To my dear friend, Mr. Hörmann,

I departed from Goa at the end of March and arrived in Macau in mid-May. But the damned Macau City Council, contrary to the ban of the King and the Portuguese and Indian Governors, allowed the local citizens of Macau to participate in the maritime trade operations from Macau to Japan.

Before I arrived, it was estimated that 3-4 ships had already left the port for Japan, which made the number of Chinese goods needed by the trading fleet seriously insufficient, and it was about half a month late before they could leave for Japan.

This behavior of the citizens of Macao has greatly damaged the interests of the kingdom and the trading fleet, and if everyone in Macao can trade on their own, then who will buy this Sino-Japanese route from the king?

Bishop Antonio, the representative of the Macau City Council, actually suggested that I accept this reality on the grounds that these Macau citizens are now trading with Japan in the name of the Emperor of China, and have nothing to do with our King, and this act is treason.

I have also received bad news from Bishop Antonio, and I am compelled to warn you and the shareholders for the record that the value of the Sino-Japanese trade route is about to fall, and that our profits on this route will be drastically reduced.

Because the former emperor of China was unfortunately called by the Lord last year, may the Lord bless this poor heretic. It was under his rule that we have made amazing profits over the past 2 years.

The new emperor was a 17-year-old boy with whom Bishop Antonio had the privilege of being received. It is said that this was a close to Christian, wise and benevolent emperor. His attitude towards maritime trade was very different from that of previous Chinese emperors.

According to the Bishop, the young emperor was like Prince Enrique of the East, with an endless interest in science and the sea. Obviously, this is bad news for us.

In the face of this bad news, I have to make a prudent suggestion to you, my dear friend, and to the other shareholders, that it is best not to bid for the Sino-Japanese trade route for the next three years not to exceed 250,000 scherers, otherwise we will be at great risk.

I argued for a long time with His Excellency the Bishop and the other deputies of the Assembly of Macau to prevent them from allowing the citizens of Macao to continue to join the trade of the Sino-Japanese route, but this discussion was fruitless.

A representative of the Emperor of China in Macao warned me that it would be better to abandon the idea of threatening Macao by force, or else he would order the Chinese merchants to prohibit trade with the trading fleet, and to ban the ships of the Kingdom of Portugal from trading with China forever.

For the good of the kingdom, I had to give in. However, the representative of the Emperor also gave me a suggestion to go to Peking in person to make a representation to His Majesty the Emperor himself.

It is said that this emperor was very fond of Western things, and if I could please him, perhaps the richest emperor in East Asia would give us a good compensation.

On May 27, I took a separate ship from the fleet and escorted several officers and two cannons to Peking.

On June 25, my ship arrived in Tianjin, but the officials at the port refused to allow our people to go ashore, saying that they wanted to ask for instructions from above.

As I write this, my servant is knocking on my cabin door, may the Lord bless me, and he will bring good news.

Your loyal friend, Commander of the Sino-Japanese Trade Fleet, Sarmento

"Come in." Sarmento put down the quill pen in his hand, folded the letter, and shouted out the door.

His attendant Sedom immediately opened the door and walked in, and said to him with a smile on his face: "Your Excellency, the Chinese have agreed that we can go ashore to sell goods, and you can also enter Beijing with Xilao of Gongsha, but they only allow you to bring three people into Beijing." ”

"Really? And that was the first good news we heard when we arrived here. Sarmento subconsciously stood up and walked around the room excitedly.

Although the room he lived in was the largest on the ship, it was still quite cramped, and it was only about 10 steps from one end to the other.

As he walked, Samento pondered what gifts he should bring to impress the pagan emperor.

"Sedom, you have someone find the best two pairs of tusks, and that jar of dragon incense. Well, by the way, didn't the ship's fish hounds just give birth to a litter? Bring those puppies with you, and maybe His Majesty the Emperor will like these little creatures..."Sarmento finally decided what to bring.

Sarmento went ashore with a carefully selected gift and three retinues, and after a rather speechless inspection, he finally boarded the river boat bound for the Chinese capital.

Unlike Goa, which is located in the Indian Ocean and has a beautiful but hot climate, the summer weather in northern China seems more suitable for Europeans.

However, compared to the cities of Guangzhou and Nanjing, which he had heard from the missionaries, Tianjin and Tongzhou looked far behind. Although these two cities are far more prosperous than Goa, they do not seem to be as clean as Goa, which is coastal and rainy, in terms of hygiene.

When his ship passed through these places, Sammento was a little disappointed, and he was quite suspicious of the rumors that the missionaries had told him about several great cities in the Chinese mainland.

"Perhaps the so-called majestic and magnificent capital of China is just a city about the size of Edo, Japan. These missionaries had been in the wilderness for too long, so when they saw a slightly larger city, they subconsciously exaggerated. Samento couldn't help but comfort himself in his heart.

Sarmento's reflections gave him some confidence that the Chinese emperor was about the same as that of the Japanese shogun, but not as high as the Spanish king.

However, despite the undisputed position of the Spanish Empire in Europe, it clearly had little influence in Asia.

Although he had done enough to build himself psychologically, he also knew that he still needed to be cautious in these pagan kingdoms.

Just a few years ago, the commander of the Sino-Japanese trade fleet, Asseft, was imprisoned in a Japanese prison for violating a decree issued by the Japanese shogunate, and the Portuguese and Indian governors were helpless.

While Sammento was thinking wildly, the ship finally stopped at the canal dock outside Beijing's Chaoyang Gate.

When he walked up to the stone embankment leading to the pier, he was surprised to find that the stone embankment under his feet seemed to be made of Roman mortar.

Although the ancient Greeks invented the Roman mortar, after the Middle Ages, the way this mortar was made was lost. In the last few decades, Italy has succeeded in reviving the production of this mortar, but it is not produced, cumbersome and expensive, so it is only used to build churches, royal palaces and estates of the rich.

"Unexpectedly, these Chinese also found a way to make Roman mortar, and the production is not low." Sarmento subconsciously rubbed the ground with his feet, wanting to verify the quality of these Roman mortars.

"You're the Franc from Goa... A representative of the Portuguese trade fleet? ”

A stiff and strange voice sounded in the ears of Sarmento, who lowered his head, and he quickly looked up to find three Chinese in official uniforms standing in front of him, one of whom was the official who brought him.

Sammento hurriedly took off his hat and saluted: "I am the commander of the Sino-Japanese trade fleet of the Kingdom of Portugal, greetings to you, this gentleman..."

After some tedious questioning, Sarmento and the others were finally taken into a carriage and drove towards the capital, which was more than a mile away.

When Sarmento, who was sitting in the carriage, saw the walls of the city, he realized that the rumors he had heard were not exaggerated, and that the Edo Castle where the shogun lived was nothing more than a large and elaborate manor compared to the Beijing where the Chinese emperor lived.

After the carriage entered the city, Samento realized that although the city was huge, the streets were unusually clean, and European cities were simply incomparable. At the very least, these Chinese do not have to worry about being attacked by some unknown objects or liquids when walking on the side of the street.

The Chinese walking on the streets are also much cleaner and neater than Europeans. Samento was surprised that the city's inhabitants were much more vibrant than the Chinese he had seen on the road.

In the short hour's journey from the city gate to the place where they were settled, Sarmento felt that his eyes were a little overwhelmed. He vaguely understood why those missionaries were so desperate to enter the vast empire as a missionary.

The people of this land, unlike those they had seen elsewhere in the Americas and Asia, were rich and had a culture no weaker than that of Europe. If the people of this place can be brought under the Lord's teaching, then the Eastern world will also become a paradise for Christians.

The carriage stopped in front of the gate of the courtyard, which surrounded a large group of buildings, and it was said that this was where they lived.

Seeing that the official who took him into Beijing was about to get into the carriage and leave, Samento suddenly stepped forward, grabbed his sleeve a little anxiously and asked, "This honorable gentleman, you haven't told me yet, when will I see His Majesty the Emperor?" ”

The official was taken aback by Sarmento's unreasonable behavior, and was about to reprimand him when he suddenly felt that he had been caught in a small bulging leather bag, and he squeezed it, and reassured Sarmento with a smile.

"You don't have to be in such a hurry, first take a good life here to rest for two days, and I will report back to the above as soon as possible. When you will be summoned depends on your Majesty's intentions.

However, since Your Majesty has allowed you to enter Beijing, I will definitely summon you, as long as you don't make any trouble these days. In addition, if you encounter any problems, please ask the people in the Tongwen Pavilion to look for me, my name is Yao Wenzhong..."

His attendant Sedom was picking up his luggage while chatting with Laosha in Gongxi: "These Chinese rules are really strange enough, I heard that you have been to Guangzhou, in the city over there, the carriage should also drive on the right?" ”