Located at the southernmost tip of the Pearl River Estuary, there is Haojingao. It was originally a small island. The Pearl River flowed day and night, bringing a lot of mud and sand. Finally, it connected the island and the mainland to form a narrow peninsula. There are two small islands outside Haojingao to block the sea breeze, making Haojingao a harbor that can be sheltered from the wind.

During the Zhengde period of the Ming Dynasty, the Portuguese came to the coast of Ming Dynasty, robbed maritime merchants, robbed coastal fishing villages, and tried to establish a colony like Africa and India, but was naturally hit by the Ming army. In the Battle of Tuen Mun and the Battle of Xicao Bay, the Ming army defeated the Portuguese fleet twice, forcing the Portuguese to dare not approach the coast of Ming Dynasty.

Later, in order to gain a foothold on the coast of the Ming Dynasty, the Portuguese did not hesitate to bribe local officials of the Ming Dynasty, and thus obtained the right to live in Haojingao. Note that only living in the Ming Dynasty had to pay 500 taels of silver to the Ming government every year.

Haojingao's land was barren, lacking fresh water, and it was impossible to cultivate. On weekdays, few people lived again. It was not a pity for the Ming Dynasty to rent such a useless small land to the Portuguese. What's more, it was just renting, and Haojingao's governance rights were still in the hands of the Ming Xiangshan County government.

Therefore, with this method, the Portuguese obtained the right of residence in the Ming Dynasty and began the Oriental trade for hundreds of years. Merchant ships hung on the Portuguese flag traveled between the Ming Dynasty, Manila, and Japan, and earned millions of taels of silver every year.

Of course, during this period, the Dutch and the English also attacked Macau one after another, trying to replace the Portuguese's interests in the Ming Dynasty, but were both frustrated by the Portuguese. In order to consolidate their interests in Macau, the Portuguese built city defense fortifications, built forts, and set up an arsenal on the island of Macau to produce muskets and cannons. During the wars between the late Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty, red-clothed cannons cast by the Portuguese were used in large quantities, and the Portuguese were even asked to train firearms for mercenaries.

The Grapes lived in Haojingao for nearly a hundred years. The prosperous trade made this once desolate harbor much more lively. A large number of Ming people also moved to Macau to engage in various service industries and earned money from the Grapes to support their families.

The northern section of Haojingao has a road connected to the mainland of Daming and has a clearance checkpoint. After all, Macau is narrow and crowded. In addition to five or six hundred Portuguese soldiers, one or two thousand Portuguese merchants and family members, there are also two or three thousand Ming people living here. The vegetables, rice, oil, salt, and even fresh water consumed by so many people every day need to be purchased and transported from Xiangshan County to the north, and all transported in from the checkpoint.

Next to the level, several black mercenaries were in a weak position with muskets and were not careful. They did not notice that the Ming people who transported vegetables to the island today were no longer the same people as before. Just as Chinese people were not easy to tell who was the African black people, black people looked at the yellow people as if they were.

After a little checking the things on the vegetable truck, they took the copper coins handed over by the vendor who delivered the vegetables and stuffed them into their arms. The black mercenaries waved their hands and let them go in. They had never happened again after years of work, and they had long lost their vigilance.

Dozens of vendors entered Macau inconspicuously and disappeared on the Macau island.

At sea, seven or eight Chinese sailboats sailed into the bay one after another. The Portuguese ships guarding the bay went to intercept and investigate. Only then did they find out that it was a Ming merchant coming from Chaozhou. After checking the ship, it was filled with raw silk, cotton cloth, tea and other best-selling goods overseas.

What the Portuguese did was a sea trade business, purchasing raw silk and other goods from Ming Dynasty merchants, and then transporting these goods to Nagasaki, Japan or Manila, Luzon, for trade, and earning several times of profit. The Portuguese naturally welcomed the arrival of Ming Dynasty merchants, and welcomed all of these sea ships into the bay and broke down.

The owner of the merchant ship was talking about business with the Portuguese, and the sailors on the boat boarded the shore on the boat. The crew sailed for many days on the sea and naturally needed to go ashore to drink and rest. They could understand the Portuguese completely and did not feel any surprises. After checking that the sailors did not bring any weapons, they put them on the shore.

Some sailors came ashore, and some residents on the island used it, selling all kinds of things to the sailors, and even the prostitute holding flower handkerchiefs flirted at the sailors. However, these sailors were very honest at first sight, turned a blind eye to the charming eyes, and did not run around, but entered several places close to the central fort.

In order to prevent attacks from the sea, city wall defense facilities were built along the coast, and a fort was built in the center of the island, with more than 20 heavy cannon artillery on it. Macau's already big place can be turned around in a quarter of an hour, and the central fort was very close to the residential area.

One hour later, hundreds of sailors, who were full of wine and food, sat comfortably in the rice paper and bragged and spanked. The Portuguese and Ming people also talked about it. The sailboat approached the dock. The Portuguese ship owners organized laborers to unload the goods on the ship. The Ming people scolded him, and a group of sailors rushed back to help unload the goods. However, fifty or sixty sailors remained in the restaurant.

"Oh, God! What is that!" A Portuguese ship owner who was busy counting the goods looked up and saw a huge fleet of ships sailing towards this side on the sea in the distance in the north.

"Mr. Francis needs to panic in the Ming fleet." The Ming ship owner explained in a half-familiar Portuguese.

Francis looked closely and found that it was indeed a sailboat carrying the Ming flag, and the styles of the sailboats were all the Ming blessing ships, so he breathed a sigh of relief.

For a hundred years, the Portuguese and the Ming court have been used to being at peace. The relationship between the two sides has been much better than when the Portuguese first came. I never thought that the Ming army would attack them, because the Portuguese lived in Macau and the Ming court allowed them, and both sides were not enemies at all.

Therefore, Francis and other Portuguese ship owners didn't care about this Ming army fleet that was coming here, thinking it was just a passing patrol ship.

However, who knew that the Ming army fleet was not passing by. After approaching, it drove straight into Haojingao.

Dozens of ships suddenly rushed towards the island, with at least a few thousand troops on it, which was no longer passing by. This abnormality immediately caused panic among the Portuguese on the island.

The Portuguese officer shouted loudly and summoned his soldiers to gather to fight the enemy. The Ming people on the island were stunned and had no idea what was going on. He had never heard of the conflict between the Portuguese and the court, so why did this happen?

Just when the island was in panic, the sailors who were resting in the meal rushed onto the street, pulled out swords and guns from several vegetable trucks on the street, and rushed towards the central fort near Chi Chi.

At this time, the sailor who was originally helping to carry the cargo on the ship also threw down the cargo, took out the swords and muskets from the cabin, and rushed towards the Portuguese on the dock.
Chapter completed!