Chapter One Thousand Five Hundred and Fifteen: In the South of the New World, there is no end
6 degrees south latitude, the mouth of the Potongi River in Brazil, the Portuguese colonial camp, Port Natal.
This is the northeastern corner of the South American continent and the closest place to the African continent. In fact, the straight-line distance from the natural harbor of Natal in Brazil to Senar Leone in West Africa is only 3,000 kilometers. A full-sail voyage with a favorable wind is only
It takes a month, or even less!
This route to the New World is far shorter than the imagination of the Castilians, and it is also an absolute navigation secret of the Portuguese. In Bruno's estimation, the Port of Natal is as far away from the dangerous native kingdom as it is from the Cuban island.
The large island of Sipangu is estimated to be 6,000 kilometers long. There are no large native tribes around it, and it is absolutely far away from all dangers! Therefore, this is an excellent colonial location and an inevitable transit point for the "New Atlantic Ocean Route".
According to the West African ocean currents and monsoons that Portuguese navigators have mastered, the best time to travel from West Africa to South America is to take the northeast trade wind and set off in autumn, which can arrive in just one month. And the return voyage from South America to West Africa
, you should ride the southeast trade wind and set off in the spring, which will take about a little more than a month. In particular, you must avoid the weak wind period from July to September, because the equatorial windless zone at that time will be a nightmare for all sailing captains.
…
"Lord, witness! We will establish the first colony of the Kingdom of Portugal in the New World closest to West Africa! There is no doubt that all ships going from West Africa to the New World will stop at this transit colony. And I,
Baron Bruno Kang, as the governor of this colony and even a nobleman of the fief, the future benefits of the family will be unlimited!..."
Four months ago, it was with this understanding and expectation that Fleet Commander Bruno arrived at the coast of Brazil with a five-ship colonial exploration fleet loaded with food, crew and immigrants. Afterwards, he only inspected
Within a few days, without too much hesitation, they selected this good port by the river and announced the establishment of the Portuguese Kingdom's first colonial camp in Brazil, Natal's "Christmas Port".
Then, under Bruno's order, more than eighty white immigrants disembarked and, together with dozens of sailors who came ashore, built simple fences and wooden houses. As for Father Faial, he was the first person sent by the Lisbon Church.
The colonial priest took charge of the religious affairs of the port camp and became the de facto civil director of the port.
"O Lord! What a desolate jungle coast, what a arduous and fearless development! Father Faial, the development of the port will be left to you... I will lead two caravels to explore south along the coastline. The jungle to the west
The coast has long been clear, but the southern coastline is still in chaos..."
"Blessed Mother, I will go to the south to explore myself! Perhaps, we can find a safe new route, bypassing those savage and aggressive Caribbean natives, bypassing the evil and hostile ancient kingdom of Sipan, and going directly to the silk and porcelain market.
Siris!…”
After only a month of staying in the camp, Bruno left such instructions, took two caravels and fifty sailors and soldiers, and once again launched the exploration of the southern route. Of course, this was only what he could say verbally.
The excuse. And some reasons that are difficult to explain are that the establishment of new colonies is really boring and boring. logging and pioneering in a forest and sea, except for cutting wood, is fishing. There is no romance at all, and there is no talk of making a fortune.
.
So at the moment, there are only two Clark galleons and one supply ship in Natal Port. As a functional ship of the Portuguese Navy, the supply ship only has two two-pound guns, which is better than nothing. And the two medium-sized Clark galleons
, the six-plus-six six-pound guns on the Portuguese navy’s main ship represent the real corner of the Portuguese navy’s power!
"Bang! Bang!..."
"Bang! Bang bang!..."
The sound of logging resounded day and night, and the camp of nearly two hundred people was full of noise. The immigrants were sweating like rain and worked hard to build wooden houses. The sailors were bored and found other ways to be lazy. The sporadic sound of matchlocks was from the navy soldiers.
hunt
, especially the one-eyed quartermaster Mattim, who shoots most accurately. The long-headed American tapir has good meat and is very plump. And the burgundy parrot has extremely gorgeous feathers. As long as you can bring it back to Lisbon, you will definitely be able to exchange for a lot of copper coins.
, even silver coins…
"Woo! Woo!..."
The horn is the instrument that travels the farthest on the sea. Sometimes it can even reach several miles. When the low sound of the horn came from the sea, the lazy sailors were also shocked. They looked towards the southern coastline and saw two Portuguese flag ships.
sailing ship.
"Holy Mother! Two caravels...the commander is back!..."
"Quick! Send a team of soldiers to the port to greet you! Others... get to work quickly!..."
"yes!…"
Soon, the two caravels of the exploration fleet docked at the Port of Natal again, more than three months after leaving. Fleet Commander Bruno stood on the bow deck, with a dusty face and an unhappy expression. Until
He carefully looked at the colonial camp that was beginning to take shape, then looked satisfied and nodded.
"Disembark! Land!..."
Bruno took the chef Ado (Haroldo), translator and carpenter Sushu, off the caravel and boarded the sun-warmed beach. And the first sentence he spoke was...
"Blessed Mother, we are finally back! Hurry! Get me something to eat, preferably fresh fish soup! I'm going to vomit after eating the glutinous rice from the natives..."
"Boss! You are finally back! How are you? Where is the end of the southern coast? Have you encountered any big native towns?..."
"Damn it! Mattim, there is nothing in the south, except for the woods and birds, and nothing!... This new continent of forests is amazingly big and terrifyingly desolate. It is even more desolate than the southern continent of Black Africa! We keep going south,
After sailing an estimated 800 leagues (4,445 kilometers), I saw the forest gradually disappearing, and saw a large prairie that was taller than a person..."
Bruno drank fresh stream water, took a few bites of the strange fruit handed over by Mattim, and looked at the fish soup Haroldo had just cooked. The irritability on his face finally eased a little.
"Witness the Lord! It took more than three months to go back and forth, and I sailed to more than 20 latitudes. When I reached 30 degrees south latitude, I still didn't reach the end of the southern continent... I simply doubt that this extremely broad new continent has no end at all.
It has to extend to the pole! I am afraid that the new route from the south to Seris does not exist at all! We still have to go west to meet the strong bones of the ancient kingdom of Sipan!..."
"What's even worse is that we sailed 800 leagues south along the coast and didn't even see a large native village! At most, there were some thatched hut villages with dozens or hundreds of people, and they were very poor.
There was nothing but food, let alone gold and silver! We slaughtered two villages and only got some cassava paste, broke two sailors, and broke a dozen scimitars in vain... Damn it
Ah! The natives here are even poorer than those in the southern continent!..."
Speaking of this, Bruno suddenly reacted and immediately lowered his voice. He glanced at the cross in the camp, then looked around among the sailors, then he breathed a sigh of relief and asked.
"Martim, Father Faria is not here? Where has he gone?..."
"Boss, that annoying old guy should be in the church! Yes, that's the biggest wooden house! He has a new convert of a native believer, and he is very happy. In the past few days, he has been staying with the native
, mumbling, saying something incomprehensible..."
"Captain Bruno, Boss Mattim! Father Faria is not talking, but he is learning the language with the native. Judging from his meaning, he seems to want to find the native tribe and convert the entire native tribe..."
"Convert to the native tribe? Haha! After living here for more than four months, my brothers and I have become moldy. If it weren't for this annoying old thing, we would have found the native village and have a good time.
Bundle!…"
The one-eyed Mattim had fierce eyes, holding the scimitar at his waist, and his whole body was full of killing intent. Bruno frowned slightly, patted Mattim on the shoulder, and scolded seriously.
"Hush! Mattim, don't be disrespectful to Father Faria! He is a priest from the Monastery of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. He is different from those guys with no background... He can speak in the Lisbon church!...
"
"..."
"No matter what, don't offend the priest in the camp! You are absolutely not allowed to touch the natives and villages where the priest preaches! ... If you want to be happy, I will take you out to sea next time to find happiness far away from those native villages... I heard it
without?!"
"Yes...it's up to you, boss!..."
"Um!"
After hearing Mattim's promise, Bruno nodded. Then, he took the bowl of fish soup that Sushu carefully served, finished it in two bites, and then motioned for another bowl. And this bowl of fish
Bruno didn't eat the soup, he just held it in his hand with a smile and walked towards the wooden church of Holy Cross.