Chapter 1,258 Serfs on board, we must not be caught!
"Captain, let me ask clearly! The nearest Portuguese town here is Coimbra, which is just three days east of the village, about a hundred miles away! ...The royal capital Lisbon is in the south, and I don't know how many miles away it is.
A hundred miles away? No one in the village has been there... But according to the villagers, the merchant fleet of the Kingdom of Portugal and the tax collectors belonging to the royal family can often be seen here..."
The rainy season has just passed, and the wet coast reflects the clear sky, like a luxurious Venetian silver mirror, flashing blue and white water. The Portuguese coast in the north is spread with yellow and white beaches, but it is not open and flat, but there are many
Rugged cliffs. And a small Portuguese fishing village is located in the valley and the river where the cliffs are separated, like a green grape falling on a branch in early summer.
The dilapidated big sailing ship Santa Maria stayed outside the fishing village, and the sails were being repaired by the crew. The small boats in the village that were fishing back and forth passed by, and the Portuguese fishermen on the boat turned to look curiously, pointing from time to time.
, whisper.
On the deck of the big ship, Captain de la Cosa of Castile sat with his legs crossed, holding in his hands a specialty of the local fishing village, which is also the "special delicacy" of the Portuguese, a dry and salty pickled cod (Bacalhau), eating it slowly
He was chewing on the ground. The look on his face had always been very calm, even in the eyes of the fishermen watching the excitement, it did not change at all. Until Luis, the sailor who could speak Portuguese and was sent off the boat, brought back a seemingly inconspicuous
After hearing the news, he was stunned, put down the delicious dried fish, and asked in a deep voice.
"Huh? Luis, are you sure that he is a tax collector directly affiliated with the Portuguese royal family, and not some other lord?..."
"Uh... the villagers said that it was the great lord sent by the king. They all rode high-spirited horses and carried the great lord's 'Flag of the Seven Castles'... I didn't hear the names of other nobles..."
"Huh?! The flag of the Seven Forts of the Portuguese royal family? Could it be that... this is the territory directly under the Portuguese royal family? Then will our appearance alarm the sheriff here? Or even the Portuguese royal family?..."
Captain De La Cosa clapped his hands, frowned and stood up. He walked to the side of the ship and looked at the river that merged into the sea. Then he followed the direction of the river and looked at the manors scattered along the river further away, and the lush greenery.
of wheat fields.
"Light green wheat fields, waterwheels along the river, irrigation ditches, wine-making manors... What a beautiful and rich village! The Portuguese are really good at business, and they are richer than northern Castile..."
Dracosa murmured, staring intently. There is no doubt that these villages and manors are the fiefdoms of a certain noble. And judging from this wealthy posture, he will definitely be a rich noble!
The Iberian Peninsula, especially the coast of Portugal, is affected by the strong Mediterranean climate, and rainfall is usually concentrated in winter and spring. Wheat consumes a lot of water and must catch up with the rainy season, so the Portuguese mostly grow winter wheat. They grew it in the ten-year period.
Planting is sown in late autumn, and after half a year of rainy season, the summer harvest occurs between June and July. As for April now, a lot of wheat has begun to bear fruit. Looking into the distance, there is a light green sea of wheat. The tenant farmers are as small as ants.
He was also very busy, working from sunrise to sunset, creating the only source of wealth in this era for the manor owners and nobles, the wealth from the fields.
"City of Coimbra?...Then this should be, the Duke of Coimbra?...Wait! This familiar name?...The Grand Duke of Coimbra? 'Prince of the Seven Directions' Peter?!..."
Dela Cosa's thoughts turned quickly and he finally thought of a name that was famous on the Iberian Peninsula a century and a half ago. That was one of the heroes of Portugal's "outstanding generation" and the "Prince of the Seven Directions" who had participated in many holy wars.
"Peter (Pedro) is also the brother of the Portuguese sailing prince Enrique and the grandfather of the current Portuguese King Joao II.
"Joao I the Great of Portugal had two princesses who gave birth to a group of outstanding sons, forming two Portuguese royal families: the line of Philosopher King Edward, born to Queen Felipa, and the first generation of Bulacan who was illegitimately born to Princess Inis.
The two Portuguese royal families were at odds with each other and even had a civil war... Prince Peter is from the Edwardian line, and his grandson King Joao II is naturally also from the Edwardian line..."
"According to court rumors, Prince Peter died in an internal fight within the Portuguese royal family and was assassinated by a family of Braganza royals... A few years ago, King Joao II personally ordered the execution of the contemporary Duke of Braganza, Ferdinand, and also
Several nobles were executed! It is said that this cruel and unaristocratic treatment was precisely to avenge his grandfather Peter... And under the terrible pressure of King Joao, the Braganza family, in order to protect themselves, and
The royal family of Castile has many secret contacts. The archbishop asked me to deliver the letter before..."
"Ah! These internal conflicts between the two Portuguese royal families are not important at the moment... The most important thing is that this was once the fiefdom of King Joao's grandfather! And there is no doubt that after this fiefdom was passed to the hands of King Joao, it is now
It is the territory directly under the Portuguese royal family! Once the news of our appearance is discovered by the sheriff here, it is likely to be presented directly to King Joao! And once this happens, King Joao will directly mobilize the navy of the Portuguese royal family to search.
…”
Thinking of this, De La Cosa's heart skipped a beat, and his face became solemn for a moment. If they were just ordinary merchant ships and were caught by the Portuguese navy, at most they would have confiscated a batch of goods and lost some money. But if they were Castile,
As the official navy of Asia, given the current neutrality and truce rather than hostility between the two countries, it is likely that he will be detained, interrogated for a period of time, and then released to the Kingdom of Castile.
But now, they are an exploration fleet returning from the ocean, and they have crucial and priceless information about new routes! And what the Portuguese have been working tirelessly on is to open up new routes and reach the rich East! The value of this information is great, and the consequences are huge.
It was serious enough to make the Portuguese abandon all potential rules of the Catholic world... Under such circumstances, once they were caught by the Portuguese navy, there would be terrible consequences...
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! "Merciful Lord! Please protect us!..."
Dela Cosa clenched his palms tremblingly and prayed devoutly. Then, without explaining anything, he just gave instructions to Sailor Louis with a calm face.
"Louis, I'm a little uneasy...you get off the boat again! Take some of the cotton threads we packed back and give them to the local young fishermen and farmers, and then go find out about the local manor owners and sheriffs...Be careful, don't reveal our information
According to the news, we are a merchant ship!…”
"Yes! Captain!..."
Seeing the captain's solemn expression, sailor Louis also became nervous. He put on a ball of cotton thread, pulled off his sweaty shorts, nimbly turned over the side of the ship, slid down the rope ladder, and returned to the boat.
Behind him, the captain's urgent questions and orders could be faintly heard.
"Pedro! Is the tail sail repaired?...Ah! I don't need you to repair it completely, as long as it lasts two weeks!..."
"Quick! Put the extra fresh water and food into the cabin! Keep food and drink tight! ... In the end, we will suffer for ten more days! Just ten days! ... In the next ten days, we will not dock, and we will go south away from the coast ... etc.
Back to Seville safely, I will take each of you to eat well, drink well, and play with women!…The Lord is witness! I treat you!…”
"What, Commander Columbus wants to come out for ventilation? Come out at this time to cause trouble... His injury is not fully healed yet, let him recover in peace!..."
"That's right! Keep an eye on the last two remaining natives! Lock them in the cabin and don't allow them to show their heads on the deck!..."
"Quick! Send a few more people to the mouth of the river to load more fresh water!..."
It was getting late, the setting sun was setting in the West Sea, and the fishing boats were returning amidst the melodious folk songs. The pale red sunset blew over the gray-yellow mountain walls, as if eager to stay. And when sailor Louis appeared again under Captain Draco
In front of Sa, he also brought back a young serf with a red-skinned neck. His innocent eyes were looking around, full of curiosity, yearning and desire.
"Huh? Louis, who is he?"
"Captain, his name is Little Paul, and he said he knows some important news. He saw our ball of cotton thread and wants to join the ship, follow us, and make a fortune with us!..."
Sailor Louis gestured and patted little Paul's head hard. Little Paul quickly knelt on the deck, shouted "Sir Captain" several times, kowtowed a few times, and spoke a lot in Portuguese.
"Huh? News about us and Zhuangtou?..."
As an experienced captain, De La Cosa has been to Portugal many times, and of course he understands Portuguese. He listened for a moment, looked at the expectant little Paul with a slightly suspicious look, and promised with a smile.
"Little Paul, tell me! As long as the information you tell is valuable, I will accept you and make a fortune with you! ...
"Holy Mother! Thank you, Sir Captain! Sir, for your kindness! Sir, your generosity!..."
Hearing this, little Paul kowtowed repeatedly, with a sincere smile on his face. He didn't care what kind of pirate ship he was on, or whether he joined the national army in 1949. As the most common and most numerous descendant of serfs in the Middle Ages, he almost never
As soon as I came down, I signed a personal contract with the manor to sell myself, which determined the fate of my life: I lived in a simple shed in the manor, ate oats and wild vegetables for a living, and worked for the men as cattle and horses.
live!
He has no freedom of life, no right to marry, and can be easily sentenced or even executed by the village head. He must be busy all year round, farming in the spring, making wine in the summer, digging canals in the autumn, and taking care of the livestock in the winter. He has to work for twenty or thirty years until he dies of old age and exhaustion.
. He could not leave the manor for more than twenty miles for the rest of his life, otherwise he would be a runaway slave. No serious village would take him in. He could only escape into the mountains and become a bandit, and then his head would be casually swiped by the chasing sheriff or passing knights.
And if he is lucky enough to please the village head, he may be able to marry a village girl whom the village head dislikes or is tired of, and gain the opportunity to reproduce. But if his child is born, he will still be a serf in the manor, sharing the same fate as him
No two…
For these low-level serfs in the Middle Ages, the legendary only chance to make a fortune and change their destiny was to join a big ship at sea! Only by boarding a big ship can one escape from the unbreakable order of the manor and escape from the village.
Escape from the pursuit of the Sheriff! Then, follow the captain to get rich, get rich again, until you save enough money, and finally make it into a commercial city-state, become a citizen of the city-state, and become a high-class person in the city...
"Praise the Holy Mother! Praise Sir Captain!...Ah! Yes, I don't talk nonsense, I don't talk nonsense...I saw Zhuangtou last night, riding his mule...to the east all night! I fed the mule yesterday morning,
After feeding the beans, you can run for a whole day..."
"Ah? What are you going to the east for? I...I don't know...but Zhuangtou looked at your big ship for a long time yesterday...and then...then he suddenly decided to leave at night!..."
"Think again?...Uh...ah!...By the way! The tax collectors used to come from that way too! They all rode horses and carried guns!..."
Hearing this, Dracosa was shocked, and his face turned livid for a moment. He looked eastward. Behind the cliffs on the coast were low valleys, plains, and rolling mountains and forests. And further east, until a hundred
Many miles away is the city directly controlled by the Portuguese royal family, which must have the Duchy of Coimbra with a royal garrison.
"Damn it! The village head went to report! Our whereabouts must be known to the Portuguese royal family!..."
"Quick! Raise the sails and furl the anchor! We can't stay here! Let's set sail immediately, first escape to the sea to the west, then south... and walk through the night!..."
"Lord! Please protect us! Protect us as we return to the Kingdom of Castile... We carry the hope of the Archbishop, shoulder the Queen's orders, and hold the news that will change God's world... We must not be allowed to