open sea

Chapter 503
Old Pinto had long been ordered to wait at the port of Malacca. He was old, and Chen Mu did not allow him to follow him into battle. Therefore, when Chen Mu boarded Annan, he and Shi Qi set off for Malacca.

He has been waiting here for several months, in this Portuguese dreamland.

No matter which era Chen Mu has heard of this place many times, Malacca, it used to belong to the capital of the Malacca Sultanate, Malacca.

When the Portuguese attacked Malacca, the siege of Malacca became even more famous. Legend has it that [-] Sudanese warriors gathered in the city at that time, with the superior defense of thousands of advanced artillery, and were destroyed by the offensive of [-] Portuguese and [-] Indian servants. at once.

The geography of Malacca determines that it must be prosperous, but Chen Mu thinks that the above war, the story of the great Portuguese conqueror and the impregnable city is just a story.

Chen Mu was very sure that before the arrival of the Portuguese, there was no decent city defense here at all, otherwise the Portuguese would not have completely wiped out the Malacca Palace because of the shortage of stone materials to build the fortress after the Portuguese captured it.

When the Nanyang Fleet arrived in Malacca, more than [-] large and small warships were full of banner troops, and the banners covered the sky and blocked the winding Malacca River mouth.

The Malacca River, which splits the city in half, is too narrow to allow warships to enter the river at all. They docked the warships outside the island fortress built by the Portuguese, which also could not fully accommodate them. In the simple water village built.

Two banner troops from thousands of households entered the island fortress, and more banner troops marched into the city of Malacca. This town named after the local tree still has no city walls. The distribution of towns is similar to Japanese castle towns, European noble fortresses and Binary distribution of villages.

The west side of the river is where the common people live, and the east side is the place where the Malacca royal palace and dignitaries lived. Now there are Portuguese churches, fortresses and residential areas on the east side, and the Burmese, Javanese, Indians and Ming Dynasty people on the west side. A large mansion of a Chinese merchant.

After the Portuguese got here decades ago, due to different beliefs, this town experienced a tragic massacre. Many Malays fled to other places. Even if they still live here, their status is relatively low.

In that war, because of the defection of the Burmese, Javanese, Indians, and merchants of the Ming Dynasty, the royal city of Malacca fell. As the beneficiaries, those merchants who were originally allies of the Portuguese took root here for decades.

Today, it has completely changed hands without a war.

Old Pinto's eyes were not sad, and he said with great interest while leading Chen Mu: "In the past, I was not allowed to enter here. I heard that in China, some people regarded the loss of Malacca as the beginning of Portugal's decline. We If you lose Malacca, you lose the Spice Islands."

"Seriously, you should rest easy. Portugal will always decline. Giving Malacca to me will just delay Portugal's decline."

Portugal helped Chen Mu a lot and took over a fortress with complete fortifications safely. Compared with the goods of tens of thousands of taels of silver, it is simply not worthwhile.

Chen Mu, who was wearing a helmet and wearing armor, said: "If it were someone else, there would always be a day when Malacca would be unable to defend. After the siege here, your fleet would not be able to provide timely support, but I am different. arrived here in a month."

"No one can take Malacca from me. As long as Malacca is in my hands, Portugal still has the power to trade spices, and there is no need to maintain a huge military expenditure here. In fact, you are not at a loss."

Pinto shrugged and said with a smile, "It doesn't matter, I'm old and alone, and I don't care where I'm buried when I die—here it is."

Shi Qi, who was leading the way further ahead, stood at the door of the embossed gate, and smiled at Chen Mu: "Their gates are always built very high, but they are very beautiful."

Chen Mu led a group of generals to file in. This so-called yamen used to be the banquet hall of the Portuguese commander. The long table can accommodate up to 42 people to discuss matters. It is very suitable as Chen Mu's yamen.

At this time, the interior of the banquet hall was also decorated by Shi Qi. According to Chen Mu's habit, a map was hung on the wall, and a sand table was placed on the side of the wall, so that the Nanyang generals could use it after stepping in.

Chen Mu put the helmet on the table, took off his battle robe and handed it to Juniper, sat down and let out a long breath. Everyone was waiting for his order, but he looked at the generals and said to Juniper: " Get some ice and some herbal tea, one bowl for each person."

The generals burst into laughter, all of them were sweating profusely, and their underwear was probably soaked, Shi Qi said: "Like other places in Nanyang, it is very hot all year round, the Portuguese built the village without walls, it belongs to I have ordered someone to fetch the ice basin, and it will be here in a while."

"It took a lot of hard work to pick us up."

Hearing what Chen Mu said, Shi Qi pursed his lips and smiled, cupped his hands and said, "I haven't congratulated the generals on Annan's victory. Compared to fighting on the battlefield, what I'm doing is nothing."

"There is also Myanmar, don't be afraid that there will be no chance to make meritorious deeds, the situation in Malacca." Chen Mu looked at Shi Qi and his soldiers carrying a heavy file, knowing that he was well prepared, and said: "There are also three announcements and six comforts. Tell me."

"Malacca has a population of [-] people, most of whom are Malays, but the power is in the hands of the Javanese Rajas and the Portuguese. They used to listen to the Portuguese, but now they listen to us. It's all right. The biggest problem is the Burmese merchants living in the city. How should it be handled?"

Chen Mudao: "Building a prison, forget it, just enclose their living area, strictly guard them, and release them after the war is over."

"The Portuguese know more about Myanmar than we do."

Shi Qi looked at old Pinto and said, "He got information about Burma from Haojing, but he didn't want to tell me."

Chen Mu laughed when he heard that, looked at Pinto and said, "This time, what business do you want to do with me?"

"It's not business, General. We hope to be able to preach in Guangzhou." Pinto's words contained the meaning of the bishop of Macau and the governor of India. Obviously, they are much clearer now, and they no longer say anything about preaching in the Ming Dynasty, and only narrowed the scope to Guangzhou. government.

"In exchange, the general will be given all the information on Burma."

"Think carefully, Pinto, I don't think this information means whether you can enter the Guangzhou government to preach." Chen Mu said with a smile: "It is related to whether you can still preach in Myanmar after the war."

"It's not feasible for me to be an empty-handed wolf, unless you think I will lose." Chen Mu looked at Pinto with great interest and asked, "Do you really think we will lose?"

"Uh." Pinto looked embarrassed at Chen Mu, and said, "The outcome of a war is always unpredictable, even if..."

Chen Mu clapped his hands and said: "But the strength of both sides is always clear at a glance. I have 20 warriors, and in the country, I am mobilizing [-] troops to march to Burma. I don't mean to force you, but if you don't give All my information, when Burma falls, you will lose the possibility of preaching there."

Pinto took a deep breath, clapped his hands on his knees, then stood up, and said to the generals in Cantonese Mandarin that he had already mastered: "Well, in fact, the Portuguese entered Myanmar much earlier than Macau."

"The earliest Burmese we came into contact with were in the southeast, and they were hired to defend the city in the battle with the Mangruiti. We were very powerful, but after all, there were more Burmese people, and the city was captured. fight."

"We brought muskets and fine wine. Later, Mang Ruiti was killed in the search for a white elephant. Mang Yinglong, who succeeded him, paid more attention to mercenaries. He learned our weapons and stayed away from our fine wine. He gave each of the mercenaries a beautiful Burmese wife, in the words of the Ming Dynasty, in this way, he has an army composed of the son-in-law of the door..."

(End of this chapter)