"Bad guys, bad guys, Portugal is going to suffer, God, is this the punishment you have sent down to me, the wicked king?"

Alfonso III was still standing high in the castle, muttering something in his mouth. His gaze had already turned to the dock - the Daming Atlantic Fleet had already entered the port at this time, docked at the designated dock in turn, lowered the gangplank, and then a large group of Aztec green battalions would come down from the ship!

Some of these Aztecs, at least 1,500 of them, wore shiny cuirasses, helmets that were equally shiny silver, and armed with spears or spears and shields. The tips of their spears all glowed with coldness.

There are at least 1500 knights!

Alfonso III wouldn't think those guys in shiny cuirass were ordinary mercenaries - their armor was a good thing at first glance! It must have been made of a single piece of fine Uzi steel, much better than the chain mail he wore as a king. So these 1500 people are definitely knights, just no horses. The horse was not convenient for shipping, it was a delicate animal.

However, even if there are no horseless knights, 1,500 of them will not be easy to deal with. At present, there are only a maximum of 800 real knights in Lisbon, and there are less than 1,000 militias, but these militias have no combat power and can only maintain law and order in Lisbon.

Of course, the Kingdom of Portugal could not have only that few troops, otherwise Portugal would have been destroyed long ago.

At this time, the Kingdom of Portugal was still a typical European-style feudal state. The knights of the king, large and small, who own the territory, are the king's vassals and are also the king's knights. But they won't all be crammed into Lisbon. It's okay to stay in Lisbon. The Kingdom of Portugal only had a very small government, and a hundred nobles were able to get it running. Except for these sent nobles. There is also a type of "squire knight" in the city, who are the lowest level of the knightly class. It is also the most numerous level. These people are actually knights who have no territory, most of them are noble children who have no inheritance rights, and they have learned some martial arts and aristocratic etiquette, and they can barely get together the equipment of knights, so they come out to mix in the market. Every wealthy nobleman would have some squire knights with him, and they were usually called to fight and brawl.

As the king of Portugal, Alfonso III had more than 3,000 knights in his repertoire, and they were the main force of the king's thug group. However, these people are all stationed in different places, and they can't be gathered for a while.

Other than that. The nobles of Portugal were also theoretically knights of the king, and the king could recruit them to war. Counting these nobles and their attendant knights, Portugal alone can still pull out an army of more than 10,000 knights.

And that's not all, because of the war with the Celestial Cult, there are still many knights of the Order in the Iberian Peninsula - the Knights are an army of monks who obey the orders of the Pope of the Ecumenical Church, and all members are theoretically required to dedicate their lives to defending Christianity. The members of the Order do not marry wives, bear children, have fiefdoms, or seek wealth. Only kill, fight for God all your life. Although the Knights fell in history, they were still a formidable military group in Europa in the 13th century.

These knights now have three main battlefields. The eastern coast of the Mediterranean, the Baltic Sea coast and the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is also an important area for the Order's activities, and each Order has a number of castles and possessions in Portugal.

However, to use the power of the Knights, Alfonso III could not call the shots. It has to be ordered by the Pope. Pope...... There must be no good people who can be become! Alfonso III did not want to ask Rome for help unless he had to.

Except for the Knights. Alfonso III could also fight with mercenaries. Now the monarchs of Europe are more and more fond of using mercenaries. As long as you can afford the money, you can disperse after the fight. It doesn't involve fiefdoms, and it has nothing to do with God. Of course, if you have a lot of money!

Alfonso III was constantly thinking about how to deal with the catastrophe in front of him. The order to summon the vassals had been given, and just now he had signed his name on hundreds of pieces of parchment on which he had written them, and had sent the messenger out with them on a fast horse.

The gold and silver treasures of the mercenaries had been escorted to the city of Coimbra in the north, and the order had been given to Freitas, who had been a diehard loyalist to Sancho II (Alfonso III's brother), to be the commander of the garrison of Coimbra.

As for the Knights, it is better not to alarm them for the time being. Let's take a look first, what if these scoundrels of unknown origin are just passing through Portugal? What's good about Portugal? Poor and remote. It's not as good as France, it's even worse than Italy......

……

"We are the diplomatic corps of the Ming Empire from Shenzhou, that is, Asia Minor. I am Niccolò, the interpreter of the mission, and these are Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Liang Chongru, Deputy Ambassador Chen Chongguan, Deputy Ambassador Liu Minzhong, Duchess Sophia Svyatoskaya of Kievan Rus, Marquis Wen Tianxiang (Chen Dexing made him a marquis, he did not accept it, but Niccolò still respectfully called him a marquis) ......"

On the Lisbon pier, the bigwigs of both sides finally met. The members of the Ming Mission have already disembarked the "Atlantic". Coming on behalf of Portugal was the Archbishop of Lisbon, Pontaleón.

Now speaking to Pontaléon was Niccolò, dressed in a green robe and wearing a black gauze hat, speaking Latin.

"Shenzhou...... Asia? Da Ming? Archbishop Pontareon was stunned and stunned, "What? What the? The Atlantic Ocean to Asia? Is this, is this true? You're coming around Africa? Also, where is the Ming Empire? India? Or the Khitan (referring to China)? Also, Mr. Niccolò, where are you from? ”

When the old villain asked, he smiled gently, and gently stroked his white beard, as if he was a respected archbishop.

However, in his heart, he was interested in what Shenzhou this self-proclaimed was from (now the official map of the Ming Empire calls Asia the Shenzhou, the Americas as Mingzhou, and Australia...... It has not yet been painted, and Europe and Africa have followed the European appellation, and Antarctica certainly does not).

37 warships, 1,500 knights, and three or four thousand warriors who also looked very elite, probably mercenaries, and the conscription militia was not so strong. It is estimated that there are still a few thousand sailors on board. Such force could start a crusade.

You claim to be a mission!?

Who to fool?

Archbishop Pontalion's heart was like a mirror, but the smile on his face was a little more sincere.

"Da Ming is what we Europeans call Khitan, but the title Khitan is obviously wrong. And below is the Venetian, now an official of the Ming Empire. We sailed directly eastward from the Mingzhou Continent, a colony of the Ming Empire...... Your Excellency Bishop, you must have heard of the Circle of the Earth, right? ”

Earth Circle said...... Is the earth really round? What Mingzhou colony to the east did they ship from? That Mingzhou colony is on the west coast of the Atlantic...... Doesn't it seem close to Europe?

A hint of fear flashed across the archbishop's face, and then he did a good job of hiding it.

"Welcome, on behalf of His Majesty King Alfonso III of Portugal, I would like to welcome you there."

At this time, the archbishop politely bowed to the members of the mission opposite and made a solemn gesture, "His Majesty has set up a banquet in the castle and asked people to boil the bath water. ”

Boiling bathwater for hospitality was an interest in the interaction between the European aristocracy of this era. Bathing was a luxury in 13th-century Europe, but it was not something that ordinary people could consume.

"Your Excellency, where are our guards?" Deputy Ambassador Chen Chongguan suddenly interjected, and he was actually fluent in Latin.

Bodyguard? That's the army, okay!

The archbishop smiled politely, "His Majesty's castle can't accommodate so many guests, so why don't you let them camp near the docks?" ”

"Yes." Chen Chongguan looked around, it was a semi-abandoned wharf, and most of the surrounding buildings had collapsed, but it was relatively clean and far from the market. It was a good place for the Aztecs to rest and regain their strength - Chen Chongguan was full of confidence in the combat effectiveness of this Aztec army. But there is a fear that these soldiers, who have little resistance to the diseases of the Old World, will contract the infectious disease. Therefore, special attention was paid to the cleanliness and hygiene of the troops.

Chen Chongguan added: "We also need food, clean food, clean fresh water and firewood. ”

"No problem, I'll arrange it." The archbishop nodded again and again, eating, drinking and so on were trivial matters. As long as these fierce-looking knights don't attack the castle.

"Mr. Deputy Ambassador," the archbishop deliberately approached Chen Chongguan on his way to the castle, and asked with a curious expression, "you have so many knights and so many ships, you won't come only for Portugal, right?" ”

He was setting Chen Chongguan's words. This so-called Ming mission certainly did not have good intentions, and Pontaléon was very sure of that. With the strength of the Ming Mission alone, he could estimate the strength of that empire. And a powerful empire that can reach Europe is certainly a great threat to Europe!

The turbulent conquests of Europe for hundreds of years and thousands of years have taught Archbishop Pontaléon and villains of his level the truth of the law of the jungle.

Being weak is a sin in itself! And being strong means bullying the weak...... No matter how friendly they pretend to be. Therefore, Rome was always so half-hearted when it came to cooperating with the Mongols, preferring to be neighbors of a Celestial Sect that had been weakened by the Mongols rather than having the Mongols wipe out the Mamluks. (To be continued......)