Daming: Wanted to be a small landlord, but was forced to ascend the throne

Chapter 422 Meeting Magellan

Qin Shao thought of the first year of Jiajing, 1522, the Tuen Mun naval battle, which was the first contest between China and the West.

Qin Shao can remember this battle because when he was studying the history of 1840 in his previous life, when the history teacher talked about it, he mentioned the Tuen Mun naval battle in 1522, saying that it was the first contest between China and the West.

Man, he is very interested in this aspect. He checked a lot of history in this aspect, and found that Da Ming looked calm, but in fact, various small battles continued. Naturally, the Battle of Tunhai was the first contest, and finally Counting a victorious war, many people have speculated and studied it.

It's just that based on the historical materials checked at the time and Qin Shao's current understanding of Daming, Qin Shao always felt that this battle seemed to reveal an indescribable mystery.

"Where is that Magellan now?"

Qin Shao asked Wang Zhi.

"Your Majesty, do you want to see Buyer Lun, I tell you, he looks different from us, with blond hair and blue eyes, he can speak the Frangian language, and he can also speak another language, It is the language of Great Britain, and Great Britain is a country. Buyer Lun said that it is not too far away from them, at least not far from our Daming..."

Wang Zhi said eloquently.

The language of Great Britain, isn't that English?
Unexpectedly, Magellan could speak English. Considering that they are all European countries, it is estimated that there are many exchanges, which should be normal.

Qin Shao felt a little regretful. During these days in Daming, he rarely had time to study. When Zhu Houzhao was here, I heard that he often received foreign envoys in the palace. He himself could speak Portuguese, Huihui, and a What language, he forgot now, but at least three languages.

Earlier, when Zhu Houzhao was not afraid of him, he showed off to him a few times when chatting with each other. At that time, he thought that if his identity was exposed in the future, he could go overseas to do business, and he also wanted to learn some foreign languages ​​​​in advance.

It's just that he has not learned any other foreign languages ​​except for some simple and conversational English he learned in his previous life when he was doing foreign trade.

Now that Magellan can speak English, I want to meet him!
"Your Majesty wants to see that person, you go and bring him here quickly!"

Hong Fu told his son Wang Zhi.

Wang Zhiying said yes, got up and followed the third son to take Magellan outside the palace.

Qin Shao talked with Hong Fu about Nanyang and learned about the real situation of Daming Shipping.

Although Daming has been implementing the so-called strict prohibition of overseas trade policy on the surface, that is, the so-called no wood entering the sea, in fact it is only for ordinary people.

Those officials and wealthy classes, including the royal family, all have certain needs for precious overseas spices, furs, agate gemstones, etc., and ordinary people are unable to enjoy them. If they have the ability, they will naturally not want to miss it.

Honoring gifts to the emperor and currying favor with superiors all required some strange things, and gradually acquiesced to some caravans organized by local governments to conduct trade in coastal areas.

At the beginning, the imperial court would participate. In order to enjoy the profits and reduce their own troubles, the local officials simply delegated to some local businessmen, who only need to take away the taxes and benefits.

In addition, even though it seems to be closed to the outside world, the Ming court, especially during the period of Zhu Houzhao, was actually very curious about the outside world. They also wanted to understand the external situation, so they needed some businessmen under the guise of trade to understand the situation of nearby countries. Report to the court.

Therefore, after the large-scale cessation of voyages to the west, some local businessmen will regularly go south for trade with the tacit approval of the government, but they will be charged a heavy tax of [-]% by the government when they return to Daming port.

If it's just heavy taxes, it's okay to say that these taxes have to be handed over to the court, and those local officials who have no money will naturally disagree.

Malacca is an important trade center in Southeast Asia. The rulers there are friendly and preferential to the Muslims, but exploit the caravans of the Ming Dynasty.

In addition to paying heavy taxes, merchants at sea in the Ming Dynasty also paid tribute to the so-called officials with certain valuable commodities as a tribute.

In addition to paying taxes and wooing officials, there is also the issue of profitability to consider. Those merchant merchants who go out are actually under a lot of pressure.

The merchants of the Ming Dynasty only traded abroad as private private ships, and often did not receive the protection of the official army of the Ming Dynasty. In order to obtain more benefits, they could only resort to political games.

Around 1511, the Portuguese had already led an expeditionary force of 2000 warships and nearly [-] people by a general named Albuquerque to the vicinity of Malacca, a major trading city in the Southeast Asia region. Little money.

The businessmen of Ming Dynasty wanted to use these Frangians with weapons in their hands. Whether they were Portuguese or Spaniards, for the businessmen of Ming Dynasty who were only active in the vicinity of Nanyang and did not know the external situation, they were all Frangians.

The Chinese merchants of the Ming Dynasty took the initiative to contact the Portuguese army, expressing their willingness to provide the Portuguese army with information on the city of Malacca to the new Westerners, and they all had a good impression of each other.

The reason why the Portuguese army is willing to cooperate with the Ming merchants actually has its own purpose.

The huge influence of "Marco Polo's Travels" in Europe has made many Westerners imagine that Ming Dynasty is a rich land full of gold.

Before the arrival of the Portuguese army, some caravans actually explored. They discovered that some of the vassal states of Ming in Nanyang could conduct legal trade with Ming.

They took the opportunity of paying tribute to the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty and selling goods to the Ming Dynasty, and made a lot of money, but because they looked different from those people, the local officials of the Ming Dynasty were not familiar with them, and they did not know how to give gifts. , Those people simply won't let them see Da Ming Zi.

But these Portuguese are not stupid. After staying for a while, they discovered that some local officials of the so-called Ming Dynasty liked to flatter them, flatter them as the most honorable people, and give them appropriate bribes, which made things much easier.

After those people learned about the situation, they returned to Portugal. On the personal order of King Manuel I of Portugal, they organized a fleet to go to China and sent Pires, the first ambassador to China in European history.

After Hong Fu talked about Pires, Qin Shao had an impression of this person. When he read this interesting history, he paid attention to this person.

This man was originally Manuel I's personal doctor, and he followed Albuquer's ship to Asia, originally looking for spices for the king.But because of the influence of "Marco Polo's Travels", he was very interested in Daming.

After receiving the king's order, Pires followed the army and brought nearly 30 ships to the vicinity of the Pearl River Estuary in Guangdong. Outside the city of Guangdong, they fired cannons as a signal, which shocked the local officials.

However, Pires is quite smart. He learned about Hua Xia's etiquette from books about Ming Dynasty, which gave some officials some benefits.And at that time Zhu Houzhao was very curious about the outside world.

With the purpose of flattering the emperor, the magistrate taught Pires and others some Ming etiquette, and then reported the matter to the court.

Although the officials of the Ming Dynasty were very interested in the blond-haired and blue-eyed Portuguese, they were also a little timid in their hearts. They didn't want these people to stay in Guangdong, and they were even more worried that they would be responsible if something went wrong, so they sent Pires and others and the fleet to the Pearl River Estuary. Tuen Mun Island, these people are stationed on Tuen Mun Island.

Tuen Mun Island gradually became a trading point for Portugal and Ming Dynasty.

In order to better understand Daming, Pires communicated with Daming people, and also brought a translator, Huozhe Yasan. Huozhe Yasan was originally from Daming. He grew up in Hunan when he was a child, and later ran to Nanyang to seek a living because of his family’s decline. , met a lot of Portuguese, this person is very talented in languages, not only can understand the languages ​​of some countries in Southeast Asia, but also learned Portuguese.

This is the person who later became Zhu Houzhao's Portuguese teacher.

Thanks to the help of Huo Zhe Yasan, Pires communicated with some officials of Ming Dynasty much more easily, and met Emperor Zhu Houzhao of Ming Dynasty under the recommendation of others.

Zhu Houzhao was already very interested in the overseas world. After learning about the interesting world outside through Huo Zhe Yasan, he asked Pires and others to follow him back to Beijing and meet him in the capital of Ming Dynasty.

Back then when Qin Shao met Zhu Houzhao in the capital, he knew that Huozhe Yasan and Pires were in the capital. At that time, he also considered the overseas situation. He had the opinion of meeting the two legendary people, but it was a mistake. .

Later, after Zhu Houzhao's sudden death, Yang Tinghe and others failed to catch Jiang Bin, so they jointly executed Huozhe Yasan. As for Pires and his party, they were expelled by the Ming court and had to return to Guangzhou.

"Your Majesty, I heard that Pires and others are still locked up in the prisons in Guangdong and Guangxi!"

Hong Fu even brought amazing news.

"Then Magellan and the others have other missions for this round-the-world voyage?"

Qin Shao was a little puzzled.

"We don't know very well. Your Majesty can ask people when they come. Zhi'er understands their language and can help me. I am old, and the language they speak is like a bird's language. I have been here for a few years. To understanding……"

Hong Fu said with some embarrassment.

……

"Your Majesty! People are coming!"

The two wanted to say something, but the voices of Wang Zhi and Xiao Sanzi came from outside.

Qin Shao got up and saw a man in Ming dynasty clothes and a hat walking in.

When the man came in, he also imitated Wang Zhi's etiquette and greeted Qin Shao.

Qin Shao asked them to stand up, and the man looked up, and sure enough, he saw a blond man with thin body and sunken facial features, about 50 or [-] years old.

Magellan was not very tall personally, and he didn't have the impression of a bearded and hat-wearing Westerner like Qin Shao saw in the history books in his previous life. Obviously these days, he has been assimilated a lot with Hong Fu and the others.

"Meet... Your Majesty... Your Majesty!"

Magellan spoke nondescript Ming dialect with a foreign accent.

“Can you speak English?”

Qin Shao asked directly.

"MY GOD! You can say that!"

cried Magellan excitedly.

You must know that Great Britain is not very conspicuous now, and there is no so-called maritime trade. These Southeast Asians can speak Portuguese very few, not to mention that people here can speak English!

Even Magellan himself was a unique talent who could speak English. As a Portuguese, he was able to sail around the world with the support of Spain in the past. In addition to his great insight, another important reason is that he knew multiple languages.

Unexpectedly, the emperor of Ming Dynasty could speak English?
This is amazing!
After Magellan came to Nanyang, although he was very curious about the gold-filled Ming Dynasty, after contacting him, he also found that these Ming people were very traditional and backward in thinking. They were unwilling to learn too much, and they were unwilling to see the outside world.

Even though there are a lot of resources and rare things they need here, Magellan feels that if Daming continues like this, sooner or later those countries near them will be able to open the door here.

At least in his opinion, their guns are very powerful, and although Daming has some guns and artillery here, they are very backward. They rely on the so-called force and swords, and these are backward for them.

Hong Fu and Wang Zhi also looked at the new emperor Zhu Houxi in surprise.

They didn't expect that the so-called new emperor could speak a foreign language and talk to Magellan.

Especially Wang Zhi, he found that he was not familiar with the language of their conversation.

You know, he is very talented in languages. At least in the past few years in Nanyang, there are no languages ​​around him that he doesn't know. As long as he stays with those people for two or three months, he can learn most of them.

Qin Shao and Magellan talked a lot in English.

As it was getting late, he still left Magellan, Hong Fu and others to have dinner together, and he did not forget to talk to Magellan about their voyage while eating.

"Your Majesty, our voyage is to go around the earth for a week. If we can return to the original place, it will prove that the earth is round! I heard that our crew is about to return to our kingdom now, and it has proved that the earth is round. , My idea has also been confirmed, and I want to say that I still have a lot of ideas that have not been realized, this person came here, and I found my brother Pires!"

Magellan said.

"Pirez is your brother?"

Qin Shao was very surprised. He did not expect that the Portuguese ambassador Pires turned out to be Magellan's younger brother.

But think about it, Magellan and Pires are both Portuguese, both of them are adventurous and tossing, and there are indeed too many similarities in personality.

"What are your plans after you find your younger brother?"

Qin Shao was very curious about Magellan's plan.

He doesn't think that a person who is not afraid of death and likes to make troubles, if he finds his younger brother Pires, he will go back to live a peaceful life of retirement.

Moreover, the thinking of these Westerners is different from that of Ming people. Ming people are influenced by Confucianism, and many people have a strong sense of family and country and a sense of the overall situation.

The biggest advantage of these Westerners is that they love to learn and explore, but they are not restricted by the international community. Whoever can help them realize their dreams, either satisfy their curiosity, desire for knowledge, or make money, they will follow whoever they do!

Just like Magellan is a Portuguese, because Portugal did not support his ideas in the past, he went to Spain to seek support, and he came out this time to represent Spain!

Their conflict this time was with some tribes in the Philippines. After Magellan was injured, the people on the same boat left him directly in order to escape.

In addition to not having much sense of unity with Westerners, there is another important reason. Magellan is not their Spaniards, and they are not from the same country. Naturally, they do not have much affection.

"Your Majesty, I heard that our army at Tuen Mun Sea is going to fight against those at Daming. I personally don't think this battle needs to be fought, nor do I want to fight it!"

Magellan said suddenly when he heard them preach about Tuen Mun Hai.

(End of this chapter)