prosperous age

In the following days, as long as Feng Bao and Zhang Juzheng were not around, the young emperor would call Wei Guangde, Xu Wenbi and Liu Shouyou over for a ride on horseback.

This journey also gave the young emperor a clear understanding of the empire he was about to take over.

It was not the prosperity and peace recorded in the memorials he had seen, nor the romance described by literati. It was just a realistic society.

At the same time, he also truly understood what Wei Guangde taught him: to be open-minded and not to be complacent in looking at problems.

This was a question Wei Guang had asked him a long time ago, asking him to think about what kind of life the people of the world live.

Zhu Yijun still clearly remembered that when Wei Guangde told him that he wanted to meet the farmer to chat, he said that he envied the golden hoe he used to plow the land, which must be better than the iron hoes in their hands.

At that time, the little emperor thought that Master Wei was telling him a joke.

The Ming Dynasty continued the ceremony of plowing and harrowing, and the young emperor also participated in it several times.

The dynasty attached great importance to farming and used this ritual to encourage farmers to work hard. Every year before the spring ploughing, the emperor would personally perform the ploughing ceremony in the fields and personally hold the plow to plow the fields.

Of course, the emperor would not really be asked to plow the field, he was just asked to pretend.

The old farmer would naturally complete the rest of the fields, and he only needed to watch from the side.

When the cultivation of the fields was completed, the Minister of the Ministry of Rites praised the ceremony and all officials came to celebrate. He then gave the old farmer some cloth and considered the day's task completed.

Now thinking about it carefully, seeing the old farmer's wrinkled face, the little emperor finally realized a lot.

Yes, in the past he thought that other people's lives were the same as his.

What kind of life does he live?
Reading, studying, handling government affairs, eating, sleeping, the day is over.

And what about the eunuchs and palace maids around him?

Serve the master, then eat and sleep.

So, he thought, farmers should be the same, farming during the day, eating and sleeping.

It seems that everyone's life is very regular. Anyway, he doesn't feel tired. The eunuchs and palace maids just serve people and don't feel tired either. What about the old farmer?
They shouldn’t be tired. If they were tired, wouldn’t they know how to rest?

But these days, as he walked along the way, he could see farmers working hard in the fields, and he finally understood what kind of life he lived and what kind of life those farmers lived.

"The court should set a quota for land tax and limit land rent. Most importantly, if there is a disaster, Your Majesty should issue an order not only to exempt the taxes in the affected areas, but also to exempt the landlords from rent.

As for whether interfering with the landlords’ handling of land rent is in accordance with etiquette and law, the whole world belongs to the king. Your Majesty has the right to collect taxes from all over the world, and naturally has the right to manage land rent. "

Sitting in the sedan chair, the little emperor was still thinking about what Wei Guangde had said to him in the carriage that day.

That makes sense.

"Only by reducing taxes and land rents can the people of the world have money and live a good life.

Just like the imperial decree, anyone who lends money privately or pawns property may not charge more than three percent interest each month, and the interest may not cover the principal.

The imperial court can legislate against interest on borrowed money, so it is also feasible to follow suit and restrict land rents."

The young emperor suddenly knew what the first thing he should do after taking power was to legislate to prohibit high land rents.

Well, at the moment the young emperor did not understand the power of the gentry, but this was what he had seen and learned along the way.

The team continued to move forward, and at noon on the sixth day, a city wall appeared in front of them. It was more than two miles wide and nearly four feet high.

This is the city wall of Tianjin City, which also indicates that their journey has finally come to an end.

Tianjin in ancient times was just a quiet fishing village.

Since the Northern Song Dynasty, the names of Nigu and Xiaoshahe have gradually become famous.

After experiencing vicissitudes from the Qin and Han Dynasties to the Tang and Song Dynasties, Zhigu Village in the Jin Dynasty and Haijin Town in the Yuan Dynasty left a deep historical mark here.

At this time, this place was called Tianjin Weicheng.

The word "Wei" in Tianjin Wei naturally comes from the military system of the Ming Dynasty. Each Wei had about 5,000 soldiers.

Including family members and other personnel, the number of people in the three guards of Tianjin, Left, Center and Right, is as high as 20,000 to 30,000, which is the main population of Tianjin Guard.

Outside the Dingxi Gate, officials from the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Rites who had arrived earlier, as well as the Tianjin Weicheng Bingbeidao and Wei Commander and other civil and military officials gathered here to await the emperor's arrival.

Among the crowd, there was a group of people wearing strange costumes, leading them were two officials in red robes, one civil and one military.

They were, of course, the foreign delegation brought back by Yin Zhengmao and Yu Dayou from their trip to the West.

When the dragon sedan arrived, most of the officials and foreign envoys who came to greet the emperor knelt on the ground in greeting. Even the onlookers around could not help but follow suit and prostrated themselves on the ground, not daring to breathe.

But there are a few people who are much better than others because they don't kneel on both legs, but only on one leg.

Well, this was the result of discussions between the Ministry of Rites and the Cabinet after inquiring Europeans in detail about etiquette, and it was also confirmed by the Spanish, Portuguese and British delegations.

In Europe, there is actually the etiquette of kneeling on the ground, but this is not a secular etiquette, but a religious etiquette, which is an action used in churches or when touching holy objects.

Jesus taught in the Bible: "You shall not fear other gods, nor bow down to them, nor serve them, nor offer sacrifice to them."

That is to say, Catholic Europeans kneel down when blessing or confessing to the statues of Christ or holy relics.

In ancient European kingdoms, kings and ministers all belonged to the nobility, and the king was merely the representative of the nobility, or the most powerful nobility.

Deep down, they actually have an equal relationship, unlike China's "family-based empire" where power is extremely centralized.

When ministers meet the king, they usually adopt the court etiquette of kneeling on one knee and kissing the king's hand.

When ordinary people see the king, they only need to bow their heads and bend over to show respect, and they don't even need to kneel on one leg.

Why kneel on one knee?

This is related to the long Western knight system in the Middle Ages. Westerners had frequent military activities, and it was common for the king to lead the army in person. During the war, it was more convenient for a knight in armor and with a sword to kneel on one knee when facing the king - it not only expressed respect, but also facilitated quick standing up and participating in the battle.

In fact, there is another hidden meaning, which is that the ability to fight back is retained. Once the king breaks his promise, the person performing the ceremony will not be without any ability to fight back.

Under the guidance of the ideology that "all men are equal under God", the West naturally does not see the reason for a monarch to kneel down.

The sedan chair stopped outside the city gate, and the eunuch opened the curtains so that Zhu Yijun in the sedan chair could see the officials and envoys who came to greet him.

What the emperor should say and do on such occasions had all been prepared by the Ministry of Rites long ago, and the little emperor only had to follow them.

After a few words, the young emperor asked Yin Zhengmao to receive the guests who came from afar. The sedan chair started again and entered the Tianjin City.

Zhang Juzheng, Feng Bao, Wei Guangde and others followed the emperor's sedan chair and entered the Acropolis.

First there was some settling-in. The living quarters had already been designated. Wei Guangde was assigned a small courtyard, next to which were the courtyards of Zhang Juzheng and Shen Shixing, while the emperor's temporary palace was on the left.

On the other side of the palace, the eunuchs who came from the inner court were arranged to live.

Although I will only be here for a short time, the preparations have been made half a month ago.

Wei Guangde was resting on a recliner when a long-servant came over and whispered, "Master, Lord Yu is here."

"Let him in."

Wei Guangde nodded, said something, and then stood up.

Seeing Yu Dayou, it was inappropriate for him to lie like this.

"Old Wei." Yu Dayou came in and was about to salute Wei Guangde, but Wei Guangde hurriedly stopped him, "Uncle Yu, please don't embarrass me. If I ask you to salute me, he would kick me a few times when he sees my old man."

After sitting down and exchanging a few pleasantries, they couldn't help but talk about this trip to the West. After all, Wei Guangde was still very curious about the situation in the countries surrounding the Indian Ocean at that time.

“In fact, those kingdoms are nothing. It’s just that after interacting with them, I’ve heard from them repeatedly that Rumi is the big country there, and many of them have to live by the wishes of Rumi.

Later we checked and found out that the Rumi they were talking about should be the place where we became the Qin Dynasty in the past.

It seems that Rumi is still very powerful in the West."

Some things cannot be explained clearly in memorials, and can only be discussed face to face.

Wei Guangde knew that the Kingdom of Rumi was actually the Ottoman Empire. It was indeed very powerful in the West at that time, mainly because of the firearms they used.

Wei Guangde remembered the movie he had seen. He was not sure about the era, but he knew that the Ottomans conquered Constantinople with cannons.

The Rumi gun, an important firearm in the late Ming Dynasty, was actually produced by this country, a firearm similar to the heavy bird gun used by the Ming Dynasty today.

"Have you contacted them?"

Wei Guangde asked curiously.

"When we arrived in Adam and were about to enter the Western Red Sea, the locals stopped us and said that the Ottomans were attacking Arabia there, and asked us not to go because we might have to fight with them."

Yu Dayou said.

“We sent a few boats over there, and sure enough, the area had been blocked, and no boats were allowed to pass through, and they were bombarded from a distance.

Because of the mission of the imperial court, we gave up the plan to go to Arabia."

But soon, Yu Dayou wanted to continue to say to Wei Guangde: "Although we failed to contact Lumi, we bought the firearms used by the Rumi people in Adan, including their small cannons and bird guns. Their large artillery is gone."

"How does it compare to my Ming Dynasty firearms?"

Wei Guangde immediately asked.

"The artillery is average, but the Rumi gun is a bit bigger than the heavy bird gun equipped by my Ming Dynasty, and its range and armor-piercing power are also greater."

When Yu Dayou first got the Rumi firearm, he tested it and found that its power was greater than that of the falconet cannon but slightly weaker than that of the long-barreled cannon.

However, the Rumi firearms they traded with Adan were not necessarily the best in Rumi, so it cannot be assumed that the Ming Dynasty's artillery was better.

"Due to time constraints, we only reached Magadha this time, but we have basically figured out the route the Portuguese took to come to our Ming Dynasty.

Continue walking south along the coastline, go around the continent and head north, and you will reach Europe.

However, the shortest route is actually to enter the western Red Sea, and then walk a few dozen miles overland to reach the Mediterranean Sea, and across the sea is Europe.

This is the route we learned from their merchants.”

While chatting with Yu Dayou about Western experiences, an attendant came to report that the Prime Minister wanted to invite Wei Guangde over.

"Uncle Yu, the Prime Minister has summoned me, so I'll go over first. It might be about the banquet tonight, we'll continue tomorrow."

Wei Guangde said, "By the way, have you discussed the details of the naval review with the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Rites in the past two days?"

"It's been roughly agreed upon, and they couldn't find a ready-made example, so they basically followed my plan."

Yu Dayou said immediately.

"Okay then. I'll wait and see what regulations they come up with."

Wei Guangde said immediately.

The two men left the yard together, and Wei Guangde went directly to the Prime Minister's place next door.

However, unlike Wei Guangde's guess, Zhang Juzheng invited him over not to deliver a memorial or discuss something with an express horse from the capital, but to invite him to walk around Tianjin City.

"I heard this place is called Abacus City. I really want to go out and take a look."

Zhang Juzheng smiled when he saw Wei Guangde.

"Your Majesty's side."

Wei Guangde asked hesitantly.

"Your Majesty is a little tired and is resting now. Eunuch Feng and the others are serving him."

Zhang Juzheng laughed.

"Well, let's go out for a walk. This is my first time in Tianjin City."

Wei Guangde smiled.

He had been to many places in Jizhen, but had never been here. He had been to Ji County, which was more than 30 miles away.

There is an east-west street running through the entire Tianjin City Wall, and many small streets were built along the water in the north and south, which does look a bit like an abacus.

While walking on the street, we took a break at a snack stall and talked about Tianjin Acropolis. The stall owner, perhaps having seen many vendors coming and going, was very talkative and told us many strange stories about the construction of Tianjin Acropolis.

It is said that Abacus City was planned by Liu Bowen. It is said that he dreamed of a god coming down from heaven with a mysterious posture, holding a golden drum in one hand and an abacus in the other, stretching out to the middle and west sides.

Liu Bowen realized that this was a revelation from the gods, so he built an abacus-shaped city with the gods as the center, and built a drum tower in the center of the city.

It is said that when Liu Bowen built the Tianjin City, he buried an iron abacus under the city wall.

"Haha, then Tianjin Acropolis should not be an acropolis, but a big city with prosperous commerce and trade."

Zhang Juzheng said happily after hearing this.

As for the abacus, it should symbolize bringing in wealth and fortune, and having money flowing from all directions.

"Although our Tianjin is a city, it is also a prosperous commercial place. Merchants come and go like crucian carp, and business is very good."

The stall owner greeted him cheerfully.

Zhang Juzheng and Wei Guangde were both very impressive, and they were surrounded by many followers. When thinking about the distinguished guests who came from the capital today, even if the boss was slow-witted, he would guess something.

After leaving the stall, Wei Guangde asked with a smile, "Brother Uncle, has the daily report from the capital arrived today?"

"It's here. I took a quick look and found that most of them were memorials congratulating His Majesty on his wedding, nothing else."

Zhang Juzheng walked forward and pointed at a roadside shop, saying, "The boss said that Tianjin is a prosperous commercial city. It seems to be true."

It was a shop selling Jiangnan silk fabrics. These goods were very valuable in Jiangnan, and the price would be even higher if they were shipped to the north.

There were still quite a few customers in the store at that time, which shows that the people of Tianjin have strong purchasing power.

"Uncle, you don't want to be here."

Wei Guangde said with some hesitation.

"That's exactly what I mean. Tianjin is so close to the capital and has a convenient canal. If we open the sea here and allow Guangzhou to open a port, then from south to north, our Ming Dynasty will have four sea trade ports."

Zhang Juzheng said. (End of this chapter)