In the 13th year of the National Day of Japan (1608), the lord of the Sendai domain, Date Masamune, sent the "Keicho Envoy to Europe" represented by his retainer Hasekura Tsunenaga. It was different from the "Tensho Boys' Envoy" more than 20 years ago. That time the Japanese arrived in Lisbon on a Portuguese ship via the Asia-Indian Ocean-Africa-Atlantic-Europe route. This time Hasekura Tsunenaga and others took a large ship built by Japan after learning Western shipbuilding techniques - the British Miura The Western-style ship that Ying Ying helped build would first cross the Pacific and land in the Spanish colony of Mexico. It planned to travel overland to the east coast of America and then cross the Atlantic to reach Europe.
This mission to Europe was promoted by the Jesuit monk Dasmarinas. With the help of this "Qingchang Mission to Europe", Dasmarinas placed two people he trained in the mission team. The Japanese believer brought a letter to the "Vice King" of Mexico in the Spanish colony. This letter was written in the name of the new Governor of Manila, Silva. It mainly requested reinforcements from the Spanish colonial authorities to counterattack the Philippines. Take back Manila.
When he sneaked into Taiwan, he once wanted to get in touch with the unlucky Governor Silva. However, this unlucky man who rushed to Manila to take office ended up being captured by the Chinese and was imprisoned by Lin Xiao in a secret location of the Ministry of Security. Dasmari Nas is simply inaccessible.
In order to encourage Spain to send troops to counterattack Manila, he desperately forged Silva's name. He also gave a brief overview of his trip to Taiwan Island. He fabricated a lie that the defense of Taiwan Island was empty. He proposed that the troops could be divided into two groups to attack Taiwan at the same time. Island and Manila.
Monk Dasmarinas was the last male in his family. This missionary from a small aristocratic family was once a soldier. After being injured in a battle in France, he vowed to join the Jesuits. After the Manila Massacre, he In the second year (1604), he passed through the West Indies and Mexico and sailed across the Pacific Ocean in a carrack to Manila. Then he moved to Japan and preached within the sphere of influence of the Shimazu family of the Satsuma Domain.
He understood very well that Spain's colonial policy was to preserve the Americas with all its strength. As for the Philippines and other places in Asia, it was just additional income. When Spain and Portugal "merged", they had an agreement with the Portuguese Noble Council that all Asian affairs would belong to Portugal. Spain will not pay a penny to maintain it. Therefore, the Portuguese once complained: "The King of Spain regards Asia as his concubine. She can make a living for herself when necessary. But she does not care about the maintenance of America at any cost. Because He regards America as his lawful wife. He cherishes her in every possible way and is determined to protect her from infringement."
Therefore, in his letter to the "Vice King" of the Mexican colony, Dasmarinas deliberately lowered the strength of the Chinese by several levels and strongly encouraged him to send troops to restore the Philippine colony.
At this time, the Ye Hua fleet sent by Yin Feng was still anchored in Malacca. The Chinese merchant fleet that took the initiative to go to Europe for the first time encountered obstacles from the Portuguese here.
The Portuguese monopolized the Europe-Africa-Indian Ocean-Asia route in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. Later, although the monopoly was broken by the Dutch, the British, etc., the Portuguese still fantasized about high commodity profits and hoped that competitors would The less the better. Now the Chinese want to take the initiative to go to Europe and open the first-ever China-Europe commercial route. This will cause great damage to Portugal's commercial interests.
However, this is the fleet of the Chinese Company. It is the fleet of Portugal's largest commercial partner in East Asia. It is also a powerful armed force that has captured Macau. The Portuguese maritime empire has weakened. Even the country has been annexed by others. They are currently in East Asia. The region no longer has the power to resist the power of emerging Chinese companies.
The Portuguese, who were powerless but unwilling, tried their best to create trouble for the Chinese United Company and tried to prevent them from passing through the Strait of Malacca and continuing westward. First, they used the excuse that there were pirates in the Strait of Malacca to persuade the Chinese Company's fleet to return; and then They wanted to detain the merchant ship in the name of checking the goods. However, many of the goods carried by the Chinese company belonged to Portuguese merchants in Macau. Of course, these cargo owners did not want their goods to be damaged. They threatened the Malacca customs officials and told them to report to Lisbon;
Finally, the Portuguese found an excuse to detain the Portuguese guide of the fleet, and issued an order not to allow any Portuguese sailors to work for the Chinese fleet, in an attempt to make the Chinese lose their guide and retreat.
Zheng He passed through the Straits of Malacca many times during his voyages to the West. But now Chinese ships have not passed Malacca for almost 150 years. Chinese people have not been seen in the Indian Ocean for a long time. Zheng He's navigation data have all been burned by court officials. Even though There is also preservation. It is impossible for Yin Feng to get it from the inner court of the palace. If there is no navigation route map and a guide who is familiar with the sea route on the vast sea, it is very dangerous to find the route by yourself.
Malacca is a maritime transportation thoroughfare. Ships from various countries come and go. There is an endless flow of people. There are people from all countries. A large number of adventurers go from here to the Bay of Bengal, Southeast Asia and the Far East. It connects with Goa, Cochin and even Hormu By comparison, this is a crossroads. It is here that the Malay world interacts with the Indian world. This is where people from all over the world gather. There are Tamils, Javanese, Chinese on the southeast coast, Vietnamese and Portuguese. .
However, those who are familiar with the Indian Ocean-Africa-Europe route are mainly the Portuguese, Dutch, and British. Although there are some European businessmen and craftsmen in the Chinese company's fleet, they do not know navigation knowledge. They only have experience in sailing and have no sailing experience. knowledge.
After being stranded in Malacca for more than half a month, Ye Hua and Bernardo discussed it and decided to recruit guides and sailors from ships from various countries at the port.
The Portuguese will not come because there is a government ban. And the Dutch are not willing to be guides for the Chinese.
When the Dutch occupied Batavia, in order to break the commercial monopoly of the Chinese Company and obtain Chinese goods from other Chinese merchants, the Dutch East India Company ordered the Dutch merchant houses in Siam, Vietnam, and Japan to do everything possible to trade with Chinese merchants. At the same time, preferential policies were used to attract various Chinese businessmen to come to Batavia.
But at this time, the China United Company occupies a monopoly on China's southeastern coastal routes. It is also more powerful than other scattered traders and can purchase more and better goods from the source of goods. Therefore, those merchants who do not belong to the China Company system are zero The quality and quantity of goods shipped in bulk from China are far inferior to those of Chinese companies. The quality of Chinese goods shipped by merchants from various countries such as Banten, Kam Shek, Pattani and the Maluku Islands cannot be compared. People are satisfied. And they are all second-hand specialties. Long-distance transportation also greatly increases the cost. Therefore, the Dutch do not want the Chinese Company to get rid of the East India Company as an intermediary and open up China-Europe routes on their own. So the East India Company in Batavia A ban was also issued to Dutch business offices across Southeast Asia: "No Dutch are allowed to work for the Chinese company's fleet."
Ye Hua is a studious young Dan citizen. He is probably the one who studies the hardest among the Dan people brought by Yin Feng from Yazhou, Hainan Island. He can now talk to Bernardo in Portuguese.
He worriedly leaned against the mainmast of the Dragon and looked at the sailors who were practicing shooting and fighting on the deck.
Parked on the left side of Feilong is the newly renovated Xinxing. Behind it are the two three-masted blessing ships "Xinghai" and "Xingye" in the fleet. There are also five two-masted blessing ships. All Zhonghua The company's sailors are seizing the time to train, not only to maintain good physical fitness and skills, but also to kill the boring time docked in the port.
A young sailor ran from the quarter deck and said hurriedly: "Tell the captain. Mr. Bei is back."
Bernardo entered Ye Hua's captain's cabin with a smile on his face. This seemed to indicate that his several consecutive days of running around the Portuguese Governor's Palace were effective.
Ye Hua asked with a hint of doubt: "Mr. Bernardo, you have met the Portuguese Governor. We will go south to Sumatra and find new routes on our own. Have you told him about this?"
Bernardo smiled and said: "In the face of money, there is no door that cannot be opened. Now the Portuguese are asking for help from us. We don't have to explore the way ourselves."
"What do you mean? They want something from us." Ye Hua was confused.
"The Governor said that as long as we help transport a group of Portuguese soldiers and help them fight, they can provide us with sailors and guides and allow us to sail the ship all the way to Europe."
"We can't fight the Dutch. The Chinese Company signed an agreement with the Dutch." Ye Hua shook his head.
Bernardo smiled and opened a rough map of Asia on the table. Pointing to the Bay of Bengal, he said: "It's not to deal with the Dutch. It's to help the Portuguese deal with the rulers of Arakan. Oh, it's what you Chinese call Burma. That kingdom. Their army is besieging the Portuguese's Salian Castle. This castle is the most important stronghold for the Portuguese to control the Bay of Bengal."
Ye Hua shook his head hesitantly: "The ship owner said before we set sail. Try not to conflict with the countries we pass by..."
Bernardo spread his hands and said with a wry smile: "Salem in the Bay of Bengal is one of the most important strongholds of the Portuguese on our voyage to the Western Ocean. If the Sallyem Castle is occupied by the army of the King of Burma, it will also affect our voyage to the Western Ocean. It has a great impact.”
Barnardo looked at Ye Hua's expression and saw that he seemed to have been touched. He smiled and said: "Actually, as long as the Portuguese soldiers in Malacca are transported to Salim Castle, we can continue westward across the Indian Ocean. Time cannot be delayed any longer. .The northeast monsoon has been blowing for several months.”
Fort Santiago in Salian. It is a small castle in the Irrawaddy Delta: In 1570, Felipe de Brito-Nicot was a veteran Portuguese mercenary and adventurer. He was famous for his contribution to a separate state in Myanmar at that time. He served as a military advisor to the King of Bago. Due to his meritorious service, he was granted the Shalian area granted to him by the king.
De Brito thus entered the mainstream of Portuguese Asian society. He sought to establish relations with Goa, and then with Lisbon and Madrid.
At that time, with the exception of Malacca, Portuguese India did not have a single castle, customs or territory on the eastern coast of the Bay of Bengal. Trade in the Bay of Bengal had been growing rapidly in the 1570s and 1580s. New ports had emerged, such as Methuli Nandham. The trade network was completely outside the control of Portuguese India. Therefore, Salian was an ideal partner for Malacca: stationing a fleet at Salian and setting up a customs there would control the trade from Arakan to Tanintharyi. And surrounded all the ports in Burma and the northern part of the Malayan world. The governor of Goa, Ellis de Saldanha, was very appreciative of the achievements of this adventurer. De Brito was very successful in creating wealth. Not only He was appointed by the Portuguese royal family as the lifelong governor of Salian. His first generation descendants can still succeed; the governor of Goa also let De Brito marry his niece Doña Luisa de Saldanha. After marriage, he returned to Burma with a small fleet and a customs management system. In the early 17th century, the Dutch once attacked the Santiago Castle Port built by the Portuguese in Salian. They failed.