Anthony was a Lisbon himself, from a family of ordinary watchmakers.

His father, Anthony Sr., owned a small watch shop in the city of Lisbon, and he also had an older brother named Tony.

Three years ago, the elder Anthony was summoned by God to go to heaven, leaving a testament to the watch shop to be inherited by his brother Tony, who only received 100 silver coins.

This money was enough for Anthony to spend for a while, but it was still far from fulfilling his dream of opening the best watch shop in Lisbon.

In order to advance his ideals as soon as possible, Anthony chose a shortcut after meditating, that is, to go to the casino to multiply the 100 silver coins several times.

It's a pity that he usually has excellent luck when he enters the casino this time, but his luck is very bad this time, just one night, 100 silver coins lost completely.

Desperate, Anthony had no choice but to board a sailboat bound for the East, hoping to pan for gold in the East, where gold was everywhere, and then realize his ideals.

Coming to Daming from his hometown of Lisbon, Anthony became an ordinary sailor, crossing the stormy waves of the ocean along the way, and dealing with the fierce gods and evil gods of the natives of the South Seas when he became a pirate, making Anthony from a simple boy to a cunning sailor, and also accumulated a certain amount of wealth.

However, two years ago, when Anthony's armed sailing ship tried to rob a Ming fortune ship in the South Seas, it missed, and the fortune ship was followed by two larger fortune ships, and was attacked by three Ming ships, and the armed sailing ship could only escape, but it was still heavily damaged and had to sail to Macao to rest

It was this battle that made Anthony realize the strength of this ancient empire in the East, more than half of the twenty-three crew members on the armed sailing ship died, and only ten reached Macao safely.

Anthony was not too bold to stay on the ship, but chose to get a job in Macau, that is, to work in the arsenal.

The Macau Arsenal produced guns, and the Spaniards in Luzon, the Dutch on Dayuan Island, and even the Ming people in the Japanese were all patrons of the Arsenal.

Anthony had a knack for repairing clocks and watches, and in Europe, watchmakers were arguably the most ingenious of men, making intricate clocks by hand, as well as simple muskets. Anthony successfully entered the Macau Arsenal and became a mechanic, receiving a high salary of ten silver coins per month.

Unfortunately, his time on the ship gave Anthony bad habits, which were alcoholism and gambling. Every time after work, he would go to the tavern to get drunk, and when his hands were itchy, he would go to the casino to play two handfuls. Ten silver coins a month, often less than the end of the month, is getting farther and farther away from his dream of opening the largest watch shop in Lisbon.

When he was poor, he thought about change, so Anthony secretly did some private work, such as using the tools of the arsenal to secretly make handcuffs and sell them to pay back. He also got to know many patrons, including Huang Quan, a broker of the Ming Dynasty, and through Huang Cheng's hands, he sold no less than ten firearms.

A month ago, Huang Quan approached Anthony and introduced him to a larger clientele, Lin Fucheng, a representative of the Marquis of Daming. When he heard that Lin Fucheng was going to buy a set of machine tools for drilling gun barrels, Anthony immediately started to think that there was a scrapped machine tool in the arsenal that had not been disposed of. Although it is scrapped, it can still be used for some time if it is repaired.

So Anthony teamed up with a manager of the arsenal to sell the scrapped machine tool to Lin Fucheng at a sky-high price of 3,000 taels of silver.

Of course, Lin Fucheng is not so easy to deceive, and put forward a request, a technician must be sent to teach how to use this machine tool. Anthony didn't want to go, so he proposed a sky-high price of 1,000 taels of silver a year, but he didn't expect the representative of the Marquis of Daming to agree at once.

That's a thousand taels of silver! Equivalent to 1,370 silver coins. Anthony had never seen so much money in his life, and although the machine was sold for three thousand taels of silver, most of which went into Xiangli's pocket, Anthony only received two hundred silver coins.

If you follow this Ming Hou Ye for a few years, let alone open a watch shop in Lisbon, you will earn money in the next life! Anthony agreed without hesitation, and followed this man named Lin Fucheng to Yangzhou by boat.

Along the way to the inland river by sea, it took more than half a month to reach Yangzhou in Macau, Anthony was shocked by the vast territory of the Ming Dynasty, but Lin Fucheng, who accompanied him, told him that this was only a part of the Ming Dynasty, and there was a more vast territory in the north, but the land in the north had been occupied by the rebels, and now the Ming Dynasty was at war with the rebels.

If this is the case, wouldn't the whole Ming Dynasty be bigger than Europe? Anthony, who grew up in the small country of Portugal, was shocked.

In the past few years in Macau, although Anthony has learned a few simple words, he is only limited to greetings and the like, and normal communication is not possible. This is what makes him feel depressed.

But who would have thought that after Yangzhou, he would meet a Ming man who knew Franco's language, and there were as many as two of them, which made Anthony elated.

One of them is naturally Pan Xuezhong, Pan Xuezhong is the righteous son of Xiyi Tang Ruowang, although Tang Ruowang is a German, he is erudite and talented, and understands Francophone, Pan Xuezhong will follow him a lot of Francophone.

However, Pan Xuezhong is the head of the artillery department, and he is responsible for casting the Hongyi cannon, so he doesn't have much time to accompany Anthony.

Another person who understands Franco's language is Chen Yujie, who was originally the secretary of the Nanjing Military Department, and was ordered by the Military Department to lead many craftsmen in Nanjing to Yangzhou.

This Chen Yujie is amazing, although he does not have the fame of raising people to become scholars, but he has extensive knowledge, he is Xu Guangqi's nephew, who helped Xu Guangqi revise the calendar, and then returned to his hometown to support his mother.

A few years ago, Chen Yujie was recommended by Shi Kefa and served as a secretary in the Ministry of War, and this time he was sent to Yangzhou.

Chen Yujie is erudite and talented, in addition to his achievements in the calendar, he is also familiar with Western guns and artillery, and also understands the Western language, thanks to the deep communication he had with Western missionaries when he was with his uncle Xu Guangqi.

Chen Yujie came to Yangzhou, did not hold a specific position, but observed in the Ordnance Department every day, Anthony's arrival made him very interested, took the initiative to take on the work of Anthony's translator, talked with Anthony very happily, and inquired about the social customs of Xiyi from time to time. Chen Yujie is a scholar-type figure, not interested in politics, most interested in learning about unfamiliar fields and learning what he does not know.

Chen Yue, who came from later generations, naturally knew the importance of science and technology, and attached great importance to Anthony, a Francophone man, and after negotiating a gambling contract with Liu San, he came to see Anthony in person, and saw the scene of Anthony and Chen Yujie talking happily.