I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 845: A Cup of Muddy Wine, a Thousand Miles Away
While the Anyang was flying over the Pacific Ocean, Marcelo and Leon, who were returning to Portugal, were still waiting anxiously in Xiangjiang Port.

The South China Sea and the Greater South Ocean are at low latitudes, so the northeast monsoon arrives late and will not fully emerge until winter.

If you set out rashly and the northeast monsoon turns around, it will be embarrassing. Especially on the journey from India to East Africa, if the wind direction is wrong and you are spinning over the sea, it is easy to get into trouble.

Safety comes first, so the delegation has to wait.

It was not until the second day of October that Marcelo and Leon finally received a notice that the fleet to take them back home was ready and could set off the day after tomorrow.

Their old friend, Manuel, whose Chinese name was Komuman, hosted a banquet for them at Zuifenglou in Hong Kong, accompanied by Jose and two other naturalized Portuguese officers, Ma Qianli and An Cunyi.

Six people sat down at the table, and the atmosphere was a little subtle.

Ma Qianli, like Jose, was also Leon's adjutant, and his Portuguese name was Marcian. However, when Ma Qianli first went to the Ming Dynasty with Leon, he stayed in the Ming Dynasty with Manuel and more than half of the diplomatic envoys to make money.

The silver of the Ming Dynasty is also very sweet.

An Cunyi was previously a Portuguese officer stationed in Malacca and a subordinate of Leon. His original name was Ansero.

Leon felt very sorry, "Unfortunately, Francis is still preaching in Dongwa Island. I came here from Portugal this time, and I wanted to see him at the request of his parents."

Komuman shook his head. "Francis has gone insane. The missionary has gone insane. How can East Wo be a good place? It is said that after nearly ten years of blockade, it has become a living hell."

"This is called purgatory. Only when the fire of hell burns all the sins can we be reborn from the ashes," said Jose.

An Cunyi said: "Jose, what do you know? Tell me."

"Yes, we are also friends with Francis. Although we don't know his situation, it's good to know that he is safe."

Marcelo and Leon turned to look at Ma Qianli.

Ma Qianli was confused for a moment. What did it mean?
You can say idioms now, so what do they mean?
Jose picked up the food with chopsticks and took two bites, then put down his chopsticks and wiped his mouth with the towel beside him.

"The three islands of East Japan have been refined in the Bagua furnace set up by the emperor for more than ten years with the three true fires. It is time for the elixir to form."

Marcelo and Leon looked at each other. José was more impressive and always quoted allusions from the Ming Dynasty.

"Kyushu Island was originally divided into nearly ten lords of different sizes. In the past ten years, it has been the most severely blockaded and suffered the most. It is said that the people have lost nearly half of their population. Finally, they can no longer hold back and have started an uprising, captured the fortress, killed the lords of different sizes, and then requested the royal army to move in.

The Marines went ashore and operated for more than half a year, eliminating a large number of stubborn remnants.

The emperor finally issued an edict to change Kyushu Island to Juyan County, which was under the jurisdiction of Chanzhou Xuanzhengshisi and began to promote politics and education. It is reported that the next step is to incorporate Shikoku Island, which is in a similar situation, into Chanzhou Xuanzhengshisi. The county name has been chosen, and it will be called Shijiu County.

Now we are waiting for the Marine Corps to clean up the stubborn remnants. It is estimated that next year it will be incorporated into the Chanzhou Xuanzhengshisi as Shijiu County."

Leon pressed, “Where is Francis preaching?”

"It should still be on the island of Honshu in Eastern Japan."

"Why do you say that?"

"One of the two counties of Juyan and Shijiu has been incorporated into the Chanzhou Xuanzhengshisi, and the other is about to be incorporated. Both have army and marine corps stationed there and have begun to educate.

Leon, do you know what enlightenment means? "

Faced with Jose's question, Leon could only shake his head.

"The wheels are of the same gauge, the books are of the same writing, and the customs are of the same moral character. So the Chanzhou Xuanzheng Commissioner would not allow Francis to preach everywhere, and he did not get the certificate of ordination from the Ming Dynasty."

That’s right, Francis considers himself the Holy See and will certainly not register with the Ming Dynasty’s Ministry of Rites and Monks and Taoists and accept “management”.

Without a legal certificate, you will not be allowed to preach anywhere in the Ming Dynasty.

Francis had no choice but to preach in the extremely chaotic Honshu Island in eastern Japan, which had not yet been accepted into the Ming Dynasty.

Marcelo and Leon understood this after traveling and visiting Ming Dynasty for several months.

Leon had no choice but to ask, "Is Honshu Island very chaotic?"

Jose shrugged and answered.

“Great order comes after great chaos.

According to the research of the Hanlin Academy, the people of Dongwa originated from the descendants of Xizhong, and also mixed with the descendants of Xu Fu of the Former Qin Dynasty. However, they have been separated for a long time and have become too barbaric. They need to be refined with the Three Flavors True Fire to keep the barbarism.

Kyushu Island has come this far, Shikoku Island is on the way, and Honshu Island is still a little behind."

Ma Qianli and An Cunyi were both military officers, and they could understand what the Three True Fires meant in Jose's words.

Thousands of rocket flame bombs were launched, and when they were ignited, the sky was filled with fire.

The true three-flavor fire.

“May God bless Francis.”

Leon had no choice but to make the sign of the cross on his chest.

Komuman, Jose, Ma Qianli and An Cunyi looked at him and said nothing.

God is really powerless in the East.

Komoman raised his glass and said to Marcelo and Leon, "My Lord Marquis, Leon, you are going back to Portugal soon. Have a safe trip! Let's toast to them both."

"it is good!"

"Thank you."

Putting down his glass, José suddenly said, "My Lord Marquis, Leon, when you return to Portugal, I'm sure you can smell the scent of lavender again."

"Yes."

Ma Qianli and An Cunyi's faces changed. They poured themselves a glass of wine and drank it in one gulp.

Seeing that the atmosphere was not right, Jose's face straightened and he quickly changed the subject.

He turned to An Cunyi and asked, "Old An, you just came back from Siam. How is the situation in Bagan? Is the fish in Toungoo dead?

An Cunyi is a captain in the Marine Corps. He was previously sent to Siam to serve as an instructor in the Siamese Army Training Team. He just returned from Siam last month and took a three-month break.

"The Kingdom of Toungoo has lost all its seaports, Matuba, Mrauk-U, and Thanlyin. The south is occupied by our Ming navy, and the west is occupied by the Kingdom of Arakan and Kanggrepak.

In the east, the Ming Dynasty supported Naresuan to succeed the King of Siam, and at the same time restored the Lanna Kingdom. Together with the Lan Xang Kingdom, the coalition forces of the three countries launched an attack on the Toungoo Kingdom from east to west.

At the beginning, they went to war with the Kingdom of Toungoo, where they won few victories and lost more.

The Ming Dynasty increased its weapons aid to the three countries, and at the same time sent training groups to the three countries, and then all of them were under the unified command of the Pagan Dusi Operations Staff Office. In the past two years, we have won more and lost less. "An Cunyi took a sip of wine and continued.

"Mang Yinglong previously had mercenaries from Europe and Arakan, but they all dispersed later. The Arakanese also repeatedly attacked Toungoo from the west under the instigation of the Ming Dynasty.

The main force that Mang Yinglong later relied on were the Armenians who migrated to the coastal areas of Bagan 20 to 30 years ago, as well as Muslims from Persia, Oman and other religions, totaling about 6,000 people.

These people had rich combat experience and taught Mang Yinglong the combat methods of the Persians, Ottomans and Armenians, and became the main force in his conquests, especially after the European and Arakan mercenaries dispersed.

However, these elite troops were attacked fiercely from the east, west and south of the Ming Dynasty, and were killed or wounded. Mang Yinglong's younger brother Mengshao and son Wubalu were also killed in the battle.

Mang Yinglong had no choice but to retreat and defend the Mon and Burmese areas centered on Toungoo. It is reported that he is now somewhat discouraged and indulges in drinking and praying to Buddha every day. Most of the power has been handed over to his son Mang Yingli. "

Leon knew José very well. He asked, "Alfonso, why do you want to know about the situation in Toungoo? Are you going to be transferred there to take up a post?"

José shook his head. “No, Leon, I was not transferred there. I was transferred to Tianzhu.”

"Tianzhu?"

"It's India. But in the Ming Dynasty, the official name is still Tianzhu."

Marcelo and Leon asked in unison: "What happened to Tianzhu?"

According to the peace talks between the two men and the Honglu Temple in the capital, the Ming Dynasty and Portugal distributed the interests in the Tianzhu region.

The Ming Dynasty returned the ports of Diu, Surat, Daman and others in the Indian region to Portugal, while retaining Bombay, Goa, Cochin and Calicut.

At the same time, it was agreed that these Portuguese ports would be completely open to the Ming Dynasty, and military and civilian ships could enter and exit freely.

Marcelo and León expressed their acceptance of this negotiation outcome. Portugal gained a valuable seaport in India and a foothold, enabling it to continue its trade activities in this vast region.

At the same time, this also meant that Portugal and the Ming Dynasty reached an agreement, in which the Ming Dynasty monopolized most of the interests in India and shared the interests in western India, Persia and Arabia with Portugal.

However, the current situation is that Ming Dynasty's goods are pouring into the South China Sea region like a tide. Portugal claims to share profits with Ming Dynasty, but in fact it can only take a small part of the profits.

But Marcelo and León were content.

We really have to thank God and the mercy of the Ming Emperor for being able to snatch a small piece of profit from such a giant as the Ming Dynasty.

"Because of the cotton."

"cotton?"

"Yes. The western part of India is rich in cotton and has a well-developed hand-woven cloth industry. The hand-woven cotton cloth there not only meets local demand, but is also sold to Delhi in the north and the Deccan Plateau in the east, and is an important source of income for the local area.

Since the first year of the Wanli reign, cotton cloth from the southeast of the Ming Dynasty has been pouring into India like a tide. The Marquis and Leon have visited textile factories in Shanghai and know how amazing the daily output of cotton cloth in those factories is.

Especially in the third year of Wanli, Ming merchants purchased a large amount of high-quality cotton from western Tianzhu, transported it to textile factories in Shanghai and other places, processed it into cotton cloth, or printed and dyed it into floral cloth, and then transported it back to Cochin, Zhengling, Goa and Jizhou Port. "

We know Goa, but where are Cochin, Zhengling and Jizhou Port?

I hate it when you change names randomly!

After hearing Leon's doubts, Jose explained: "Cochin is the port of Cochin. When the Sanbao eunuch Zheng He sailed to the South China Sea, he went there and recorded it as Cochin.

Zhengling is the port of Calicut, which is recorded as the port of Guli in Zheng He's navigation map. Later, Zheng He died there, and the officers, soldiers and sailors left a cenotaph there as a tomb.

The emperor personally approved and changed the name to Zhengling Port.

Jizhou Port is Bom Bahia.”

BomBahia is the Mumbai of later generations.

In 1535, the Portuguese bought the seven islands of Mumbai and large tracts of land on the surrounding land from the Sultan of Gujarat, made some minor repairs, and then rented them out to Portuguese explorers, becoming landlords.

Over the course of more than 30 years, the Portuguese built two docks, several castles including Bombay Castle, Bandra Fort and MadhFort, as well as two churches, a large warehouse, a shipyard and some houses on the island.

When the Ming Dynasty went to war with Portugal, the Ming Dynasty occupied that place and expanded it a little to use it as a commercial port.

Marcelo then asked: “I see, then what?”

Jose took two bites of the food and put down his chopsticks.

"Ming cotton cloth poured into India in large quantities. It was good quality and inexpensive, and quickly sold well in many areas of India. This caused losses to the interests of cloth weavers and cloth vendors in western India, affecting hundreds of thousands of people.

In addition, Akbar's people from the Delhi Sultanate fanned the flames, causing public outrage. As a result, the four sultanates of Gujarat, Bijapur, Ahmednagar and Calicut Zamorin in the western region of India formed an anti-Ming alliance.

But just as they connected, the news was passed to Ming Dynasty."

Marcelo and Leon took it for granted.

They were well aware of the power of the Ming intelligence system.

Besides, the sale of Ming cotton cloth in India, um, Tianzhu, impacted the interests of the original weavers and cloth merchants, but also cultivated a group of new beneficiaries.

It was impossible for the Ming people to sell the cloth themselves. They must have wholesaled it to the local people in India, who then sold it to the lower levels through local merchants, making a lot of profit.

These people must be on the side of the Ming Dynasty.

Moreover, these people were definitely not ordinary people. Most of them were local dignitaries. The four sultanates were still negotiating how to form an anti-Ming alliance. These people immediately passed the news to the Ming merchants.
"Alfonso, is the Ming Navy prepared to deal with this?"

"The Emperor's order has been conveyed to the Rong government and the Right Military Governor's Office. Free trade is the foundation of the Ming Dynasty's prosperity. The four sultanates of India are going against the grain and attempting to shake the foundation of the Ming Dynasty. They must be severely punished to serve as a warning to others!"

When Marcelo and Leon heard the transliteration of the four Portuguese words "以焆效尤", they knew it was an idiom and couldn't help muttering in their hearts.

Alfonso's idioms became more and more familiar to him. He probably didn't even know what they meant, but just imitated the way his colleagues spoke.

He said what others said.

However, Marcelo understood the meaning of the word "severe punishment" translated by Jose.

"Alfonso, does the Ming Empire intend to take this opportunity to further expand its occupation of India?"

José's words confirmed Marcelo's guess.

"Mr. Marquis, why does the Ming Dynasty want to further expand its occupation of India?"

"Does the Ming Empire have no territorial claims on India? Have you ever thought of incorporating it into its territory like it did with Annan, Korea, and Eastern Japan?"

Jose shook his head repeatedly: "How can India be included in the territory of Ming Dynasty?"

Marcelo and Leon were stunned.

What? If you want to be included in the territory of Ming Dynasty and become a citizen of Ming Dynasty, there are still some thresholds?
(End of this chapter)