Chapter 1,141 Columbus was surprised to discover glass beads from 'Japan'...
“On Friday, October 12th, under the guidance and blessing of the Lord, the outstanding, wise, brave, and decisive commander of the expeditionary force, with three sailing ships of the kingdom, discovered and claimed possession of San Salvador Island... We are on the island
Discovered a tribal village and had first contact and trade with the tribesmen on the island..."
"The tribes on these islands are very friendly and have a very gentle temperament. When they saw our big ship, they were not afraid. Instead, they brought food and water to welcome it. They prayed and sang on the shore... They were all tall and old.
They are under thirty, with well-proportioned bodies and good-looking looks. They seem to be very poor, with no clothes on their bodies, as if they came out of their mother's womb, even women are the same... Their skin is neither black nor white, much like Ghana
Those yellow-skinned indigenous people on the Canary Islands. However, the latitude here is indeed not much different from the Canary Islands, which is understandable..."
"Witness the Lord! The tribes here are not only peaceful and friendly, kind and enthusiastic, but also very smart! Although we don't understand the language, they easily understand what we mean. They gestured, sang, expressed welcome to us, and took out their
gifts, come and exchange our items...and we only need to bring out some small colored glass beads, small iron bells, red sailor hats, or even broken pottery...they will be ecstatic and give almost all the
Bring everything here and let us choose!…”
"They had plenty of food, including several fruits they had never seen before, parrots with bright feathers, and some cotton balls of different sizes... On the first day of trading, we saw no gold, silver, or
Any porcelain and silk... This may be a group of ignorant islanders off the coast of India or Japan who have never had contact with the outside world... But God protects us! These islanders do not seem to have any sects, nor any desert savages.
, or the ferocious habits of grassland nomads, they should be Christians who can easily convert!…”
The night was vast, and three ships were moored on the coast. In the distance was the orange light of village bonfires, and nearby were the torches erected on the side of the sailboat. The weak light flickered in the evening wind, extending gloomily along the way.
, until it turned into a small oil lamp in the dark captain's cabin.
At this moment, the commander of the fleet, Columbus, was sitting at the captain's desk, with his quill dipped in ink and writing furiously in his diary. He was a truly serious man, and the contents of this diary were also fair and upright, destined to be passed down to future generations.
, let future generations worship and admire...
"Blessed by the merciful Lord! The tribes on these islands do not have swords and do not know what swords are! When we showed them the iron blades, they held the blades with their hands ignorantly, causing bleeding and injuries...
Obviously, there are no iron tools in their villages, only wooden and stone tools. And the only things they have that can be called weapons are sticks with fish teeth or flints tied to the top!…”
"Witness the Lord! Such a peaceful tribe, without armor or weapons, poses almost no threat to our exploration fleet! In fact, they are so weak and not good at fighting, and are easily defeated by Castil.
Conquered by the Kingdom of Leah! We only need twenty people to conquer the entire island and dominate the hundreds of tribes on the island as we please..."
As he wrote this, Columbus pondered slightly and looked to the other side of the table. There were three items obtained from the islanders: a palm-sized ball of cotton thread, a little finger-long gold ornament, and a piece of gold jewelry.
A large, shiny, colorful glass bead.
There was strong greed in Columbus's eyes. He looked at the first two valuable items and finally frowned at the last colored glass bead. After a while, he took up his pen again and wrote.
Next day’s record.
"October 13th, Saturday. This was the second day we had contact with the islanders. More islanders came from all over the island in canoes. Their canoes were very simple and used a
The entire tree trunk is cut into a boat shape. The size of the canoe depends on the size of the tree dug out, and can carry anywhere from a few to dozens of people... There is no doubt that they do not have the technology to build a sailboat, and they do not know how to use iron tools.
.A canoe like this is like a cat next to a lion to our sailboat, just looking at it for fun..."
"Of course! These islanders also brought new trading goods in their canoes. The Lord testifies that it is very gratifying that they brought many valuable cotton balls, but they were not woven into cloth. These
The island tribe is obviously rich in cotton, exactly like the Indians in the rumors!... Moreover, they do not know the true value of the goods..."
"Praise the Lord! In the largest canoe, a man brought two hundred pounds of cotton thread, but he only exchanged with us a handful of shining copper coins, only about thirty or forty. And
The quality of these cotton threads is very high. If transported back to the port of Seville and finely woven into cloth, it would be worth more than twenty gold ducats and tens of thousands of Malawidi copper coins! ... God bless you!
According to the exploration agreement, these are all my property, at least a quarter of them are mine!…”
Thinking of the profit of at least a hundred times, Columbus couldn't help swallowing and sincerely thanked the Lord. Then, he picked up the piece of gold as long as his little finger, weighed the heavy weight, and bit into it greedily.
After two sips, you can feel the golden, soft and tasteless taste...just like the most attractive breasts of an Apennine beauty!...
“Praise the Lord! The tribes on these islands also don’t know the sacredness and value of gold!… Some older men have gold ornaments hanging on their noses or around their necks… But we only use a few variegated glass beads.
, we exchanged nearly half a pound of gold from their hands! They were still happily singing and dancing around us, and happily strung glass beads on cotton threads and wore them around their necks, as if they were carrying something precious.
Like a gem…”
This chapter is not finished yet, please click the next page to continue reading the exciting content! "According to the hand gestures, we learned from the local tribes that there are more lands and islands in the northwest, southwest and south of this archipelago.
.And in the southwest and south, there is a long stretch of land, which seems to be a very big island! And the tribes on the big island will have a lot of such gold... As for the tribes in the northwest, according to the islanders, it seems
They are quite ferocious and can row many small boats and come in groups to rob and arrest people... So I decided to avoid the barbarians in the northwest and lead the fleet to the southwest to find the big southern island that produces gold!..."
"Actually, we also got more clues! That is a very brightly colored large glass bead exchanged from the islanders! This colored glass bead is about the size of a pigeon egg. It is said that it came from the south
Rumor has it that there is a trade on the big island in the south... It is obvious that on the big island in the south, there is a civilized tribe that can make glass beads... And according to my wise speculation, it is probably the Xipangu area, and it should not have arrived yet.
Siris…”
As he wrote this, Columbus frowned slightly, took the big glass bead in his hand again, and looked at it carefully for a while. The color of the bead was very even, it was a clear bright green, and even looked like a gem.
…
"Lord guides! The civilized tribe who can burn glass beads, the big island rich in gold...could it be the Japanese kingdom on the big island?...But didn't Marco Polo say that Sipan, ancient Japan, was in the north of India and east of Khitan? And
Why is it in the south of the Indies? ...Forget it, I will set off south tomorrow and go to the big island in the south to see for myself! If it is really Japan, then I am the trade envoy sent by the Kingdom of Castile! This
On the ship, there is also the Queen’s Credentials… If we can get a batch of gold, porcelain or silk, we will be truly prosperous!…”
Columbus raised the corner of his mouth and was imagining the beauty of wealth when he suddenly heard a "bang, bang" knock on the door. He immediately put away his voyage diary, held his hand on the hilt of his rapier, and asked in a deep voice.
"It's so late, who is it?!"
"Boss! It's me, Navigator Pedro! The latitude you asked me to measure..."
"Well, come in!..."
The navigator Pedro, wearing the four-cornered hat of a senior sailor, carefully walked into the captain's cabin. Seeing Pedro who was indeed close to him, Columbus breathed a sigh of relief, but still pressed his hand on the hilt of his sword.
"How about it?"
"God bless you! Boss, I measured it three times. It should be around 24 degrees north latitude. The weather is clear and there are not many clouds. The wind direction is from northeast to southwest, light to moderate... As for the longitude, we need to estimate the entire westward voyage...
"
"Well... 24 degrees north latitude, few clouds, not too windy. Longitude... According to my calculation of the radius of the earth and the fleet's voyage, it is about 100-110 degrees west longitude, which is the area around Sipan, ancient Japan and the Indian Islands... further west
Let’s go to Khitan in the north and Seris in the south!…”
Columbus let go of the hilt of his sword, picked up a quill, and scribbled down the longitude, latitude, and sea conditions in the semi-public navigation records. However, because the radius of the earth he calculated was too small, the longitude calculated at this time was obviously higher than the actual one.
need more.
It is worth mentioning that in the eyes of European scholars of this era, Khitan and Seris were usually considered to be two great countries in the north and south. Khitan in the north was filled with milk and honey, while Seris in the south was full of silk and porcelain.
The India on the map is not a whole subcontinent, but a terrain similar to peninsulas and islands...
"Aww! Ah! Aww!..."
Columbus raised the corner of his mouth and was making marks on the chart when he vaguely heard a woman crying. He was stunned, listened for a while, frowned tightly, and asked sharply.
"Pedro, did you hear the woman crying?..."
"Uh...Boss, I heard..."
"Vaffanculo! What's going on? Who brought a woman on board?!...According to the rules of the sea, women are not allowed on board!...Absolutely not! This is an offense to the captain!..."
Columbus stood up suddenly, with a fierce look in his eyes. He looked at Pedro fiercely, and then he realized something.
"Pedro! Do you know who it is? Tell me, don't lie!..."
"Uh!...Boss, at the beginning...it was Boatswain Chachu...and your Guard Chief Alana. As for now, it's hard to finish talking about the sailors involved..."
"Verdammt! Chachu, this bastard with a head full of sheep's intestines! And Alana, this idiot whose head was hit by a bullfight!..."
Hearing this, Columbus became angry, roared and cursed a few words, and then shouted sternly.
"Pedro, I believe you...go and call Alana for me!..."
