"I'm not guilty. I'm a devout Catholic. You must have made a mistake somewhere...ah!"
Lisbon, outside the Inquisition, people on three floors inside and three outside are watching the barbecue of human flesh.
A middle-aged man was tied to the execution pillar, and the flames gradually surrounded him, and then he let out a shrill scream. The stronger the flames burned, the more tragic his screams, and the more excited the onlookers became.
Two months before the Ming Dynasty mission arrived in Europe, Portugal formally established the Inquisition and established a branch of the Society of Jesus (headquartered in Paris, newly founded).
The Portuguese Inquisition mainly targeted two types of people, namely heretics and heretics.
Heretics are people who have problems with their thinking, such as believing that the earth revolves around the sun.
Pagans, in Portugal during this period, specifically referred to Jews who were hiding. When faced with unfavorable circumstances, Jews would choose to hide from the church. This was also one of the laws of Jewish survival. The King of Portugal wanted to dig out all the Jews!
Christian teachings do not allow lending, so Jews in various European countries often became the king's pocketbook. When they were short of money, they turned to Jewish merchants for loans. But Portugal took away the Ottoman Eastern trade routes, and the king and nobles were not short of money for the time being, so
He has been causing trouble for the Jews and wants to kill all these vampires.
King João III and Queen Caterina watched the whole process of the burning with great piety.
Caterina kept covering her mouth and sometimes her eyes to show her kindness. But after all, she was a devout Catholic and hated heretics, so it was inevitable that she would show some excitement.
João III was excited throughout the whole process, and he was extremely pious.
Historically, in the hands of this king, Portugal's national power reached its peak, and the suppression of ideas also reached its peak. The Renaissance came to an abrupt end. Even believing in humanism, let alone heliocentrism, would be considered heresy in Portugal.
.
By the way, a large number of Indians believe in Catholicism, which also started during the reign of João III. Since the upper castes were unwilling to accept baptism, they ordered missionaries to absorb a large number of lower castes and even untouchables in India into the religion. Finally, they simply
Bring the Inquisition to India.
"Your Majesty, battleships... so many battleships!"
A minister ran to report in panic.
King João III asked: “Which country’s warships are there?”
The minister said: "It's the Chinese fleet. When our fleet was cruising, we discovered a fleet composed of hundreds of ships. The capital ships were like castles floating on the sea. Through negotiations, the other party claimed that it was the Chinese fleet.
The fleet will arrive in Lisbon in the afternoon at the latest!"
King João III's face was uncertain. He liked Chinese luxury goods, but did not like the Chinese fleet.
Back then, Portugal occupied Malacca and could transport a large amount of goods back every year. The situation was like making money every day. Damn it, the Chinese navy defeated the Portuguese and Indian fleet, not only occupied Malacca, but even reached out to India, causing Portugal to
Fiscal revenue plummeted.
King João III asked: "How big is the opponent's battleship? Is it bigger than the Santa Caterina?"
"Santa Catalina of Mount Sinai" is Portugal's most powerful warship, with a displacement of more than 1,000 tons and a length of more than 40 meters.
The minister replied: "It's bigger than the Santa Catalina, and much bigger. You can tell at a glance."
Have Europeans ever seen such a magical creature?
In just this moment, the dissatisfaction in the heart of Joao III was eliminated by this bottle. With this porcelain bottle, Joao III will become famous and become the most beautiful cub among all the monarchs in Europe!
Seeing that Joao III was trembling all over, the queen, nobles and ministers suddenly raised their heads curiously.
This scene was recreated by a Portuguese painter. The work is called "The Gift of the Chinese Emperor". There is no porcelain vase in the entire oil painting, but the king is holding the box, the queen is sideways and peeking sideways, and the nobles and ministers are poking their heads. The two figures behind the king are
People, one's chin has already pressed down on the king's shoulder, and one stood on tiptoes, his eyes almost bulging out.
Wang Chong reminded with a smile: "Your Majesty the King, Your Majesty the King..."
"ah!"
King João III finally returned to his country and said with a smile on his face: "The Chinese envoy please enter the city."
That night, King João III held a banquet in honor of King Joao III. After getting to know the officials of the envoy, he secretly inquired about how many goods the Ming Dynasty fleet had brought.
The Portuguese merchants went crazy and gathered in groups at the port, hoping to make deals with the Ming Dynasty merchants. The Spanish merchants nearby also quickly got the news and came by ship but were stopped outside the port.
The next day, Wang Chong took out the imperial edict and gold seal, and also took out the agreement signed by the Portuguese and Indian governors.
João III was confused, and he was immediately dumbfounded after reading this. He was living a good life at home, killing a few heretics to kill time, but why did he suddenly become the vassal king of China?
"There must be some misunderstanding." João III said quickly.
Wang Chong asked: "Does the king not know about this?"
King João III said: "Of course I don't know."
Wang Chong suddenly became angry: "It seems that your Indian governor is up to something, so all the agreements signed before are invalid. I will immediately lead the fleet back to attack that bastard governor. From now on, China will directly trade with the Ottoman Empire!"
"You can't do this!" João III quickly stopped him.
In the past, trade between the East and the West was controlled by the Ottoman Empire, which was then transported overland to the Mediterranean coast and sold to Venetian merchants for sale in Europe.
Why is The Merchant of Venice so notorious?
Just because these guys have dark hearts and are only second-rate dealers in the Mediterranean, the selling price can directly increase ten times.
After Portugal controlled the waterway, it reduced the two middlemen of Ottoman and Venice. Their terminal retail prices were cheaper, but they could still earn dozens of times profits. If Ming Dynasty traded directly with Ottoman, it would return to the old way.
It’s equivalent to driving Portugal to death!
Wang Chong said: "Since the agreement is invalid, let's rely on battleships and artillery. Don't you, the king, want to detain me here? My followers will return to the ship to report once every three days. If it exceeds three days, the Ming warships will not be able to receive it.
According to the news I sent back, the fleet will immediately return to fight in India!"
King João III was panicking, but he forced himself to calm down and said: "Mr. Messenger, I would like to summon the ministers to discuss this."
Wang Chong smiled and said: "Of course."
Portugal does not dare to go to war with China because they have no money to fight.
Before Portugal opened up the Eastern Sea Route, it established a large number of colonies in North Africa. In recent years, with the rise of the Moors, Portugal has been at war with Portugal in North Africa. Portugal's military expenditures in North Africa far exceeded its profits in North Africa.
Historically, within a few years, Portugal's finances would be unable to sustain itself, and it almost gave up all of its colonies in North Africa, retaining only the four initially established colonial fortresses.
This time and space was even worse. Trade revenue dropped sharply due to the Ming Dynasty, and the North African War depleted Portugal's finances.
You can't even defeat the Moors, how dare you start a war with the Ming Dynasty?