Smuggling Daming

Although the sun has not fully risen in the early morning, Nanyang Town is already very lively. The members of the chamber of commerce who get up early to go to work, the street vendors who sell breakfast, and the women who get up early to go to the vegetable market to buy vegetables are intertwined into an extremely lively scene. picture.With the increase in population, Nanyang Town has become more and more lively. I believe it will not be long before a small city will be formed here.

Zhou Zhong walked to the bustling street, looked at the passers-by on the street, and felt very satisfied, because he built the bustling town in front of him, and he believed that with the development of time, this Nanyang town would become more and more prosperous in the future. Slowly expanding to the entire Shuangyu Port, thus forming a huge port city.Thinking of this, Zhou Zhong couldn't help feeling very proud. He could build a prosperous city single-handedly, which he didn't even dare to think about in his previous life.

The reason why Zhou Zhong went out so early today is mainly to visit the Chilawa family, intending to learn about Portugal’s strength in India and other places from them. After all, the Portuguese will attack Malacca in a large scale next year, and Zhou Zhong will definitely not It will let them succeed, so now it is natural to know more about the other party's intelligence.

Speaking of which, after the arrival of European craftsmen like Chilawa, Zhou Zhong quickly classified them according to their talents. Among them, the craftsmen who built ships and knew how to cast cannons were naturally the first batch of people to be reused. With the addition of these people, the first It was the artillery workshop in charge of Priest Nader who made the breakthrough. Now they have found a way to improve the artillery, and even Priest Nader promised to produce a qualified artillery in three days.

Compared with the artillery workshop, although the shipbuilders headed by Chilawa joined the shipyard.However, shipbuilding is a systematic project, and they will definitely not be able to rely on them alone. Therefore, Chilawa is now familiarizing himself with the shipbuilding technology in the Central Plains. The ships are at least better than the Clark ships that are popular in Europe now.

Zhou Zhong had wanted to visit Chilawa's family a long time ago, but during this time Chilawa was running around designing a new ship and had no time at all. He didn't find time to see Zhou Zhong until this morning.In order not to delay Chilawa's time, Zhou Zhong came to visit early.

Going east along the lively streets of Nanyang Town, you will soon come to a relatively independent community, which is the residential area of ​​European craftsmen, and on the east side of this community, stands a tall building.This is a Catholic church built according to the design requirements of Father John and Priest Nader. Every Sunday, all European craftsmen will gather in the church to worship. At the beginning, it attracted a group of people to watch, but the days are long Yes, the people in the town are no stranger to it.

Zhou Zhong strolled to the residential area of ​​European craftsmen.Compared with the stench before, it is much cleaner now.At least there is no defecation on the road before, and the air is much fresher, but it is still impossible to enter the yards where the European craftsmen live. They are already sloppy, and there are no women in the house, so the yards are as dirty as they are .

Zhou Zhong walked along the road to a resident closest to the church in this residential area, which was the residence of the Chilawa family.Zhou Zhong stepped forward and knocked on the door, only to hear Shila's familiar voice coming from inside.Immediately after the door opened, Xila, who was wearing a light blue dress, was standing in front of the door, with an excited smile on her white and tender cheeks. The smell is still very pungent.

"Please come in, Mr. Zhou, my father is waiting for you, and Father John has already come!" Miss Xila was not surprised to see Zhou Zhong outside the door, but spoke to Zhou Zhong with a strange Chinese accent. She said hello, she is very dedicated to learning Chinese, and goes to the town to talk with others in Chinese every day. Although she made a lot of jokes, she has made rapid progress, and now she can communicate with Zhou Zhong normally.

Yesterday, Sheila knew that Zhou Zhong was going to talk to her father about something, so today she also got up early and dressed up. Since the last conversation, she found that Zhou Zhong was very knowledgeable, and learned from the people in the town , Zhou Zhong is a scholar of Daming, and his knowledge is very profound, so she really wants to find an opportunity to have a good conversation with Zhou Zhong, so that she can learn more about Daming.

"Miss Shila, you are so beautiful today, but you used too much face powder. We Da Ming think that a more elegant fragrance is more attractive, so Miss Shira can use less face powder in the future!" Zhou Zhong walked into the yard and smiled. He opened his mouth and said, if the woman in front of him was a Ming woman, what Zhou Zhong said would not only appear frivolous, but would also offend others. However, Miss Xila’s concept is different from that of a Daming woman, and she can directly point out her strengths and weaknesses. The other party will not mind.

Sure enough, when Miss Xila heard Zhou Zhong praised her beauty, she immediately showed a happy smile on her face. When she heard Zhou Zhong pointed out her shortcomings, she lowered her head and sniffed herself, and then said very puzzled. : "Is the smell of face powder really strong? Why didn't I smell it?"

Zhou Zhong smiled wryly when he heard this. Although Sheila had already started to take a bath, she had long been used to the strange smell from herself and others. It can be said that her nose had been smoked long ago, so naturally she couldn't smell the thorns on her body now. Nose of powdery smell.

Sheila is very smart. Seeing the wry smile on Zhou Zhong's face, she immediately understood something, and said with a smile, "I see. Thank you for your reminder, Mr. Zhou. I will pay attention to it in the future."

Sheila paused for a moment at this point, and then said with some distress: "Actually, I really want to learn how to make up with the women of Daming. In addition, I also know that most of the women of Daming know how to embroider and other female workers. I have always wanted to learn, but But I have never been able to find someone to teach me."

At this time, Zhou Zhong had already walked to the entrance of the main hall. After hearing Xila's distress, Zhou Zhong's heart moved, and he said with a smile: "Miss Xila, if you want to learn how to work as a maid and make up, you can go there in the future when you have time." At home, my wife and sister are at home, I will introduce you to them then, and then you can ask them about girls."

"Really, can I go to your house as a guest?" Sheila was also very pleasantly surprised when she heard this. At Zhou Zhong's age, his wife and sister must be his peers. When a Daming woman makes friends, she will definitely be able to better integrate into and understand Daming, which naturally makes Shila very happy.

"Of course, my wife and the others will definitely welcome you very much. I believe they will also be very interested in you if you can talk about European customs at that time!" Zhou Zhong said with a smile again. It's also boring at home, and it would be a good thing to have more new friends.

After receiving Zhou Zhong's affirmative answer, Sheila immediately ran away happily, saying that she wanted to prepare tea for him, while Zhou Zhong smiled, and then stepped into the living room, and sure enough, he saw Father John and Chilawa Sit there and chat.

Seeing Zhou Zhong coming in, Chilawa and the two stood up immediately, Zhou Zhong also had a few polite words with them, and then after Shila brought the tea, everyone sat down, and Zhou Zhong explained his purpose out.

Father John is a Spaniard. Portugal has just escaped Spanish rule. The relationship between the two countries has not been very friendly. Although religion has no national boundaries, priests have nationality.Chilawa is also not Portuguese. To be precise, he should be Roman, and he was persecuted by the Portuguese governor in India before, so he had to take his family into exile in Daming.Zhou Zhong also knew the identities and backgrounds of Father John and Chilawa, so he decided to ask them first.

Father John and Chilawa were not surprised when they heard Zhou Zhong inquired about the strength of the Portuguese. After all, in their view, Zhou Zhong was originally engaged in maritime trade. Now the Portuguese are coming aggressively, and they are about to invade Nanyang, the traditional power of Ming merchants, naturally threatened Zhou Zhong's interests. Now he wants to find out the strength of the Portuguese, which is also a very normal thing. Everything about it was said.

Through the joint explanation of Father John and Chilawa, Zhou Zhong finally learned that the Portuguese arrived in India about 12 years ago, that is, in 1498 AD, and the captain who led the Portuguese fleet was also a well-known figure. , this person is Vasco da Gama who can be compared with Columbus in the history of navigation.

When Vasco da Gama went through untold hardships to reach the west coast of India, India at that time was in a period of many states, and there were constant wars among the countries. Da Gama took advantage of the chaotic relationship in India and easily united a local and began to trade with India, so that when he returned to Portugal with Indian goods, the value of those goods was sixty times the total cost of his voyage.

It was also Da Gama's successful arrival in India this time, coupled with the sky-high rewards that stimulated the entire Kingdom of Portugal, so in 1500, Portugal once again sent a huge fleet with 1 soldiers on it. Soldiers accounted for one-thousandth of the total population of Portugal at that time, and there were also 0 warships. Their mission this time was no longer just trade, but to establish a trading base in India.

This huge Portuguese fleet was led by a nobleman. They followed the route discovered by Da Gama. Although they suffered some losses on the way, they finally arrived in India smoothly. In the small state of India at that time, Muslim businessmen dominated As a result, when the Portuguese arrived in India, they inevitably had religious and commercial conflicts with Muslim merchants, and finally a war broke out, but the result of the war was beyond everyone's expectations. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my biggest motivation.)