Marin set off this time, bringing a total of 10 250-class armed merchant ships. However, he did not take the North Atlantic route to the Americas, but first went south along the west coast of France.

The reason why this is so is because Marin doesn't want others to know that he took the Pacific route to Daming. Because, at this time, the Europeans did not know about the existence of the Pacific Ocean.

In fact, it is nothing to let other countries know about the Pacific. But the problem is that if European navigators knew about the existence of the Pacific Ocean and knew that the earth was round, they would go on some kind of sailing expedition around the earth, like Magellan did.

They don't care what they do circumnavigating the world, but Marlin cares about them passing through the Americas. If those navigators had stumbled upon the riches of America, then Marin would not have thought of living in peace, and a bunch of people would have competed for the Americas.

Therefore, for the sake of secrecy, although Marin himself would take the Pacific route, he deliberately sent a fleet to go south along the west coast of Europe first, so that the Spaniards and Portuguese could see it, so that they would think that they were taking the eastern route. In fact, he took the Pacific route to the west.

This is probably the so-called "north and south", no, it should be called "east and west". It's just that it's wrong to go in the opposite direction, but it's right to go in the wrong direction.

With these 10 armed merchant ships as cover, others will not suspect that they are taking a different route. Then, there were no navigators interested in going west.

In order to brush up on his presence, Marin also deliberately stopped to visit Lisbon halfway. Sure enough, Marin was once again blamed by the Portuguese for supplying guns to the Kingdom of Malacca. But Marin explained it last time, and this time again.

The Portuguese were furious about the defeat in Malacca, especially Ricardo, who was directly responsible for the defeat, and gritted his teeth against Marin. However, Marin's explanation is also correct - we don't know that Portugal will attack Malacca in the future, can it be wrong to send guns in advance? What's more, when Columbus sent guns, Portugal didn't even know about the existence of the Kingdom of Malacca.

Therefore, the Portuguese hated Marin so much that they gritted their teeth, but there was nothing they could do. Marin looked guilty on the surface, but he smiled inwardly - I just like to see you want to kill me, but you can't do anything about me......

After bidding farewell to Lisbon, Marin's fleet continued south, reaching the Canary Islands in Spain, where it was replenished at La Palmas. In this way, Spain and Portugal are equivalent to witnessing Marin go south to the East by taking the eastern route.

But after leaving the Canary Islands, when the southbound fleet arrived near the Cape Verde Islands, Marin took out his binoculars and looked back and forth, and found that no Spanish or Portuguese fleets were nearby. So, he commanded two ships to break away from the convoy and follow the Atlantic North Equatorial Current all the way west, in the direction of Panama. As for the other eight ships, they continued south along the African coast and took the eastern route, first reaching the Strait of Malacca and then Taiwan Island......

Moreover, when Marin passed through Lisbon, he explained to the Portuguese side the purpose of the trip - East Fan Island. Moreover, Marin also made a special statement that he would visit and travel to the Ming Empire. In this way, it can be regarded as blocking the mouths of the Portuguese in advance.

According to the previous agreement signed in Rome, Marin's colonization was to Japan, the Ryukyu Kingdom, and Tofan Island east of the Ming Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty, on the other hand, was the scope of Portuguese colonization and trade. But the agreement does not say that Marin cannot buy goods from Daming from a third country, which is the biggest loophole in this agreement. Therefore, Marin first occupied Dongfan Island, and then took refuge in Daming, and used the name of Dongfan Island to buy Daming goods, and the Portuguese could not find fault with it. However, I was so angry that I vomited blood, and even wanted to do it, that's for sure.

Therefore, Marin still has to be ready for a naval battle. However, because Marin did not break the treaty, Portugal could not directly and completely go to war with Marin. Therefore, it is estimated that the two sides will fight a small-scale naval encounter to put pressure on Marin, and even force Marin not to take advantage of the loopholes in the treaty and give up the trade interests of the Ming Dynasty.

But because there is no defensible reason, the scale of this conflict is destined to be small, and it is impossible for Portugal to fight Marin with the strength of the whole country, and at most send a fleet to teach a lesson. As long as this fleet is defeated, the Portuguese will have nothing to do.

And even if the Portuguese are determined to die, Marin has a way. That is, to unite with the Spaniards and attack the Portuguese capital from land. At most, the two sides agreed to cede all of Portugal's overseas interests to Spain after the destruction of Portugal. For example, India's spice trade interests and African colonial rights. In this way, the Spaniards must be happy to cooperate.

But Marin would never do that unless he had to. Because, in doing so, it will only allow the Spaniards to dominate and finally threaten Marin's interests. It is actually a good thing that Portugal has Portugal at bay in Spain. The premise is that the Portuguese themselves do not want to destroy themselves by dying.

Portugal is a country with an extremely uneven balance of power, with a strong navy but an army of scum. Marin was confident that with only two legions, he would be able to destroy Portugal. But the premise is that there must be an excuse to send troops.

If Portugal had attacked them first out of anger, they would have a legitimate excuse to attack Portugal. After all, he did not violate the treaty, he just took advantage of the loopholes in the treaty. When the time comes, as long as he sends a large army through Spain, he can destroy Portugal and occupy it.

Of course, this is only the worst-case scenario, which is equivalent to a fish dying and the net is broken. Before the situation progresses, Marin will use this to threaten Portugal to stop. Otherwise, Portugal will be destroyed, and Spain will be the one who will really benefit. This is a typical "sandpiper and clam competing for fishermen's profits", and Marin is not so stupid.

……

Before separating from the main fleet, Marin repeatedly told the leader of the main fleet, Columbus Jr., not to stop at Calicut and Malacca, lest the secret of his absence be discovered.

But at the same time, the fleet would actually stop at a different port in India in order to quietly drop a group of spies. The task of these spies was to persuade the newly defeated Indian princes to send someone to the Kingdom of Malacca to warn them and inform the Kingdom of Malacca to transfer their property in advance.

As for the fleet led by Columbus the Younger, it would pass through the Strait of Malacca with great fanfare, but would not dock in Malacca. In this way, the suspicion of reporting to the Malacca people can be avoided.

Columbus the Younger, also known as Columbus's eldest son, Diego. Christopher Columbus, who was born in 1479, is now 30 years old. Columbus arranged for him to lead the team this time, in fact, to accumulate qualifications and merits for his son. Marin also agreed to let little Columbus lead the team on the merits of Columbus. In order to escort his son, Columbus sent all his cronies to his son so that he could successfully complete the mission.

In fact, after Columbus's careful teaching, Columbus Jr. had a very solid foundation of seafaring knowledge. The only thing missing is probably practical experience. And this time, it happened to be his chance to practice......