The Rise of the European Emperor

Because Nanlang Town is too close to the Humen Fort, and because Sun Wei learned that the "Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi" has more than 100,000 troops and a lot of artillery, Da Gama does not intend to stay in Nanlang Town, but is looting After that, they hurriedly withdrew.

Because there is no professional dockyard to repair ships, Da Gama is not at ease after forcibly recruiting carpenters from Nanlang Town to repair the Braga and Setubal. After withdrawing from the Pearl River Estuary, da Gama simply let the two ships return to the port of Malacca. In the port of Malacca, the Portuguese built a very professional dock, which can completely overhaul the two ships to prevent the ships from going out of order again.

Then, Da Gama took the remaining 28 warships to the Hong Kong Island that he saw when he first arrived. He found a dilapidated small fishing village in the Deep Water Bay to the west of the Repulse Bay on the south side of the Hong Kong Island, and seized it. The fleet is docked here.

In fact, Da Gama was most optimistic about the land west of Lingdingyangkou in later generations, that is, Macau in later generations. But the problem is that Da Gama knew that the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi in the Ming Dynasty had hundreds of thousands of troops under his command. And the piece of Macau is close to the mainland, so it was easily besieged by the Ming army.

Therefore, he was obviously more optimistic about Macau, but out of safety considerations, Da Gama took his fleet to the more secluded south of Hong Kong Island, found Deep Water Bay, and docked here.

"Everyone, let's talk about it. What should we do next? The power of the Ming Kingdom seems to be beyond our imagination. It seems to be an impossible task to conquer the city of Guangzhou and force the Ming Kingdom to bow its head..." Da Jia After Ma settled the fleet, he called a meeting of all the captains to discuss the next step.

After two days of fierce debate, Da Gama and the captains under his command finally reached a consensus—they planned to use the deep water bay fishing village as a base to launch an attack on the coastal areas of Guangdong in the Ming Kingdom. Although Guangzhou, a bustling port city, might not be able to get their hands on it, according to the information from Sun Wei, it seems that the Ming Kingdom has not long developed an artillery fortress, only in the past two years. But only important ports such as Guangzhou and the legendary Quanzhou of Hu Jian have artillery fortresses called "forts". If those important ports are not attacked, with the firepower of the Portuguese warships, the problem is still not big.

For example, on the map of the coastal areas of Guangdong purchased from pirates at the mouth of the Pearl River, Da Gama discovered that in addition to Guangzhou, there are also some coastal towns in Huizhou and Chaozhou along the coast of Guangdong, which are also very prosperous. Moreover, the defensive force cannot keep up with Guangzhou. Most importantly, those places are said to have no artillery...

Da Gama waved his hands and loudly encouraged:

"Everyone, everyone has also seen that in just one Nanlang Town in Xiangshan County, we have grabbed more than 10,000 riyals (1 riyal = 0.5 shillings, 1 gold coin = 5 shillings = 10 riyals) It is said that the wealth of those counties is dozens of times that of small towns in the countryside. As long as you can rob a few coastal counties, you can get a wealth of several million rials! In particular, there are many silk shops and porcelain shops in the county towns , are priceless commodities!"

"Everyone, the main thing is for us to rob a few more coastal counties, so that everyone can make a fortune and go back! Moreover, maybe we can force the Ming Kingdom to make concessions, so that the great Portuguese Kingdom will have the opportunity to trade normally with the Ming Kingdom..."

But Dias, the captain of the Madeira, frowned and said:

"My lord, are you too optimistic? As far as I know, those counties in the Ming Dynasty are very tall and strong. Moreover, there are many guards along the coast of Guangdong in the Ming Dynasty, each of which has five or six thousand soldiers. I think It might be a little difficult to break through those county towns, or even state capitals. If it takes a long time, the Ming Kingdom will definitely send a large number of soldiers and horses to rescue them..."

Da Gama said indifferently:

"It's okay, Dias, even if we can't break through those county towns, can't we still loot the small towns along the coast? Those small towns don't have city walls and no army guards. Even if we can't break through the county towns,

Conquer a few small coastal towns. A small town robs gold and silver worth more than 10,000 rials, and several small towns cost tens of thousands... There are so many coastal towns in the Ming Dynasty, so if you rob more, you can always get together millions of rials. If it really doesn’t work, we can still go north and go to Hu Jian to loot the coastal towns along the coast..."

"What if the Ming Dynasty sent a fleet to fight?" Dias frowned. According to the information provided by the people of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty has two provinces in Guangdong and Hujian, but it has a navy, and it is estimated that there are hundreds of warships.

"You mean those small boats? Captain Dias, have you forgotten the naval battle at Calicut? The joint fleet of Egypt and India also touched hundreds of warships, but what was the result? In front of the artillery, those battleships The navy of the Ming Dynasty, which is far behind, is vulnerable!" Da Gama said confidently.

He is not talking nonsense. These days, the navy of the Ming Dynasty is indeed not much stronger than the navy of Egypt and India. Facing the Portuguese fleet, which all uses artillery to fight, there is really no chance of winning.

And da Gama's plan is also very simple - by looting the coastal towns of Daming, he will anger the Ming country, and let the Ming country send naval forces to fight him at sea.

Later, Da Gama planned to wipe out the navy of the Ming country, so that the Ming country "sees the reality clearly", and was finally forced to bow his head, and allowed Portugal to open the Ming country's market and earn huge wealth...

...

Strictly speaking, da Gama's intentions were good. This kind of wretched tactic can indeed provoke the Ming army to send a fleet to fight on board. Then, the Portuguese artillery will teach them to "be a good man"...

As long as the navy on the southeast coast of the Ming Kingdom is wiped out, the Ming Kingdom will lose the ability to compete with Portugal at sea. Then, you can slowly force Ming to submit.

It's a pity that Da Gama and his captains didn't know that this method of threatening people at every turn might be useful in other countries and dynasties. However, the Ming Dynasty, which now controls China, is known for its tough bones in history. If you want to force the Ming Dynasty to submit, it is really difficult to succeed. If you don't do it well, you will force the Ming Dynasty to develop a navy...

That's why Marin hastily presented a plan to build a fort to help the Ming Dynasty find a relatively conservative solution. In case Zhengde's brain got hot, he went to engage in some navy... After all, Liu Daxia just hid the blueprints and navigation charts of the treasure ship. If under the pressure of war, Liu Daxia would not be able to withstand the pressure...

But it is different with the fort. The existence of the fort is very in line with the conservative defense strategy of the civilian group, and the cost is not too much, so it will naturally be favored.

In addition, Zhengde himself is also a landlubber. Historically, Zhengde fell into the water when he went south, fell ill, and died... If he knew the nature of water, why would he have problems because of falling into the water?

...

"Looting the coastal towns of the Ming Kingdom... Lord Da Gama, this is just like a pirate! Will it affect the reputation of His Majesty the King?" Captain Dias was still a little worried.

Da Gama said indifferently:

"Pirates make pies, pirates do pies, please remember - we are not professional pirates, we can rob property and food. But try not to kill people!"

"Everything we do is for Portugal. So, what if the reputation is damaged? For the great Portugal, I am willing to play a cameo as a pirate!"

In this way, next, the 28 warships hiding in Deep Water Bay in the south of Hong Kong Island started a "pirate mode" along the coast of Guangdong, constantly looting coastal towns...