Daming: At the start of the showdown, Lao Zhu was stunned

Chapter 1155 Become My Vassal
Zhu Su thought this was a big fish, but he never thought it would be such a big puffer fish as King John I of Portugal.

John I, a promising king of Portugal, was the first king to turn his attention to the sea and make navigation a national policy. He was also the founder of the European Age of Exploration.

In later generations, John I had a lot of praise and was regarded as the most wise Portuguese king. Even in this era, Zhu Su regarded the Portuguese king as a powerful opponent and a level boss.

But they never expected that in their first battle after arriving in Europe, they would capture this legendary king without knowing it.

Zhu Su's first reaction was to think that the person in front of him was lying.

"Congratulations, Your Highness. Congratulations, Your Highness, for capturing the king in one battle. This achievement will go down in history!"

Instead, Tie Xuan reacted first and congratulated Zhu Su in great surprise. Then Li Jinglong realized that the long string was a prefix, and he actually caught a big fish in this battle, and his mouth almost stretched to his cheeks. Even the interpreter was excited: capturing the king in one battle with almost no damage to his side, what a great achievement!

They were deeply in the enemy's territory and were originally very nervous. But now they had achieved great success in the first battle and captured a king without knowing why, which could be regarded as a good omen from heaven.

Tie Xuan and the soldiers' congratulations made Zhu Su sober up: Although the title of the King of Portugal is famous, for the Ming Dynasty today, it seems not impossible to capture him in one battle.

Although John I is famous in later generations, and the Portuguese Empire in the Age of Discovery is also famous, at this point in time, the combined size of all the European countries may not be as strong as the Ming Dynasty alone.

Portugal is a tiny country, not even as big as a prefecture in the Ming Dynasty, and its population and economy are far inferior.

The king of such a country, if placed in the Ming Dynasty, would not even be considered a local tyrant. It is nothing special to capture him alive in one battle.

Moreover, Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, is a port city. Joao the Great began to develop navigation in advance because of the Ming Dynasty's discovery of the New World. This is also the news that Zhu Su had heard before. In this way, Lisbon is the port in front of us now; those ships just now are the fleet accumulated by Joao for the development of navigation; and the reason why those fleets were encouraged and charged forward despite the artillery attacks they had never seen before was because they were inspired by them. The king was charging in front, so they naturally would not care about themselves...

"Fifth Uncle, since we have captured the king of this country, we might as well take advantage of the situation to plunder his country. This will surely intimidate other Western European countries. This is a God-given opportunity!" Li Jinglong said excitedly.

"Now that the king has fallen into our hands, the whole country will be cautious and we can take advantage of the situation to gain a foothold here. Your Highness, our previous plan has been accomplished!" Tie Xuan was also overjoyed.

The morale of the soldiers and generals was greatly boosted, and they all said that if the news spread, it would definitely enhance the prestige of the Ming Dynasty. Several generals immediately requested to fight with Li Jinglong, and they wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to capture the monarch of the other country and invade the country in a large scale, so that the prestige of China would spread far and wide.

Zhu Su looked at John I with burning eyes, his mind racing.

Indeed, as Li Jinglong and Tie Xuan said, the unexpected capture of King John I was like an unexpected trump card. With this trump card in hand, it would be much easier for the army to enter Portugal.

However, the Ming army only had a thousand people after all. Europe was also different from Japan, Goryeo and other countries. They had not been influenced by the Chinese monarchy, and even their races were different. Even if they conquered the entire territory of Portugal, what would it matter?

Are they going to rule this country in this unfamiliar place with just a few thousand people?
Moreover, the reason why this battle was easily won was actually due to the powerful warships and artillery. But if it was a land battle, without the advantage of the weapons of strong ships and powerful artillery, the soldiers would surely be sacrificed. Two thousand people may not necessarily be able to conquer a country.

And even if they conquered it, what would happen? There were countless countries on the European continent, and Portugal was just a small, remote country in the western part of Europe. Even if they conquered it, it might not have an impact on other European countries.

During this short period of time, Zhu Su weighed many pros and cons. He looked up and saw the pale face of the embarrassed John I. Although he had just forced himself to give his name, the fear in his eyes was still there. Obviously, the scene of the Ming fleet's artillery fire had not yet disappeared from the heart of this European monarch who had left his name in history.

Zhu Su suddenly had an idea in mind. He signaled the interpreter to convey his words to King John I: "Your Excellency, your European church is attacking our Ming vassal state. My soldiers hope that I will kill you to establish my authority and avenge your rudeness and stupidity in despising our Ming."

"Do you want to become a victim of my Ming Dynasty's revenge and die in humiliation, or pay a sufficient price in exchange for your life?"

"Fifth uncle? We paid a huge price for this big fish..." Li Jinglong was stunned, and the other generals were also shocked and wanted to persuade them. Zhu Su waved his hand to stop the generals and only looked at John I with burning eyes.

After listening to the translation, John I's eyes lit up, and he was obviously surprised. But he quickly suppressed his excitement and bowed to Zhu Su politely with the etiquette of Western nobles:
"Your Excellency, the Honorable General of the Ming Dynasty. You are a true nobleman with a noble character and noble manners. Of course, according to the custom among nobles, I am willing to pay a high ransom to redeem my life..."

"Your Majesty, I don't care about your conventions and noble manners, nor do I care how much ransom you can pay." Zhu Su did not accept the compliment from Joao, but laughed, and his evaluation of Joao in his heart increased a few points. In this situation, he can still keep calm and try to restrain the other party with moral manners... Such a person must be a pedantic king.

"My Great Ming has a vast territory and is rich. I am the son of the Great Ming Emperor Hongwu and the brother of the Great Ming Emperor Yiwen. You are just a small foreign king. How much money can you give?"

Zhu Su deliberately put on airs to make the Western king look up to him. Sure enough, when he heard that Zhu Su was actually a prince of the Ming Dynasty, John I, who had been trying to remain calm, finally had his pupils trembled and showed a look of surprise.

The vastness and power of the Ming Dynasty had long been spread throughout the European continent with the commercial exchanges between the East and the West and the popularity of Ming Dynasty products. For a European monarch like John I who had already turned his attention to the ocean, he knew exactly how powerful and wealthy the Ming Dynasty was: not to mention other things, there were dozens of merchant ships sent by the Portuguese royal family to the Ming Dynasty, and the wealth obtained from these dozens of merchant ships alone was even comparable to the annual agricultural tax of his entire territory.

It was precisely because he knew that the Ming Dynasty had obtained huge wealth from the New World that John I turned his attention to the ocean earlier than in previous history... It can be said that the Ming Dynasty was the object that John I wanted to emulate and the goal he longed for...

"Excuse me, Your Excellency the noble King Zhou of the Ming Dynasty..." John I tried to calm down his surprise and bowed to Zhu Su again. "Since you don't like the ransom I paid, can you tell me what you actually want?"

"As long as your request is reasonable, I think I am willing to cooperate with you." said John I.

"As long as you, Portugal, become a vassal of the Ming Dynasty." Without paying attention to the meaning behind John I's words, Zhu Su sat upright on the chair and put forward his conditions with a smile. "This king will let you live."

"Your Majesty, what do you think of this condition?"

(End of this chapter)