Macau, Governor's Palace.

It has been more than two months since the Taiping army blockaded the Guanao city wall, and more than a month has passed since the Ming people and sailors appeared on the sea, but the number of people gathered at the gate of the governor's palace every day has increased unabated. These people are from all over the world, and even the appearance of Ming people, and each of them has anxiety and uneasiness written on their faces.

The blockade of Macao by the Taiping Army has not only frightened the Portuguese who have lived in Macau all the year round, but also the merchants who have been doing business in Macao for many years, and as the blockade has become longer, their food has almost run out, and if the situation continues, it will not take ten days for Macau to be the first person to starve to death.

Initially, everyone in Macau was outraged by the brutality of the Taipings, but now they are turning their angry eyes at Governor Bugallo, because after all this time, Bugallo still has not come up with an effective solution to resolve the crisis.

"Damn, why didn't he see us! We need food, we need food! ”

"Your Excellency the Governor must immediately negotiate with the Ming people and agree to their conditions!"

“”

The angry crowd was shouting and cursing outside, and inside the Governor's Palace, the Portuguese Governor of India, the Governor of Macau, Bugallo, was also furious. What made him angry was an official letter in his hand, sent from Goa, India, from the Portuguese Viceroy in India, Shrobao.

"I note that the situation in the East has changed somewhat, but the dispute on the mainland should not affect the interests of our Portuguese in the East. For that big country in the East, our power in Macao is very weak. Even our strength in the whole of the East is not enough to fight against this powerful country, so Portugal has always been neutral towards the East, even if there is a terrible rebellion in this country. Nor should we meddle in it, lest we cause unnecessary troubleNow, it seems, Your Excellency, that trouble has caused us to a great extent, and this trouble has greatly threatened our rule in Macau, and with it, our interests in the East, and finally, I regret to state to Your Excellency the fact that the kingdom's fleet in Goa will not go to the East. The fleet has a more important mission in India, so I hope that Your Excellency will resolve this dispute diplomatically and restore the situation in Macau as soon as possible. This allows us to continue to ship back from Macau the oriental goods that the people of Europe are fascinated by. ”

The tone of Schrobao's official letter was very kind, and he even used the rare word "respect" to refer to Boogalo, a word that Bugallo had never enjoyed before, but Bugallo read between the lines of Schpaul's words dissatisfaction and sarcasm. This made him very angry.

"Schroebel was foolish enough to think that I had caused this trouble. He didn't even agree to the fleet coming to Macao, and he even asked me to negotiate with that barbaric Ming Dynasty general soldier by diplomatic means, did he really think that this incident was just a trivial nuisance, and it could be resolved by just paying some money! ”

Bugallo was really angry, the reason why he was able to insist on not negotiating with the Ming people was that he hoped that the royal fleet of Goa would be able to rush to Macao, so that even if he could not deal a severe blow to the Ming army on land, as long as he could drive away the Ming people's warships at sea. He can still hold on until the Ming people can't hold it anymore. But Schpaul's decision shattered Bugallo's hopes. Without the support of Goa's main fleet, he would not be able to shock the warships of the Ming people, and Macao would also be blocked by the Ming people from land and sea, and it would truly become a dead city.

"Those damn Ming pirates, we've been working together very happily, why didn't they come to help us at this time, didn't we pay them less!"

Seeing that the governor was angry at those pirates, Bugallo's henchman, Rotony, the officer in charge of the Portuguese army in Macau, shook his head helplessly, the governor was too whimsical, how could he expect a gang of robbers to fight against the army of the Ming people.

Bugallo understood and shared the Doge's anger, but he could not fail to do his duty as a loyal subordinate - that is, to remind the Doge what was the most important thing to do now.

"Your Excellency, we must make a choice now. Without the help of Goa's fleet, we would not have been able to get the Ming sailors to withdraw from the sea, and in that case, Macau would have truly become a Jedi. Duke Schroeber has clearly shifted the blame to you, and if you fail to handle this crisis properly, he will have an excuse to transfer you elsewhere, so that his cronies can take over the city of wealth in the East. ”

"Rotony, what do you want to say?" Bugallo calmed the anger in his heart and calmed down.

"The army of the Ming people is not as strong as they thought, otherwise they would not have rushed to the south of the Tatars, and even their government would have been wiped out. Therefore, I think that we should not be afraid of the armies of the Ming people, but should fight them and let them retreat. Therefore, Your Excellency the Governor, please order the conscription of sailors, and I will lead them out of the customs to defeat the army of the Ming people, and let them know that we Portuguese are powerful! "Rotony is a staunch fighter.

"No!"

Bugallo threw the letter on the bookcase, shook his head at Rotony, and said, "We can't go to war with the Ming, otherwise we will be condemned by the Holy See." ”

"Why does the Holy See accuse us, we are Europeans, real Catholics, not Ming people!" Rotony was a little excited, and didn't know why going to war with the Ming people would provoke the accusations of the church.

"I heard that the crown prince of the Chinese people was baptized as soon as he was born and became our Catholics, so the Holy See supports the Ming people, and the Holy See has always tried its best to push their upper echelons in the East to accept our Catholicism, if we go to war with the Ming people, the Holy See will definitely be dissatisfied."

"Since their crown princes are all Catholics, why would the Ming army outside the gate be hostile to us?"

"It's profit!"

Bugallo shrugged his shoulders, "Rotony, there is no love for no reason in the world, and there is no hate for no reason, think about it, why did the general army of the Ming people suddenly take hostile actions against us?" ”

"Is it because of the price of those firearms?"

Rotony did not believe that the Ming people were going to war just because the price of the goods they wanted to buy was high.

"Maybe, maybe not, who knows, it doesn't matter now."

Bugallo walked to the window in distress, looked north and said to Rotony: "Go talk to the Ming people and see what they want to do." ”

"Your Excellency the Governor, this is weakness, this is a compromise, as a soldier, I cannot accept negotiations without a fight!" Rotony screamed angrily.

"It's not weakness, it's not compromise, it's wisdom!"

Bugallo turned around categorically and said to Rotony: "You must know that the enemy of the Ming people is not us, their enemy is the Tatars from the north, so we don't need to fight with them, the Tatars in Guangdong will solve this trouble for us." (To be continued.) )