Wind Rises in North America 1625

Chapter 112 The Portuguese Calculation

"If we do nothing, I believe we Portuguese will lose the Eastern world and hand over the dominance here to the Dutch!"

On April 1629, 4, in the Great Council Hall of the Maritimes, Governor General D. Filipe Lobo, looking out at the assembled municipal officials and several major traders, declared: "The Japanese government is banning the Jesuits in the country and cruelly persecuting many Catholics. They have repeatedly issued stern warnings to us Portuguese, forbidding us from carrying out any missionary activities in their country."

"Yes, the Japanese are very serious about this. They seem to have lost their tolerance for Catholicism, which is a huge defeat for us. Moreover, the dispute over the Catholic issue will inevitably affect our trade with Japan."

"Since last year, all Portuguese merchant ships entering Nagasaki have been searched by Japanese soldiers to prevent our Catholic priests from sneaking into Japanese territory. Anyone who enters Japanese territory illegally or disguised as a sailor will be ruthlessly expelled."

"The Japanese government also issued a ban. Anyone who contacts Japanese civilians under the pretext of missionary work may be punished by having their trade suspended, and merchant ships visiting the port will not be allowed to enter Nagasaki."

"So, gentlemen, in this situation, should we obey the Japanese shogunate's ban and abandon the Catholics in its territory, or should we continue to take a tough stance against Japan and raise our voice for justice on behalf of those poor believers?"

Since the Tokugawa shogunate's decree in 1614 expelling all missionaries, Portuguese-Japanese relations have been in a state of flux.

Between 1618 and 1620, large numbers of clergy and laypeople were executed in Nagasaki and Kyoto, but fortunately none of them were Portuguese.

In 1622, about 55 people were beheaded or burned at the stake, including nine European priests (mostly Spanish).

By 1625, the Japanese shogunate's religious persecution reached its climax. Tens of thousands of Catholics were beheaded, imprisoned, or forced to convert, and a large number of European priests were expelled. However, this did not seem to affect the normal trade between Portugal and Japan for the time being.

In the same year, Spain was expelled from Japan. If there was any change in the trade between oyster mirrors and Japan, it was that the trade volume suddenly increased sharply, and the Portuguese filled the market space left by the Spanish in a timely manner.

At the same time, trade between Oyster Bay and Manila also flourished. Despite being restricted by the decrees of the Spanish royal family, the trade volume between the two places soon reached 150 million to 180 million silver pesos (at this time, 1 tael of silver was approximately equal to 1.3-1.4 pesos), making the Portuguese a fortune.

However, in recent years, the Portuguese have been faced with serious external challenges.

The first was the increasingly stringent religious exclusion laws of the Japanese shogunate. After expelling the Spaniards from Japan, they demanded that the Portuguese also prohibit missionary activities in Japan, and not provide aid and material support to Catholics in Japan. Otherwise, like the Spanish, they would be excluded from the Japanese trade market.

However, the missionaries who came to the East all had fanatical religious beliefs and regarded Catholics in Japan as their brothers. Ignoring Japan's ban and the good-intentioned warnings of Japanese officials, they frequently sneaked into Japan to provide psychological and material support to those persecuted believers.

Under such circumstances, Portuguese-Japanese relations gradually became somewhat precarious, and prosperous trade with Japan was repeatedly hit hard.

Three years earlier (1626), Oxeye Mirror had five merchant ships sailing to Nagasaki, bringing back a large amount of silver.

However, two years earlier (1627), Oyster Mirror had not sent a single ship to Japan for trade.

Of course, that year, the Dutch East India Company launched a large-scale siege on Haojing and blocked the mouth of the Pearl River for several months, making it impossible for the Portuguese in Haojing to leave the port to trade.

However, on August 8, the Portuguese sent five galleys at night to successfully attack the Dutch East India Company warships, captured and burned one of them, forcing the Dutch to return home in defeat once again.

Afterwards, the Portuguese immediately organized two merchant ships to go to Nagasaki, Japan, but the shogunate government refused them entry into the port for trade on the grounds that it was "out of season", and they eventually had to return empty-handed.

Last year, Portugal sent six merchant ships to Nagasaki in accordance with the trade period stipulated by the shogunate. However, they were banned from entering the port by the local Japanese government because missionaries disguised as sailors were found on board.

However, after some appeals, the officials of Nagasaki Port finally reluctantly allowed the two merchant ships to dock and trade.

However, the other four merchant ships had no choice but to pull their cargo back to Oyster Mirror, causing heavy losses to many merchants.

What frightened the Portuguese even more was that after the Dutch gained a foothold on Formosa Island, they used it as a base and began to frequently intercept and attack Portuguese merchant ships passing through this area, seriously threatening trade between Portugal and Japan.

In addition, the Dutch, relying on their increasingly powerful maritime power in the East, continuously blockaded and attacked Portuguese colonial outposts in the East, such as Goa, Ceylon and Malacca, implicitly intending to completely cut off the Eastern trade chain that the Portuguese had spent a hundred years to establish.

Faced with an increasingly severe external environment, Governor Philippe de Robeau had to convene a council, summoning the bishop of Oyster Mirror, municipal officials and many traders to discuss how to respond.

With the exception of Bishop Manuel Fernandez, who insisted on providing necessary assistance to Catholics in Japan, most municipal officials and traders advocated compliance with the religious ban of the Japanese shogunate.

After all, everyone came all the way to the East to earn those lovely gold and silver coins, to gain wealth and return home in glory, not to spread the holy Catholic faith at the cost of their lives.

You have to know that Japan is not a small feudal state, but a big country with a population of tens of millions. It is impossible to conquer it easily with just a few armed merchant ships and hundreds of armed soldiers.

However, faced with these fanatical religious priests, the governor and merchants who only wanted to stabilize the current situation in Oyster Mirror and expand the scale of trade were speechless. Why couldn't they develop their missionary work in an orderly manner like they did in Ming Dynasty? Why did they have to go against the Japanese shogunate?

Those paranoid Japanese would not always deal with the Portuguese in a peaceful way like the gentle and humble Ming people.

"Governor..." Seeing Bishop Manuel leave in anger, Governor Robeau also looked gloomy. Trader Diogo de Chavez said cautiously, "That Ming merchant who allegedly came from the New Continent has come to Haojing again, requesting to buy some cannons and muskets."

"Oh?" Governor Luo Bao raised an eyebrow. "Ming Dynasty merchants from the New Continent? ...Could it be the New Continent? By the way, why would there be Ming Dynasty people there?"

"Oh, they claim they were persecuted by the Ming government many years ago and fled with their people to the New World, oh, probably the Americas, and settled there," Shavis said. "Now, they're facing attacks from local indigenous tribes, so they want to purchase a batch of firearms to protect their territory and the safety of their people."

"As far as I know, whether seeking refuge or making a living, Ming people generally head to the East Indies," Governor Roberto asked curiously, "Why are there still people going to the distant New World?"

"Well, they mentioned that when they left Ming waters, they encountered a rare storm that blew them off their planned route, causing them to drift deep into the Pacific Ocean. Finally, after some difficult exploration, they unexpectedly arrived at the new continent."

"Oh, I see!" Governor Robbo nodded and laughed. "I don't think their purchase of firearms is just for the local indigenous tribes. I suspect it's to defend against Spanish invasion. You know, the Spanish have always claimed the entire Americas as their colonial territory, especially the Pacific West Coast, and have forbidden any foreign forces from interfering."

"..." Shavis was stunned for a moment after hearing this. "Does the Governor mean that we should refuse their request to purchase weapons?"

"Do we need to consider the attitude of the Spaniards?" Governor Robbo looked at him unexpectedly.

“…”Shavis.

"If they really want to buy firearms, then we'll sell them to them at a 20% markup on the Ming government's purchase price." A cold glint flashed in Governor Luo Bao's eyes. "If they can cause some trouble for the Spanish in the New World, that would be even better."

In the more than 40 years since the union of Spain and Portugal, the former beauty has disappeared, and various contradictions have become increasingly apparent.

Although, after the merger of the two countries, the Portuguese successfully established a huge trade network in Spanish America, they were also severely excluded by the Spanish.

Moreover, because there were many Jews among the Portuguese, the Spanish called all the Portuguese "Jews". At that time, the Americas were at the peak of heresy, which led to many Portuguese being persecuted and discriminated against.

At the same time, silver mines in the Americas were facing a crisis due to a lack of capital and a decline in demand for silver from the Eastern continent (due to an increase in silver supply from Japan).

Portugal's reliance on Spain not only failed to solve the problem of English and French pirates, but also dragged Portugal into the war with the Netherlands, causing its colonies to be "touched" everywhere by this vicious coachman.

What's worse, as the European war (Thirty Years' War) intensified, Portugal had to pay more financial and human resources.

All this made the Portuguese feel bored and disgusted, and they began to think about breaking up with the Spanish and not living together with them anymore.

Look at what the Spanish have been doing over the years: fighting Dutch Protestants, fighting English Protestants, intervening in the French religious civil war, fighting against Ottoman infidels...

They are at war with all of Europe on a daily basis!
You said that if the Spaniards could defeat all their opponents in a few big matches and continue to maintain their dominant position, then everything would be fine.

As a younger brother, Portugal can also follow behind and benefit from it and get some advantages.

But the problem was that the Spaniards fought with one enemy after another for a long time, but they couldn't defeat any of them. They were even hit back by the opponent with a big slap, which made them look very embarrassed.

What surprised the Portuguese even more was that such a huge Spanish Empire could not even completely suppress the rebellious Netherlands, but instead allowed it to become stronger and stronger.

In the end, the Dutch were allowed to reach the Eastern world and beat us Portuguese up.

I can't live this day!

separate!

However, Portugal and Spain share a peninsula, are bordered by land, and are connected by mountains and rivers. If Spain's national strength has not completely declined, if it rashly talks about breaking up, it will probably be beaten up by this rash man.

In this case, we might as well give them some trouble and find some opponents so that they won't be able to focus their attention on us, Portugal.

(End of this chapter)