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

Chapter 253
"Respected Queen Mother, only noble, elegant and beautiful ladies like you in this world are qualified to own this peerless treasure. It is my Portuguese honor that you can accept it!"

Rhode performed an aristocratic etiquette towards the aloof Zhang Yan, and couldn't help but admire sincerely.

He had also seen many queens and princesses in Europe, but compared to this Empress Dowager of Ming Dynasty, those queens and princesses were simply servants.

And this magnificent palace and this resplendent and magnificent hall also made him feel a little dazed, as if he was in a fairyland.

It's no wonder that Rhodes lost his composure. Today's Europe has gone through the Renaissance, coupled with great voyages, and it has indeed surpassed Daming in terms of thought and academics, and some technologies are also ahead of Daming.

But after all, the time is too short, other aspects are far from what Daming, a country with 5000 years of civilization, can compare to. In terms of etiquette and clothing, it is by no means comparable to Europeans.

The so-called aristocratic etiquette in Europe, in the eyes of the scholar-bureaucrats of the Ming Dynasty, was simply a representative word for barbarism.

No wonder Zuo Liangyu saw the red-haired ghost staring at the queen mother endlessly, and saying such words, immediately flew into a rage and jumped out.

"Bold!"

Although the other civil servants and military generals did not reprimand, they also had angry looks on their faces, thinking that this guy was too rude and was blaspheming the Queen Mother.

Rhodes also realized that this is Daming, not Europe, and this empress dowager is not the concubines and princesses of Europe.

His words and deeds just now may have offended this noble queen mother. Seeing everyone staring at him with anger, he was so frightened that he shivered all over.

"Dear Queen, please forgive me for my rudeness just now..."

"It doesn't matter, foreign envoys don't know about my etiquette, and those who don't know will not be guilty."

Zhang Yan also couldn't stand this kind of naked praise, she frowned slightly, but she didn't attack, but waved her hand to make Zuo Liangyu back down.

However, he didn't plan to negotiate with the Portuguese envoy in person. After speaking, he was brought up and prepared to ask the Minister of Rites to negotiate with him.

Rhodes was also very depressed, and he didn't expect that he would be kicked out of the hall after just a compliment and two more glances.

It's really incomprehensible. Isn't beautiful things just to be appreciated?

After Rhodes was taken down, Zhang Yan conveyed Zhu Cihong's will.

That is, in the future, Ming Dynasty will completely let go of the airs of the kingdom of heaven, not only to trade with Western Yi countries on an equal footing, but also to actively carry out exchanges in various aspects such as culture and business with them.

The reason for making such a decision is that Zhu Cihong also considered that the Chinese civilization has been dominant for too long.

It has been so long that it has been completely blindly arrogant and supercilious, and it is precisely because of this that for more than 2000 years, civilization has not made leapfrog progress, but has become more and more self-styled.

Although there are a very small number of sober people who are open-minded and broad-minded, in this general environment, they will eventually be wiped out by the public and will not play much role.

That's why Zhu Cihong wanted to trade on an equal footing with Western countries and strengthen exchanges, so that these scholar-bureaucrats in the Ming Dynasty could wake up and let them know that there is a Western civilization besides the Chinese civilization.

With the exchanges between the East and the West, and with reference, those insightful people will naturally realize the shortcomings and shortcomings of Chinese civilization, and then they will completely put down their airs and think about improving these problems.

This is much stronger than his forced ideological reform.

As for the Portuguese in Macau, civilians and businessmen can still live and do business in Macau, but they must accept the management of Ming Dynasty.

However, considering the differences in cultural customs, they are allowed to manage themselves in the form of non-governmental associations without violating the laws of Ming Dynasty, but the taxes that should be paid cannot be less.

As for the army and officials, a consular district will be set aside in Nanjing for long-term stationing, and the governor will also be changed to the Portuguese ambassador to Ming Dynasty.

Of course, considering the harsh living environment at sea today, it is unrealistic not to allow merchant ships from various countries to carry weapons into the port. After all, the merchant ships of the three countries are now armed merchant ships.

In order to better develop trade, Zhu Cihong stipulated that Portuguese merchant ships can temporarily carry weapons and enter Daming's treaty ports, but they must report in advance when entering the port.

If the warships and soldiers wanted to enter the port, they had to lower the national flag. Except for the soldiers of the embassy, ​​other soldiers who wanted to disembark and enter Daming were not allowed to wear military uniforms or carry weapons.

Zhu Cihong had no choice but to do this. The Netherlands and Spain both had colonies and ports in Southeast Asia, but Portugal did not. If Portuguese warships were not allowed to enter the port, they might not even have a place to stay.

What's more, the warships of the Three Kingdoms in this era are actually not much different from the armed merchant ships. If the Portuguese warships are not allowed to enter the port with the merchant ships for escort, they will definitely be robbed by the Dutch and Spaniards.

Before the Daming Navy failed, Zhu Cihong could only relax the policy as much as possible in order to maintain the stability of trade.

After all, Ming was definitely the one who benefited from the trade between the two sides. The Three Kingdoms were in the Americas, and the silver dug by the slaves in Africa was probably transported directly to the Pacific Ocean to Nanyang, and finally used to buy porcelain, silk, tea and other materials with Daming.

It can be said that in the next one to two hundred years, at least half of the huge wealth gained by European voyages will eventually flow to China.

Because Europeans are already inseparable from Chinese silk and porcelain, but their products have never been able to enter the Chinese market on a large scale.

If it weren't for the gentry and landlords in China who like to bury their silver in the ground, it is estimated that inflation would have already occurred and the economy would have collapsed.

Given the current situation of the Daming navy and maritime merchants, it is not realistic to go to Europe to actively trade across the ocean, so for a long time, they can only rely on the three countries to actively trade.

Of course, the initiative of this kind of maritime trade must be held in one's own hands, so Zhu Cihong plans to proceed in four steps.

The first step is to trade on an equal footing with the three countries, allowing the merchant ships and warships of the three countries to enter China's trading ports, and only need to take back Dongfan Island to teach the Dutch a lesson.

The second step is to seize Nanyang after Ming's navy, shipbuilding industry, and navigation industry have some scale and experience, and drive the forces of the three countries out of Nanyang. The two sides trade in the Indian Ocean, and the merchant ships of both sides go separately half.

The third step is to seize the entire Indian Ocean. The two sides conduct trade in Egypt and build a canal to connect the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean.

The fourth step is to completely control the dominance of global trade.

These four steps, Zhu Cihong's plan, must be completed in his own lifetime. Each step will match the national power and sea power of Ming Dynasty, and will not affect the exchanges and trade between the East and the West.

Simple and crude expansion and blind colonization will not have much effect on the overall development of Chinese civilization and the progress of civilization.

Because the Chinese civilization is a whole, while the West is a mess, the two civilizations cannot be compared in the same breath.

(End of this chapter)