In fifteenth-century Europe, in an Italian city called **, there was a man named Christopher. Children of Columbus.

This child has had a dream since he was a child, that is, to go to the golden China described in "The Travels of Marco Polo".

When Columbus grew up, his dream became even clearer - that is, to circumnavigate the globe and go west by sea to China!

So, with the white sails across the Atlantic, the fate of the entire shijie was completely changed!

Although, the stubborn Lord Columbus always thought that the place he had arrived in was Asia - in the Bahamas, he thought he was in Japan, then in Cuba, he thought it was Hangzhou, and when he arrived on the island of Isbanniula, Columbus began to scold Marco Polo as a liar: people here don't even wear clothes, where is the prosperity he said?

Zuihou, Columbus later came to Venezuela, and still didn't realize that this was a continent, but he felt that China must be hiding somewhere.

Because of this persistence, the 50 million indigenous people of the Americas have a uniform false name: Indians, that is, Indians.

(PS: Columbus called the Native Americans Indians, so the genuine Indians didn't know what to call themselves after making English the Chinese.) Now, most American Indians call themselves Native Americans, and the erroneous term "Indian" has been gradually phased out. ）

Then, in the midst of the bloodshed set off by the Spanish invaders, only a tenth of the 50 million people were soon dead.

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May 1519, Port Veracruz

The salty sea breeze swept through the waves of the Atlantic, bringing a rare touch of coolness to this hot and humid land.

A dozen dilapidated sailboats ran aground on the sand crookedly, huge iron anchors half-sunk in the sand.

In the future, the most prosperous trading port of the United Mexican States on the Atlantic coast was at this time just a small Indian fishing village in the middle of nowhere.

However, beginning on 20 April, a Spanish expeditionary fleet from Cuba broke into the area and forced the local Indian population into forced labor, building them a temporary dock and camp to make it a base for the Spanish expedition.

At this moment, the supreme commander of this expedition and one of the greatest conquerors in the history of Spain, Hanan? Lord Cortés, sitting at the door of a thatched hut overlooking the bay of Veracruz, basking in the excessively warm sun, was enjoying his delicious lunch—roast turkey, fresh fish soup, sliced pineapple and tomato, and fragrant tortillas.

This is perhaps one of the few things that can make him happy at the moment - Velacruz is a terrible place compared to the temperate climate of Spain. The barren muddy beaches, the rainy, humid and sultry climate, the mosquitoes and flies that fly in the sky, and the tropical diseases that can kill people at any time and at any time all make every Spaniard disgusted with this land.

What's more, before landing in Puerto Veracruz, his expedition had been wandering around the Mayan settlements of the Yucatan Peninsula in the southeast for two months, fighting many battles, killing many people, and suffering a lot, but in total they had only collected about 20,000 Spanish pesos worth of gold. A little gold may be a lot of money for one person, but once it is distributed among the hundreds of expedition members, it becomes very small.

However, an explosive new discovery in Puerto Veracruz more than made up for the painstaking efforts.

Thinking of this, Cortez couldn't help but put a smug smile on the corner of his mouth. …,

Not long ago, in this makeshift thatched hut, he had an unpleasant meeting with Tejutila, an envoy sent by the Aztec Empire, though the minister was very polite and sent an unusually generous gift, to the dazzle of all Spaniards. But the hospitality of their Aztecs made every European feel deeply unbearable.

As soon as the two sides were seated in the room, Cortés was stunned to see Teyutila take out an obsidian knife, and without hesitation, pierce his veins, release a bowl full of blood, and then invite Cortés to drink it, saying that it was their highest courtesy.

After Cortés had reluctantly drunk the bowl of human blood with a frown, Tejutila was immediately very happy, and took out a lot of blood-stained food, and offered it to the Spaniards as if it were a treasure, so that several Spaniards could not help but vomit on the spot.

From this moment on, Cortés realized what a bloody and cruel people the other side was.

Although the blood-stained food was disgusting, the Aztec vessels used to hold it were enough to delight Cortés and his men, and it was enough to dispel the displeasure in the hearts of every Spaniard.

-- The ornate goblet is made of silver and set with several precious stones...... But compared to the discoveries that followed, it was nothing compared to the discoveries that followed—many of those plates and bowls were made of fine Chinese porcelain! Let all the Spanish dumplings see the eyes of the eyes!

In the eyes of the Spaniards of this era, the value of these porcelains was probably much more valuable than the equivalent amount of gold! If those smooth and delicate Chinese porcelain with gorgeous patterns were shipped to Europe, I am afraid that only the princes and nobles could afford to consume them.

In fact, when Cortés drank the bowl of human blood with a frown, and then saw the blue-white oriental glaze at the bottom of the bowl, he was so shocked on the spot that he almost slipped his hand and smashed this treasure, which could sell for at least hundreds of gold pesos in the Kingdom of Spain.

After this, Cortés continued to surprise Cortés with the Aztecs - among the gifts sent by the Emperor Montezuma, in addition to cotton cloth decorated with colorful feathers, the Spaniards were surprised to find some brightly colored silk scarves, which were far more soft and delicate to the touch than they had seen before of the crude goods trafficked by Venetian merchants from Arabian pagans.

In addition to this, Cortés also found some small tea bricks (pu-erh tea) in the gifts, as well as pepper in a small white porcelain bottle!

(PS: At that time, the tea that changed hands through the nomads of Central Asia and eventually trafficked to Europe was almost all tea bricks.) It's a shame that the shape of Pu'er tea is quite similar to tea bricks, all of which are brown squares, otherwise the Europeans at that time might not have recognized our modern bulk green tea! ）

What does this mean?

This meant that a great discovery that would drive Europe crazy seemed to have been unfolded before his eyes.

Silk, porcelain, spices, tea!

Ever since Julius Caesar, who wore a silk and purple robe, Europeans have had a fanatical thirst for these oriental specialties, and even went so far as to take out a coin from their pockets to make the Persians and Arabs who acted as middlemen a lot of money.

At this time, Chinese goods are a symbol of taste, grade, quality and trend, and they can be used as hard currency in Shijie countries.

Especially for Europeans in this era, once anything is labeled as "Indian" or "Chinese", it almost immediately becomes synonymous with "luxury", "elegance", "nobility" and "rarity" - just as when it comes to red wine and perfume, it must be French original, and when it comes to fashion, it is inseparable from Italian designers. …,

And the temptation of these oriental specialties mentioned above, as well as "Marco. Polo's Travels' description of the golden, prosperous and prosperous Oriental Shijie was the ultimate driving force for medieval Western Europeans to risk their lives to run to the vast seas - even Columbus's original goal of crossing the Atlantic was never to discover the New World, but to take shortcuts to India and China, which are fabled to be full of gold and prosperous and rich like paradise.

However, in the more than 20 years since the discovery of the West Indies by Columbus, although one Spanish expedition after another has crossed the ocean, hundreds of adventurers have conquered thousands of seas and sacrificed their lives to explore this strange new world, but they have never found the silk, porcelain, tea and spices they have dreamed of, let alone seen a single fabled prosperous city.

After a lifetime of adventurous voyages, they only saw groups of unclothed, savage and ignorant natives. Except for a small amount of gold stolen or swindled from the indigenous people, there was little to no gain.

Although Columbus, who was the first to set foot on this land, insisted until his death that the place he had arrived in was India. But as time went on, many Spaniards began to wonder if this was a remote corner of Asia, or a wild and obscurantist New World.

At the same time that Cortés was leaving for Mexico, the Portuguese navigator Magellan, who had defected to Spain, was already preparing for his famous voyage around the world. By 1522, the remaining ships of Magellan's fleet would return to Spain, proving to all of Europe that the earth was indeed round, and that the land discovered by Columbus was a new continent and that the real India was beyond reach.

However, it was only 1519, and the illusion of the Spaniards looking for India and China in the New World had not yet been shattered. Many Spaniards felt that even if it was a wild and obscurantist New World, it should be connected to the prosperity of China.

In fact, it was not until the late 17th century, when Europeans had completed their exploration of the whole of North America, that this misconception was finally shattered.

Therefore, when he set out from the island of Cuba before, Cortés also had the idea of looking for China and India here.

And the various oriental treasures displayed in front of him at this moment gave Cortez a clear wrong signal.

-- The land discovered by Columbus really connects the legendary India and China!!

At this moment, the ultimate goal of the hard struggle and bloody sacrifice of many previous explorers seemed to be clearly placed in front of Cortez, and how could he suppress the ecstasy in his heart?

At this moment, Cortés seems to have seen a road to glory and wealth, which is slowly spreading under his feet.

However, after the initial ecstasy, Cortez, who had always been calm, quickly calmed down and began to think about the next step.

Although the bright road seemed to be in front of him, he was facing many difficulties at the moment.

First of all, his troops, even when fully manned, consisted of only 11 ships, 110 sailors, and 553 men, of which only 13 had muskets, 32 with crossbows, plus 10 naval guns, 4 light guns, and 16 horses, as well as a number of Native American slaves, for a total strength of less than 1,000 men. Moreover, these so-called "soldiers" are a rabble, and their combat effectiveness is simply not comparable to that of the Spanish regular army in Europe itself.

Moreover, before arriving at this port, he fought several battles with the Mayans in the south, many of them died, and some of the expedition members contracted tropical diseases, and now the total number of people who were able to participate in the battle had dropped to less than 800, which is too small to look at. …,

Secondly, both the capital of the Aztecs and the legendary source of goods from the East were located far from the shores of the Atlantic, deep in the land behind the mountains, so that the 11 galleons armed with artillery did not play any role at all.

According to those emissaries and the indigenous Indians of the coastal areas, the Aztecs had hundreds of thousands of warriors, as well as hundreds of vassal tribes...... The thought that he was going to use hundreds of men to attack such a large empire, Cortez's scalp couldn't help but tingle.

Zuihou, even within his small team of several hundred men, was full of instability - before this departure from Cuba, Cortés had fallen out with his immediate boss, His Excellency Diego Velázquez, the governor of Cuba, because of a series of misunderstandings, conflicts and contradictions. The Governor had effectively removed him from his position as commander-in-chief of the expedition, and almost had Cortés imprisoned.

Although Cortés was able to escape the Governor's pursuit by virtue of his wits and luck, his team still had many of the hardcore cronies of the Cuban Governor. Let him feel a head two big.

Cortés really couldn't kill or let go of these people - to kill them at will without reason would be to tear his face with the governor completely, and it would probably put the rabble in danger and cause the internal collapse of the expedition.

If he did not kill them, Cortés would always have to beware of them rebelling, lest they take the ships and flee back to Cuba.

Therefore, the emergence of these oriental goods is both an opportunity and a variable for Cortés.

――I'm afraid that some of the steps I conceived in the past will need to be revised...... Looting gold is no longer the primary goal of expeditions!