Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 202: Portuguese Commander Kneels (Two in One)

The Portuguese spared no effort to open up new sea routes with the aim of finding a new route to China and thus breaking the Persian monopoly on the Eastern trade routes.

However, the Portuguese first found India and only now found Malacca.

Moreover, the Portuguese were able to occupy Malacca with the help of Ming Dynasty merchants, because the Persians and Siamese also controlled the main trade of Malacca. In order to gain the benefits of Malacca, the Ming Dynasty merchants chose to cooperate and provided the Portuguese with intelligence on Malacca’s military deployment, which enabled the Portuguese to eventually occupy Malacca.

Merchants have always been like this. In their eyes, economic interests are above everything else. Although for the Ming Dynasty, it was obvious that Malacca being colonized by the Portuguese was not conducive to the interests of the empire.

However, merchants in the Ming Dynasty would choose to cooperate with any force for their own economic interests, even with their own enemy countries, let alone the Portuguese who came from afar.

As for betraying Malacca, it was not worth mentioning for the Ming Dynasty merchants who had no national consciousness at that time. They could even sell out the interests of their own Ming Empire, such as the Shanxi merchants, let alone a vassal state.

They are not afraid even if the imperial court pursues them, because these Ming Dynasty merchants all have official backgrounds, and are even protected by local governments. Therefore, they will not worry about betraying the interests of vassal states and being punished by the imperial court.

Moreover, Zhu Houzhao could not punish his own merchants just because a vassal state was betrayed by his own merchants.

But because of this, the Portuguese learned about the existence of the Ming Dynasty through Ming Dynasty merchants, and were eager to open trade with the Ming Dynasty. After all, in their perception, the Ming Dynasty was a country full of gold, and trading with the Ming Dynasty could bring them endless wealth.

Therefore, the excited Portuguese couldn't wait to come to Tuen Mun at the mouth of the Pearl River. At the same time, after their king learned that the location of the Ming Dynasty was already known, he specially sent Pires to the Ming Dynasty. This led to Pires' arrival in Guangdong, which prompted the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi, Lin Tingxuan, to submit a memorial to Zhu Houzhao asking him whether he would meet with the Portuguese envoy.

However, although the Portuguese dreamed of trading with the Ming Dynasty, they did not have any awe of the Ming Dynasty. They even only thought about making countless wealth from the Ming Dynasty without thinking about bringing any benefits to the Ming Dynasty. Their essence was still primitive capitalists with a predatory nature.

If the Ming Dynasty was as weak as the late Qing Dynasty, they would have forced the Ming Dynasty to cede territory and pay compensation after China's defeat in the Opium War, just like Britain did.

However, the Ming Dynasty is not the late Qing Dynasty after all, and the current Ming Dynasty is still an empire whose industrialization is ahead of the world.

"It is hard to imagine that if our great Emperor Zhengde had not pioneered modern industrialization, how the capitalist empires from the West, these robbers who plundered the world's wealth, would have made the Ming Dynasty bow its proud head and humbly learn from these robbers or even worship them.

Even if it wasn't the Ming Dynasty, a Chinese dynasty hundreds of years later would have encountered such a disaster, so it can be said that it was our Emperor Zhengde who seized the opportunity before this unprecedented change in a thousand years! And it preserved our national dignity and self-confidence, so that to this day, we can still walk with our heads held high! Even our poor people can make the rich people of other countries feel ashamed!

At that time, those arrogant and ignorant scholars were undoubtedly happy. They should be grateful to God for letting them have this great emperor and thank His Majesty for making them so confident. Otherwise, one day they will find out how sorry they are for the country and how stupid they are!
However, they were so foolish that they still despised their emperor in their hearts, thinking that their emperor was not a wise ruler and did not meet the definition of a wise ruler in Confucian orthodoxy. They even thought of using various means to overthrow this great emperor. However, they were less worthy of attention in front of this great emperor than the Western colonizers. Their behavior was like an ant trying to shake a tree or a frog sitting in a well and looking at the sky. They were so selfish that they did not realize that they were going against the entire historical process and the entire nation! "

Many years later, Fang Chuan, a professor at the Imperial Central University, wrote this in his book.

Guangdong Deputy Envoy Wang Hong arrived at Tuen Mun Island with five third-class sailing battleships and ten ordinary warships.

The commander of Tuen Mun Island at that time was the Portuguese general Andra. He had established government offices and firearms manufacturing bases on Tuen Mun Island, and rebuilt the dock. When the Ming fleet appeared here, Andra also learned the news in advance. At first, he was not afraid. After all, the Portuguese had just conquered Malacca.

"It seems that this ancient empire is not friendly to us. If we want them to respect our great Portuguese, we must also let them taste the power of our firearms!"

Andra said this after looking at the Ming fleet appearing on the vast blue sea in the distance.

At this time, Wang Hong, the deputy envoy of Guangdong who was ordered to take back Tuen Mun Island, was also observing Andra and the Tuen Mun Island he occupied with a telescope.

The telescope is a product of the 17th century in history, but in this era, due to the appearance of Zhu Houzhao, it has become the most commonly used observation device for imperial officers. Therefore, before Andra could see the face of the Ming commander Wang Hong clearly, Wang Hong had already seen Andra and the defense of his island clearly.

Wang Hong shook his head. He had to admit that this group of barbarians from the West were not really opponents worthy of his attention. But he didn't understand why His Majesty the Emperor would personally order him to fight this battle well and even issued a decree to give special instructions. He didn't understand why His Majesty the Emperor attached so much importance to it.

But no matter what, since it was an order from Emperor Zhu Houzhao and an instruction given personally, Wang Hong could only treat it with caution.

"The Tuen Mun Island you are occupying is the inherent territory of the Ming Dynasty. Your current actions are acts of aggression. Now, we give you half an hour to come to our deputy envoy to confess your crimes. Otherwise, we will directly bombard you. If your lives are harmed, do not regret it!"

At this time, Wang Hong followed Zhu Houzhao's instructions to use courtesy before force, so he first asked his subordinates to hold copper loudspeakers and shout at the Portuguese on Tuen Mun Island.

The Portuguese on Tuen Mun Island also had a Chinese interpreter with them, so Andra, the Portuguese commander of Tuen Mun Island, also understood what Wang Hong meant. Andra immediately became a little angry:
"There are no Chinese residents here, and there are no Chinese territorial signs. It is just a new land that does not belong to anyone. We Portuguese were the first to discover it and erect a monument. It must be our territory! Tell them that we welcome China to trade in the Portuguese-ruled area, but we do not allow Chinese troops to come to the Portuguese-ruled area. This is an act of aggression. They are required to leave in half an hour, otherwise they will be directly bombarded on the grounds of trespassing!"

So, Wang Hong also received the reply from Andra, and he couldn't help but burst out laughing for a moment. He didn't understand how this Portuguese could be so thick-skinned. As the saying goes, All under heaven belongs to the king, and all the people in the world are the king's subjects. All the territories in the world belong to the emperor, and all the lords in the world are the emperor's subjects!
Tuen Mun Island is naturally no exception. He can say that it was bestowed upon him by the Emperor, but he cannot say that it is his own territory and that people from the Celestial Empire are not allowed to enter.

However, like most Ming Dynasty people of that era, Wang Hong also looked down on these barbarians, so he did not plan to explain more, and just waited patiently for half an hour to pass. The Portuguese lost their patience first, and Andra directly ordered the centipede warships to prepare for an attack, but they found that the Ming fleet was still far from the range of their artillery, so they had to rush towards the Ming fleet first, ready to launch an attack when the artillery range could attack the Ming fleet.

Wang Hong saw this and gave the order: "The enemy has taken the initiative to attack. Beidu, Nandu, and Zhongdu will form a battle line and take the initiative to meet them and strike hard! Baoding and Yangzhou will each take half of the warships to block the left and right wings! Beidu, Nandu, and Zhongdu will fire at my command!"

In fact, Andra didn't understand why the Ming Dynasty's warships had such large soft sails, and what purpose they served. But when he didn't expect that the Ming Dynasty's soft sailboats were more sensitive than his centipede boats, and they were lined up in a straight line in an instant, what made him even more confused was why these warships didn't just rush up for boarding combat.

So much so that Andra had to ask himself: "Could it be that the artillery of the Ming army can shoot farther and even more accurately, and can bombard our warships from such a long distance, or are they trying to escape?"

boom!
The sound of heavy bombardment answered Andra's question.

As soon as the portholes of the three Ming Dynasty sailing battleships opened, a total of 120 copper-framed iron-core shipborne guns roared, and the live bullets instantly hit Andra's three centipede ships, causing wood chips to fly everywhere. One ship even couldn't withstand the high-frequency impact of the solid shells and capsized directly. Another ship also had its mast broken and began to slowly sink into the sea.

Andra's own flagship also had several holes punched in it, and seawater directly spread into the cabin.

Wang Hongben, the Deputy Censor of Guangdong, had prepared to intercept Andra's escaping warship, but now Andra had no way to escape. He only brought three warships, one of which sank and one capsized in the sea. His own flagship could not sail either, so he could only hoist the white flag and surrender.

"This, this is simply too terrifying. I have been sailing on the sea for so long, but I have never encountered such a powerful army. My God, this legendary ancient empire is not only rich, but also has a military force that we cannot surpass. We can't defeat it at all!"

Andra, who was initially full of confidence in planning how to make the emperor of the Ming Empire punish these rude local officials and make them apologize to him, now completely lost his confidence. He only felt how stupid he was, so stupid that he actually wanted to fight against such a powerful empire.

"God, please tell me how many secrets this ancient empire has that we cannot know. Why are their warships so powerful and fast? Why can their artillery fire so far? Why do you favor them so much?"

Andra cried out sadly to herself.

Wang Hong ordered the naval officers and soldiers to rescue all the Portuguese from the sea and the sinking warships, and also salvage the two relatively intact Portuguese centipede warships. After all, these were the spoils of war that His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty specifically ordered to be captured.

"Sir, I am Andra, the commander of the Portuguese fleet here. Now we formally surrender to you! Your warships forced us to surrender. I hope this conflict will not affect the friendship between Portugal and your country!"

Andra bowed humbly to Wang Hong, the deputy envoy of Guangdong.

"Your Majesty!"

Wang Hong, wearing the scarlet robe of the fourth rank of the Ming Dynasty, stood majestically on the flagship, which was the first second-class battleship of the Ming Dynasty. Looking at the Portuguese commander Andra, who was humbly about to bend down into the sea under the hull, he said lightly.

Andra was very surprised and a little angry. He didn't expect that as a Portuguese noble, he would have to kneel down to an Oriental man. His surrender was already a forced admission that he was inferior to others, but he didn't expect that the official of the Ming Empire would insult him.

"Your Excellency! I am a Portuguese citizen. I can surrender on behalf of Portugal because I am the commander of this warship, but I cannot kneel down to you because this is my right as a Portuguese citizen!"

Andra protested.

After the interpreter translated, Wang Hong was amazed in his heart, thinking that His Majesty was indeed as good as a god, and actually knew how the leader of the red-haired foreigners would respond when he asked him to kneel down. Therefore, Wang Hong followed Zhu Houzhao's instructions and replied:
"Ridiculous! First of all, you are not a citizen of the Ming Dynasty! You do not have the rights of a Ming Dynasty citizen! Secondly, you have committed the crime of invading the territory of the Ming Dynasty! You are now a criminal, and criminals have no political rights. Moreover, the Ming Dynasty has extraterritoriality. All foreigners who come to the territory of the Ming Dynasty can only be punished by the Ming Dynasty's judicial department for their crimes! Now I ask you to kneel down, so you kneel down, you have no right to refuse me! If you don't kneel down, you will be like him!"

As Wang Hong spoke, he took the percussion-loading flintlock rifle from one of his personal soldiers and shot a Portuguese man next to Andra. The Portuguese man fell to the ground with blood gushing from his chest.

Andra was so frightened that he knelt down immediately. He found that the Ming Empire not only had powerful artillery, but also its muskets were far superior to those of his own country.

Wang Hong smiled slightly when he saw Andra kneeling down, "Let them all kneel down. They are now prisoners of war and will serve the Ming Dynasty for free. The Ming Emperor has decided to fine each of these prisoners 10 million taels of silver! But you want 20 million taels! Only after these prisoners have paid enough redemption silver to the Ming Dynasty can they be freed!"

Because of this, Andra and other Portuguese became professional colonial plundering employees of the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Houzhao asked Zhang Yanling to lead a group of naval warfare talents to form the Ming Dynasty Maritime Trade Company. He also let these Portuguese war criminals serve in the Ming Dynasty Maritime Trade Company. Naturally, the Ming Dynasty began to use the rich colonial plundering experience of these Portuguese to plunder overseas wealth for the Ming Dynasty.

"The Zhengde Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was a ruthless emperor. I don't know how much wealth I created for him, but I know that I paid back 20 million taels. But I found that I could no longer leave this empire because I could no longer escape his control over me! I feel sad for my Portuguese country because it will never be able to compete with this extremely powerful empire!"

Many years later, Andra recalled.

(End of this chapter)