"Hello, Dear Mr. Teixeira, it is a great honor to meet you in this great city. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 Under the recommendation of a priest, John Heathrow from the East India Company finally met this European general who was trusted by the Ming Emperor, and now Gonzalez Teixeira has accumulated meritorious service and has been promoted to the command of the third rank, and has also received the rank of general Guangwei and the rank of captain of the cavalry, and he is also a middle and high-ranking official among the Ming generals, and his oriental adventure has been a great success.

The only regret that he regretted was that the Ming Dynasty canceled the titles of barons and viscounts, and the earls and above would only be canonized to generals like Lu Xiangsheng and Mao Chenglu, who had made great achievements, and it seemed that it would be difficult for him to obtain this honor, otherwise he would be able to make a big splash when he retired and returned to Europe in the future; However, as he became familiar with the Ming Dynasty, Teixeira gradually changed his mind, and he began to hesitate to bring his family to live in the Ming Dynasty, because it was much richer than in Europe, and the future was bright.

"Hello Mr. Cavani." Teixeira replied that he did not know that Cavani was just a pseudonym for John Heathrow, but that he considered him his own compatriot, and that John Heathrow had no choice but to do so, because Portugal was still under Spanish occupation and Britain was at war with Spain.

During this period, the Ming Dynasty of East Asia expanded under the command of Li You, and the Jiannu, Mongol, and Wa kingdoms all became their defeated subordinates; In Europe, the countries were also divided into two groups of fighting, the German Protestant princes and Denmark, Sweden, France on one side, and the support of the Netherlands, England, and Russia, and the Holy Roman Emperor, the German Catholic princes and Spain, and the other side supported by the Pope and Poland, because of religious issues, had been fighting for more than ten years, and there was no hope of a truce in the short term, this war was later called the "Thirty Years' War", and it was not until more than ten years later that the Habsburgs were defeated.

In this war, a number of outstanding generals such as Gustav II, Ferdinand II, Wallenstein, Prince Condé and so on emerged, which led to the military reform of Europe and gradually made Europe a global leader in military affairs, but now because of the emergence of Li You, the army of the Ming Dynasty has been ahead of the European countries.

Although the war was not over, it could not stop the East India Company's desire for wealth, the company founded in 1600 has been in Asia for more than 30 years, but because Asia at this time is still dominated by the Dutch and Spaniards, they have not made much progress, but only set up a trading post in Surat, western India, and a trading house in Madras, southeast India, to earn wealth through trade.

This slow progress obviously did not satisfy the company's 125 shareholders, who had invested a huge sum of 72,000 pounds not only for this, but because of their own lack of strength, they could not compete with the Spaniards for colonies in Asia, so they set their sights on the Ming Dynasty, John Cicero was the East India Company's envoy to the Ming Dynasty, his purpose was to establish trade ties with the Ming Dynasty, and it would be great if there was an opportunity to use the power of the Ming Dynasty against Spain.

Because he has Portuguese blood and is proficient in Portuguese, he made a plan to approach the Ming Emperor through Teixeira, and it seems that the progress is going smoothly, after this period of contact, he has won Teixeira's trust, and today he specially came to the banquet of Teixeira in the famous cheap house roast duck restaurant in the capital, hoping to be able to move him to introduce himself to which Ming Emperor, so as to move His Majesty the Emperor to start his plan to make this trip.

But as soon as the roast duck came up, he was attracted by the chef's superb knife skills and delicious food, and after eating two roast ducks in a row, he remembered that he hadn't talked about it yet, and he smiled awkwardly and said, "You know, I've been in India before, and there is no such delicious food there." ”

"Yes, living in this country is like being in paradise, with the most delicious food, the most gorgeous silks, the most comfortable houses, the greatest cities." Teixeira said with concern, "So I'm even thinking about whether to take my family from Portugal." ”

"I can help if you need it, I can help you send letters to your family and solve the problem of the ship coming to Daming for them." Heathrow wasted no time in sending gifts, and if he could gain the trust of the general, then these investment companies were definitely willing to take it, "I think if I had such an opportunity, I would definitely stay in Daming." ”

As soon as he heard that the other party could solve his most troublesome problem, Teixeira immediately became happy, and hurriedly asked for details, Heathrow dealt with them one by one, and finally Teixeira said happily, "Thank you very much for your help, I don't know what I can do for you?" If you are in need of porcelain, tea and silk from the Ming Dynasty, I will introduce you to reliable merchants who will give you the best prices and the highest quality goods. "Teixeira hasn't been in vain all these years in the capital.

Although this gift is heavy, it does not match Heathrow's expectations, high-end goods and preferential prices are of course what Heathrow wants, but this is nothing compared to meeting with the Ming Emperor, so he said, "Dear General Teixeira, you see, I am also an adventurer who has come here from far away, although I do not have such an outstanding talent as you to obtain such a legendary experience and lofty status, but I also want to have some legendary stories that I can tell to my children and grandchildren, So what could be more legendary than meeting an emperor who ruled over tens of millions of people? ”

"I have heard that His Majesty the Emperor is fond of European science and technology, so I have brought some of the latest scientific works in Europe, and I would like to ask you to give these gifts to His Majesty the Supreme Emperor, that he may have an opportunity to meet him." Heathrow did a lot of preparations.

On the one hand, Heathrow did provide him with a lot of help, and on the other hand, it can be seen from the experience of John Tang and others that His Majesty the Emperor would indeed like this gift, so Teixeira also agreed, sent Heathrow's gift to Li You, and won him a chance to meet His Majesty the Emperor.

And so, a few days later, Heathrow arrived at the palace with excitement.