The Sun and the Lion

The Yemen region was suddenly hit by war, and for the rulers of the East African coastal states, they had experienced several invasions from the sea, and the Portuguese invaders also acted very regularly.

Almeida arrived in Kilwa on the summer solstice in 1505. The Portuguese sailors, who had been at sea for nearly three months, were greatly encouraged by the sight of the rich and fertile land, but the deputy king did not act rashly.

Although under the coercion of Vasco da Gama, the Sultan of Kilva accepted the King of Portugal as his suzerain, but according to the knowledge of the deputy king, Kilva owed Manuel two years of tribute and he was not in port. Saw the Royal Flag of Portugal flying.

"Where is the ruler of Kilwa? Where is he?" Almeida asked the official who came to receive him, but the other party just stammered and defended: "The Sultan... has distinguished guests to receive today, and it is not convenient now... However, the Sudan will not neglect you, and the Sudan will provide you with the supplies you need free of charge.”

The Sultan of Kilwa still planned to evade the threat this time. This time he lied about receiving other distinguished guests and planned to give supplies and property to appease the deputy king.

Almeida was not satisfied with this answer and ordered the fleet to rest for the night. Various supplies from the shore were transported to the Portuguese fleet at night. The sailors transported these supplies to the cabins with great enthusiasm and feasted on them with the permission of the noble officers.

In addition to sorghum, fish, and meat, the most important thing is all kinds of locally produced fruits and vegetables. Thanks to the generosity of the Sultan of Kilwa, every Portuguese sailor alive has a very rich ration tonight.

After the fleet had finished resting, the deputy king immediately took action and ordered the fleet to dispatch a posture to bombard the city. Seeing this, the Sultan of Kilwa sent his vizier to contact the Portuguese "overlord".

"Dear Commander, this is all a misunderstanding." The vizier looked very embarrassed, begging for mercy and forgiveness from the deputy king.

"Misunderstanding?" Almeida's spittle directly hit the opponent's face and shouted: "Your country deliberately delayed my country's tribute for two years, disrespected my king's flag, and now you despise me and treat the suzerain so rudely. This It cannot be explained by a misunderstanding."

The vizier only promised to make up for the arrears of tribute. As for the Sultan of Kilwa, whom Almeida repeatedly emphasized and demanded, he could not move. The deputy king, who had no patience to continue talking to the vizier, directly asked the guards to take him away. Seizure.

"What do you mean, what do you want to do?" The vizier panicked.

Almeida did not answer him, and with an order, the Portuguese began to land at Kilwa. He took the lead and stepped onto the beach, where the Portuguese flag stood conspicuously.

With the sound of cannon announcing the start of the attack, the Portuguese soldiers followed the officers into the wealthy city in high spirits. Brandishing swords and matchlocks, they rushed into the streets but found almost no resistance, and reached the palace unimpeded. 's location. In the chaos, only a few officials and attendants who failed to seize the opportunity to escape were trapped in the palace.

The soldiers ignored the crowds rushing out of the city. They used axes to smash open the palace door. The trapped officials stuck a simple Portuguese flag out of the window and shouted in Swahili and Arabic: "Long live Portugal." !”

The deputy king entered the palace and found that the sultan had fled with some citizens, but because he was in a hurry, he left many belongings behind. He ordered all the property to be sealed up, declaring it to be the property of the king, and no one was allowed to touch it privately.

After walking out of the palace, the monks on the ship erected a cross on the largest mosque in the city and thanked God for their victory. All the districts in Kilwa were plundered by soldiers, who risked their lives and crossed the ocean just to get the spoils and become rich overnight. The property that these soldiers collected privately was put into their own pockets and was not handed over to the deputy king for redistribution. This made Almeida angry that the soldiers had stolen the king's property, but he could not handle all the soldiers strictly in accordance with military law. .

The deputy king stayed in Kilwa for two weeks. First, he wanted to restore local order. The Portuguese were unable to transport a large number of immigrants. At present, he could only support a puppet to maintain Portugal's presence in Kilwa.

The coronation ceremony of the new Sultan was prepared in a hurry. Almeida did not even find a nobleman with a blood relationship with the Sultan as the ruler. Instead, he appointed a wealthy businessman who was dissatisfied with the Sultan. Wearing Portuguese fine clothes, he swore allegiance to the deputy king, promising to always be loyal to Portugal and not to default on tribute.

At the same time, many abandoned buildings were demolished, their building materials were used to build fortresses, and the garrison responsible for garrisoning the fortresses was also deployed. Almeida, who had arranged the aftermath, wasted no time in Kilwa and continued to lead the fleet northward along the coast.

Although Manuel did not specify further targets in East Africa in the order, he instead asked for it to cross the Indian Ocean to the Malabar coast as soon as possible. The deputy king still showed his subjective initiative and decided to conquer Mombasa first. Find Shuyuan www. zhaoａｈhuyuａ.com

The Sultan of Mombasa knew that the Portuguese were a difficult opponent to deal with. He strengthened the city's defenses and ordered divers to salvage cannons from nearby sunken Portuguese ships. Portuguese sailors who defected to the Sultan's command allowed these cannons to be used correctly.

However, the sparse and poorly maintained artillery failed to pose a threat to Almeida. The Flemish gunners in the fleet won the artillery battle with Mombasa for the Viceroy.

The Sultan of Mombasa angrily received the envoy Almeida sent to the shore: "My master hopes that you can recognize the reality and peacefully surrender to the great monarch Manuel is the most advantageous choice."

"You bastards of the devil, bastards from hell, Mombasa is not Kilwa, I am a sultan, not a chicken, no one will sit still and wait for death in the face of such atrocities..."

The Sultan, who sent the envoy away, planned to use all the military power at hand to fight against the powerful enemy.

Facing these united defenders and citizens, Almeida, who observed many wooden buildings in the city, planned to burn the city to the ground. The organized Portuguese death squads came ashore and threw lit gunpowder cans into the streets. The fire quickly expanded and swept across the city. .

The fire lasted all night, and at dawn the next day, the Portuguese army took advantage of the chaos and rushed into it. The Sultan of Mombasa was unable to stop it. After being driven out of the city, he could only watch the Portuguese destroy the city, plunder wealth, and capture slaves in the fire.

Almeida, who learned the lessons of Kilwa, tried this time to allocate different urban areas to the sailors of different warships to conduct organized and efficient search operations. This can also reduce the possibility of the loot being stolen privately by soldiers.

Such atrocities brought Mombasa to its knees, and the trading city-state soaked in blood and fire became Portugal's new vassal.

At the turn of summer and autumn, the Vice-King of Portuguese India finally arrived on the Malabar coast.