Patent laws are already common in Europe, including the United Kingdom, Germany, France, the Netherlands and other countries, which have similar patent incidents.
For example, in 1474, the Republic of Venice promulgated the world's first patent law, called the "Inventors' Statute". From then on, important industrial inventions such as water lifters, rice mills, drainage machines, canal digging machines, etc. were all granted ten-year charters.
Therefore, when John IV heard it, he understood what the patent meant. At the same time, he also understood that this was an important military weapon and the most valuable invention. It was not unreasonable to have patent protection.
However, this was the first time he had heard of such a patent between countries.
Generally speaking, if one's own patents are stolen by other countries, one can only stare blankly. After all, it is impossible for the laws of one country to apply to other countries.
So, he tentatively asked Johnson: "Should we imitate or not? The Ming Dynasty is so far away, how do they know?"
If you can't give money, who is willing to give money?
Upon hearing this, Johnson quickly said seriously: "Your Highness, you must not do this."
Seeing the disapproval on João IV's face, Johnson said to him seriously: "The Ming Empire is now our suzerainty of Portugal, and we have to listen to the orders of the Ming Empire. If we harm the Ming Empire, Not only will we, Portugal, not be protected by our suzerain country, we may also become enemies of the Ming Empire, which will result in the country being destroyed!"
Seeing that João IV was a little surprised, he added: "There is a country in the east called North Korea. It was originally a vassal state of the Ming Empire. However, it surrendered to the rebellion of the Ming Empire. As a result, the rebellion and North Korea were eliminated. The Ming Empire was destroyed."
"..." When João IV heard this, his face suddenly turned ugly.
After a moment of silence, he said unhappily: "Why is the Ming Empire so domineering? Then what did you do and sign a contract with the Ming Empire?"
"Your Highness, please listen to me." After hearing this, Johnson quickly explained, "There is another country in the east called the Ryukyu Kingdom, which is also a vassal state of the Ming Empire. It has been bullied by the Japanese country, and the Ryukyu king wrote a blood letter We went to the Ming Empire for help. As a result, the Ming Empire immediately sent troops there and defeated the Japanese."
"Ah?" João IV was a little surprised when he heard this.
He had heard of the Japanese country. After all, the Portuguese did business with Japan in the Far East. Later, the Japanese nation did not want to do business with outsiders, so they cut off this trading channel. The matter was a bit big, so he naturally knew about it.
He did not expect that the Ming Empire would do this again, so he immediately nodded and said: "If this is the case, then it is worth recognizing this suzerain country!"
"That's not true!" Johnson laughed when he heard this, and said to John IV: "Your Highness, the Ming Dynasty's patent law was created by their Duke Xingguo, and he attached great importance to this patent law. Besides, This steam engine is an important military weapon and is protected by the patent law. If we privately imitate this steam engine, once the Ming Dynasty finds out, it will definitely offend Duke Xingguo and the Ming Emperor. Therefore, I suggest spending more money. Spend more money. The Ming Empire treats us well and the price is fair!"
Hearing this, King Joao IV suddenly became interested and asked quickly: "Is that Duke Xingguo very powerful? He is so powerful that you cannot offend him?"
Upon hearing this, Johnson nodded immediately, with a serious expression, and said seriously: "Your Highness, you don't know that this Duke Xingguo is the most powerful. You will know after listening to a few examples..."
As he spoke, he roughly talked about Zhang Mingwei's achievements, such as leading troops in southern and northern wars, inventing things as easy as drinking water, etc. João IV was stunned when he heard this.
"Is he really that powerful?" João IV came to his senses and couldn't help but ask, "Has the Ming Empire really changed that much?"
Johnson nodded vigorously and replied affirmatively: "Yes, so I agree with His Excellency the Duke to stay in Ming Dynasty to study. Not to mention studying in full, even if he comes back with a superficial study, we can make Portugal rise in Europe!"
Upon hearing this, King Joao IV immediately became happy. He stopped talking about the steam engine and quickly asked Johnson: "What about the guns and cannons of the Ming Dynasty? What's so special about them? Come and show them to me."
Hearing this, Johnson couldn't help but sigh with emotion: "I didn't expect that Duke Xingguo was so smart, including the muskets and artillery. He just simply modified them, and their power suddenly became so great!"
As he spoke, he took a rifled flintlock gun and pointed it out to Joao IV to see the rifles in the muzzle and the rifles in the artillery. Finally, he said in a very sure tone: "It's just such a modification, although in the It will be more laborious when loading, but the range has been improved a lot, and the accuracy has also been improved a lot. The Ming army relied on this firearm and this steamship to sweep all opponents."
King João IV was excited when he heard this, and immediately ordered: "Okay, okay, then we also want to imitate these firearms, just give us the money."
Having said this, he ordered: "Let's take the boat outside. I want to see for myself the power of this boat and the firearms!"
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In the port of Lisbon, the information cannot be kept secret, so he made this statement.
After Johnson heard this, of course he would not disagree, so the ship on which King Joao IV was aboard left the dock and slowly sailed to the open sea.
When the onlookers on the shore saw this, they didn't know what was going on for a moment. Why did the king leave by boat?
As a result, they began to discuss one after another. At the same time, they were paying attention to the oriental commodities being moved off the port fleet, and they were also discussing.
Everyone knows that Eastern goods, especially those from the Ming Empire, are hot commodities in Europe and represent wealth.
When I came back from the Far East this time, not only were there strange ships, but there were also so many Ming products, and they were being shipped one after another. I felt like I was going to make a fortune.
The British on the dock were royalists, and fighting Cromwell's parliamentary army would also cost a lot of money. So I was very jealous.
After the leaders gathered together and discussed in low voices for a while, they got entangled with a group of them and rushed over to demand the goods. They also plausibly said that Britain had helped Portugal before, but now what happened to getting a little interest back?
The reason why they dared to do this was because they believed that Portugal, a weak country, would need help from other countries if it wanted to gain true independence. Although they were expelled royalists, they believed that Portugal would not dare to offend them.
Of course, the Portuguese soldiers who were transporting the Ming Dynasty’s goods did not want to be snatched away by the British after they finally arrived in Lisbon, so they were unwilling to give them.
As a result, the two sides clashed.
Although this is Portugal, the British are not so arrogant anymore. Perhaps it was precisely because they did not dare to offend the British that the British became more and more unscrupulous.
However, the British obviously knew their limits and did not cause any harm to anyone. They were just trying to grab goods with their fists and kicks.
Except for a few Portuguese who resisted, most of the others just watched and verbally condemned. As for the consequences, they didn't dare. Otherwise, when the king comes back, he may have to apologize to these British people and punish them.
Those Portuguese who resisted were only responsible for their duties and did not dare not resist. Otherwise, all Ming products would be taken away by the British, and they would also be punished by the king.
The British deliberately robbed and moved all the stolen goods to their ships, but the Portuguese did not dare to board their ships, so they could only watch boxes of Ming products being moved away with no choice but to do anything.
Just as the British were loading a shipload of Ming goods, John IV returned.
It can be said that after some experiments in the open sea, he was very happy to see how flexible the steam engine was after it was started. It did not have to worry about the direction at all and could turn as much as he wanted.
Then the artillery was tested. Regardless of the most effective range or accuracy, it was indeed as legendary, as was the rifled flintlock gun. This made Joao IV even more overjoyed. He really was not deceived.
As long as these heavy military weapons are copied in large quantities, why should we be afraid of the Spaniards?
A heavy stone weighing on his heart fell to the ground, which made Joao IV feel less happy. It's definitely worth paying for such a good thing.
However, he never expected that when he happily returned to the port, he would be fed shit by a British guy, which immediately ruined his mood.
A weak country has no diplomacy. This naked reality once again appeared in front of Joao IV.
Listening to the complaints made to him by his port officials, João IV's face became very gloomy. This was an obvious robbery!
But at this time, the British leader named Count Pompei ran over to John IV with a satisfied look on his face and said: "This ship's contents are considered to be supported by Your Highness. After His Royal Highness the King returns to the country, I, the British, will The empire will definitely send troops to help Portugal defeat Spain."
The careless attitude was completely the style of killing first and telling later, which made Joao IV look very ugly.
On the pier, many Portuguese people came to watch the excitement. They witnessed the arrogance of the British and saw their king coming back. They all looked at their king in silence to see what kind of reaction he would have. Should we continue to endure the humiliation and please these British guys?
To be honest, they were aggrieved by it.
In the past, they resisted Spanish rule because they did not want to live in humiliation. For this reason, in the border conflicts with the Spanish after independence, the Portuguese killed entire villages, regardless of women, children, old or young.
Perhaps seeing this, the Spaniards shifted the priority of Portugal to the back, and never launched a large-scale attack, but used troops elsewhere.
John IV glanced at the crowd on the shore and probably understood what his people expected.
