The Black Sails of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 51 The Fat Councilor

The tenth day of July.

The day of the Feast at Hongmen.

Yesterday, Zhou Xiucai informed Lin Qian of the information about Councilor Andrei.

Lin Qian had made all the preparations and led Bai Langzai and Zheng Zhilong into Yuehai Tower.

The meeting with the councilor was on the fifth floor, where two Portuguese soldiers guarded the stairwell.

After searching the three men, Bai Langzai was stopped, and only Lin Qian was allowed to enter.

Zheng Zhilong said in Portuguese, "I am the special envoy of the congressman, and I also want to enter."

The two Portuguese soldiers exchanged a glance and then invited Zheng Zhilong to go up with them.

Lin Qian said, "Wait at the bottom of the stairs. If the negotiations break down, you might still be able to save your life."

This is a test.

Zheng Zhilong said solemnly, "A scholar will die for one who understands him. I, Zheng Zhilong, am not a person who is afraid of death!"

Lin Qian smiled faintly and said nothing more.

Upon ascending the stairs, the fifth floor of the Moon Sea Pavilion appeared extremely spacious, with only a long table in the center and several Portuguese waiters standing around it.

The entire room was decorated in a European style, which was extremely rare in the Ming Dynasty.

At one end of the long table sat a fat Portuguese man, holding a knife and fork in both hands, a napkin around his collar, and eating the pieces of meat on his plate without looking up.

A Han Chinese man stood next to him, presumably the new interpreter.

The waiter pulled out a chair at one end of the long table, gesturing for Lin Qian to sit down.

After we sat down, the waiter brought us knives, forks, and plates. On the plates was a steak, drizzled with brown sauce.

"Roast beef, I hope you like it," the senator said, his mouth full of food, his words muffled.

The Han Chinese standing nearby translated his words.

The Ming Dynasty prohibited the slaughter of cattle, and the sale of beef was also strictly restricted.

At the same time, the imperial court imposed very strict restrictions on the Portuguese in Macau, prohibiting them from entering the mainland without permission.

The councilor in front of them completely ignored these ridiculous regulations and brazenly built a private club-like establishment on the top floor of a restaurant in Guangzhou.

This is a display of strength.

After the beef was served, the waiter pushed over a cart with a whole dried ham, glistening with fat.

The waiter took out a thin knife about the length of his arm, cut off a piece of ham as thin as a cicada's wing, carefully picked it up with a fork, and placed it on the congressman's plate.

Then the waiter pushed the cart behind Lin Qian and began slicing ham.

Holding such a long sword and walking behind Lin Qian was already a blatant threat.

Even Zheng Zhilong couldn't help but glance at him frequently.

Lin Qian remained unmoved, refusing to eat the beef or ham, and also ignoring the wine.

The councilor joked, "What, Captain, are you afraid there's poison in the food?"

Lin Qian shook her head.

"Is that because you think the hospitality was bad?" The senator's voice suddenly turned cold, his amiable expression vanished, and his fat face revealed its bulging flesh.

Lin Qian nodded slowly.

He didn't try to defend himself, nor did he panic; instead, he directly admitted it.

This caught the senator off guard. The pirate was clearly under his control, so what other trump card did he have?

The councilor softened his tone slightly and asked, "What is it that displeases the captain?"

Lin Qian pressed the beef with her fork, and bright red juices oozed out: "Beef is good stuff, but it's a pity it's not cooked through; it's still bloody."

Lin Qian loves medium-rare steak, but that doesn't stop him from picking at it.

Then he picked up the ham that the waiter had placed on his plate: "This thing also exists in the Ming Dynasty, it's called Jinhua ham, and it's not meant to be eaten raw."

Lin Qian waved the fork in her hand again: "We in the Ming Dynasty use chopsticks to eat, we don't use this."

"Enough!" The councilor was enraged by Lin Qian's nitpicking.

"You're incredibly stupid. Now that you've stepped into this room, do you expect to leave alive?" the councilor sneered. "Right now, five Portuguese warships are heading towards the Santa Ana. This is probably your last meal as captain."

"Is there anything else?" Lin Qian asked casually.

"What else?"

"Any other tricks up your sleeve? Don't tell me this is the trap you painstakingly prepared. How disappointing. I don't work with idiots."

The councilor waved his hand, and a waiter behind him placed a ham knife against Lin Qian's neck.

“I can kill you with just one word,” the senator threatened.

Zheng Zhilong swallowed hard, a knife now resting against his waist.

Lin Qian said calmly, "Macau is so far from mainland Portugal, it must be inconvenient to travel back and forth by sea, right?"

The senator scoffed, "You want to trade your life for the St. Anne's? She is indeed a fine ship, capable of sailing across the ocean. Unfortunately, Portugal and Spain are under the rule of a king and cannot accept your offer."

Lin Qian: "Why play dumb? Do you really think I don't know where the goods you acquired from the Ming Dynasty ended up?"

At that time, the Suez Canal did not exist. If Portugal wanted to transport goods back to mainland Europe, it had to go south across the Strait of Malacca, then west across the Indian Ocean, then around the Cape of Good Hope in Africa, and finally north to Lisbon.

The journey was winding and several times longer than the Spanish Pacific route.

This resulted in shipping costs being too high, making it impossible to compete with Spain.

Limited by the Papal Meridian of 1506, Portugal also did not have the right to share a shipping route with Spain.

Even under the rule of a single king, Spain and Portugal still ate from separate pots.

In order to make a profit, the Portuguese in Macau actually transported goods to Japan, and then loaded them with silver in Japan before returning them to the port of Macau.

After the Japanese pirates caused chaos, the Ming Dynasty strictly prohibited trade with Japan. Even after the Longqing Emperor opened the country to trade, Japan was still excluded.

This gave Macao businessmen the opportunity to profit from it.

Lin Qian continued, "Suppose your fleet missed its target, and the large sailing ship had already sailed to Japan five days ago, what would happen?"

The congressman's fat face twitched, and he forced a smile, saying, "Five days ago? You sent the St. Anna out to sea after you received the letter?"

After saying that, the councilor glanced subtly at Zheng Zhilong behind Lin Qian.

Zheng Zhilong nodded almost imperceptibly.

The congressman's heart skipped a beat.

He dared not completely believe Zheng Zhilong's words, but he also dared not completely disbelieve them.

Before Lin Qian could answer, the councilor pressed on, "With hundreds of thousands of taels of goods, can you find a market in Japan?"

Lin Qian: "Li Dan from Kyushu Island, and Shimazu Iehisa, they are much more trustworthy than you, Member of Parliament."

Li Dan and Shimazu Iehisa were both real people. Given the Ming Dynasty's understanding of foreign lands, ordinary people would not have known the name Shimazu Iehisa unless there was genuine business dealings between them.

The councilor, undeterred, glanced at Zheng Zhilong again.

Zheng Zhilong nodded slightly once again.

The congressman felt a sharp pain in his chest.

Shimazu Iehisa was the lord of the Satsuma Domain in Kyushu.

Li Dan was the head of a Ming Dynasty smuggling merchant group based in Kyushu.

These two men were the Portuguese's biggest customer and their biggest competitor.

The congressman could hardly imagine what would happen once the Santa Ana arrived.

He could have made a fortune by buying the cargo for 300,000 taels, while simultaneously curbing Li Dan's arrogance and seizing market share.

However, greed got the better of him, and he tried to get something for nothing, but ended up losing everything.

The Manila galleon was very fast and had set off several days earlier, so the Portuguese fleet had no chance of catching up.

That wasn't all. Lin Qian continued, "And if I can't return safely, the St. Anna will plunder the Macau-Kyushu route after the transaction is completed. It's inevitable that it will also rob Portuguese merchant ships."

The edifice in the senator's mind collapsed.

(End of this chapter)