Guo Yi and others decided that now that they have established a firm foothold in Guangzhou, it would be expedient to exchange the loot in stock in Lingao for cash. If they can get an order for shochu, they can use it to prepare waste for the upcoming Leizhou sugarcane pressing season.
Found a huge way out.
The Executive Committee agreed to this new pioneering action. Considering that entering Macau by land requires passing through the border gate, the relationship between the Ming government and Portugal and Macao had begun to deteriorate at that time. In order to avoid unnecessary trouble, it decided to take the simplest method and enter by sea.
Macau Port.
The Portuguese regard Macau as the pearl of East Asian trade and are extremely wary of foreigners, but they welcome Chinese traders. This is a favorable condition for entering Macau. The Executive Committee also hopes to establish a trading house in Macau if possible.
Export directly to overseas without passing through Guangzhou.
Macau in 1629 was the most prosperous era in the history of Macau's trade. The Grand Triangle Trade centered on Macau was the most profitable route in international trade at that time, and travelers who traveled through it naturally had attempts to get involved.
The Guangzhou dispatch station has obtained a 40-ton single-masted ship allocated by the executive committee for the dispatch station to use. The ship was seized from Baitu and purchased locally in Hainan, so that the executive committee already has a considerable force in its hands.
A large fleet - the sailors on board are recruited from local Guangzhou and are familiar with the hydrological conditions of the Pearl River Estuary.
However, both Guo Yi and Ma Qianxu believed that this trip to Macau was the first time to explore the road, and it was best not to involve the newly hired locals. So they still sent a 70-ton brig from Lingao.
When the "Tongji" went, the number of people at the Guangzhou dispatch station was limited, and only one Zhang Xin actually went there - he once worked in a small shipyard on the shores of Dongting Lake, and wanted to see Macao's shipbuilding and ship repair capabilities, and also observe Macao.
The condition of Portuguese ships.
The rest of the staff were drawn from Lingao's traveling crowd. As soon as the news came out, many people who had nothing to do wanted to go to Macau to broaden their horizons - in fact, most of them wanted to eat meat. As for the reasons for requesting to participate, there were also various reasons.
Naturally, business trips, which are common reasons for going abroad in this time and space, cannot pass the review of the Executive Committee, but everyone has their own tricks: for example, the Ministry of Industry proposed to inspect the industrial technology level of Europe; the Ministry of Agriculture said that it needs to know the local
Have agricultural products from Europe and America been introduced? The financial department proposed to conduct an investigation of foreign currency systems. As for the reason of Bai Duolu of the Wenyin Society, it is even more shocking - "I am a Catholic, and going to Macau will help
"Communicate with the local Portuguese"... In the end, the inspection group actually expanded to more than thirty people, while originally only a dozen people, including sailors, were needed. Those who were approved were naturally overjoyed and stuffed various items into their bags.
All kinds of modern gadgets, ready to go to Macau. European sailors used glass beads to seduce native women in Africa and America. There were complaints about not getting the "Macau Tour" place, so the heads of the department naturally wanted to appease them and make wishes.
.There is no need to mention the turmoil in it again and again.
The business inspection team to Macau was led by Wen Desi, and was accompanied by Diana Mendoza as a translator. Zhou Weisen also followed on the pretext of taking care of his family. It would be difficult if this big foreign horse lost himself in front of the foreign compatriots and ran away.
Already.
The Tongji loaded various cargo samples in Guangzhou and took Zhang Xin on board. Shopkeeper Shen heard that Mr. Zhang’s family was going to Macau and originally planned to introduce a general manager to go with him, but Guo Yi was deeply afraid of his strange appearance. The group of people did not agree when no one found out. Shen Fan wrote a letter and introduced that he had a client who opened a silk and satin shop in Macau and spoke the Banyi language. If you need any help, you can go to him for help.
Macau is very close to Guangzhou. Strictly speaking, Macau and Hong Kong can be regarded as the outer ports of Guangzhou. Its jurisdiction belongs to Xiangshan County. The passengers on each boat can almost remember the history of the Portuguese settling in Macau. Some people We also visited there in this time and space. Everyone is very interested in what Macau in this time and space is like.
After the boat left the Pearl River Estuary and entered the open sea, Mond discovered Macau. Everyone looked into the distance and saw that it was a land-connected island in the sea. The island was connected to the mainland by a narrow strip of land, shaped like a lotus. Macau's The area is very small, modern Macao is only 16 square kilometers. At this time, Macao has not expanded its territory, but it is "a city built on the mountains and a vast area of four to five miles."
On the stem of the lotus, there is a city gate building, which is the gate. When going to Macau from the mainland, you must pass through this gate. In theory, passing the gate is equivalent to crossing the border. In fact, during the Ming and Qing dynasties The government has judicial power and administrative jurisdiction over Macau. However, the Portuguese in Macau have been practicing autonomy for a long time, and the Chinese government has rarely interfered. Macau would not truly break away from the jurisdiction of the Chinese government until 1842.
Macau has two inner and outer bays. Mond and others steered the boat towards the inner bay. Looking from the boat, the entire Macau was already visible. This city has been around since 1583, when the Portuguese were officially allowed to live here. For half a century, with the support of high trade profits, the city has been built on a large scale. Tall Western-style city walls surround the city, and forts at various key points are very conspicuous. The British and the Dutch have repeatedly tried to capture Macau, and the Portuguese have The Macau authorities paid great attention to the fortification of the city. Before 1623, all major forts in Macau had been completed.
Obviously, the Portuguese and Macao authorities did not pay attention to Chinese ships. They entered and exited the bay at will, and there was no obstruction or inspection. The "Tongji" easily entered the port in the inner bay. There were several Portuguese ships moored in the entire inner bay, and two large ships towered into the bay. Yun's mast left a deep impression on everyone. According to Wen Desi's estimate, the ship weighed more than 1,500 tons, which was quite spectacular among wooden ships. This should be the large ship used by Portuguese merchants to run the triangular trade route. .As for the various small and medium-sized wooden boats in China, there are countless in the bay. Most of them are merchant ships that traffic goods from Guangdong and Fujian.
Bai Duolu, who used the excuse of being a Catholic to sneak into the inspection group, followed everyone ashore. I don't know how the foreign woman brought by Mr. Wen negotiated with the Portuguese. Everyone got ashore smoothly. Bai Duolu's English Not bad, but English and Chinese are as ineffective here and now. As everyone walks on the streets of this tiny place, their ears are filled with the chirping of birds, and a sense of confusion arises in their hearts.
The urban layout of Macau is completely different from that of traditional Chinese cities. It has the flavor of a small Spanish town, with neat streets. The whole city is not big, with a cross street as the core of the city. There is a tall cross at the intersection of the cross street. The buildings along the street
Most of them are small Iberian-style buildings, with a porch on the ground floor. The walls are painted white. From the street, you can see that the windows along the street have shutters closed. Some people thought of playing guitar under the windows. Mendoza
The lady told Mr. Wen in English that this place was very similar to some small inland towns in Venezuela. Mr. Wen thought this was not surprising—both were typical Iberian colonial cities.
As for the pedestrians on the street, it has the feel of a colonial city: Portuguese, Chinese, blacks and mixed-race people of the period are all there, and there are actually many Japanese, most of them wearing the uniforms of Portuguese servants running around.
——The Portuguese, Spaniards, and Dutch employed Japanese as servants, craftsmen, sailors, and soldiers throughout East and Southeast Asia. There were also some dark-skinned, curly-haired characters who looked like Asan. They were mean-looking, wretched Southeast Asian natives.
There were a lot of people. The streets were bustling and lively: nobles on horses, sitting in sedans carried by two people, ladies wearing veils and sara gauze, followed by black slaves holding umbrellas.
Even in the colonies thousands of miles away from the motherland, they still maintain their original style. As for sailors of various colors and ragged clothes, they are naturally a scene on the streets. They are all drunk and staggering around in the streets. Those who sit in front of the houses of wealthy families
A servant wearing a livery and carrying a cane will give a drunk guy a hard slap if he sees him trying to break in.
At this time, the population of Macau also increased greatly. The permanent Portuguese population, including their black slaves, was about a thousand people, and there were also local Chinese who were not included in the statistics. In addition, there were also people who stayed for a short time due to trade or as sailors.
There are also many Indians and Malays.
Everyone walked along the street and looked around, but they never found the legendary "tavern" with the waitress of Dayangma. So Bai Duolu suggested to see what the famous Dasanba church looked like before it burned down, and everyone agreed.
When I touched the original site based on a rough impression, I realized that there was a lot of construction going on here - it turned out that the big Sanba church, St. Paul's Church, was still under construction. The ground was full of stones and wood, but the craftsmen were all Japanese.
I found someone who could speak Japanese to inquire about it. It turned out that the construction of this church started in 1612. Everyone thought that the efficiency was really low - after seventeen years of construction, the church was still in an unfinished state. I didn't know.
What have these Japanese people been doing in the past seventeen years?
Bai Duolu used his status as a Catholic to quickly get some useful information from the Japanese - most of these people were Chechidan, and working here was both a living and a contribution. The Japanese felt that Bai Duolu was
A Chinese church member was quite enthusiastic. After reading a few verses from the Bible together in halting Latin, the Japanese craftsman talked about many local conditions.
It turns out that the great triangular trade that once made Macau prosperous has been cut off. According to the Japanese, because the ships of the Arima clan had a fierce conflict with the Portuguese when they passed through Macau in 1608, Andrew, who was the governor of Macau at the time,
Lieutenant Pessoa suppressed the rioting crew on the Japanese ship, killed many people, and executed the leader. Only with the intercession of the Bishop of Macau did he spare the lives of 15 prisoners.
When Andre Pessoa went to Japan for trade in 1610, he suffered fierce revenge from the Arima domain. The regular ship was besieged by 4,000 people. Finally, in desperation, Andre Pessoa ignited the gunpowder magazine on the ship.
Trade between the Portuguese and Japan was interrupted.