Chapter 51: Fat Councillor
The tenth day of the seventh month.
The day to attend the Hongmen Banquet.
Yesterday, Zhou Xiucai informed Lin Qian of Councillor Andre’s news.
Lin Qian had made all preparations, bringing Bai Langzai and Zheng Zhilong into Moon Sea Tower.
The place the councillor arranged to meet was on the fifth floor, with two Portuguese soldiers guarding the stairwell.
They searched the three thoroughly, then barred Bai Langzai, allowing only Lin Qian inside.
Zheng Zhilong said in Portuguese Language: “I am Mr. Councillor’s envoy, I want to enter too.”
The two Portuguese soldiers exchanged a glance, then let Zheng Zhilong go up together.
Lin Qian said: “Wait at the stairwell. If talks break down, you might still save your life.”
This was a probe.
Zheng Zhilong said solemnly: “The warrior dies for one who knows him. I, Zheng Zhilong, am not one who fears death!”
Lin Qian smiled faintly and said nothing more.
Climbing the stairs, the entire fifth floor of Moon Sea Tower seemed extremely spacious, with only a long table placed in the center and several Portuguese attendants standing around.
The entire room was arranged in European style, extremely rare in the Great Ming.
At one end of the long table sat a fat Portuguese, hands holding knife and fork, napkin around his collar, head not lifted as he tackled the chunks of meat on the plate before him.
A Han man stood beside him, presumably the new interpreter.
The attendant pulled out the chair at one end of the long table, gesturing for Lin Qian to sit.
After sitting down, the attendant also brought knife and fork and a plate, with a portion of steak on the plate, drizzled with brown gravy.
“Roast Beef, hope you like it.” The councillor mumbled indistinctly, food in his mouth.
The Han man nearby translated his words.
The Great Ming prohibits slaughtering cattle, and beef trading also faces strict restrictions.
Meanwhile, the Imperial Court imposes severe constraints on the Franks in Macau, prohibiting them from entering the interior privately.
The councillor before them utterly ignored these ridiculous regulations, openly establishing something like a private club on the top floor of a restaurant in Guangzhou City.
This was a display of strength.
After serving the beef, the attendant pushed over a cart with a whole dried ham on it, glistening with fat.
The attendant took a knife as long as an arm, sliced off a piece of ham as thin as a cicada’s wing, carefully speared it with a fork, and placed it on the councillor’s plate.
Then the attendant pushed the cart behind Lin Qian and began slicing the ham.
Taking such a long knife and moving behind Lin Qian was already a blatant threat.
Even Zheng Zhilong couldn’t help glancing back repeatedly.
Lin Qian remained unmoved, neither eating the beef or ham nor touching the wine.
The councillor teased: “What’s this, Captain, afraid there’s poison in the food?”
Lin Qian shook his head.
“Or do you find the hospitality lacking?” The councillor’s voice suddenly turned cold, his amiable expression vanishing, his fat face showing all its jowls.
Lin Qian nodded slowly.
He offered no verbal defense, showed no emotional panic, but instead admitted it directly.
This caught the councillor off guard. Clearly this pirate had fallen into his grasp—did he still have some trump card?
The councillor softened his tone slightly and asked: “What dissatisfied Captain?”
Lin Qian pressed the beef with his fork, bright red juices overflowing: “Beef is good stuff, but unfortunately not roasted done—still bloody.”
Lin Qian actually liked medium-rare steak, but that didn’t stop him from nitpicking.
Then he picked up the slice of ham the attendant had placed on his plate: “This thing exists in the Great Ming too, called Jinhua ham, but it’s not for eating raw.”
Lin Qian waved the fork in his hand: “We Great Ming people eat with chopsticks, not this thing.”
“Enough!”
Under Lin Qian’s barrage of nitpicking, the councillor flew into a humiliated rage.
“You’re stupid enough. Since you stepped into this room, do you think you can leave alive?” The councillor sneered. “Right now, five Portuguese warships are heading toward Santa Ana. This is probably your last meal as captain.”
“Anything else?” Lin Qian asked indifferently.
“Else what?”
“Any other moves? Don’t tell me this is the trap you painstakingly prepared. Truly disappointing—I don’t partner with idiots.”
The councillor waved his hand, and the attendant behind placed the ham knife against Lin Qian’s neck.
“Killing you now takes just one word from me,” the councillor threatened.
Zheng Zhilong swallowed hard; a knife was also pressed to his waist.
Lin Qian said calmly: “Macau is so far from Portugal proper—isn’t round-trip maritime transport inconvenient?”
The councillor scoffed: “Think you can trade Santa Ana for your life? She’s a fine ship, capable of ocean voyages. Unfortunately, Portugal and Spain are under one king—we can’t accept your kind offer.”
Lin Qian: “Why play dumb? Where you ultimately sell the Great Ming goods you acquire—you think I don’t know?”
At this time, no Suez Canal existed. For Portugal to ship goods back to Europe, they had to go south through Malacca Strait, then west across the Indian Ocean, around Africa’s Cape of Good Hope, and finally north to Lisbon.
The route was circuitous, several times longer than Spain’s Pacific Ocean route.
This made maritime transport costs too high to compete with Spain.
Constrained by the 1506 Papal Meridian, Portugal had no right to share a route with Spain.
Even under one king, Spain and Portugal still divided the pot when eating.
To turn a profit, Portuguese in Macau actually shipped goods to Japan, then loaded silver from Japan to return to Macau harbor.
Since the Japanese Pirates caused chaos, the Great Ming Imperial Court strictly banned trade with Japan—even after the later Longqing opening of ports, Japan remained excluded.
This gave Macau merchants a chance to profit from the arbitrage.
Lin Qian continued: “Suppose your fleet finds nothing, and the galleon sailed for Japan five days ago—what then?”
The councillor’s jowls twitched as he forced a smile: “Five days ago? You set Santa Ana sailing right after getting the letter?”
With that, the councillor inconspicuously glanced at Zheng Zhilong behind Lin Qian.
Zheng Zhilong gave an imperceptible nod.
The councillor’s heart sank.
He dared not fully trust Zheng Zhilong’s words, but also dared not dismiss them.
Before Lin Qian could reply, the councillor pressed: “Hundreds of thousands of taels in goods—in Japan, can you find buyers?”
Lin Qian: “Li Dan in Kyushu Island, and Shimazu Iehisa—they have far more credibility than you, Councillor.”
Li Dan and Shimazu Iehisa were real people. Given the Great Ming’s knowledge of overseas barbarians, ordinary folk wouldn’t know Shimazu Iehisa’s name without actual business ties.
Not giving up, the councillor glanced at Zheng Zhilong again.
Zheng Zhilong nodded slightly once more.
The councillor’s chest tightened in pain.
Shimazu Iehisa was the daimyo of Satsuma Domain in Kyushu Island.
Li Dan was the leader of Great Ming smuggling sea merchants entrenched in Kyushu Island.
These two were the Portuguese’s biggest customer and biggest rival.
The councillor could hardly imagine what would happen if Santa Ana arrived.
Clearly, buying the cargo for three hundred thousand taels would let him profit handsomely while crushing Li Dan’s arrogance and seizing market share.
But greed backfired—he tried for a free lunch and ended up empty-handed.
The Manila Galleon was fast and had departed days early; the Portuguese fleet could never catch up.
Nor was that all. Lin Qian continued: “Moreover, if I don’t return safely, after completing the deal, Santa Ana will plunder the Macau-to-Kyushu Island route, inevitably robbing Portuguese merchant ships.”
The councillor’s inner world collapsed.
