I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 875 Is this the sincerity of your Ming country?
Shen Wanxiang and Wang Yongji were caught off guard and were so sick from the stench that they almost vomited.

Marcelo turned his head and looked out the window
Ah, Lisbon, my hometown, my hometown where I have not returned for many years, let me take a good look at you, have you changed?
Oh, nothing has changed, it’s still the same, still smells so bad!
Shen Wanxiang and Wang Yongji covered their noses and stared at Marcelo fiercely.

The carriage was still shaking, and the clatter of horse hooves sounded like they were stepping on a muddy stone road.

Shen Wanxiang suppressed the intense feeling of nausea and discomfort, pulled open the car curtain, and looked out through the window. What on earth was going on in Siben City?
Why is it so smelly!
The streets of Lisbon seemed quite spacious, with enough space for three carriages to park side by side. Pedestrians walked cautiously, sticking close to the walls of the buildings on both sides.

Many people were holding umbrellas.

The sky is clear, why do we need an umbrella?

Women hold umbrellas to avoid getting sunburned, so what do you guys mean by holding umbrellas? Do you have any chance of getting tanned with your dark faces?
Bang! A window on the second floor facing the street was pushed open.

With a loud splash, a basin of dirty water poured down from the upper floor and spilled directly onto the ground. Two umbrellas were partially affected by the dirty water, and countless water splashed on the umbrellas.

It’s so unhygienic!

How can you just throw dirty water from the upper floor into the street?

When Shen Wanxiang saw it clearly, he couldn't help but retching again.

The sewage that was poured down from the second floor just now was yellow and black, half water and half solid, and it was all human feces and urine.

They were so arrogantly scattered on the street, turning it into a muddy mess.

Pedestrians have to be extremely careful when walking on it, no wonder they have to walk close to the walls on both sides.

Shen Wanxiang suddenly understood why those Portuguese noble officials at the port wore high heels.

The ground is covered with feces and urine like mud. If you don't raise your heels, your shoes will sink into the feces and urine when you step on it.

Two pedestrians crossed the carriage, their umbrellas dripping with urine and covered with feces.

Oh!

oh--!
Shen Wanxiang couldn't help it and wanted to open the car door to vomit, but he really didn't have the courage to open the door.

Marcelo considerately picked up a basin from the corner and handed it to Shen Wanxiang.

vomit-!
Oh no!

Shen Wanxiang was vomiting and vomited everything he had eaten on the boat the day before.

The sour smell of vomit, yellow bile, and gastric juice filled the carriage, mixed with the fragrance of toilet water and the stench of stale feces and urine outside the car. The sour smell made Shen Wanxiang want to escape back to the Yunyang immediately.

Marcelo covered his nose, opened the car window, poured the vomit in the basin out, and quickly closed the window again.

Wang Yongji lay on the chair, covered his nose and asked, "Lord Ma, are all the towns in your country of Portugal so smelly?"

"All castles are like this." Marcelo tried to hide it but couldn't, so he just gave up. "The bigger the castle, the more people live in it, the more excrement there is, and the stinkier it is!"

Shen Wanxiang's face was pale. He lay on the other side of the chair and said weakly, "How can you live in such a bad environment?"

Marcelo's face flashed with embarrassment, "It's definitely not comparable to your country.

Shanghai, Yangzhou, Nanjing and Beijing in your country all have very good drainage ditches. Especially in Beijing, underground drainage pipes are densely built, gathered into several underground main culverts, and then connected to the Lugou River outside the city.

I have visited those culverts, they are very large, you can row a boat in them, and their drainage capacity is first-rate.”

Shen Wanxiang waved his hand, "Master Ma, how dare you compare with Beijing and Shanghai in our Ming Dynasty? They are the models of new city construction in our Ming Dynasty.

Even in cities like our Ming Dynasty, every household has a toilet and no one dares to dump waste randomly. Every morning, farmers who harvest night-blooming jasmine will collect the waste from every household and transport it to the farmland outside the city to use as fertilizer.

County sanitation is now one of the contents of the performance evaluation of the county magistrate in Daming."

Marcelo smiled bitterly and said, “We in Europe don’t have the habit of using human and animal feces as fertilizer, so for thousands of years, these filth have been discarded at will without any scruples.

When adults and children need to defecate and urinate, the better ones do so in a ceramic or copper basin, and when it is full, pour it out of the door or window.

It was almost piled up in the corner, and when it was almost full, I used a shovel to shovel it out. "

Shen Wanxiang closed his eyes speechlessly: "Is it the same for you nobles and royal family?"

"It's always like that. Paris, France is a big city in Europe, with a population of 200,000 to 300,000. It's full of shit and urine, and it stinks even more than Lisbon.

In 1547, King Henry II of France demolished the old Louvre and started to build a new one. At the same time, his queen Catherine de Medici built the Tuileries Palace to the west of the Louvre.

The two palaces were completed in 1565, and I went there as a representative of Portugal to congratulate them.

The two palaces were built magnificently, with statues and murals all created by famous Italian and French painters, as well as wealth accumulated by the French royal family over hundreds of years.

Your country's porcelain, Persian ivory carvings, Greek bronzes, Indian gold and silver wares are all dazzling. It can be said that it is the most artistic and luxurious place in Europe.

Unfortunately, within less than half a month, everything changed.”

"Why has it changed?"

"I saw with my own eyes nobles and ladies hiding in corners to defecate and urinate in the magnificent corridors of the Louvre. When people are in a hurry, they just want to find a place to relieve themselves, no matter if they are commoners or nobles.

Not only that, French Queen Catherine de Medici often held lavish banquets in the Louvre and the Tuileries. The palace kitchens kept goats, pigs, cows, and chickens all year round, but those damn cooks didn't care about those animals at all.

As a result, goats and pigs can be seen walking around in the Louvre and the Tuileries, and they poop and pee everywhere, just like humans."

Shen Wanxiang and Wang Yongji were both stunned. "Lord Ma, were you talking about the palace of the King of France?"

"That's right. France is as powerful as Spain. Its Paris has always been the center of Europe. Its prosperity far exceeds that of Spain's new and old capitals such as Madrid and Toledo. It is currently the largest city in Europe."

"The largest city in Europe and the palace of the King of France are both so unbearable?"

Shen Wanxiang and Wang Yongji were completely shocked.

What they don’t know is that Paris, France, and other European cities of the same period were in the same mess.

High heels and perfume were invented for this reason. There is also the round skirt of noble ladies, which is said to be for the convenience of urination and defecation. Find a corner, squat down, and solve the problem of urination and defecation, and the whole process is covered tightly.

When you are done, just pick up your skirt and leave. It’s so much easier.

There are also wigs, which are because European nobles don’t like to take a bath and live in extremely poor conditions, so lice are rampant in their hair.

Lice are poisoned with arsenic, and the lice and hair are killed together.

Or if you are bothered by lice, just shave your head.

But a nobleman can't go out with a bald head.

How about demeanor?
What about manners?

So wigs were invented and worn on the head. If lice appeared on the wigs, they would be taken off and boiled in water.

The civilized and elegant French aristocrats lived like this and considered it a fine tradition.

It was not until Napoleon came to power that he could no longer stand the disgusting living environment and began to transform Paris. He built sewers and ditches, planned streets, and strictly prohibited urinating and defecating anywhere.
The urban appearance and sanitation of Paris have improved greatly.

But Napoleon was busy with his wars, and Paris was completely changed until his nephew Napoleon III came to power.

Napoleon III transformed Paris, demolishing slums, widening roads, and building many boulevards, including the Champs-Élysées.

Buildings on both sides of the boulevard must be of uniform height and similar style; a complete sewer system must be laid, and multiple bridges must be built across the Seine River across Paris.
Since then, Paris has been reborn into a modern city.

But at this time, it, like all the cities in Europe such as Lisbon, Rome, and London, is soaking in a pit of feces and urine.

Marcelo shrugged. "You two envoys, you'll get used to it after a while. Every time I go back to Lisbon, it takes me some time to adjust, but it goes by quickly."

Shen Wanxiang and Wang Yongji looked at each other, life would rather die!

I never thought that a diplomatic mission to a foreign vassal state might cost my life.

The key is that you are dying of the stench of feces and urine!

Shen Wanxiang and Wang Yongji lost all desire to live when they thought that they might become the first envoy of the Ming Dynasty, or even in the history of China, to die from the stench of feces and urine.

Destroy it!
Entering the royal palace of Lisbon, the stench that hit their noses dissipated a lot, and Shen Wanxiang and Wang Yongji finally dared to breathe carefully.

King Sebastian I of Portugal was very worried when he saw the two Ming envoys dying.

He had heard from Leon and other nobles, missionaries, and businessmen who had stayed in the Ming Dynasty that the level of sanitation in Ming Dynasty cities was far superior to that of Lisbon today.

Acclimatization is a big problem.

Sebastiao I acted decisively and invited Shen Wanxiang and Wang Yongji to live in the Sintra Palace and hold negotiations there.

Sintra is located in the northern suburbs of Lisbon.

Shen Wanxiang and Wang Yongji got on the carriage again and followed Sebastian I's large group of people out of Lisbon and headed straight for the Sintra Palace, 40 miles northwest.

After "escaping" from the city of Lisbon, which was like a cesspool, and breathing in the fresh air, Shen Wanxiang and Wang Yongji realized for the first time that the air actually had a sweet smell.

The two men's conditions recovered visibly, and they began to look at the scenery outside with interest and talked with Marcelo.

"The Sintra National Palace was built two hundred years ago by our great Portuguese King Joao I as a summer palace for the royal family."

"Joao I?"

“Yes, he is called Joao the Magnificent, the founder of our Portuguese Aves Dynasty. He was originally the illegitimate son of King Pedro I of Portugal.

Later, after his brother Fernando I died, his niece Beatrice ascended the throne. But Beatrice was already married to King Juan I of Castile at that time. "

"The Kingdom of Castile?"

“It is the predecessor of the Kingdom of Spain.”

Shen Wanxiang understood, "Then King Juan I of Spain can take this opportunity to annex Portugal?"

"Yes. So the nobles and generals at that time supported John I to rise up and drive away Beatrice. They also defeated the invading army of the Kingdom of Castile. Since then, John I ascended the throne and founded the Aves Dynasty."

Wang Yongji was a little confused. "Lord Ma, isn't this Joao I the son of the old King Pedro I? How can you say he founded the Aviz Dynasty?"

"Mr. Wang, Joao I is the illegitimate son of King Pedro I. According to European customs, the dynasty established by an illegitimate son is considered a new dynasty."

Shen Wanxiang and Wang Yongji looked at each other.

Taking off pants to fart, what a stupid way of being picky.

The carriage soon arrived near the Sintra Palace, a castle located on a hill.

There are continuous mountains and green trees here, and most importantly, the air is fresh.

When you enter the Royal Palace of Sintra, although there is still the smell of human and animal feces and urine wafting into your nostrils from time to time, compared to the city of Lisbon, it is simply heaven.

In the main hall of the Sintra Palace, Shen Wanxiang and Wang Yongji bowed to King Sebastiao I of Portugal and handed over the letter of credence.

The official letter was naturally written by the old Hanlin Academy members. Five or six interpreters, plus Portuguese people like Leon who were already proficient in Mandarin Chinese, finally translated it into Portuguese after pulling out half their hair.

Shen Wanxiang finished reading the Chinese letter with full energy, and Leon read it again in Portuguese beside him. They were talking completely different things.

After completing the first ceremony, we will move on to the second one, which is about the conditions for peaceful coexistence between Ming and Portugal.

The ports of Daman, Surat, Diu and other places in northwestern India were returned, and the ports and trade interests in Arabia and East Africa were shared. Ming and Portugal gave each other the most favorable treatment.
After listening to these conditions, Sebastian I and his ministers were all satisfied. The Ming Kingdom was very sincere in the peace talks between the two countries!
However, when the Ming Dynasty heard that Portugal had to withdraw completely from Xunzhou, that is, the New World, it only reserved two or three islands in the Caribbean for Portugal.

Sebastian I and several ministers were immediately furious!

what!
Is this the sincerity of your Ming country? !

(End of this chapter)