prosperous age

Chapter 1067 1158 Old Port

The guide ship gave up its position, and the Ming warships did not approach Malacca City, but continued to sail along the main channel.

"What's going on? López Sequeira, can you give me an explanation?"

the Governor asked curiously.

"Sorry, I can't answer."

Sequeira shook his head and smiled bitterly, "They don't need our guidance. Hey, are they going to go straight through the strait?"

At this time, in this golden waterway later known as the Strait of Malacca, more than a dozen Ming warships lined up in two columns and broke through the waves. They had no intention of docking and passed directly through the city.

Just as the Portuguese Governor breathed a sigh of relief and began to plan what to do after the Ming Navy passed through here and entered the Indian Ocean, a larger fleet gradually appeared in their eyes in the distance.

"Oh my God."

The fleet consisting of more than ten warships was already very large, but unexpectedly, there were even more warships behind them.

"What are the Ming people going to do? With so many warships, are they going to attack somewhere?"

In the eyes of the Portuguese and Spanish, a merchant fleet consists of only a few ships at most. If there are more than ten ships, they are generally hostile or are carrying out combat missions.

This was also the reason why he initially thought that the Ming warships appeared here for the Sultanate.

When the Portuguese occupied this place by force, the lord of Malacca City, Mahmud Shah, sent people to ask the Ming Dynasty for help.

However, although the Zhengde Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was angry, he did not send troops to help him restore his country, but only cut off the trade between the Ming Dynasty and the Portuguese.

Such behavior will certainly not make the Portuguese back down.

They have established trading posts in Mombasa to the west of the Indian Ocean and in Goa on the Indian Peninsula in the middle, and now control the city of Malacca, and their control covers the entire Indian Ocean.

That is to say, after that, the Ming Dynasty encountered the Japanese invasion, and the Portuguese in Haojing chose to help the Ming Dynasty resist the Japanese pirates, and the relationship between the two sides began to resume.

At this time, the Portuguese Governor had a serious look on his face and was holding a telescope to observe the movements of the Ming warships.

What he was most worried about was that the Ming fleet would suddenly turn around and rush towards Malacca City.

The squadron that had gone there earlier was the force going to blockade the strait at the western end.

Although the Ming warships were considered very backward in the eyes of the Portuguese, they had more ships than anyone else.

Moreover, the Portuguese had limited military forces in Malacca. Even if they passed the message on, by the time reinforcements from Goa, Calicut and other places arrived, their Malacca city would have probably been captured by the Ming people.

"I don't know, sir."

Lopez Sequeira is a Portuguese naval officer who has long served as the commander of the frigate fleet. Now in his middle age, he chooses to stay in Malacca and serve as the city defense commander here.

Well, this is the first crisis he faces after taking office. The huge Ming fleet is approaching.

"How many warships do we have?"

"Four. If they really want to attack here, we can only use the firepower of the artillery to contain them and let the warships rush out to Goa for reinforcements."

Lopez Sequeira responded immediately, "Everyone gather around the fort, where with our artillery we may be able to hold out for a while until reinforcements arrive."

Malacca was built along the coast, so naturally it does not have tall city walls. However, there are relatively solid bastions built near the mountaintop artillery to resist foreign invasion.

This is also a choice Portugal has no choice but to make due to its weak national strength.

He didn't believe that those low city walls could stop the aggressive Ming army.

Through his contact with Hao Jing, Lopez Sequeira knew that the Ming soldiers were already very skilled in using firearms and had considerable combat effectiveness.

These were the military skills developed through the years of suppressing the Japanese pirates. They also forced the Ming Empire, which had not paid much attention to them, to shift its attention to the sea again.

"Damn it, those dwarves are damned."

Thinking of this, Lopez Sequeira cursed in his heart.

According to the information he knew, if those dwarfs from Japan had not invaded the Ming Dynasty, perhaps their government would not have paid attention to the great treasure of the ocean, let alone formed such a huge fleet before their eyes.

Even if they once had such a fleet, it is now a thing of the past.

After the Portuguese entered the Indian Ocean, they also heard many times about the heroic deeds of the Ming Navy more than a hundred years ago. They said that the navy had sailed to some places in Africa, and such stories are still circulating there.

Even at first, when their Portuguese merchant ships arrived, they were mistaken by the locals for Ming ships.

However, what they worried about did not happen after all.

The warships of the Ming South China Sea Navy had no intention of approaching Malacca City, but continued along their route.

"Commander, news just came from the artillery that the Ming fleet has completed a 180-degree turn after sailing to the westernmost end of the city. It looks like they are going back here."

At this time, a messenger came in from outside and gave them a shocking news.

"Your Excellency the Governor, I need to go out and make some arrangements. Please draft a letter requesting assistance as soon as possible."

When Lopez Sequeira heard that the Ming fleet had returned, he felt even more ominous and spoke anxiously to the governor.

"it is good."

The Portuguese governor left the window and returned to his desk in the house. He quickly wrote several letters asking for help with a dip pen, signed his name, took out a seal from the drawer, stamped them, and handed them to Lopez Sequeira.

After Sequeira left, the governor returned to the window and continued to observe the movements of the Ming fleet through a telescope.

To the west, the Ming fleet that had previously passed through the city had appeared, and it was on the other side of the Ming main fleet.

The two fleets maintained a strict formation and moved towards each other without hindering each other at all.

"The Ming navy is well trained. Unless we gather all the warships in the Indian Ocean, we will not be able to win."

The Portuguese Governor muttered to himself.

"Someone, ask the lady to come over."

The governor shouted outside, and a servant responded and went to call for help.

Sequeira had already arranged for the fleet to break out and set up defenses around the fort, and he also had to ask his family to pack up and prepare to stay at the fort for a while.

This is the epitome of this era, where strength is everything.

When a large force with unknown intentions appears, it is most likely coming for occupation and plunder.

The Portuguese and Spanish have done this many times, so they naturally believe that the Ming people will do the same.

However, everything they did was in vain.

While the wife of the Governor General was still directing the Indian servants to pack up the family's belongings, the more than 200 large and small warships of the Ming Dynasty's South China Sea Navy had completed this military demonstration and orderly withdrew from the Strait of Malacca and headed towards the old port of Sumatra. Although the Strait of Malacca is just a small dot on the globe, it is still a long way away when you put it in front of you.

But the South China Sea Navy entered the Strait of Malacca and made a detour, which meant it traveled an extra six or seven hundred miles.

After crossing the strait, it is still seven or eight hundred miles to Jiugang. In other words, the navy had to travel more than a thousand miles to return to Jiugang.

Although it was a bit hard, Yu Dayou and Deng Zilong felt it was worth it.

Based on the chaotic streets in Malacca, the sailors fleeing in panic at the docks, and the increased number of manpower on the artillery batteries, they thought the Portuguese must have been frightened by them.

In fact, many people don’t know that the original Malacca City was a poor and backward coastal city. It was Parameswara, a fugitive prince of Srivijaya, who led about 3000 men here and established the Malacca Sultanate.

However, soon, Emperor Chengzu Zhu Di of the Ming Dynasty sent envoy Yin Qing to the local area, establishing direct contact between Malacca and the Ming Dynasty.

About two years later, Zheng He's fleet also visited the area. Some records show that Zheng He himself may have stayed there for 6 days.

Parameswara himself also formed a visiting delegation of up to 540 people and came to China in person with Zheng He's fleet to pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty.

Emperor Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty also officially appointed him as the King of Malacca. After that, Malacca officially became a tributary state of the Ming Dynasty, and thus broke free from the control of Siam.

Before that, facing the pressure from Siam, the Malacca Sultanate chose to pay tribute to Siam. It is said that it had to pay 40 taels of gold to Ayutthaya, Siam every year.

The intervention of Ming Dynasty forces allowed the Malacca Sultanate to break free from the control of Siam.

Later, when the Ming Dynasty learned that the Ayutthaya Dynasty of Siam and the Later Le Dynasty of Vietnam intended to invade Malacca, it sent envoys to warn them, helping Malacca avoid war.

So, in fact, a long time ago, Zheng He was very interested in the Malacca area. He did not allow other forces to interfere and even sent people to help build the city of Malacca.

However, later, because Zheng He sent troops to wipe out the pirates entrenched in the South China Sea and gained control of Jiugang, the Ming Dynasty took the opportunity to establish the Jiugang Xuanwei Office.

Although the Old Port Xuanwei Office is not within the Strait of Malacca, it is located only a few hundred miles from the eastern exit of the strait and can still effectively control the strait, so the Ming Dynasty's attention shifted from Malacca City to Old Port.

At this time, in a large house in the old port city, a group of Han people gathered here to discuss important matters.

The news that the Ming Dynasty's South China Sea Navy sent troops to Luzon to wipe out the Lin Feng pirate group and divide Luzon with the Spaniards in Luzon had long since spread here from Java Island.

At first, the Han people here still didn't believe it.

You should know that among the Han people who stayed here, only a very small number were those who stayed with Zheng He's voyage to the West. Most of them fled to Southeast Asia to make a living during the previous dynasty or after the Japanese invasion.

They have some idea of ​​what the Ming Dynasty court is like now.

Especially in the northwest of Jiugang, the remnants of the so-called Feilong Kingdom are still entrenched, and they also brought a lot of news from the Ming Dynasty.

"Everyone, tell me. The intelligence from Luzon said that the Ming navy went south this time to rebuild the Old Port Xuanwei Office. Although some people found that they went to Malacca first, there is no smoke without fire. Malacca was not the territory of the Ming Dynasty before.

I think this time, the Ming Dynasty will not use force to occupy that place.

Our Old Port, on the other hand, had envoys in the past, and it was a territory of the Ming Dynasty, so they should be here soon."

After the leader spoke, everyone else lowered their heads, remained silent, and no one knew what they were thinking.

Seeing that no one spoke, the man continued, "If the Ming court wants to restore the old port, we certainly cannot resist. We can only fully cooperate. What do you think?"

Although Old Port still nominally belonged to the Bachang Kingdom at this time, the influence of the Bachang Kingdom had been greatly weakened and it was busy dealing with the pressure from the Matalan nobles. Therefore, Old Port was actually still controlled by a dozen Han families in the house.

After all, the total population of Jiugang is only over 10,000 people, half of whom are Han people.

It is also because of this clan power that they are able to gain a foothold in the chaotic place of Nanyang.

Because they were mostly engaged in business, they also bought some firearms for self-protection during the trade with the barbarians.

"If the imperial court wants to come back, that would be the best. It's better than being controlled by other kingdoms."

“Not necessarily. The corrupt officials in the imperial court are even more ruthless than the sultans and kings in taking bribes.

When dealing with these people, we can sign a contract and pay some gold and silver on time, and they will leave us alone.

But if the imperial court manages this place."

"It's a pity that the Shi family has left. Otherwise, if they had asked for the imperial edict granted by Emperor Yongle, perhaps we could govern ourselves and pay tribute every year."

When it was mentioned that the Old Port would soon be under the management of the Ming Dynasty, the merchants were naturally worried and could not help but recall the situation described by their elders.

After a while of discussion, everyone finally reached a consensus.

"Well, after the Ming navy arrives, we will talk to them first to see what the court's rules are.

Let’s make it clear here that if the court wants to find someone from us to be an official here, everyone should know what to do.”

In fact, everyone knew that finding local people to be officials was just a temporary measure taken by the court to gain control of this place as quickly as possible.

Even if all the people here can read and write, they have never participated in the imperial examinations of the court and have no achievements, so the court will not recognize them.

“As for taxation, we need to clarify with the court how to collect taxes. If we can’t reach an agreement, we will contact those people in the north.

I think the Imperial Navy's arrival here might have been due to them."

At this point, the man looked at the people at the table and asked, "What do the bosses say?"

Sitting around a round table were seven old men, the patriarchs of the seven most powerful families in Old Port.

The other weaker ones can only sit in the back and have little say.

However, despite the differences in strength, everyone's goal is actually the same, which is to preserve the results of the family's hundreds of years of operation in Jiugang so that it will not be taken away by the Ming Dynasty court.

"It would be best if we could come to an agreement, and each family would pool their money and pay tribute to the imperial court every year, and the imperial court would protect the Old Port. This would also be a good thing for each of us.

There are more and more Yi people now, and I heard that there will be more Yi people coming here in the future.

I think everyone is well aware of their style of doing things.

When we asked everyone to trade before, we tried to buy some muskets and cannons. Wasn't it also for self-protection?

If the Ming Dynasty court does not enter Southeast Asia, it will naturally have to rely on ourselves.

But now that they are back, they are naturally the most powerful force here.

Perhaps relying on the power of the imperial court, our business will be even bigger.”

After that person finished speaking, someone else echoed: "It is natural for merchants to pay taxes. As long as it is reasonable, we are willing to bear it."

"Yes, as long as it can protect us and the tax is not too high, our Lin family has no objection."

"Master Zheng, please negotiate with the court on our behalf."