Governor Silva was unable to respond to Speaker Antony's outspokenness, so he simply took a tough stance and said: "Now that I am the Governor of the East Indies, it is entirely up to me to decide what to do with Goa and the colonies of the East, and the Senate has no right to interfere."

The Senate exists to assist me in the management of local Goa affairs and does not have the political power to make decisions for me. I now formally reject your suggestion that you may leave my residence. ”

Governor Silva waited silently for a while, seeing that the people on the opposite side did not move, he couldn't help but say threateningly: "Speaker Anthony, do you want me to call the guards to come and invite you out?" It's better for everyone to keep some decency for themselves. ”

Speaker Anthony, who was still a little hesitant, finally made up his mind under the threat of the Governor, he stepped forward and bowed deeply to Governor Silva, and then got up and said to him solemnly.

"Your Excellency the Governor, we have not come here to appeal to you about our proposals, but to the ultimatum of the Goan Senate and all the Portuguese living in Goa. I think you should carefully and cautiously reconsider it, and not make mistakes. ”

Governor Silva felt as if he had misheard, and he couldn't help but let out two sneers of "haha" from his throat, before he said without smiling: "Ultimatum, you guys to me? Speaker Anthony, do you know what you're talking about? I didn't hear it clearly, could you please repeat it again. ”

Under the fierce gaze of Governor Silva, Speaker Anthony repeated his words again. Governor Silva finally let out of his anger, and instead of trying to talk to the councillors, he suddenly raised his voice and shouted, "Guards, guards..."

However, the strange thing is that the guards who usually stood guard outside the meeting room did not show up today. Governor Silva's shouts echoed in the meeting room, but he never waited for anyone to enter the meeting room, he couldn't even hear the slightest footsteps outside, and Speaker Anthony and the others stood across from him in silence and watched him shout.

Governor Silva's heart suddenly became cold, and after screaming until his throat was a little tingling, he finally stopped shouting, looked at Speaker Anthony and the others with a frightened face, and said to the other party quite angrily: "What do you want to do? Do you want to rebel? ”

Samento, who was behind Speaker Antony, immediately replied eagerly: "No, Your Excellency, it is an uprising, an independent uprising against the tyranny of the Spaniards. ”

Speaker Antony then took over and said, "Of course, we are very welcome for His Excellency the Governor to stand with us, and your term of office is only for the last year, so why should you be an enemy of your own countrymen for the sake of the Spaniards?" ”

Faced with such a situation that he had never seen in his life, Governor Silva, who was quite fat, could not help but take out a handkerchief from the pocket of his pajamas to wipe the sweat from his forehead.

After wiping his sweat to hide his panic, Governor Silva, who had regained a little composure, couldn't help but lower his voice and said to the other party: "I don't want to be an enemy of my compatriots, but have you thought about it, we now support Princess Isabella's son as the king of Portugal, and we will immediately become enemies of the Duke of Bragança and his supporters, and the people in the country will also regard us as traitors, don't you plan to return to the country?" ”

"No, no, I don't see it that way." Speaker Anthony immediately retorted: "We are rebelling against the tyranny of the Spaniards, not against the Duke of Bragança becoming King of Portugal.

Until now, the Duke of Bragança has not publicly made any claims to the Portuguese throne, nor has he made any statements about the independence of the Kingdom of Portugal and rebellion against the Spaniards.

So, when we supported Princess Isabella's son as King of Portugal and declared India and its eastern colonies to secede from Spain, we were fighting against the Kingdom of Spain, not betraying it.

We are the forerunners of the independence movement of the Kingdom of Portugal and have nothing to do with the term traitor. As for who will wear the crown of Portugal in the end, it is also a matter between the Duke of Bragança and Princess Isabella, and it has nothing to do with us.

So I do not think that the Duke and his followers, who are still willing to crawl at the feet of the Spaniards, are qualified to accuse us. ”

Governor Silva glanced at the crowd across him, and saw that there was no hesitation or hesitation on their faces other than eager looks, and he knew that he could not convince this group of adventurers who wanted to speculate politically.

But as a Portuguese dignitary, he didn't feel like he was going to venture with the gang, and whether it was the Duke of Bragança, Princess Isabella, or other Portuguese people on the throne, he obviously wouldn't turn his family away.

After much deliberation, Governor Silva finally decided to compromise, but he still wanted to keep a step for himself, so he said to Speaker Anthony: "You should give me a few days to think about such a big thing, why not a week... I'll answer you in three days' time. ”

Although Governor Silva immediately changed his words when he saw the impatience on the other party's face, Speaker Anthony still shook his head and rejected him, "No, Your Excellency. We have given you more than 4 months to think about it from August to today, and you have to give us an exact answer today. Do you want to support the independence movement of the Kingdom of Portugal, or do you want to continue to serve His Majesty the King of Spain? ”

Governor Silva, who was forced by Speaker Anthony, glared at the other party with wide eyes, but it was obvious that the other party didn't care about any aristocratic etiquette today, and he looked at the governor with a calm face, insisting that the governor make an answer immediately.

After a while, Governor Silva was the first to be defeated, and he said with some reluctance: "Since you have been making me think for four months, why can't you let me think for three more days?" ”

Sarmento said with some impatience: "In three or five days, the representative of the Ming Emperor, His Royal Highness the Venerable Tang King, will return from Agra to Goa. If you will have to agree sooner or later, Your Excellency the Governor, why waste these three days? ”

Governor Silva looked at the silent Speaker Antony, and knew that the Goan legislators and businessmen were eager to curry favor with their new masters. He lowered his head and pondered for a moment as he spoke.

"Since last summer, I have not been in good health, and I am willing to step down from my post as Governor of the East Indies early and let the Goan Senate take over my duties. And I will return to China as soon as possible to recuperate, what do you think? ”

Before Samento could say something, Speaker Antony had stopped in front of him and promised, "We agree with the choice made by the Governor, and I will arrange a ship as soon as possible so that the Governor can return to the country safely to recuperate..."

When Antony and the others left the governor's residence, Samento couldn't help but ask Antony with some concern: "Why do we want to agree to the governor leaving India, so that the Spanish court will not know that we have rebelled?" ”

Speaker Anthony paused to look at his doubtful companions, and then said confidently: "Although His Excellency the Governor cannot be our partner, he is not our enemy either.

There are at least two advantages to sending him away, the first is that at least the people in the country will know what we have done. It should be remembered that we are now rebelling against the Spanish rule over the Kingdom of Portugal, not a group of colonial traders trying to rebel against the high taxes set by the Spanish court.

The people at home would not care whether the colonial merchants lived or died, but they would respect the first Portuguese colony to openly rebel against the Spanish king. We have such a reputation that we will not be liquidated by some victorious new king of Portugal afterwards.

The second advantage is that in the current situation, the Portuguese residents of Goa will claim to support us. But how many people are duplicitous, we can't tell.

It is better to take the opportunity to see off His Excellency the Governor and let the wind go. Let those who have their hearts set on the King of Spain leave with His Excellency the Doge, which will give us more control over Goa.

And don't be alarmed, the most valuable colony for the Kingdom of Portugal is sugar-rich Brazil, not Goa. If the Spanish kings had really had the energy to pay attention to the Portuguese colonies, they should have sent troops to help the Portuguese recover Brazil, rather than sit on the sidelines.

Imagine how the king of Spain could have crossed the ocean to fight us, even Brazil, which was closer to Europe and richer in wealth, than Brazil, which was closer to Europe and richer. ”

Speaker Anthony's explanation finally put his companions at ease. They began to look forward to the reinvigoration of the Kingdom of Portugal after the arrival of its new king and the restoration of the glory of its former maritime empire.

For Goan merchants such as Sammento, it was one thing whether the glory of the Portuguese Empire could be restored in the future, and the most important task was to abolish the heavy taxes on the trade routes of India and the Eastern colonies.

Of course, the re-clarification of Portuguese trade interests and navigation safety in India and the eastern colonies would depend on the arrival of the Ming Emperor's representatives. However, Samento believed that Goan businessmen who took refuge in Goa were still entitled to make some demands on His Majesty's representatives.

While Goa's parliamentarians and merchants were forcibly persuading the Governor of the East Indies to renounce his allegiance to the Spanish king, Zhu Yujian was boarding his ship from the port of Surat. The port of Surat is one of the more important ports in the Gurjar region, second only to the island of Diu across the sea.

When Zhu Yujian boarded the ship and looked back, the city of Surat, located on the right bank of the Taputi estuary, looked extremely beautiful and moving like a moon falling at the mouth of the river. And these months of deep travel into the Indian continent were truly a memorable one for him.