When Shi Chang listened to the words of the Westerner in front of him, he always felt that what he said was very confusing. However, Shi Chang understood the meaning of this man's words.
He agreed.
Shi Chang's expression softened, he nodded and said, "Since you agree, let's go."
Childe Harold smiled and begged: "Please forgive me for a moment, General. I also want to ask the Captain for instructions."
Shi Chang frowned, and after pondering for a few breaths, he nodded in agreement.
Childe Harrold turned around and walked towards the captain, chatting with him in a chattering manner. At first, the captain's face was extremely bad, and he was obviously very resistant to Daming's request.
However, with Childe Harold's constant persuasion, the excitement on the captain's face gradually calmed down. Finally, he nodded with difficulty and reluctantly agreed.
After convincing the captain, Childe Harold returned to the captain. He stroked his chest again and said, "The captain has agreed. General, please lead the way."
The chief nodded and said to the others, "Close the team."
Then he signaled for several hanging baskets to be put down on the warship, and all the Ming soldiers, captain, first mate, second mate and others were hoisted onto the warship.
Then, the warship set sail again, left the three pirate ships, and headed towards the flagship.
After Han Du gave the order, he ordered the fleet to slow down and waited while drinking tea with Zhu Biao and Tang Ding.
The flag army commanded the warship to approach the flagship, and then also used the shuttle to jump on the flagship with a few Westerners.
The flag army walked forward quickly, suddenly knelt on one knee on the ground, clasped his fists and said: "The general will pay homage to His Highness the Crown Prince, the Marquis of Zhenhai and the Marquis of Suyi. Bring the Westerners!"
Zhu Biao waved to the flag army, "Get up, bring the people up, and ask them if you have anything to say."
The flag army immediately stood up, retreated, waved to a few Westerners, and motioned for them to come forward and pay their respects.
Several people were urged forward by Ming soldiers. After the three of them looked at each other, they all knelt down and bowed. The first mate spoke up and said: "Child Harrold pays homage to His Excellency, the first heir to the Ming Dynasty."
"Bold, don't kneel down when you see His Highness the Crown Prince, what are you talking nonsense about?" Zhu Biao's personal guards on the side were not polite to these Westerners at all. Seeing that they didn't understand etiquette and changed their honorifics indiscriminately, they stepped forward to teach them a lesson. .
Zhu Biao smiled, waved his hand to stop the guards, and said: "Those who don't know are not guilty and will be exempted."
Han Du shook his head and said with a smile: "Your Highness, that's not what I said. These Westerners don't understand etiquette. They only worship the strong. But precisely because of this, etiquette cannot be abolished."
"Oh?" Zhu Biao looked at Han Du curiously and asked with a smile, "Don't they have any education?"
Han Du shook his head, "Where is the education? They have been struggling to survive since they were born, which is very similar to the way of survival of the grassland tribes. They are exactly like wild beasts in the mountains and forests. The weak eat the strong and the strong are respected, and they have never protected the weak. One thing. If we show weakness to them, not only will we not get their gratitude, but it will make them think that we are weak and can be bullied. They will always look for our shortcomings, and once they find an opportunity, they will pounce like wolves. Come up and bite. Even if it means losing your life, I won’t hesitate!”
Zhu Biao did not expect that these Westerners, who looked like dogs, could be so virtuous. After pondering for a while, I also felt that being too nice to them might not necessarily be the right thing to do, so I asked Han Du: "Then what do you want to do?"
Han Du looked at the three people, his eyes gradually turned cold, and said: "Since my Ming Dynasty is strong, there is no need to be polite to them. When they come here, they must know that no matter what happens, they must follow the rules of the Ming Dynasty." It doesn’t matter if you don’t understand etiquette, just let them understand.”
"Come here, teach them etiquette, and then salute His Highness the Crown Prince!"
Zhu Biao saw that Han Du was so solemn, so he nodded and said, "Just follow the wishes of Marquis Zhenhai, but when teaching them, don't beat or scold them, but be polite."
So, several personal guards stepped forward, walked towards Childe Harold, and taught him over and over again how to meet His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.
Under the watchful eyes of the Ming army, Childe Harrold quickly learned the etiquette of meeting His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, and took the lead to kneel down again.
"Child Harrold pays homage to His Highness the Crown Prince of the Ming Dynasty. His Highness is a thousand years old..."
"Get up." Zhu Biao nodded with eyes full, and couldn't help but glance at Han Du. He didn't expect Han Du's move to have such an effect. He originally thought that these Westerners had never learned the etiquette of audience and would never learn it. Who would have thought that they would learn it in such a short period of time.
Although the manners of these Westerners in greeting were not entirely polite and their movements still seemed stiff, they were indeed paying their respects.
Looking away from Han Du's face, Zhu Biao asked the first mate with a warm smile: "Are you all businessmen from the West?"
After hearing Zhu Biao's words, Childe Harrold knew that the identity of the person in front of him was second only to His Majesty the Emperor even in the extremely powerful Ming Dynasty.
The thoughts that he had to suppress in his heart could not stop coming out at this time.
Zhu Biao saw that the expression of the man in front of him kept changing, but he remained silent again, so he had to ask again: "What? Can't you answer Gu?"
Only then did Childe Harold come back to his senses and gritted his teeth and said, "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, Childe Harold is a businessman who came here from the West. But the other three people behind me are No, they are pirates from the Arabian Sea.”
pirate?
Han Du and Zhu Biao looked at each other with surprise on their faces.
Seeing the confusion on Zhu Biao's face, Han Du explained to him: "The so-called pirates are bandits who rob passing merchants at sea, similar to Japanese pirates."
After hearing Han Du's explanation, Zhu Biao looked at the three people behind Childe Harrold in deep thought. Three pirates dared to pretend to be merchants, and even dared to come to their flagship.
Where do these people get the courage?
When Childe Harrold saw that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and the people around him had no reaction to the pirates, he thought they didn't know how terrible the pirates were. He quickly told his story with excitement, "...these butchers, despicable robbers, bloody executioners, and maggots in the sewers, they killed my employees and robbed me of everything. goods, and forced me to take them to the Old Port..."
"What are they going to do in Old Port?" Han Du quickly interjected and asked before the person could finish speaking.
Seeing that someone finally paid attention to him, Childe Harrold hurriedly thanked him with tears in his eyes: "These maggots have heard that the Old Port is the most prosperous place in the East, with countless wealth, and they want to take this opportunity to come. A robbery."
Rob the Old Port? Just their three broken ships? Han Du was amused by this person's words.
Shaking his head, he said: "Are you sure you are right? With just your three ships, you dare to come and rob the old port?"
If the old port was so easy to be robbed, the Japanese pirates would have taken action long ago. Why would they wait until now?
As the most important foreign trade port of the Ming Dynasty, Old Port has three thousand soldiers in the Governor's Mansion alone. These are all elite soldiers armed with revolvers. In order for these government soldiers to patrol and go out to sea to fight, the Old Port Governor's Mansion also has six warships. Normally, at least three of them are on alert, ready to go to war at any time to deal with various emergencies.
In addition, as a local snake in Jiugang, the Shi family also has considerable force. Although it is not as powerful as the Ming Governor's Mansion, it is not something that the pirates driving these three broken ships can handle.
Seeing that Handu was doubtful about his words, Childe Harrold quickly explained: "These pirates used to only rob passing merchant ships in the Arabian Sea. They didn't know anything about the Ming Dynasty at all. They had only heard about the wealthy people in the old port. , hence the idea of robbing the Old Port."
Han Du touched his tongue a few times, looked at the person in front of him with a smile, and said, "Then you didn't tell them the true situation in Old Port?"
"No." Childe Harold took a deep breath with some embarrassment, and finally answered truthfully. It's not that he hasn't thought about lying, but he knows that in front of such a big man as Daming, even if he lies, he may not be able to deceive the person in front of him. On the contrary, if he tells the truth, there may not be any bad results.
"Hahaha, it seems that you have no good intentions. You know that the Ming navy is guarding the old port and you brought them here. Do you still want to rely on the power of the Ming Dynasty to kill them?" Han Du Looking into this person's eyes, he teased meaningfully.
Childe Harrold couldn't help but shrink back in fear when Handu told the center of things. He raised his eyes to look at the person in front of him, and felt a wave of fear in his heart. He felt that in front of this person, he was as if he had no clothes on, and no thoughts in his heart could deceive this person.
In this case, Childe Harrold simply nodded and admitted: "Your Excellency is right, that's exactly what I thought. These damn pirates killed my sailors and robbed my goods. They want to It’s not that I said I could bring them to Old Port, I’m afraid they would have killed me long ago. I’m always thinking about how to send them to hell, and since I can’t do it, I don’t mind using the power of Your Excellency.”
This is what happened... Han Du and Zhu Biao looked at each other. Today was really full of twists and turns. I thought it was just some Western businessmen, but I didn't expect it to be pirates disguised as businessmen. What is even more unexpected is that the only Westerner who can speak clearly is a real businessman, while the others are pirates.
Seeing that Zhu Biao had no intention of speaking, Han Du smiled and continued: "Although you say they are pirates, I still can't believe you."
"Your Excellency, why is this?" Childe Harold's expression changed instantly, and he asked directly, regardless of etiquette.
If the person in front of him doesn't believe that those people are pirates, then he will be in big trouble. Sooner or later, those people will know that he betrayed them, and then he will definitely be thrown into the sea to feed the fish.
7017k
