Alfaro's Chinese is indeed not very good, especially his Chinese is learned from Guangdong merchants, while Jinghua's translator and Huang Zhiting communicate in official dialect, which makes him even more incomprehensible.

It wasn't until Huang Zhiting said coldly, "I'd rather go to war", that he realized that something was wrong from her tone and the atmosphere in the field suddenly became murderous.

He didn't get up, but quickly turned to the interpreter and asked, "Mr. Zhou, is there something wrong?" I feel as if there is some misunderstanding? ”

Of course, "Mr. Zhou" didn't dare to relay it easily, so he could only cough dryly and said: "Deputy Huang does not accept your Castilian etiquette, you must follow the habit of the Ming Dynasty to kneel and bow, otherwise...... War. ”

The muscles on Alfaro's face twitched, but he didn't hesitate for long, and soon asked, "Is it just in my own name?" ”

Zhou Tongyi obviously didn't understand the difference, and asked inexplicably: "Or else?" ”

"Oh, that's easy, that's easy." Alfaro breathed a sigh of relief and asked, "What is Da Ming's kneeling ceremony?" Get down on your knees and crawl over to kiss her instep? ”

"No, no, no!" Zhou Tongyi was taken aback, his face turned white with fright, and he hurriedly said: "You just kneel down from a distance, knock your head on the ground and don't move, if you don't let you get up, just keep prostrate, and you must not have any reckless closeness to her!" ”

Alfaro was indeed a devout missionary, and in order to succeed in his mission, he was willing to sacrifice not only his own life, but also something like glory, and immediately said: "No problem, Mr. Zhou, please convey my sincere apologies, I have no intention of offending, and immediately act in accordance with the etiquette of the Ming Dynasty." ”

After speaking, he was not verbose, but simply turned into a kneeling appearance, and knocked his head on the ground, and said something in a very respectful tone.

Huang Zhiting's expression did not move, and he looked at the translator, who had already explained, saying that the missionary did not understand the etiquette of the Ming Dynasty very well, but he had corrected him, and he was willing to start over again according to the etiquette of the Ming Dynasty, and sincerely apologized to Dutong.

"The country is far away, and the etiquette is not clear, which is also common sense, and I can not pursue it this time." Huang Zhiting's face softened, glanced at Alfaro who was honestly kneeling in front of him, and said lightly: "Since he is here, let him get up and answer." ”

Zhou Tongyi personally "directed" Alfaro to act this time, asking him to kowtow again before standing up.

When Alfaro got up, the expression on his face was rather calm, and he didn't seem to feel humiliated. Whether it was the people of the Jinghua fleet present or the cronies around Huang Zhiting, they had a better impression of this "monk", and said secretly: Although this person does not know etiquette, it seems that he can be edified.

In fact, they don't know that there is a misunderstanding here.

Alfaro was not an envoy to Spain, and although he had a high social status even in Spain, he had no problem in his philosophy as long as he did not kneel on behalf of the kingdom. Because from the previous introduction, he subconsciously looked up to Huang Zhiting's status in Daming.

In Europe, people with a personal territory of more than 10,000 square kilometers and an army of more than 20,000 are definitely not something that a single earl can handle, and almost all of them are at the level of duke or above. In particular, the "20,000 standing army" is too amazing, and the monarchs of many principalities do not have such a strong army, so in his opinion, Huang Zhiting should be at least equivalent to a female duke.

It is a matter of course to pay tribute to a powerful duchess in your personal name, is there any problem? No.

So that's how the misunderstanding came about.

Then he found that the "Lord Duchess", though strict with etiquette and had to follow her rules, was very polite herself, for she immediately allowed herself to get up.

And the people on Daming's side also felt that Alfaro's performance was okay, because he not only kowtowed first and then got up in strict accordance with Zhou Tongyi's instructions, but even bowed slightly after getting up.

Now that the etiquette problem is solved, it's time to get down to business.

"Ask him what he means here." Huang Zhiting didn't know much about "diplomacy", so he came according to the standard of receiving enemy envoys in the army.

Zhou Tongyi relayed Huang Zhiting's words and asked, "I asked you why you came to see her." ”

Alfaro said, "Your Excellency the Honorable Lady......"

Zhou Tongyi interrupted: "It's Dutong!" ”

Alfaro didn't understand a little in his heart, but he still adhered to the reminder of the first batch of missionaries to China that "you must follow the local customs", and nodded: "Okay, okay, as you wish." ”

After a slight pause, he continued: "Your Excellency, although you should already know my identity, out of politeness, I still need to introduce myself: my name is Pedro de Alfaro, my father and brother are the Count of Rioja of the Kingdom of Castile, I am the second son in the family, so I have served God since I was a child, and I joined the Franciscans.

By the grace of the Holy See and the permission of the King, I was first appointed as the priest of the province of San Jose (note: San Jose here is not San Jose in California, USA, but San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica in Central America), and then the acting provincial president of Manila.

I am here today because I had set out from Manila with the treasure fleet of the Kingdom of Makelia and had intended to go to Malacca to consult with the bishop of the land on matters relating to the missions of the Kingdom of Castile and the Kingdom of Portugal in the East, but I met your fleet on the way.

Baroness ...... Your Excellency, please be aware that I have come to convey my goodwill to you and your fleet in order to avoid a misunderstanding between two powerful fleets, which are meeting for the first time at sea. ”

Zhou Tongyi finally translated such a long sentence to Huang Zhiting, but Huang Zhiting didn't answer much after listening to it, but just asked lightly: "The way you expressed your goodwill is to attack the guard formation of my fleet?" ”

"Ah, that's a misunderstanding, Your Excellency the Honorable Female Commander." After listening to the translation, Alfaro immediately defended: "The matter was originally like this: the Treasure Fleet found that the first part of your fleet had been following us all along, and the fleet commander thought that this practice was contrary to international practice, so he sent a formation equal to the rear guard formation of your fleet to inquire, but the two sides seemed to have a misunderstanding because of different maritime etiquette, which led to an unnecessary and tragic engagement.

In this engagement, our fleet had the tonnage advantage and yours had the firepower advantage, but in the end, our fleet was the first to realize that this was a battle that could have been avoided, so we were the first to withdraw from the engagement area and return to the Grand Fleet until your arrival. ”

"I've heard a little different from what you said, but I don't want to worry about the cause of the war right now." Huang Zhiting asked lightly: "I just want to know, next you choose to fight or peace." ”

Alfaro was stunned when he heard this, and said secretly: Father Luo Mingjian and others all say that the Chinese are cautious and euphemistic, why is this lady's Excellency so straightforward and even aggressive? It seems that she is extremely confident in the force she possesses.

But now that the form is stronger than the human, Alfaro must have a clear reply, so he had to say: "Your Excellency, the Kingdom of Castile and I have a clear understanding of the strength of the Ming Empire, and we have no ill will towards the Ming Empire, nor will we have any ill will towards you and your fleet.

We have already said that the previous engagement was a misunderstanding...... Moreover, judging by the results of the battle, our losses may be greater. I personally went to Golden Harbor with Fr. Luo Mingjian and had the privilege of meeting the local Governor (Translation Issues) Mr. Gao Mengnan and the Deputy Governor Mr. Gao Wuqin, they are real gentlemen, and our exchange was very pleasant.

At that time, on behalf of the Kingdom of Castile and the Philippine Governor-General's Office, I reached a number of verbal agreements with them, including that the Kingdom of Castile would send a fleet to visit Golden Harbor after the Philippine territory was settled, and that more merchant ships would be sent to Golden Harbor to carry out trade. I believe that these are all things that will help both sides understand each other and cooperate with each other.

In view of the bright prospects for cooperation between the two sides, Sir Diego, the Commander of the Treasure Fleet, and I believe that today's engagement should not be complicated or politicized, and that we sincerely hope that this incident can be resolved peacefully and amicably, and that the foundation of friendship will be laid for future cooperation between the two sides. ”

After hearing this, Huang Zhiting did not answer immediately, and said after a while: "You just said that this time you were going to Malacca to discuss some missionary matters with the local bishop?" ”

"Yes, Your Excellency."

"Very well, since you have said cooperation in your mouth and mouth, and now I happen to have a cooperation to talk to you, I hope you can show the goodwill you mentioned."

"I am very honored, Your Excellency." Alfaro said happily: "I don't know what kind of cooperation? Oh, let me know in advance: when the Jumbo Fleet was in Manila, it had already entered into a huge commercial cooperation with the Quanzhou Detachment of the Nanyang Fleet of the Jinghua Company, and our ships were now almost full of all kinds of goods from your country, and it was no longer possible to trade. ”

Huang Zhiting shook her head slightly and said, "I don't care about trade, what I want to say is another thing." ”

"I'm listening, Your Excellency."

"The fleet is about to pass through the Strait of Malacca, and I have heard that the king of your country is also the king of Portugal...... So I would like you or your fleet commander to convince the Portuguese officials in Malacca not to hinder our movements, preferably to allow us to dock and resupply in Malacca, can you? ”

Alfaro had already thought about why such a large fleet of Jinghua would appear here, so he was not very surprised now, so he just asked, "Your Excellency, can you take the liberty of asking about the destination of your fleet?" ”

Huang Zhiting was silent for a while, nodded and said, "Yes, we are going to Myanmar." ”

Alfaro was slightly surprised, he didn't know about the battle of Ming-Burma, he couldn't help frowning a little, hesitated for a moment, and asked, "This...... I wonder if your fleet is going to bring trade or war to Burma? ”

"Does this have anything to do with you?"

"It really has nothing to do with me." Alfaro smiled wryly: "But there may be something to do with the Portuguese – to be exact, Portugal has a great interest in Burma. ”

Gao Pragmatic once briefly mentioned this point to her, but Gao Pragmatic did not pay special attention to the specific situation of Portugal in Myanmar in his previous life, and only knew that Burma seemed to have Portuguese mercenaries, so he only mentioned a few words, and Huang Zhiting's knowledge was of course very limited, so he asked: "What does it matter?" ”

Alfaro then told him what he knew.

It turned out that as early as the sixth year of Hongji (1493), shortly after Columbus discovered the New World, Pope Alexander VI of Rome drew the dividing line for Castile and Portugal, which were two maritime powers at this time, and was known as the "Papal Meridian". So the Spaniards went west to the Americas, and the Portuguese went east around the Cape of Good Hope in Africa and all the way to Asia.

The Portuguese moved quickly, and in 1510, the Portuguese captured the Indian port of Goa; In 1511, it captured Malacca, an important maritime trading town, thus occupying the main sea route to the Ming Dynasty.

In 1513, the first Portuguese to reach the Ming Dynasty landed in Guangzhou. After that, his compatriots came in droves, and then they did not want to leave in Macau, and finally, after a tentative war, the Portuguese realized that they could not force the Ming to force them, so they had to ask for a "temporary residence" there by other roundabouts, which the local officials allowed for trade reasons – and of course for bribery.

The Portuguese entered Burma earlier than the Ming Dynasty. In the kingdom of Arakan on the west coast of Burma and the Mon kingdom on the east coast, there were Portuguese merchants and soldiers very early.

In the process of unifying Burma by the Taungoo Dynasty, the Burmese army was surprised to find that the Mon army had foreign soldiers wearing bloomers and beards, and they used advanced weapons to help the Mon people defend the city.

However, the outnumbered Burmese army eventually broke through the enemy's defenses and learned from Mon captives that the aliens were Portuguese mercenaries. At that time, the king of Taungoo treated these foreigners with courtesy, persuaded them to join his army, and even had the Portuguese become his military advisers.

The Portuguese brought not only military knowledge to the Taungoo court, but also something that the Burmese had never enjoyed – wine. Soon, the king indulged in wine and behaved strangely. He molested the minister's wife, told a lot of yellow jokes in the court, and if he didn't like it, he would be executed and beheaded. His actions became increasingly resentful of the people, and soon on a quest to find the White Elephant, the king was killed by one of his guards, who was Mang Yinglong's wife, Mang Ruiti.

Mang Yinglong, who succeeded to the throne, was the first "Mang Chief" in Da Ming's mouth. He was nothing like the previous kings, and although he also admired the Portuguese, he only needed their military prowess and stayed away from their wine.

Mang Yinglong selected a group of warriors he liked from among the captured Portuguese, and "sent" each of them to a Burmese wife, forming a "reverse door" foreign gun team. Under his command, this team was fierce and invincible, and made great contributions to the great cause of unification and expansion in the future.

In the west, Arakan (later Rakhine State of Burma) also made good use of the Portuguese, becoming a wealthy kingdom that not only resisted the annexation of the Taungoo dynasty, but also expanded its territory outward, from the Ganges River to the Irrawaddy River, encompassing the entire southwestern coastal area of Burma and part of present-day Bangladesh.

Arakan's wealth came mainly from robbery at sea and trading with the interior with the goods obtained from the robbery. The kings of Arakan opened trade to the Portuguese fleet, established treaty ports, and used the ports as transit points for the European slave trade; He recruited Portuguese free gunners and built a formidable naval fleet to plunder ships along the Strait of Malacca.

And among the robbery troops of the king of Arakan was an adventurer from Lisbon named Filipede Britoe Nicote. Born into a poor family, he jumped on a ship bound for South Africa at a young age, dreaming of escaping poverty.

However, he did not find much opportunity in South Africa, and instead moved to Arakan, where he eventually joined the kingdom's navy, by which time he had grown from a small sailor to an experienced sailor and warrior. Soon after, he was promoted to captain by the king, leading the soldiers of Arakan on a rampant tour of the Indian Ocean.

Because of his experience in Arakan, he had always coveted Burma, hoping that one day he would find an opportunity to establish his own colonial territory in Burma and gain domestic recognition and appoint him as the governor of the country.

The Viceroyalty of Portugal, or the Viceroyalty of Goa, was very supportive of his ventures and had provided him with a great deal of resources.

In other words, Portugal has now made Myanmar its own dish, just waiting for an opportunity to eat it.

After listening to this, Huang Zhiting understood what Alfaro's wry smile meant.

If Jinghua's expedition was to conquer Burma, then it would be equivalent to grabbing the prey favored by Portugal, and in fact it would have become a situation where the two tigers competed for food.

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