Guangzong Yaoming

Chapter 400: Driving the tiger and swallowing the wolf
The warships were anchored around Haojing'ao. The magistrate of Xiangshan, together with the county magistrate and the chief clerk, led the way for the scripture interpreter. The officials and runners of Xiangshan, such as the household officials and the strong squad, naturally followed the soldiers sent by the commander-in-chief to protect the imperial envoy.

"Look, Your Excellency. The Yi leader is already here with the merchants to welcome us."

The magistrate of Xiangshan led the way, and the scholar looked over and saw a group of people waiting outside a stone house on the side of the road.

There was a wooden sign hanging next to the door of the house, with a cup-shaped figure and some foreign words engraved on it.

There were more than ten people at the door. Except for the leader who was wearing Ming Dynasty robes, the others were dressed in Western clothes.

The scripture interpreter nodded. The magistrate of Xiangshan County accompanied him and continued to speak nervously, "Your Excellency, these Western barbarians were defeated in the early years of Shimiao, and were later surrounded and suppressed on Shuangyu Island. They returned here. After that, they learned their lesson and were willing to obey the laws of the Celestial Empire. That's why we allowed them to stay here temporarily. We collected taxes on merchants and rent for the land, and nothing was reduced! In the past, during the Zhelin mutiny, they also helped the former Jingguo Gong to rebel..."

He kept muttering to himself, saying that the Western merchants, mainly Portuguese, still abided by the law here.

This is indeed the case. Although they came with high spirits in the early years of Jiajing, the Ming Dynasty was caught off guard and defeated them after a defeat. Portugal was a small country. Although it had established a stronghold in the Malacca area at that time, it could only deploy two to three thousand troops to maintain colonial rule. The Ming Dynasty defeated the Portuguese with hundreds of troops in naval battles such as Tuen Mun, Xicaowan, and Zoumawan, which actually proved that Portugal's previous idea of ​​making the East surrender was just a delusion.

After suffering a lot of losses, he changed his ways and tried to build connections. Although he had obtained the permission of the Ming Dynasty to live and do business here, he still had to pay the taxes collected by the Guangdong Maritime Customs and the land rent to Xiangshan County. He had to register in Xiangshan County in the form of a baojia, and any matter was subject to the jurisdiction of the Xiangshan constables.

At this time, the magistrate of Xiangshan said that they were submissive simply because this group of foreigners "knew how to deal with things."

In order to avoid trouble, they privately "supported" the officials of Xiangshan County, Guangzhou Prefecture and the corresponding government offices in Guangdong, and could be called "good foreign gentry."

Even though they did build churches and fortifications during the process, when the Ming Dynasty came to demolish them, didn't they dare to say a word?

If it can't cause any harm, why drive it away?
When the scripture interpreter was about to reach the group of people, he said, "He County Magistrate, you must let me come in person. It is already the fault of Xiangshan County for neglecting to carry out the imperial decree. Since I am here by imperial decree, I must report it. If you think that the imperial decree is inappropriate, you can report the truth to the emperor."

The Xiangshan County Magistrate lowered his head with a tingling scalp: "I dare not, I am ashamed..."

The scripture interpreter had already walked up to the Western barbarian who was leading the group and said, "Since you are a barbarian, why don't you wear Chinese clothes and learn the language and writing of the Ming Dynasty?"

"Foreign minister Edgar, I pay my respects to the Imperial Envoy, and to the County Magistrate..."

He greeted everyone politely one by one, after all, the situation was stronger than the person.

Portugal was badly defeated by the Spanish. Although it still had a relatively large degree of autonomy, it had actually been annexed and Lisbon had a Spanish governor.

Although Spain's good times did not last long, it organized 130 warships of various sizes and claimed to be the Invincible Fleet, but was ultimately defeated by the British. On the other side, the Dutch were advancing step by step after independence.

Fifteen years ago they had reached Banten, the pepper trading port in western Java, ten years ago they had reached Japan, six years ago they had seized the Portuguese forts in the Maluku Islands and Ambon, and four years ago the Spanish had withdrawn from Terna. Now the Dutch were preparing to establish a base here in the East Indies.

Even the Portuguese in Ming Dynasty had been attacked three times by the Dutch.

Edgar requested protection from the Ming Dynasty, but the Ming Dynasty just watched. In the end, they had to struggle to repel the Dutch on their own.

The Portuguese had fought the Dutch three times in seven years, and even if they were just defending and counterattacking, they suffered heavy losses. If Spain had not signed a 12-year truce agreement with the Netherlands in Antwerp last year, I don't know if they could have repelled them for the fourth time.

But it was only twelve years after all. In another ten years, when the Dutch had built their stronghold in the East Indies, they would definitely not let go of this place, and it would be impossible to resist them by then.

Just at this time, the Ming Dynasty wanted to change its past policy and expel them all.

Leaving here, one can only return to the Malacca area, which is now the center of the open and secret struggles between adventurers and royal families from Portugal, Britain, the Netherlands, Spain and other countries.

However, the port of Macau on the Ming side could not be lost. For the weak Portugal, the spice share of the Spice Islands could no longer be maintained. Only Macau, a port that connects Malacca and Japan, could make up for the loss and maintain profits through Japanese silver, Ming porcelain and silk.

So Edgar's attitude is very humble.

"I understand your order. Your ship is both a merchant ship and a warship. Even if you don't follow my order, Xiangshan County can't do anything about it." The Master of Explanation looked at Magistrate He, then glanced at them and said to Edgar, the Yimu officer, "Now that Guangdong's coastal defense route is full of warships, since you haven't left the port to fight to the death, then pack up and set sail for home."

"Your Excellency, we have always followed your orders. If there is anything we did not do well, there is nothing we cannot discuss..."

"Can we negotiate the imperial edict?" The Scripture Explanation Master laughed. "This imperial envoy will not enter your tavern. Tomorrow morning, before you set sail, this place will be razed to the ground."

His words made Magistrate He and Edgar's faces change suddenly.

Some other Westerners had already said a few words, and then everyone started shouting.

Obviously, Edgar was not the only one who could understand Ming dialect.

The scripture interpreter looked at one of them and then spoke. This time, it was Magistrate He who was stunned because he didn't understand.

Those noisy Westerners also quieted down and looked at the interpreter in surprise.

This was especially true for Edgar, who gradually fell into deep thought as he listened to the commentator's words.

"Do you understand?" The Scripture Explanation Master spoke again, changing to Ming dialect. "If you obey the imperial edict, there may be a chance to turn things around. What are these few houses? For so many years, the Maritime Customs has only collected half of your taxes. Isn't it enough to pay these? Now you can use this to exchange for this new news. If you want to make a comeback, you might as well go back and discuss with the people in charge in Portugal whether to send envoys to Ming to meet His Majesty and formally establish diplomatic relations and sign a trade agreement."

His rebuttal to these people just now was nothing more than that they were clamoring that so many real estates had been built in Macau over the years. Houses, ports, other facilities...

But the commentator doesn't care about this.

The future of Nandu must first be cleaned up and well planned.

Of course, the Ming Dynasty did not leave them a glimmer of hope.

It's just that the rules have to change.

Thanks to special favor, Jie Jingfu, a Jinshi in the first year of Taichang, now holds the position of maritime adviser in the Privy Council. He must do his homework during his time in the capital.

Fortunately, there is not only the emperor who is knowledgeable, but also the Western culture in the Institute of Studies. The scripture interpreter has learned some Western languages ​​and is also very clear about the current situation in the West.

The era of the Portuguese has passed, and the era of the Spanish is passing. Although Spain's strength is still not to be underestimated, their focus is on another continent where a large amount of gold and silver have been discovered.

The British who defeated Spain and the Dutch who were expanding aggressively were the main enemies of the Ming Dynasty at sea in the next stage. The Portuguese could take advantage of them.

Since the country was destroyed, Malacca would sooner or later change its owner. In this era of great contention in the ocean, the Ming Dynasty had to take action.

That is the most important frontier gateway.

"Your Excellency the Imperial Envoy...are you telling the truth?" Edgar asked with great interest.

The scripture interpreter frowned and said, "Since you are familiar with the Chinese language, you should speak Chinese. Whether it is true or not, you can stay for a while and then go to Guangzhou with this imperial envoy to meet the emperor. The rest of you should go back to Malacca first."

He said no more and held up a finger: "Remember, after dawn tomorrow, you will be the only one here."

After the interpreter finished speaking, he continued to patrol Macau with his men, ignoring Edgar and the others.

Edgar watched him leave, looking somewhat humiliated but not daring to do anything, so he gestured to them and went back to the tavern that had been carefully prepared to entertain the Ming officials.

What the interpreter said to them just now, in addition to refuting the words about Macau’s property, also included a message.

That is, the Ming Dynasty would build a huge commercial port in this area, and in the future there would still be opportunities to establish diplomatic relations with the Ming Dynasty, send envoys, conclude formal trade treaties, and even obtain a large number of official trade orders.

But this opportunity requires someone of sufficient weight from Portugal to come as a diplomatic envoy to discuss in detail. Edgar is not qualified.

So they were first expelled to facilitate the Ming Dynasty's construction here, and they also had to go back as messengers to deliver this message.

"If we leave like this, we won't be able to make any profit from here for a few years."

"What about trade with them? We have already agreed on some business... Isn't that sea trade company the property of their nobles?"

"Even if you want to pass on a message, you don't have to drive us all away..."

Edgar listened to their discussions, and there were certainly many issues that needed to be dealt with.

But the warships of Guangdong Haiphong Road were right around, and it didn't seem like they were just trying to scare them.

He thought for a moment and said, "At least they are still here today. Now we must prepare for the worst. Are we going to give up on the business that has already been agreed upon? Before we formally negotiate a new trade treaty, we must have a nearby port to continue doing business with them..."

In any case, the trade route represented by Macau connecting Ming Dynasty, Japan and Malacca cannot be interrupted.

Edgar was planning for the worst, which meant that he would have to leave here temporarily tomorrow.

But the envoy of the Ming Emperor did not seem to want to kill them all, but left the possibility of formal cooperation in the future...

"Let's go west!" Someone offered an idea. "Tokyo in the west is now divided. The ships of the Eastern Empire often go there to buy food and timber. Although their silk and porcelain are not as good as those of the Ming Dynasty, we can still buy some. We can make an agreement with the merchants of the Ming Dynasty first. Edgar, since you can continue to stay here, you should make an agreement with them."

"Tokyo?"

"Correct!"

Edgar fell into deep thought.

What they called Dongjing was actually what the Ming Dynasty called Annan and Jiaozhi. In their custom, they called Vietnam this way.

Since the defeat of the Mac Dynasty by General Le about 20 years ago, the Le Dynasty has been restored in name, but the Le Emperor is only responsible for attending court and receiving envoys. The Zheng family is in charge of the north, and the Nguyen family is in charge of the south.

If they were just going there, it wasn't far. Based on their years of understanding here, there were many places that could be used as temporary bases.

But for ordinary strongholds, it would take a lot of time to build defenses and ports, unless they could occupy an existing port or get the local government willing to lease a port to them.

"Tokyo...isn't it a vassal state of the Ming Empire now?" Edgar asked.

"No!" someone said, "I heard it from the servant of the Xiangshan Lord! I heard that it was almost a hundred years since the Ming Dynasty last appointed their king!"

Edgar suddenly realized something, and then said meaningfully: "It seems that they actually want to drive us there. It was once a province of the Ming Empire, right?"

"Yes, you mean..."

After thinking for a while, Edgar said, "You guys should prepare to set sail first. I will go and discuss this with the envoy of the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty!"

He felt that he had guessed Daming's true meaning.

This is not to say that the previous words were not true, but even if the current Philip II of Portugal could send envoys to negotiate with the Ming Dynasty without telling Spain, it is unknown how many years it would take.

During this period, the Portuguese still had to exist in this area and still had to control this trade route that had not yet been touched by Spain and the Netherlands - Orientals were xenophobic, and it took Portugal many years to establish this initial trade connection.

In the past, Portugal looked down on Tokyo. After all, the goods they had were already available in Ming Dynasty, and better. Their local products were not worth shipping to other places as trade commodities for profit.

But now think about it, the sea trade company established by the Ming emperor and the nobles was only doing business with them temporarily in Macau, and did not sail to the Spice Islands. They obviously already had a large-scale merchant fleet, but they only went to nearby Tokyo to sell low-value goods such as grain and timber. It seems that they had other purposes.

The interpreter walked around the island to survey the terrain. Seeing the barbarian rushing over here again, a slight smile appeared on his face.

Why was it necessary to expel the Portuguese? Of course it was not as simple as just cleaning up the mess and letting the visiting vassal states know that the Ming Dynasty had paid attention to Southeast Asia.

There is constant civil unrest in Annan, and the North and the South are in confrontation. Just like the war in Korea, it is about to break out. This is naturally an opportunity for the Ming Dynasty.

Following the example of Prince Lu and Duke Fuguo, the Privy Council is now reorganizing the nine borders, and Annan is one of the items in their big plan.

Wouldn't it be nice to let these Westerners test the waters first?

(End of this chapter)