I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 475: Leon, have a safe journey!
Zhu Langqi glanced at Leon and continued, "Your Highness is on a private visit, please don't make it public."

Leon nodded repeatedly: “Understand, understand, I won’t say a word, I won’t say a word.”

After a while, ten officers from the Fengchensi in plain clothes came in, walked around the room twice, checked it carefully, and then guarded the doors and windows.

Then Zhu Yijun, dressed in a blue yak robe and a felt hat, walked in, escorted by several plainclothes military academy guards.

"Mr. Leon!"

"Your Highness, it is a great honor to meet you."

Leon bowed quickly.

"You are leaving today, I am here to see you off." Zhu Yijun said calmly, "Over the years, there have been many kinds of foreign envoys to the Ming Dynasty, some real and some fake, but you are the only Western Barbarian envoys from Duizhou.

I heard you are also a writer?"

Those damn Ming Dynasty spies are so omnipresent. What secrets of ours have we not yet discovered by them?
Leon cursed secretly in his heart.

“Yes, I just have time to record some of my experiences serving the Portuguese royal family around the world. These stories happened in distant places, and they are very interesting. There are also people with different customs. Many people in Portugal and Spain are very interested.

I have published two travel books before, but unfortunately, I have not written a masterpiece like Homer's epic poems and Boccaccio's Decameron, nor a popular novel like Rabelais' Pantagruel.

Zhu Yijun encouraged him, saying, "When you return, write a book about what you saw and heard in the Ming Dynasty. I believe that you Portuguese and Spanish people will be very interested in it, and it will definitely surpass the Travels of Marco Polo written by the Italian."

Leon nodded gratefully. "Your Highness, I will. I will write this novel carefully and surpass that damn Venetian."

Then Leon asked hesitantly and hopefully: "Your Highness, with your noble status, you don't have to come to see me off, but you still came. Did something turn around?"

Zhu Yijun laughed, "There is no turning point! My expulsion order has been issued to the South China Sea Navy. Now Yu Dayou should lead the Suzaku Navy and the South China Sea Navy's left camp to besiege Malacca."

Leon was a little disappointed, he believed it was true.

The Crown Prince of the Ming Dynasty always does what he says.

Like all great figures in history, his words are as light as air, but will soon come down like a mountain.

Zhu Yijun looked at Leon and continued, "In fact, you don't have to come with this delegation. I will send someone to Malacca to read the edict of expulsion.

If you don't listen, then we'll just fight. No matter how many times we go around, the result is the same. Whether I directly announce the decree or call you to have a face-to-face meeting, you will definitely not be willing to accept it, and you will still have to fight in the end.

But I still summoned you to the north, Leon, do you know why?"

Leon replied dejectedly: "Let us see the military and economic strength of Ming Dynasty with our own eyes, and understand that if we give you time, you can conquer the world.

But Your Highness, we saw it with our own eyes and experienced it with our own bodies, and then we slowly began to believe it. Those people far away in Goa and Lisbon would not believe it. "

Zhu Yijun laughed: "Leon, our Ming Dynasty is the Celestial Empire. The civilization that has lasted for thousands of years has made us a country of etiquette. 'Don't say I didn't warn you.'

Before we go to war, we will repeatedly warn our opponents. I also invite you to go north to show you our true strength, which is also a warning.

Don't worry, time is on our side. When my prince's galleon bombards Goa and Lisbon, they will believe our well-intentioned warnings. "

Leon said admiringly: "Your Highness, I admire your confidence. This is the confidence of a great and powerful man. Unfortunately, I don't know when I will see you next time. Maybe by then I will be a surrendered defeated general."

Zhu Yijun smiled and said, "You don't understand our Ming Dynasty, but I know you very well. Leon, you should pay more attention to yourselves when you go back.

With such a greedy and tyrannical tiger as Spain as your neighbor, you still have the heart to sail thousands of miles and run around. You are really bold. I believe you are a true patriot.

If one day Portugal is bullied by Spain and you patriots want to raise your flags and avenge your country, remember that you have an acquaintance in the east.

For us in the Ming Dynasty, Portugal is too weak, and Spain is more powerful if we fight it."

Leon smiled helplessly, then said solemnly: "Your Highness, I will remember your words, and I will also regard your kindness as light in my heart."

He is well aware of the mess going on in the country.

The royal family was weak, and some nobles were colluding with Spain because of the benefits they received. Merchants were only concerned with pursuing profits, constantly tempting and instigating the royal family to send fleets and armies to conquer and establish colonies.

Although Portugal has the most colonies in the world and controls the two most important and profitable shipping routes in the world, its domestic strength has actually been hollowed out.

Leon knew that what the Crown Prince of the Ming Dynasty warned about was very likely to happen.

Alas, we know nothing about this vast empire in the East, but he knows our details very well.

After chatting for half an hour, Zhu Yijun said to Leon: "Mr. Leon, all good things must come to an end. I wish you a safe journey. I hope we will meet again one day."

Leon saluted Zhu Yijun respectfully, "Your Highness, I wish you good health!"

After leaving Sifang Pavilion, Zhu Yijun glanced at Zhu Langqi who had accompanied him and asked with a smile, "How is it, King Han? Are you doing well in the Honglu Temple?"

Zhu Langqi chuckled and said, "Your Highness, what I do is quite interesting. When I have nothing to do, I chat with these foreign vassals and collect their customs and stories.

After I have sorted it out, I am also going to write a book called "Records of Strange Customs in Overseas Foreign Countries."

Zhu Langqi is a weirdo. He has a genius skill, his language talent is maxed out.

After listening to various dialects twice and whispering a few words to someone, he can speak them fluently. You don't even know how he learned it.

He was summoned to Beijing and chatted with some people from Ningbo and Taizhou. He surprisingly quickly learned the two dialects and could chat with Shen Wanxiang and Zhang Yuanxun in dialect.

After coming into contact with the Japanese and Portuguese, he quickly learned these two "foreign languages". Of course, it was limited to oral communication and he did not know written language at all.

With this special skill and having passed the examination, Zhu Yijun made him an example and appointed him as the Right Junior Secretary of the Honglu Temple.

"Okay, I'll wait for your masterpiece to be published."

Not long after Zhu Yijun and his party left Sifang Pavilion, two people emerged from a nearby remote alley, stared at the departing carriage for a while, and then turned and left.

On the street, a peddler selling candied haws with a load on his shoulder was still shouting with all his might.

The clerk in the clothing shop next door was still greeting everyone who passed by warmly, and he wanted to pull them into the shop to have a look.

Eight patrolmen dressed in black clothes and hats walked in unison on the street, and the leading sergeant occasionally greeted acquaintances on the street. Two days later, Zhu Yijun, dressed in casual clothes again, quietly came to the Nanyuan school performance field.

This place is very open and is the venue for the school's performance in the Beijing Camp. It is surrounded by a circle of wooden fences, two-thirds of which is land and one-third is water.

Sometimes the Marine battalion practiced landing charges here.

Today, on the open space of the school performance field, a tall wooden frame was built, which was twenty meters high. On the frame hung a large cloth bag, which was constantly expanding and slowly rising into the air, like a huge bubble. It slowly emerged from the middle of the wooden frame, and then became bigger and bigger, covering the sky and the sun.

Li Xuan, Chen Chengde, Chen Chengzong and others were stunned.

"This thing is so big, how does it float in the air?"

Yes, it’s such a big thing and looks very heavy, so how could it float?
"Zhu Laoliu, tell me, what's going on?"

Li Xuan turned and asked Zhu Youfu.

He was the Prince of Yongding of the Huguang Rong clan, and also a strange person.

He did not like reading scriptures, his favorite reading was "Dream Pool Essays". He once did all the "experiments" described in "Dream Pool Essays" and spent all his family fortune.

Among the various vassal clans and royal families, there are many useless people and quite a few weird ones.

These middle and high-level royal family members came from wealthy families, did not have to worry about food and clothing, and had no pressure from imperial examinations, so they could devote themselves wholeheartedly to their interests and hobbies.

However, there are mostly literary figures who are good at writing poetry, and "real amateurs" who write lyrics, compose music, and improve singing styles.

There are very few "partial talents" like Zhu Langqi and Zhu Youfu, and they are rare.

After Zhu Youfu passed the examination, Zhu Yijun also used him as an example and appointed him as the junior supervisor of the Imperial Observatory.

"When air is heated, it becomes lighter, and lighter things float, so it drives the balloon up."

Zhu Youfu's answer made Li Xuan and the other two confused.

"Zhu Laoliu, how high can this ball fly?"

"In the first experiment, we rose more than 100 meters, and in the second experiment, we rose more than 400 meters."

"Over 400 meters, how high is that?"

Zhu Youfu thought about it and made a simple analogy: "It's probably as high as twenty towers of Chaoyang Gate."

Li Xuan and the other two couldn't help but gasp.

"Oh my goodness! When I stood on the Chaoyang Gate Tower and looked down, I felt dizzy and my heart was pounding. It's twenty feet high, and my heart must have jumped out of my chest."

Zhu Yijun asked Zhu Youfu: "What is the biggest difficulty in making this balloon?"

"To answer your question, it's the material used to make balloons. It has to be airtight and strong. First, it was made of leather, but leather has to be pieced together, and there are too many gaps, so it's hard to make it airtight.

Later, a silk cloth was used to make one for the first launch, but it still leaked and could not rise above 100 meters.

Later we thought of a way to soak the silk cloth in some secret glue, soak it and dry it in the shade, and then test it again. It was really airtight. The second time we accidentally ascended more than 400 meters.

Because we were not well prepared, we were suspended in the air for more than two hours and almost got into trouble. We learned from our mistakes, made many improvements, and took off again, 300 meters.

So this time I would like to invite Your Highness to watch. "

It is the same in ancient and modern times, in China and abroad. If something is not mature and has not been thoroughly tested, leaders will not be invited to observe and commend it.

The ball on the wooden shelf grew bigger and bigger, and rose higher and higher. Everyone then discovered that there was a shelf at the entrance below the ball, which was spewing fire upwards.

There was a basket hanging more than one meter below the shelf, with two people standing on it. One was reaching out to adjust the flamethrower on the wooden shelf, while the other was carefully adjusting the rope.

As everyone watched, the hot air balloon rose higher and higher, slowly shrinking from a huge object.

First it blocked out the sky, then it was as big as a roof, then it was as big as a pavilion, soon it was as big as a water tank, and finally it stopped at the size of a washbasin.

"Your Highness, what is the use of this thing?"

Li Xuan asked curiously.

"Standing high and seeing far is very useful in war. On the grasslands of the south and north deserts, if you rise three or four hundred meters in the air and use a telescope, you can see hundreds of miles away. Hundreds of miles in radius are all within his sight.

When attacking a city, if there is such a balloon rising up, the entire city defense will be under observation, and signals can be sent to direct artillery fire to destroy the defenders' manpower."

Chen Chengcheng asked curiously, "How do you send messages down from such a high altitude? Do you shout? Even if you shout at the top of your lungs, there's no guarantee that anyone will hear you."

Before Zhu Yijun opened his mouth to explain, the light on the balloon flashed several times downwards. It looked like it was flashing randomly, but also seemed to have a regular pattern.

After a while, someone came out from the crowd and walked towards this side.

Li Xuan glanced at him unintentionally, and was very curious: "Song Daguan, when did you come to Nanyuan?"

This person was none other than Song Gongliang, the commander-in-chief of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. He smiled and nodded to Li Xuan, then walked straight to Zhu Yijun's ear and whispered a few words.

Zhu Yijun nodded, turned to Li Xuan and the other two and said, "It's a rare opportunity for us to come to Nanyuan. Have you prepared your picnic?"

"It's ready. The delicacies and wines ordered by Chunxilou and Zuifenglou are all in the carriage over there."

"Okay, let's have an open-air picnic today and treat everyone to a meal to celebrate the great craftsmen from the Imperial Astronomical Observatory who developed this hot air balloon!"

"it is good!"

Li Xuan and the other two applauded enthusiastically.

Let’s not talk about celebrating or not, they only care about having new things to play with.

Open-air picnic, dinner party, so much fun!
(End of this chapter)