The Rise of the European Emperor

The three ships left Guangzhou Port, and after exiting the Pearl River Estuary, they did not turn south, but turned east...

Originally, when he left Guangzhou Port, the Malacca messenger Najib also asked Columbus and the others to wait. Because the artisans they want to explore and smelt tin ore have not yet arrived.

The craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty were really miserable, like slaves. After receiving the credentials of the Malacca Sultan Mahmud, who requested to support several artisans who were exploring and smelting tin ore, there was no need to wait for the approval of the capital.

However, there are no such talents under the Chief Secretary of Guangdong, and there is no large-scale tin mine. However, Pinglefu in Guangxi (now around Hezhou City, Guangxi) next to Guangdong Province was the most important tin-producing area in the Ming Dynasty.

The Chief Secretary of Guangdong and the Chief Secretary of Guangxi are not very familiar, but he is familiar with Chen Jin, who is also the Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi and the Governor of Guangdong. Therefore, Shen Rui, the political envoy of the Zuo Bu in Guangdong, directly asked Chen Jin to go to Pingle Fu to get a few artisans to explore and smelt tin ore.

As the Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, Chen Jin did not interfere in specific local government affairs. However, he was still nominally the boss of the officials of Guangdong and Guangxi. Therefore, it is no problem to go to Pingle House to ask for a few craftsmen. So, Chen Jin agreed immediately. To this end, Najib also sent Chen Jin several large pearls. As a maritime country, there is not much else in Malacca, and there is still no shortage of pearls. And the unlucky craftsmen, without a say, were sold directly by the gentlemen. In the eyes of the civil servants of Daming, the craftsmen are nothing more than a group of slaves who work.

However, it was not so fast to get a few craftsmen from Pingle House. A set of processes are gone, and it is estimated that it will take a long time. So, Najib will have to wait a while. At the same time, Najib also hoped that Columbus's fleet could wait for him to return to Malacca with him.

However, Columbus' fleet was on another mission. What is their mission? It turned out that before departure, Marin asked the Columbus fleet to find Dongfan Island (that is, Tai Island in later generations).

What are you looking for in Taiwan? Naturally, they want to set up a trade transfer station on the island!

At present, Taiwan Island has not been developed and is desolate. The Ming Dynasty did not pay attention to maritime interests, and voluntarily gave up Dongfan Island, shrinking its forces to Penghu Island, mainly to monitor the Taiwan Strait Channel. For Dongfan Island, it was ignored.

Marin has never been able to understand why the Ming court ignored such a large island as Dongfandao. You said that you don’t pay attention to the development of islands, Qiongdao has been developed long ago, and Qiongzhou Prefecture was also established in the Ming Dynasty. Taiwan Island is larger than Qiong Island, and there are many plains on the southwest coast, which is very suitable for development. Therefore, Marin is very incomprehensible.

However, it was also cheaper for Marin. The location of Tai Island is very important. It faces Daming Hujian Province directly, which is conducive to trade with Daming. In addition, from the northern part of Tai Island, along the Ryukyu Islands, you can also reach Japan. and,

It is also very convenient to go to Southeast Asia from here.

Therefore, Dongfan Island is simply an excellent transit point for maritime trade. Therefore, after the Dutch occupied Taiwan Island, they launched a prosperous maritime trade with Ming and Japan, which was very prosperous for a while. Had it not been for the powerful Zheng Chenggong, the Dutch maritime trade might have continued to prosper.

In fact, whether it was the Ming Dynasty or the Qing Dynasty, they did not pay attention to Dongfan Island, even ignorant. In the early years of the Ming Dynasty, Taiwan Island was called Xiaoliuqiu. In fact, this so-called Little Ryukyu is 9 times larger than the real Ryukyu country...

The Manchu Qing did not pay much attention to Tai Island. The reason why Shi Lang was sent to unify Tai Island was because there were a large number of Ming Dynasty clans on Tai Island. Kang Mazi was not at ease, so he asked Shi Lang to take them all back and take care of them.

After taking back Taiwan Island, the Manchus actually left it there without much care. This also led to, until the late 19th century, Taiwan Island only developed the west coast and northern areas. As for the east coast, there is not much development.

It happened that Marin needed an opportunity to trade with Daming. However, because there is no other Daming vassal state in Beihai Kingdom to prove its existence, and the civil servants of Daming will never take risks, sailing tens of thousands of miles, and go to Europe to see what it is.

Therefore, Marin's plan is to occupy Taiwan Island first and establish a land state similar to the "Big Belly Kingdom". Then, in the name of the chieftain of the native state, he requested to belong to the Ming Dynasty. If it can be named a vassal state, it is best. If not, Marin intends to directly apply to become the chieftain of Daming, and directly incorporate Taiwan Island into the territory of Daming.

The chieftain system is a very special system, similar to the autonomous regions of later generations. However, it is more autonomous than the autonomous region. Because the chieftain's office is hereditary. In addition, the management of the chieftains by the imperial court was particularly laissez-faire. Even the taxes paid by the chieftains were very small, much lower than the taxes paid by the Han people. Even, at the beginning, how much tax the chieftain had to pay was declared by the chieftain himself. Let you report the tax amount yourself, can you report more? Therefore, the tax of the chieftain is very small. Of course, the chieftains in the minority areas in the southwest, where most of the people are mountain people, live in stockades, and are indeed poor and have little money to pay taxes. Traveling to Shaomin Shanzhai is not popular these days, so the southwest villages at that time were very poor. Even if the Ming Dynasty wanted to levy more taxes, it was impossible.

The biggest difference between the chieftain system and later autonomous regions is probably the "autonomy of their soldiers". In other words, as a chieftain, he has actual military power. Therefore, the rights of the chieftain, speaking, are greater than those of the vassal kings. Of course, it can't be compared. Because the vassal kings of the Ming Dynasty were raised as pigs and had no rights at all.

With military power and autonomy, Tusi is basically equivalent to an independent kingdom. However, compared with Korea, Ryukyu and other vassal states, the official rank of the chieftain is much lower. The king of Joseon is the prince, the king of Ryukyu is the king of the county, and they are all super-quality kings. And those chieftains were generally hereditary prefects and other official positions, which were much lower than the kings.

In addition, the difference between a chieftain and a vassal state is that while paying a small amount of taxes, he also pays tribute. Those overseas vassal states, in addition to those that are closer, can pay tribute once every two or three years or even five years. However, because the chieftain belonged to the territory of the Ming Dynasty, he requested to pay tribute once a year or two years.

The reason for this was actually that the court loved face, and was afraid that the number of tributary vassal states would be too small, and it would not be possible to create a "all nations coming to court" situation. For feudal dynasties, this is very humiliating. Therefore, it is the best way to let those low-level toasts make up the numbers.

Even some leaders of the young people who only occupied a few stockades could be named chieftains. If you bring these soy sauced toasts to the Beijing Normal Conference, you can indeed have a big pile. So many people are bustling with people, and they are dressed in fancy clothes, which can indeed create the illusion that "all nations are coming to court". To this end, the Ming Dynasty was very diligent in supervising these chieftains who came to pay tribute. Of course, these toasts will never suffer. Often these poor chieftains came to the capital with mountain goods, but when they returned, they were full of silk and satin that the court rewarded...

However, the biggest advantage of the Tusi is that they can freely trade with Daming. Because, from a legal point of view, the Tusi is the territory of the Ming Dynasty. When merchants from the Ming Dynasty went to the area under the jurisdiction of the chieftain, or the people of the chieftain went to the Hanmin area to conduct trade, it was not considered to go abroad, and it was relatively free. At most, they were extorted by those officials for some protection money. Unlike those vassal states, fixed-point trade is generally only allowed when paying tribute. However, the tribute is at most once a year, how can this satisfy Marin's appetite?

Therefore, Marin's plan is to occupy Taiwan Island, and then try his best to apply to become the chieftain of Ming Dynasty. As long as he becomes the chieftain of the Ming Dynasty, then Taidao is considered domestic. At that time, there will be no restrictions on trade.

Therefore, the purpose of Columbus's trip was to "discover" Taiwan Island. Then, record the latitude and longitude coordinates. When the road in Panama is completed and Panama City is also built, we can use Panama City as the starting point to arrive at Taiwan Island and occupy Taiwan Island through the historical route used by the "Manila Sailing Trade". Then, with the entire Taiwan Island, he requested to belong to Daming and become a chieftain. Once you become a "person of your own", it is very convenient to buy materials. After all, the other side is Quanzhou Prefecture...

Even, the destination of Columbus's trip, Marin had already arranged it - Sheliao Island in Keelung (that is, part of the Peace Island in later generations).

There are many reasons for this decision. First of all, Marin contacted Daming in the future and planned to use the Pacific route. Keelung faces the Pacific Ocean and is a very suitable port.

In addition, Marin also intends to send troops to control Japan in the future, at least occupy Iwami Ginzan. Therefore, taking Keelung as a springboard is the most appropriate.

In addition to these two factors, there are two other factors that are also very important. First, in Jinguashi, east of Keelung, there is a super-large gold mine called "Jinguashi Gold Mine". Generally, gold mines with reserves of dozens of tons of gold can be regarded as super-large gold mines. The gold reserves of the Jinguashi Gold Mine are estimated to be more than 500 tons, and the quality is very high.

The second point is also very important - that is, Sheliao Island, north of Keelung, is separate from this island. Establishing the first stronghold here can avoid being attacked by the natives of this island...

You know, the indigenous people on Taiwan Island are very fierce. In particular, the Gaoshan people (as opposed to the Pingpu people) are best at jungle warfare.

If you land directly on the island, it is easy to be harassed by the indigenous people day and night. The Dutch colonized Taiwan and almost suffered a big loss from the beginning. Later, seeing that the natives were too fierce, the Dutch colonists used deception to "buy" a large piece of land before building a strong castle as a stronghold in Tainan. Only then did it gain a firm foothold in Taiwan Island.

Later, the Spaniards also colonized Taiwan. They are also smarter - they directly occupied the pirate Sheliao Island at the mouth of the Keelung River and built a castle on Sheliao Island. Sheliao Island is not connected to the land, and faces the Keelung River, so there is no shortage of fresh water. Therefore, the choice of the Spaniards is also very good.

Plus, Marin needed to consider the Pacific route, the occupation of Japan, and the development of the Jinguashi gold mine. Therefore, Marin decided to learn from the Spaniards and build a castle directly on Sheliao Island. Then, when the strength is enough, go to conquer the island.

After conquering the island, go to apply to be the chief toast of the Ming Dynasty...

Therefore, the main purpose of Columbus's visit to Taiwan this time was to find Sheliao Island. After finding it, record the latitude and longitude coordinates so that the fleet from Panama City can easily find the island... With the coordinates, even if it deviates from the route, it can be corrected back...