Chapter 29 Macao

From countless materials, Zhang Xuan carefully sorted out the ins and outs of Macao.

Later generations seem to have referred to Macau and Hong Kong together, but in fact there are many differences between Macau and Hong Kong. At least in Zhang Xuan's current view, Macao's plan cannot be described simply as a colony, and such a plan is incorrect.

At least judging from the information in Zhang Xuan's hands.

After Zhang Xuan captured Guangzhou, the nominal governance of Macao was still in the Ming court. Even the Ming Dynasty had at least 2,000 soldiers stationed near Macao.

Of course, the strength of the troops stationed in various places at the end of the Ming Dynasty, what is going on, and whether there is combat power. But this nominal existence still exists.

What caught Zhang Xuan's attention the most was the taxes levied by the Ming court from Macao.

In the fourteenth year of Jiajing, Qianshan Du commanded Huang Qing to pack up the bribes and set up the city department in Macao. and set a tax amount of 20,000 taels. Moreover, Macao also has to pay 500 taels of land rent to Xiangshan County every year, and the income on the surface alone is 20,500 taels.

Among them, the private involvement with the high-ranking officials and nobles in Guangzhou made Zhang Xuan can't help but think about it.

And the Portuguese ruling body in Macau, that is, the Macau City Council. Elections are held every three years. However, the chief of the Macau City Council came to govern Macao with the official position of Yimu granted by the Ming Dynasty.

And what kind of official position is Yimu. Zhang Xuan flipped through the pages and found no detailed annotations. can only hope for righteousness. It's probably the leader of the Yi people, I'm afraid it's not even a Xu official. It's just a title, and there were about 20,000 people in Macau during the Apocalypse.

Today, there are about 40,000 or 50,000 people.

That is, don't look at Macau itself as a city. His "city" is only the "city" of the wild market, the grass market, and the bazaar, and it is not the administrative unit as we understand it in later generations. In terms of political status, Macau may be a little special, but in essence it is not much different from a large town like Foshan.

It was around the time of the Opium War that Macao was really turned into a colony.

After these materials, Zhang Xuan actually found a letter, which was written by the new Yimu Sosa of Macau. Zhang Xuan seems that this letter may not have been written by the Portuguese, but he does not know which down-and-out literati ghostwriter.

In this letter, Zhang Xuan didn't see the slightest hint of exoticism. The whole text is written in Chinese. The gist is to the effect that Macau can maintain the status quo and lift the 13-year ban on Chongzhen.

Zhang Xuan was also confused about Chongzhen's thirteen-year ban for a while. After looking for a long time, I found a piece of paper, which was played by the Guangdong side and did not allow Macao Yi people to come to Guangzhou for trade. As for the cause and effect, he did not elaborate.

However, Zhang Xuan remembered what Xian Zijing said before, and said secretly in his heart: "It seems that the execution is not too good."

。 "At the very least, trade between Foshan and Macau, whether legal or illegal, has not been completely cut off last year.

But Xia Jun's military discipline and execution ability are much stronger than those of Daming. After Zhang Xuan occupied Guangzhou, he inherited many of the policies of the Ming Dynasty. Naturally, Macao felt that smuggling could not be done all of a sudden.

Whether it's for Macau's continued existence during the Bactria period, or simply for the sake of making a fortune. They all felt the need to communicate with Zhang Xuan.

Zhang Xuan was happy to see the difficulties of the Macao side and said: "Pass the order. Three days later, I will go to Macao for an inspection. Ordered the sailor to escort. ”

"Yes." Zheng Lian said.

When this order was heard, it was Macau that shook first.

Cathedral of Our Lady of the Nativity in Macau. Abbreviated as Cathedral.

This church has a story to tell.

This was the first large building built by the Portuguese after they occupied Macau, and it was not only a church, but also a fortress, and in the event of an emergency, the Portuguese retreated to the church as a last resort. It's like a castle tower in Japan.

Stone building with very solid facades. It also stimulated the nerves of the magistrates of the Ming Dynasty. For this church, the Ming Dynasty negotiated with the Macao side several times. However, the attitude of the Macao side is resolute. There were many magistrates in the Ming Dynasty, and it was better to have more than one thing.

In the end, it was not done, but the Portuguese in Macau were forbidden to build houses.

Of course, this ban may have been useful at the time, but after a long time, it became empty talk.

And this church, as the spiritual center of the Portuguese people in Macau, is where many important matters are discussed.

At this moment, he has just been elected Governor Sosa.

In the face of earth-shaking changes on land. The former governor Sei, Silvera, could no longer bear such a heavy responsibility because he was old, so he pushed Sosa to the throne. Sosa knows that he has to deal with changes not only on land, but also at sea.

This is to explain the general situation on the sea at the end of the day.

First of all, in the second half of the 16th century, the merger of Spain and Portugal, coupled with the rise of the Netherlands, brought opportunities for the development of Macao. The Netherlands used Taiwan as a base to intercept merchant ships from Fujian to Marani, while Macao sat on the ground and started to transship Chinese goods from Macao to Marani, bringing them super profits.

However, due to the dissatisfaction of the Spaniards, in 1636, the ninth year of Chongzhen, Marani's trade with Macao was severed.

This is just one part of a chain reaction.

Because not to mention that Zhang Xuan translated out the document prohibiting trade from Macao to Guangzhou in the thirteenth year of Chongzhen, there was also the severance of trade between Macao and Japan. Just in 1639, that is

In the twelfth year of Chongzhen, Japan promulgated the Lockdown Decree, and the trade between Japan and Macao came to an end.

Of course, the end of trade between Japan and Macau is not only the reason for the lockdown order. At least the Dutch trade with Japan continued. There are other reasons, the first of which is the activities of the Society of Jesus. It has caused a lot of turmoil in Japan, and there is also a mutual vendetta between Japanese shipowners and Macao shipowners.

During the Wanli period, a Japanese ship was attacked in Macao. At that time, it even alarmed the officials of the Ming Dynasty, and no one can say that the reason is not clear, the public says that the public is reasonable, and the mother-in-law says that the mother-in-law is reasonable. At that time, the official army of the Ming Dynasty was also in harmony.

But it didn't end that way.

More than a decade later, it was the attack on the Japanese shipowner, and the Portuguese captain was also attacked in Japan, which was revenge.

Since then, although the trade between the two sides has not ended, it has been in decline.

Moreover, the rising stars above the sea are also impacting Macau's trading system. For example, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.

Needless to say, the Netherlands also appeared in the South China Sea during this time period.

Of course, Zheng Zhilong Group also has a great influence on Macau.

After the foreign trade channels were cut off one by one, the only financial resources that Macao could have were Sino-foreign trade. Sell everything to the country, and sell the goods from the country to the West. In the Ming Dynasty, there are only two places that officially recognize the opening of the port, one is the Fujian Yuegang, and the other is Macao.

His interests overlap with those of the Zheng Zhilong Group.

When the Zheng family was crisscrossing the South China Sea, they naturally had no good face for Macau. Under such persecution, Macao is in dire straits at home and abroad, and is increasingly depressed. Historically, after the Qing court occupied Guangdong, although there were some Christians in Macao who supported Yongli, many people quickly fell to the Qing court. It was not without reason that he was attracted by the Qing court's so-called Yuhai trade policy.

At this moment in the cathedral, countless people are praying.

Listening to the church bells, they got up. Sosa was dressed in a straitjacket, a tuxedo, a large hat on his head, a long sword pinned to his waist, and two short firearms stuck above his belt. Between walking, he has a very martial arts demeanor. Standing in front of the church, he said in Portuguese: "Ladies and gentlemen, standing before God, we must confess. Macao's existence is in great crisis. The civil war in northern China is affecting the existence of Macau. If we fail to cope with this crisis, the history of the empire in Macau will come to an end. ”

"I would like to think that the Speaker of the Council of Macau, and the Governor of the Imperial Macao, has told you the news that His Royal Highness the Duke of Zheng Guo, the conqueror from the north, is about to visit Macao. This is the most powerful man Macau has ever welcomed in China. If we can convince him, then all my actions in South China will be allowed. ”

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