prosperous age

In this era, both the East and the West knew that two huge empires existed at the same time.

The Ming Empire and the Ottoman Empire.

If there is a third one, it is the Persian Empire, which has some hostility towards the Ottoman Empire.

As for India, well, the same thing applies: India has never been a unified country, and without the British it would have been impossible to unify the Indian peninsula.

Walking towards the cabinet with Zhang Juzheng, he had to start working today.

While chatting casually with Zhang Juzheng along the way, he was still thinking about the Ottoman Empire.

There was only one official contact between the Ming Dynasty and the Ottoman Empire in history. That was during the Jiajing period, when an Ottoman Empire delegation arrived in the Ming Dynasty and paid tribute to Emperor Jiajing.

Of course, the delegation did not meet Emperor Jiajing.

Emperor Jiajing had little interest in this distant neighbor. It was also from that time that the Ming Dynasty knew that there was a Kingdom of Rumi to the west.

Before, the Ming Dynasty's muskets were mainly based on Portuguese weapons, which had a similar origin to Japan.

However, the Rumi Kingdom delegation brought their Rumi gun, which became an important direction for the improvement of firearms in the late Ming Dynasty. That was to make the gun larger and thicker, and increase the amount of gunpowder to improve the range and armor-piercing power of the gun.

At the same time, due to the special design of the Rumi gun's nose and trigger, and the shortened barrel, the overall weight is reduced.

The Rumi gun was originally placed in a warehouse. It was discovered by Zhao Shizhen around the 15th year of the Wanli reign, and was taken out for imitation. In the early years of the Chongzhen reign, due to Xu Guangqi's strong recommendation, the Ming Dynasty began to equip the Rumi gun on a large scale.

The Rumi gun may be the most important gift brought by the Rumi Kingdom during its visit to the Ming Dynasty.

After that, there was no further contact between the Ming Dynasty and the Rumi Kingdom.

After all, it is too far away, and the Kingdom of Rumi cannot get help from the Ming Dynasty.

In fact, the purpose of the Rumi Kingdom sending an envoy to the Ming Dynasty at that time was also to target the Persian Empire.

The Ottoman Empire reached its peak during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent.

This not only caused panic among European countries, but also made the neighboring Persian Third Empire live in fear all day long.

At this time, the only neighboring country that could compete with them on land was the Third Persian Empire. For this reason, they did not hesitate to form an unprecedented alliance with various major family forces, and at the same time generously lent troops to other neighboring countries as backup.

It can be said that although the Ottoman Empire was powerful at this time, it was surrounded by enemies everywhere.

The idea of ​​making friends with distant countries and attacking nearby ones is not unique to ancient China.

When the Ottoman Empire learned that there was the Ming Dynasty in the East, it wanted to unite with the Ming Dynasty to target the Persian Empire.

However, after this trip, knowing the distance between the two sides, he naturally gave up the idea of ​​joining forces with the Ming Dynasty.

It should be said that, at least on the surface, the relationship between the Ming Dynasty and the Ottoman Empire was still very good and there was no evil.

It’s a pity that Yu Dayou and his team did not go on this visit because the Ottoman Empire was at war.

Wei Guangde could only consider opening up a trade route to Europe through the Ottoman Empire, but this required figuring out the Ottoman Empire's attitude, which could not be done in a short period of time.

Soon, they returned to the cabinet. The first thing Zhang Juzheng did was to arrange for people to contact the six ministries and nine officials and hold a meeting in the cabinet in the afternoon.

After assigning most of today's memorials to Zhang Siwei and Shen Shixing, Zhang Juzheng discussed this matter with Wei Guangde.

"Follow the example of Tang and Song and sign an equal agreement with them. Shandai will not object, right?"

Sure enough, after entering the Prime Minister's duty room, Zhang Juzheng expressed his attitude, "Although I also think there is no precedent in our dynasty, after all, this is a different time.

The three European countries have the ability to sail to the Ming Dynasty, so it is clear that their national strength is not weak."

Zhang Juzheng's attitude towards foreign countries has changed a little now, especially the navy reporting "world" information, which is much more direct than the simple description in the book that Mongolia has been traveling west for a year without seeing the sea.

The world is big, this is Zhang Juzheng’s current view.

It is difficult for the Ming Dynasty to become the center of the world, which is determined by its geographical location.

He had already learned about the technology of the Far West through contact with the barbarians and the gifts sent by the Portuguese.

Wei Guangde realized that Zhang Juzheng had similar thoughts to his, so naturally he would not be a bad guy, and he nodded in agreement decisively.

"In fact, Feng Shuanglin also passed me a note last night, saying that the Ming Dynasty is in the east, and the barbarians are in the west. The two places are thousands of miles apart, and it is really difficult for the dynasty to exert its power there. It is better to maintain the current situation.

We can exchange what we have with others through maritime trade. Since the barbarians have silver, we can just make money from them."

Zhang Juzheng continued, trying to unify the thoughts of the only three regents left by Emperor Longqing.

With the thoughts of these three people, the afternoon discussion was actually to see who thought the same as them and to denounce the opponents together.

“Okay, since no one objects to the conditions proposed by the barbarians, I think this is it.

Earlier, my uncle mentioned sending an embassy to various European countries. Should we bring it up this afternoon? The Ministry of Rites should also start selecting people earlier."

Wei Guangde said, "Don't count on Lord Yin and Lord Yu for this mission. They are both quite old and they definitely can't stand the fatigue of the journey."

"The Ministry of Rites will be participating in the reception of the Yi people's envoys this time. We will select from among them when the time comes."

Zhang Juzheng said, "Then we will dispatch navy ships to provide protection along the way. By the way, didn't you say that you want to leave a few tribute ships in Tianjin Port? In addition to the imperial ships, the rest can be assigned to the Ministry of Rites. In the future, the Ministry of Rites can directly depart from there when they go on diplomatic missions to various countries."

When the Ming Dynasty sent envoys abroad, although it considered itself the Celestial Empire, it would not bully the weak. The officials on the diplomatic missions would learn the customs of the countries they were visiting, firstly because they were afraid of making a fool of themselves, and secondly because they did not want to cause diplomatic disputes.

The officials from the Ministry of Rites who participated in the reception of the foreign envoys this time will undoubtedly be the candidates for the diplomatic mission to Europe.

"Sure. When the time comes, just contact the Ministry of War and have those tribute ships transferred out of the Ministry of War."

Wei Guangde immediately agreed, "In addition, I remember that more than ten years ago, a delegation from the Western Rumi Kingdom came to our Ming Dynasty to pay tribute.

I remember that in the memorial written by Lord Yin this time, the country of Rumi was mentioned many times. It was a big country in the West, and it was sandwiched between the Ming Dynasty and the European countries.

Since Brother Shuanglin mentioned the development of maritime trade, merchants will inevitably have to go through the country of Rumi.

Why not arrange for the delegation to also visit the Kingdom of Rumi as a return gift for their previous tribute? "

"Rumi?"

Zhang Juzheng lowered his head and thought for a while, and finally asked: "When did the Rumi Kingdom come to our Ming Dynasty to pay tribute?"

"Around the 33rd year of the Jiajing reign. I saw it in the documents of the Hanlin Academy before."

Wei Guangde opened his mouth to explain.

At that time, Zhang Juzheng had just returned to his hometown to recuperate, so he naturally didn't know that the court had received such a delegation. "The bird guns used by the government army now are improved from the Rumi guns presented by the Rumi Kingdom, which were found in the inventory of the Ministry of Industry. It can be seen that their firearms technology is not weak. From this, we can see that their technology may have some merits. We might as well go with the European countries."

Wei Guangde suggested.

"That's fine. There's give and take. Our Ming Dynasty is a country of etiquette. It's only right for the delegation to return to Rumi."

Hearing this, Zhang Juzheng immediately said.

In fact, the Ottoman Empire's delegation did visit the Ming Dynasty at that time, but it was not a tribute as the Ming Dynasty understood it.

In fact, European countries have many connections with each other and do not need to sign any agreements. They only need to sign a peace agreement when they are tired of fighting and want to cease fire.

As for the three European countries coming to Ming Dynasty to propose signing an agreement, it was mainly to show the differences between them and other vassal states.

They would not recognize the Ming Dynasty as their suzerain state, otherwise the king would probably kill them when they returned.

After leaving the Prime Minister's duty room, Wei Guangde returned to his duty room which he had been away from for half a day. He wrote a note to Liu Shouyou directly and asked Lu Bu to send someone to deliver it immediately.

The Jinyiwei will definitely accompany the delegation on the visit, and Liu Shouyou must also make preparations and select personnel early.

One part of them was to follow the officials of the Ministry of Rites to receive the foreign envoys and familiarize themselves with their living habits, while the other part was to be arranged to go to the tribute ships in Tianjin Port as soon as possible and go out as sailors to gather information.

The Ming Dynasty wanted to find out all the intelligence in Europe from top to bottom, so it also had to arrange spies who could directly face the general public.

The court meeting in the afternoon went smoothly. In fact, everyone had received gifts from the three countries' delegations and had a better understanding of their demands.

After Zhang Juzheng intentionally or unintentionally expressed the cabinet's attitude and Wei Guangde kept nodding beside him, naturally no one raised any objections.

Minister of Rites Xu Xuemo and Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate Chen Yu also did not object, mainly because what Zhang Juzheng said, although there was no precedent in the Ming Dynasty, there had been some in the Tang and song dynasties.

There is really no need to set up vassal states for countries that are far away.

Especially after the Ming Dynasty lifted the ban on maritime trade, the maritime trade no longer had much significance, and it was estimated that the vassal states would no longer take it seriously in the future.

In fact, most people in the Ming Dynasty court did not attach much importance to this vassal state, as they all knew that tribute was actually for the purpose of maritime trade.

Of course, this time is an exception. The wedding of the Ming Emperor is definitely different from previous ones.

After things were settled here, Zhang Juzheng signaled Wei Guangde to speak.

"Cough cough."

So, Wei Guangde coughed twice and told the plan to organize an embassy to Europe led by the Ministry of Rites.

“In addition to visiting the three European countries, the delegation will also visit other European countries, including Rumi.

More than ten years ago, the Rumi Kingdom sent envoys to pay tribute. Now that many years have passed, we are going to pay a return visit together."

After Wei Guangde finished telling Zhang Juzheng about the plan he had discussed, the others whispered a few words to each other, and soon the Minister of Rites Xu Xuemo nodded in agreement.

In order to prepare for the visit of more than a hundred diplomatic envoys to China, Xu Xuemo really made up his mind about the situation of the vassal states of the Ming Dynasty. He actually knew about the tribute paid by the Kingdom of Rumi. He also knew that the Kingdom of Rumi was very far away, almost in Europe, and was located in the far west.

Although Yin Zhengmao did not invite the Rumi delegation to China this time, he also reported the situation of the Rumi. They were fighting with Persia for control of the Red Sea.

"Since we have such intention, the Ming Dynasty should go and take a look when it sends an envoy to Europe."

After Xu Xuemo finished speaking, Jiang Zhi immediately followed up and said, "That's right. Since the Ming Dynasty is planning to restore contact with Western countries, then the Rumi Kingdom should also be contacted.

I just don't know who the Rumi Kingdom is fighting against, and what attitude the court should take towards this matter?"

Wei Guangde didn't say anything, so Xu Xuemo said, "As for the Persian Empire, there are also envoys from that country and its affiliated kingdoms coming this time.

This is a conflict between vassal states. They did not ask the Ming Dynasty to intervene, so we should just pretend to ignore it."

Since the Ministry of Rites did not advocate mediation, naturally no one else would say anything.

In fact, after Xu Xuemao learned about this matter from Yin Zhengmao, he learned about the details.

Yin Zhengmao was somewhat influenced by his visits to Arab countries, in whose eyes the Ottoman Empire acted extremely domineeringly and continued to expand outward.

After their westward advance failed due to the united resistance of European Christian countries, they chose to head south and east to seize land and resources from the Persian Empire and other kingdoms.

Now, they are trying to completely control the Red Sea and continue to expand to the north of Libya, supporting local pirates to plunder and engage in human trafficking.

At this time in the Middle East, the Ottoman Empire's army had even invaded western Iran and began to occupy the core control areas of the Persian Empire.

However, even though there was a war, the trade links between the parties were not interrupted, and the merchants were still very active, reselling all kinds of goods.

This is also the reason why when Yin Zhengmao and his men arrived in the Arab region, although they advised the Ming navy not to enter the Red Sea to avoid war with the Ottoman Empire, they could buy white slaves in their markets.

It can only be said that the Ottoman Empire during this period was really brave. Not only did it dare to provoke Europe, it also dared to attack the rear.

Even though both Persia and the Ottoman Empire believed in Islam, the Persians were Shiites and the Ottomans were Sunnis, and the religious differences made the two factions hostile to each other.

The Persian Empire instigated the independence of Shia believers in the Ottoman Empire, hoping to weaken the power of the Ottoman Empire, while the Ottoman Empire used this as an excuse to declare war on Persia.

Although the Ming Dynasty delegation had never been to the battlefield and had no contact with the high-ranking officials of the Ottoman Empire, Yu Dayou still learned through other channels that the Ottoman Empire had deployed no less than 100,000 troops against the Persian Empire.

It is conceivable that such a big move is definitely not something that the Ming Dynasty can stop, and it is likely that it will end up in disgrace.

This was actually the Iran-Turkish War, a century-long war that took place between the Ottoman Empire located in the Anatolian Peninsula in western Asia, southeastern Europe and northern Africa, and the Safavid Dynasty of Persia on the Iranian Plateau in western Asia.

The war broke out due to religious issues and caused huge losses to both sides.

The war ended in a situation where both sides suffered heavy losses and no winner was determined.

This war even accelerated the decline of ancient civilization in the West Asia region and created conditions for Western European capitalist powers to control the Middle East.

At this time, the Ottoman Empire had all-round advantages over the Persian Empire.

Xu Xuemo also learned from Yin Zhengmao that the Ottoman Empire was able to mobilize an army of 100,000 to fight, and he had to give up his plan of mediation.

If the Ming Dynasty were to launch a war with 100,000 troops, it would inevitably suffer heavy losses.

From this we can see that the Ottoman Empire's national strength was probably even greater than that of the Ming Dynasty.

Wei Guangde did not mention this mission. He also planned to have the delegation complete a round-the-world voyage across the Indian Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. He could just talk to Yu Dayou about it in private.

He knew that this journey was dangerous, so he naturally chose the newest warships and the most elite sailors. (End of this chapter)