Chapter 1675： Ming Portuguese

Not only that, according to Cortez ’s report, Zvongombe, the capital of the Mutapapa Kingdom in Zimbabwe, is also full of copper ore.

It should be pointed out that these copper ores are all rich ores with high purity. Because, the black guys who are poor in ore don't pick it up at all. At the same time, those Arab businessmen did not accept.

In other words, Marin's statement that the local copper mine was extremely rich was correct. Even these old black men who don't know how to smelt copper can pick up a mountain of rich copper-rich ores, which shows how rich the local copper resources are. (Actually, Zambia across the river is richer in copper mines in the Zambia region to the north of the West River)

Unfortunately, Cortez's expeditionary force could not carry too much, and could only retreat with gold first. If you want copper ore, you can only wait for the next trade. Anyway, the Zambezi estuary area has been controlled by Spanish warships.

It is foreseeable that if those copper-rich ores can be transported back to the mainland continuously, Spain can cast a large number of Malawi copper coins. At the same time, a batch of copper artillery can also be cast.

The entire Spanish government and opposition, because of those gold and mountainous copper-rich ore, fell into excitement and enthusiasm. Subsequently, the Spanish government and opposition held a nationwide discussion on the question of "trade or occupation". Subsequently, the news was sent back to the homeland by the spies sent by the North Sea country to Spain with homing pigeons.

A look at Marin-oops, there are smart people in Spain? I thought of the means that modern colonizers who monopolized trade to drive local agents to help mine gold and copper mines!

However, for Marin, it was in his best interest that the Spanish sent troops to occupy Zimbabwe. Because, occupying Zimbabwe and sending people to mine gold and copper consumes manpower and national power very much. Even if you get enough gold and copper, the cost is very high.

The monopoly trade exchange of gold and copper, the colonization cost is relatively low. Moreover, the domestic exchange of production goods can also promote the development of the local handicraft industry.

However, most Spanish people do not have such a long-term vision, and their eyes are relatively short-sighted. Otherwise, in the original history, after the occupation of the Americas, Spain would not ignore the development of domestic handicrafts. As a result, it is cheaper in the UK.

Therefore, in this big discussion, Marin decided to intervene secretly, influencing the judgment of the Spaniards, making them more inclined to send troops to occupy Zimbabwe.

As for the reason, it is very simple. First of all, it is a pity that the gold cannot be used for trading (the Kingdom of Mutapa cannot trade all the gold, and a small part will be left). Then, they questioned the technical level of the Zimbabweans in searching for gold and mining and smelting gold. And pointed out that if the "civilized" Spaniards personally operated, the gold production would definitely increase several times ...

In addition, the Spanish's ability to develop local copper mines is also much stronger than the locals. Zimbabwe ’s copper mine is much richer than gold. If it is developed, it will be able to ship copper ingots to the local land by ship ...

...

These two reasons for Marin sound very reasonable. Indeed, Spanish technology is certainly much more advanced than Zimbabwe ’s Mutapa Kingdom.

However, Marin deliberately ignored the high cost of personally entering the battle and the adverse conditions such as the local bad climate and environment ...

Not only that, Marin also intends to find the Omani Arab businessmen who originally monopolized East African trade through Egyptian businessmen, let them inform the Kingdom of Mutapa in advance, and teach them the guerrilla tactics of working with the Spaniards in the tropical rainforest. Once this happens, even if the Spaniards occupy Zimbabwe, they will be unlucky in the future ...

The Spaniards certainly occupied the Zambezi estuary, which prevented Arab merchants from reaching the Kingdom of Mutapa. However, this is just the mainstream business path. There are many Swahilis of mixed Arabs and local blacks along the coast of Mozambique. These people do not necessarily need to walk along the Zambezi River Basin. They can also walk through the rainforest that does not depend on the river, quietly head to the Kingdom of Mutapa, and take Malin to think News to be sent.

As long as the King of the Mutapa Kingdom does not fool hard with the Spaniards, the Spaniards will be helpless as long as they are scattered in the tropical rain forest to fight the guerrillas in the Kingdom of Mutapa.

...

Of course, that was a later matter. At the moment, Marin decided to send a spy to spread the words of "singling all the gold and copper mines in Zimbabwe" in Spain, confounding the Spanish court to send troops to occupy Zimbabwe.

In addition, Marin will also send spies to quietly contact French spies in Spain. On the premise of keeping his identity secret, tell the French that he is interested. Then, let the French secretly exert their power to trick Spain into sending Zimbabwe. The French and Spaniards clashed with each other for hundreds of years, and their mutual penetration is very deep. Moreover, there are a lot of two or five nobles who bet on both sides between France and Spain. It is more convenient for the French to do this than Marin. Marin's strongest ability in Spain is to collect intelligence, but when it comes to penetration into Spain, the French are more powerful. Moreover, after investigation, this is also a French pot, not related to Marin ...

Spain is too dangerous. Its excellent geographical location is naturally suitable for colonizing America. Moreover, Spain has a population of more than 8 million, much more than the sum of England and Portugal.

This year, do n’t think that England is better than Portugal. In terms of population, England is less than 3 million. Even with the addition of 500,000 in Scotland and 250,000 in Ireland, it would be about 3.75 million. And Portugal, at any rate, has a population of two or three million, not to mention England.

Even, because of the huge profits of colonizing Africa and obtaining Indian spices, Portugal's national power at this time is even stronger than that of England.

The only advantage of England is probably in coal and iron resources, which is much stronger than Portugal. But when it comes to the existing strength, it is really not as good as Portugal.

Spain is different, although not more than 8 million people. However, in European nautical countries, it is already far ahead. Even Portugal, England, Denmark and Venice, the combined populations of the four nautical countries, are not as large as Spain. And this is Spain's confidence and a threat to Marin.

Of course, all this is based on the premise that the behemoth of France does not interfere in the cause of navigation. If France with a population of 15 million joins, other countries will have to stand by.

In fact, France was delayed by Continental hegemony. Moreover, the one that most delays France is probably Italy. France has been coveting Italy for a long time. The history of the Italian War alone has fought for more than 60 years, consuming national power.

If there is no Italian piece of super fat hanging in front of France and tempting France to engage in continental hegemony, France might change to sailing and become a maritime power.

Therefore, for Marin, a fragmented Italy is necessary. Otherwise, it will not attract France. However, it cannot really let France swallow Italy. Otherwise, France is too full and may covet other places.

For this reason ~ www.novelhall.com ~ Marin carefully arranged the use of Italian volcanic ash as a bait to attract the attention of France. And lifted out of Spain, and French dog bite the dog. Marin, however, has to free up his hand to integrate the North Sea and England. Then, suppress Portugal. Only in this way can the purpose of rise be achieved.

...

Probably after hearing the news that the Spaniards obtained 150,000 ounces of gold, the Portuguese government and the wild were crazy. The Spaniards got gold, so the news of Timbuktu's gold given by Marin is sure.

As a result, the entire Portuguese government and opposition moved, intending to accelerate the progress of the attack on Timbuktu ...

However, as soon as the Portuguese took action, bad news came from the Far East-after the Daming Empire learned that Portugal had occupied the royal city of the Malacca Kingdom, it sent envoys to the city of Malacca many times and demanded that the Portuguese colonists withdraw from the city. Otherwise, permanently prohibit the trade between Portugal and the Daming Empire.

If the tin mine in Kuala Lumpur is discovered, Portugal will really take a step back in exchange for the tribute trade qualification with the Ming Dynasty.

However, with the tin mine in Kuala Lumpur, Portugal is not willing to give up the benefits of Malacca anyway. Therefore, the Portuguese categorically rejected Ming's request.

After being rejected several times, Ming Ting was angry and angry. Therefore, Zhengde issued a decree to permanently prohibit the Portuguese from coming to Daming for any activities. Once the Portuguese have landed, they will be arrested as criminals. Moreover, the Cabinet also ordered that any officials who had previous contacts with the Portuguese in Guangdong must immediately draw a line with them. Otherwise, dismiss directly!

In other words, the Portuguese wanted to bribe the local officials of the Ming Dynasty to obtain the chance of quiet trade. Between Ming and Portugal, the possibility of exchanges was completely cut off!

The news came back to Lisbon. While paying attention to Timbuktu, Lisbon also began to discuss how to deal with the Ming court's reaction.