There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 390 Unequal Treaties Between China and Portugal

Henry's East India Company delegation only stayed in Guangzhou for three days, mainly to deliver the eighty warhorses (five more died on the shore).

During this time, Cheng Siju, for the sake of negotiation, specifically took these British people for another stroll outside the courtyard of the Portuguese in Macau.

"Hello, are you... Portuguese from Porto Amaral?" Justus Ferrira asked, as expected.

He saw a red-haired foreigner in the delegation and mistakenly thought he was a Portuguese from Macau. At that time, he could not have imagined that there would be other Chinese people besides the Portuguese coming to Guangzhou.

Henry didn't speak, but several red-haired Englishmen in the delegation frowned and said, "We are Scots, not Portuguese."

After saying that, he followed the officials and left their courtyard.

Once everyone had left, Jastus Ferrira's already anxious mood completely turned to utter despair.

His advisor said somewhat anxiously, "Your Excellency, they are Scots. Scotland has now merged with England, so the blond foreigners among them should be English. The fact that both English and Scots have come and received such a good reception from the Great Han Kingdom suggests that they are an envoy from the British, or at the very least, an envoy from the East India Company."

After a long silence, Jastu Ferrira sighed helplessly, “Before coming to Guangzhou, I had a feeling that we would have little room for negotiation. Now the other side’s negotiation tactics are very sophisticated. We are no longer qualified to conduct equal negotiations. We may face a completely unequal negotiation meeting in the future.”

Two days later, the Great Han finished counting and inspecting the eighty Indian warhorses in Guangzhou.

The British delegation boarded an official ship provided by the Han Dynasty and headed north, while the warhorses were temporarily kept in Guangzhou to be raised until they adapted to the Chinese environment, at which point they would be sent to Nanjing to be delivered to His Majesty.

There is currently a small horse farm in Nanjing, which is the former abandoned horse farm of the Eight Banners in Jiangning.

In fact, as early as the mid-Qing Dynasty, the south was already facing a shortage of warhorses. Sending warhorses from the north to the south was too expensive, and the mortality rate was high. Southern warhorses were generally too short, and production was insufficient. As a result, the number of warhorses in the Jiangning Eight Banners was repeatedly reduced, and they could not muster many warhorses.

Nie Yuneng encountered a large-scale cavalry force of the Qing army in his first encounter with the Qing army.

The reason is that these cavalrymen are all "elite" Eight Banners and Green Standard Army soldiers from various provinces. They must have gathered a certain number of cavalrymen so that the Qing court would not find out if they questioned them.

They almost never encountered Qing cavalry later on, partly because the cavalry force in the south had been significantly reduced, and the quality of their warhorses was inconsistent, making them difficult to use in battle.

……

After seeing the British off, Cheng Siju kept the Portuguese delegation waiting for two more days before finally sending a letter agreeing to a meeting.

"It's an honor to meet you, sir! I am Justus Ferrera, the Governor of the Kingdom of Portugal in Macau." Justus Ferrera, no longer looking dejected, greeted him warmly.

One cannot hit a smiling face, so Cheng Siju cupped his hands and smiled, saying, "It's a pleasure to meet you. I am Cheng Siju, the Chief of the Guangzhou Maritime Trade Office of the Great Han Dynasty."

Chief of the Maritime Trade Office, which is currently the highest official rank in the Guangzhou Maritime Trade Office.

There should be a Maritime Trade Commissioner above him, but Nie Yu hasn't set one up yet. It's not because the Commissioner has too much power, but because Guangzhou hasn't fully reopened to the sea yet, so there's no rush.

Besides Cheng Siju, the head of the Maritime Trade Office, those present at the negotiations included Li Chen, the prefect of Guangzhou (who had been transferred), Chen Younian, the commander of the Third Division of the Han Army, and Liang Yong, a naval officer sent by Cai Qian to recruit soldiers.

The negotiations between the two sides relied mainly on Fernando and a few other council translators.

Cheng Siju also recruited two Guangzhou merchants who could speak Portuguese, as well as Mandarin and Cantonese.

After the two sides got to know each other, the negotiations quickly got down to business.

Jia Shidu Ferrira spoke first, stating his bottom line: "Master Cheng, the Governor of Macau and the Council are willing to recognize the Great Han Kingdom's takeover of Macau, but on the condition that Macau maintains the status quo. We can continue to pay the 500 taels of silver rent paid to the Qing Dynasty to the Great Han Kingdom as before, but the Great Han Kingdom must also abide by the treaty, first restore Macau's food and water supply, and then refrain from interfering in Macau's affairs at will."

Without even thinking, Cheng Siju shook his head and refused: "That's impossible. His Majesty sent me to negotiate with you to take back Macau."

Fernando's eyes flickered as he continued to translate and relay the message to the governor.

Jia Shidu Ferrira couldn't hold back any longer and stood up, saying, "This is robbery! The Emperor of the Qing Dynasty has already leased Macau to us, and we have paid rent."

Cheng Siju was not angry. Instead, he asked with a puzzled look, "We are the Great Han Kingdom. The Great Qing Kingdom you mentioned is about to be wiped out by our Emperor. What does their agreement to lease it have to do with us?"

These words silenced Jastus Feliradu.

Yes, what does the Qing Dynasty's lease of Macau have to do with the modern Han Dynasty?

To put it more bluntly, they had even previously regarded the Han as a rebel force of the Qing Dynasty, and Jasdu Felila even planned to assist the Qing Dynasty in annihilating the Han.

Instead of sitting down, Justus Ferrera feigned anger and said, "Your Excellency, if I may be so bold, you are provoking the Kingdom of Portugal, and you will surely bring war and suffering upon yourselves."

Upon hearing this, Cheng Siju actually laughed, but his expression instantly turned cold: "If I remember correctly, you just said you were the Governor of Macau. I have already inquired about your political system beforehand. The Governor is a title and official position for the person in charge of governing overseas territories. So Macau is clearly a leased territory. Where did you get this title of Governor?"

Good question. Justin Felila broke out in a cold sweat, unsure how to answer.

From a strictly legal perspective, the Governor of Macau was actually illegitimate under Chinese law, Portuguese law, or the laws of various European powers.

Macau was merely a leased territory, not a colony, much less an overseas territory of Portugal. Why should a governor be stationed there? It was precisely because the governor of Macau was illegitimate that the Macanese of Portuguese descent were extremely resentful of him and had ample reason to expel him.

As Jastrohame Ferreira sat down, his advisor rose and took over, representing the governor to threaten and pressure him: "Your Excellency, there are still warships in Macau, and the Kingdom also has a fleet in Goa. What you are doing now is forcing our fleet to attack your coast."

Cheng Siju laughed again and pointed to the person next to him: "Do you know him?"

Jastus Ferrila looked in that direction and saw a rough-looking, fierce-looking Chinese man who was smiling at him, a smile that was rather ferocious and ugly.

“We don’t know this person,” Jastus Ferrira shook his head.

Cheng Siju introduced, "This is General Liang Yong, currently under the command of the Fujian Naval Fleet of our Great Han Kingdom. His superior is Cai Qian, the Marquis of Zhenhai of our Great Han Kingdom. If you have a fleet coming, you can let him know first, and Marquis Cai will give you a warm welcome."

They didn't understand what Fujian Naval Academy was, but they heard a somewhat familiar name—Cai Qian.

Although Cai Qian had only entered the pirate world six years prior, he had managed to integrate and unify most of the pirate fleets in Fujian and Guangdong within a short period. It's hard to say how powerful they were, but dealing with the already weakened Portuguese in Macau was a piece of cake.

The Portuguese from Macau who came to negotiate finally understood why Cheng Siju was so confident and fearless.

There is a pirate king named Cai Qian from Fujian and Guangdong at sea. Even if they send a fleet from Goa, they might not be able to defeat him.

The Macau Peninsula on land has been blockaded. They either have to fight their way out with a few hundred men and defeat the Han army, or they will starve and die of thirst on the Macau Peninsula.

There was no other choice.

Jastus Felira yielded. He forced himself to calm down and asked, "Please offer a clear and reasonable price, otherwise this negotiation cannot continue."

Upon hearing the honorific "Your country is so honorable," Cheng Siju's smile finally vanished. He then produced a list of treaties and said, "Take a look for yourself!"

Justus Ferrira took the list, and before he could even glance at it, his scalp tingled.

The list contains only nine items:
First, the Great Han officially took over Macau, which is now part of the Great Han territory. The Portuguese in Macau must disband their garrison and all military forces.

Secondly, Macau must no longer retain a governor, but can still retain the council, churches, and courts, but these can only be used in the Portuguese-populated areas of Macau; they must be completely demolished in the Han Chinese-populated areas.

Third, if a Han Chinese in Macau violates the law, the Portuguese courts may not try him; he must be transferred to the Xiangshan County government for trial.

Fourth, Portuguese residents of Macau must register their household registration in Da Han before they can enter or leave the Portuguese-populated areas.

Fifth, the Portuguese government in Macau ordered the release of Chinese slaves within a specified period. Anyone who dared to harbor or hide Chinese slaves would be arrested by the government and subject to legal proceedings (Note: slaves from foreign vassal states were not included in this order).

Sixth, the Han government will build a primary school in Macau to teach Chinese language and literature, and Portuguese children must attend it.

Seventh, Portuguese citizens in Macau who speak Chinese and can read Chinese characters are allowed to apply for formal residency. However, they must renounce their Portuguese citizenship and all Western religious beliefs. Portuguese citizens who are naturalized as citizens of the Han Dynasty will be treated as citizens of the Han state.

Eighth, a Taoist temple and a Buddhist temple will be built in Macau, allowing Han Chinese, Portuguese and other foreigners to practice Buddhism and Taoism there.

Ninth, the sea will be fully opened in the future, allowing the Dutch, Portuguese, and British to come to Guangzhou for free trade.

With nine clauses in total, if Jasdu Ferrira were to sign them, he could forget about returning home peacefully.

This means that the Portuguese people in Macau have sold out their rights to station troops, exercise legal authority, provide education, reside in Macau, and even have their religious beliefs.

Moreover, the last point is particularly serious. Under the previous Qing regime, only the Thirteen Factories in Guangzhou were open to foreign trade, but the volume of trade in the Thirteen Factories was very limited, and compradors were set up to restrict foreign merchants.

Therefore, merchants and merchant ships from various European countries had to stop and stay in Macau first. In particular, merchant ships fully loaded with goods were not allowed to enter Guangzhou Port at all, otherwise they would be inspected and blocked by the Guangzhou government of the puppet Qing regime.

Europeans who wanted to do business in Guangzhou could only rent trading posts in Guangzhou Port and conduct limited trade through compradors.

Now, the Han Dynasty has opened its ports, allowing the British, Dutch, and even Portuguese to trade freely in Guangzhou.

This means that the status of Macau Port will decline sharply in the future, and European merchants will no longer need to transit through Macau. They can go directly to Guangzhou to conduct business and trade freely!
"Don't even think about bargaining. You can sign this treaty or not. This is an ultimatum. If you don't sign, we'll let you go back to Macau, and then we'll fight each other!" Cheng Siju saw that Jia Shidu Feilila hadn't written anything for a long time, so he simply explained the situation directly.

After saying that, he left with his colleagues in the audience, not giving the other party a chance to bargain or negotiate.

Jastus Ferrila dared not sign, but he also dared not refuse to sign.

If they don't sign, the Macau Peninsula will continue to run out of food and water, and thousands of Portuguese people on the peninsula will starve to death.

Of course, they might not necessarily starve to death, because these Macanese of Portuguese descent might very well rebel and kill him, the governor, and the Macau security forces.

Fernando and his two companions also saw the contents of the treaty. Unlike the governor, they were not dejected; on the contrary, they were quite excited.

(End of this chapter)