Chapter 185: Making a Move

In truth, the Portuguese in Macau had placed considerable importance on this meeting, intending to use the opportunity to squeeze out more benefits—but who could have predicted that the Chongzhen Emperor would simply wash his hands of it and hand the whole matter to Zheng Zhilong?

Amazonas had even summoned every member of the Senate, and they had already agreed beforehand on the lowest price they could accept, hoping to use sheer numbers to pressure Zheng Zhilong—after all, the Zheng family's reputation was formidable, hardly a lamp that burned cheap oil, and the duck already at their lips could not be allowed to fly away.

So what if you're rich and powerful? So what if you have more men and more ships?

But who could have guessed that Zheng Zhilong hadn't come with any intention of negotiating at all—he took a lap, put on a show of arrogance, spat out a string of threats, and casually poached his own longtime translator on the way out. Yet what truly infuriated Amazonas wasn't even that.

The most galling part was that you could only watch as he swaggered out of your territory with absolutely nothing you could do about it. Given the fleet under Zheng Zhilong's command, Amazonas would have to transfer the Timor fleet here just to have a fighting chance against him.

As things stood, Portugal itself was caught between Spain and the Netherlands, with many of its colonies already seized by the Dutch—one could say the Far Eastern colonies were down to just these two pieces. The Timor fleet still had to be kept in reserve against the Dutch, and circumstances simply did not permit transferring the Timor fleet to Macau; nor did Amazonas have the authority to do so.

Zheng Zhilong was using action to tell Amazonas: this so-called meeting was never taken seriously by him in the slightest. The Zheng family was simply that impressive. You want to bite me? You'd better have the guts to try!

"What do we do?"

"You're asking me? How should I know—go ask our Governor!"

None of the foreign devils on the Senate had expected this outcome. They all stared at each other in bewilderment, fury rising with no outlet, muttering among themselves in Portuguese—many of them speaking with a distinctly sarcastic edge, clearly never having anticipated such shameless conduct from the Ming court.

Just washing one's hands and delegating authority outright like this—was this the manner befitting the great Ming Emperor?

In truth, Chongzhen's approach was simple: he promoted Zheng Zhilong to Governor-General, a rank equal to Amazonas in political standing, then sent him to negotiate with the Portuguese. The imperial edict stated it plainly—once you settle the Portuguese and ship the guns and cannons to me, your Zheng family may do as you please, and the court will not interfere.

Asking the court for money or grain? Sorry, none available. But you want a promotion? That we have in abundance—go all out!

In Chongzhen's words, the Zheng family still held maritime hegemony, and letting such excellent resources go to waste would be a terrible shame.

"All of you, shut up." Amazonas removed the wig from his head; the murmuring around him only added to the irritation in his already enraged heart. "Commander Jepeqi, assemble the guards and go collect taxes from those Ming people."

"But Governor, according to regulations, we have no right to levy taxes on Ming subjects." Upon hearing this, the guard commander Jepeqi was equally reluctant, thinking to himself—if this is such a thorny matter, why don't you go do it yourself?

"Enough talk. Since the Ming government has been so discourteous, the great Portuguese Empire will not fear them either. I, the Governor, will personally speak with His Majesty the King about this matter—you just go about your business and collect the taxes." Amazonas waved his hand, beginning to write a letter even as he spoke in a tone that brooked no refusal.

Seeing Amazonas's hardline stance and no one in the Senate daring to object, Guard Commander Jepeqi had nothing more to say. He snapped to attention on the spot, saluted, and shouted loudly: "As you command, Governor!"

"Big Brother, wasn't our performance today a bit too arrogant?" Walking through the streets outside the leased territory, Zheng Hongkui finally let out a breath of relief, feeling almost like he was home.

Hearing his words, Zheng Zhilong glanced back toward the direction of the Macau Governor's residence and said disdainfully: "The court's intention is simply not to negotiate with the Portuguese at all. This time I came—first, to give face to His Majesty, and second, to provoke this Amazonas. As long as he dares to make the first move, things become easy."

Zheng Hongkui suddenly understood and raised his thumb: "Big Brother's foresight is indeed thorough."

As he spoke, a look of concern rose on Zheng Hongkui's face, and he added: "But what I fear is that Amazonas won't take the bait. If he keeps sitting still, do we Zheng family strike first, or do we wait for another decree from His Majesty?"

Hearing this, Zheng Zhilong fell into thought as well—in truth, this was exactly what he had been worrying about.

If that bastard Amazonas was dead set on not making the first move, like a turtle gripping a scale weight, then there was no help for it—either the Zheng family struck first, or they waited for the court's order to come down. Neither option was easy.

What they worried about now wasn't whether they could win—for the Zheng family to destroy a Macau Governor would be trivial, since the man didn't even possess a true fleet in any real sense—but if the Zheng family struck first, it would be indefensible on both moral and practical grounds.

However incompetent Amazonas might be, he still ranked as something like a minister within Portugal. In Zheng Zhilong's view, that put him on equal footing with the Six Ministers of the Ming court—perhaps with even more authority.

Not long ago, Zheng Zhilong had heard that the Portuguese crown had just passed a bill.

Of that bill's specific provisions, only one concerned Amazonas: it increased the Macau Governor's authority to legislate and raise taxes within the Macau leased territory. But the Portuguese crown never anticipated that this provision—meant to help the Governor administer the territory better—would be seized upon by Amazonas as a feather to wave like a command arrow, and he began taxing his own landlord, the elder brother Ming.

In Zheng Zhilong's view, Amazonas as Macau Governor was now no different from Portugal's colonial governors in the Far East.

Just as he was thinking, Zheng Zhilong suddenly heard some commotion from behind.

From within the leased territory suddenly poured out many armed guards. These Portuguese soldiers, under the command of Guard Commander Jepeqi, split into several squads and began collecting taxes from the Ming commoners living in the streets and markets around the leased territory.

"Go take a look." Zheng Zhilong's heart stirred, and he spoke with an expressionless face.

Gu Daxuan acknowledged the order, signaling the many Zheng household retainers behind him to stay put and keep quiet, while he himself disguised as a merchant heading to market and slipped in. While Gu Daxuan was gathering intelligence, Zheng Zhilong and the others did not intervene in the matter, simply finding a teahouse nearby to wait.

There were still quite a few patrons in the teahouse at the time. Seeing that Zheng Zhilong's group meant trouble and was too numerous to provoke, they all left their silver on the tables and slunk away. Before long, only the Zheng family's people remained in the teahouse.

Before long, Gu Daxuan came running back, cursing as he went, and said boisterously: "Damn it all, those foreign devils are collecting taxes! I hear there's a head tax, an occupation-and-fencing tax, a stall-rental tax..."

A stone lifted from Zheng Zhilong's heart, and he asked again: "What else did you learn? Is that all?"

"This subordinate also learned that those Portuguese had beforehand used silver to bribe the local officials—those who refused the bribes were basically all arrested by them. I hear they also seized quite a few constables who had been standing up against the Portuguese bullying the common people, and to this day the city's yamen has given no explanation."

"Master, Amazonas has made his move—let's go!" Zheng Hongkui slapped the table and stood up.

"Yes, Master—if Amazonas is doing this, and our Zheng family doesn't act, are we supposed to wait for those corrupt officials to handle it?" The many Zheng household retainers were all burning with righteous indignation upon hearing this.

No matter how the others shouted, Zheng Zhilong sat quietly in place without moving. He tapped his fingers against the table one by one, and only after a long while did he speak:

"Not yet. Let him make it bigger—then we'll act, and it won't be too late. As for the people's losses during these days, once we've wiped out these Portuguese, I, the Governor, will compensate them all!"

Having said this, Zheng Zhilong rose, patted the dust off his backside, cast a glance at the chaos the Portuguese were stirring up before him, let out a cold laugh, and waved his hand as he shouted loudly:

"Let's go!"