The Sun and the Lion

Time rushed to 1505. Ibrahim spent the rest of 1504 in government affairs, military camps, hunting grounds and harem, and planned to stay in Tabriz until spring.

Just before winter had passed, in Lisbon, which was nearly five thousand kilometers away from Tabriz, an edict from the Portuguese court was read by the imperial envoy to everyone present.

The edict began by announcing the identity of the person who issued the order: Don Manuel, by the grace of God, King of Portugal and the Algarve on this side of the ocean, Lord of Guinea on the other side of the ocean, Abyssinia, Arabia, Persia and India The King of Conquest, Navigation and Trade, issued orders to all his subjects who participated in the conquest of India...

Manuel's edict first listed all the officials involved, and finally came to the substantive content: As evidenced by this letter of authorization, I have great confidence in Don Francisco de Almeida and hereby appoint him to serve as the general manager of the entire government. Commander-in-Chief of the fleet and all of India for a temporary period of three years, and awarded the title of Vice-King of India.”

Since Vasco da Gama opened the sea route to India several years ago, the Portuguese court, after much debate, was finally able to come up with a complete strategy, and due to communication delays, the Portuguese who wanted to be in India The only way to implement this strategy is to delegate power and appoint a representative who can be trusted.

Almeida, the deputy king appointed by His Majesty the King, took the letter of authorization and saluted Manuel.

The Portuguese court is aware that the current international situation is quite favorable - the Italian peninsula is deep in war, the Italian states, the Valois dynasty, the Habsburg dynasty and even Aragon are all involved, and the scope of Ottoman activities is limited to the Eastern Mediterranean , and the Mamluk Sultanate, which was mainly targeted, seemed to Portugal to be nothing more than dry bones in the grave. When Portugal controlled the Indian Ocean trade, this evil dog that had occupied the holy land would quickly collapse.

In this current window of time, no one can interfere with Portugal's actions.

In Manuel's view, the Mamluks were showing weakness to him. Cansu Gauri was angry that the Christians were sabotaging shipping in the Indian Ocean. He selected a monk from the Christians in Jerusalem to go to Lisbon to negotiate. , thanks to the Holy See, which allowed him to know Cansu Gauri's intentions before the envoy arrived.

The monks who came to Lisbon came to convey Malik's threat. Cansu Gauri claimed that if Manuel did not stop his mischief in the Indian Ocean, he would raze all the Christian monuments in the Holy Land.

Manuel would naturally not be intimidated by this threat. Instead, he regarded it as proof of the weakness of the pagans - if you have the ability to use force to defend your interests, there is no need to intimidate the opponent with impossible threats. .

After Almeida was appointed, Manuel also issued a long list of instructions to the deputy king to guide his actions in India. These written documents stipulate the duties and powers of the deputy king in detail.

The instructions also stipulated various goals that Manuel hoped to achieve, which were all linked together: First, Almeida should lead the fleet to control the Swahili coast to obtain gold, not just the previous loose vassal and alliance relationships. , was to build forts and garrison troops in Sofala and Kilwa.

Manuel also gave personal guidance on how to control these two important trading ports-disguising himself as a merchant, sneaking into the ports, and then launching surprise attacks on the cities.

The Vice-President then needed to build fortresses at important locations on the Malabar Coast as support and supply bases to maintain Portugal's local influence. With the help of Indian allies, it should not be a problem to defend these important locations.

Regarding the Calicut issue, Manuel already knew the news about the great victory in Cochin and the replacement of Zamorin. He hoped that this military victory would make the new Zamorin know what the correct attitude was. For Almeida, if Zamorin agrees to expel all Muslims under his rule, then peace talks will be considered; otherwise, they will be completely eliminated.

In addition to India, Almeida also needed to build a fortress near the kingdom of Prester John with the assistance of the Christian kings of Abyssinia and deploy a fleet to block the Red Sea, which could completely strangle the trading activities of Muslim merchants.

In addition to the Swahili Coast, the Malabar Coast and the Horn of Africa, Manuel has not spared other strategic locations. Other ports, including Hormuz, should submit tribute to the Portuguese court and cut off contact with Cairo Muslim Contact.

It’s not over yet. Manuel also wants the deputy king to send ships to explore new frontiers, explore waterways to Ceylon, China, Malacca and other areas that are not yet known, and erect stone monuments on these newly discovered lands. Establishing the sovereignty of the Portuguese Court over these lands. Find Shuyuan www.zｈhaosｈhuyuａ.com

It is not until here that His Majesty the King's ambitions come to an end. From these instructions, it is not difficult to see that Manuel has some accurate control of the situation in the Indian Ocean. He can identify those areas on the map that can become important fulcrums for him to build an empire.

In just seven years, the Portuguese basically understood the working principles of the Indian Ocean, including monsoon patterns, port distribution, political situation, etc., and they were not satisfied with this. These navigators who have grown up since the exploration of Africa have now shown professional qualities in the Indian Ocean, allowing this information to be sent back to the Indian Affairs Council as quickly as possible to accumulate information for the country's navigation industry.

For Almeida, this is more like a strict schedule. If it is strictly implemented, then his freedom of movement as the deputy king of India will be very limited, and it is difficult to say whether he can deal with serious emergencies.

In order to complete this task, the Vice King will command a huge fleet composed of 21 ships and more than 1,500 sailors, soldiers, craftsmen and others. In terms of staffing, Portugal’s most senior navigators and navigators are concentrated here, while the lower-level sailors, soldiers and various craftsmen are all volunteers with high morale. The cabins were loaded with prefabricated parts, building materials, tools and artillery for building fortresses. They went to India not only to return with pepper, but to establish colonies and expand the territories of Portugal and the Kingdom of Algarve to the Indian Ocean.

Just as the spring equinox arrived, all preparations were ready, and the mass ceremony before leaving was particularly solemn - the king gave the vice-roy a flag and blessing, emphasizing his great mission to convert pagans and other peoples to Christ. The procession then marched along the street to the water's edge. The deputy king, captain and guards, all dressed in Chinese attire, boarded the ship and set sail under the watchful eyes of the onlookers, officially starting the expedition to India.