On the sea 100 miles south of Shuangyu Port, a fleet composed of more than a dozen large ships is rushing towards the direction of Shuangyu Port, on the highest mast of each ship in this fleet, there is a white triangular flag, on which are written two "Nanyang" two big characters, people who carry goods at sea see this flag, they will immediately know that this is the fleet of Nanyang Chamber of Commerce, one of the overlords of Shuangyu Port, ordinary people dare not provoke at all, even those lawless professional pirates, see the fleet of Nanyang Chamber of Commerce must think twice, If they were not sure of victory, they would not dare to attack the fleet of the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce.

This fleet is Zhou Zhong succeeded to the president of the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce, the fifth trip to the Nanyang fleet, the whole fleet is not actually the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce ships, the real Nanyang Chamber of Commerce ships are actually only two, the remaining dozen are all Shuangyu Port small and medium-sized chamber of commerce to provide ships, these small and medium-sized chambers of commerce after the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce after the inspection qualified, not only obtained the qualification to cooperate with other cargo owners smuggling, but also can play the banner of the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce, and the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce ships to form a fleet to go to sea, so that the scale of the fleet is large, The safety of going to sea is also much higher.

This fleet has been at sea for several months, and the reason why they have not come back until now is mainly because they have traveled a long way this time, their first stop is to Manraka, which is the city of Malacca, last year the Portuguese tried to occupy the city of Malacca, but was repelled by the local sultan with his army, although the conflict was not very large, but it caused the Malacca people to be vigilant, and at the same time increased the tax on the ships coming and going, which also seriously affected the trade of the city of Malacca, fortunately this year the city of Malacca was lifted again. Taxes have also been reduced to their original levels. So take advantage of this opportunity. The Nanyang Chamber of Commerce organized this shipment and sold some of it in Malacca City, and the result was a big profit.

After trading in the city of Malacca for some time, the fleet carried the rest of the cargo through the Strait of Malacca and then arrived in Ceylon, later Sri Lanka, where Zheng He had stopped when he sailed to the West. This fleet stayed in Sri Lanka for a long time. They used it as a base to reach the east and west coasts of India in batches to trade their goods out of the ship.

Speaking of this period of time, the west coast of India is very lively, the arrival of the Portuguese violated the interests of Muslim merchants, the two sides are now fighting lively, but the Portuguese take advantage of the local small countries, and each other hostile relations, has united a small local country to establish a port on the west coast of India, and the battle with Muslim merchants is also in the upper hand, it can be said that the scenery is unlimited, most of the Ming goods shipped by the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce were also collected by the Portuguese at a high price.

It was also during the trading of this fleet. Few people noticed that there was a Catholic priest who came with the convoy, and this priest was entrusted by Zhou Zhong. Father John came to recruit all kinds of craftsmen to Shuangyu Port.

Although Father John is a Spaniard, there are constant contradictions between Spain and Portugal, but it is only a struggle between the world, for the Catholic Church, religion has no borders at all, which is also the consensus of a considerable number of Europeans, so Father John used the sign of the Catholic Church to come and go freely in the port established by Portugal, and even helped the fleet of the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce solve some transaction troubles.

Of course, Father John did not forget the task given to him by Zhou Zhong, during this time he came into contact with many European craftsmen in the port of the Portuguese, most of these people were from Portugal, and there were also some people from other countries, according to his estimate, there were nearly 2,000 Europeans on the west coast of India, among these people, there were naturally many kinds of craftsmen who were in need of Zhouzhong, of course, most of these craftsmen had their own jobs, and many were not willing to follow Father John to venture to the unknown Daming.

However, there are good and bad people, and there are some people who are not happy here, they heard that Father John could take them to the rich Ming Dynasty, and they were promised a high reward by Father John, which made many people very excited, after all, in this era, they dare to come to India from Europe, and the good thing is that these people have an adventurous spirit, and the bad thing is that they are a group of gamblers, they are gambling with their lives and futures, hoping to make a windfall overseas, and then return to Europe in a beautiful way.

It is also the gambler characteristics of these people that make them full of infinite fantasies about the Central Plains region full of gold described in Marco Polo's book, coupled with Father John's slightly exaggerated description, so he soon recruited a lot of craftsmen who were needed for weeks, and when the goods of the fleet were sold out and filled with goods of local Indian specialties, these European craftsmen also got on the ship together, and then after a long journey, they finally arrived in the sea area of Daming, and they were about to arrive at Shuangyu Port.

In the middle of the fleet belonged to a large ship belonging to the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce, Father John stood on the bow of the ship looking at the sea in the north, although he could not see Shuangyu Port now, but his heart had already flown there, to be precise, it flew to the church designed and built in Shuangyu Port before he left, when he left, the whole church had already begun to be built, and now a few months have passed, the church should also be built, this is the first church of the Catholic Church in the territory of Daming, and his name will definitely go down in history in the future!

Thinking of this, Father John's mood couldn't help but get excited, and now he can't wait to rush to Shuangyu Port immediately, settle the European craftsmen he brought, and then under his own auspices, take these craftsmen to do the first worship in the territory of Daming, with these people as a guide, maybe soon be able to develop some Daming believers, maybe in the future, the entire Daming diocese bishops are their own.

Just as Father John was thinking about his future scenery, he suddenly heard a sound of footsteps behind him, followed by a steady man's voice saying: "Father John, I heard that we are about to arrive in Daming, and at the same time we are going to meet the young rich businessman who hired us this time, but I wonder if he will agree to the reward you promised me?" ”

Hearing this man's voice, I saw Father John turn his head and look at the other party with a smile, and then said very politely: "Mr. Chilava, you can rest assured, you are a first-class shipbuilding master in Europe, which is also the talent that Zhou Gongzi needs most, as long as you are willing to work for Zhou Gongzi for ten years and design the most popular sea ship in Europe for him, Zhou Gongzi will definitely be willing to give you a boatload of porcelain as a reward, and then you will transport these porcelain to Europe, and you can definitely become a famous rich man in Europe in one fell swoop!" ”

I saw that the man whom Father John called Mr. Chirava was a middle-aged man of forty or fifty years old, short and stout, with thick brown curly hair, blue eyes, a high nose, and typical Roman blood, although the clothes on his body were a little shabby, but they were very clean, and the materials used were also relatively examined.

It was not the first time that Mr. Chirava had heard such assurances from Father John, but when he had heard it, the worried look on his face did not diminish but rather a look of worry, for if it were only himself, Chirava would not have been so worried, but he was the only one on board with his family, and his wife and daughter were also on board.

Speaking of which, this Chirava can be regarded as the greatest gain of Father John's trip, because the other party is the most needed shipbuilding talent in Zhouzhong, and Chilawa is very proficient in shipbuilding, even in the entire European shipbuilding community, he is also a first-class shipbuilding master.

Originally, with Chirava's status, he naturally did not have to venture to Daming with Father John like those ordinary craftsmen, in fact, Chirawa worked in the largest shipyard in the Portuguese port on the west coast of India, and the remuneration was also very good, and he even took his wife and daughter there for this purpose, preparing to spend the rest of his life in India.

But there is always injustice happening, Chilawa has a very beautiful daughter named Sila, who is very famous in the whole port, and there are hundreds of young men who pursue Miss Sila, almost a tenth of the population of the whole port, but sometimes it is not a good thing to have a beautiful daughter, such as Miss Sila, who caused her father a lot of trouble.

Miss Ciara was invited to a ball, and a young man who had pursued her got drunk and did something to her on the spot, which made Miss Siala very angry, and scolded the other party at the ball, which made the young man lose face, and then the man was angry and angry, and with the help of alcohol, he ran over the wall to Chilava's house in the middle of the night and wanted to rape Miss Cila.

However, fortunately, although Miss Siala is a lady on the surface, she is very fond of sports, and has learned boxing and fencing with her father, but instead of succeeding, the unlucky guy was beaten by Miss Sila, and Chirawa also rushed over, and just wanted to subdue the other party with his daughter, but at this time the other party was already frightened, and was ready to run away in a panic, but he did not expect to fall from the window of the building, and fell to his death.

Originally, if the other party was an ordinary person, the Chilawa father and daughter would naturally have nothing to do, but the kid who died was Francisco, who had just been appointed governor of India by the king of Portugal. Morality. Alme's nephew, at the behest of the other party, was already preparing to sentence the Chirava father and daughter to the guilty, but just at this time Father John heard the news, so he secretly found the other party and lured Chirava to follow him to Daming with a large sum of money.

Originally, Chirava and his daughter were facing the situation of being imprisoned, but now with Father John as a life-saving herb, coupled with the heavy profits promised by the other party, Chirava escaped with the help of Father John with his family, and then got on Father John's ship and came to Daming, whose future was uncertain. (To be continued......)