The Portuguese felt that the situation was not good. Zhang Yan, the governor of the Ming Dynasty, personally asked them to hand over the city of Malacca to the Ming Dynasty for management, which made them feel very difficult.●⌒,

I heard that this governor was the most trusted assistant around the emperor of this empire.

The two sides started a negotiation in Macau on the issue of Malacca City. The Portuguese naturally had the disadvantage during the negotiations. They themselves were under the control of others, and Macau was still under the control of the Ming Dynasty.

"Malacca was one of my vassals of the Ming Dynasty. As the suzerain state, the Ming Dynasty could not tolerate your Portugal's colonization of the Malacca region." Zhang Yan said to the Portuguese, "If you Portugal does not withdraw from Malacca, then our trade relations will not be maintained. We may look for the Dutch as a substitute."

"No, no, no, we Portugal are very sincere in trade." The Portuguese softened on the spot. The trade relations with the Ming Dynasty were too important to Portugal. Especially when the Spanish and the Dutch were driven out one after another by the Ming Dynasty, Portugal has become the only European country that can still trade with the Ming Dynasty, which means amazing profits.

Compared to such amazing profits, what is Malacca worth?

If the Ming and Portugal had a bad relationship and chose to cooperate with the Dutch, then Portugal would not only not be able to maintain its trade relations with the Ming Dynasty, but also basically would not be able to maintain its city of Malacca.

After fighting against the Spanish and Dutch colonies, the Ming Dynasty's maritime strength had already scared these Europeans.

The Portuguese did not have the confidence to defend the city of Malacca. The Ming Dynasty not only had an increasingly large navy, but also had a closer distance from the city of Malacca than the Portuguese.

"We are willing to withdraw from Malacca and hope that both of us can continue to maintain trade relations." The Portuguese formally replied.

"You don't have to completely withdraw from Malacca, because the trade locations between the two sides will be changed to Malacca City in the future. We will transport the goods to Malacca to trade with you. At the same time, all European ships cannot enter the waters east of Malacca." Zhang Yan directly drew a line to the map, and just a random stroke became a maritime navigation rule, turning the waters east of Malacca into the territorial waters of the Ming Dynasty.

What else can the Portuguese do? As long as they can maintain trade, they will accept it with their noses.

...

On the other hand, Zhu Youxiao was not in a good situation because the big explosion in Wang Gongchang occurred. Despite preparations in advance, hundreds of people were killed.

The day of the explosion was the sixth day of the fifth month, a period before the summer harvest. The explosion had no signs and it exploded as soon as it was said to explode.

With Wang Gongchang as the center, the capital city is shaking.

The palace was affected. Some people in the palace were also crushed to death by heavy objects falling down. Fortunately, the empresses in the harem did not have any problems.

After receiving the news, Zhu Youxiao was silent for a moment, took a deep breath, and ordered: "Everyone packs up their things today and returns to Beijing tomorrow."

"Yes, your Majesty."

Since the explosion in Wang Gongchang has passed, Zhu Youxiao feels that there is no need to hide in Chengde.

The next day, Zhu Youxiao set off early in the morning and returned to the capital with his men as quickly as possible. At this time, rumors were already spreading in the capital.

"I heard that this natural disaster happened because the emperor was deceived by treacherous ministers."

"Yes, the emperor was stupid and randomly revised the ancestral laws. Since the Ming Dynasty, there has been a saying that scholars paid taxes."

"It was because the emperor's random modification of the ancestor's laws made the heaven angry and resentful, which led to the punishment of heaven."

The powerful and powerful gentry who had their interests damaged by Zhu Youxiao still had certain power in the north. Although they were not as large as the gentry in the south, there were more nobles.

This time, Zhu Youxiao's comprehensive reform of taxes in the newly levied areas has seriously touched the interests of the powerful and nobles of the gentry. After the Wanggongchang explosion, these powerful and nobles became the main force in spreading rumors.

There were people who were full of evil words and confusing the public. As soon as Zhu Youxiao returned to the capital, he immediately sent Dongchang and Jinyiwei out to arrest those who spread rumors.

At the same time, it began to speed up the guidance of public opinion, while comforting the families of the dead and injured.

First of all, the Wanggong Factory explosion was reported by the Daming Daily. The Daming Daily reported it as an earthquake that triggered the gunpowder depot explosion, and claimed that the emperor had already seen the safety hazards of the Wanggong Factory in a wise and powerful way, so he demolished the surrounding area. If the demolition was not carried out, the number of casualties in this earthquake may reach tens of thousands.

earthquake?

Many people don’t believe it because they have seen the scene after the explosion, which doesn’t look like a normal earthquake at all, but most people believe it because there is indeed a vibration in this explosion.

As for the gunpowder explosion, some people even know that Wang Gongchang has no gunpowder at all. However, if the official explains this, most of the people still don’t know the truth.

Zhu Youxiao could only guide the explosion to the conclusion that the earthquake caused a gunpowder explosion, otherwise how could he explain it?

If you use the Gods, Gods, Ghosts, you will obviously be very passive.

Of course, the Gods and Ghosts are still used. The Jinyiwei and the "water army" installed in the market in the East Factory have all rumored that this explosion was caused by the monsters in the lower realm collusion with a thousand-year-old turtle spirit. The purpose is to murder the Holy Lord and thus protect the interests of the powerful and powerful people of the gentry. Before this turtle spirit caused chaos, the emperor had already obtained the dream of the Immortal Lord. The Immortal Lord and the Emperor avoided Chengde, and pointed out that the turtle spirit would cause chaos in Wanggong Factory, and then transferred the people of Wanggong Factory in advance...

Overnight, the thousand-year-old turtle spirit spread throughout the city.

Many people wonder when they wake up, when will a thousand-year-old turtle spirit pop up? Many of the cultural people laugh at such rumors and don’t believe this statement at all.

But the people in the city believe it!

Because this rumor version is the one they can accept the most, and the story is very strong. There are villains led by the "Thousand-year Tortoise Spirit" and the righteous force headed by the Dangshizi. In the end, justice defeated evil again and the sun shone on the earth again.

When Zi played the justice role today, the people in the city deeply recognized it. On the one hand, the emperor's reform and taxation reform mobilized the interests of the powerful and powerful people, but on the other hand, it won the hearts of the people. The people are actually not fools, so you can understand such a simple truth.

However, many ordinary people have low cultural levels after all, and are easily exploited, but it is very common. Therefore, Zhu Youxiao also relied on rumors to break the rumors this time, but he prescribed the right medicine.
Chapter completed!