The company buys goods from China at Banten Port, and then transports them to India, West Asia, Africa and other places for trade, and at the same time transports the goods from the above places back here and sells them to domestic merchants.

The size of the Datang Western Trading Company is huge, and just relying on a Datang Western Trading Company can maintain the prosperity of Banten Port.

Not to mention, basically every year, a group of Spaniards' round-the-world fleets will arrive at the port for trade, since the Tang Empire and the Spaniards reached a certain cooperation agreement, the Spaniards' round-the-world treasure fleet will set sail from Europe every year, go to the Americas, and then cross the Pacific Ocean to arrive at the port of Luzon, then the port of Banten, and trade with the merchants of the Tang Dynasty in these two ports for almost astronomical amounts.

Then their round-the-world fleet will enter the Indian Ocean, borrow some ports under the control of the Tang Western Company for replenishment, and fight all the way back to Europe, thus completing a whole voyage around the world!

Now only the Spaniards can engage in such a round-the-world voyage, no way, who let the family have a large number of colonies and supply ports around the world, and in their power vacuum in Asia and the Indian Ocean region, there are also supply ports provided by the Tang Empire.

At the same time, although they also have some contradictions with the Portuguese, but the contradictions are also controlled within a certain range, they sail in the waters controlled by the Portuguese, as long as they do not stir up trouble, the Portuguese should not see it.

Well, after all, the Portuguese mainland is on the edge of Spain, and if you provoke the Spaniards, people can directly wipe out the Portuguese homeland!

However, the Tang Empire was too far away from the Portuguese mainland to bring a threat to the Portuguese homeland.

Moreover, the two sides are now fighting for control in the Indian Ocean, and they have already played their brains, so even if the merchant ships of the Tang Empire can borrow ports controlled by Spain for supply, it is difficult to pass through the Cape of Good Hope in southern Africa and the west coast of Africa under the control of the Portuguese.

And the Spaniards were happy to see the Portuguese continue to block the Tang Empire's routes to Europe, because then their round-the-world fleet would be able to turn around for more money.

At present, the countries running European routes already include Portugal and Spain, and if another Tang Empire is inserted, the profits will not be shared, so although the Spaniards provide supply ports according to the agreement, in their hearts, they are actually unwilling to see the merchant ships of the Tang Empire break through the blockade of the Portuguese and enter the west coast of Africa and even the coast of Europe.

This situation is also the reason why it is difficult for the Tang Empire to completely open up European routes, and it can only continue to rely on the Portuguese and Spanish to export the empire's goods to Europe.

If you want to break this blockade, it is easy to say that it is easy to put the Portuguese down, but it is easy to get rid of the Portuguese, but without the Portuguese, this overseas trade has to be cut off at least half, and the losses caused by this are not small.

Otherwise, the empire would have knocked Malacca down many years ago!

Not playing Malacca is not because you can't beat it, but after you beat it, it means that you have completely turned your face with the Portuguese!

It's not a fight, it's not a fight, it's the empire's current embarrassment to the Portuguese!

But now, Li Xuan is ready to break this embarrassment!

The Chinese Empire, a great empire destined to unify the world, could not be pinned down by a small country like the Portuguese, and it was not fought in the past because the steamship technology was immature, and it was extremely difficult to independently open up global routes.

But now with steamships, sea navigation has become easier, and this also means that the Tang Empire has the opportunity to leave the Portuguese and even the Spaniards behind and control global trade alone.

Therefore, when the middle and upper echelons in the country were still arguing about whether to go west or east, or to go south, the Privy Council Military Intelligence Department had already received a secret message from Li Xuan: to lay the foundation of public opinion for the military to attack Malacca!

This statement may be a little vague at first sound, but to say that it has changed is to ask the Military Intelligence Department to find one, or simply create an excuse to start a war with the Portuguese and attack Malacca.

Why do you need excuses?

Because the Tang Empire is regarded as a ceremonial state of benevolence and filial piety, and the Portuguese and Spaniards are also the only two countries in the world that have established formal diplomatic relations with the Tang Empire.

The two sides have also signed a series of various trade and cooperation agreements.

If this directly tears up many agreements and goes to war, although it does not have much practical impact, it will not be able to save face.

In addition, more importantly, it was impossible for Li Xuan to let the imperial government or the military bear the negative impact of war with Malacca, which would lead to the severance of trade with the Portuguese and cause heavy economic losses.

Regardless of the era, people are short-sighted, and they only see the current cooperation between the empire and the Portuguese, which has brought huge economic benefits to the empire, so that many of the empire's products can be sold in a steady stream to India, West Asia, Africa and Europe.

However, few people can see that in the past ten years, the Portuguese have relied on trade with the Tang Empire, and they are also full of oil, and if compared with the Portuguese in the same period of the original time and space, the Portuguese in this time and space have gained more, even several times more benefits in the trade in Asia.

The Portuguese, who had gained a lot of benefits, were even more powerful than they had in the original plane, and had more troops deployed in Asia and Africa.

The Portuguese in this time and space are actually a completely different group from the Portuguese in the original time and space.

First of all, the Portuguese also imitated the Tang Empire and established the Portuguese East India Trading Company for colonization and trade in Asia.

So now in Asia, when it comes to the official power of the Portuguese, it is actually more accurate to say that it is the Portuguese East India Trading Company!

The various armed conflicts between the Tang Empire and Portugal were actually armed conflicts between the Tang Western Trading Company and the Portuguese Indian Ocean Trading Company.

At least, on the surface, that's how it looks!

Of course, neither of these trading companies is a pure trading company, but both have a strong official background, or simply they are the representatives of their respective regions in some regions.

However, the competition and conflict between the two companies are basically confined to the waters of the Indian Ocean and some coastal areas.

In the South China Seas, the Portuguese do business honestly, and even in order to maintain the apparent peace, the Portuguese often make certain concessions.

For example, it completely recognized the special interests of the Tang Empire on the Nanyang Peninsula, and tacitly acquiesced in the Tang Empire's provocation and gradual encroachment on Annan and Burma, not to mention other islands in the South Seas.

They simply recognized that many islands in the South China Sea belonged to the territory of the Tang Empire.

Of course, they also adhere to some of their own principles, such as the colonial ports they have established on the islands of the South Seas, and they are also resolutely unwilling to withdraw.

They recognized these islands as the territory of the Tang Empire, but they also believed that the colonial ports they had established before were land obtained through legal means, and the sovereignty could be given to you, but they still had to maintain actual control over the ports and trading stations.

This is also a tacit understanding between the two sides in the Nanyang region!

This tacit understanding is based on the fact that the volume of trade between the two sides is too huge, and it will have a deep impact on the economies of the two countries!

In this case, if the official of the empire takes the initiative to tear up various agreements, and then attack Malacca, and completely tear the skin of Portugal, I am afraid that many people in the country will be affected, and then accuse the empire of causing trouble, attacking friends and so on.

To avoid this trouble, the empire needs an excuse, an excuse that makes the empire legitimate, and the populace is also supportive.

Even the merchants, whose interests were hurt by the severance of trade, had to keep their mouths shut and support the war like everyone else!

Li Xuan handed over this kind of matter to the Military Intelligence Department to rest assured, although the Military Intelligence Department has a lot of messy departments, and occasionally does miscellaneous and even professional things, but they are still very proficient in their business.

Carrying out assassinations overseas, instigating civil wars, and the like has always been the strength of the Military Intelligence Department.

The current situation in Annam, Burma and Fuso is the proud work of the Military Intelligence Department, and even on the side of the Tatars, the Military Intelligence Department is also doing things at two ends in three days, but the Tatars are relatively large in size and occupy a large territory, and some conspiracies will cause them some small damage at most, and it is impossible to achieve a big effect.

Now it's not easy to ask the Military Intelligence Department to come up with an excuse for going to war!

However, although the matter is simple, the Military Intelligence Department still attaches great importance to it, and a deputy director in charge of European affairs who is mainly assisting the director in charge of European affairs in the Military Intelligence Department soon took an official fast communication ship to secretly arrive at an ordinary small port dozens of kilometers north of Malacca at dawn, and then quickly returned north!

Nowadays, the fast communication ships of the Tang Empire, with the development of the steam plan, are also steaming early, when the combination of the clipper type plus the multi-mast schooner, plus the high-power steam engine.

It is enough to make this kind of fast communication ship with a tonnage of only more than two hundred tons in the current Tang Empire become the fastest ship on the planet with an average speed!

This deputy director in charge of European affairs of the Military Intelligence Division, who rode all the way on a fast communication ship, maintained an average speed of up to 20 knots on the road!

After arriving at this ordinary small port only a few dozen kilometers away from Malacca, this deputy director was already not human, he was not seasick on this kind of fast communication ship, he vomited all the way, and when he arrived at this unknown small port, he almost died of seasickness.

This kind of ultra-high-speed fast communication ship is not a human seat at all, and the naval sailors who serve on it are all tens of millions of choices, and there is only one most important criterion, that is, it has to adapt to the violent turbulence under this high-speed voyage.

On weekdays, these ships are basically used to transport letters!

There are occasional transport passengers, but if there is no emergency, few people are willing to take this kind of ship, because if you take a trip, you basically lose half your life.

But the people of the Military Intelligence Department have always taken unusual paths, and in order to quickly arrive at the deployment work, it is normal for them to lose half their lives on the road.

What's even more unusual is that the deputy director just rested for a night, and the next day he dressed up as an ordinary crew member, and then took two of his elite men on a small merchant ship bound for Malacca.

On the same day, they arrived at the port of Malacca, and then got in touch with the Military Intelligence Department at the local secret site!

On the evening of the third day after the MI men arrived at the port of Malacca, as the night was getting clearer, a merchant ship without a flag entered Malacca, closed its gun doors and lowered some of its sails in accordance with the relevant regulations!

But suddenly, the merchant ship suddenly raised its sails, and at the same time lifted the gun jackets of the ship's guns on the deck, and quickly rushed towards the harbor!

When the Portuguese warship on the alert mission next to it saw this, it naturally immediately issued a warning!

But the merchant ship did not stop, but continued on its way, and it was possible to see people on their deck reloading their guns and firing first, as well as people beginning to fly the pirate's skull flag.

When the Portuguese warship on duty saw this, its officer immediately decided that it was a pirate ship, and he didn't know why he wanted to rush into the port, but as a soldier, and the enemy had already fired first, he did not hesitate to order fire to intercept!

After the Portuguese opened fire, they saw that many of the crew of the ship began to jump into the sea to escape, and then heard that the ship had a few fireballs, and then saw that the ship sank rapidly, and finally sat in the harbor, leaving only a lone mainmast towering over the sea!

As the smoke cleared, it could be seen that there was a Tang Dragon Flag fluttering in the wind on the mast!

1 second to remember Aishang:. m.