Chapter 184: Summoned to Negotiate

The position of Governor of Macau, within Portugal itself, was roughly equivalent to a minister dispatched by the government to oversee an overseas territory.

Assisting the current Governor of Macau, Amaral, were the Macau Senate and the commander of the security forces. Generally speaking, when the Governor of Macau was away, the security commander would serve as "Acting Governor" and manage the leased territory on his behalf.

Moreover, due to Portugal's recent defeat in the Dutch-Portuguese War, the strength of the Portuguese homeland had declined considerably, and the crown's control over the Macau region had weakened, which in turn indirectly bolstered the power of the office of Governor of Macau.

In recent years, Portugal had been attacked jointly by Spain and the English, while the Dutch had taken advantage of the chaos to seize large swaths of its Far Eastern colonies. As of now, apart from Macau, where organized Portuguese troops still existed, Portugal's only remaining colony in the Far East was East Timor.

That said, the Portuguese presence in Macau was still merely that of temporary residents. Apart from a small portion of leased land, large areas within the city of Macau remained under the control and administration of Ming troops.

But in East Timor, the situation was completely different. The Portuguese possessed their own royal fleet and land and naval forces—there, they were true colonizers.

Sovereignty over Macau still rested with the Ming Dynasty—that is, with the Chongzhen Emperor.

By rights, the duties of Amaral, the Governor of Macau, extended only to managing the Portuguese temporarily residing in Macau; the laws and military orders he established were likewise limited to that scope.

Having fallen into a thirty-year civil war, Portugal did not wish to provoke conflict with the Great Ming at such a critical juncture, and successive governors of Macau had generally conducted themselves properly.

But starting this year, the newly appointed Governor Amaral began to involve himself in and interfere with affairs beyond the temporarily leased Portuguese territory in Macau.

In late February of the eighteenth year of Chongzhen, after prolonged preparation, Amaral personally oversaw the arrest of five officials from the Macau Imperial Customs Office, and in early March of that year issued an ultimatum to the various government offices in Macau, demanding the closure of the Imperial Customs Office.

Shen Yulong, then Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi, submitted a memorial to the court on one hand, and on the other traveled to Macau to negotiate with Amaral. However, Amaral had long been prepared, and the negotiations naturally came to nothing.

Afterwards, deeply angered by Shen Yulong's rejection of his demands, Amaral personally led troops to Nanhuan Kou in Macau, forcibly shut down the court's Imperial Customs Office there, and arrested all the officials within it.

In mid-April, Shen Yulong's memorial reached the capital. The matter drew the grave attention of Zhang Guowei, Minister of the Ministry of War, who immediately transferred it to the Grand Secretariat.

It was still the middle of the night when Wei Zaode heard of the matter from Jiang Dejing and was startled, deeply fearing the Emperor's wrath. He immediately convened the grand secretaries for an overnight deliberation, and presented the matter to the Chongzhen Emperor the following day.

After discussion at the capital's court assembly, the Chongzhen Emperor adopted the ministers' advice and issued an edict raising the rent for the Portuguese residing in Macau tenfold. That is to say, from this year onward, if the Portuguese still wished to lease land in Macau, they would need to pay the Ming at least five thousand taels of silver annually.

At the same time, to prevent Amaral from resorting to desperate measures, the Ming court planned to promote Zheng Zhilong, Commissioner-in-Chief of Fujian, to Governor-General, placing him in charge of the Macau affair.

Furthermore, word leaked that the Grand Secretariat was deliberating policies to impose on the Portuguese residing in Macau a head tax, commercial tax, labor tax, and more than thirty other miscellaneous levies, as well as sending additional troops to garrison Macau.

Of course, the policies ultimately enacted from this Grand Secretariat deliberation would likely be determined by the outcome of the upcoming talks between Zheng Zhilong, Governor-General of Fujian, and Amaral.

"Tenfold? My oh my, that's five thousand taels!" Zheng Zhilong and his party walked along the streets of Macau, holding the latest issue of the newspaper. Seeing the headline, he burst into laughter, both surprised and delighted.

"Just how much does His Majesty hate the Portuguese?"

"It's merely a paltry five thousand taels—what does that amount to for our Zheng family? Not even a single hair off an ox's back!" Gu Daxuan said at this point.

"What do you understand?" Zheng Hongkui shook his head and said, "They've raised the rent tenfold in one stroke—do you still not get it?"

Gu Daxuan shook his head, looking utterly bewildered: "Second Master, forgive my dullness—get what?"

"Hmph, the court is forcing the Portuguese to make the first move." Zheng Zhilong glanced up at the four large characters reading "Governor of Macau" above his head, thought briefly, then charged forward to step inside.

"Stop! This is the Governor's residence—who are you people?" The guard at the door was clearly startled by the sight of this group and hurriedly blocked them, demanding.

Few among those present could understand Portuguese. Gu Daxuan, utterly baffled, turned to look back and ask the others, but no one knew either.

Zheng Zhilong cast a contemptuous glance at the low-ranking soldier, shoved him aside with a slight exertion of force, and after stepping inside, called out loudly in Portuguese:

"Where's Amaral? Tell him to come out and see this Governor!"

"This must be Governor Zheng, yes? This humble one has been waiting here for some time—the Governor of Macau is waiting for you inside—" Hearing the shout, an interpreter hurried out from within, speaking with a fawning smile.

Upon hearing this, Zheng Zhilong looked the foreigner—who spoke Chinese remarkably fluently—up and down, and said with considerable mischievous amusement: "How much did Amaral pay you? This Governor will give you three times that. From today onward, work for me—how about it?"

Hearing this, the foreigner's eyes immediately went wide. Th-three times?

"This humble one is willing to serve Governor Zheng with utter devotion, unto death—through fire and water without flinching..." Naturally knowing what a colossus the Zheng family was, the foreigner reacted quickly and switched allegiance on the spot.

"Hahaha, lead the way!" Zheng Zhilong burst into laughter at the sight, and followed the interpreter inside.

By this time, Amaral, the Governor of Macau with his blue eyes and high-bridged nose, was already seated in a circle with the Senate. Hearing that Zheng Zhilong had bought away his interpreter right in his own governor's residence, he too was astonished by the Zheng family's overwhelming wealth.

Gazing at Zheng Zhilong, who stood in the very center looking down on him like a king, Amaral's anger flared even more. In stiff Chinese, he said:

"You must be Zheng Yiguan, the one just promoted to Governor-General."

Hearing this, Zheng Zhilong immediately flew into a rage and said coldly: "Say those three words once more, and I'll personally lead my men to tear this piss-ant governor's residence of yours apart."

The moment the words fell, countless chaotic footsteps sounded all around as a squad of armed guards rushed in upon hearing the commotion, tightly surrounding Zheng Zhilong.

Zheng Zhilong chuckled, looked at Amaral whose chest was already heaving with agitation, and turned to say calmly:

"Amaral, the truth is you don't even qualify to speak a single word to this Governor. The only reason I came here to talk with you at all is out of respect for His Majesty the Emperor. A man should know his own measure."

"Zheng Zhilong!" Amaral could no longer contain himself. He slammed the table and rose, pointing at Zheng Zhilong's back: "Don't think I'm afraid of you!"

"Governor of Macau..." Hearing the agitated Amaral shout out in his native Portuguese tongue, Zheng Zhilong felt even more pity for him. He looked up, and muttered to himself:

"This office is far too small. We're both governors, but my Zheng family's warships number in the thousands at a moment's notice—do you have that? I could even spend silver to buy every single person in this so-called governor's residence of yours, from top to bottom. Could you buy away even one of my men?"

"And another thing—this Governor of yours now oversees not just all of Fujian, but in the southeastern seas, no one dares put to sea without hoisting my Zheng family's command flag. Can you do that?"

As he spoke, Zheng Zhilong walked back a few steps, using his body to shove one of the guards aside. When he turned around, his eyes were already filled with killing intent.

"If you ask me, His Majesty shouldn't have sent me here to negotiate with you at all. Just tearing down this governor's residence outright—that would be far more satisfying. Don't you all agree?"

Seeing Zheng Zhilong walk out of the hall unscathed despite the many guards, the Zheng family members exchanged glances and burst into laughter. Gu Daxuan even said:

"The Master is right. Shall I send up a signal and have the fleet and men outside charge in and smash this piss-ant concession to pieces, so we can report back to the court?"

"Heh." Zheng Zhilong glanced at Amaral, who was both shocked and enraged, now rendered speechless, and said as he walked: "No need. Leave them a little face. We should stop where we've reached—know when to stop, understand?"