New Ming Empire mixed in America

(two chapters in one)

After discussing the matter of helping Japan drive away the British fleet, Li Mingqi asked the imperial guards to take the envoys away from the ship.

If they hadn't been left to catch the big fish of the Meiji puppet emperor, none of these people would have been able to set foot on his ship alive.

The bombing on the shore continued. Facing such a weak opponent for the first time, the National Defense Force and the airship force fought very smoothly.

To be honest, the birth point is really important.

Now Li Mingqi regrets very much why he had to go to the west coast to establish a country.

If we had chosen Southeast Asia, our development would have been much faster.

After spending a day cleaning up the city, the fleet set sail again and sailed along the South China Sea toward Ryukyu.

The target of this fleet is Guangzhou, which is the closest and has been the branch of the Xinming Empire Immigration Bureau.

But at this time, Guangzhou, Fuzhou, Xiamen, Ningbo, and Shanghai were about to open up to the "Treaty of Nanjing" signed after the first Opium War and the "Treaty of Beijing" signed after the failure of the Second Opium War.

Treaty port.

In addition, Hong Kong-Pearl-Hong Kong was also ceded to Dai Ying due to the Treaty of Nanjing.

Therefore, Li Mingqi believed that the puppet Qing court's move to expel the Xinming Empire Immigration Bureau branch definitely had Dai Ying's shadow behind it.

But I know that the Xinming Empire does not yet have the strength to take back the concession area.

But immigration from the Puppet Qing Dynasty is the foundation of the New Ming Empire, so anyone who blocks immigration will be torn apart when necessary.

The destination of this trip is Guangzhou City, but to reach Guangzhou City, you must pass through the Pearl River Estuary.

On both sides of the Pearl River Estuary are Macao occupied by the Portuguese and Pearl Island occupied by the British.

The first stop of the Pacific Fleet was Macau, which had been declared a free port by the Portuguese.

Everyone knows that Macau was ceded in 1887, when the Portuguese government and the puppet Qing government signed the Qing-Portugal Treaty of Peace and Trade.

But in fact, as early as 1553, the Portuguese used the excuse of "borrowing land to dry flooded goods" and bribed Ming Dynasty officials to be allowed to live temporarily in the Macau Peninsula.

And the occupied area continued to expand over a period of time.

It is similar to the origin of Thanksgiving in the United States. This is how the Mayflower gained a foothold with the help of the Indians.

In 1840, he led the British to launch the first Opium War. Under the coercion of Western powers, the puppet Qing government signed a series of humiliating land cession and indemnity treaties.

The Portuguese also took advantage of the situation and wanted to take Macau as their own.

In 1843, the Portuguese in Macau requested from Qi Ying, the imperial envoy of the puppet Qing Dynasty, that Macau should be exempted from the 500 taels of Macau land rent paid annually to the Qing government, and that Portuguese soldiers be stationed throughout the Macau peninsula.

In 1844, the Portuguese built a fort on the Xisha Islands in Taipa without authorization. On September 20 of the same year, Queen Maria II of Portugal issued a decree to combine Macau with Timor and Solor in the South Pacific to form an overseas province of Portugal.

On November 20, 1845, Maria II declared Macau a free port without authorization, allowing all foreign merchant ships to trade freely in Macau.

On March 5, 1849, the Portuguese publicly closed the Chinese customs in Macau, demolished the customs office, and expelled the Chinese customs officials stationed in Macau. After occupying the Macau peninsula in stages, the Portuguese forcibly conquered Taipa in 1851 and 1864.

, the two islands of Coloane were included in its jurisdiction, thus completely occupying the entire Macau area.

It was not until 1887 that the Portuguese government and the corrupt Qing government signed the Sino-Portuguese Treaty of Peace and Trade. The treaty stipulated that "Portugal will permanently manage Macau and the lands belonging to Macau, just as Portugal governs other places." From then on, Macau

Became a Portuguese-administered area based on unequal treaties.

As for Pearl Island, I don’t need to mention it because it has not yet developed and is far less prosperous than Macau at this time.

Therefore, Li Mingqi's first target was the coastal forts and territories established by the Portuguese.

Regarding the two teeth in the world at this time (one Spanish and one Portuguese), Li Mingqi really doesn't know where they got the courage to become a master in the Far East.

In other words, the puppet Qing court had to grovel, otherwise a tougher regime would have driven them out long ago given the size of Portugal.

Because in 1807, Portugal had some minor friction with the then French First Empire.

Well, this small friction was small in the eyes of Napoleon I, but it was not small in the eyes of the Portuguese.

In 1808, almost all of Portugal was occupied by the First French Empire, and the Braganza royal family of the Kingdom of Portugal had to move its capital to Rio de Janeiro in colonial Brazil.

It was not until 1812 that Portugal got rid of French rule with the help of Britain.

It can be said that a peninsular war turned Portugal into a soft-bodied creature like a caterpillar.

And just after Portugal 'recovered' its lost territory, a revolution broke out in the country.

King Joao VI of Portugal, who had gone to Brazil at that time, was invited by the new Portuguese government to return to the country. So Joao VI returned with all the royal family members and ministers, and landed in Lisbon in July 1821.

But as soon as I got off the ship, I discovered that my country was no longer named "Royal Family", but changed its name to the First Constituent Assembly of Portugal.

Moreover, this Congress directly gave Brazil complete independence in the Americas.

Because Pedro, the son of João VI, boasted on the banks of the Ipiranga River that "Give me independence or die!"

Later, if Dai Ying hadn't extended his hand and loaned a large amount of money to Brazil, this guy who had just finished bragging would have starved to death in Brazil, a Portuguese colony.

It was such a country that had internal and external troubles, a national treasury that was so poor that it was running like a rat, and had just ended its colonial rule. It turned out that it became a master in the Puppet Qing Dynasty.

Regarding this kind of fucked up matter, Li Mingqi was going to go and talk to the local Portuguese in person.

Ask them what qualifications they have to exploit the Chinese and regard the Chinese as slaves and inferior people?

Therefore, in early April 1864, the Pacific Fleet bypassed Dong'ao Island and approached Taipa Pier.

At this time, Li Mingqi issued an order for the fleet to bombard all Portuguese merchant ships to announce the arrival of the New Ming Empire.

At this time, there were many merchant ships flying the Portuguese flag, firstly because the customs duties in Macau were under the control of the Portuguese at this time.

Secondly, it is also because Portugal's local economy is already very sluggish, and it can only rely on the Portuguese colony in the Far East to revive the economy.

Therefore, a large number of Portuguese settlers came from the mainland to Macau to become uncles.

After arriving, these bankrupts, who had been reduced to beggars in Portugal, were transformed into high-class people.

The officials of the puppet Qing court wished they could kneel down and give these people money and women.

Sound familiar?

That's right, this is the Guangzhou boundary that black people in later generations loved most.

Now it is also a favorite place for Portuguese settlers.

But these fucked-up things changed when the Xinming Empire's Pacific Fleet appeared offshore.

"God, are those battleships your Portuguese warships?"

On a huge painting boat, several "ladies" from Guangzhou surrounded a white man in a tuxedo and kept asking various questions.

These 'ladies' are all the daughters of merchants in Guangzhou, and they appeared on this rented boat for the purpose of establishing good relations with the white merchants on board.

Most of the white merchants who came to the boat to attend this banquet were just Portuguese people joining in the fun.

Only a few are true ocean-going merchants, with their own ships, stable supply of goods, and channels.

But those wealthy ladies present who had long since changed into European ladies' attire didn't care whether the white people they were chatting with were real maritime merchants.

All they care about is getting more information about overseas countries and the names of various luxury goods that they have never heard of from these people.

Whenever they hear the various maritime adventures boasted by white merchants, these wealthy ladies will also exclaim appropriately to echo them.

Everyone gets what they need, very harmonious.

But in the middle of the banquet, several merchants' daughters who followed a middle-aged white man to the deck of the boat discovered something unusual on the sea in the distance.

"Of course what appears here is our country's warship!"

The middle-aged white man who was already a little drunk did not look back. He just held a girl's shoulder and gently rubbed it.

"This is a colony of our Kingdom of Portugal, and the waters here are the waters of our Kingdom of Portugal. Even if a British warship wants to pass here, it must ask our embassy for permission."

With a little effort, the middle-aged white man pulled the girl from the merchant family in front of him into his arms.

Just when he wanted to kiss her, he found that the beauty in his arms was looking at the sea in the distance in horror.

The middle-aged white man followed her gaze and saw a huge fleet appearing on the sea.

Densely packed warships almost covered the waters outside Taipa Pier.

Just when he was stunned, bits of fire began to flash in the fleet, and then a sheet of white smoke covered the front of the battleship where the fire appeared.

After more than ten seconds, a faint roar reached the ears of the middle-aged white man.

Hearing this sound, the middle-aged white man was suddenly awakened from his drunkenness. He pushed the girl in his arms away and held on to the railing on the deck to watch carefully.

"Where's the telescope? Max, get my telescope quickly!"

The middle-aged white man shouted anxiously to his entourage.

Because at this time, scenes of merchant ships on fire after being shelled could already be seen on the sea.

Even though that impactful scene was far away, it still made this middle-aged white man's eyes wide open.

Because his six merchant ships are docked in that direction!

Soon, the attendant named Max brought the telescope over, but before it could be handed to the middle-aged white man's eyes, he snatched it away.

He couldn't wait to raise the telescope, and now the middle-aged white man finally saw clearly what was happening in the distance.

As he expected, a battle broke out on the outer sea, and a Portuguese gunboat cruising here was confronting an unfamiliar fleet.

But there is good news, that is, his six merchant ships were not bombarded, but were simply captured alive.

"Send a message to that strange fleet and tell them that this is Portuguese waters!"

On a Portuguese gunboat, Cronin, wearing the uniform of a lieutenant colonel, issued orders to the messenger.

"Why don't we go up and stop those warships from shelling merchant ships?"

A young naval officer frowned and put down his telescope, trying to persuade his superiors to save those poor merchant ships.

"The merchant ship that is being bombarded now is the merchant ship of the Sam Chamber of Commerce. Last time, their chamber of commerce helped us send the letter back. Now they are being..."

Before he could finish speaking, he was interrupted by Cronin beside him.

"How do you want to help that Sam Chamber of Commerce?"

Pointing to the huge battleships parked further away, Cronin roared:

"Do you want our small fishing boats to fight those warships?"

"Open your eyes and see clearly. The leading battleship is at least a third-level battleship... No, this is Daiying's second-level battleship. Only Daiying can build such a flashy battleship!"

After finishing speaking, Lieutenant Colonel Cronin was stunned.

He raised his telescope and looked over again in disbelief. After counting the number of layers of the gun deck on one side, he was sure that he had seen it correctly.

That is a second-level battleship with unique characteristics.

But the flag on the battleship was the Sanchen Flag that he had never seen before.

Because most of the flags in Europe at this time were strips, we had never seen such an exquisite three-star flag composed of the sun, moon and stars.

Moving the telescope down, Lieutenant Colonel Cronin discovered that where the battleship was flying the battle flag, someone had hoisted a flag with square characters written on it.

If he knew how to read, he would be able to recognize that what was written on that flag was the word "kill" that almost occupied the entire flag.

At first, Li Mingqi wanted to use the Z-shaped flag as a battle flag.

Later, when I thought about it, this kind of flag was carried forward by the Japanese country in the Far East, which made me feel sick.

Therefore, he decisively designed the battle flag into the current style.

"That battleship is a British battleship, but these flags are not British flags..."

Lieutenant Colonel Cronin was already a little confused. The second-level battleship was Dai Ying's iconic battleship.

These huge battleships, similar to first-class ships, whose actual combat effectiveness is no different from that of third-class ships, generally only appear in British colonies as the flagship of expeditionary fleets.

But now this kind of warship actually appeared off the coast of their Portuguese Far East colony, which made him feel unrealistic.

At Pearl Island across the sea from Macau, some people also exclaimed.

“This flag is the West Coast Oriental!”

A British soldier who was chatting with his companions on the watchtower heard the roar on the sea and used his telescope to confirm the ownership of the warship that was causing trouble for the Portuguese.

"This is what we snatched from the hands of the Orientals. Damn it, are you drunk?"

After his companion heard the shouting, he looked at him strangely.

"It's not the pigtailed Orientals here, it's the Orientals on the west coast who defeated our expedition fleet, or the New Ming Empire!"

Seeing that his classmate still looked confused, the soldier continued:

"Bath soap, crown coins, cigarettes, do you understand this time?"