The first meeting between Zhou Zhong and Alfonso was not very pleasant. The main reason was that Alfonso was still so arrogant and unreasonable even as a prisoner. However, Zhou Zhong was even more arrogant than him and directly gave him two ways. The first one was

Hand them over directly to the Malacca people. As for what will happen to those angry Malacca people?

How to deal with them is not Zhou Zhong's business. The second one is to cooperate with him unconditionally. Everything must follow Zhou Zhong's arrangements without any reservations. For example, the first thing Zhou Zhong asks them to do is to

Alfonso and the others taught Ming soldiers how to operate the captured Portuguese warships.

Thinking of the atrocities he had committed against the Malacca people, Alfonso, who had behaved arrogantly before, very wisely chose the second path. After all, since he was captured, Malacca people came to the prisoner of war camp every day to cause trouble. If the Ming Dynasty's army had not stopped him,

I am afraid that these unarmed prisoners will be torn into pieces by the angry Malaccans.

After Alfonso surrendered, Zhou Zhong immediately asked Chang Xiao and Qu Lie to select a group of smarter soldiers from the navy and began to learn the operation of warships and the application of such warships in naval battles from the Portuguese prisoners of war led by Alfonso.

After all, those Portuguese warships were Clark ships with soft sails. The operation of this kind of ship was very different from that of the Fu ship. Without special guidance, even if it could be started, it would be difficult to exert its original power.

After dealing with the prisoners of war, there was still a series of troubles. For example, after Baman organized the Malacca people to clean up the battlefield, the maritime merchants who were hiding in the city immediately asked to leave the port. After all, they had been delayed in Malacca City for a long time.

Time, and many people even died in the city. So the remaining maritime merchants were naturally eager to leave this place of right and wrong.

Regarding these merchants, Zhou Zhong cannot be as shameless as the Portuguese. At least he will not confiscate the merchants' goods, and the Malacca port will still need these passing merchants to pay taxes in the future. If he is now confiscating the other party's goods for some property

, who would dare to dock at the Ming Dynasty port in the future? So after Zhou Zhong appeased the merchants, he asked people to count the surviving cargo ships in the port and return them to these merchants, and also gave them a tax-free list, so that in the future they could

Malacca Port is tax-free once.

After sending away the merchants, Zhou Chong immediately began to rebuild the port of Malacca. In order to force the Kingdom of Malacca to surrender, the Portuguese used artillery to bombard the port. Fortunately, they used solid bullets in this era, and the damage to the port was not affected.

Not very big, so in

After a few days of repairs, Malacca Port resumed operations again, but this time the managers at the port have all been replaced by people brought by Zhou Zhong. Moreover, the taxes collected also went into Zhou Zhong's pocket. To be precise,

It should be in the inner treasury of the Sihai Admiral's Yamen.

"Admiral, what do you mean by doing this? The port is the port of our Kingdom of Malacca, but now it is all taken over by your Ming Dynasty, and the taxes collected have also been misappropriated by you. What is the difference between what you are doing and the Portuguese?" next to the port

In the Ming Dynasty military camp, Baman, the envoy who was temporarily in charge of Malacca City, was yelling angrily.

The people of Malacca were naturally very dissatisfied with Zhou Chongque's behavior of occupying the dove's nest. At the beginning, no one dared to say anything. However, after getting along for a while, they found that the Ming army was not like the Portuguese army.

People are so vicious. This makes the people of Malacca gradually become more courageous. As the leader of Malacca, Baman also approached Zhou Zhong to negotiate several times, but every time Zhou Zhong changed the subject, which made him very dissatisfied.

This time I finally couldn't help but start a quarrel here in Zhou Zhong.

Seeing that Baman was angry, Zhou Zhong smiled unmoved and did not rush to answer. Instead, he poured himself a cup of tea and took a sip, and then said: "Ambassador Baman, please be patient."

Don't be impatient, there are essential differences between us and the Portuguese. First of all, they want to use force to seize your port and even kill all your people. However, we, the Ming Dynasty, came to assist you as the suzerain country, so you have to

Know who is the enemy and who is the friend!”

After Zhou Zhong said this, he paused for a while, sipped his tea and then continued: "As for your port, we are only in charge of it. Although this group of Portuguese were defeated by us, who can guarantee that there will not be another group, just in case

If they send troops again, you will not have the strength to protect yourself.

Therefore, it is safer to leave it to us. However, since the army needs to be stationed and managed, the army needs to eat and military pay must be paid in peacetime. We can't let Ming Dynasty pay these money too, right? So the taxation of the port will be temporarily left to us.

Take over, Ambassador Barman must be considerate of us!"

What Zhou Zhong said was reasonable and well-founded. Baman didn't know how to refute it for a while, but he always felt that things were not as simple as Zhou Zhong said. Finally, he thought about it and asked again: "Since the Admiral said he was in charge of escrow,

, then I don’t know how long you will take charge of it, will you wait for our King’s return, and then you will withdraw your troops?”

"Withdraw troops?" Zhou Zhong chuckled when he heard this, looked up at Baman, and suddenly asked: "Ambassador Baman, I heard that your family came here from India. I don't know what you think about India.

How much do you know about Bian’s current situation?”

Hearing Zhou Zhong suddenly ask about his family and the situation in India, Baman was stunned at first, a little confused about Zhou Zhong's intention, but finally he answered: "Yes, our family did move from India."

My generation is already the fourth generation here, and the family’s connection with India has long been severed, so I don’t know much about it.”

"That's no wonder." Zhou Zhong laughed loudly at this time. However, after laughing, Zhou Zhong's expression changed and he said, "I'm afraid Ambassador Barman doesn't know that these Portuguese people have already

Beyond Africa, they reached India and established a stronghold there. The west coast of India has completely fallen into the hands of the Portuguese and has monopolized the trade there. It can be said that the Portuguese have now seized huge benefits from the west coast of India.

Won't give up there."

At this point Zhou Zhong paused again, took a breath and then continued: "The Portuguese have a huge appetite, and now the interests of the west coast of India can no longer satisfy them, so these people have set their sights on Nanyang and other places again. This time they attack

The purpose of Malacca City is to open up the passage from India to Southeast Asia. Although they failed this time, do you think they will give up easily?"

"Hiss~" Hearing Zhou Zhong's introduction to the situation in India, Baman also took a breath. He did not expect that the Portuguese expanded so fast. Even his hometown already had a stronghold of the other party, and the Portuguese

People also want to seize Nanyang. The city of Malacca happens to be located on the transportation route between India and Nanyang, so it is naturally their first target to seize. Now Baman finally saw clearly the situation that Malacca City is facing now, and his heart suddenly became heavy.

.

Seeing the change in Baman's face, Zhou Zhong secretly laughed in his heart. Although the Portuguese had expanded to India, without the Suez Canal being opened, Europe was too far away from India, so the Portuguese wanted to transport goods.

It is not easy to send troops to India.

As a result, Portugal did not have many troops in India. He defeated nearly half of Portugal's troops this time. If they wanted to attack Malacca again, they would probably need at least two years to prepare, so the city of Malacca

The situation is not as critical as he said.

"Admiral, when do you think the Portuguese will attack Malacca City again?" Barman thought for a while and finally asked.

"I'm afraid no one can answer this question except the top leaders of Portugal. Maybe the Portuguese warships will come again tomorrow, and maybe the other side will wait patiently for two years. However, given the ambition of the Portuguese and Europe's interest in Nanyang specialties and the Ming Dynasty,

Due to the thirst for goods, I believe it is impossible for the Portuguese to give up invading Nanyang!" Zhou Zhong said in a deliberately serious tone. Since Malacca City has such an important location now that it has fallen into his hands, it is naturally impossible to hand it over easily.

After hearing Zhou Zhong's answer, Baman fell silent again. He had seen the strength of the Portuguese before. Tens of thousands of soldiers in Malacca City were defeated by more than a thousand Portuguese soldiers, and those tens of thousands of soldiers were already the most elite in the kingdom.

The army has been defeated, but now they are dead and wounded. If the Portuguese come again, they can only close their eyes and wait to die.

Thinking of this, Baman couldn't help but sigh. He knew that it was a foregone conclusion that the Ming Dynasty would station troops in Malacca. However, although the Ming Dynasty was the suzerain of the Kingdom of Malacca, their troops could not be stationed here in vain, so the tax revenue from the port would naturally become

The compensation for the garrison, otherwise why would people come all the way to Malacca?

However, although Baman figured this out, he then thought of the Malacca people in the city, especially the Malacca officials who had interests in the port before. They would definitely not be willing to give up the interests of the port. If they had a fight with the Ming Dynasty's army,

If there is a conflict, that would be bad.

Zhou Zhong saw the changing expression on Baman's face. After thinking for a moment, he understood what the other party was thinking. He said with a serious face: "Ambassador Baman, I know that you Malacca people have objections to us taking over the port.

, but my soldiers also need to eat and support their families, and at the same time, I also need a reason to convince His Majesty the Emperor to station troops in Malacca, so we must benefit from the port. As for the people of Malacca, you need to convince them!"

Hearing that Zhou Zhongdu had made it so clear, Baman also had a bitter look on his face. On one side was the huge benefit of the Malacca port, and on the other was the brutal massacre by the Portuguese. Smart people naturally knew how to choose, but some people in the city were taken advantage of.
Chapter completed!