Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 201 Taking the Initiative! Ming's First Battle against Western Colonialists

As for the interpreter, Yasan, Zhu Houzhao specially summoned him alone. After learning that he was a Han Chinese from Huguang, he was even more delighted and said:

"I am thinking of someone who does not understand Portuguese and does not know the Portuguese situation. You are also a Han Chinese. Are you willing to serve as an official in the court and handle Portuguese affairs for me?"

This fiery man Yasan had not expected that the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty would not only appoint Pires as an official, but also appoint him as an official. How could he refuse? He hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed. Zhu Houzhao hurriedly ordered Gu Dayong to help him up and said, "The Ming Dynasty has already established the outline of the constitution. You may not know it because you have been overseas for a long time. It is not a big deal for a minister to kneel down. You will no longer kneel down easily. Just stand and answer."

"Your Majesty, I obey your order. I, Guo Zhao, thank you, Your Majesty!" The Fire Master Yasan hurriedly introduced himself by his original Chinese name.

Zhu Houzhao nodded and said, "Since you have returned to your homeland, you don't need to call yourself by your foreign name anymore. From now on, you can be called Guo Zhao. Tell me what the situation is like with the Portuguese in the West and how the Ming Dynasty should deal with it. Tell me what you think. I won't punish you for speaking out of turn!"

Although Zhu Houzhao was a time traveler, he had some knowledge about the Portuguese in later generations, and knew that at that time the Portuguese were the first great power to rise in the West during the Age of Discovery.

However, Zhu Houzhao was not clear about the specific situation of the Portuguese at that time, nor the specific views of the Ming people at that time on the Portuguese. However, Zhu Houzhao was clear about the views of the court scholars and local officials on the Portuguese.

However, these scholars and local officials were contemptuous and hostile to the emergence of the Portuguese.

Lin Tingxuan of Guangdong and Guangxi directly asked in his memorial whether the Portuguese should be expelled. The cabinet ministers and other ministers in the court also believed that the Portuguese's audience was not in line with the tribute system and that they had occupied the vassal land of the Ming Dynasty without authorization, and should be expelled.

Zhu Houzhao was indeed dissatisfied with the Portuguese occupation of Malacca and Tuen Mun, but he did not despise the Portuguese. He knew that seizing the opportunity to communicate with the Portuguese would be beneficial to the development of maritime trade by the Ming Dynasty before the Netherlands and Britain.

As Guo Zhao was the first Chinese to understand the East and the West, it was naturally necessary for Zhu Houzhao to understand his current views on Portuguese.

"Reporting to Your Majesty! Although the Portuguese territory is not as large as that of the Ming Dynasty, the islands they occupied are scattered all over the world, and their shipping routes are all over the world. They have plundered countless properties in China. Both their warships and firearms are very powerful! The Ming Dynasty may not be able to match their strong ships and powerful guns;

However, the Portuguese country only wants trade. I think we can agree to trade with them and learn their skills to improve our warships and firearms. At the same time, we can also make profits from porcelain and silk to benefit the court. As far as I know, porcelain and silk are as valuable as gold in the Western Yi! "

Guo Zhao was very excited that he was valued by Emperor Zhu Houzhao. In order to be reused and because the Portuguese were indeed frantically colonizing the sea, he naturally told the truth to Zhu Houzhao without any concealment.

"Your Majesty! I think Mr. Guo's words that the Portuguese seized islands everywhere and had dense shipping routes all over the world may be credible, and even that porcelain and silk are as valuable as gold in the Western Barbarians. However, their firearms and warships are better than those of the Ming Dynasty. I do not agree. I am also in charge of the Ministry of War. The Ming Dynasty's firearms can now be loaded and fired from behind, and the cannons can fire continuously to defeat the enemy, and they are made of copper and iron. If the Ming Dynasty's firearms are not as good as those of the Portuguese! Then I resign!"

Xia Yan, who had been promoted to the right vice minister of the Ministry of War and was still in charge of the Ordnance Bureau, was now meeting Guo Zhao in the palace with officials from the cabinet, the Ministry of War, and the Ministry of Rites, together with Zhu Houzhao. However, when he heard that Guo Zhao's Ming firearms were not as good as the Portuguese firearms, as the manager of the Ordnance Bureau, he was naturally indignant and hurriedly stood up.

Seeing the ferocious red-robed official in front of him speaking ruthlessly, Guo Zhao could only smile awkwardly. At the same time, he was also very confused. He thought to himself, the Ming Dynasty fire guns can be loaded from behind? What does that mean? Could it be that the Ming Dynasty's fire guns can now be loaded from behind? A copper-framed iron-core cannon, such a cannon has its advantages.

Guo Zhao didn't understand and couldn't figure it out. As a person who only knew foreign languages ​​and business, he didn't know much about military equipment. His impression of Ming Dynasty firearms was still stuck in the era of traditional early matchlock and musket. Therefore, he instinctively thought that Ming Dynasty firearms were inferior to Portuguese firearms. And like most Han people who were stronger than him and directly learned and improved them, he only suggested to the court at this moment to learn to make Portuguese firearms.

Seeing that the red-robed official was quite angry, Guo Zhao also hurriedly took advantage of the situation and said:

"Your Majesty, please forgive me. This lord, please calm down. I haven't been back to the Middle-earth for a long time. I know very little and I am biased!"

After Guo Zhao said this, Xia Yan stopped being angry and just waved his sleeves.

Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but smile when he saw this. Only the emperor knew that if it weren't for the appearance of a time traveler like himself, the firearms of the Ming Dynasty would indeed be inferior to those of the Portuguese as Guo Zhao said.

However, due to the appearance of himself as a time traveler, he first liberated the craftsmen and used the new incentive system to motivate the craftsmen to invent and create, and then used his understanding of later firearms to guide them, so that the current firearms and artillery of the Ming Dynasty are far ahead of the Portuguese in terms of advanced level and manufacturing level. Because of this, although Zhu Houzhao knew that the Ming Dynasty was not inferior to the Portuguese in terms of firearms, artillery and even warships, he knew that what Guo Zhao said was not alarmist. The Portuguese were the biggest challenger to the Ming Dynasty in the competition for global interests. When his cabinet ministers were still complacent about earning a few more good horses and yellow sheep from Mongolia, they had already started plundering all over the world, and what they plundered was real gold and silver.

"I have said that you are allowed to speak freely, and I will not blame you. However, as you said, the Portuguese country cannot be taken lightly. It cannot be regarded as a friendly country, nor can it be regarded as a barbarian that can be despised. I have decided to establish the Western Barbarians Hall, and you will be the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Rites to manage it. You will be responsible for studying the Western Barbarian countries and even receiving envoys from the Western Barbarian countries, as well as training some talents who can speak Portuguese and other Western Barbarian languages!"

After Zhu Houzhao said this, Guo Zhao knelt on the ground excitedly: "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your grace!"

After all, he himself had never thought that he would become a deputy minister of the Ministry of Rites, a fifth-rank official in Beijing! He knew that such an official position could only be held by officials who were Jinshi graduates and ranked high, and it usually took many years to get there. Now that he could directly become a deputy minister of the Ministry of Rites and also be in charge of the Western Yi Pavilion, he could show his strengths and bring honor to his family, so he was naturally very excited!
No matter what, at this moment, in Guo Zhao's eyes, the emperor in front of him is really his mentor! He secretly vowed to create extraordinary achievements under the rule of this emperor!
At this time, the Minister of Rites Fu Gui stood up. As a traditional scholar-official, he did not have a good impression of the Portuguese, who attached too much importance to the Portuguese Empire, which did not follow the tribute system and attempted to trade directly with the Ming Dynasty and whose communication methods were very unfriendly. He did not think that the Portuguese Empire was worthy of attention. He despised the Han Chinese who was willing to be an interpreter for the Portuguese envoy, especially since this Han Chinese named Guo Zhao even changed his Chinese name to Huozhe Yasan at the beginning, which made him feel that Guo Zhao was a person who forgot his ancestors.

Therefore, now that he saw that His Majesty the Emperor was going to appoint Guo Zhao as the Deputy Minister of Rites, he naturally could not accept it. Thinking that he was the Minister of Rites, he would naturally interfere, so he hurriedly said:

"Your Majesty! All the official positions in the court are prestigious positions. Only virtuous and talented people can get them, and only those with achievements can be appointed. Now Guo Zhao is just a commoner. I think it is not appropriate to rashly appoint him as the Deputy Minister of Rites. If Your Majesty wants to use him, it is better to grant him a casual position!"

"If Mr. Fu can find a scholar who is fluent in Portuguese and can help me manage the Western Barbarians' Hall, I will naturally not use Guo Zhao! If not, I must use him!"

After Zhu Houzhao said this, the Minister of Rites Fu Gui was speechless and could only withdraw.

In addition, Pires was also appointed by Zhu Houzhao as the head of the Ministry of Rites.

Zhu Houzhao knew that the Age of Discovery had just begun. If the Ming Empire wanted to avoid being defeated by the West, it had to compete in all aspects, not only for world resources and territories, but also for navigation talents.

Zhu Houzhao knew clearly that in this era, not only the East lacked a strong sense of nationality, but the West also lacked it. In the contract-based West, as in the Warring States Period, it was not uncommon for officials to serve in other countries.

As a modern man, Zhu Houzhao naturally would not discriminate against other races. As long as they could benefit the Ming Dynasty, he would accept them to become bureaucrats of his Ming Dynasty. As an emperor, he wanted to win over talents from all over the world to his country.

Pires became the head of the Ministry of Rites' Department of Guests and Guests, and returned to Guangzhou again as a special envoy of Emperor Zhu Houzhao. He was ready to return to Portugal to hand over the letter from the Ming Emperor Zhu Houzhao to the Portuguese King.

At this time, Guangdong Deputy Envoy Wang had been ordered to lead part of the Guangdong Navy to attack Tuen Mun.

For the Ming Dynasty, it was certainly possible to trade with the Portuguese, but it also had to take back its own territories if they were invaded. Therefore, the Battle of Tunmen was a must, otherwise it would not be enough to declare the Ming Dynasty's sovereignty.

At the same time, it is also to show our fist to Western forces. Peaceful trade must be based on strong military force.

The Ming Dynasty's steel smelting technology was already very advanced. It had developed to the open-hearth steelmaking stage, and shipbuilding technology had also begun to recover. Therefore, it was not difficult to manufacture sailing warships that used smoothbore cannons as shipborne weapons. This time, Guangdong Deputy Envoy Wang Hong took five sailing warships to Tuen Mun Island to fight against the Portuguese colonists.

The Portuguese colonists had just occupied Malacca and committed a massacre in Malacca. They were very proud of themselves. Although they admired the Ming Empire very much, they had no fear in their hearts.

In their view, Tuen Mun Island was just a small island occupied by them in the process of colonizing the whole world. Based on their smooth experience in colonizing other regions, they did not think that they would encounter any danger when colonizing Tuen Mun Island.

But what the Portuguese colonists did not understand was that the place they were colonizing belonged to the Ming Dynasty’s territory, and they were challenging the dignity of a powerful empire.

(End of this chapter)