Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 1227 Epilogue : The Princess is Pregnant

The main hall of the Luoyang Imperial City, which was rebuilt under the order of Zhao Kuangyin, was called Taiji Hall.

When the Ming Dynasty moved its capital here, the name of Taiji Hall was changed for a time, but was changed back at the end of Zhu Ming's reign.

Because the "Tai Chi Hall" is the ancestor of the main hall in China, it has been called this name in all dynasties since the term "the main hall of the imperial city" came into being.

Establish a neutral pole!

Even in several capital cities of Japan, the main hall is called "Daigiden" - Taichi was changed to Daigi originally to avoid the taboo of the Tang Dynasty, and later became a Japanese tradition.

Today, the main halls of the royal cities of the Southern Yu Kingdom, Dayuan Kingdom, and Tianzhu Kingdom are all called "Daji Hall".

Even the Kingdom of Ceylon in Sri Lanka and the Han Empire in northwest Africa continued to use this naming method.

The Han Dynasty was very strange. A group of rebels who fled to northwest Africa actually voluntarily avoided the word "Tai Chi" of the Ming Dynasty.

Amid the sound of ritual music, Xie Yan followed a group of purple-robed nobles and officials, lined up to walk into the Taiji Hall, bowed and wished Empress Dowager Ye a happy Christmas.

Xie Yan always felt a little awkward with the word Christmas.

If he read more ancient poems and articles, he wouldn't feel awkward anymore. Not only does the word "Christmas" appear frequently in articles, but there are also a lot of "God" in poems throughout the ages.

"No need to be polite, please take a seat!" Empress Dowager Ye was very happy today.

The chairs have already been placed.

Xie Yan sat in the corner of the second row. Although he was a second-rank official, he was treated as a first-rank official, which came into play at this time.

However, many of the ministers in the cabinet and the ministries had promoted their titles, and Deng Gongwu's honorary title had even reached a super-grade level.

It was also Xie Yan's first time to come to the Taiji Hall. After sitting down, he couldn't help but turn his head to look around.

It’s so fucking big!

The length of the hall is probably about two hundred meters?
Looking up again, I estimated that the height of the hall was about twenty meters.

Twenty meters, which is six or seven stories high!

The pillars supporting the hall are so thick that they don't look like natural logs. They look more like they are made of reinforced concrete.

Xie Yan, a civil engineer, found it hard to imagine that a purely wooden building could be built up to twenty meters high in a single floor.

At this moment, the red-robed officials also came in and bowed in unison to wish Empress Dowager Ye a Merry Christmas.

Royal relatives, nobles, civil and military officials came in batches.

Even minor officials of the seventh or eighth rank in Beijing came to join in the fun today, making the spacious Taiji Hall unable to accommodate them all.

Officials of too low a rank could only enter the temple to pay their respects and then stand in the square outside.

Finally, the envoys from the vassal states came in.

Except for Coco Kaba, everyone else spoke Chinese.

Zeng Jiuyou introduced to the ministers: "The land of America is more vast than Australia, with countless states and tribes. This Kokokaba is the envoy from the Mayan country. They know how to farm and weave, build cities, have their own writing, and are proficient in astronomy and mathematics."

A marquis without military power asked: "How far is Maya from Ming?"

Zeng Jiuyou said: "It takes four to five months to reach the west coast of America from Yingzhou. It takes one month to continue sailing south and then land to Maya. If you return, it will take three months to reach Luzon. The whole way there is ocean, and there are few islands to be seen."

"That's too far!"

"It's more dangerous than going to the Arabian countries. After all, there is land all the way west."

"No wonder His Majesty Taizong sent three consecutive sea exploration fleets, and the first two fleets all disappeared."

"..."

Zeng Jiuyou continued, "During this return voyage, we also brought back many remains, all of which were the loyal officials who disappeared during the reign of Emperor Taizong."

Zeng Jiuyou began to tell stories about those loyal and honest people, which moved many officials deeply.

Xue Shan immediately stepped forward to pay his respects: "I am Xue Shan, the descendant of the Ming Dynasty's criminals. I pay my respects to His Majesty the Emperor and Her Majesty the Empress Dowager. I wish the Saint a long life!"

Empress Dowager Ye nodded in approval, and the young emperor said, "There is a reward."

Zeng Jiuyou introduced: "This is the descendant of criminals who migrated to the west coast of central America. His father is Chinese and his mother is Mayan. Hundreds of criminals have worked hard on the seashore and now have formed an alliance with six tribes to fight against a country in the north. There is a gold mine there!"

When the Japanese student who temporarily served as an envoy heard the word "gold mine", he immediately thought: These natives are doomed!

Actually, it’s not over yet.

There was no need to use force against the six tribes that had already formed an alliance with the Han people.

Instead, they could take those friendly tribes with them and go north to capture hostile natives as slaves. They could use the slaves to mine while trading with friendly tribes.

The Chichimecs entrenched in the Mexican region and the Toltecs under their rule can be said to be common enemies of the Han and Mayans.

There are countless slaves to capture, so there is no need to attack friendly forces!

They can even absorb and assimilate the friendly tribes around them, since they have been intermarrying with the Han people for twenty or thirty years anyway.

The Cabinet has agreed to visit America once a year.

When they left, they took goods and immigrants with them. When they returned, they took gold, rubber, and furs with them.

You will probably lose money in the first few years, but it will be pure profit after that.

The Ming Dynasty has no shortage of people now. Its population is so large that it is about to explode. America is also a good place to deal with the population.

Zeng Jiuyou continued, "In addition to Xue Shan's village, there are several Han settlements on the west coast of northern America. One place has discovered gold, and the court has already sent troops to mine it. Another place has discovered silver, and it needs to increase the army and immigrants."

Deng Gongwu stood up and said according to the script he had written in advance: "A lot of gold and silver have been found in America, and there are envoys from America coming to congratulate us. This is the heaven's reward for the saint's visit to the court. I request the establishment of the Governor's Office in America!"

Empress Dowager Ye nodded and said, "This is feasible. Order the cabinet and the ministry to prepare for it."

At this time, the economy of the Ming Dynasty was very strange.

With a trade surplus for more than a hundred years and continuous imports of gold and silver from overseas, under normal circumstances there should be severe inflation.

However, areas where inflation is more serious are limited to coastal provinces and large inland cities.

The territory of the Ming Dynasty was too vast, and the population was too large! Putting money in the bank to earn interest was a common phenomenon in cities.

But in the vast rural areas, especially in the inland areas, people still don’t like to save money in banks. There are even many merchants and gentry who only do two things when they have money: annex land and save money in the cellar.

It is unknown how long this situation can last. Too much surplus is not necessarily a good thing.

In recent years, even the Ming Dynasty's treasure notes have been reducing their circulation because of the severe inflation in Guangzhou.

Now they are going to set up a Governor's Office in America, and in the future large quantities of gold and silver will be imported from America. Who knows if this will lead to the kind of silver inflation that occurred in Europe in history.

Perhaps the Ming Dynasty would change from a copper standard to a silver standard, and finally come up with a gold standard.

Empress Dowager Ye gave some words of encouragement to the ministers, and today's grand court meeting came to an end.

Buckets of food were carried over by eunuchs and guards.

These foods were prepared by the Guanglu Temple and ordered directly from major restaurants in Luoyang. There was not much soup, mainly cakes and snacks, which were given to the ministers to take home and share.

Officials and family members came together to celebrate the Empress Dowager's birthday.

This kind of gift of food usually happened during various festivals. Although Empress Dowager Ye held a grand birthday ceremony, it was not too expensive. It was just treated as an ordinary festival, without a big celebration.

Xie Yan got up in the middle of the night and did not return home until almost noon, carrying a lot of cakes and snacks in his hands.

"Come and eat, this is a reward from the Empress Dowager." Xie Yan felt that the Ming Dynasty royal family was so stingy.

Zhu Tangxi picked up a piece of osmanthus cake and called to a few maids: "Take it and share it."

After taking a bite of the pastry, Zhu Tangxi handed Xie Yan a letter: "It was sent by the old president."

Xie Yan opened the letter while biting a piece of cake, and was immediately surprised: "The rubber is back!"

"What's wrong?" Zhu Tangxi asked.

Xie Yan said, "The old president asked me to go to the palace tomorrow, and four chemists are also going. They said they got rubber back from America, and they need to figure out how to vulcanize it."

Zhu Tangxi said: "My father sent a fleet to America in the past, apparently to look for rubber and gold and silver. But unexpectedly, they brought back tobacco, peppers and other things from America."

"By the way, do you have any tomatoes?" Xie Yan asked.

Zhu Tangxi asked back: "What is a tomato?"

Xie Yan quickly covered up: "I heard from someone that there is a kind of eggplant in America that is very delicious."

Zhu Tangxi smiled and said, "No matter how delicious it is, it's still eggplant. If Liu Lang likes it, I'll have the chef cook with eggplant today."

Xie Yan thought: I have to communicate with the Mayan envoys and the sea exploration officials, but I can't reveal my foresight.

Zhu Tangxi said to a maid, "Go and ask the kitchen to cook something with eggplant. The prince consort wants to eat it tonight... Ugh!"

Before he could finish his words, Zhu Tangxi covered his mouth and forced himself to suppress the urge to vomit.

After a while, she started vomiting again.

Xie Yan finally reacted: "Sister, you are not pregnant?"

Qing Luan was overjoyed when she heard this, and danced with joy: "I'll ask someone to call a gynecologist right away!"

Zhu Tangxi rolled her eyes at Qingluan and said, "You are happier than I am."

"How long has it been since you had your period, sister?" Xie Yan asked.

Zhu Tangxi recalled carefully: "It seems that he never came!"

It seems to be true.

Xie Yan was happy and finally breathed a sigh of relief. He was worried that his time travel would cause him to become infertile.

He started having sex with the princess in early summer, and it was already late autumn. If she didn't get pregnant, Xie Yan would feel that there was something wrong with him.

"Sister, take care of yourself. Don't play shuttlecock or Cuju anymore, and don't go to the chemistry lab again." Xie Yan warned.

Seeing that he looked nervous, Zhu Tangxi immediately smiled happily and said, "The doctor hasn't come yet. Maybe it's just a cold stomach."

In the afternoon, the most famous gynecologist in Luoyang came to the door with a male apprentice and a female nurse.

After feeling the patient's pulse for a while, the doctor said, "Congratulations, Your Highness, and your husband. It is indeed a pregnancy pulse."

"How many months?" Xie Yan asked this question, only then he realized that something seemed wrong.

Can you tell how many months the fetus is by taking its pulse?
The doctor said: "It usually takes two months of pregnancy for the pulse to be felt. It varies from person to person, some may be earlier, some may be later, but this is generally the case."

The doctor prescribed a prescription for nourishing the fetus and also told me many things to pay attention to.

Xie Yan was a wealthy man now, and in great joy he gave a generous reward, even to the male apprentice and the female nurse.

After sending the doctor away, Zhu Tangxi complained, "It's been at least two months, and you were still messing around the day before yesterday!"

We had to go to court last night so we took a break. The fighting was really intense the day before yesterday.

Xie Yan was going to be a father for the first time in his two lives, and he was quite scared and said, "I don't know either."

Zhu Tangxi glanced at Qingluan and said to Xie Yan, "Don't touch me again. Go ask Qingluan to help you sleep."

Although Qingluan was ecstatic, she still said, "Your Highness has just been diagnosed with pregnancy, so let the prince consort accompany you for the next two days."

Xie Yan also said: "I will accompany my sister today."

Zhu Tangxi was even happier after hearing this: "You two have a conscience."

Xie Yan put his ear to the princess's belly: "Let me hear if there is any movement."

Zhu Tangxi laughed to death: "How can it be that fast!"

Xie Yan was restless, always afraid of accidents. When the princess went to the toilet, he wanted to follow her in and help her.

That's what new dads are like.

As soon as a baby is born, people want to check its breathing within a few minutes, for fear that the baby will suddenly die.

(End of this chapter)