I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 820 I really decided to stay!
August 16, the fifth year of the Wanli reign.

Beijing South Railway Station outside Guang'anmen.

Today, the security here is very tight. The Yongwei Battalion, Yulin Army and other Beijing Camp Guards have surrounded this place from inside to outside, with more than six layers of defense. There are fully armed officers and soldiers standing everywhere.

There were two rows of guarding officers and soldiers on the second platform, with hundreds of people standing in the middle, including passengers on the adjacent trains and relatives and friends who came to see them off.

Marcelo and Leon had some sadness in their eyes and mouths, but a faint smile appeared on their faces.

"Sophnia, have you really decided to stay?"

Marcelo asked Sofonisba Anguissola, nicknamed Sophonia, a member of the Portuguese delegation who came to Ming Dynasty disguised as a man.

She was wearing a Luanzhou blue women's work uniform and had short hair cut to her ears, looking very energetic and capable.

"I've made the decision. Even if I regret it, it's my own decision. I deserve it." Sovnia replied with a smile, "I gave myself a Chinese name, Sovna. Now you should call me Shumenso, or Shuso."

As she spoke, she pulled Shu Youliang over, took his arm, and asked, shaking him, "Is that right, husband?"

Shu Youliang smiled awkwardly.

You are a concubine and don't even have the qualifications to take your husband's surname. To be polite, we would call you Suo Niangzi or Suo Yi Niang.

Don’t think that Shumen Suo is so easy to call. Before the Guo Dynasty, people just called it Suo.

This name only became popular after the Guo Dynasty.

The name of Shumen Suo should mean Mrs. Su, the mistress of the Shu family. It is completely different from your European countries where women change their surnames to their husband's after they marry.

Of course, this kind of treatment is only available to the wife. You, a concubine, do not have this kind of treatment.

But there's no way. You have a backer, so I have no choice but to watch as the moral code of conduct is disrupted.

Sovna continued.

"The current Ming Dynasty is the best era, and it is also the era when human civilization is just rising. As a painter, especially a female painter, I should participate in it.

It’s a very vibrant place, and you can create whatever you want without worrying about being caught by the Inquisition and burned at the stake as a witch.”

Marcelo looked at her with a complicated expression. "That's good. We are also happy to see that you are so happy in Ming Country. It is also a good thing that you can continue your brilliant artistic life here and introduce our European culture and art to the people of Ming Country."

Leon said, "Jose and Manuel said that in the past two years, more and more scholars, artists, and astronomers have come to the Ming Dynasty from Italy, Spain, France, and the Netherlands via the Ottoman Empire and Africa.

Perhaps in a few hundred years, the civilizations of the European countries will be preserved in Ming Dynasty and avoid extinction."

Marcelo and Sofna looked at Leon together, "Leon, why are you so pessimistic?"

Leon looked up at the sky, his eyes full of confusion and melancholy. "After four or five months in Ming, I deeply felt that the rise of Ming is a great blessing for mankind, but it is our misfortune."

Sovna smiled and replied, "Baron Leon, you are too pessimistic. Decayed things will always be swept away by the tide of the times. The continuous development of human destiny lies in repeated innovation."

Marcelo forced a smile and said, "Sophnia, it seems that your Mingxue is getting better and better."

Sofna said proudly: "Of course. Now I am a delegate to the first Ming Dynasty Literary and Art Workers Congress, and one of the few female delegates."

Marcelo and Leon looked at each other in surprise.

I didn't expect that Sophonia was doing so well in the Ming Dynasty.

Marcelo asked again: "Do you still often go to Xiyuan to teach the Queen of Ming and the princes and princesses to paint?"

"I go there every three days. The Empress is really an artistic genius. She taught herself some oil painting at first, and then studied oil painting with me for two months. Her paintings have both spirit and form, and excellent meaning and charm. She has the tendency to create a new school of painting.

However, the Empress's Chinese painting skills are already extraordinary."

Listening to Sovna's excited chatter, Marcelo and Leon's faces were filled with joy, sadness and reluctance.

"The actresses in Xiyuan Liyuan are all great performing artists, with amazing voices, lyrics, and figures.
The Empress asked me, several wives of princes and nobles, to lead the actresses, painters, and musicians to set up a Ming Women Artists Association before the first literary and art congress in mid-August.
This is a good thing, but my husband said that the protruding rafters will rot first, and any tree that stands out in the forest will be destroyed by the wind, so he told me not to rush to the limelight. "

Sofna was blabbering at Shu Youliang, but he didn't get angry. He took out a pack of Luanhe cigarettes, took out two, and handed them to Marcelo and Leon, "Smoke, smoke."

"What's there to be afraid of?"

Amid the smoke from the three men, Sovna grabbed a cigarette and a match and lit it for herself.

How can a female artist, walking on the prostate of the times, not smoke!
Sofna continued while blowing smoke rings, "Shanghai established the first women workers' association in the Ming Dynasty a long time ago, and it became a branch of the Labor Union.

There are also the Nurses Association, the Female Medical Officers Association, and the Female Teachers Association, all of which are following that bamboo shoot."

Shu Youliang used his right index and middle fingers to remove the cigarette from his lips, exhaled a puff of smoke, and replied, "They are popping up like bamboo shoots after rain."

"Yes, that's what it means!"

Shu Youliang waited until Sofna had finished speaking and interrupted her, "Madam Sofna, we are here to see off Marquis Marcelo and Baron Leon. Why are you talking about your own affairs?"

Sovna's face, which was beaming with joy just now, suddenly changed. Her eyes turned slightly red and a bit of sadness appeared on her face. She forced a smile to stop herself from crying.

"I just want to let Marquis Marcelo and Baron Leon know that I will be fine in Ming Dynasty and they don't need to worry about me."

Marcelo and Leon said with red eyes: "We believe you will live well in the country tomorrow. You will sing like a lark.

We don't have to worry about you having no friends or relatives. You have your husband, Uncle Shu, your fellow countrymen, José and Manuel, and you will have a brilliant career and leave your name in history.

We have nothing to worry about.”

Beep, beep, a whistle sounded, and four officers walked through the crowd.

"Everyone else, please get in the car!"

After talking back and forth several times, Marcelo, Leon, Consedo and others waved goodbye to Sovna and Shu Youliang and walked towards the car door.

Shu Youliang quickly handed Leon a pack of things: "Here are ten packs of Luanhe cigarettes for you to smoke on the way. When you get to the south, Luanhe cigarettes will be expensive.

It’s a long journey, and this thing is the best way to kill time.”

"Thank you, Master Shu."

"Don't thank me. I have a dime to buy it for you. Madam Suo bought it with her writing fee."

Marcelo's voice was a little choked, "Please take good care of Sophonia." "Don't worry, she is my wife now. It is natural for a man to take care of his wife."

Marcelo and Leon got into the car reluctantly, walked through the corridor and sat back in their own box.

Putting the cigarettes on the dining table, both of them felt melancholy.

"My Lord Marquis, I never thought that I would be so reluctant to leave Ming Country this time."

"Leon, this is because we see so much hope in this magical land. Hope is such a precious thing."

"I heard that the Persian deputy envoy, Kaleli, stayed in Ming as the Persian envoy to Ming and was unwilling to return to his country."

"Leon, I asked you to stay as the Portuguese ambassador to Ming, why didn't you stay?"

"The treaty we have negotiated with the Ming Kingdom must be submitted to His Majesty the King for approval. This treaty may not be satisfactory. I cannot let you, the Marquis, bear the punishment from His Majesty and the condemnation from the nobles alone."

Marcelo sighed softly, "If His Majesty the King and the nobles do not accept this treaty, it will be useless for you to go back.

I am confident that I can convince our king, but those nobles have their own ideas, and some are Spanish lackeys. They will not agree with us and will definitely do their best to undermine our cooperation with Ming."

"So sometimes I also hope that the Ming battleship fleet will arrive on the Lisbon sea as soon as possible. Only when the cannons are fired in front of them and shock them, will they wake up."

"Leon, I'm afraid that by then, they will immediately turn from kneeling and worshipping the Spaniards to kneeling and kissing the toes of the Ming people."

"Mr. Marquis, we can only take things one step at a time. Let's first remove the noose around our necks. As for whether there will be more noose in the future, we can't worry about it for now."

"Yeah. Let's take it one step at a time."

The two looked at each other and smiled bitterly.

Leon said quietly: "Why doesn't Ming want to form an alliance with us? This would be a guarantee for us, Portugal."

Marcelo shook his head: "Lions and tigers don't need to travel in groups, only cattle and sheep do."

There was another silence, so quiet that it was frightening.

Suddenly the silence was interrupted by a cheer coming from the platform.

Marcelo and Leon quickly leaned out of the window and saw a man standing among the heavy soldiers and crowds at the far end of the platform. He was wearing an ochre-yellow round-collared dragon robe and a winged crown on his head. It was the Ming Emperor Zhu Yijun.

Hundreds of people bowed to him with their arms folded.

Marcelo said, "The Emperor of Ming is here to see off the officials of the Eastern Expedition Administration."

"Yes, the officials from the Eastern Expedition Administration are going to Tianjin Dagu Port on the same train as us. It is said that the Qinglong Fleet has rotated its warships and will set out as soon as the north wind blows."

"I heard that this time they not only sent the newly commissioned Class A battleships, but also sent the Army Infantry Regiment and the Cavalry Regiment. It is said that there are tens of thousands of immigrants who followed them."

"My Lord Marquis, the Ming Kingdom is making such a big show, and it also wants to show us."

"Yes, one of the important terms of our cooperation with the Ming Dynasty is to join forces with them to deal with the Spaniards.

Now they sent a large number of navy and army to the New World to launch a full-scale attack on the Spaniards there. The greatest wealth of the Spaniards in the New World was a few silver mines.

Now the silver mines in the Viceroyalty of Peru have fallen into the hands of the Ming people, and only a few silver mines in the Viceroyalty of New Spain are struggling to survive.

Looking at the Ming Dynasty's posture, it seems like they are mowing the grass."

"My Lord Marquis, we must eradicate the roots of the trouble."

"Yes, we must root them out. Without the silver mines in the New World, the Spanish would be depleted of their financial resources and would suffer a great loss of vitality."

"But, Marquis, if King Philip II of Spain transferred the Invincible Fleet that dominated the Mediterranean and the Atlantic to the New World, it might alleviate the time for the Governor of New Spain to lose the silver mine, but the Invincible Fleet would be defeated by the Qinglong Fleet of Ming sooner or later."

"That's right. The New World is very far away from the homeland of Ming and Spain, but the Ming's war strength, especially their often-mentioned war mobilization capabilities, is obvious to all.

Five Spains put together wouldn’t be enough to defeat them.”

"My Lord Marquis, I have another question.

If Spain transferred the Invincible Armada to the New World, without this powerful fleet, the Ottomans, Venice, Genoa, France, the Netherlands, England, these hyenas and jackals would all be ready to move. "

"Yes, in addition to these ambitious guys, there are also those Protestants in Germany who will jump out. The whole of Europe will be plunged into war."

“My Lord Marquis, if King Philip II of Spain does not transfer the Invincible Fleet to the New World, their silver mines and viceroyalties in the New World will be swallowed up by the Ming people.

Without the silver mines of the New World as a source of income, the Spanish navy will gradually weaken and eventually fall into a situation where it will be surrounded by jackals. "

"That's right. One will die tomorrow, and the other will die next year. It all depends on what Felipe II chooses. The Ming people are very powerful and have a lot of cards in their hands. Any one of them will be enough to make it difficult for the Spanish to deal with."

Marcelo and Leon were sighing here, while Zhu Yijun was saying goodbye to the Eastern Expedition Military Governorate's staff one by one.

Zhu Yijun walked up to Liang Menglong and stretched out his right hand.

As the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yijun was not good at bowing to others, and none of his ministers could accept his courtesy. So he came up with a new way of doing things: he stretched out his right hand and shook hands with his ministers.

He was approachable and made the ministers and common people not feel unworthy of the emperor's courtesy.

After the plenary session of the imperial court was over on May 20, Zhu Yijun led the ministers to sit or stand on the open space on the steps while the Hanlin Academy of Painting and Calligraphy painted a souvenir. At the same time, he shook hands with the Grand Secretaries, Bachelors and Court Doctors one by one, setting a precedent.

Liang Menglong quickly stretched out his hands and tightly held Zhu Yijun's right hand.

"Mr. Mingquan, have a safe journey and take good care of yourself."

"I thank the emperor. I will never dare to fail to live up to your wishes!"

Gu Yangqian, Xiao Lin, Wang Mingchen, Wang Shisong, Hu Yinglin, Jin Xuezeng, Wang Jiaping, Zhu Lian.
Zhu Yijun shook hands with them one by one and said, "Thank you for going to war for the country and traveling thousands of miles across the sea. Please have a safe journey and take care of yourself."

These people had never received such a great favor before. Their eyes were red, and they held Zhu Yijun's right hand tightly with both hands, and they were either hoarse or choked with sobs, "Thank you for your grace!"

After the handshake, Zhu Yijun, Zhang Juzheng and Tan Lun stood on the platform and saw Liang Menglong and others off to the train.

At departure time, the whistle sounded, and the military band on the platform, under the direction of the leader, played "Victory Song".

Amid the majestic music, the dispatcher waved a small green flag, the locomotive blew a long whistle, and the train started slowly amid the sound of puffing.

(End of this chapter)