Brazil is the name of a kind of wood, its full name is "Brazilian rosewood".
As early as when Zhu Houzhao's father was emperor, the Portuguese discovered Brazil. But this poor place was full of tropical rainforests, and there were no gold or silver mines, so the Portuguese declared their sovereignty and ignored it.
It took another thirty years, when Zhu Houzhao was almost dead, before Portugal established a colonial base in Brazil.
For Portugal, Brazil is a huge lumberyard. Countless "Brazilian rosewood" grows here, which is a very valuable wood. It can not only be used to make high-end furniture and musical instruments, but can also be used to make high-end red dyes, which can be transported across seas.
You can make money in Europe.
So they named the colony "Brazil" after the wood.
Historically, Brazilian rosewood was cut down by Portugal for more than a hundred years and was directly classified as an endangered species.
The place where Wang Ji met the Portuguese was near the mouth of the Amazon River.
Through the telescope, Li Ji saw the Portuguese royal flag clearly and said: "Sir, we have arrived at the Portuguese colony."
Wang Ji smiled and said: "Portugal is a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty. Let's fire off a few salutes to say hello."
"Boom boom boom boom!"
More than a dozen stone bombs hit the port, causing splashes of water. The Portuguese colonists were so frightened that they shouted "enemy attack" and hid in the simple castle.
Shipborne cannonballs can be divided into iron bullets, lead bullets and stone bullets. Of course, stone bullets are used at this time. No matter how rich your family is, you have to be frugal.
The ship docked at the port, and a crew member who could speak Portuguese was sent to contact the colonists: "Listen, this is a Chinese sea exploration ship. Portugal is a vassal of China. The ship from the sovereign country has arrived, and you haven't come out to greet it.
?”
These colonists have been thrown to Brazil for several years.
They captured local indigenous people as slaves. A few slaves grew food, and most of the slaves worked as lumberjacks. The beautiful female slaves were married as wives, and they had given birth to twenty or thirty mixed-race children.
Portugal became a vassal state of China?
They don't know.
But a good man doesn't suffer immediate losses. Everyone understands this principle, and they all left the castle and came out to receive the guests.
There was no way, their simple castle was a powerful weapon for defending against the natives, but it couldn't withstand a few bombardments from ship-borne artillery.
Wang Ji took the fire gun soldiers and the ronin off the ship, and the colonists became more obedient and had no idea of resistance.
The translator pointed at Wang Ji and introduced: "This is the son of the Chinese Prime Minister, the great navigator Wang Ji. Which of you is the leader?"
"Fausto," a red-bearded man came out and said with a careless salute, "I am Fausto Fernandez, the governor of the Portuguese colony in Brazil. I have met this great Chinese navigator."
Wang Ji smiled and said: "Don't worry, I won't take away your colony. I am the one who wants to sail around the world."
Fausto finally breathed a sigh of relief and complimented: "A very great ideal. I wish you to become the first navigator to complete a circumnavigation of the world."
Magellan's fleet was captured by the Ming Dynasty Navy as soon as it reached the Southeast Asia. Therefore, in this time and space, no one has yet completed a circumnavigation of the world. Europeans only knew that Magellan went to sea, but did not know his whereabouts at all. They all speculated that Magellan had been buried in the ocean.
Wang Ji's ship carried various small gifts, most of which were medicinal jade (colored glass), which was one of the commodities that Tan Haihou made money from in Inca.
When leaving Mazu Port, Wang Ji bought a large box of medicinal jade and had already traded more than ten pieces with the natives on the way.
Wang Ji smiled and said: "To express my goodwill, I will give you a small gift."
Medicinal jade earrings sparkle with golden color.
Fausto's eyes widened, thinking it was some kind of treasure, and he said happily: "Your Excellency is so generous, please come to the castle as a guest."
There was nothing to entertain in the Brazilian colony, even the food was poor.
The crew was very happy, because Fausto sent hundreds of female slaves. These female slaves were not very good-looking, with thick hands and big feet. They usually did farming, laundry and other tasks. Even the colonists had no regard for them.
Sexual interest.
However, the crew that followed Wang Ji sailed from Japan to Yinzhou, and then took another half a year to get to Brazil. In their eyes, the sow was like a Diao Chan, and there were so many slaves in the dark. The number of female slaves was not enough, and they even took turns to leave for Brazil.
A group of mixed-race Chinese people.
human nature?
human rights?
Don't mention this in the colonies.
Before leaving, Fausto gave a gift in return. He had nothing to give, and asked the slaves to carry twenty Brazilian mahogany logs onto the ship.
Zhou Fei looked at the gradually disappearing port and curled his lips and said: "These Portuguese people really can't hold up the wall with mud. The huge land does not organize people to immigrate to cultivate it, but they just arrest the natives to cut down trees."
Li Ji smiled and said: "The heavier the wood, the more valuable it is. These Brazilian mahogany trees are very heavy, but they are much more valuable than the food grown."
Wang Ji was more informed. He smiled and said: "I heard from several teachers at the Navy Governor's Office that Portugal is a small country with a very small population. How can they organize a large number of immigrants? Immigration cannot be large-scale and relies on farming.
It’s hard to make money, so we might as well just cut down trees here.”
We have already reached the mouth of the Amazon River. If Wang Ji wants to sail around the world, he can reach the coast of Africa directly east.
But sailing boats don't have that condition. From here to the east to Africa, the whole journey is against the current.
Even if you go north along the coast, you have to go against the current all the way, and the speed is so slow that it takes more than half a month to reach the mouth of the Orinoco River.
Wang Ji ordered the ship to go ashore for exploration, and Li Ji also asked the crew to land to get fresh water.
They met the natives again, and they exchanged gifts. Wang Ji got a small ball.
Natural rubber ball!
Although rubber trees are mainly produced in the Amazon Basin, they are also produced in various parts of South America. For example, the indigenous people here use rubber to make water bags, which they carry with them when hunting to facilitate river water. They are also made into rubber balls for children to play with.
Wang Ji was playing with the rubber ball in his hand, remembering that his father had asked people to look for similar items.
Is this it?
Wang Ji gave the native a few medicinal jade ornaments and pointed at the rubber ball. When he was about to give up, the native finally took him to see the rubber tree and poked the bark with a stone spear to demonstrate how to obtain rubber.
Wang Ji immediately asked people to bring in wooden barrels to hold water. There were twenty wooden barrels in total. He dug out rubber saplings and filled them with soil and transplanted them into the barrels.
And he stayed here for a full month, and twelve saplings in the barrel died.
He transplanted again, and transplanted fifty plants at a time. Li Ji complained that the wooden barrels had to be left to contain fresh water.
When we set sail again, a total of twenty-eight plants survived.
Continuing to sail along the coastline, Wang Ji actually saw a Han castle.
But after Panama was conquered by Zhu Hai, forts were built on both the Pacific and Atlantic coasts. The fortress on the Atlantic side was particularly strong to prevent Spanish attacks. It was a Spanish castle in itself, and Zhu Hai was on the original
Carry out reinforcement and expansion based on the foundation.
Calling the person in charge of the castle, Wang Ji said: "I am Wang Ji, the son of the chief minister of the Ming Dynasty. There are more than twenty saplings here. Please be sure to send them to the Lord of Luzon. The Lord of Luzon is my eldest brother. Please tell him that my father is looking for
I found the thing. By the way, remember to water it along the way, this thing is not very drought-resistant."