Chapter 330 Entering Malacca
The marriage is entirely decided by the two fathers, and the children have no decision-making power.
There is another reason why Laresh wants to marry into the Mason family. He found out that the second son of this family is in the east. The word East is already familiar in the Roman Empire. The East India Company established by the empire could bring a large amount of spices and luxury goods every year, and it was a monopoly.
Since he is in the East, he is most likely an employee of the East India Company. If a marriage can be achieved, the cotton and silk trade may be expanded.
It was quite remarkable to have guessed to this extent, but it still failed to guess that Mason was not only an employee of the East India Company, but also a royally appointed governor of the East. But these appointments are generally not public.
At this time, Mason had already led the fleet to Aceh. The local rulers had never seen so many ships, so they quickly sent people to invite their leaders. Mason was able to enter the ruler's palace, which was called a palace but was actually just a very large hut.
The local Arabs provided translation services for Mason, and Mason also said bluntly that they asked the ruler to provide supplies for his fleet, and also asked the other party to provide a place for their merchants to establish a business office.
"We come with a mission of peace and friendly trade with other countries."
In other words: We are here to do business with you, and we hope it can be completed peacefully. We don't want to fight with each other. Look at our cannons. Are you afraid?
Well, in fact, we are here just for the luxury goods from the East. As long as we do not expel the imperial merchants, we can coexist peacefully. And we are here just to destroy the pirates, we can talk about the rest later.
When the ruler of Aceh saw that the other party came for trade, he readily agreed to the request. This was for the sake of friendly coexistence between the two countries, not because of the large box of treasures given to him by the other party.
Arriving here, Mason quickly replenished his supply reserves. He encountered a storm along the way from Aden to Ceylon and then to Aceh, but fortunately he was safe.
I heard from the businessmen here that after passing Aceh, you will enter the pirate territory to the south. They rob merchant ships that have completed transactions here. Most merchant ships only need to pay protection fees, but when they encounter merchant ships with particularly large profits, they just take it all in one go.
Moreover, they also saw other ethnic groups besides Arabs and Indians in Aceh. They have regular features and both men and women have long hair. The men's long hair is tied up with ribbons and they wear boxy hats. Their skin is whiter than that of Indians, but a little darker than themselves. According to them, they have been here for decades.
Most of these people are family units, use different writing and believe in different religions from them, their children can go to school to study, and they are likely to come from the eastern country he is looking for.
Due to the language barrier between the two parties, we can only get a rough idea through Arabic translation. It means that a place in the south called Old Port is the hardest hit area for pirates. People there know more and he can go and have a look.
It seems that the language barrier is a big problem. He needs someone who can teach this language as a teacher and train translators for them.
The fleet continued its journey, encountering some small pirates who were sent directly to their ancestors by cannon.
"Sir, we can reach the old port they mentioned in six days."
Mason looked at the sea in front of him, constantly looking for accurate directions on the map and compass. After all, they had never been to these places and could only follow the local guides. As we go deeper, more and more map fog is cleared away.
Starting from Aceh, the water here is narrower than near Aden. It feels like returning to the Red Sea waters of Egypt, but unlike the deserts on both sides of the Red Sea, the two sides here are dominated by rainforests.
In order to better explore here, Mason decided to temporarily find a place to station on the other side. Soon a small port came into view.
It has been less than two years since Malacca was founded. The local rulers spent a lot of manpower and material resources to get the prototype of the town. However, he had never seen so many ships. At first, he thought it was an enemy country coming over, so he took the people to hide inland. So when Mason came ashore, he found that there was no one here, but the traces here indicated that there were still people there. Live here.
"We are in the wrong place?" This was the first thing Mason said. In his opinion, even if the other party recognized him as the enemy, they should actively lead troops to defend. Why did they all run away?
"Sir, they should have gone somewhere else. Should we look for them?"
"Remember, let them know that we are not here to attack them, but to help them."
At this time, the translators hired from Aceh came into play. They went to the rainforest to persuade the residents to come back in a language that the locals could understand. and said that their leader was at the port, and that the ruler could go there in person to talk to him.
At first, the residents were a little afraid of them, but under the attack of the other party's words, some people gradually returned to the port. They sold goods and food to each other and got a lot of money. Soon they spread the news to the rainforest, and more and more people returned to the port. The place quickly became lively again.
Seeing that the other party was not from an enemy country, the local ruler also walked out of the rainforest and came to Mason's boat to talk to him in person.
"Great ruler, I came here under the orders of the Roman Emperor to conduct friendly trade with other countries. I have disturbed your country before, so I hope you don't mind."
The translator told the other party what Mason said, and the other party quickly relaxed.
"Malacca welcomes your country. Your fleet is so large. I believe it can help this place grow."
The two sides conducted a simple diplomatic ceremony, and the following days were filled with various trades. Various commodities such as iron and copperware brought by the fleet from Aden and Rome were exchanged here for pepper and other spices, and Mason also learned about this ruler. The ruler of the Malacca Kingdom he was talking about was Paramesura, the prince of the Srivijaya Kingdom.
He could have lived his life in Sumatra, but the Majapahit Empire in Java all coveted the prosperous island of Sumatra. Decades ago, Majapahit captured the imperial city of Palembang and the capital Jambi, and the Kingdom of Srivivasya was declared destroyed.
In order to revive his hegemony, Parameswara's great-grandfather led his cronies to Temasek, killed the local chief appointed by the Sukhothai Kingdom, and proclaimed himself king. Shortly after Paramesura ascended the throne three years ago, Majapahit invaded. The Singaporean regime lost to the powerful Majapahit Empire, and Parameswara fled to the Malay Peninsula. He first made a short stop in Muar. After discovering that Muar had no natural dangers to defend, he headed north to the Malacca River area. Then the city was built here two years ago.