Vasco Da Gama meets Chinese Treasure Ships in the Indian Ocean

[corourke]

How can we postpone the Chinese Treasure Fleets by ~60 years so that Vasco Da Gama runs into them on his way to India?

I don't want the Chinese to have sustained the expeditions for that time, because they would be deeply entrenched in the Indian Ocean by then and the Portuguese would have no chance at pushing them out.

So how can we have Vasco Da Gama coming around the Cape of Good Hope at the same time as alt-Zheng He passes through the Strait of Malacca? How does their first meeting go? Are the Portuguese still as arrogant as they were OTL?

I'm thinking that if we can spark a war of sorts between the Chinese and the Portuguese, it might provide the necessary impetus for the Chinese to maintain their treasure fleet operations. Also, fairly soon we will have the Ottomans joining in on the Indian Ocean game, maybe they get a better deal out of it with the Portuguese are distracted with the Chinese?

 

[Duncan]

How can we postpone the Chinese Treasure Fleets by ~60 years so that Vasco Da Gama runs into them on his way to India?

The obvious answer is to postpone the expulsion of the Mongols and the founding of the Ming, so alt-Ming is simply running a generation or two behind schedule.

 

[corourke]

Interesting, I hadn't thought of that.

So if we have Vasco da Gama and alt-Ming sending their ships into the Indian Ocean at the same time, or roughly the same time, what happens? Vasco's puny caravels are of course dwarfed by the enormous treasure ships of alt-Zheng He's fleet. Do the Portuguese still attempt to monopolize the trade of India, or do they tread more carefully?

I think, to keep the Chinese interested, we need a war of sorts between the Portuguese and the Chinese. Maybe the Chinese show up five or ten years after the Portuguese, therefore threatening what the Portuguese have accomplished.

Also we need to consider what effects the delayed expulsion of the Mongols has.