"Your language is hard to learn." Off the Atlantic coast of northern Portugal, the Portuguese navigator named Almeiro said smirkedly.

He was an experienced sailor who had traveled to Egypt, to the Caribbean, to the Senegal and of course to the East Bank, and lived there for three years, as an agent of a Portuguese trading house. Later, he co-owned with others, borrowed a large amount of money, and ran a business in machinery parts, steel bars, dyes, weapons and equipment on the east coast, and became a well-known businessman in the Porto area.

Unfortunately, his ship loaded with cargo sank near the port of Santa Cruz in the Canary Islands. Since Almeiro did not have expensive insurance for his ships and cargo, and had to pay compensation to the sailors and partners who died, he suddenly went bankrupt and had to sell his family's villa and little land to find a job in Porto.

Because of his vast sailing experience, he was hired by the management of the Porto marina as a navigator with a decent salary, although it did not allow Almeiro to make a fortune, but it was enough to support himself and his family. This time, the people on the east coast discussed with the Portuguese side to expand the port of Viana do do not pluck near the mouth of the Lima River, including large warehouses, batteries, lighthouses (the east bank is responsible for lamps), port roads, military barracks (special for the navy), hospitals, etc., with a total investment estimated at more than 100,000 yuan, which is a big investment in Portugal. At present, the preliminary decision is to jointly fund the two sides, and the east coasters will get the right to use it for a certain number of years, while the Portuguese can collect rent and import and export duties on civilian goods, which is a win-win situation.

King Pedro of Portugal (the younger brother of the former King Alfonso) was also more satisfied, and signed a document agreeing to the arrangement, although he did not seem to have much choice. You must know that the people on the east coast gave the Kingdom of Portugal preferential treatment in terms of commercial interests, that is, not only increased the import quota of some Portuguese goods, but also reduced its tariffs by a certain percentage, which is very sincere, so King Pedro actually has no choice, otherwise domestic merchants and nobles will not agree.

From this it can be seen that the interests of the current Kingdom of Portugal and the Eastern Republic are quite closely combined. They relied on the East Coast people in Macao to share a little of the Oriental Specialty Commodities, in India they relied on cooperation with the East Coast to deal with the Dutch, in East Africa they relied on trade with New China Island and South Africa to make profits, in Angola they exported black slaves to the East Coast State Farms and Forest Farms, and in Brazil they completely relied on import and export trade with the East Coast, and even in Portugal itself, their wine, cheese, horses and other commodities were also exported to the East Coast in large quantities, and at the same time they imported wheat from Egypt, Syria and Crimea.

Compared to the east coast, Portugal's other traditional ally, England, was much less so. Although England dumped a large amount of industrial goods into Portugal, although Portugal leased the port of Beira to England, and although they had formed an alliance against the Dutch on the island of Ceylon, in terms of the breadth and depth of cooperation, it was not at all at the level of the east coast, and it was indeed far from it. It is no wonder that the Portuguese Bragança family (royal family), which originally tried to strike a balance between the two countries, has become more and more inclined to the east coast side over the years, and its interests are indeed too entangled.

The ship that Almeiro boarded was bound for the outer harbor of Viana do Castelo, which was being expanded. The 650-ton flute-shaped ship, which belongs to the South China Sea Transport Company, is loaded with steel bars, hardware, machinery parts and other key export commodities from the east coast, and is intended to be transported to Viana do Castelo and sold to small local enterprises such as machining workshops and forging workshops. There is no doubt that these enterprises are serving this port, or more precisely, to serve the navy and army on the east coast that will be stationed in this port in the future, repairing ships, firearms, armor and other equipment, and at the same time supplying fresh water, draft animals and other civilian goods, which is a relatively important part of the supporting facilities.

"Language is a reflection of the identity and wisdom of each people, and a nation and its language often develop at the same time." The captain of the East Coast, who was smoking a pipe, said with a smile: "Actually, you are already very fluent in Chinese, but your tone is not quite right, and you can't recognize a few Chinese characters, which is a pity." ”

"Oh, I've tried to learn how to write Chinese characters, but it's too hard, your language is a different system entirely. When I was younger, I was sponsored by my uncle, who was a priest, and I studied for a few years. It only took me six months to be able to read and write Spanish, and then it took me more than a year to learn how to read and write Italian, which was not difficult because I had a good foundation, and they were part of the same alphabet system, but yours was a completely different system, and I couldn't get used to it, so I gave up. Almeiro shrugged his shoulders and said. Because of his experience, his ability to read and write government documents (which is important), and his ability to communicate with people on the east coast, he was hired by Viana do Castelo Customs from Porto to be the leader of the navigator here, which is considered a high promotion.

"Actually, it's just hard at first, and it's not difficult after you can write. And our words are very simple to compose, unlike you, where you have to create a new word for every new thing, right? Poor people, can you remember? The captain took a puff on his cigarette and shook his head.

"Well, that's really a problem." Almeiro reluctantly said: "But we also have advantages in the language, especially in terms of nautical language. Our language can be transformed into colorful double vowels and short trills like commands coming from the fog and waves of the sea. Portuguese is also a lyrical language, with the passion of the Franciscans, full of tenderness and compassion, and more affectionate signifiers and nicknames than any other language. For example, when we say 'children', we almost always say 'baby', for elderly women we often use 'old people', and we often call poor people who beg for alms 'poor miserable'. Uh, well, I almost went to be a 'poor wretched' for a while, but luckily I got a new job. ”

"Haha, that's an interesting statement." The captain was a little amused when he heard this, only to see him pat Almeiro on the shoulder and say: "We are almost close to the port, I have heard that there are many shoals here, and we now need 'a protective angel to show us the way' (this sentence is said by the captain in Portuguese, and the protective angel who guides the way also means 'good navigator' in Portuguese). ”

"With the blue sky above us and the sacred sea, with Almeiro here, we will arrive safely at port." After saying this, Almeiro stopped chatting, but went to the bridge and pointed out to the captain the correct waterway to enter the harbor. And he is indeed very experienced, plus the wind direction and waves are very face-saving, so the fully loaded flute-shaped transport ship quickly and safely sailed to the edge of the dock and successfully anchored.

Because the port was in the midst of an expansion project, the wharf was chaotic at this time, with merchant ships and warships parked together, and everywhere. The most striking of these is undoubtedly the three-deck battleship "Executive Committee," which has headed north from the eastern Cape Verde Islands and is currently undergoing repairs and maintenance in the harbor. This powerful warship is second to none even in Europe, and in Portugal, it stands out from the crowd, and there is no other warship in the whole country that can compare with it.

When the "Executive Committee" went north, there were several other "Tsurotto" class frigate gunboats and "Star" class light cruisers. None of these warships left the harbor, but quietly moored in the harbor, and although their gun windows were closed, any adult with a little common sense who counted the dense windows on the side would come to a shuddering conclusion: this is a mighty fleet!

The captain of the flute-shaped transport ship was also proud when he saw these native warships. He had dreamed of serving in the navy before, but unfortunately he never succeeded, and finally had to join the South China Sea Transportation Company, starting as an ordinary sailor and gradually climbing to the high position of captain. He was well aware that these silent warships played a crucial role in the fact that they were able to do business in Europe, selling large quantities of homegrown goods to Portugal, Spain, Italy, and the Ottoman Empire.

What is Influence? In Europe in this era, in addition to the hundreds of thousands of land lions in France, the powerful fleet that galloped the seas also had great influence! This influence is even deeper in many countries that rely on the sea for food and have a long history of overseas trade. The Kingdom of Portugal in front of us is a typical example, if it were not for the painful memories of the heavy damage to their navy in the Portuguese War, as well as the deepening economic tie-up in recent years, would the Kingdom of Portugal give up the Viana do Castelo base to the Republic of China to obtain a key supply and maintenance base in the Iberian Peninsula? Impossible!

The captain also vaguely heard that the home navy was continuing to deploy a large number of capital ships to the Cape Verde Islands and the Caribbean Sea, and then to Viana Castelo, which had been stationed there. What's more, some people even took the trouble to mention that at least four "Executive Committee"-class battleships might eventually come to Viana to anchor in Fort Viana in order to plan for possible future military operations and safeguard the interests of the Republic of China on the east coast of China.

As for what military operations will be in the future, the captain himself is not very sure. However, based on what he has seen and heard in the last year or two, he thinks that most of it is related to the Dutch. That is to say, he felt that the decision to intervene would probably be based on the situation in the Netherlands, that is, as soon as the Dutch merged with the British, then the fleet would immediately sail into the North Sea and intervene with arms. Moreover, in order to guarantee a timely decision, this decision to intervene should be delegated to the commander of the front line in order to react at the first opportunity.

The captain felt that if the intervention was to be successful, in addition to the large number of capital ships - at least 4 "executive" class battleships, 12 "Tsurotto" class frigates and a number of "star" class light cruisers - it would be better to be able to convince some important people in the Netherlands that it was in the interest of the United Provinces to intervene in the fleet of the East Coasters, so that they would not be taken advantage of by the British, and in this way to soften the Dutch sense of confrontation and keep their navy from confrontation with the East Coasters. Reduce your own stress. After all, no matter how proud the East Coast Navy is, it will not think that its task force has the strength to fight two, and at the same time against the Dutch Navy and the English Navy, that is not self-confidence, but arrogance! The people added up to hundreds of warships, and they gnawed the people on the east coast to death.

After the merchant ship was anchored, a group of Portuguese laborers in shabby clothes came to the shore. Carrying all kinds of rudimentary tools and wagons, they unloaded the cargo from the cabin one by one under the command of a pot-bellied dock officer. It is worth mentioning that the steam boom is used when unloading the cargo, which is imported from the east coast, which is expensive but very practical, and greatly improves the throughput efficiency of the terminal.

The steaming of the dock equipment, if the best done, is undoubtedly the British. Portugal, as the first European country to come into contact with the steam engine, fell last in this regard. The reason for this is related to its weak industrial base, that is, it is not that it does not want to do it, but it really can't do it, and in the end it can only buy steam engines produced by the British, which is also helpless.

Of course, now the ban on the East Coast steam engine has been conditionally lifted for some countries, and the Kingdom of Portugal is one of them. Last time, the Port of Lisbon imported eight sets of steam booms from Montenegro Industrial on the East Coast, setting a record for a single customer on the East Coast, which shows the closeness of the relationship between the two countries.

The entire unloading process was finally completed after two days. However, they can't leave it yet, because the Portuguese goods they buy (including goods from other countries that the Portuguese resell) are still on the way, so they have to wait for about a week. While they were snuggling up in the harbor in the sun, an East Coast liaison ship coming from the direction of Istanbul stopped to repair its mast that had been damaged in the storm.

In addition to carrying a batch of goods, the liaison ship also contained two diplomatic envoys and a large number of classified documents, all of which were to be delivered to Paris, France, and handed over to Lin Dingzhi, the ambassador on the east coast. The document contains a diplomatic instruction from Gao Wengang (still in the Ottoman Empire) to Lin Dingzhi, which asks him to meet with King Louis XIV of France as soon as possible, and try to persuade him not to attack the Low Places or the Holy Roman Empire – magical, right? The East Coast and the Ottomans were quasi-allies, but now they advised the French not to attack the HRE to relieve the Ottomans, and in fact the relationship between the states was so complicated - lest it lead to a major war that would engulf the entire continent.

Gawain didn't quite believe in being able to move Louis XIV, but this kind of thing always tries to know, what if it makes sense? Or even if it doesn't make sense in the end, it's always good to delay the time for someone to go to war, isn't it?