Chapter 534: A Long-Held Scheme

The news Wang Bo dropped at the very end of the meeting was earth-shattering. The circle he drew on the map at that moment was not Shenzhen, but an island not far away — an island people of this era called "Haojing'ao," and later generations would know as Macau.

Though the Ming people gathered at the White Goose Pond Hotel came from a fairly complex mix of social strata, these wealthy Ming men were, without a doubt, all elite members of society. They possessed ample information; many of them had even previously been major players in overseas maritime trade. They knew perfectly well what Macau represented.

Naturally, General Wang's words instantly caused an enormous uproar.

The absurd part was this: a shocking matter like attacking Haojing'ao had been laid before everyone under the rationale of "demonstrating expansion capability."

The attendees felt a reflected glory; the attendees felt a pang of empathy; no matter how the attendees pondered, they could not figure out how their own status had suddenly become so important — important enough to provoke war between "two nations."

The attendees were overwhelmed by the unexpected favor; the attendees were thrown into panic and disarray.

In the 32nd year of the Jiajing reign of the Ming Dynasty (1553), the Portuguese obtained the right of residence in Macau from the then-Ming local government of Guangdong, becoming the first Europeans to enter China.

After settling in Macau, the Portuguese gradually expanded their territory and engaged in long-term construction and development of this island. By the time the Transmigrators arrived, over eighty years had already passed.

Time brings drastic changes; for the ancients, whose average lifespan was barely thirty, the Portuguese entrenched in Haojing'ao had become a fixed state of affairs that had existed since their grandfathers' generation.

Faced with this situation, the outwardly colossal but inwardly frail and sickly Ming Dynasty, clearly lagging behind the world's developmental trends, was already powerless to change anything.

In actual history, just two years before the Transmigrators appeared, the Guangdong authorities and the Portuguese had been locked in a serious confrontation over the Portuguese construction of city walls in Macau. Although it ultimately ended with the Portuguese tearing down the walls, the only measure the Guangzhou authorities employed in this matter was the weak tactic of closing the Gate Barrier and cutting off food supplies...

Major conflicts like this played out frequently during the decades of Portuguese occupation in Macau. And without exception, the Ming Dynasty government chose soft solutions such as cutting off food and sending mediators. Previously, the Provincial Administration Commissioner Cai Shanji in Fuzhou City had earned his place in history precisely because of the "Single-Cart Entering Ao" incident, where he personally stepped in to handle a case of Portuguese troublemaking.

Here comes the question: for a tiny speck of land right under their noses, with no river or sea separating it, why not just dispatch a large army and raze it to the ground?

The civil officials and military officers in Guangzhou, however, were no fools. The reason they did not raze the Portuguese in Macau was that they could no longer raze them.

So what backed the Portuguese? Naturally, it was not Ming's mercy or the nominal Ming jurisdiction the Portuguese superficially acknowledged. It was the massive bronze cannons mounted on Saint Paul's Fort, the armed merchant ships anchored in Macau's harbor, and the well-nourished sailors of various nations and local Portuguese soldiers — all tempered by global colonial activities and possessing rich combat experience.

In short, during this period in Haojing'ao, the Portuguese were, without a doubt, the true masters of this island, not the Ming Dynasty government that ostensibly held every right.

This was precisely why the Ming guests stirred into commotion after Wang Bo announced the plan to attack Macau today — Haojing'ao was no mere bandit stronghold in the mountains or roving pirate band at sea. It was the territory of a "hostile nation," occupied by barbarians, bristling with sturdy ships and sharp cannons, boasting mighty guns and formidable passes, and garrisoned by a regular army.

Yes, no matter how one denies it, Macau, that tiny speck of land, was a colony in every sense... in the eyes of those who understood, a "hostile nation."

The news was so explosive that those who grasped it were momentarily at a loss. Even when, at the very end of the meeting, the legendary Cao Jiangjun himself appeared in person to communicate, build rapport, vouch for the plan, share tea and wine, lay out the spread, and talk freely about the future — it still could not suppress the deep shock roiling in the guests' hearts.

After the meeting ended and the guests returned to their respective homes, how they digested and coped with this "welfare" news clearly handed out in advance by the Crossing Faction — that was left to them. What truly mattered was that, with the Transmigrators formally revealing this news, the countdown to the operation to attack Macau had begun.

Regarding Macau, the Transmigrators had, without a doubt, been plotting for a long time.

Having swept away the pirates and donned an official veneer, the Transmigrators, now in de facto control of the Fujian-Guangdong Coast, naturally turned their gaze next to the resource-rich South Seas. Yet Macau sat like a nail driven into the Pearl River Estuary, stubbornly maintaining the Portuguese-exclusive trade network.

As the saying goes, a toad climbing onto your foot doesn't bite, but it sure is revolting. Now that the Crossing Faction's power base was expanding day by day, the big shots naturally could not tolerate this Portuguese colony grating on their nerves any longer.

In fact, long before Cao Jiangjun personally headed north for the King's Rescue, the Crossing Faction entrenched on both banks of the Taijiang had already initiated dialogue with the Portuguese authorities in Macau. Of course, topics based on competition for development space are usually difficult to reach a consensus on, so, unsurprisingly, the talks between the Crossing Faction and Macau broke down.

What followed was Cao Jiangjun's triumphant return from the King's Rescue, his promotion and acceptance of official seals, and his usurpation of the Great Ming's naval power and a portion of the military authority in Fujian and Guangdong.

By this point, military action against the Portuguese was, in fact, already irreversible. The only thing the Transmigrators lacked was the policy aspect... political authorization from the Ming Dynasty.

After all, the Portuguese had been entrenched on that island for over eighty years; everyone in the court and among the common people knew of it. Given the current friendly relationship with the Great Ming Court, the Transmigrators could not simply ignore the Emperor and act recklessly on their own. Thus, no matter what, the Transmigrators needed to obtain an imperial edict from the court granting them "Expedite Discretion."

And so, as it happened, by perfect coincidence, Xiong Wencan came to Guangdong.

After Lao Xiong arrived, everything was smoothly resolved. Having passed through the hibernation period of a newly appointed official, Xiong Da began a series of administrative actions. Among these, besides ordering the Regional Commander of Zhangchao to dispatch troops to "assist" local bandit suppression, there was one more item: formally submitting a report to the court, pointing out the various dangers of the Portuguese entrenched at the Pearl River Estuary, and requesting the Emperor's consent to eradicate them.

Of course, Lao Xiong would not fight alone. Accompanying Lao Xiong's memorial to the capital, waving flags, shouting battle cries, and pleading for the people's welfare, were numerous memorials from the Guangdong local conservative faction, who had long viewed the Portuguese with displeasure.

In an ancient era of slow information flow, once a Feudal Official holding the authority of on-the-spot judgment personally wrote such a clearly opinionated administrative report, the matter essentially reached a make-or-break point: the court would either agree, or issue an edict of reprimand.

So, would the court issue an edict reprimanding Lao Xiong? A joke — not to mention that Cao Jiangjun had already inoculated the Emperor during his Audience, even within the court, Lao Xiong now had powerful backing that had never existed historically: the alliance between Vice Chancellor Wen Tiren and Chief Eunuch Fang Zhenghua.

Therefore, just five days before the White Goose Pond Investment Promotion Conference was held, the Guangdong Governor's Office formally received the decree issued by the court: granting Xiong Wencan Expedite Discretion.