.
"How is that possible? Columbus reached the East by sailing west and discovered a new sea route? Utter nonsense!"
"Exactly! The navigation plan he submitted before was riddled with mistakes. He even underestimated the Earth's radius by nearly half... How could he possibly have reached the East? And he talks about discovering India, discovering Cipangu? Sheer hysteria!..."
"The Lord as my witness! He didn't calculate the Earth's radius! He used that outdated map of Toscanelli's. He never even went to school. He isn't the slightest bit a scholar, much less a navigator!..."
"Right, none of you are wrong... But what do you say about that yellow-skinned native?"
"There are yellow-skinned natives on the Canary Islands too! They must have run into some savage little island, seen a few similar natives, thought they had reached the East, and captured a live one to bring back... Look at that native's dress. He's practically a wild man. What part of him resembles the wealthy people of Cipangu from the legends?"
In the court of Pena Palace, dozens of Portuguese navigation scholars and a dozen or so court advisers had gathered in one hall, arguing until their faces were red and gesturing ceaselessly with their hands.
"Mm, the native Columbus brought back does indeed look very much like the natives of Dog Island. He doesn't understand a word anyone says, and no one knows what strange language he's speaking... But according to the testimonies of those Castilian sailors, they sailed west for more than two months, at least four or five thousand kilometers... Then, all of a sudden, on a vast Great River, they saw many small islands. Finally, they saw a large island, encountered Cipangu oared sailing ships armed with cannons and Bronze Weapons, and beat them back... Such consistent testimony doesn't