The Rise of the European Emperor

How much Marin hopes that this time Columbus's fleet will return to bring him Taihu pigs. In this way, the great business of raising Taihu pigs can also be launched immediately.

However, Marin knew that was impossible. Because it was impossible for Columbus's fleet to go to the Taihu Lake area in the south of Zhili and Jiangnan, and they would not be able to get Taihu pigs.

Speaking of which, the formation of the true breed of Taihu pigs probably happened after Wanli, and it is still early. However, Marin can be sure that the breeds of Taihu pigs in Suzhou and Changzhou around Taihu Lake have already appeared and become popular, but they have not been paid much attention to.

And not being taken seriously, it also brings a bad point, that is, it is impossible to appear in the market of Guangzhou Prefecture. After all, the goods that can travel thousands of miles from other places to Guangzhou for trading must be famous local products. Taihu pigs have not yet become famous, so naturally no one brought Taihu pigs to Guangzhou when they were full. After all, the shipping cost is very high for thousands of miles. It is not realistic to send people to Nanzhili. The area of ​​Suzhou has always been the financial and taxation center of Daming, and it is very strictly protected. Unless you come uninvited like a pirate. Otherwise, it is difficult for ordinary foreigners to get permission to go to the Jiangnan area.

Therefore, it is impossible for Columbus and his party to buy Taihu pigs this time...

"That's not right!" Marin suddenly patted his head.

He also thought differently. Even if he couldn't buy the super-grade Taihu pigs this time, in Guangzhou, he could always buy the local breeds of domestic pigs in Guangzhou. It is better than European domestic pigs to bring back in...

"Miss! A mistake!" Marin patted his head in depression...

...

At this time, the fleet led by Columbus, whom Marin was very fond of, had already returned to Europe. However, at this time, Columbus's fleet had just arrived in Portugal, the most southwestern part of Europe, and made a stop at the port of Lisbon...

Why did Columbus' fleet stop at the port of Lisbon? This was actually arranged by Malin. why? He needs to take this opportunity to lure the Portuguese...

Because of Marin's intrusion, history has now been greatly changed. Marin does not know if the current situation continues, Portugal will occupy Malacca and fall out with Daming as in the original history. Therefore, he is not very worried.

The trade with Daming was already targeted by Marin, how could Portugal be allowed to intervene? So, Marin needs Portugal to fall out with Daming. Then, he can enjoy the benefits to himself.

It is a very good idea to let Portugal and Daming fall out and bewitch Portugal to occupy Malacca. Moreover, in history, Portugal fell out with Daming like this. Because Portugal occupied Manciga (Malacca), a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming court did not establish diplomatic relations with Portugal because of its face.

Even if Portugal served softly later. In the end, it was the Portuguese who gained a foothold in Macau by bribing local officials in Guangdong. In fact, without the acquiescence of the Ming court, how could the Portuguese have a foothold in Macau? Jin Yiwei doesn't eat dry rice. However, Portugal was not willing to withdraw from Mantaka, and even if they were soft-spoken, the Ming court would not be able to save face and forgive them. Therefore, it is the best way to let local officials quietly open the door. You know, the introduction of arquebus and Fran cannon is the result of Portugal's soft service. The Ming Dynasty has benefited, but it cannot be expressed at all. So, they simply acquiesced to Guangdong to give them a foothold. However, Macau has always been under the jurisdiction of the Ming Dynasty, and it was also in the early Qing Dynasty. Portugal only has the right of residence, not the right of management. It was not until after the Yayi War that Portugal saw an opportunity to fish in troubled waters and took the opportunity to drive away the local Huaxia officials.

Of course, that's the original history. With Marin there, he won't give the Portuguese the chance to please Ming and be forgiven. Even if there is no conflict between the two sides, Marin will create a conflict for them. For example, this time Columbus' fleet stopped in Lisbon specifically to fool the Portuguese...

...

The excuse for Columbus's stop is very simple. It is to inform the Portuguese official that he has discovered the route of Huaxia. Therefore, Telai said hello to Portuguese officials and friends in the maritime community, so as to determine the name of his first discoverer.

As for why Columbus went to the East to "discover" China, this is also a good explanation - Columbus was ordered by Marin to find the Japanese route. And "discovering" Huaxia is because of passing by...

In fact, Columbus returned without even reaching Japan. But he can't say that, after all, in the Pope's ruling, China is the "sphere of influence" assigned to Portugal. Marin, on the other hand, was qualified to colonize Japan, so it makes sense that he sent Columbus to find a Japanese route. Then "passing by" Huaxia is also normal.

...

Columbus's excuse was obviously understood by the Portuguese. However, the Portuguese still did not quite believe that Columbus casually discovered the Huaxia route. So Columbus needed to prove himself.

This is very easy. Kong Tai, the messenger who accompanied Columbus to China, directly ordered his sailors to remove hundreds of exquisite official kiln porcelain from the boat, which blinded the Portuguese's eyes.

Even the King of Portugal, Manuel I, ran over and carefully touched these exquisite chinaware. Then, I just hugged the china and refused to let go...

Seeing that he couldn't bring back this batch of porcelain, Kong Tai simply organized an auction on the spot to publicly auction this batch of exquisite porcelain. Then, these hundreds of pieces of porcelain were auctioned off by Kong Tai for tens of thousands of gold coins...

In fact, when these porcelains were purchased in Daming, the purchase price of each piece of porcelain, even for fine porcelain from official kilns, did not exceed 0.5 taels of silver (one tael of silver is equivalent to 0.87 gold coins). This is still the top official kiln porcelain, and ordinary official kiln porcelain basically does not exceed 0.1 taels (100 wen).

The hundreds of pieces of porcelain that Kong Tai moved down this time were originally for show, and they were all top-level official kiln porcelain, all worth nearly half a tael of silver. However, it sold for a higher price. More than 300 pieces of top-level official kiln porcelain were sold for a sky-high price of more than 10,000 gold coins, which is equivalent to 30 gold coins, and the value has basically increased by more than 60 times.

In fact, this is the reason why Comte uses the finest porcelain. If you take ordinary official kiln porcelain, you can also shoot for a sky-high price of ten or twenty gold coins, and the profit is more than a hundred times more.

In the Ming Dynasty, the porcelain bowls and plates produced by ordinary folk kilns were only a few cents, generally not more than 10 cents. As for the more complicated porcelain vase, it is only a few dozen pennies at most. Anything over 100 yuan can be considered a luxury item.

However, the silver of the Ming Dynasty is also very valuable. The dignified county magistrate's annual salary is only 45 taels, and the average monthly salary is about 3.75 taels. 0.1 taels of silver, almost catching up with the county magistrate's one-day income. In later generations, it can be regarded as something worth hundreds of dollars. Of course, it was a few hundred yuan at the beginning of the century, not a few hundred yuan after the devaluation of the soft sister currency.

...

Seeing that these hundreds of pieces of porcelain really shocked the Portuguese gang of turtles, Columbus and Kong Tai smiled at each other and launched the second phase of the plan, which is to fool the Portuguese...