The Sun and the Lion

Vasco da Gama's triumph gave the Portuguese court a shot in the arm, and just six months later, Manuel organized another voyage. He mobilized all the resources the Portuguese court could extract, and with capital injections from Florentine and Genoese bankers, the Portuguese fleet was much larger than when it first arrived in India.

Concentrating the knowledge and personnel gained from the previous voyage, the diplomat in charge of the fleet, Pedro Alvarez Cabral, received carefully prepared instructions on how to quell Vasco da Gama's attack in Cabral. Likart's diplomatic farce focused on building lucrative friendly relations with Zamorin and various plans in India.

The fleet set out from Lisbon in March, first discovered the place of the True Cross, and then continued to sail eastward. During the period, the crew observed a comet flying eastward in the sky, which everyone thought was an ominous omen.

They really encountered a storm, and four ships sank, killing all the crew members, including Bartolomeu Diaz, who named this place twelve years ago as Cape Storm.

After the storm, the fleet with 13 ships at the time of departure, excluding the four ships that sank and the one that turned back due to getting lost, only had eight ships assembled in Mozambique and went to East Africa for supplies, gaining the compliance and support of the Sultan of Mozambique. Reception in Kilwa and finally departing again from Malindi for India.

At this time, the old Zamorin of Calicut had passed away, but the coming to power of the new monarch would not improve the relationship between Portugal and Calicut.

The Portuguese arrived in Calicut again, and Cabral ordered the fleet to anchor in accordance with the instructions. The Portuguese ships formed a tight formation, and all the flags that could be used for decoration were hung out to support the commander as much as possible.

They then lowered their boats and sent people ashore to negotiate with Calicut. Cabral strictly followed the instructions and never went ashore until hostages were captured as a precaution. Because of their bad behavior, Zamorin also detained some Portuguese personnel in retaliation.

The commander's landing was arranged for a long time, and the entourage and gifts arrived smoothly in the hall where Zamorin received them. This time Manuel bought much more luxurious gifts than the last time, and when the entourage showed the property to the Calicut party, they were barely able to impress.

However, an accident occurred. The Portuguese translator was not qualified to accompany the Commander to meet Zamorin because of his caste. The two parties could only communicate clumsily through Arabic as an intermediary. Cabral did not speak Arabic, but fortunately, Correa, the royal businessman, could translate for him.

Cabral took out the document and proposed his own conditions to Zamorin: Dear Zamorin, my lord Manuel sent me to develop friendly relations with your country.

First of all, regarding the issues left over by Vasco da Gama’s mission, Cabral firmly demanded compensation from Zamorin, claiming: “Your country’s unfriendliness and arrogance have caused many misunderstandings and losses. Your country should bear these responsibilities and reasonably to compensate our country for its losses.”

He also threw out other conditions like a barrage, including providing tariff concessions to Portugal, providing Portuguese merchants with safe and convenient trading strongholds and preferential sources of spices, and waiving unfavorable regulations such as the ownership of goods returning to local rulers after the death of merchants. The most important one is to expel all Muslims under Zamorin's rule.

At this time, the Portuguese court still believed that Zamorin was a heretical Christian monarch. When Cabral saw that Zamorin was obviously resistant to the condition of expelling Muslims, he emphasized: This is your responsibility as a devout Christian. Obligation, they have been at odds with us since ancient times.”

The Muslims present listened to these words as if they had eaten nine-turn intestines carefully cooked by top chefs. They knew that these Franks were here to cause trouble, but the Muslim dignitaries were not good at all.

Then he changed the topic to religion and persuaded Zamorin to give up his heretical behavior: You are too far away from Rome, so many fallacies have appeared. The monks in our country can help you and your subjects return to the right track, so that God can continue to accept you. you.

With both religious and commercial goals in mind, Cabral's instructions were very polarizing. In order to maintain relations with the Zamorin and enable normal trade, they must be friendly to the Muslim merchants in Calicut. But Manuel gave him another order to disrupt Arab shipping, and the Portuguese fleet was going to attack Muslim merchant ships sailing in the outer seas, using methods such as capturing ships, seizing property, and taking hostages to harm others and benefit themselves.

After hearing all the conditions, Zamorin thought over and over again and decided to only agree to reach a commercial agreement with these strangers from afar and establish a trading post.

Just when everyone thought they could return to Lisbon loaded with spices like Vasco da Gama, things took a turn for the worst. Find Shuyuan www. zhaoshuyuan． com Under the operation of Muslim dignitaries, the activities of the trading post led by Correa were frequently hindered. When other merchant ships had loaded their cargo and sailed to the Red Sea and Persian Gulf, the goods he acquired were far less than expected.

Correa, who identified the mastermind behind the attack, persuaded Cabral to attack the Muslim merchant ship leaving the port and protested to Zamorin. He did so, and it was precisely the plan of the Muslim elite to intensify the conflict. When the Portuguese made an extraordinary move, a group of armed men suddenly burst out of the street and attacked the trading post. Dozens of Portuguese who came ashore were beaten to death. Caught off guard, he had to retreat into the building.

These mobs were well equipped with short spears, swords, shields, and bows. In order to deal with them, the Portuguese had to close the gates and fight back with less than ten crossbows on the walls and roofs. At the same time, they raised their flags and asked for help from the fleet.

Cabral had no choice but to send small boats carrying swivel guns to disperse the mob with shelling, but the walls of the trading post were still demolished, and the Portuguese could only hide in the building and shoot through the windows.

Correa believed that there was no point in holding on like this. The trading post happened to be close to the seaside, and he could still get support if he broke out to the beach. The surviving Portuguese launched an attack on the attackers outside the house, fought their way through the crowd, and successfully broke through to the beach.

However, the sea conditions were suddenly bad and the small boats did not dare to dock. The Portuguese who fled to the beach were once again surrounded by an armed mob several times their size. More than fifty Portuguese including Correa and a few monks. After being hacked to death, less than twenty people walked into the sea. Fortunately, they were picked up by a small boat before they drowned.

After learning that the first batch of martyred Portuguese Christians had appeared in India, Cabral hoped that Zamorin would take the initiative to apologize and compensate for this incident. It was just that the young Zamorin was at a loss for such an unexpected incident, and the two parties spent a strange day in strange silence.