The Portuguese Governor in Australia, Lida, was very depressed, he now had very few people, the number of Portuguese was not much, and the number of Portuguese in Australia was even smaller. 《.

Macao and Hong Kong were a transportation base of Portugal in China, but in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty had always pursued a policy of closing the country to the sea, so the economic status of Macao and Hong Kong was not high at that time.

Lida was the Portuguese governor of Macao and Hong Kong.

Although Lida is the nominal governor, Lida himself does not identify with him. Most of the Portuguese people here today wanted to make a living in the East after the occupation of Portugal. The same is true of Lida, who just married the daughter of the former Governor in Australia and became the Governor himself.

In addition, not only because of their own strength, but also because the Portuguese, including Lida, really did not know who to be loyal to. Spain? No! Portugal? Portugal has already been annexed.

There were originally five warships in Macao and Hong Kong, and the strange disappearance of Ricci's battleship after going to sea to carry out a mission made this situation even worse. Now there are less than 200 sailors on the remaining four battleships, and it is barely enough to sail these four battleships to sea, but they have no combat effectiveness at all, and the few in number do not even have gunners.

In addition, the Ming Dynasty was very strict with them, and they were like some poor tenants who lived in a foreign land, running around all day long for their livelihood.

Lida poured herself a glass of white water and dried! Western wines and champagnes disappeared a few years ago.

At this time, a sailor came to report that Ricci had returned.

Lida was overjoyed and quickly ordered Matteo Ricci to come in quickly.

A moment of effort. Ricci came in, but Lida looked at Ricci's outfit very differently. Lida's costume is no longer the uniform of the Portuguese navy, but a suit of earth blue cloth. This is Li Guo's military uniform.

Lida felt strange, but he didn't care, he cared more about other things. Lida asked, "Ricci, why did you come back?" Did it take that long to escort those two merchant ships to Malacca? Have you recovered the remaining costs for protecting merchant ships? ”

Matteo Ricci spread his hands and said, "No, our ship was hit by a typhoon, it broke down, and most of the people died. Now there are only a few people left. ”

"Huh!? That you guys. Lida asked.

"When we were rescued by someone after the typhoon, the few of us who survived stayed with the people who rescued us for a while. Right now. We've decided that we're going to run for the people who saved us, so I'm here to resign. Matteo Ricci explained what he meant.

"Resign? Why? Who saved you? Why did you go to them? Are you because we're in bad conditions right now? Lida asked.

"It's also because we're not in a good place right now. But the most important thing is the person we want to run to! ”

"Who?"

"That man is a great general! He reigns over countless warriors! He can fight well and be invincible! The man was a learned man, and he didn't know that the earth was round. There's a lot more knowledge that we don't understand! In my opinion. Although he is only a great general now, the future Eastern World must be his! Ricci said.

"He's an amazing Oriental, a great man! His name is Li Guo! After this period of contact with Li Guo, Li Guo's army, Li Guo's thoughts, and Li Guo's advanced modern knowledge completely conquered Ricci West. Therefore, Ricci did not hesitate to praise Li Guo.

Lida smiled, and he said to Ricci Ricci, "Ricci, what are you so blinded by?" Are you confused? ”

Ricci shook his head sternly, "No, Your Excellency. I'm very sober, in fact, I'm here this time. The main thing is to invite you to my wedding. ”

"Your wedding? You're getting married? How is this possible? Is your bride also a Portuguese? It can't be Oriental, right? You must know that the Ming Dynasty will not allow us to do this. Lida had a question in his head.

"Yes, my bride is Oriental! In that territory of the Orientals, there is no such thing as the East and the West, and General Li Guo values talents, and he does not care about nationality. Ricci Ricci told what had happened since he encountered the typhoon and after he met Li Guo. Although it is somewhat exaggerated because of Ricci Ricci's admiration for Li Guo, it is basically true.

In the end, Ricci Ricci said Li Guo's most real thoughts, Li Guo's idea was to hire Portuguese people and buy Portuguese ships!

Ricci said to Lida, "General Li Guo doesn't count on your warship, because our warship is not short of time. In addition, he estimates that you may not sell battleships, so he doesn't care, because he is also ready to build his own ships, he just wants to hire our sailors. ”

Lida stayed for a long time, he thought, that Li Guo's request is impossible, how can the warship be sold? But what about the sailors? The current sailors already have a lot of complaints about Lida.

It's a very important matter, and Lida doesn't want to make a decision on his own, and that's not good. So, Lida found the captains of the other three warships, and Lida took control of one of the warships himself. They wanted to listen to Li Guo's detailed thoughts together.

Facing the four captains of Lida who each commanded a warship, Ricci said that Li Guo was willing to buy a warship for 10,000 taels of silver, but Li Guo needed the drawings of the warship.

The four of Lida looked at each other, now the ship is there, and the drawings are also there, and the drawings are for the convenience of repairing the ship, but they really don't know what to do. For them, the Portuguese who were in trouble, the temptation of 10,000 taels of silver was too great, and Lida and their warships were also decades old, although they had been saving money on maintenance, and the ships were not bad, but the silver given by Li Guo was already a lot.

Lida coughed dryly, "I don't think this matter should be hastily decided, we also have to consider the way out of the sailors, although that Li Guo said that we can hire the sailors, we still have to go on a field trip." It just so happens that Matteo Ricci is getting married, so let's go and see it together. ”

The remaining three captains immediately agreed.

As a result, the four Portuguese warships stationed in Australia sailed to the Beihai Sea in Guangxi. Ma Shiyao, a sailor from Beihai, personally accompanied him to Nanning by land.

Most of the area south of Nanning was already under the control of Li Guo, and several troops were stationed here. Ma Shiyao deliberately led these people to watch the drills of the troops. Looking at the roar of firearms and the courage of the soldiers, several people in Lida couldn't help but secretly admire in their hearts. At that time, Li Guo's firearms were only the standard configuration of the Ming army, but they were already very scary. The firepower configuration of the Ming army exceeded many people's imagination, and the reason for the fall of the Ming Dynasty was not that the firepower was not good, but the system.

Several people from Lida came to Nanning Mansion with emotion.

When he arrived at Nanning Mansion, Li Guo personally met him and set up a banquet. In the banquet, Li Guo once again conquered these people with his knowledge. But Li Guo never mentioned the matter of buying warships, as if there was no such thing at all.

Lida and the others asked Li Guo about wanting to hire sailors, and Li Guo answered them one by one. So, Lida asked, "I heard that General Li wants to buy our warship for 10,000 taels of silver?" ”

Li Guo frowned, "I just heard that your ship seems to have been going on for a long time. ”

"But we're well maintained!" Lida and the other three captains were a little anxious, this was actually Li Guo's plan to catch up, as the saying goes, the more you rush, the more you are not a deal. Therefore, seeing that Li Guo suddenly looked a little reluctant, but Lida and the others were in a hurry, 10,000 taels of silver!

Li Guo scratched his head and thought for a while, "Don't worry, tomorrow is the day of Ricci Ricci's big day, and we'll talk about it when they get married!" (To be continued......)