Lu Ming

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 bus, 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 the shogunate locked up the country 11 years later.

As for the superficial reason for doing so?There are too many—the bewitched Christian daimyos in southwestern Japan, the "Chechitan" religious rebellion one after another, since 1534, they have been selling Japanese female slaves to Macau, and allocating them to Malay and African slaves, thus producing offspring, making Slave Value-Adding Behavior
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 evened out, the Portuguese know that it won't be long before all the forces in East Asia will 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.

(End of this chapter)