The ruthless emperor in the late Ming Dynasty forced Chongzhen to abdicate at the beginning

Chapter 252 Hillbilly Into Town

"Oh my God!"

"God, this is a god-like country, this city is too huge..."

The moment Rhodes, the Portuguese envoy, entered Nanjing City, he was stunned. Looking at the wide and straight streets, the beautiful buildings on both sides, and the endless flow of people, he kept exclaiming.

The dozen or so Portuguese soldiers who came with him were equally shocked when they saw the cries of hawking in the streets on both sides, and the Chinese costumes worn by the Han people who entered and exited the restaurants and shops.

Guangzhou City has already made them feel very large and prosperous, but compared with the current city, Guangzhou City is like a castle in the countryside.

Seeing these Xiyi people screaming and screaming, the staff member sent by the governor of Guangzhou was full of contempt.

It’s no wonder that these Portuguese reacted like hillbillies entering the city. The largest city in Europe during this period probably had no more than 10,000 people, and it was also extremely dirty, disorderly, disheveled, and starving beggars. abound.

But today's Nanjing City has a population of more than 150 million, and the environment has been greatly improved after the rectification. With the implementation of the New Deal, beggars are almost no longer seen on the streets. The poorest people have at least a decent set of cotton cloth Clothes, but more of them are dressed in brocade clothes.

In Europe, only the nobles can afford the silk costumes, but in Nanjing, even ordinary maids in charge of wealthy households can afford to wear them, and the plethora of food along the street blinds the eyes of Rhodes and the others, causing old eyes to shed Drooling.

And with the ghostly screaming of these Portuguese, it also attracted the flow of people on both sides of the street, but everyone just pointed curiously and did not watch.

Apparently, over the years, many European missionaries have come to Daming, and the people of Nanjing City are no longer as novel as they used to be to the Xiyi people.

"Mr. Liu, I want to visit the capital of your country first. I wonder if it will cause you trouble?"

A group of people walked through the street for several miles. Not only did they not reach the end, but the surrounding area became more bustling and bustling, and the buildings became more magnificent. Rhode finally couldn't help but said to the aide, if he can't enjoy Visiting this paradise-like city will definitely be the biggest regret in his life.

"There is no rush to visit. There will be plenty of time then. Let's find an inn to stay in first, negotiate with the Ministry of Rites, and see the situation before we talk!"

The aide's surname was Liu, and he said in a gentle tone, obviously he had benefited from Rhodes a lot.

"Okay! I am very confident about whether I can be received by the most honorable queen mother of your country."

Rhodes had no choice but to suppress the restlessness of going to play immediately, and nodded.

Although the staff surnamed Liu despised the directness of the Portuguese, they did not refute it. These guys did bring a lot of rare treasures this time, and they might really be able to please the Queen Mother and be summoned.

If you are coming to pay tribute, you can go directly to the Ministry of Rites, and the Ministry of Rites will also arrange accommodation, but Rhodes is negotiating on behalf of Portugal, not to mention the accommodation, if there is no official document and private letter from the governor of Guangdong, the Ministry of Rites will mostly ignore it.

Because in the eyes of the officials of the Ministry of Rites, there is no country in the world that is qualified to be on an equal footing with Daming.

Either they came to proclaim their vassals and pay tribute, requesting the vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, or they were barbarians who did not know the heights of the sky and the earth, and were arrogant. As for negotiation, it was impossible.

So Liu's aide took Rhodes and others to find an inn to live in, and when he went to the Ministry of Rites to hand over official documents the next day, Rhodes just said that he was negotiating with Daming on behalf of the Kingdom of Portugal, and he was kicked out.

"Mr. Liu, officials in your country are so rude, how can they treat a diplomat like this?"

"Your Excellency Rhodes, I have already warned you not to claim that you are here to negotiate. If you say that you are here to see Xianbao, why do you still want to make decisions without authorization?"

The staff surnamed Liu were also a little annoyed that he was disobedient, which made him feel ashamed and kicked out.

"Okay, Mr. Luo, what should we do next?"

Rhodes also knew that his eyes were darkened.

"It seems that we can only visit the Minister of Rites directly."

The staff member surnamed Liu said helplessly, although there is a private letter from the inspector, it is not difficult to meet the Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites, but which of these high-ranking officials in Nanjing is not a guy who eats people and doesn't spit out bones?

Let them eat one more bite, and he will eat one less bite. After all, the money and treasures brought by these Portuguese are limited, which is why he didn't go directly to the Ministry of Rites to write a letter as soon as he came.

Sure enough, there was a private letter from the governor of Guangdong, and the Minister of Rites reluctantly met the two of them. Rhodes sent a glass mirror and 1 taels of silver, and the Minister of Rites finally agreed to help with the performance.

However, the Minister of Rites did not dare to go over the Ma Ge Lao and report to the Queen Mother, so he reported the matter to Ma Shiying, and Ma Shiying only gave a reply that he would play when he had time, and ignored it.

Staff surnamed Liu was very helpless after receiving the reply from the Minister of Rites. He knew that this would be the result. This time Rhodes only brought two glass mirrors in total. The small one was given to the Minister of Rites, and the large one was prepared to be presented to the Queen Mother. , so he had to ask Rhodes to take out 3 taels of silver as a tribute to Ma Shiying.

Ma Shiying, who received the money, also knew that the Queen Mother cared about the wealthy Portuguese, so she didn't procrastinate any longer, and took the time to report it to Zhang Yan.

I have to say that Rhode's luck is still very good, because Zhu Cihong's reply has arrived about how to deal with the Portuguese in Macau.

So when he learned that the Portuguese sent envoys to Nanjing, Zhang Yan immediately decided to summon them in person, but he didn't care about the so-called treasures.

The Portuguese really spent a lot of money this time. Although there were only two treasures presented to Zhang Yanjin, they were very rare even in Europe.

One is a bottle of rose perfume concocted by the top master in France, and the other is a full-length mirror that was transported to Daming after a lot of effort. It is a full two meters high and one meter wide.

Such a large glass mirror is extremely easy to break at sea, so under normal circumstances, the Xiyi people would not transport such a large mirror to Daming. They usually use small mirrors the size of a palm, and at most they are larger.

And such a large full-length mirror is extremely rare even in Europe, so when the guards carefully carried the mirror to the main hall, the civil and military officials in the hall were all amazed.

Even Zhang Yan stood up, a little moved, and the love in her eyes was self-evident. As for the bottle of rose perfume, because the fragrance was too strong, she was a little displeased.

"Such a large mirror is indeed a rare and rare treasure. Your country has a heart, and the Ai family accepted it."

Zhang Yan quickly returned to her usual demeanor, nodded at Rhodes.

Lang'er said that in the future, he would trade with those Western Yi countries on an equal footing, so he didn't put on the airs of being a kingdom of heaven.

Then all the eunuchs carefully carried the mirror to the harem.

(End of this chapter)