Chapter 194: Envoys from various countries: We want magic! Wang Yongji: It’s best not to let Yan Shifan hear this!
Poetry Cloud:
Wine is a poison that penetrates the intestines, and sex is a steel knife that scrapes bones.
Money is like a tiger coming down the mountain, and anger is the root of trouble.
It seems that these four words are harmful, so it is better to write them off.
There is no etiquette without wine, and the road is colorless and sparsely populated.
Without money, it is difficult to survive in the world; without courage, you will be bullied.
It seems that these four words are useful. I advise you to tailor your clothes to your body shape.
According to the "Diary of the Immortal Emperor", on the night of the fifth day of the first lunar month in the fiftieth year of the Jiajing reign, the emperor lived in the Qianqing Palace, and the sound of swallows chirping and orioles singing lasted until the dawn.
"Everyone, be careful," Shi San personally urged several palace maids who were practicing immortal martial arts to carefully send the sleeping concubines into sealed carriages, "Lula, you are responsible for sending the concubines back to their respective palaces, and then instruct the Sixth Bureau to serve the ladies well. Don't neglect them..."
"Yes!" A palace maid, about fifteen or sixteen years old, with a cold face, sharp eyebrows and heroic eyes, and a unique temperament, said respectfully.
"Well, go ahead." Shi San waved his hand.
Among the four eunuchs of Silijian, Lv Fang is the chief eunuch holding the seal, with power over all eunuchs and palace maids, but he no longer takes charge of affairs.
Huang Jinze, the Grand Eunuch, devoted himself to serving the Imperial Master Qingfeng in Xuanpu Palace and seldom interfered in the affairs of the palace.
The Grand Commander Chen Hong was previously very keen on the power in the palace, but as he embarked on the path of cultivating immortals and founded the Western Factory, he now concentrates on serving the Imperial Master Chan Shuang and does not take care of much of the affairs.
Only the chief eunuch Shi San was the most steady and down-to-earth. While the other three had their own responsibilities and calculations, he was the only one who quietly managed the palace in perfect order.
After watching the palace maids and eunuchs send away the concubines who had served him in the bedroom one by one, Shi San looked back at the Qianqing Palace, then turned around and left silently. Although his master did not explicitly say whether they would continue tonight, there were some things he needed to arrange.
In the huge bathtub, Jiajing lay quietly with his eyes closed, while Lu Fang pressed his shoulders and head from behind.
"Beauty is indeed powerful," Lv Fang looked at his master who was resting with his eyes closed, and exclaimed in his heart, "The master is a cultivator in the late stage of foundation building, and he has four concubines and twelve concubines, a total of sixteen people..."
In other words, Jiajing didn't know what Lu Fang was thinking at the moment, otherwise he would have slapped this old man in the face.
It was just sixteen women in one night. With his current level of cultivation and his special dual cultivation method, having sex with three thousand women would not be a problem.
The reason he stopped was because his results in one night allowed him to pick three seeds from sixteen concubines.
Of course, among the sixteen concubines, the innate talents of the other people are either duplicated or useless.
Only three people had good destiny. The destiny of one of the concubines was actually a blue phoenix bird, which was considered a divine beast even in the world of cultivating immortals.
The Blue Luan divine bird's innate talent is the ability to eat all the fire in the world.
The second concubine’s original destiny is a Buddha. Her original gift is to be illuminated by the Buddha’s light and to save all living beings.
The third concubine's natal star is her innate ability, which can be cultivated by borrowing the power of the star.
In the sea of consciousness, Jiajing's consciousness stood next to his natal Ming.
Spreading out his palms, there were three transparent seeds, only the size of fingernails and of irregular shapes. As the "dual cultivation" method was put into practice, they emitted waves of mysterious fluctuations and approached the natal Ming.
"Buzz!" Feeling the approach of the three seeds, Benming Daming emitted waves, golden ripples appeared, and then approached the mysterious waves emitted by the three seeds, attracting each other.
"Buzz, buzz, buzz!"
The moment the three seeds entered Benming Daming, they were like three stones falling into a calm lake, instantly creating layers of golden ripples, and then completely disappeared and everything became calm.
However, Jiajing could clearly feel that three seeds had been injected into his natal name, just waiting to be nurtured and matured.
"By then, my innate talent will be the ability to eat fire and make all the fires in the world submit..." Although Jiajing could control everything in the world during the Ming Dynasty.
But the innate ability of this blue phoenix bird is aimed at flames outside the Ming Dynasty, and even in the world of immortal cultivation. As long as it is a flame, it can be swallowed and used for its own benefit.
According to the "General Notes on Cultivation", there are various mysterious and special innate divine fires in the world of immortal cultivation. These divine fires are a fatal temptation to all cultivators who specialize in elixirs and weapons.
Some sacred fires even have their own independent consciousness and are extremely powerful.
It was once recorded that there was an innate divine fire with a cultivation level comparable to that of the Mahayana period, which directly burned a star. This was enough to show how powerful this fire was. Although Jiajing had never come into contact with these flames, he had also longed for the exotic treasures of these immortal worlds.
Although the Great Wilderness is a new land today, the treasures that were originally hidden in the Great Wilderness would have long been plundered by the major sects and academies in the Central Plains that participated in the war of development.
To put it bluntly, apart from the high-grade spiritual veins that have not been extensively excavated, the Great Wilderness is just a piece of "barren" land.
The world of immortal cultivation that Jiajing came into contact with was, to put it bluntly, "the countryside." The only difference was that this countryside had great potential.
“As for the Buddha’s talent…” The reason why Jiajing chose him was mainly because of his uniqueness. Perhaps one day in the future, there will be new Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism under the command of the Great Ming Dynasty.
Is this the real Buddha in the world?
Thinking of this, Jiajing chuckled and shook his head, "As for the star talent, the Ming Dynasty can also borrow the power of the stars in the future..."
Overall, this night's work was well worth it, and the three innate talent seeds obtained were all very good.
"I am actually looking forward to what meaningful innate talents other concubines can provide me..." Thinking of this, Jiajing's mind moved and his spiritual consciousness withdrew from the sea of consciousness.
"Master," seeing Jiajing wake up from his nap, Lu Fang also spoke up at the right time and asked, "Are you going to stay in the Qianqing Palace tonight?"
"Well," Jiajing hesitated for a moment after hearing Lv Fang's question. Then, with the sound of water splashing, he stood up, took the cotton Taoist robe handed to him by Lv Fang and put it on, saying, "I have nothing to do, so let them continue to serve me in bed."
Now that factions in the court are busy with party struggles, the Ming Dynasty is still slowly carrying out reforms under the efforts of Yan Shifan. There is indeed nothing that requires him to make a decision personally.
As for cultivation, he had just broken through to the late stage of foundation building not long ago.
If you want to make a breakthrough to the Golden Core Stage, it will be impossible at least a hundred or eighty years. Even in Daming County, which has entered the Immortal Dynasty, it is still not of much help, as not everyone is practicing immortal cultivation.
It is not so easy to transform the size of a life object like Daming. More importantly, the special "dual cultivation" method is also compatible with other exercises.
When it is used for "dual cultivation", it can also speed up the practice of the "Emperor Scripture", so having concubines sleep with you can also be considered as cultivation.
"Yes, I'll do it right away." Lu Fang waved her hand, put away the tub, bowed and turned to leave, but she was full of emotion in her heart, "The master hasn't been exposed to beauty for a long time, so it's understandable that he is tempted by the taste for beauty..."
While Jiajing was busy picking the seeds of his destiny's talents from those young concubines in the harem, the court party struggle finally began. Of course, it was also in this year that a war that shocked the world began to brew at the final stage.
It was like a premonition of some great change, or perhaps it was a complete carnival before some great change.
In this year, all Catholic countries in Europe, under the joint will of Pope Pius V, King Philip of Spain and the Republic of Venice, formed an unprecedentedly powerful "Holy Alliance" and decided to declare war on the Ottoman Empire.
For a time, the whole of Europe was in turmoil.
As early as September of the 49th year of the Jiajing reign, all the powerful countries in the world had sent envoy fleets to the Ming Dynasty.
And now it is the end of March of the 50th year of Jiajing. In nearly six months, the empires of Portugal, Spain, the Ottoman Empire, England, France and others have also arrived at the coast of Ming Dynasty, Ningbo Prefecture where Hai Rui is stationed, and Yinxian Port!
In the fiftieth year of Jiajing’s reign, at the end of March, it was cloudy.
In the study of the Ningbo Prefecture's government office, Wang Yongji was discussing with Hai Rui about these envoys from powerful countries around the world.
"Brother Gangfeng, these envoys from the most powerful empires in the world are coming together to visit our Great Ming. What do you think?" Wang Yongji frowned and looked at Hai Rui. "In the previous battle to pacify Yingzhou Prefecture, many of the artillery technologies of our Great Ming army were advanced artillery technologies that combined the technologies of these European powers..."
(Note: Regarding 'Europe', see Chapter 160, the writer said.)
Hai Rui stood up and took down a bundle of scrolls from the bookshelf behind him. It looked old and had been frequently read. He opened it and found that it contained the notes he had personally taken over the years. He spoke slowly,
"Since I became the prefect of Ningbo Prefecture, I have discussed with the current Governor-General of Zhejiang, Tang Shunzhi, to ask coastal merchants to pay more attention to gathering intelligence from other countries when trading with overseas countries."
"I learned from Portuguese merchants that there are many empires outside the sea whose national power is not inferior to that of the Ming Dynasty. In addition to the Kingdom of Portugal, there is also the Ottoman Empire..."
Originally, the Governor-General of Zhejiang was Hu Zongxian. After the battle to pacify Yingzhou Prefecture, the New Party of the Cabinet was established. Hu Zongxian, Wang Chonggu and Yu Dayou were promoted to the cabinet one after another, and Tang Shunzhi became the Governor-General of Zhejiang.
After hearing Hai Rui's words, Wang Yongji stood up from his chair, walked to Hai Rui's side, and leaned over to look at him.
"The Ottoman Empire, the Kingdom of Spain, the Kingdom of Portugal, the Kingdom of France..." Wang Yongji murmured in a low voice as he watched Hai Rui gather intelligence about overseas powers from various sources.
After a long while, Wang Yongji took a deep breath and stood up. He looked at Hai Rui and said, "Brother Gangfeng, these overseas empires are not the barbarians we used to think of. They have been civilized!"
"The Renaissance that swept across Europe, just from what I heard from others, was enough to give me a full picture of it. Its brilliance was even better than the era of a hundred schools of thought during the Spring and Autumn Period. Its impact on the people was even more obvious!"
(Note: Regarding the 'Renaissance', see Chapter 160, the writer said.)
Wang Yongji took a deep breath and said solemnly, "We need to take this visit from overseas countries seriously!"
"As the saying goes, we should take the essence and discard the dross. Our Ming Dynasty is now in a critical period of reform to break the old dynasty system. It may be beneficial to know more about overseas countries."
After hearing what his friend Wang Yongji said, Hai Rui nodded, but then he seemed to have thought of something. He frowned slightly and said slowly, "Ming Shou, have you noticed that the previous 'Three Religions Dispute' in the Ming Dynasty, and the reforms of 'Innovation' proposed by the young cabinet minister Yan Shifan in the court in recent years, and the liberation of thought, are very similar to this 'Renaissance'..."
"But the difference is that there seems to be great restraint behind this." Hai Rui paused and shook his head slightly, "It's as if there is a big hand that can control the range!"
"After all, many contents of this European 'Renaissance' are contrary to the national policy of our Ming Dynasty, and even offend the imperial power."
"But before this, this ideological dispute was only controlled within the three religions of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. This makes me concerned..."
"Brother Gangfeng, what do you mean, Lord Yan?" After hearing Hai Rui's words, Wang Yongji thought about it, then suddenly shook his head and smiled, saying, "Brother Gangfeng, I think you've overthought it. This is purely an accidental result."
Wang Yongji chuckled and said, "The essence of the dispute between the three religions is that the young cabinet minister Yan Shifan wanted to make a big deal out of it and take revenge on the Kong family. Later, somehow, he destroyed the Confucian school."
At this point, Wang Yongji paused for a moment and said, "However, if you ask me, if there is someone who is deliberately controlling this, only Lord Yan has such a plan and hand."
"Nowadays, the court disputes in our Ming Dynasty have a bottom line that everyone agrees on," Wang Yongji said, raising a finger and saying, "That is, the court must be the one to benefit in the end!"
"That is to say, any party struggle must be helpful to the development of the Ming Dynasty... Confucianism is not conducive to the implementation of the imperial reform, so it is not enough to defeat the Kong family, the target must be Confucianism."
"As for seeing the Renaissance in advance and noticing it, and then letting Yan Shifan use it as inspiration to promote reforms..."
"Even, using the conflict between the three religions as a test, this..." Wang Yongji smiled and shook his head, saying: "Master Yan is indeed amazing, but does he really have such a vision?"
"Yan Shifan proposed the national policy of 'initiating innovation' and took revenge on the Kong family in the 47th year of Jiajing..." As he spoke, Wang Yongji shook his head and chuckled, the meaning was self-evident.
However, what Wang Yongji did not know was that it was indeed Yan Song who used the European "Renaissance" as an inspiration to advise Yan Shifan, and it was also his work to control the ideological disputes within the scope of the three religions.
"Don't think about it anymore," Wang Yongji said with a smile, "Now these envoys have been arranged to rest in the post house. You should discuss it with Governor Tang as soon as possible and submit a memorial to the court."
"Let the Cabinet and the Ministry of Rites come up with a charter as soon as possible."
"Well, there's no point in thinking about this now..." Hai Rui lowered his head and chuckled, then raised his hand to roll up the scroll and tie it up again.
Just as Hai Rui put the scroll on the bookshelf and sat down to write a memorial, there was a knock on the door by a servant.
"Bang, bang, bang..." Then the servant said, "Master, there's a fight going on in the posthouse!"
After hearing the servant's report, Hai Rui and Wang Yongji were stunned. After looking at each other, they immediately stood up.
"What's going on?" Wang Yongji was the first to speak. "Why would the envoys from various countries start fighting for no reason?"
The servant took a look at Hai Rui and knew the relationship between him and his master. He did not hesitate and said, "I don't know the details. I heard from the servants that it was because of the Holy Alliance..."
Holy Alliance? Hai Rui and Wang Yongji looked at each other, both confused. At this time, the servant continued, "It was the Spanish envoy, Fernando, and the Portuguese envoy named Pedro, who jointly beat up the Ottoman envoy..."
"What's your name? Muhammad or Mumud." As the servant spoke, his face seemed to be wearing a mask of pain. He was very conflicted and stuttered as he read out the envoy's name.
The envoys of the Kingdom of Spain and the Kingdom of Portugal beat up the envoys of the Ottoman Empire? What hatred or grudge did they have? They actually ignored the decency and beat them up directly in the post station of the Ming Dynasty?
"What about the envoys from other countries? Are they involved?" Hai Rui immediately asked.
"The envoys from the Kingdom of England, the Kingdom of France, and the Holy Roman Empire did not take any action. They just watched the show from the sidelines..." said the servant.
"Brother Gangfeng, let's go and take a look." Wang Yongji knew that he would not be able to understand any useful substantive content here.
"Okay!" Hai Rui left without delay.
"Someone, prepare the sedan chair!" the servant immediately shouted outside the door.
When Hai Rui and Wang Yongji arrived at Yinxian Posthouse, they heard a high-pitched roar. The official in charge of translation from the Maritime Customs who accompanied them explained:
"Governor, this man is the envoy of the Ottoman Empire, Muhammad Osman Pasha. And what he just shouted was, Ottoman holy warriors, fearless of all challenges, Ottoman blades, cut off all obstacles; the road to glory, we will conquer together!"
"As for the following sentences, they are repeated: Mohammed! Mohammed! Rome! Rome!"
Hearing this, Hai Rui and Wang Yongji nodded thoughtfully, and then walked towards the crowded courtyard of the post station.
"The prefect is here, everyone make way!" The captain of police shouted as he saw Hai Rui, and the others immediately made way.
However, just as Hai Rui and the other two were about to walk towards the Ottoman envoy who was standing there with a bruised face and nose, tearing his clothes, and looking very manic, they were immediately surrounded by several envoys.
"Are you an official from the Ming Dynasty?" The speaker was a tall man with an arrogant look. As he spoke, a professional translator from the post station immediately began to translate.
"That's right." Hai Rui frowned slightly at the man's arrogant attitude, but still cupped his hands, "What's your name, Excellency?"
After hearing the translator's question, the man looked at Hai Rui with an even more arrogant expression and said, "I am the envoy of the great Kingdom of Spain, Fernando Hernandez de Granada."
"I heard that a 'miracle' has descended upon your Ming Dynasty? There are also rumors that you have 'divine magic'?"
"We, the Kingdom of Spain, want your divine arts!"
After hearing the translation, Hai Rui's face turned cold, and Wang Yongji's face was also cold, so he told them what he had said.
If I tell Yan Shifan, the consequences will be serious!
"..."
Note 1: The Portuguese fleet set out from Lisbon at full speed, sailing smoothly on the sea, rounding the Cape of Good Hope, entering the Indian Ocean, and then entering the South China Sea through the Strait of Malacca. The author estimates that it takes about 2-3 months from Lisbon to the Cape of Good Hope; about 2-3 months from the Cape of Good Hope to the Indonesian archipelago; and about 1-2 months from Indonesia to the coast of Daming. Total time: about 6-8 months.
Note 2: The Spanish fleet departed from Seville, crossed the Atlantic Ocean to America, then crossed the Pacific Ocean to the Philippines, and finally entered the coast of Ming Dynasty. The author estimates that it took about 2-3 months from Seville to America; about 3-4 months from America to the Philippines across the Pacific Ocean; and about 1-2 months from the Philippines to the coast of China. Total time: about 6-9 months.
注3：英国从伦敦出发，绕过好望角，进入印度洋，然后通过马六甲海峡进入南海。从伦敦到好望角大约需要2-3个月；从好望角到印度尼西亚大约需要2-3个月；然后从印度尼西亚到大明沿海大约需要1-2个月。总时间：大约6-8个月。
The above times are all approximate, taking the average of 6 months. If there are any errors in the data, don’t worry too much.
(End of this chapter)
