Gao Yushi.”

"That's right, financial resources, you're right." Alfredo took a deep breath, nodded repeatedly, and said, "Over a hundred thousand troops and hundreds of warships, even in Europe, only a very small number of big countries can have."

Suddenly his back felt cold, his palms were sweating, and he asked cautiously: "Your Excellency Gao Yushi had a letter exchange with the Governor's Mansion before. At that time, he claimed in the letter that the Ming Empire had an army of 160 million. We always thought that he was no more than It’s nothing more than false threats, but now it seems...could it be true?”

Captain Pedro smiled bitterly: "Although this number sounds so amazing that it is almost ridiculous, but since the private army of His Excellency Gao Yushi is so powerful... I think his description of the strength of the imperial army It's probably true."

"Oh, that's right." Pedro suddenly added anxiously: "The saying of one hundred thousand troops may be outdated. According to our understanding in the past few months, we found that the so-called 'garrison troops' of various kingdoms in southern Xinjiang ', in fact, they are all private troops of His Majesty Gao Yushi.

As for the total size of these armies, although we have not found out exactly yet, based on known information, we already have reason to believe that their total number will not be less than 20.

As for the 'hundreds of warships' you mentioned, I personally think it is very problematic.Because according to our private understanding with Jinghua Company’s merchant ships and their crews when they docked in Malacca, Jinghua Company has two large fleets.

What we have been dealing with before is the Nanyang Fleet of Jinghua Company. In addition, they also have a Beiyang Fleet, and this Beiyang Fleet is exactly the fleet that appeared in the previous Philippine battle. "

Alfredo's face sank into water, and he stretched out his hand to rub the center of his brows: "I have seen reports that the size of the Nanyang Fleet is several times stronger than our entire strength in the Far East, and now there is another Beiyang Fleet that is as famous as them. Fleet...Captain Pedro, am I supposed to think that the Jinghua Company has hundreds of armed merchant ships and a group of professional naval warships?"

"I think so, Mr. Special Envoy." Pedro sighed: "Sometimes it is hard for me to believe that the Jinghua Company, which has such a powerful sea power, has no ambitions and only guards the sea area of ​​​​the Far East.

Mr. Special Envoy, do you know that this reminds me of a Chinese adage I heard from Chinese businessmen: stay in China and govern all nations.Although I can't understand this kind of strange thinking, it seems that only this sentence can explain why Jinghua Company holds a sharp sword, but only uses it to watch the nursing home. "

"Are you sure they are just 'home guards'?" Special Envoy Alfredo snorted from his nostrils, and said in a deep voice: "That General Musali held two large-scale military exercises in Luowei within half a year. , used muskets to destroy more than [-] troops twice, is this just a 'housekeeper'?"

Luowei is located in the southern part of Siam, closest to the two small countries of the Malay Peninsula, Su Luoge and Da Ni, and further south of these two small countries are the two small countries of Pahang, Dingjialu, and... Malacca.

The area of ​​the Malay Peninsula in southern Siam is under the responsibility of Gao Ruichu, the tour envoy of southern Siam, and Mu Sally, the guardian envoy of southern Siam.In order to test and train the nephew Gao Ruichu, Gao Yushi deliberately did not specify their tasks, Huang Zhiting naturally followed Gao Yushi's intention.

In the end, the two of them discussed their own way of doing things, which is the most common trick in China: one sings the red face and the other sings the bad face.

Gao Ruichu is a red-faced singer, with a very high tone. Opening up is cooperation, and keeping silent is a win-win situation.Not only that, he has always emphasized that the small countries of Suluoge, Dani, Pahang, and Dingjialu are the best buffer countries between Siam and Malacca. Break this good situation."

And Musali, the military commander, is obviously a bad guy, and he always finds troubles with Su Luoge and Da Ni, two small bordering countries.As big as a knife was lost in the army, as small as the border residents of the two countries scolded each other over trivial matters, they could all be used as an excuse for him to provoke trouble.

A few months ago, he was furious because an old Siamese businessman suddenly "died of anger" when he was quarreling with others in Da Ni. Write a letter of apology.

This time it was even more extreme. Just after the news of the Manila battle spread to southern Xinjiang, Musali held another military exercise for no reason, which made the entire Malay Peninsula panic.

The governor of Malacca was shocked three times a day, and wrote several letters to the governor of Goa, asking the governor of Goa to find a way quickly-this is the direct reason for the visit of Alfredo's special envoy.
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(End of this chapter)