The Portuguese sent an envoy. When Zhou Zhong on the ship received the news, he was also very surprised. He originally thought that after he defeated the Portuguese, the other side would soon send someone to discuss the issue of prisoners of war, but he did not expect that he had to wait for a long time.

It's been years and there's not even a bit of information.

I heard from the Muslim merchants in India that after the Portuguese lost most of their troops in Malacca, they immediately shrank their forces in the Indian Ocean and were no longer as arrogant as before. Zhou Zhong originally thought that the Portuguese had given up on Alfonso's

Prisoners of war, but I didn't expect that a year had passed, and the other party actually sent an envoy, and now they are in Malacca. After Zhou Zhong agrees, they will come to discuss the issue of prisoners of war and war compensation with Zhou Zhong.

After receiving the news, Zhou Zhong stood on the deck and considered for a moment, and finally decided to agree to receive these Portuguese envoys. After all, he now also needed to know what the Portuguese's attitude towards the Ming Dynasty was after their defeat? In addition, he also wanted to know what kind of attitude the Portuguese had towards Ming after their defeat.

With the end of the last war, there was no longer direct trade between the Ming Dynasty and the Portuguese. Ming merchants were worried about retaliation from the Portuguese, so the goods of the Ming Dynasty needed to be transported to India by Muslim merchants and then sold to the Portuguese.

Muslim businessmen have made a lot of profits, but they are actually suffering some losses. There are also other problems that need to be resolved through negotiation.

Thinking of this, Zhou Zhong immediately sent someone to send a message to Malacca, asking them to send a ship to escort the Portuguese mission to Malacca. As for whether these missions will enter Beijing, it depends on the sincerity of the other party and the moral mood of the other party.

In a house not far from the military camp at the port of Malacca, the Portuguese mission was arranged here. Since they arrived in Malacca, they have been subject to more than a dozen waves of conflicts at different levels. After all, the Portuguese killed the natives of Malacca last time.

It’s so cruel. Someone has died at the hands of the Portuguese in almost every household, so these days, natives often come to the place where the Portuguese live to make trouble, and some even stab the Portuguese who go out. Thanks to the fact that they live next to it.

The military camp prevented the natives from making too much noise, otherwise the Portuguese envoys would have been torn to pieces by the local natives.

In the hall of the mission, a Portuguese man with a gray beard was sitting there, discussing matters with the two people around him. He frowned and said: "Father Dias, what do you think about the young man?

Will the Governor of the Ming Dynasty agree to our request after seeing us?"

The priest wearing a priest's robe sitting in front of the bearded Portuguese man heard the other person's words and immediately leaned forward and said: "Don't worry, Mr. Governor, I received a letter from Father John some time ago. In the letter

He introduced the situation of Ming Dynasty and how he met the Governor Zhou. In my opinion, the young Governor Zhou is a wise and very rational person. He definitely does not want to have a long war with us.

.So as long as we show enough sincerity this time, and Ming Dynasty's goods also need to be shipped to Europe through us, I believe that Governor Zhou will make the right choice."

This priest named Dias is actually not a Portuguese, but an Italian. The reason why he came to Malacca with Portugal was mainly because he was invited by Father John to preach in the Ming Dynasty. He happened to meet him on the way.

The Portuguese envoy, so they went together and told the other party some information about the Ming Dynasty that they had learned from Father John.

"Father Dias is right. In the past, merchants from the Ming Dynasty went directly to the west coast of India to trade with us, but now they have all disappeared. The goods from the Ming Dynasty need to be transshipped by those greedy Muslim merchants, and the price has increased several times. This kind of

The situation is abnormal, so I also believe that Ming Dynasty also hopes that the relationship with us can return to the normal track!" At this time, a Portuguese officer in his thirties sitting on the other side also said.

The bearded Portuguese man known as the Governor finally nodded with relief after hearing the words of Father Dias and his subordinates: "I hope so. Alfonso is the person I value most. He was defeated this time."

I am also very sad about the loss, but fortunately he is still alive. As long as we can rescue him, we still have the ability to start from the beginning!"

This grey-bearded Portuguese is not a simple man. He is Vasco da Gama, who is famous in the history of navigation in later generations. More than ten years ago, it was he who led a fleet and was the first to circumnavigate the Cape of Good Hope in Africa and open up the sea.

established a route from Europe to the Indian Ocean, and through war and other means, established Portuguese trading points along the Indian Ocean coast.

It was this series of actions by Vasco da Gama that enabled the Kingdom of Portugal and himself to earn huge amounts of wealth. In recognition of his achievements, the King of Portugal awarded him the title of "Admiral of the Indian Ocean", and he also used

The wealth obtained from sea trade purchased a large amount of land and became the most powerful figure in Portugal after the royal family. Alfonso, who was captured alive by Zhou Zhong last time, was actually the successor of Vasco da Gama in India, and Alfonso led the

Vasco da Gama also invested a large amount of sponsorship in his fleet, but unfortunately all was wasted due to defeat.

Originally, Vasco da Gama withdrew from the fleet after two voyages from Europe to India, bought a large piece of land in Lisbon, and lived a life of a rich man. If the original history were to be followed, he would have died more than ten years later.

Only then did he go to India for the third time, and he died there in the end. Unfortunately, this time because of Alfonso's defeat, the Portuguese's strength in the Indian Ocean was greatly reduced, and the Indians and Arabs were also ready to make a move, so Vasco da Gama was ordered to do it in the face of danger.

He had to come to India again to serve as the Governor-General of India. At the same time, he was also responsible for sending an envoy to the Ming Dynasty, redeeming prisoners of war, and resuming transactions with the Ming Dynasty.

"Ferdinand, when we came here, we saw those warships captured by the Ming Dynasty. We heard that there are still Portuguese prisoners of war on them. The Ming Dynasty asked them to teach the Ming army to operate these warships. Is there any way for you to obtain the warships from the prisoners of war?

Contact, they have been with the Ming army for so long, they should know a lot of things that we don't know." Da Gama said to the Portuguese officer again, this officer was a man he found in the Portuguese army after coming to India.

Talent, he has now promoted him to be his adjutant, helping him deal with some very difficult things.

"I'm afraid this is difficult. I tried it once last time, but General Qu of the Ming Dynasty strictly prohibited our mission from approaching those warships. As for the prisoners of war above, they were also prohibited from contacting outsiders, so I think that in

Before Ming Dynasty officially agrees, it may be difficult for us to contact the captured soldiers." The officer named Ferdinand replied.

Ferdinand Magellan is the full name of this young officer. Yes, he is the Magellan who made the first voyage around the world. However, he is still serving in the Portuguese army. He has also been in the Indian Ocean before and personally participated in it.

After many suppressions and massacres of local natives, when Vasco da Gama came to the Indian Ocean this time, he accidentally met Magellan and admired his talent very much, so he promoted Magellan to be his assistant.

Hearing Magellan's answer, Vasco da Gama couldn't help but sigh. Originally, he was very optimistic about Alfonso, and even agreed with Alfonso's attack on Malacca. However, he never expected that the Ming Dynasty would actually

Intervening without warning was completely different from the conclusions they obtained from previous investigations, so he still couldn't figure it out until now.

In addition, Alfonso's defeat also dealt a big blow to Vasco da Gama's reputation. Many people were already questioning his previous Nanyang strategy. It was precisely because of this huge pressure that he was under great pressure, and at the same time in order to wash away the troubles on his body.

It was a shame, so Vasco da Gama agreed to serve as the Governor-General of India. However, when he arrived in India, he discovered that the Ming Dynasty had completely controlled the Strait of Malacca, and the combat effectiveness of the army was very strong, no worse than their European armies, so he had to give up.

He had previously planned to use force to resolve the dispute, so he came to Daming in person to prepare to resolve the dispute with Daming through negotiation.

Soon Vasco da Gama received the news that Zhou Zhong was willing to receive them, which made the entire Portuguese mission overjoyed. After packing their bags, Vasco da Gama led the entire mission and finally left Malacca. This made everyone in the mission

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. After all, it was not an easy task to stay in a place full of hostility to them like Malacca.

Vasco da Gama brought a total of two warships this time, accompanied by more than 200 envoys and soldiers. In order to protect and monitor Vasco da Gama and others, Qu Lie, the defender of Malacca, sent four warships to escort them, and

Two of them were Portuguese warships that had been captured before. This made the people in the Vasco da Gama mission look very uncomfortable, but they did not dare to say anything. After all, they were now in a weak position and did not dare to ask anything against the Ming Dynasty.

Too much to ask.

Under the guidance of the Ming Dynasty warships, Vasco da Gama and his warships sailed all the way north. Apart from replenishing water in Champa and other places, they never stopped again. It was not until they arrived at Guangzhou Port that Vasco da Gama and his companions

Landing on land again, this was also the first time they landed on the territory of the Ming Dynasty. However, when they saw the prosperous city of Guangzhou, they were immediately shocked beyond measure.

As a thousand-year-old port, Guangzhou is still very prosperous even after the sea ban. Especially after the establishment of Zhou Zhong, the governor of the Four Seas, the sea ban has been effectively broken. Therefore, in addition to tribute ships, the fleet in Guangzhou Port

It is also full of ordinary merchant ships, and the daily cargo throughput is also amazing, even better than Shuangyu Port. After all, Shuangyu Port is just an emerging port, and it is still incomparable with a thousand-year-old port like Guangzhou.

Zhou Zhong arranged the first stop of the Portuguese mission in Guangzhou, in order to shock the Portuguese with the prosperity of Guangzhou and let them understand what a prosperous and huge empire they were facing.
Chapter completed!