Seeing that the ships, docks and commercial buildings of their English friends were being engulfed in fire, the Portuguese in Macau certainly could not sit idly by and watch.
Under the order of Governor Rodoni, his adjutant de Figo rushed more than 30 musketeers and nearly 300 black slaves in the shortest possible time, carrying wooden basins and barrels filled with water, to shoot the fire. They had brooms and axes for cutting flammable wood, and then they lined up and headed to the smoke-filled pier without any vigilance at all.
The Portuguese musketeers and black slave soldiers led by De Figo are a special form of military organization in Portugal's overseas colonies - the "Portuguese musketeers" are somewhat similar to noble knights, and the black slave soldiers are their slaves. A musketeer usually has about ten slaves. The slaves are the musketeer's personal slaves and also his assistants or subordinates on the battlefield.
Normally, the "Portuguese Musketeers" wore armor and fought with Spanish heavy muskets or artillery placed in fortresses. The slave soldiers serve as his assistants and guards. Some of them will protect the musketeer with swords or spears, while others help the musketeer load ammunition. One master and ten slaves work closely together on the battlefield to form a team, which can sometimes display their combat effectiveness.
In the Battle of Macau in 1622, the Portuguese musketeers relied on this bizarre military organization to defeat the invading Dutch East India Company troops and secure the Macau colony.
However, in most cases, the Portuguese's fighting style of musketeers and black slave soldiers was no match for the Dutch. Therefore, almost all the Portuguese colonies in Southeast Asia and India were snatched away by the Dutch, leaving only a few data points such as Goa to survive.
In addition, Portuguese colonists had the habit of keeping slaves, not only black slaves but also slaves of other colors, including female slaves!
Therefore, every Portuguese colonist who has lived in the eastern colonies for a long time usually leads a decadent life of three wives and four concubines, and also leaves behind a lot of illegitimate children that are not recognized by Christian law... In general , the Portuguese colonists of this era were all very decadent guys. More decadent than all other European colonists, including their Spanish neighbors!
Sometimes they are even more decadent than the indigenous feudal rulers next door, and have no appearance of advanced civilization at all.
It is for this reason that Portugal's world empire was also the first to lie down. During the years when Portugal's mother country was occupied by its Spanish neighbors, many Portuguese colonies even broke away from imperial control, seeking independence or relying on powerful indigenous feudal monarchs.
In India, Southeast Asia and other places, every powerful feudal monarch would have some Portuguese ministers...and these feudal monarchs would also obtain advanced Western military technology through these Portuguese to strengthen their own strength.
If the Portuguese's European neighbors had not been so powerful in history, their colonial empire would have been completely weakened in the 17th and 18th centuries, and most of the colonies would have been annexed by powerful local feudal lords.
Of course, De Figo, who had just been sent to Macau from the mother country of Portugal, also liked the life of a decadent and decadent colonial master from the bottom of his heart, so when he heard that he was going to Beijing to work as a slave for that Kangxi Emperor, he was extremely disgusted. .....However, he is not in favor of relying on begging and bribery to stay in Macau. The good thing he has in mind is to join forces with the Dutch, Spanish, and British in the East to control the Qing Dynasty and Protect the interests of Portuguese colonists.
So now he was very anxious when he saw that his British friend was about to be burned to death!
Ten cargo ships!
It must be filled with silk, porcelain, sugar produced in China, and that Teochew rum...it's worth a lot of money!
This would be a fire, and the British East India Company might burn down and go bankrupt.
Without the support of the British East India Company, it would not be easy for the Portuguese to unite with the Netherlands and Spain to launch the Qing Dynasty... Even if they can get the support of the Netherlands and Spain, there is no guarantee that Macau will not be attacked afterwards. These two aspects are divided up!
Thinking of this, De Figo became a little impatient and kept urging his musketeers and slave soldiers to move forward quickly.
We must rush to the scene of the fire before the fire burns the British bankrupt!
Under Figo's urging, more than 330 Portuguese and black slave soldiers ran four to five miles in one breath, and finally arrived at the smoke-filled fire scene.
There was a lot of smoke from the fire, but the temperature was not high, and no flames were seen anywhere. What was even more strange was that there was no chaos at all, and no British people were found busy putting out the fire... What is going on? Where have all the people gone?
Although De Figo was confused, he did not expect that he had walked into a fatal trap, so he led others to rush into the smoke, and while rushing back, he asked in "old English": "Where is the fire? Is anyone injured?"
As soon as he finished speaking, someone responded over there.
"Hey lpa, hey lpa..."
It was a woman calling for help. Her voice was very nice, sweet and greasy. She should be a beautiful woman, but her English pronunciation was a bit inaccurate.
But De Figo is not an English teacher, and he doesn’t care whether a person’s English is good or not, as long as they look good... So he immediately led the people and followed the woman’s cry for help. .
After walking through the fog for a while, he suddenly felt that the smoke was much thinner, and he could see a group of pikemen and musketeers standing in front of him!
These pikemen and musketeers looked unkind. Their lances were flattened forward. There was no match rope on the muskets. The formation of the musketeers was also very dense. They should be fusiliers.
How is this going? Where is the woman?
While De Figo was still looking for the beautiful woman calling for help, an elderly Portuguese soldier next to him suddenly exclaimed.
"Qing soldiers...they are Qing soldiers!"
Qing soldiers?
De Figo became anxious when he heard this—it was Wu Sangui who sent them to capture him and send him to Beijing to serve as a Portuguese bannerman!
"Behind, there are Qing soldiers behind!"
At this time, someone shouted again. De Figo looked back and saw that the brigade was wearing gray-blue Chinese cloth face armor and "gun helmets". The "Qing soldiers" holding long guns, knives and muskets had already arrived. Behind his back!
"Business shop, there are musketeers in the shop!"
Then someone shouted again.
De Figo turned his head and looked again. Sure enough, the second-floor windows of the East India Company's commercial building next to it were pushed open, and heavy muskets protruded from inside, with the black muzzles pointing towards him!
Are you surrounded?
De Figo's heart was almost broken... Although he was not a military expert, at this point, even a fool knew that he had fallen into the "Qing soldiers" trap!
It seems that this Eight Banners Grape Army Bannerman is a sure bet! I wonder if I can still believe in God after becoming a bannerman?
When he was thinking about going to Beijing to work as a slave to Emperor Kangxi for the rest of his life, something even more terrifying happened.
Someone persuaded him to surrender in Portuguese.
"You treacherous Portuguese people who are still in arrears with the rent on Macau Island have heard this. You have been surrounded by my Ming Dynasty Jinyi troops... Put down your weapons and surrender immediately, otherwise you will be killed without mercy!"
