At the beach in the evening, under the cover of dense coconut trees, Yin Feng sat on the beach and looked at the boat not far from the shore.
On the boat, Mai Wan'er was neatly dressed. Her delicate and flexible body jumped into the sea with a "plop" and started diving.
The sea water slowly surged onto the beach, stirring up small waves on Yin Feng's feet. Yin Feng took a long breath of relaxation, and looked back at the maid Rui'er who was picking up shells on the beach...Zeng Jing's personal maid. She smiled and shouted: "Rui'er, be careful not to get your clothes wet. Otherwise, my wife will know that you came to the beach to play again as soon as you get back."
Rui'er didn't look back and was busy picking up shells. She kept saying: "I know. I know..."
Yin Feng smiled and turned back to look at the sea. It took a while. Yin Feng estimated that it took about four minutes before Wan'er emerged from the water. She twisted around and swam to the coast like a mermaid from the bottom of the sea. Yin Feng He stood up and walked over.
"That's right. Wan'er. The time to enter the water this time was a little longer than the last time."
Wan'er smiled shyly and responded to her husband's arrogance with charming eyes.
This rare leisure time was earned by Yin Feng because of his laziness. After all, Wan'er is a girl who grew up in the sea and is a natural diving expert. This time, Mai Wan'er also wants to get addicted to diving. Yin Feng also wants to They wanted to take a rest before the arrival of the Spaniards. So the two of them took only the maid Rui'er, personal guards Yan Siqi, Chen Zhongji and a few others to secretly come to this hidden little bay to have some fun.
Under the golden light of the setting sun, Yin Feng also jumped into the sea and swam awkwardly in the sea water. His swimming posture was as ugly as a toad. Wan'er and Rui'er watched on the beach and couldn't help but giggle.
There was a rustling sound among the thatch under the coconut forest on the seaside. A strong young man emerged from the grass. Rui'er was surprised. Although the girl was only sixteen years old, she had a small and exquisite figure and a loud voice. She yelled loudly: " Yan, you are seeking death. My second mother is still here."
Mai Wan'er hurriedly ran to hide behind a rock; she was still wearing a wet tight-fitting swimsuit, showing off her figure. In fact, before Yan Siqi had time to see anything, Rui'er had already rushed over and hit his chest with a pink fist. : "Go quickly, go quickly. You are going to die. Why is it so urgent? I don't know how to shout from a distance."
For Yan Siqi, who has been practicing martial arts for many years, the girl's fist was a little heavier than the itching. However, Yan Siqi did not dare to offend Rui'er. He lowered his head and shrank back; "Rui'er, neither am I..."
"It's not what." Rui'er looked at him angrily and pressed.
Yan Siqi blushed and did not dare to say anything. He begged for mercy: "Sister Rui'er, I really have something to ask the captain. Please be accommodating."
Rui'er's little nose straightened up. "Hmph." She said, "You idiot. Let me pass it on for you. What's the benefit? Look at Ji Zai. He gives things to that girl every day. You don't know how. Do you want to learn?"
Yan Siqi had a bitter smile on his face, but he was happy in his heart. He looked at Rui'er dully and smiled stupidly. Rui'er laughed secretly in her heart. On the surface, she said with a straight face: "Turn back. That... this is how the Guards train. Just say it."
Yan Siqi smiled bitterly and nodded. He turned around consciously: "That's what he said..."
"Don't peek." Rui'er warned her uneasily. She quickly ran to the beach and called Yin Feng ashore.
Yin Feng walked over, shaking his eyes. "Is it news about the Latin people? Or is it news about Macau?"
Yan Siqi turned his back to the beach and said loudly: "Inform the ship owner. Mr. Magaro has returned from Macau. I have urgent news to report to you."
Yin Feng was startled: "Logically speaking, Magaro is working in a Macau business office. He should not come back until June. Why is it so early? Could it be that something big really happened?" He thought for a moment and said, "I'll go right away. Company headquarters. Zhenquan. Go and call Lin Xiao and shopkeeper Zeng."
He shouted to the coconut forest not far away: "Ji Zai, stop talking about your Xilan. Hurry up and protect your wife and go home."
…
Magalo waited anxiously at the company headquarters. When he saw Yin Feng, Lin Xiao and others, he hurriedly greeted them. In his anxiety, he said in Portuguese: "The Spaniards arrived in Macau and reached an agreement with the Macau City Hall. To deal with our company."
Yin Feng was startled. He quickly asked everyone to enter his office, closed the door, and then frowned and asked: "What's going on? Don't we have a trade agreement with the Macau authorities? What is Mr. Bernardo doing?"
Magaro spread his hands: "Sir ship owner, this is another bad news I want to report; the Chinese company's business office in Macau has been sealed. The director of the business office, Mr. Bernardo, was arrested by the Inquisition and is now being held in the municipal government. Inside the jail."
Yin Feng stood up and translated Magaro's words to Lin Xiao and Zeng Jingshan. Now, the three people in the office; Yin Feng, Zeng Jingshan, and Lin Xiao all stood up. They all shouted in surprise: "What? .Mr. Bernardo has been arrested.”
"Yes. Including his brother and nephew, they were all arrested. I was loading and unloading goods at the port. I was notified by a friend, and then I was able to escape from Macau on a boat." Magaro continued: "Macau originally had no The black-robed priests of the Inquisition were sent by the Goa Inquisition; it is said that all the new Christians in Goa were arrested by the Inquisition."
Obviously, this is another religious and racial persecution by the Portuguese against the "New Christians" and the Jews. Historically, the early seventeenth century was the golden age for the Jews and "New Christians" to do business in various countries around the world. However. Europeans' various racial and religious persecutions of Jews have never stopped. It's just on a small scale. However, because Bernardo is an important shareholder of the Chinese Company, and he is also responsible for the Chinese Company's commercial office in Macau. . So this persecution involves China United Company.
At this moment, the naval commander Mai Dahai sent someone to report: The second war fleet encountered Spanish warships on the sea near Langqiao on the Hengchun Peninsula. There were two Macau Franco aircraft behind the Spanish. People's sailboats. They say they are messengers of peace and demand entry into Taiwan Port.
Yin Feng looked at the report. He tried his best to search for historical records in his mind. But he couldn't remember any case of the Spanish and Portuguese cooperating with each other in the Far East. He intervened to change history. As a result, the changed history became uncontrollable. . He sighed and asked Magaro: "Why is it so sudden? Is there no warning from me beforehand?"
Magaro took out a document from his arms and handed it to Yin Feng: "This is the letter Mr. Bernardo gave me the day before he was arrested. Ask me to give it to you personally."
Yin Feng took a look at the letter and found that Bernardo had been aware of this persecution in advance. Due to his embarrassing identity as a "new Christian" and the accumulation of historical experience of nearly a thousand years of persecution of Jews in Europe, Bernardo was Before the arrival of the people of the Inquisition, they had already felt the imminent danger. This was a persecution against Jewish businessmen, and also against the Chinese United Company, and representatives of Chinese businessmen. This was a persecution that was mixed with religious, racial, economic, and political reasons. persecution:
Due to the emergence of the China Company, Taiwan Port is located halfway from Macau to Nagasaki, Japan. Because Taiwan Port is close to Jiangnan, the origin of silk, and has businessmen from Jiangsu and Zhejiang as shareholders, it is the most convenient and largest transit port along the coast of China. China United The company's ships almost monopolized the silk trade to Japan.
Before the emergence of the Chinese Company, the Sino-Japanese trade fleet in Macao shipped 5,000 to 6,000 quintals of silk products to Japan every year. It was the main transit port for Japan to obtain Chinese silk. The profits gained every year made the Portuguese in Macao extremely rich. And now, in just two years, the silk trade in Macau and Japan has dropped to a level of only 1,000 dans. Although some Portuguese businessmen in Macau have participated in the trade of Chinese companies and have made a lot of profits, the customs revenue of the Macau City Hall It fell sharply. This made the Macau authorities very angry. But after all, Macau is a free city where Portuguese merchants live. Anyone is legally allowed to trade here.
Moreover, the Chinese company has Portuguese businessmen as shareholders. It is a legal business organization registered with the Macau City Hall. It cannot be dismissed without legal and legitimate reasons. Officials of the Royal Court of Macau discovered that the Portuguese businessman had invested in the Chinese company. Most of them were New Christians. This led to the idea of bringing in the Inquisition and using the power of the Catholic Church to deal with this company that was an alliance between New Christians and the Chinese.
When Bernardo wrote this letter, he actually already knew the news that the priests of the Inquisition had arrived through his friends in the City Council Council. It is very likely that he was already planning to leave Macau, but he just didn't have time.
Yin Feng understood. This time the Spaniards came to Taiwan. The Portuguese in Macau should also be secretly promoting it. So the two families would come to Taiwan together. The Macau people probably didn't want to break up with the Chinese businessmen, so they pushed the Spaniards to the front. By then Negotiate with the Spanish to your advantage.
Yin Feng gave Bernardo's letter to Zeng Jingshan and Lin Xiao. They didn't understand Portuguese and asked eagerly: "What's going on?"
Yin Feng explained the situation mentioned in the letter. Both of them looked a bit unhappy. Lin Xiao murmured: "Now we are in trouble. The Falang people and the Qianla people have joined forces..."
"Don't worry. This is a temporary alliance. The fundamental interests of the two families are in conflict with each other." Yin Feng said: "Don't worry too much about the two families joining forces. Both families are businessmen. We can differentiate and induce them. But Bell Mr. Nadeau. We have to find a way to save him."
He thought for a while and said to Lin Xiao: "Brother Guangzhuang, you activate the security department and the military intelligence department's inside line in Macau to investigate the situation and report back quickly. At the same time, go and ask Colonel Coutre and Luo Aquan to come. Luo Aquan has been active in the Dawu Mountain area recently. .You send someone to find him. The sooner the better."
Yin Feng stood up and sneered: "Now, let's go meet the Qian Guanla people."
Of course, the senior leaders of the China Company did not come out to greet the Spaniards. They just stood far away on the Dajuan Fort in the northwest of the port, silently observing the Spanish warships sailing into the port, followed by the battleship Maria. Two schooners flying Portuguese flags.
The Dajuan Fort was built under the leadership of Yin Feng. It is located in the southwest corner of Taiwan's port city. It was originally called the West Fort. The fort just guards the entrance to the port. It is about six feet high and more than 20 meters high. The design structure adopts a French-style multi-bastion fort. The principle is that it is a fortress designed entirely for the Fire Age. The castle is built with a mixture of stone and blue bricks. The adhesive is traditional Chinese egg rice cakes or something... There is no way. The Chinese company is not yet capable of producing cement.
The fort is equipped with two heavy cannons that fire 36-pound shells, four 24-pound cannons, and four bronze cannons that fire eight-pound and four-pound shells. The fort guards stationed here are infantry guards. A team of 350 soldiers, fully equipped with firearms.
A fort with such a structure and equipment is a very powerful and solid military fortress even in Europe. Therefore, when all members of the leadership of the China Company were observing the Spanish warships on the fort, the Spanish envoy Fernando and Father Catalina were also attending the ceremony. They were surprised by the style of the fort. Of course, what also surprised them was the prosperous Taiwan Port that appeared out of thin air.