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

Chapter 1158: Noble Situation
Zhu Su and Tie Xuan never left the treasure ship. Firstly, someone was needed to take charge of the overall situation on the treasure ship, and secondly, Zhu Su was different from others. John I had seen him and knew that he was the leader of the fleet and the prince of the Ming Dynasty.

As Tie Xuan said, if he was captured in the port, the situation would be very bad indeed.

On the fifth day, the morning light was rising on the distant sea level. Zhu Su went to the deck for morning exercises as usual. He saw several soldiers lowering rope ladders above the deck and pulling people on the boats to board. As they continued to pull, the first person to climb onto the side of the ship was Li Jinglong.

"Hmm? Jiujiang." Seeing Li Jinglong's haggard face and dark circles under his eyes, Zhu Su couldn't help but tease him, "What kind of person are you, Li Jiujiang? In the past, you were a prostitute. Your name as the Prince of Cao was known on the Qinhuai River. Everyone knew you, including all the prostitutes."

"I wonder what kind of beauty there is in this small port of Western Yi that could make you, Li Jiujiang, so obsessed with her?"

"Uncle, you are joking, you are joking..." Li Jinglong seemed a little embarrassed. "Although my nephew is reckless, he has not forgotten his business. The purchase of materials for the ship has been basically completed. In the past few days, my nephew has also contacted several nobles in the city..."

He went ashore to solve some problems. However, as the son of the Duke of Cao, he was not as hungry as ordinary soldiers. Westerners were not in Li Jinglong's good looks. Even if he was just trying something new, there were many Western-looking girls in the brothels of Yingtian Prefecture, and Li Jiujiang had tasted them before.

The reason why he looked like he was being squeezed dry was actually because of the families of the nobles he met. You know, even in Portugal, the western frontier, the Ming Dynasty was well-known. And with Li Jinglong's talent and appearance, those Western nobles who pretended to be nice and didn't like to take a bath were far behind.

In addition, the treasure ship fleet won a great victory over John I in the battle, which made the Portuguese nobles even more panic-stricken. Many of them wanted to curry favor with him. Li Jinglong also wanted to make friends with these nobles and understand the political situation in Portugal, so the two sides hit it off immediately.

Since he wanted to make friends, banquets were inevitable. Besides, the people in the Western Land had always been open-minded. In the past few days, Li Jinglong had been attending aristocratic banquets during the day and sleeping with aristocratic women at night. Sometimes, he even sent himself to bed with the wives of aristocratic masters, which made Li Jiujiang very busy.

Because of Li Jiujiang's efforts, he made friends with many Portuguese nobles during his landing. In the future, these nobles might help promote Portugal's vassalage to the Ming Dynasty. However, it was all thanks to Li Jinglong.

It was for this reason that, although there was still one day left in the rest period set by Zhu Su, Li Jinglong could no longer bear the enthusiasm of the Western barbarian women and ran to the treasure ship early in the morning to take shelter and recuperate.

While doing physical training, Zhu Su listened to Li Jinglong's report on the landing. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and said with interest, "So, the nobles of Portugal don't have much objection to becoming our vassal?"

"Oh, I thought they would consider that damn noble honor and try to interfere in every way possible."

"My nephew has finally understood that these Western nobles don't seem to have the concept of family, country and the world in their hearts." Li Jinglong took the towel from Zhu Su's sweat-wiping hand very naturally, and took the teacup from Gou'er's hand and held it in front of Zhu Su attentively. "What they care about most is gold and silver, pleasure, and our Ming silk and porcelain. They don't shy away from talking about business. They are more like businessmen, respectable businessmen..."

"As for who they become vassals of, they don't really care. Some nobles are even very happy about it. They excitedly asked my nephew whether they would not need a maritime trade permit when they go to Ming Dynasty to do business in the future..."

Due to the old custom that "nobles should not talk about business matters lightly", Li Jinglong's tone was inevitably filled with contempt.

"Don't underestimate them. If we hadn't won the first battle, these Western nobles would not just be like businessmen, but like robbers," said Zhu Su.

"Oh, they prefer robbing to doing business honestly. If they didn't see how powerful we are, they wouldn't be so easy to talk to. Moreover, since there are those who are inclined to cooperate with us, there must be those who are hostile to us. It's just that these people don't dare to take action, nor will they take the initiative to contact you."

"Even those who are interested probably think that the so-called 'vassal of Ming Dynasty' is just a title that can get benefits from Ming Dynasty out of thin air. No problem, let's coax them into accepting the title first, and then think of ways to deal with it later."

Li Jinglong nodded in agreement, and Zhu Su asked again, "Is there any news from the Portuguese king?"

When Zhu Su released John I, he had already told him the deadline was five days, and now it was already the fifth day.

Zhu Su still hoped to control Portugal as a puppet to develop Ming's power in Europe. If John I refused to be a vassal, it would be much more difficult.

"In the past few days since my nephew came ashore, except for the first day when I saw him hosting a banquet, I haven't heard any news from him at other times." Li Jinglong said.

"Uncle Wu, why not scare that guy again? You can order the fleet to weigh anchor and stay a few miles closer to Lisbon, then show our guns and let the brothers clean them up."

"I'm sure these Western barbarians will be scared to death."

Zhu Su was quite tempted. As the saying goes, the longer the night, the more trouble there is. It is not necessarily absolutely safe to stay outside the port of Siben. It would not be a bad idea to scare these Europeans appropriately. At this time, Tie Xuan hurriedly came from the front deck and said to Zhu Su, "Your Highness."

"At the port, a ship is coming."

"Oh?" Zhu Su waved back, and Sanbao quickly handed him the telescope. Zhu Su stretched out the telescope and put it in front of his eyes. Through the telescope, he saw a Western-style masted sailing ship on the sea, swaying towards the treasure ship fleet. On the mast, a red and white shield emblem flag with a gold background was hung high.

This is the Portuguese flag that symbolizes the Avis Dynasty.

When the ship got closer, Zhu Su looked up and saw the Portuguese king, John I, standing on the deck of the masted sailboat. He was holding a scepter, dressed in finery, and the crown on his head shone brightly in the sun, a far cry from his embarrassed appearance that day. Zhu Su smiled and said, "He's quite sensible."

Joao came to see me without putting on his armor. Although I was a little slow to react, I could already see his intentions.

"Let's go and get to work." Zhu Su put down the telescope, perked up, and walked towards the cabin.

(End of this chapter)