New World 1620

In 1578 AD, the only 24-year-old Portuguese King Sebastião I died in an expedition to Morocco.Three years later, the Portuguese royal family became extinct, and the king's crown was won by King Philip II of Spain on the pretext that his mother was a Portuguese princess. This is the tragedy of this world-class colonial empire that has gone through hardships since Prince Enrique.

No matter how complicated and tricky the succession game of European royal families and nobles is, the Portuguese people have always been dissatisfied that their king has somehow become a Spaniard.The people who have enjoyed the golden age for nearly a hundred years still have a great affection for the Portuguese royal family.And the more unwilling Portuguese nobles tried every means to maintain the independence of the former Portuguese noble forces.

What is full of drama is that in the eyes of ordinary Portuguese people, the dead former Portuguese King Sebastiao I just disappeared, and has been "resurrected" over the years, leading the Portuguese against Spain.

The Spanish Royal Government has maintained an uncompromising attitude towards this series of farces from beginning to end, and has continued to execute those daring people who pretend to be Sebastião I.

The last impostor to be executed was an Italian. This unlucky guy was killed by the Spanish government in 1619 before he did anything.

Now, another jaw-dropping rumor has begun to circulate: The current Duke of Braganza Theodosio is "very likely" to be the Portuguese King Sebastião I...

Such embarrassing rumors not only made the magistrates who ruled Portugal on behalf of the King of Spain dumbfounded, but also drove Theodosio, the Duke of Braganza, crazy for a while. Did not dare to enter.

But the heart of the people is a good phenomenon that makes the Portuguese nobles secretly happy. In the nearly one month since the death of the King of Spain, the Portuguese people and local nobles everywhere are as happy as the New Year.

……

……

It was night, and except for a few neighborhoods where the rich lived, the whole of Lisbon entered darkness early.Stray dogs, shuttle mice, and lazy wild cats have become the protagonists of this bustling trading city in Western Europe at night.

The government residence of the Kingdom of Spain in Lisbon is still brightly lit.Viscount Fernando, the governor of Lisbon, was sitting in his spacious office, blowing his beard and staring. The quill in his hand was severely broken into two pieces and thrown on a large piece of paper on the table.

Several local tax officials and magistrates stood carefully across the table holding account books or scrolls, watching the emperor of the Lisbon area with apprehensive expressions.

"Shit! Where did this country come from?" Fernando slammed his fat fist on the diplomatic document handed over by the servant early in the morning, and ended up dipping his hand in ink, which aroused Fernando's incomparable anger , "The Chinese American Republic? I never knew there was such a country in North America! If these crappy liars try to make trouble in Lisbon, I will hang them in the square without hesitation!"

"But my lord, after we followed up, we found that these orientals are not ordinary liars. They are dressed in noble clothes, have many servants, and are extremely generous in their actions. The local Portuguese nobles are also very fond of them." The magistrate handed over The investigation report I came to in a day is also a bit confused.

"Damn! I don't care if they are the descendants of the Eastern Empire, or some Indians! They sent me a diplomatic protest letter without thinking, do you know what they are protesting?!" Fernando's fat body He seemed much weaker due to the violent emotional changes, and pointed to the paper on the table with trembling fingers, "They are actually more hateful than those English, French, Dutch, and Swedes! They protested against "Taurdesili The Treaty of Yass violated the territorial rights of the United States! How dare you claim to have reached North America 200 years before us!"

"Isn't this kind of thing like this from the past to now? Dear political officer." A tax official stepped forward with a smile, flattering his face, "But no matter what, only New Spain is the only legal country in the entire New World. This is a status quo that no country can change!"

"But there are always so many annoying flies biting us. Look, America has popped up again!" Fernando took out a long breath, then took out a handkerchief to wipe his saliva, with a disgusted expression on his face, "Needless to say, Even the Eastern Empire, which is tens of thousands of sea miles away, has begun to covet the land and rights of our Kingdom of Spain! I want to write to His Majesty the King to drive all these damn Yankees out of Spanish territory, and forbid any of their Ships approach any of our ports!"

Uh...His Majesty King Philip III seems to be dead, and King Philip IV is only 16 years old this year, and now the Madrid court is in a state of information congestion and indifference to state affairs...a few tax officials and public security The officials all looked at each other in blank dismay.

"First came the English, then the French, the Dutch, then the Swedes, and the Danes. They painted all over the coast of North America with their smelly hands, and now there is an American!" Fernando understood from the expressions of his subordinates. After everything, he sat up straight in embarrassment, with a look of concern for the country and the people, "Fortunately, the great fleet of the Spanish Kingdom supported us a strong New Spain, otherwise God knows that one day their dirty tentacles will touch Mexico again. , Caribbean and South America."

"Master Fernando, I would like to remind you kindly that these Americans are currently having public meetings with many Portuguese chambers of commerce in Lisbon. According to the information I have heard today, the trade agent of the Duke of Braganza has signed a contract with these Americans. A trade agreement, they will get a trade contract with a total value of 300 million Spanish silver coins in the next three years..."

An older tax official coughed lightly and brought the most important thing to the surface.

"It's worth 300 million Spanish silver coins... Oh, never! They need to pay taxes to us for any trade in the territory of the Kingdom of Spain!" Fernando suddenly became energetic, pounding the table with his hands, his eyes were red with greed. Guang, "The Portuguese will never be allowed to suck up the wealth that belongs to us here!"

The implication is that Americans should of course trade with Spanish merchants, not those Portuguese who keep doing tricks all day long!

"But the Portuguese have a sharper sense of smell than ours. I heard that the Portuguese had contacted the Americans in the Azores as early as a month ago, but the Americans still had concerns. It may be because we are the Portuguese land the true legitimate rulers."

The elderly tax officer calmly took out a scroll and handed it to Fernando: "During this period of time, a series of incredible things appeared in the Lisbon market. After my observation, they should have been brought by these Americans and bought by Portuguese businessmen. hands for sale."

"You mean this?" Fernando seemed to have been pricked by a needle, he quickly got up, carefully took out a set of exquisite and unusual glass wine sets from the closet behind him, and held it on the table, with a shocked face, "Damn it , I always thought it was a patented product of the Merchant of Venice!"

"Yes, my lord, and the price the Portuguese got was said to be only 7000 Spanish silver coins... The people of Venice have never produced such a treasure." Looking at the pure crystal-like glass vessel, Taxation The official's voice became smaller and smaller, as if he was afraid that the other party would hear him.

"God, why don't we hang these greedy vampires!" Fernando was taken aback, the expression on his face constantly twisted and changed, and finally he cried, "I paid 10000 Spanish silver coins for this..."

The poor Spanish Viscount finally understood why these tax officials would look for him. No one would watch these amazing wealth being easily earned by others with peace of mind.

"Then... who should we send to contact them?" Fernando quickly changed from an official who swore to defend the interests of the Kingdom of Spain to a businessman. He must be able to properly handle relations with the United States."

"With your words, I think the local Spanish chamber of commerce will go all out to fight for it. We can even give special favors to American businessmen in terms of tax rates, as long as we ensure that the trade volume we get is the largest!"

The elder tax officer quickly came up with a plan, and everyone in the office nodded frequently.

"Well, the Kingdom of Spain needs our utmost attention to such matters, then Ruiz, you represent me, go to meet those Americans, just say that in a few days I will represent the Kingdom of Spain to hold a grand ceremony for American friends at the official residence welcome dinner!"

After finishing speaking, Viscount Fernando carefully walked into the inner room holding the wine glass.

……

……

The scene that took place in the Spanish government official's residence in Lisbon has just ended. In a certain wooden castle manor on the outskirts of Lisbon, Su Zining and his party are also having a meeting.

"Yan Xiaosong, you just mess with the shit stick!" Su Zining heard Yan Xiaosong's narration, and he couldn't laugh or cry when he ran to the local government official's residence in Lisbon early in the morning to submit the "Diplomatic Credentials".

"I believe that no matter how low-key we are, some things can't be escaped after all. The Spaniards in Lisbon have no less eyes than the Portuguese." Yan Xiaosong shrugged his shoulders with an innocent face, "So, I just fulfilled a stop in advance. It’s just an errand task. If it were you, Su Zining, maybe you would use more pomp to pretend to be aggressive.”

The young men and women around all nodded at this time, with extremely serious expressions.

"Well, I will recognize you as the roundworm in my stomach." Su Zining patted his thigh with an innocent face, and then took out the diary in his pocket, "Several local Portuguese nobles' trade agents talked about a Circle, the harvest is even more exaggerated than we imagined. Excluding some of the goods we kept, only those glass wine sets imported from Italy sold 110 million Spanish silver coins."

"Wow!"

Except for Yan Xiaosong, the three ladies, Zhou Kemin and Zhu Xiaoli all cried out. 110 million Spanish silver coins, equivalent to 11 pounds!

"Don't be too happy, they won't be able to come up with that much cash at all." Su Zining spread his hands and curled his lips, "The down payment is only 35 Spanish silver coins, and the other 75 yuan will be paid by us according to the trade contract. Needed commodity raw materials to offset."

"Oh..." Several people lowered their voices in disappointment.

"Isn't this what we hoped for?" Yan Xiaosong was not surprised by the result, "I don't think anyone plans to ship silver coins over 30 tons back to Manhattan, right?"

"Well, the Santa Maria has shipped the first batch of supplies back, but we have only completed a fraction of our shipments this year. The Portuguese may be able to work hard to supply the supplies we need on time, but we can't be There was such a big commotion in front of the Spaniards. So next, we need to obtain greater maritime capacity support from Spain, and distribute a part of the Azores material transportation contract to their merchant ships, which is not a bad thing.”

Su Zining spread out the map and pointed to the west coast of Europe, "More importantly, our immigration shipping route! Portugal's main shipping capacity is mostly concentrated in Africa and India, as well as Brazil in South America. At present, the Dutch and English in Europe are still very few. Be careful, the Spaniards are the only ones who have absolute superiority at sea in the Caribbean."

"First use Portugal's maritime capacity in the Far East to transfer the Ming Dynasty immigrants we need to West Africa or Brazil through a series of ports along the way, and then use Spain's maritime power to pass through the Caribbean Sea route and finally send them to Manhattan?"

Zhou Kemin understood the map, but showed a worried expression, "Brother Su, if we let their fleet sail to Manhattan, wouldn't our details be exposed?"

"Of course we can't do that, we just need them to send the immigrants here!" Su Zining swiped his finger on the map, and finally stopped at a lonely island deep in the northeast sea of ​​the Florida Peninsula in North America.

"Bermuda?!"

Not only Zhou Kemin and others, but even Yan Xiaosong was moved.Hurrying up, Yan Xiaosong slowly showed a smile while carefully gesturing with his fingers on the scale of the map.

"It's a good place, so the problem of the last part of the journey will be solved, and the immigrants can stop at many ports along the way. Although the tossing time is a bit longer, the accidents are also reduced a lot." Yan Xiaosong nodded frequently to Su Zining, and said to the other party I sincerely admire such careful layout and ambition.

"Then who owns the Bermuda Islands now?" Although Zhu Xiaoli agreed with such a generous layout, he was still a little confused.

"Theoretically, the English were the first to land there. From about 1609, some English established a small colony on it, but it was not until 1684 that it really became an English colony." Su Zining showed a proud expression again, "Only A gunboat is needed, this is the territory of the United States, and its current value will not even pay a second glance to the Spaniards."

"You are so unkind. Since the Mayflower, I have known that you have always disliked the English." Yan Xiaosong stood up excitedly, as if he was already thinking about what he would do next.

"It's normal. If you don't take what God gives, you will be blamed." Su Zining shrugged, expressing that he had no pressure, "Yan Xiaosong, no matter how fast you move, I guess it will take next year to actually start the immigration operation. At that time, if You Qi That literary youth can't build the warships we need, so I can only let the Spanish fleet sail into the port of Manhattan."

"You two foxes, I really don't know how Portugal and Spain will be played by you in the future..." Yang Wenwen, who had been listening, sighed and leaned lazily on the chair.

As soon as these words came out, everyone showed contemptuous expressions.

If you want to talk about playing people, I am afraid that everyone present is not as dedicated as you, Yang Wenwen, right?

"Cough... Eldest sister, it seems that the Portuguese baron Lopez said today that he wanted to give you a sailing boat?" Zhou Kemin smiled and gossiped, making the remaining two ladies jealous again.

"Oh, I was just talking casually at the time, watching what I was doing, really..." Yang Wenwen quickly put her skirt away, and the room was full of laughter.