Strength and status were earned through war. Only by flexing one's muscles could one let others know that one was strong. Otherwise … What could not be obtained on the battlefield would not be obtained on the negotiation table.
The war that lasted only two days dealt a heavy blow to the Portuguese ruler of Goa. The Portuguese army lost seven to eight hundred men, the artillery was almost completely wiped out, two armed merchant ships sank and one escaped, the religious system in the city collapsed, and the spiritual pillar was completely broken.
The Europeans in the city would turn pale at the mention of the East. There were merchants and residents everywhere, but no one could come up with a suitable solution. That was until Muhammad, an Arab merchant in the city, brought back a piece of news — the King of the East requested the merchants and residents of Goa to send representatives to a meeting on how to better conduct business.
"The one who came to Goa is His Majesty the Emperor of China. He is a powerful and decisive man, full of dignity and flexibility. He told me directly that this war is to show everyone his strength. Next, he hopes that you will serve him better. His Majesty has prepared enough wealth to reward those who are loyal to him. "
In front of the Mercy Jesus Church that had collapsed due to the fire, Muhammad stepped on the ruins and shouted, "Anyone can obtain wealth from His Majesty through trade. He hopes that everyone can boldly go to his fortress and accept his invitation. This is not a mandatory requirement, but only those who are willing to serve him will receive his protection. "
There were no less than two to three hundred people gathered in front of the ruins of the church. They were all panicking merchants and residents of Goa. Hearing Muhammad's words, someone immediately asked, "Since you want to trade, why must you use war to make us submit?"
"Because His Majesty feels that a war can sweep away a lot of trouble. The key is that he is strong enough and does not want to be bound by the old system."
The words caused an uproar, but the truth was not. Someone else asked, "What price do we have to pay for protection? Is it possible that we can just attend the Emperor's banquet? "
"The property of the governor's office will be used as compensation to offset His Majesty's military expenses. He does not plan to deprive you of your wealth. He does not even plan to collect taxes from you. He knows that you have doubts, so he will not force you to pledge loyalty to him immediately. He even spared the captives from this war. "
Master Mohammed waved his hand, and the pale-faced Anthony was pushed forward. "Look, Lord Costa's nephew is still alive. He also followed me to see His Majesty the Emperor. He can bear witness that I am not lying. He was even treated by His Majesty the Emperor himself. I want to say this again, His Majesty the Emperor's strength is beyond everyone's imagination. "
Anthony was dispirited, but he still opened his mouth and said a few words. The Portuguese below asked him questions one after another, and the whole Q&A session lasted the whole day. Anthony finally said, "That tyrant wants you to attend a banquet tomorrow night. He said that he would guarantee your safety, but I'm just passing it on. I don't know if it's true or not. Do as you see fit. "
Anthony's decadence was like a living symbol that told the white people of Goa that their former privileges were now completely gone.
On the fifth day after the appearance of the Eastern Stronghold, Zhou Qingfeng sent Wen Ruolan, He Zhuo, and the two Phoenixes to Goa. They brought with them hundreds of militiamen and began to take over the property and wealth that had been under the control of the Viceroy of Portuguese India.
After the defeat of the Portuguese army, there was large-scale looting in Goa. However, most of the looters were the poor people and sailors in the city. At that time, Governor Codino had not yet led his troops to escape. When the Portuguese officials began to retreat, they could not take away the huge wealth that they had accumulated over the past hundred years.
More importantly, Zhou Qingfeng had a lot of guides under his control, and Father Marcelo was one of them. Before Governor Codino escaped, he had already secretly returned to Goa to recruit suitable people for his new master to stabilize the situation and facilitate Zhou Qingfeng's rule over Goa.
"Madam, this is the Governor's Mansion in Goa." Marcelo personally led the way and led Wen Ruolan to the center of Goa's governance.
Governor Codino led his troops to escape, but he did not manage to take away a large number of indigenous slaves in the Governor's Mansion. Basically, these people were kept, but they just had a new master. Even the original Governor's butler stayed because of Marcelo's recruitment.
Wen Ruolan was not interested in the magnificent buildings and decorations, but Ice Phoenix liked to sneak around inside and play tricks on the slaves inside. The former asked the butler to immediately transfer all the property under the name of the Portuguese Indian Governor's Mansion, and severely warned the other party that if he dared to hide anything, he would be severely punished.
When Wen Ruolan said this, Jia Gang, who was wearing a cloak and hiding in the shadows, was behind her. Others could ignore Wen Ruolan's words, but they were extremely afraid of this skeleton who could walk freely in the sun. Under such deterrence, Wen Ruolan's harvest was extremely rich.
Governor Codino left in a hurry, but he took a lot of gold and silver with him. But there was still a lot of precious metals in the cellar of the Governor's Mansion. Most of the silver was shipped from Portugal for trade in the Far East, and the gold was obtained by constantly plundering the indigenous people of India — the local king was particularly fond of gold, which was also an important source of gold reserves.
When the door of the local cellar was opened to Wen Ruolan, the Portuguese's hard work in the past hundred years immediately changed owners. Looking at the gold bricks piled up, even the fire phoenix, who was used to seeing the world, sighed, "That bad boy has made a fortune this time. Across thousands of miles, the militaristic expedition has suddenly returned the cost. "
After a simple count, more than ten tons of silver alone were worth more than hundreds of thousands of silver dollars, plus more than a ton of gold. The military expenses of this expedition were recovered by a small half. And this was only the inventory of the Governor's Mansion. Later, Wen Ruolan also checked the property of the Catholic Church in Goa — compared with the church, the Governor's Mansion was simply a beggar.
The war destroyed many churches in Goa. The priests and priests could only take very few things when they fled, and they were reluctant to actively destroy their own religious buildings. So basically all the wealth plundered by the church was left behind — the ability of religion to accumulate wealth was more than a hundred times stronger than that of the governor.
When Wen Ruolan moved the ruins of the Mercy Jesus Church with magic, she directly saw a prayer room made of gold, which was used by the previous Goa archbishops. Just this prayer room alone used two or three tons of gold.
"Extravagant, too extravagant. It's simply extravagant. " Even though the entire church building had been burned down by Fire Phoenix, from the few decorations and utensils left in the ruins, it could still be seen how extravagant the church's high-level officials were.
Archbishop Xavier died in his prayer room, his body turned into a charred corpse. Fire Phoenix covered her nose and looked at the burnt house, then ordered the militia to clean it up. There was also the silver coffin of Saint Xavier in the church. The whole coffin weighed more than ten tons, all made of silver.
It was really rich.
This was only a part of the church's wealth. Relying on the believers' contributions and offerings, the church had more than ten times more wealth than the Governor's Mansion. Even the local Portuguese themselves didn't know how much there was. But when it came to the church, everyone knew that the clergy were especially rich.
"Xu Bing once said that the 'Revolutionary Army's' business development was too rapid. Due to the lack of gold and silver, there was not enough money issued. Now with these gains in Goa, I think she will be happy for a while. "He Zhuo was responsible for investigating the church. When a large number of gold and silver products were taken out and piled on the carriages, she also felt that this trip to Goa was not in vain.
In addition to gold and silver, the wealth Zhou Qingfeng received this time also included a large number of physical objects. Not to mention the real estate in Goa, most of the city belonged to the Governor's Mansion and the church. In addition, a large number of agricultural products were piled up in the warehouse.
Limited by transportation capacity, the colonists rarely transported low-priced goods such as agricultural products in the early days. But it didn't mean that they didn't hoard. After all, controlling the food was equivalent to controlling the population. Goa had a tropical monsoon climate, so the local rice production was not small. In addition, a large number of Indian cotton and homespun cloth were shipped from here.
"I have a preliminary look. There are about twenty or thirty large granaries in the city, specially used to meet the food needs of tens of thousands of people here. It's hard to calculate the exact number, but there are at least a million stones. "Fire Phoenix just looked at it casually and revealed a very high number.
This was only the rough data from the morning, the detailed number would definitely be much higher. Even with the most conservative estimate, the direct wealth that Zhou Qingfeng could obtain in Goa would not be less than 20 million silver dollars.
On the fifth day after the Eastern Fortress appeared, the hard-working Flat Hair flew back again in a biplane. This time, several financial staff of the Ministry of Interior of the Revolutionary Army came to the biplane. According to Xu Bing's original words, if my man can't settle those fat sheep in Goa in five days, he doesn't deserve to sleep with me.
The financial staff who rushed here naturally didn't dare to repeat the exact words. They only said that they were ordered by Minister Xu of the Ministry of Interior to accept the inventory and solve the problems for the Grand Marshal. Zhou Qingfeng was amused by this. He worked hard to fight the war, but the benefits were all Xu Bing's. But he still asked these accountants to make an inventory and file to ensure that the gains from this Goa campaign were not discounted.
After all, gold and silver wealth could only be turned into real strength through Xu Bing's transformation.
Taking over the property of the Portuguese Governor's Office and the Church was only the first step in Zhou Qingfeng's control of Goa. At the same time, he also sent people to advertise and recruit workers everywhere in and out of the city. The local indigenous labor force could not be wasted. He could get a large number of them by providing food. Although these people were of poor quality and had a lot of problems, they could still be used for construction.
In addition, Zhou Qingfeng also needed more professionals. For example, some of the local Portuguese had lived in Goa for several generations. Some of them were good at brewing wine, some were familiar with shipping routes, and some were skilled in handicrafts. These people could all be used. As for whether they were willing or not, they would certainly be willing when they had no other choice.
The urban construction in Goa was not very good. The style was based on the dirty and messy European cities. The hired indigenous people first had to clean up the ruins of the war, build roads, repair the sewers, and clean up the city's garbage.
These days, most of the European cities were garbage dumps. Because of the accumulation of garbage over hundreds of years, it not only piled up into mountains, but even affected the groundwater. Goa had also inherited the same problem.
Seeing the Easterners appear in Goa to take over and clean up, the various merchants and residents in the city felt relieved. This at least meant that the Emperor of the East did not want to completely destroy this important commercial city. He really wanted to use the city, the population, and the trade network in the city.
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