Chapter 104: The Flotilla Heading North Targets Lisbon

Looking at the sailing ships in the past, Zheng Zhilong said, "I don't know how much gold and silver they will take away if they let them go?" ”

"Huh!" Mu Yi smiled and said, "Lao Zheng is also careful!" If we get this Cape Town, we will be able to master the route from the east to the west, and the matter of earning money is not yet behind. Besides, if we really find gold and diamond mines here, as Mr. Zhang said, we don't know how much gold and silver we can earn in the future? ”

"Yes! My Lao Zheng's heart is still not enough! Zheng Zhilong said, "It didn't take a shot to get Cape Town here, and we also saved a lot of ammunition, which is also earned!" ”

Simon van der Sdale was a gentleman, and everything left behind was not destroyed except for the real money, and everything was clearly recorded in the account books. In addition to the vegetable and orchard farmland they cultivated here, there were more than 800 prisoners and more than 1,000 slaves.

Perhaps it was the transporters who took up the positions of the merchant ships, and the Dutch left behind large quantities of seal skin, seal oil, and whale oil.

Mu Yi gathered the prisoners and slaves together and told them, "From now on, you are all free!" As long as you abide by our laws, you can stay here and live and work freely. If you don't want to stay here, you can leave. ”

When the prisoners and slaves heard Mu Yi's words, they didn't understand what was going on.

The messenger explained to them: "Now the Dutch have been driven away!" From now on, this place will be managed by the Ming Dynasty! All the sins of the prisoners have been forgiven, and you are free! Our laws do not allow slaves to exist, and from now on slaves are free people like everyone here, and their status is exactly the same as everyone here. Those who are willing to leave can leave! Those who are willing to obey our laws can stay here! ”

Slaves and prisoners screamed with excitement! Some even jumped while shouting.

Mu Yi and Zheng Zhilong carefully inspected the situation in Cape Town, and they knew that if more ships came and went here to replenish in the future, they would need a lot of food, vegetables, and fruits as supplements. Prisoners and slaves here can be allowed to participate in labor and continue to cultivate the land and grow crops. If there aren't enough people, there are a lot of blacks around, and they can be hired. Cape Town now has a good foundation, but the docks need to be rebuilt with reinforced concrete to make it easier for larger ships to dock.

According to the original plan, two 5,000-ton cargo ships were to stop the cargo. Most are coal, heavy oil, diesel, etc., and there are two firewood-burning two-megawatt generator units. There is also equipment and materials to prepare for the construction of a lighthouse at the Cape of Good Hope. And, of course, fifteen cannons for the construction of a defense system in Cape Town.

There are more than 400 people left behind, including engineers, artillerymen, and infantry. Their mission was to build it into a large overseas supply base. The special exploration team also stayed.

The freed prisoners and slaves, who told a secret, could exchange what was produced here for the black man's golden sand and furs.

Mu Yi and Zheng Zhilong heard the news and were even more confident in finding gold mines here. Mu Yi They gave a lot of textiles and other things that they brought from the kiln to the people who were left, and they knew that it might be easier to exchange these things for gold sand and furs with blacks.

The Yaogang fleet set out again, this time with plenty of replenishment, on a long voyage along the west coast of the continent in the rough Atlantic, with no stops for supplies. The necessary supplies could only be made by cargo ships accompanying them at sea. This is the first time that the people of Yaogang, and the first time that the ship of the East has come to such a distant place. Waiting for them is not yet the welcoming people, but the opponents who have prepared the cannon.

Although there were strong winds and waves in the Atlantic, the Yaogang fleet had experienced the huge waves there after passing the Cape of Good Hope, and did not take the wind and waves here seriously at all. The Dutch and Francois who followed the Yaogang fleet were still very dedicated, and under their guidance, the fleet did not take the wrong path. The promise of the Kiln Gang was that as long as the Kiln Gang fleet reached the Strait of Gibraltar smoothly, they would be let go home, and they would also be given a sum of silver. These Dutchmen and Frangifers don't play tricks in order to get home alive. Besides, the kiln gang people also guarded against them, carrying a few people in different boats.

Sailing along the west coast of the African continent, more and more ships were encountered, but those ships from European countries were soon overtaken by the fleet of Yaogang. They found out that the fleet of Yaogang had no chance to report to their country.

However, neither the Dutch nor the Francois expected that the first place for the Yaogang fleet would be Lisbon in the Mediterranean, not in the Strait of Gibraltar in the Mediterranean. The Dutchman and Francois were shocked to hear this, they knew that Lisbon, Portugal, was the richest city in Europe, and that there were thousands of warships and armed merchant ships calling at the port of Lisbon. Could it be that the people of the Ming Dynasty are crazy, although your ship is very powerful, but this is the hometown of the Portuguese, even if the Portuguese can't beat you at sea, if you want to dock, you will definitely not be able to take advantage. Besides, although the whole European countries have contradictions, if they really fight, they will definitely unite against you. The warships of all countries are combined, and they are set up for you to fight, and you will not be able to finish fighting. It is likely that these Ming Dynasty people thought that the ships of the Europeans they encountered were the warships of the entire Europeans.

Mu Yi and Zheng Zhilong were also very emotional, the further north they walked on the sea, the more ships they encountered, and as far as the eye could see, the sails on the sea were constantly shadowing.

Zheng Zhilong said: "Damn, there are so many merchant ships at sea from Xiyi! It is said that there are 10,000 or 20,000 ships in that country, and if you count the Franc machine, the little Franc machine, the British, and the French, they don't know how many ships there are! ”

"Humph! We saw ships along the way. Mu Yi said, "How much money have these countries earned over the centuries?"

"No, the little Franco (Portugal) we went to not only occupy a place in Macau, but also in South America. They have more gold every year from Brazil back to Petit Franc (Portugal)! Zheng Zhilong said.

"Good! The more gold they have, the more our stuff will sell! Mu Yi said.

"I think we're going to take little Furlong by chance! Their gold is ours! Zheng Zhilong said.

"Huh! I'm not going to be a pirate with you! Mu Yi said, "We are just asking for a condition of equal trade, isn't it the same what they ask for when they go to various places in gunboats?" We'll do what they do! ”

Seeing that the Yaogang fleet was off the coast of Lisbon, the Dutch and Francois who came with the Yaogang fleet were reluctant to go any further. They also had a good reason, if they followed the ships of Yaogang and let the people here know that they were to be the navigators and bring the Yaogang fleet here, they would all be hanged. So they demanded a place to disembark in advance, and they also demanded that all the money paid to them be exchanged for gold, so that they could easily hide it on their bodies. After they landed, they had to make up a few stories about how they fell overboard during the battle, were rescued by other merchant ships, and came back little by little on the merchant ships of other countries.

Considering that they were still honest along the way, Mu Yi agreed to their request and gave them a small boat to row to the shore by night.

Mu Yi's first target was the choice of the little Francois (Portugal), which was very important in terms of geographical location, with the wide Atlantic Ocean to the west, the entrance to the Mediterranean, and the West African coast to the south. There's the Gold Coast, the Ivory Coast, the Slave Coast.

The first adventures of Westerners in modern times were started by the Portuguese, who had a fearless adventurous and seafaring spirit, brave, enterprising, temperate, hard-working, enthusiastic, and a strong national feeling. There is a great pursuit of oriental products such as gold and silver.

In addition, due to Portugal's own geography and relatively long coastline, there are relatively many people engaged in marine careers.

Nautical discoveries were first planned in Portugal as a national program, a national program. is a plan presided over by a prince. This made the Portuguese seafaring discoveries unlike those of the merchants

An isolated expedition for trade is a planned, systematically organized mission and strategy for two hundred years.

By the 14th century, Portugal had made major advances in navigation: the use of central rudders, compasses, charts, spinnakers, and the art of sailing in oblique winds had been mastered. It can be said that after Portugal reached the threshold of the 14th century, it already had all kinds of technologies and capabilities to move from the offshore to the ocean.

Portugal was the first country to establish colonial hegemony. As early as the second half of the 15th century, in the search for new shipping routes, many colonial posts were established on the west coast of Africa, such as Guinea, Congo, Angola, Benguela, Musamidish, etc., from which they looted gold, ivory and traded slaves. By the 30~40s of the 16th century, Portugal's colonial power had reached the peak of its prosperity and became the most powerful colonial empire.

After Sun Yuejiao arrived in Quanzhou, she tried all her best to collect the situation of Western countries, and with Zheng Zhilong's original information, the information about the situation in Western countries could already fill a wall of bookshelves.

After sorting out these situations, Fan Chengkun and the others made the decision to clean up this little Franc machine (Portugal) first.

In fact, the Ming Dynasty drove the little Francos out of Macao and sank many of their merchant ships back to Portugal long ago, which was difficult for Portugal to accept. In this way, they lost the opportunity to trade directly with the East in silk, tea and porcelain, and more importantly, the face of the empire was also lost. Just when they were about to take revenge, they got the news that the ships of the Dutch, Spaniards, British, and French had all been sunk by the Ming Dynasty navy in the east.

The Portuguese were not fools, and the king was resolute even if he stopped the plan to go to the east for revenge, and he wanted to see how the countries reacted. None of the countries had plans to send troops for revenge, but they began to contact each other to deal with this eastern devil together. But all countries are talking, in fact, they all want others to send troops, and they themselves will pick up the cheap.

However, there was no sign of their sending troops, and the Ming Dynasty in the east continued to advance from the land to the west. After they finished destroying the moon, they defeated the Persian Empire, made the Persian Empire cede land and pay reparations, and drew the border to the Caspian Sea, which already bordered the Ottoman Empire.

All countries felt the threat of this great eastern power. What's more, the eastern power took advantage of the war between the Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empire to force the two countries to cede a lot of land and draw their borders to the Black Sea coast. This is too much of a stimulus for the entire Western countries.

This time, Spain and Britain took the lead, pulled Portugal and the Netherlands, and really made military preparations, and forced Western countries to jointly send troops to deal with the Ming Dynasty. The King of Portugal was ready to send his strongest ships to fight against the Ming Dynasty. But they never imagined that the Ming Dynasty would come to the door by itself!