open sea

Chapter 1161 Well-informed
After all, those words did not reach Philip’s ears. On the return voyage from Brazil, he arrived at an archipelago called Azores in the Atlantic Ocean. It is 350 miles away and [-] miles away from Lisbon in the east. It used to be a Portuguese overseas colony.

Now, because when the Duke of Alba led the army into Lisbon, many officials and people who did not want to surrender fled westward by boat, and the remnants of Antonio fled to the islands, these islands are still not part of Spain.

When the menacing envoy returned to the voyage, he encountered Fu Yuan's reinforcement fleet and immigrant pioneers to Rio. This time, because he had already experienced the firepower of the Rio defenders, he did not dare to respond when he saw the larger Ming fleet, and was interrogated and suffered. Wronged, I was very angry when I arrived in the Azores, but I was still shelled by armed merchant ships from local residents.

What kind of ship is that, a small caravel, with a displacement of only a hundred tons, and four revolving Francois cannons mounted on the ship, dare to bombard his majestic ship?
When the St. Mateus's sidestring and fifteen cannons fired at once, the Caravel sailboat was beaten up and down like a leaf on the lake in a heavy rain, and it fled to the island with its sails. The St. Mateus chased it head-on. However, the speed of the limited tonnage is slightly slower after all, and it still cannot catch up until the ship enters the port.

If they leave at this time, nothing will happen, but the army general on board wants to lead more than 70 infantry and more than 70 sailors to capture the third largest island in the Azores, Terceira Island for the king. .

At this time, they didn't know that the island had complete fortifications and the residents were good at raising bison.

In the evening, they rowed the small boats on the battleship to transport the soldiers and two artillery pieces in batches. If their marching spirit was as strong as a bamboo, there is no doubt that Terceira Island has the most lush bamboo forest in the world.

As the morning approached, they saw cows, a lot of them, cows in all directions, with their heads bowed and horns raised, being driven towards them by the shepherds.

The unassembled army formation was trampled to pieces by the bulls, and the second attack was followed by the island residents led by Portuguese veterans, who chased them frantically with spears, short knives, bows and arrows, and the rest were killed or injured. Injuries, the deserters who lost their way on the island can temporarily save their lives, and the number of people who fled to the shore is becoming less and less.

Seeing that the situation was not good, the people staying on board hurriedly sailed away, but the lack of sailors made the big ship move slowly. As soon as it started, it was surrounded by Portuguese boats surrounding it. No one was there, and the last large 750-ton Galen main battleship was captured by a group of islanders.

On the other hand, Antonio, the Portuguese king in exile who was far away in Paris, did not expect that the news that he had ceded Brazil to France had already been known by Spain and reached Ming’s ears. He had never heard that Ming had coveted Brazil, but this Indeed, the Ming army planned to stand on the Spanish side.

This made Antonio full of worries. For the Portuguese, the Dongyang Military Mansion is an unfamiliar word, but Chen Mu and his army are familiar names. Even from a certain point of view, Portugal resents Chen Mu’s nobles more than resentment Phillips has a lot more people.

If one person is dissatisfied with King Philip of Spain, then there must be ten people who are dissatisfied with Chen Mu. Among the lower class people, the ratio is just the opposite, because most of the people can't tell whether Chen Mu is a general of the Ming Dynasty or a businessman.

This originates from Portugal's overseas trade, just like Ming's military expansion, which is led by the king and emperor. The difference is that Ming has enough people who can benefit from it, while in Portugal, only the king and domestic nobles can benefit from it. .

The more nobles in Portugal, the more they know what Chen Mu has done.

In fact, Chen Mu of the Dongyang Military Mansion was indeed a choice for Antonio to restore the country at the beginning, but although most of Antonio's supporters were low-level citizens and new nobles, people of insight among them all believed that asking Chen Mu for help was seeking skin from a tiger.

You can easily come to this result by looking through the records casually and seeing how the Portuguese people who are related to Chen Mu are doing.

Therefore, the bishop of the diocese of Macau has a large manor on Shangchuan Island, served by hundreds of Luzon servants, but the diocese of Macau is gone; so the governor of Goa has a large manor in Goa, and there are three merchant ships that can sail to Macau, but Malacca Straits and Governorate of Goa are gone.

In this way, Chen Mu looked like a bad guy.

But if Chen Mu and Daming were skipped to cooperate, the situation would actually be even worse. In East Africa, in the Persian Gulf, in the Arabian Sea, and in Burma, those Portuguese disappeared without even having a chance to enjoy it.

The Portuguese are not fools either. They can think of what would happen if they asked Chen Mu or directly to Daming for help. If they went to Chen Mu, Antonio would definitely get excellent treatment, but Portugal was gone; if they went to Daming, Antonio would be gone, and Portugal would become The Portuguese Governor-General of the Ming Dynasty.

What is the difference between that and being united by Spain?Not to mention that Ming may not be willing to go to war again for Portugal and Spain.

In this way, it seems that France and England are their best choices. France is deeply mired in the quagmire of the Huguenot War, and England is too young to fight back.

They can all provide limited help without risk of being annexed.

But this doesn't mean that Antonio is willing to mess with a giant named Ming.

Antonio's apprehension was obvious to the Queen Mother, Catherine, and she shared it.

The Valois were indeed willing to fight for Portugal, and they would fight for it as long as Portugal surrendered Brazil.

Who can see that the colonies are good? France almost racked its brains to fight for the colonies, but it is neither a big country nor a maritime power. It can only watch Spain and Portugal carve up the world and bring back countless wealth. How can you not be tempted? of?
Antarctic France was finally created, and within two days it was beaten away by the Portuguese. Once in a lifetime, it occupied an estuary from Quebec to trade beaver skins, but was annihilated by the Ming army.

Seeing that all the territory that can be occupied has an owner, and France, which is deeply divided by religion, is unable to wage war with other countries, one can imagine how uncomfortable they are.

For Brazil, which is brought to the mouth, it is determined to win.

Thinking of this, Catherine couldn't help but envy Elizabeth. Everyone was vying for the colonies, but England didn't. They were smart and had a good geographical environment. They let others run the colonies, and they robbed other people's treasure ships to make themselves rich.

It's as if everyone is panning for gold. The Englishman robs others on the road that others must pass. If others gain or lose, he will definitely not lose.

But France does not have that unique advantage. France will do the same thing hard, for example, grab two Philip's treasure ships, and the Spanish army will come from the sea the next day.

That's why Catherine didn't want to provoke Philip too much. Even supporting Antonio was only instructing the general to act in his own name... But now, the threat has increased.

They not only have to face Spain, but also face the sudden intervention of the Ming army.

Driven by the devil in her heart, Catherine comforted Antonio like this: "Don't be afraid, we can unite the fleets of England and the Netherlands. We have seen the Ming army. France will provide you with more fleets. The Duke of Anjou will go to Germany to recruit some. Mercenaries join you, and we shall triumph brilliantly."

Catherine did not lie. The lords of France did see the Ming army. There were Mongols, Jurchens, Koreans, Japanese, Portuguese, Spaniards, and Africans, Arabs, Ottomans, Persians, Burmese, Luzons... almost included soldiers from all over the world.

But only, that army did not have the regular army of Ming Dynasty.

(End of this chapter)