In the last years of the fifteenth century, if there was one topic of interest in Iberia, it was about the new course opened by Columbus and the astonishing wealth he brought with him.

According to Columbus, after a long journey of a month and a half in the Atlantic, he reached the west coast of India in mid-October 1492, and after more than two expeditions, he returned to the port of departure at the end of 1492 with a full load of Paslow.

Then, in the next two expeditions, he went farther and newer, and these voyages allowed Columbus to obtain not only honors but also considerable benefits.

During that time, legends of Columbus were circulating not only in Iberia, but also in many cities along the Mediterranean coast, but despite this, there was a certain fear that his travel would take him deep into the unknown depths of the ocean, and many had asserted that even if the new route discovered by Columbus was significant, it was too dangerous to pose much of a threat to Mediterranean trade.

This seemed to be a relief to many merchants and chambers of commerce who relied on Mediterranean trade, and it was, and while Columbus's discovery was exciting, it was more of a curiosity, but da Gama's actions really scared many.

From Africa along the coastline south, and then south, over the hottest regions and the two monsoon regions, and then turning east at the southernmost tip of Africa, da Gama finally discovered a route to the East that had never been discovered before, and because this route was always based on the continental coast, it was obviously safer than Columbus's, and easier to trade with the countries and ports along the way, and thus established trading posts in order to monopolize the market to the spice lands of the East.

After the news broke, everyone finally panicked, whether it was the Venetian merchants or the pirates from the eastern shore of the Mediterranean, they realized that with the opening of new routes, their profits would inevitably be reduced, and if this continued, the entire Mediterranean trade circle, which was considered the Golden Triangle, might be in danger of decaying.

And in Portugal, countless people are running to tell each other that the opportunity to make a fortune has finally arrived, and the new route means more opportunities and wealth, which also makes the Portuguese seem to see greater hope.

Vasco da Gama became a hero and legend of Portugal, and it was even suggested that he should be given the title of Vice-King of India, although this suggestion was eventually vaguely prevaricated by Manuel I, but he was given the title of Commander of the Indian and Eastern Navies.

It's just that Alexander doesn't care about that, he is very aware of Da Gama's every move now, in fact, Tiego has played the role of a good spy, and his actions to bribe his family before da Gama returns have allowed Tiego to get enough rewards from da Gama before everyone else, including a secret agreement with da Gama in private.

The agreement was signed entirely in Vasco da Gama's personal name, and after receiving a promise to use the lucrative profits from the sugar plantations in Crete as collateral, da Gama agreed to form an organization with Tiego called the 'Maritime Western India Trading Company', or the 'West India Company' for short.

It's just that now the company is not only small, but because da Gama has not sailed again and has not started any business, but the name alone is enough to attract too many people who are willing to put their money into this company that clearly has extraordinary prospects.

Among them were many ministers and nobles of the Portuguese court.

The presence of the Archbishop of Bruce changed Alexander's audience a little, and immediately after his arrival, the archbishop praised the Vatican's care and enthusiasm for the holy miracles again and again with enthusiastic rhetoric, and at the same time he tried his best to show Alexander how pious and simple the believers of his diocese were, so that they were completely unaware of the achievements they have achieved today, simply because the miracles have been inspiring them with all kinds of grace from God.

"They only act in the most primitive faith of their hearts, and some people do not even know which page of the Bible they memorize every day because they are illiterate, but they know that they are doing the right thing, because they know better than anyone else what they are doing, and this is the result of God's grace silently leading them, so it is no problem for us to be here to discuss with enthusiasm whether a certain miracle should be recognized, but this does not affect the devotion of the faithful in this parish." The archbishop's voice was loud and powerful, and his tone was full of toughness, and even the queen could still see that her face was blue and did not care, even though half of her face was obscured by a mask, "So we should be glad for the sake of the whole diocese, and not just for the discovery of one or two holy miracles, and I am sure that the Duke will support this opinion of mine." ”

Alexander did not remember his final answer to the archbishop's almost qualitative words, for before he could speak, Queen Mary could not hold back, and stood up and walked away.

The archbishop remained calm even in this situation, and continued to speak generously and nodded to Manuel I, and after receiving a return from the king, the archbishop took his leave.

The summoning could no longer go on, and Alexander didn't expect that Archbishop Brozong would be so straightforward and wrestle with the queen in the court, which even made him wonder if he should change some of his previous plans, because although he fully considered Maria's unpopularity in the Portuguese court, he really didn't expect the situation to develop to this point.

But thinking about Manuel's decisions in history, which seemed to be made in complete disregard of the actual conditions of Portugal, Alexander began to think that perhaps there was a big reason for Maria.

Maria wanted Portugal to be a loyal ally of her mother country, which was not wrong, but perhaps it was really because of her limited ability, what she ended up doing was unbelievable again and again, and whether it was the Portuguese nobles or King Manuel himself, what kind of conflict had with Maria may be seen from the actions of Archbishop Bruo.

Alexander returned to his lodgings to meet the eager gaze of James who was full of anticipation, looking at his expression as if waiting for good news, Alexander wanted to laugh, but he couldn't bear to let James wait, so he simply told him the dramatic end of the summons.

James's expression was distracted for a moment, and he asked a few questions as if he didn't understand for a while, and when he was sure that what he was beginning to hear was correct, James's face suddenly fell.

"There's no way to live, my lord," James said as his chubby body dangled in front of Alexander, muttering over and over again, "Are you saying that you didn't have time to move the king, what then, if then we don't have the right to declare the ownership of some places after occupying them, or we can just declare them to belong to the Duchy of Romagna?" After asking this question, James looked at Alexander with a look of hope, and when he saw the duke shaking his head silently, his expression darkened again: "There is really no way to live, and not being able to declare the ownership of those occupied territories is like a ship not anchoring, even if you get more wealth at that time, it is useless, because as long as you leave, anyone can legally snatch those places and claim them to be their own." ”

James said and looked at Alexander again, and after making sure that he really couldn't speak, he could only stop shouting "There is no way to live", but sat down helplessly and looked at Alexander: "Your Excellency, you must have a way, right, I know that nothing has ever stumped you, so you must give me an idea, after all, you have a big share of this business." ”

Looking at James's depressed appearance, Alexander smiled lightly, he knew that James was largely acting, this early 16th century "Captain Jack Sparrow" was actually really good at sea, by robbing merchant ships everywhere and raiding ports, his pirate business even did what was later known as the Turtle Islands, as for a volcanic island isolated off the South Atlantic Ocean that he described in his nautical diary, Alexander was suspicious that this might be the final fate of the future Corsicans.

This reminded him of his uncle, who was still imprisoned on Elba Island, and thought that if Caesar still refused to be honest, he might be able to put him on that volcanic island in the South Atlantic Ocean to reflect on the rest of his life.

"If you want to listen to my advice, I think you should pay a visit to Vasco da Gama at this time, I think he should be of some help to you, and don't forget that you are already a great navigator now." Alexander pondered, he didn't expect things to go so smoothly, he even thought that maybe he should secretly support James to operate in the south of the New World for a period of time and accumulate a certain amount of capital before opening a new route, but now it seems that many things are really beyond his expectations.

"A pirate, a pirate," James reminded Alexander weakly, and then whispered "There is no way to live." ”

The West India Company is located at the north end of Prince Enrique Avenue in Lisbon, and beyond that is the Plaza de Sainte's Fountains, where an ancient spring is said to have been discovered by the Goths when they founded the city, and where the first Gothic king who converted to Christ was baptized.

According to some legends, the spring died during the years of the Moorish occupation of Lisbon, but when the city was restored, the spring suddenly gushed again, causing everyone who saw it to cry out about the miracle, although others say that the actual situation was just that the Goths had blocked the spring with stones before they were evacuated.

The sign of the West India Company is facing the spring at the corner of the street, which, according to some Oriental Feng Shui, is a good sign for gathering wealth and water, but although it is not particular in Lisbon today, the West India Company has not yet opened for business, but this reputation has already been spread.

It's just that although there are many people visiting this company, most of them are not big people, or some inconspicuous little aristocrats, and some businessmen who are rich but not very remarkable.

These people tend to come and go in a hurry, and they always seem to have little actual business with the company, and if these people are not here to gossip, then they can be said to be more like a group of brokers who run errands for others.

And these people are indeed group brokers, and even the entire West India Company can be said to be a broker, or a shell company.

The company was owned by an old man named Fernando da Gama, uncle of the famous navigator da Gama, the eldest of the da Gama family, who had been in his old house in Sines, and after visiting him in Tiego, he now opened the West India Company on Prince Enrique Street in Lisbon.

Alexander's purpose was clear.

Ocean!

Ocean!

Or the ocean!!

The world of the future belongs to the sea, with such as Columbus, da Gama, Dias, and those explorers who are famous in the annals of history, new routes, new worlds, new civilizations, more and more new things will emerge in this era, which makes Alexander plan for his future at the same time, can not help but cast his eyes on the ocean again and again, to the unknown world.

Now that the era of the Great Voyage has begun, it must not be left behind at this time.

So he had sent Tiego to Iberia a few years earlier.

If he must face the challenges of the new era, then Alexander wants to hold the reins of the horse of destiny firmly by him, and not by others.

Fernando da Gama took some difficulty to bring his eyes to the beating flame and carefully looked at the document in front of him, this is a letter of transfer, the document clearly states that a certain nobleman is willing to mortgage part of his territory as the equity capital of the next voyage, and the risk is also voluntarily assumed, and in order to be able to get more dividends, the nobleman voluntarily recognizes that one-sixth of the income will be used as the company's secondary investment after receiving the dividend, and the nobleman has the right of first refusal, etc.

Old Fernando put away the transfer book very carefully, in a large cabinet on the wall not far from him, this kind of transfer book has been saved, but old Fernando does not feel that it is enough, in his opinion, those transfer letters are a clear price of the withdrawal order, at least no matter what the future business is, the West India Company is guaranteed to harvest in drought and flood.

The elder Fernando was pleased with his present life, as a descendant of a family of seafarers, he had always longed to sail the seas like those ancestors, but now that he was old, all his hopes were in his nephew, and his nephew Vasco did not disappoint him, he actually found a new route to the East.

The Vasco da Gama family was about to prosper, and everyone could see it, but the elder Fernando saw it farther away.

He was a little worried about the king, and according to some rumors he heard, Fernando Sr. thought that Manuel was not a very good person to get along with, and that his queen Maria was even more difficult, which made him a little worried.

The old man's suspicions proved to be unfounded, and although da Gama was generously given enough honor, Manuel also began to form an expeditionary fleet under the command of Cabral, and this fleet went to the East the following year.

This made Fernando Sr. even more interested, so when Tiego and Vasco da Gama discussed the formation of the West India Company, Fernando Sr. immediately supported it, and even offered to hang up the title of company representative.

"Wealth is only one's own if you put it in your own pocket," said Fernando the elder to his nephew, who thought that Vasco da Gama might be his teacher in sailing, but in life experience, "your uncle is still your uncle".

The crisp sound of the doorbell came from outside, and when the old Fernando went out, he saw a young man who looked to be in his early 20s standing on the steps of the entrance and looking inside, and when he saw the old Fernando, he immediately took off the flat hat of the student of the nautical office who looked a little funny with a pompom on his head, and then bowed to the old man.

"Hello, I'm delivering a letter for Lord Eliodore Don Antonio."

The young man looked enthusiastic, with a slight excitement in his expression, for his gaze kept glancing at the models of the sea-going ships placed on the wall panels, and the elder Fernando simply took the letter and pointed to it: "If you want to see it, I only have these models to recall." ”

The young man immediately thanked him and hurried to the wall, then sighed as he looked at the famous ships he recognized, and said their names.

Old Fernando smiled and began to read the letters, he had seen a lot of such young men, especially the students of the navigation office, all of whom seemed to be thinking about becoming captains or even naval commanders in the future, but no one knew how many of them would come back alive after their first voyage.

It was another letter of surrender, but because the owner was Eriodor Don Antonio, the head of the nautical office, the elder Fernando took it seriously.

The nautical office is one of the many legacies that Prince Enrique left to Portugal, and in addition to opening a path for Portugal to expand the country to dominate the seas for the next two centuries, Prince Enrique also established a professional nautical school to provide talent for the future maritime empire.

And the head of each nautical office was a nobleman with high power and deep trust by the king.

Another doorbell rang, and old Fernando looked up, and when he saw Tiego who had entered the door, he put down the papers in his hand, and then saw the other two people who followed, and the shrewd old man, although he had not yet seen them, had already guessed who they were.

"I've already read the documents you sent, young man," said old Fernando, to the student of the nautical office who had been circling the model ships, "I'll write you a reply, what's your name?" ”

"Fernand," replied the young man at once as he walked over "Fernand Magellan." ”

Hearing this name, Alexander, who had just sat down on the side, couldn't help but be stunned, and then looked at the young man with curiosity.