prosperous age

In fact, it is not Wei Guangde’s fault for being ignorant. Although India and China are neighbors, there are not many records about them. The earliest record in history books was in the Eastern Han Dynasty.

It is recorded in "Records of the Grand Historian: Biography of Dayuan" and "Book of Han: Biography of Zhang Qian" that when Zhang Qian was on a diplomatic mission to the Western Regions, he found Shu cloth and Qiong bamboo sticks produced in Shu County in the market of today's Bactria. He asked the locals where these things came from, and the answer he got was that they came from Sindhu.

After Zhang Qian returned, he reported the incident to Emperor Wu of Han, and it was recorded in the "Book of Han".

The Great Xia Kingdom is now the Afghanistan region, and the Shu cloth and Qiong bamboo sticks both came from Bashu.

You have to know that at that time, Bashu was not on the Silk Road, so naturally there was no way to sell such products to the Western Regions.

The Sindhu mentioned by the locals was obviously a kingdom located not far from southwest China.

It is said that Zhang Qian made such an analysis at that time.

"According to my estimated geographical location, Daxia is 12,000 miles away from the Han Dynasty, in the southwest.

Now Sindhu is thousands of miles southeast of Bactria, and there are things from Shu, which means that Sindhu is probably not far from Shu.

Now when we are on a diplomatic mission to Daxia, we have to pass through the area where the Qiang people live. The road is difficult to travel and the Qiang people hate us.

If you go a little further north, you will be captured by the Huns.

Going from Shu, the road should be straight and without any interference."

After hearing this, Emperor Wu of Han was very happy and thought that Zhang Qian's words were very correct.

So Zhang Qian came up with the idea of ​​connecting the southwest, hoping to find a "Taiping Road" through China's southwest to do business and communicate with the Kingdom of Sindhu and the world.

Zhang Qian's connection stopped at the Dian Kingdom in the central and eastern regions of present-day Yunnan. Although it did not achieve the expected results, it made a great contribution to the southwestern development of the Han Empire and basically completed the development of the southwestern region of the Han Empire.

Later, this road was rarely mentioned in Chinese historical records because the Han Empire had already opened the Silk Road through the present-day Hexi Corridor and Xinjiang to Central Asia and beyond, connecting the East and West of the world.

There is not much point in opening up a road from Sindhu to the Western world.

During the Tang Dynasty, the King of Tang sent Wang Xuance as the chief envoy and Jiang Shiren as the deputy envoy, and a group of 30 people to visit India. Historical records at that time recorded that the kings of the four Indian kingdoms sent many envoys with money and goods, preparing to pay tribute to the Tang Dynasty together with Wang Xuance.

"Tang Hui Yao" records that Tianzhu is the same as Shentu in Han Dynasty, or Magadha or Brahman.

The place is located south of the Pamir Mountains, thousands of miles southeast of Yuedi, and covers an area of ​​more than 30,000 miles.

It is divided into five parts: South India, bordering the sea to the south; North India, bordering the snowy mountains to the north, surrounded by mountains and a valley to the south, which is the gateway to the country; East India, bordering the sea to the east, connected to Funan, but separated by the Small Sea; West India, connected to Kapisa and Persia. Central India is located between the four Indias.

Both countries had kings, and both were named Tianzhu.

Emperor Yang of Sui was determined to open up the Western Regions, and he visited many countries except India.

During the Wude period, the country was in great chaos. King Silajittar led his troops so that the elephants did not take off their saddles and the soldiers did not take off their armor. Within six years, the four Indian kings all faced north and paid tribute to him.

From this passage, people can see a lot of information. First of all, India was also in a state of fragmentation at that time, with the east, south, west and center all submitting to the north.

Secondly, the territory of Northern India did not cross the Himalayas. "South of the Pamir Mountains" and "north of the snow-capped mountains, surrounded by mountains" are already very clear geographical concepts.

Historically, the only country that had relations or more connections with the Chinese was Northern India.

Perhaps it was from this time that the Chinese began to think that India was a unified country, governed by Northern India.

Now, after reading Yin Zhengmao's introduction to the Indian Peninsula, Wei Guangde realized that South India was actually a mountainous region with many independent kingdoms.

In fact, the Chinese people in later generations did not know much about India. They only thought that the vast land in India was fertile farmland. However, they did not know that in fact only the Ganges Plain in northern India and the Indus Plain in the northwest were suitable for farming. Most other places were plateaus and mountains.

In later generations, this place also became the main producing area of ​​Indian cotton.

However, from the brief map of India drawn by Yin Zhengmao, the mountain-shaped symbols of South India were obvious, allowing Wei Guangde to understand it at a glance.

This is also related to the fact that the Ming Dynasty had many unified symbols on maps, so that users can see it at a glance.

"Let's go. Let Uncle take a look at this document and let him know the results of the mission."

Wei Guangde stood up, took the document, and led the way back to the Prime Minister's duty room.

Zhang Juzheng had just sat down to handle official business. Generally speaking, after discussing government affairs, he needed some time to calm down before he could continue to handle other official business.

Unexpectedly, just after I adjusted my mentality, Wei Guangde took Zeng Shengwu to the duty room again.

After inviting them to sit down, Wei Guangde handed the document directly to Zhang Juzheng.

"This is the breaking news from Myanmar. Lord Yin Zhengmao has brought envoys from Western countries to Myanmar. According to the time, they should have arrived at Jiugang by now.

In my opinion, after the New Year, all decisions of the court should start to be prepared around your majesty’s wedding.”

"Well, let me see."

Zhang Juzheng took the document and glanced at it quickly. He was not interested in the map at the back, but he was still very happy that so many foreign delegations had come.

All nations came to pay tribute, that was a scene that only existed in the prosperous Tang Dynasty and the early Ming Dynasty. Unexpectedly, it would be recreated in his hands soon.

"The Yangshi plan is good. We will go from Old Port to Luzon, and then to Guangzhou. We will go north with the Portuguese in Haojing."

Zhang Juzheng sighed.

In fact, Yin Zhengmao made such a plan and sent an urgent document to the capital from Pegu, which was somewhat because he was somewhat worried about the slow efficiency of the Ming court.

Even though we have used the performance evaluation method, so what? After three months of work, the efficiency is still low, which is only much better than ignoring it in the past.

We can only do our best to ensure that government affairs have a beginning and an end, and do not disappear without a trace halfway through.

"According to this plan, it will take them half a year to reach the capital, and the Ministry of Rites should be fully prepared.

However, should we send instructions to the provincial governments along the coast and ask them to do a good job in receiving the envoys from the vassal states?

Now, our Ming Dynasty is about to open the Songjiangfu seaport. It can be said that the trend of Ming Dynasty opening up the sea is irreversible. It is a good opportunity for these delegations to see the products of various places. Who knows, they may make a lot of purchases before leaving.

As long as this deal goes well, maybe merchant ships from Western countries will come here more often in the future, and our Ming merchant ships will also receive preferential treatment when traveling west."

Wei Guangde suggested.

Maritime trade is very profitable, and Wei Guangde is certainly not willing to be just a manufacturer and earn the price difference in the production field.

In fact, this era is truly an era of trade.

Many people simply think that Ming Dynasty products are luxury goods in the West, so the prices are very high, several times higher, so the profits are huge. This is why maritime merchants are willing to take huge risks and sail across the ocean to the Ming Dynasty.

In fact, this is only half the guess. Another very important reason is the huge gap in the prices of gold and silver between the East and the West.

The price of gold in the East is too cheap compared to that in the West. This is why foreign merchants who come to China will try their best to sell off their silver and exchange it for gold even if they cannot buy the goods they want.

But once you exchange the gold and silver items, you can double your profit.

Of course, they can only do this business in Japan now. In fact, Wei Guangde's fleet is also bringing back gold from Japan, and then making part of it into exquisite jewelry and selling it back to Japan.

Perhaps, it was precisely because a large amount of European silver flowed into the East, leaving only gold in the West, that people decisively transitioned from the silver standard to the gold standard and completely abandoned silver.

Believe it or not, despite the huge indemnities in the late Qing Dynasty, the world's major silver reserves are still in China and Mexico.

Mexico is a silver producing country, so it naturally has large silver reserves.

China, on the other hand, mainly acquired huge amounts of overseas silver through commercial means.

This situation continued until the introduction of the US Silver Act, which brought about the complete collapse of China's silver standard system.

"Sure. Tell Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong to prepare for the reception."

Zhang Juzheng nodded. As a country of etiquette, China would naturally give a warm welcome to the diplomatic envoys and make them feel at home.

"Has the Ministry of Rites been informed?" Zhang Juzheng looked at Zeng Shengwu at this time and asked with concern.

Just now, the court’s financial meeting asked the Ministry of Revenue to guarantee the needs of the Ministry of Rites, and now the Ministry of Rites has its big job.

"I'll have someone copy the documents and submit them when I get back."

Zeng Shengwu replied hurriedly.

"Well, Shandai, you take the lead on this matter. I think we should call the Ministry of Rites, the Ministry of Works, and the Ministry of Revenue together to arrange accommodation for the delegation as soon as possible.

Oh, and call the Guanglu Temple as well, they will also need to contribute to this matter."

Zhang Juzheng said.

"Okay, I'll ask them to come to my place this afternoon to discuss this matter. It's time to start preparing."

Wei Guangde said with a faint smile.

Although preparations for the emperor's wedding had been mentioned many times before, most of them were just on paper and verbal. If it was really to be done, the renovation work started near the imperial city. Wei Guangde was inspired by the fact that the Forbidden City had not been maintained for a long time and looked a bit dilapidated.

From the middle and late period of the Longqing reign, the imperial court gave almost no funds for the repair of the inner court, and the funds that were provided were special funds for some palaces.

Calculating the time, the overall renovation has not been carried out for more than ten years.

"If the Ministry of Works is short-handed, let them transfer the craftsmen from Changping back. Everything should be focused on repairing the imperial city."

Zhang Juzheng reminded again.

"That's how it should be."

Wei Guangde nodded. He actually thought so too.

All in all, after the winter in Beijing is over, there will only be two or three months to complete the relevant work, so the construction period is very tight.

"We will take this document to the inner court and report it. The three ministries will go back and make a copy and send it to the Ministry of Rites."

Zhang Juzheng said.

So Wei Guangde followed Zhang Juzheng to Ciqing Palace, and Zeng Shengwu went directly back to the Ministry of War.

After leaving the cabinet, Wei Guangde did not forget to instruct people to contact the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of Works, the Guanglu Temple and other government offices, and invite the officials in charge of seals of each ministry to come to the cabinet in the afternoon for a talk.

On the way to the inner palace, Zhang Juzheng asked Wei Guangde in a low voice: "Do you think we should organize a grand review for the Beijing Army this year?"

"Grand Review?"

Wei Guangde was stunned and glanced at Zhang Juzheng.

"To show the military prowess of our Ming Dynasty, in the Yongle era, if there was no court meeting of all nations, a grand review would be held outside the capital."

Zhang Juzheng said.

The Grand Review, which is a large-scale military parade, is held when foreign delegations visit, allowing them to witness the military power of the Ming Dynasty.

Wei Guangde thought for a moment and nodded, "I think it's feasible. Although it has been ten years since the Longqing Grand Review, the grand occasion is still vivid in my mind.

If my uncle agrees, let the Beijing camp prepare according to the original grand review and transfer elite troops from Jizhen, Xuanda and Baoding to participate.

In addition, the East China Sea Fleet has completed several months of training. They will go to Songjiang Prefecture and will escort the envoys to Tianjin together with the westbound fleet. "

"That's great, both the navy and the land forces can be demonstrated.

By the way, the East China Sea Navy training was completed so quickly?"

Zhang Juzheng nodded first, then immediately asked.

"The East China Sea Navy was originally composed of sailors from various garrisons, but they just changed to a new ship and needed to get more familiar with it.

They were already quite skilled at sailing from Jiangnan back to Shandong, so they only had to organize a few patrols to become experts.

The predecessor of the East China Sea Navy was the Denglai Navy. At that time, their dilapidated ships were used to conduct regular patrols and drills around the Shandong waters. The soldiers were good at operating ships, but they did not have the financial resources of the south and could not purchase new ships.

This time, the South China Sea Navy transferred a large number of semi-new ships, and the navy's combat effectiveness increased several times. In addition, the Ministry of Industry's shipyard rushed to build more than 20 new gunboats.

The naval officers and soldiers may still lack the skills to operate artillery, but they have absolutely no problem operating the ship.

The escort of the delegation to the north also demonstrated their ship handling skills, and no one would be ignorant of the danger and intercept them halfway.

Besides, even if there are really some blind people, the fleet still has warships of the South China Sea Navy, and they are experts in artillery.

"I saw a picture of Denglai Water City in the Ministry of War before. It is very magnificent. When the time comes, tell Yin Zhengmao that the fleet can rest for a day in Denglai Water City."

Wei Guangde suddenly suggested.

Regardless of the combat effectiveness of the Ming Dynasty navy, the foundation left behind was very solid, especially the Denglai Water City that protected the capital's coastal defense, which was definitely the best coastal defense base of this era.

Wei Guangde also intended to use this city to see what attitude Westerners had towards this type of naval base.

There are also two powerful navies in the south and the north, which are enough to deter the foreigners who come to China to do business.

"That's right, the investment in the navy is too huge."

While Zhang Juzheng was excited, he suddenly thought of the warships of the navy and couldn't help but speak in a low voice.

"After your majesty's wedding, we have to find a place to make up for it."

Wei Guangde whispered.

"Well, we'll talk about this after your majesty's wedding."

Zhang Juzheng nodded slightly.

The matter was of great importance, so Zhang Juzheng did not talk much with Wei Guangde because they had already appeared outside the Ciqing Palace.

After reporting, he entered the Ciqing Palace, where the two Empress Dowagers and the young emperor were all there.

Zhu Yijun had just finished today's classes. He came back from Wenhua Palace and paid a visit to his mother at Ciqing Palace. Then he went back to the palace to do his homework.

Zhang Juzheng and Wei Guangde came in and handed over the documents of the Ministry of War after the ceremony.

“So many national delegations”

Empress Dowager Chen and Empress Dowager Li looked at the list of the diplomatic envoys and were delighted, but they also thought of other places.

"Please rest assured, Queen Mother. The Ministry of Rites will make careful arrangements and there will be no mistakes."

Wei Guangde hurriedly stood up and answered.

"With you and the Prime Minister in the previous dynasty, I am relieved. However, only Korea, Ryukyu and other countries came to pay tribute before. You should ask the Ministry of Rites to check the old Yongle system. You must not lose face for the royal family."

Empress Dowager Chen just said.

"According to the order."

Wei Guangde stepped back and looked at Zhang Juzheng for a moment. He finally understood why the two empresses dowagers were happy at first but suddenly became indifferent.

It turned out that they were worried about the rewards. After all, according to the old system, rewards were generally doubled.

Not only was the Ming Dynasty's finances tight, but the inner court's finances were also tight. (End of this chapter)