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

Chapter 1157 Landing in Lisbon

Faced with the conditions proposed by Zhu Su, John I was obviously conflicted.

Zhu Su did not continue to be aggressive, but told John I that the matter did not need to be decided overnight. The people of the Ming Dynasty loved peace, and even if Portugal was unwilling to submit to the Ming Dynasty, they were still willing to do business with Portugal.

Then he ordered people to prepare a small boat to send John I back to the shore.

"Please know this, Your Majesty." Zhu Su said to King Joao I. "We have come from afar to uphold justice for our vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, and we have no intention of provoking your country."

"The church challenged the authority of the Ming Dynasty, and we are only pursuing the main culprit. Your country did not participate in the Crusades, so I am willing to give your country a chance."

What else could Joao I say? The situation was stronger than the person, and since things had come to this point, he could only nod his head in agreement. Zhu Su and his generals personally sent him to the boat. Joao I had never expected that he would escape death this time, so he was eager to return home. He said goodbye to Zhu Su in a hurry and left on the boat.

"Your Highness, if this guy goes back and gathers more people here, wouldn't it be really annoying?" a general asked Zhu Su.

"We are not afraid of him gathering more people." Li Jinglong said. "I am afraid that he will call in troops from other countries after he returns. Many ants can kill an elephant. There will always be a time when we cannot cope with them."

"It doesn't matter. He has already been tempted, so he won't do anything bad to us easily." Zhu Su said. Meeting with John I made him think of another way to infiltrate Europe, which made him feel very happy.

"Why is Fifth Uncle so sure?" Li Jinglong asked.

"I deliberately pointed the finger at the church, but this person did not refute it, which shows that his faith in the church is not very strong." Zhu Su explained. "Besides, this person is ambitious and is not willing to be inferior to others for a long time. Portugal is just a small country on the border of the Western Continent, and it is small and weak. How can he not have the ambition to dominate the world?"

"He is ambitious, and he will not miss this opportunity."

Li Jinglong nodded, thought for a moment, and then asked, "Uncle Wu, do we still need to land at the port?"

"We don't have many supplies on our ship. We can't just keep drifting on the sea, waiting for his reply..." He looked eager to try.

"Your Highness, this is inappropriate." Tie Xuan hurriedly stopped him.

"Although the king seems to be interested in making a move, this place is after all the Western Continent. They don't know etiquette and morality, and they don't recognize the king's rule. They have never had any friendship with China."

"How do we know if the king will take advantage of us going ashore to make some moves? These Western barbarians are different from the Kunlun slaves. They are somewhat knowledgeable about military affairs. If we go ashore, we will be outnumbered and if they want to harm us, we will not be able to resist them."

"Well, Dingshi, these are mature and prudent words." Zhu Su nodded, affirming Tie Xuan's caution.

"However, since we have successfully arrived in the Western Continent and have won a great victory, it would be too inhumane not to reward our brothers."

"Jiujiang, you and the generals should make arrangements and divide the soldiers into five groups, and take turns to go down the ship to buy. We will wait here for five days. I believe these Portuguese will not dare to do anything."

Li Jinglong's face was rapidly falling, but then he heard Zhu Su change the subject and said.

The soldiers of the Ming army came from afar, and spent almost all of their time on ships for more than a year. The few times they landed were either on deserted islands like Cape Verde and the Canary Islands, which could almost be called uninhabited islands, or on continents like Africa, where there were only primitive tribes. There were no civilized cities for them to spend time and entertainment.

These more than a thousand Ming soldiers were all strong and powerful men selected from hundreds of miles away. They were at the peak of their energy. After drifting on the sea for so many years, they didn't even see a sow. How could they not be anxious?

If it weren't for the strict military law and the fact that those black-clad female savages couldn't really control themselves, Zhu Su suspected that these guys would be out of control in Africa.

Now that they have finally seen a "civilized" city, Zhu Su is worried that if they continue to be oppressed and not allowed to relax and breathe, many of these brothers who have accompanied him all the way will have psychological problems.

You know, the journey across the vast ocean is a huge challenge to both the body and the mind.

Li Jinglong was immediately overjoyed. When he was in Yingtian, he was a frequent visitor to brothels and a hero among women. Even when he was touring Southeast Asia, he was always accompanied by concubines and beautiful maids. However, the leader of the army this time was Zhu Su, so how could he, as a nephew, dare to overstep his authority?

Now, I have finally found a place where I can take a breath.

As for whether it was dangerous to go ashore... Li Jinglong was not worried. Not to mention the Ming army's powerful ships and cannons facing the port at sea, just the armor and firearms of the Ming Dynasty, even if they really encountered the blind Western barbarians, Li Jinglong had at least 80% confidence to lead his men out of the siege and return to the ship.

Over the years, his courage and insight have naturally improved. He is no longer the foolish young man he used to be.

Zhu Su passed down the order, and the more than a thousand Ming soldiers cheered when they knew they could get off the ship to get some fresh air. Although Tie Xuan disagreed, Zhu Su had already spoken, so he had no choice but to assist Li Jinglong and other generals in making arrangements and taking precautions.

The next day, Li Jinglong led the first batch of more than 100 Ming troops and landed in Lisbon Port. The soldiers of Lisbon were as if they were facing a great enemy. Even John I did not expect that the Ming army would dare to leave the warships so carelessly and only send a small number of people to land.

Some Portuguese nobles who suffered losses were ready to capture this group of Ming troops to "avenge their previous humiliation," but in the end, King John stopped them.

He was worried that once these Ming troops suffered losses, the young but terrifying Ming prince would order his fleet to raze the entire Lisbon to the ground.

And his fleet... the fleet he had spent a lot of effort to build over the past few years, in preparation for learning from the Ming Dynasty and seizing maritime interests for Portugal, had been almost wiped out by the Ming army in just one encounter.

The naval fleet is the most expensive military force in any era, without a doubt... Portugal today ranks last even in Europe in terms of national strength, and it has long been squeezed out of room for development on land.

Therefore, he was inspired by the Ming Dynasty and set his sights on the sea. The fleet that had previously fought against the Ming army was built by João at the cost of everything he had.

He had bet everything on the sea, almost regardless of the cost, fantasizing about discovering a new continent with abundant resources like Fengmingzhou, which would enable Portugal, which was restricted everywhere, to soar into the sky.

He thought that his carefully built fleet would have no rivals, so he launched an attack without hesitation, ready to teach this group of Ming pirates who were ignorant of their own limitations and dared to come to Europe to rob a lesson, and by the way, seize these Ming people's tall warships to make his fleet even stronger.

But now, his dream was shattered... He could never have imagined that the Ming warships could be so outrageous that just a few of them could completely annihilate his invincible fleet...

War on the sea is not the same as war on land. Joao, who was new to maritime affairs, learned a bloody lesson.

Lisbon is now almost defenseless against the Ming fleet.

What can he use to challenge Zhu Su?

All that could be done was to block the news as soon as possible to prevent the news of Portugal's great loss of strength from being spread and attracting jackals who would take advantage of the situation.

(End of this chapter)