Daming: At the start of the showdown, Lao Zhu was stunned

Chapter 1167 The Submission of the Portuguese Peninsula

Chapter 1167 The Submission of the Portuguese Peninsula

In Lisbon, the meeting between João and Jules was solemn and grand.

Having already tasted success, João didn't resort to any further tricks. He likely knew that João's earlier hesitation and wavering had already exhausted Zhu Su's patience. For this meeting, he gathered almost all the Portuguese nobles and lords in Lisbon, even donning the magnificent robes of a Ming Dynasty prince (modified from Zhu Su's spare princely attire), and voluntarily raised the Ming Dynasty's sun and moon banner high above the palace.

In front of Zhu Su, João proactively presented a letter of acknowledgment, declaring himself a vassal of the Ming Dynasty, and bowed to Zhu Su, a prince of the Ming Dynasty, as his subject. At the same time, he sent an envoy to Zhu Su's fleet. When Zhu Su returned to the Ming Dynasty, this envoy would also travel with him to meet with the Ming Emperor Yiwen and the Hongwu Emperor, and formally present the letter of acknowledgment to the Nanjing Prefecture.

At the same time, he also expressed to Zhu Su his request that the Ming Dynasty send scholars and literati to help Portugal accept the Ming Dynasty's rule, and that he request technological assistance from the Ming Dynasty and purchase military equipment from the Ming Dynasty.

The former was because João had been simultaneously waging war and learning the official language of the Ming Dynasty from the merchants he employed. Initially, it might have been simply to curry favor with Zhu Su. However, through continuous learning, the sights and sounds of the distant East, and especially the authority of the Ming emperor, aroused the longing of this ambitious Western king.

The Hongwu Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was a man of his word, executing corrupt officials and eliminating sycophants, initiating numerous nationwide cases, yet the country remained stable. His decrees, issued from the northern deserts to Annam, were obeyed without question. In contrast, the kings of the West, though called kings, were in reality merely nobles of a higher rank. Military, political, and financial power within their fiefdoms belonged to the local nobles, and the king's decrees often rarely left his castle.

A Western proverb says: "The vassal of my vassal is not my vassal." Even the vassals of the nobles under one's command cannot be directly commanded, demonstrating the vast difference in power structures between Eastern and Western countries.

According to João at this stage, the reason for all this lies in the "loyalty to the monarch" ideology of Eastern Confucianism. João intends to strengthen his legitimacy and rule as king by introducing Eastern Confucianism.

At this time, Portugal successfully expanded with the help of the Ming Dynasty, and the Ming concessions developed rapidly. The elegance of the Ming soldiers and officers coming and going from the port of Lisbon attracted Portuguese young ladies and noblewomen. It was a time when the whole country admired the customs and products of the Ming Dynasty.

Introducing the Confucian thought of the Ming Dynasty at this time would surely be twice as effective with half the effort.

As for requesting technological assistance from the Ming Dynasty, that was João's own desire. This pragmatic king had long recognized the power of the Ming army's treasure ships, heavy warships, and firearms. It can be said that a large part of the reason why the Portuguese-Ming allied forces were invincible was because the Ming army possessed these two weapons that were far ahead of their time.

The Ming Dynasty had always been lenient towards its vassal states. For example, the three sultanates, being Ming vassals, were able to send two expeditionary forces to avenge their invasion by the Church's Crusaders. João thought that since the Ming could send large armies to the three sultanates, perhaps it could also transfer firearms technology to Portugal… After all, Portugal was far from the Ming Dynasty, and if it were invaded, the Ming could not send a large army like it had to protect the three sultanates.

Since we cannot send a large army, perhaps we can ask the Ming Dynasty to teach us firearms technology under the pretext of self-defense.

Zhu Su did not completely refuse this point. However, Zhu Su refused to teach firearms technology, but promised that after submitting a letter to Emperor Yiwen (Zhu Biao), he would grant the family of King João of Portugal an exclusive contract to purchase firearms from the Ming Dynasty.

The imperial court's firearms development was rapid, and there was always a need to replace them. Portugal was the best market for selling firearms and munitions. For João, the fact that the Ming Dynasty only granted his family firearms licenses served to intimidate other powerful nobles within the country and strengthen his rule as king. In the end, he accepted this plan.

The two sides hit it off immediately.

As for the Ming Dynasty's maritime technology, João didn't mention it at all. The previous development of a navy in preparation for maritime expansion was due to the land blockade by the powerful Castile Kingdom, forcing them to seek alternative development paths. Now that the Kingdom of Portugal could rival Castile, João had long abandoned the idea of ​​developing naval power. Instead, he focused on consolidating his domestic power and strengthening his forces to destroy Castile and unify the Franco-Iberian Peninsula (the Ming Dynasty previously referred to the countries on the Iberian Peninsula as "Folangji," but the Portuguese had now changed their terminology to "Folangji Peninsula").

Thus, history was completely rewritten. Portugal, which had been the first country to usher in the Age of Discovery (the Age of Exploration) in its original historical trajectory, changed its course, and the process of colonial expansion in the Western world was successfully cut off at its root.

It's worth mentioning Count Noah. This "rebellious nobleman" later showed unexpected subservience to Zhu Su, and fought bravely in the battle against Castilian, achieving remarkable results. His name "Noah" originally means "border guardian" in Arabic, but now it has become a sharp blade tearing apart Castilian's border defenses.

Although fighting under João, this count was quite astute, showing even greater deference to Zhu Su than to João, bordering on obsequiousness. Upon learning of the Chinese tradition of bestowing surnames, he even offered military merit as a bargaining chip, requesting Zhu Su to grant his family a surname in exchange for it, thus mending their relationship.

Upon learning of this, Zhu Su chuckled but did not refuse. Combining this with his nickname, he bestowed upon him the surname "Ma" and addressed him as "Ma Pei." This was because Count Noah's real name was Pedro Fernandez de Castro, and his official title was "Count Castro." However, his title of "Guardian of the Border" was more resounding, so he was commonly known as "Count Noah." Besides this, his real name "Pedro" was rarely used; he was more often referred to as "Madruso," meaning "warlike man."

Now, neither the title "Count Noah" nor "Maduso" can be used anymore. This "rebellious nobleman" has been smug ever since Zhu Su bestowed upon him the surname, and he has been calling himself "Count Mape of the Great Ming Dynasty" everywhere.

This was actually a veiled expression of resistance against Portuguese rule, using the banner of the Ming Dynasty. Knowing that he could not control the Count of Mapé, let alone João of the Mapé territory, he simply and tacitly approved the autonomy of the Mapé territory. Thus, at the strong request of this newly appointed "Count of Mapé," the Ming Dynasty gained another new directly subordinate vassal state, the "Ming-controlled Mapé State" located in the port of A Coruña.

Thus, Zhu Su began to promote the penetration of Ming culture into the Portuguese peninsula while simultaneously preparing for war. Through the forces of the "Ming-controlled Portuguese Kingdom" and the "Ming-controlled Mappes Kingdom," he actively began to investigate the movements of the Ming army under the Prince of Yan to the east of Europe.

(End of this chapter)