Councillor Samento's suggestion shook the city, especially the small and medium-sized merchants on the verge of bankruptcy, the sailors who had been forced to join the army, and the young men of local origin, who had long wanted to end this damned war. When they heard that there was still a glimmer of hope for peace, they were naturally very willing to support the rulers of the colonies to try, even if it was better to cede some benefits than to starve to death with a golden job.

At a time when people's hearts were already fluctuating, Councillor Samento threw out such an issue in the parliament, which immediately received the support of the city's citizens. Goa is, after all, an overseas colony far from its homeland, and even though it has been run by the Portuguese for more than 100 years, and the city's buildings and street plans are copies of Lisbon, the city's aristocracy is still far less powerful than the rest of the country, and can fully control all the citizens in the city.

Moreover, after the ouster of the previous governor, the parliament of Goa is now no longer loyal to the king, but to Portuguese India, which is more likely to represent the interests of the merchants and citizens of Goa.

As a result, when the merchants and citizens of the city raised their voices for the Samento councillors, the voices in the parliament against the Sammento councillors quickly died down. Named after Justice Felipe. Morality. The nobles, led by Mascalé, did not dare to jump out and disagree with the townspeople at such a time of turmoil.

The Goan Parliament quickly voted in favour of Sammento's proposals, persuaded by the citizens and businessmen of Goa to come to their homes in person. It took only five days for Samento to throw out his proposal in parliament and for it to be voted on by all members of the council.

On the evening of the Parliament's decision, Governor Anthony took Noretti with him to the hotel again in the drizzle of night.

Although Li You has not seen Governor Anthony again these days, through Norreddy's mouth, he still has a timely grasp of everything that happened in the inner city.

Therefore, when Governor Anthony came to the door again, Li You congratulated him: "Your Excellency's countenance is so good, it seems that the meeting of the council today has been quite successful."

It just so happened that I had received news from Colombo that the British and the Dutch had expressed their willingness to sit down and negotiate on the question of Portuguese India.

We have also been in Goa for almost half a month, and it is just in time to return to Colombo with Goa's envoys. I wonder if the Governor is planning to go in person, or if you will entrust the Sammento Councillor or someone else to negotiate in Colombo? ”

Governor Anthony smiled and replied, "No, I'm going to let Justice Felipe . Morality. Mascalé and several of his cronies went to Colombo to ask His Royal Highness the Prince to intervene in the negotiations. Mr. Norreddy. ”

At the suggestion of Governor Antony, Norreddy immediately placed a small suitcase at his feet on the table, which was opened and immediately reflected a golden light.

Li You just glanced at it, then looked at Governor Anthony with a frown and said, "What do you mean by this?" ”

Governor Anthony also admired this young Chinese officer very much for maintaining such composure in front of gold, and if it was a Portuguese soldier, it is estimated that he would have been dizzy at this moment.

He said softly to Li You: "Here are a thousand gold coins of Kruzado, which is equivalent to three thousand silver coins of the Ming Dynasty. There are still 9 boxes in the carriage downstairs, and the Restoration Committee hopes that Lieutenant Colonel Li will present it to His Royal Highness the Prince on our behalf, as a little bit of His Royal Highness's effort to solve the dilemma in Goa for us. ”

Li You quickly calculated in his heart, 30,000 Daming silver coins are equivalent to about 41,000 Daming banknotes. Because of the domestic disasters in the past two years, the exchange of paper money for silver coins has depreciated by about 35%, so this is already quite a lot of wealth.

Although Governor Anthony said that he would pay tribute to His Royal Highness the Prince, Li You did not believe it very much. Because in these days of contact, the other party already knew that he was not a subordinate of the Tang King, but a military attache sent by the emperor to the Mughal Empire. How dare Tang Wang blatantly accept bribes from the other party from his own hands, so this is just an excuse to send money to himself.

However, what Li You didn't understand was why the other party wanted to send such a large sum of money to him, just when Li You looked at the other party suspiciously, Governor Anthony solved his doubts, "Felipe. Morality. Mascalé and the people around him are all opponents of Her Royal Highness's accession to the throne, so after arranging for them to go to Colombo to negotiate, I will wipe out all his henchmen in Goa, so that Portuguese India will become the loyal domain of Her Royal Highness.

Of course, there may be some people who slander my actions in front of Her Royal Highness in the future, so that Her Royal Highness will misunderstand us subjects who are loyal to her. As the eyes of His Majesty the Emperor, I hope that when you return to Beijing, you will be able to tell His Majesty the Emperor the facts you have seen..."

Li You finally reacted, this Governor Anthony is very clever, and knows that the real allegiance should be to His Majesty the Emperor behind Princess Isabella, so this is to get in touch with himself in advance.

Regarding Governor Anthony's action of wanting to use negotiations to divert the tiger from the mountain and completely control Goa, Li You did not take it very seriously. At the same time, it means that it will be difficult for the Duke of Joao to be accepted by the Portuguese mainland, which is not a bad thing.

With Li You's loud agreement, Governor Anthony was also relieved. As long as the other party accepts his bribe, then his certainty of holding the position of governor in the future is greatly increased. Since the Dutch blockaded the port of Goa, the colonial tax that Portuguese India had brought back to the city every three years had been left in Goa City, and even in response to the war with the Dutch, no one dared to touch the tax that belonged to the king.

The tax accumulated in the treasury amounted to almost 3,000,000,000 silver coins, which accounted for half of the present gold and silver deposits in Goa. If Portuguese India finally decided to pledge allegiance to the Duke of Joao, the tax would naturally be demanded domestically. But now if he is loyal to Her Royal Highness Princess Isabella, the other party does not know that he still has such a huge fortune in his name, and Governor Anthony naturally has some other thoughts, which is the main motivation why he insists on being loyal to Princess Isabella.

However, in order to covet such a huge fortune, Governor Antony had to erase the traces of the existence of this wealth, so gaining the trust of His Majesty the Emperor and allowing him to continue as the Governor of Goa after independence became the key. Even if he hides half of his wealth, whether he goes back to Europe or Mexico, he can live out his old age in peace.

Li You naturally didn't know that the other party still had such an idea in his heart, and after knowing the other party's intention to curry favor with him, he nodded and accepted the bribe. He didn't fall in love with this wealth, but hoped that he could use this to calm the other party's mind, so that the other party could follow Daming with all his heart.

The terms of cooperation between the two sides have almost been decided in the past 10 days, so tonight's conversation will be relatively brief. Governor Anthony stayed in Li You's room for less than an hour, and after agreeing on a time for the envoy to leave Colombo, he got up and took his leave.

After sending the Portuguese away, Li You called the adjutant Zhang Wuyi into his room, and then instructed him: "These days, the Mughal Empire, which is united with the Dutch, is basically clear.

It was Durcan Vice-King Aurangzeb who was ordered by the Mughal Emperor to teach the Portuguese a lesson, and although the reason for the Portuguese was the unscrupulous misdeeds of the Portuguese in Bengal, it was actually Aurangzeb's desire to annex the Portuguese Dammam region close to his own territory, so as to win an outlet for his territory to the sea.

The third prince of the Mughal Empire is indeed shrewd and capable, but his attitude towards our Ming has never been friendly enough, so any behavior that increases his strength is not allowed. And we cannot sit idly by and watch the Dutch collude with the Deccan vice-king in an attempt to hinder our strategy of running the Indian continent.

Therefore, we need to ask the third prince to turn his gaze from the sea back inland. For now, the Marats, who worship the local gods, are good opponents for the third prince. These Marathas live on the west coast of India, from Mumbai to Goa.

Ever since the Mughal armies began to attack Bijapur, these Marathas have been fighting against the Mughal armies. Unfortunately, the Portuguese are not friendly to these close neighbours, so they are not able to get their help.

Being able to offend all the neighbors is also a kind of Portuguese ability. ”

After sneering at the Portuguese, Li You continued: "But for us Ming, these Marathas are indeed objects that can be used. But the Marathas were not a unified force, but a people of hundreds or thousands of tribes, similar to the Mongol tribes before Genghis Khan's appearance.

Therefore, we need to send people deep into this area, communicate with the chiefs, warriors or more famous people of these tribes, and find one or several suitable people to support. Can you take on this task? ”

Zhang Wuyi replied without hesitation: "I can, sir." But he asked hesitantly, "But I don't speak the Indian language, and I don't know how to ask where the famous Marathas live." ”

Li You smiled and said: "Don't worry, Gomes introduced us to the Banjaras Chamber of Commerce, which is the largest transport chamber in Bijapur, and I have already asked the shipowner and the representative of the Chamber of Commerce to talk about transporting part of the unloaded goods to the Maratha area for sale."

You just pick a few midshipman officers and set off with the pack team sent out by the Chamber of Commerce. Well, I just brought this box of money with me, which is considered your expenses for this outing. In addition, there is a shipment of muskets and gunpowder in the cargo, which I have discussed with Noretti, and he will let you leave Goa safely. ”

After hearing this, Zhang Wuyi replied without doubt: "If this is the case, the subordinates will not have any doubts, but after we have done this well, will we stay in Goa and wait, or will we go back to Ceylon Island directly?" ”

Li You hesitated and said, "If everything goes well, I hope you will stop by to see Gao Kangguo again, and then head east to the east coast to explore the terrain in the middle of the Indian continent..."

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