Chapter 1542: How to Betray Correctly

"The crux of the matter now is how to carry out this betrayal of the Lord of Heaven in a reasonable and lawful manner — to do it properly, to do it well, so that everyone above and below, left and right, is convinced and satisfied."

The one speaking French was Zhu Hengli, an expert on apostasy who believed in the Heavenly Principle (the Lord of Heaven) but not in Christianity — apostasy was a philosophical question, and of course also a legal one, and Zhu Hengli had made a considerable study of both.

Listening to him were Afonso, King of Portugal; Afonso's wife Maria; Afonso's chief minister Shi Baoluo; Maria's two (illegitimate) brothers, Ricardo and Mourinho; and Zhu Cixuan, Prince of Fu of the Great Ming.

Maria's two brothers could not understand French, so Maria was translating for them.

The whole group was seated in Maria's seaside villa on the outskirts of New Goa, enjoying the sea breeze, drinking milk tea, and listening quietly.

"Returning to Portugal with the support of Aurangzeb and Mehmed IV, taking back the power granted by the Lord of Heaven, and fighting for Aurangzeb and Mehmed IV — these are two entirely unrelated matters."

King Afonso's intellect was somewhat inadequate; he frowned and asked, "Henry, I do not understand what you are saying. Is not fighting for the Muslims precisely the condition for obtaining their support?"

"Your Majesty," Maria said, her brow furrowing even more tightly than her husband's, clearly very displeased with his foolish question, "Aurangzeb's condition for supporting our return to Portugal is that we hand Goa back to India — it belonged to India in the first place! Returning Goa to its original owners does not violate God's will!"

Zhu Hengli gave Maria a thumbs-up and continued: "So the first thing to do is for His Majesty the King to reach an agreement with Aurangzeb, exchanging the return of Goa for support — including advancing on Portugal through North Africa and Aurangzeb paying a large sum of military funds.

Once this transaction is completed, His Majesty the King will lead the Goan nobles and mercenaries willing to follow him, board armed merchant ships of the English East India Company, travel by sea to Egypt, and then advance on Portugal through North Africa.

The nobles who remain in Goa, and the Christian commoners of Goa, must then swear allegiance to the Emperor of India, on the condition that their faith is protected. Their allegiance to the King of Portugal is thereby dissolved!

Therefore, whether they fight for the Emperor of India has nothing whatsoever to do with the King of Portugal. Moreover, when they fight for the Emperor of India, they are fulfilling their duty of allegiance to the Emperor of India, and this does not violate the Catholic faith. According to the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 22, Jesus said: 'Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's.' And when Jesus spoke these words, the ruler of Rome was certainly not a Christian — which shows that Jesus did not oppose Christ's followers serving the Caesar of Rome. And helping the Ottoman Empire destroy the Holy Roman Empire is not the same as helping Islam destroy Catholicism! This is merely a struggle between two secular monarchs, not a struggle between the Lord of Heaven and Allah. In fact, the Lord of Heaven is Allah, is the Heavenly Principle!"

Zhu Hengli's studies had clearly not been in vain; with one speech, he had already pointed out the correct path for the Christians of Goa to betray the Holy See. Even if they met God later, they could give a satisfactory account of themselves!

"But..." King Afonso opened his mouth, yet did not know what to say. He thought to himself: If I die and am judged to go to hell, would you, Henry, come and defend me?

"But the fall of the Habsburg dynasty and the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire will ultimately weaken the power of Catholicism." King Afonso held it in for a long time and finally managed to produce a reason.

"Is that so?" Zhu Hengli smiled. "I would like to know, in this world, who has actually killed more Christians? The Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, or the monarchs of the House of Habsburg? The Thirty Years' War in Germany, the Eighty Years' War in the Netherlands, the wars with France, and the war of invasion against your Portugal... and, of course, the wars with the English. How many Christians have all these wars killed in total? Are they not too many to count?

And Leopold I could very easily have saved Vienna and the Catholics under his rule — if he truly believed in the Lord of Heaven!"

"What should he have done?" Afonso asked. "Pray, and then wait for a miracle?"

"No," Henry said. "He only needed to abdicate the imperial throne, and then sincerely invite King Louis of France to become Holy Roman Emperor! If he were a monarch who truly believed in the Lord of Heaven, then when the Christians of Central Europe were all in danger, he would have resolutely given up the empty title of Emperor in exchange for the Sun King's reinforcements. As long as the Sun King was willing to send troops, the Ottoman Sultan's army would not be worth mentioning!

If he was unwilling to give up the imperial title, then he ought to have possessed the power to defend the Catholics of the Holy Roman Empire. That is Caesar's duty! If he could not fulfill his duty, and was unwilling to yield the imperial throne, then he deserves to go to hell!"

King Afonso thought to himself: It seems I have not fulfilled a monarch's duty either, and I have not abdicated... will I also go to hell after death?

"Your Majesty," said Afonso's wife Maria, seeing that this hapless king was still hesitating, and spoke up to urge him, "the situation in Goa was already very bad, and it has become even worse because of your arrival. The port is blockaded, trade is cut off, and we are under threat from the Timurid Empire of India, France, Holland, and Shun. Therefore you have an obligation to lead us out of this predicament — just as Leopold has an obligation to defend his subjects!

If you cannot do it, the consequences will be unthinkable!"

"Unthinkable" meant "dying of malaria" or "dying of plague."

"Very well!" King Afonso duly yielded. "How many troops can I raise in Goa?"

"If Aurangzeb can provide sufficient military funds, we can raise 8,000 men for Your Majesty!" The one who answered was one of Maria's brothers, named Mourinho, a middle-aged man in his thirties, with bronze skin but European features.

His brother Ricardo added: "Of these, no more than 1,000 will be cavalry; the rest can only serve as pikemen and musketeers. In addition, we can scrape together one artillery company."

"And how many men can you raise for Henry?" King Afonso asked again.

"Also 8,000!" Mourinho answered. "The composition will be exactly the same as the men we recruit for you." He looked at the King of Portugal. "We need to diversify our investments!"

The Portuguese of Goa could count themselves lucky!

Three opportunities for promotion and wealth were laid before them at the same time!

The first was to follow King Afonso to Portugal — to be honest, this opportunity was not very reliable, and had the lowest probability of success.

The second was to join Henry's "Chinese Expeditionary Force" — this had a much greater chance of success! After all, they would be following behind the Ottoman Empire's great army as cheerleaders; even if it failed, it would be relatively easy to stay alive.

The third opportunity was actually not bad either — to integrate cleanly and neatly into India, and serve as hired muscle for Aurangzeb. Although Aurangzeb was a Muslim puritan, he was still very generous to his subordinates, and many Hindus also followed him and could rise in the world. At worst, they could even supply Aurangzeb with boy soldiers!

So Maria and her two brothers had agreed among themselves: they would split into three. Maria would follow King Afonso to Portugal and take the risk. Mourinho would go with Zhu Hengli. And Ricardo would remain in Goa. That way, even if two of the paths failed, the three siblings would still have somewhere to land.

"Very well, let it be done this way!"

King Afonso finally nodded his agreement — as if he actually had the authority to make the decision!

Maria then said: "Since Your Majesty has decided, let us begin recruiting mercenaries." She glanced at Henry. "We will first recruit the Portuguese Royal Army! We should aim to complete this within one month, and then leave Goa.

After we leave, His Highness Henry can begin recruiting the Chinese Expeditionary Force. This order of priority must be made clear, because order is justice!"

(End of Chapter)