Aztec Civilization: Destiny to Conquer America!-Chapter 1762 - 1261: You Will Always Be My Commander!_2

"I come to sail? Battle?... De La Cosa, are you crazy? What on earth are you babbling about? We have only one ship, about a dozen people. How could we ever engage in battle with the Portuguese Navy, stronger than the Kingdom Navy, off the Portuguese coast?..."

"Merda! Why are you always thinking about battling the Portuguese? The Queen hasn't declared war against King João... Yes! I do indeed want to 'go to war', but not in some damn sea battle, but rather in the court of Sintra, against those damn court scholars and navigators whose heads are stuck in their arses!..."

"What do you mean I miscalculated? Calling me a delusional fool dreaming of navigation? ... I am the greatest navigator, Columbus! Now, I will personally bring the news of the new trade route, with the natives and goods from the East, to appear before those idiots!..."

"Haha! I want to slap them in the face, make them kneel before me, bow to the new trade route I discovered! I want to proclaim loudly the wealth of the East, making those damn scholars who look down on me, and King João who rejected me, see! He missed out on me, missed out on such a great discovery, missed such an astonishing new route! ... Only the Queen, only the Queen could recognize my talent, appoint me as the Naval Commander! And I will dedicate the world-changing new route only to the great Queen Isabella!..."

"..."

Faced with Columbus's fervent shouting, De La Cosa was silent for a moment, beginning to doubt whether the man had been locked up for too long and gone mad. Or perhaps, he was just feigning madness to survive? De La Cosa carefully held his knife, only one step away from Columbus, cautiously watching his moves. Before taking that last step, he paused and said with a sigh.

"Respected Commander Columbus! Your loyalty and devotion to the Queen truly put me to shame! … As a Castilian, I am not as good as you... But, ah, the struggle and strife between the nobility are not as you imagine. Faced with such astonishing interests, if we fall into the hands of the Portuguese... the new trade route we discovered would likely be seized by the Portuguese and never reach Castile! The Queen might never know that her loyal Commander Columbus discovered the new route to the East in the West and returned alive..."

"Therefore, for the Kingdom's interest, for the secret of the new trade route... I can only... Apologize, Commander..."

"De La Cosa! Are you stupid?! Are you afraid that the Portuguese will capture us and seize the secret of the new trade route?..."

After listening for a long time, Columbus seemed to finally understand De La Cosa's concerns, loudly cutting off his final words. He laughed arrogantly, tilting his head as if looking at an idiot, staring at De La Cosa who was just a step away.

"With the Almighty as my witness! Even if the Portuguese know about the new western route, so what? More than ten years ago, the Queen and King João signed the 'Alcazovash Treaty,' designating everything west of the Atlantic Ocean as the territory of the Kingdom of Castile! This is a sacred treaty witnessed by the Pope!..."

"According to the treaty, the Atlantic Ocean belongs to the Kingdom of Castile, belongs to the Queen! Naturally, the new western route also belongs only to the Queen! Even if the Portuguese know that the West leads to the East, they cannot enter the territory defined by the treaty as the Queen's domain, the eastern territories granted to me by the Queen!..."

"... 'Alcazovash Treaty'?"

De La Cosa was stunned for a moment; he had never considered this. But quickly, he laughed helplessly. This silly citizen of a commercial city-state had no understanding of the ways of noble politics, always treating the contracts between nobility as something supreme and inviolable. Just like the foolish contract he signed with the Queen, trying to monopolize all discoveries and gains, offending everyone, yet still thinking he could safeguard tremendous wealth with a piece of paper?...

"Respectable Commander Columbus, your thoughts are good... but if we fall into the hands of the Portuguese and get detained... I'm afraid the Queen will never know about the existence of the new trade route, let alone any treaty..."

"De La Cosa, what nonsense are you spouting again? Why wouldn't the Queen know about the new trade route?..."

Columbus sneered and curled his lips, his confident demeanor like that of a king on a ship's deck. He scoffed at De La Cosa, as if looking at a dumb donkey—no, a donkey with a snake's head.

"From Lisbon to the Royal Palace in Valladolid, a fast horse takes just over ten days! If you hadn't been sailing in circles at sea earlier and headed straight for Lisbon, informing the foolish Portuguese nobility and royal family that we discovered a new trade route... The Queen would likely have received news of the new route by this weekend, knowing we've returned!..."

"What is there to fear from the Portuguese? King João rejected me for so many years, even if he imprisons me, torments me, begs me, grants me the identity of a naval commander... I will no longer serve him! My loyalty belongs only to the beautiful, pure, great Queen!..."

"What if the Portuguese detain me? As long as the Queen knows I have returned, she will undoubtedly send someone, dispatch the most important royal envoys, to gloriously retrieve me—the Kingdom's Admiral, the discoverer of the new route, the Queen's most loyal navigator—back to Castile!"

"Uh!..."