I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 884 China-West Friendship Association
Shen Wanxiang glanced at Zhao Shizhen and said calmly, "Bruno, Hermann, everyone, we have another friend coming. Go somewhere else to rest first, and we will talk later."

"Okay." Bruno and Hermann tactfully took their friends away.

After a while, an attendant came in with two people wearing black cloaks.

The man in front lifted his cloak and hood, revealing a face that everyone was familiar with.

"Professor Simplicio!"

Zhao Shizhen exclaimed in surprise.

Simplicio forced a smile on his face and pointed to the man behind him and said, "This is Girardi, a mathematician and my colleague at the University of Florence."

Zhao Shizhen and Shen Wanxiang looked at each other and said quickly, "Gentlemen, please take a seat."

Simplicio and Girardi sat opposite each other, and interpreter Xiao Liubao sat in the middle.

After exchanging a glance with Girardi, Simplicio said, "We want to go to Ming."

"you?"

"Yes, myself, Girardi, and Tycho Brahe and François Viert."

"Who are Tycho Brahe and François Vieta?"

"Tycho Brahe is a Danish mathematician, and Francois Vieta is a famous French mathematician. You two should know that in Europe, mathematics can only be used in astronomy, to study how God created the world.

So Tycho Brahe and Francois Vieta are still very famous astronomers. By the way, Tycho Brahe is very famous in the European royal family and church, and is very popular among the nobles because he is good at astrology. "

"Astrology?"

Simplicio sighed softly. "It's just talking with the nobles, carefully exploring their worries and desires, and then using professional astronomical knowledge to put what they want to hear into those astrological rhetoric."

Shen Wanxiang and Zhao Shizhen looked at each other. Isn't this the same as fortune-telling in my Ming Dynasty? It's just that they are wearing the cloak of science, while the will of the Ming Dynasty sounds a bit arbitrary.

Zhao Shizhen asked carefully, "Do you want to go to my Ming Kingdom to continue your astronomical research?"

"Yes. Mr. Zhao, today Girardi, Tycho, Francois, and more than a dozen mathematicians and astronomers from various countries are attending the debate.

We are very excited to hear you talk about your country's astronomical research achievements. This is the glory of human civilization, and we feel very honored.

I also heard that your country has six observatories and large astronomical telescopes. We are very much looking forward to it."

Gilady asked, "Mr. Zhao, your country's scientific research has nothing to do with religion, right?"

Zhao Shizhen replied: "Mr. Ji, most of the scholars in our Imperial Observatory are from our country, and some are from overseas countries, including Portuguese scholars, Arab scholars, Persian scholars, and Egyptian scholars.

Everyone is safe and sound"

"Everything is fine?" Simplicio and Girardi were surprised.

"Yes," Shen Wanxiang replied, "We in the Ming Dynasty have our own rules. As long as we don't incite or rebel, we can have freedom of belief.

In my Ming Dynasty, the Ministry of Rites convenes a religious consultation meeting every three years, where Taoists, Buddhists, Buddhists, Muslims, and Zoroastrians sit in one room to exchange views and discuss.

Xiao Liubao explained during the translation: "In the Ming Dynasty, we call the basic religion Nestorianism, and do not distinguish between the Celestial Church and the New Church."

Simplicio and Girardi looked at each other, very relieved.

How can so many religions sit together for a meeting? It's a bit magical!

The two men knew very well that this was because the Ming Dynasty was very powerful and suppressed these religions that were so powerful in other places.

"that would be great."

"Science has no borders, but religion has no borders either. In Europe, there used to be Protestant countries that could provide shelter, but now Protestantism has become the same as Catholicism.

A few years ago, Copernicus published the heliocentric theory, which was denounced as heresy by the Roman Catholic Church and several Protestant leaders also denounced it as misleading.

The two sighed a few times, and Girardi quietly poked Simplicio.

Simplicio hesitated for a few seconds, and finally said shamelessly: "Mr. Shen, Mr. Zhao, this is what happened. This time, not only me, Girardi, Tycho and Francois want to go to Ming, but also more than a dozen mathematicians and scientists want to go together.

Tycho saved some money through astrology.

Francois was from a noble family and had some savings, but many of us were just lousy teachers and didn't have much money. They had to scrape together money from everywhere or rely on friends for the money they had to pay for their trip to Civitavecchia.

I want to go to your country now, but the journey is long and the cost is not small, which is really unaffordable. Tycho and Francois originally wanted to come, but they still needed to raise money for their friends, so they took advantage of the fact that the nobles were all here to go and negotiate. "

Oh, these two went to the nobles to seek sponsorship.

After all this talk, it all comes down to one sentence: lack of money!
Zhao Shizhen gave Shen Wanxiang a look.

Envoy Shen, I am only responsible for leading people here. I am powerless as to how to send them back.

Shen Wanxiang smiled faintly: "Please rest assured, everyone, just go to Lisbon first. My Daming has an agency there. Once you find the agency, we will naturally arrange everything for you."

Simplicio and Girardi looked at each other and said, "Have you arranged everything, including our trip to Ming Country?"

"Yes, the agency will arrange it."

"What about the expenses for the trip?"

"Don't worry.

Our Great Ming Emperor attaches great importance to exchanges with you Western countries. He has specially instructed the establishment of the Sino-Western Friendship Association, which is dedicated to friendly exchanges between our Great Ming and you. He hopes to promote communication and cooperation between different civilizations and allow human civilization to progress faster and better.

Your travel expenses will all be covered by the China-West Friendship Association, so you don’t have to worry at all.”

Simplicio and Girardi were delighted and excited.

This is the responsibility of a beacon of human civilization.

Stand up bravely and take the responsibility of leading human civilization towards a better future.

The two said excitedly: "That's great, we will immediately write to more friends and invite them to go to Ming Country and make a pilgrimage to the temple of human civilization!"

With great philanthropists like the Ming Dynasty Sino-Western Friendship Association, we don’t have to worry about travel expenses. There are also many “comrades” who come from poor families and are worried about travel expenses. We can all be called along, and we can all go on a pilgrimage to the lighthouse of human civilization and the palace of science together!

Shen Wanxiang and Zhao Shizhen also smiled with relief. Well, after all the hard work these days, the mission to the Western Barbarians is halfway completed.

Two days later, the delegation and the escort fleet continued their journey, passing through Naples, Messina, and Athens, staying in each place for a few days, especially Athens.

This is the birthplace of ancient Greek civilization that Western countries must mention when talking about their own history.

Unfortunately, this place is in a dilapidated state. Apart from some broken stone ruins, the rest is empty.

Aristotle and Socrates, who are always mentioned by Western scholars, have had their traces burned to pieces in the flames of thousands of years of civilization conflicts.

Leon, who was accompanying him, whispered to him that Athens had long since declined and was just a totem hanging in the air. The documents representing ancient Greek civilization were more concentrated in Byzantium.

Unfortunately, after it became Istanbul, most of it turned to ashes, and only a part of it spread back to the west, giving rise to the Renaissance.

"What a catastrophe for civilization!"

After hearing Leon's sigh, Shen Wanxiang and Zhao Shizhen disagreed.

"We Chinese have experienced no fewer disasters than you, but we still tenaciously continue our civilization."

“I know, so you can achieve what you have today.”

"Leon, you are wrong. The reason why our Ming Dynasty can achieve what it has today is that we have found the right direction and are on the right path under the guidance of the Holy Emperor of the Ming Dynasty."

"It has nothing to do with the accumulation of past civilizations?"

"Of course it does."

"what relationship?"

Shen Wanxiang was silent for a while, "The development of our Ming Dynasty today, any new ideas, no matter how groundbreaking, can be found in our five thousand years of history.

As the Holy Emperor once said, our long history and splendid civilization are sometimes our burden and fetter. On the contrary, you, like the Gu-raising dish, will continue to make progress in the cruel practice.

Because experiments will experience failure and pay a price. The cost of scientific experiments is time and consumables, and the cost of civilization experiments is not only time, but also life.

The more intense the attempt at civilization, the greater the price to be paid.

But once we find the direction and take the right path, China's previous disadvantages will become advantages. On the same new path, our ceiling will be higher than yours.

This is our confidence, the confidence in our civilization!"

After listening to this, Leon and Marcelo remained silent for a long time.

The two could only send Shen Wanxiang, Wang Yongji and his party to Athens, which was actually controlled by the Ottoman Empire but maintained a certain neutrality and became a buffer zone for exchanges between the Muslim and Christian worlds.

Their identities would no longer be appropriate to move forward.

In the twelfth month of the sixth year of the Wanli reign, Shen Wanxiang, Wang Yongji, Zhao Shizhen and his entourage came to Istanbul as envoys to the Ottoman Empire.

Abdul, the Ottoman envoy to the Ming Dynasty, accompanied by the Ottoman Grand Vizier (Prime Minister), Sokollu Muhand Pasha, and the Vizier (Deputy Prime Minister) and important general Lala Mustafa Pasha, came to the dock to greet the Ming envoys and took them to the palace located on the Marmara Coast, southeast of the Topkapi Palace.

At the welcome banquet, Shen Wanxiang learned that in the fifth year of Wanli, while Abdul and Kaleri were on their way to the Ming Dynasty, the Ottoman Sultan Selim II died in Topkapi Palace.

The gossip Zhao Shizhen heard said that Selim II died from slipping on the slippery floor of the bathhouse and injuring his head.

The current Ottoman Sultan is Murad III, the eldest son of Selim II.

Istanbul said he was the Sultan of Topkapi Palace, meaning that he was even more foolish and incompetent than his father, and he spent all his time hiding in the Topkapi Palace drinking and having fun.

The real power was in the hands of his mother, the Ottoman Queen Mother Nurbanu Sultan, and powerful ministers such as Sokollu Muhand Pasha and Lala Mustafa Pasha.

According to the history books of the Ming Dynasty, the imperial harem interfered in government affairs and powerful officials abused their power.

The next day, Shen Wanxiang and Wang Yongji visited Murad III at Topkapi Palace, presented their credentials, and then began state negotiations.

Nurbanu Sultan was the daughter of a Venetian noble family. She had a group of Venetian nobles and merchants behind her, and her interests needed to be protected.

What are their interests?
Zhao Shizhen led the scientific expedition team to purchase and collect ancient Greek cultural relics and books, as well as Arabic and Persian books, visited Ottoman scholars, and collected a large amount of current political intelligence.

Shen Wanxiang and Wang Yongji carefully analyzed the information and found that the greatest interest of Sultan Nurbanu and Venice was to combat Spain's influence in the Mediterranean so that the Venice-Ottoman Trade Trust could monopolize trade between the East and the West.

Venice also knew that it was difficult for its influence to extend beyond the Mediterranean and to the Atlantic coast. It only wanted to receive goods from the Ottomans, then transport them around the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, and then extend them to Northern Europe, Central Europe, and Western Europe by land.

"Mingshou, Changji, the interests of Sultan Nurbanu and Venice have little impact on us at present."

Wang Yongji nodded and said, "Yes, the current trade influence of our Ming Dynasty is still limited to Greater Nanyang.

Before the operation of Liyuan Port (Cape Town) and Zhuque Port (Port Elizabeth) at the Cape of Good Hope in Zhurong County (South Africa) in the south of Kunzhou (Africa) was completed and the route from Yanzhou to Duizhou via Kunzhou was opened, the goods exported by the Ming Dynasty to Duizhou still had to be transferred through the Arabs and Portuguese.

Zhu Jingfa added: "The opening of the route from Yanzhong Strait (Sunda Strait) directly to Zhurong County is mainly used to develop the three counties of Lelang County (central and southern Brazil), Daifang County (eastern Brazil) and Yongxi County (Uruguay, Argentina) on the east coast of Xunzhou. The route directly connects to the three planned new ports of Zhaoming (Rio de Janeiro), Haiming (Salvador) and Huaide (Montevideo).

There is not much energy left to go north to Kunzhou and directly to Duizhou."

Wu Guanhai added: “That’s right.

The plans of the Rong government and the Navy Department are formulated according to the Emperor's will, which also means that in the next ten to twenty years, our Ming Dynasty will open a route to Duizhou (Europe) and occupy some strategic points.

But the main direction of shipping and trade will not be on Duzhou.”

Shen Wanxiang and Wang Yongji looked at each other and understood what was going on.

The emperor is worried that if he enters Europe too early, the powerful Ming Dynasty will make Europe united against the enemy.

After all, although they are divided into new and old religions, they all believe in God. When a powerful enemy approaches and they face life and death, the call of the Lord issued by the Roman Catholic Church is still very appealing.

It would be better to wait for ten or twenty years, until all the chess pieces are in place, so that the internal divisions in Europe become deeper and the situation becomes so chaotic that they become mortal enemies of each other. Then the Ming Dynasty can intervene as easily as it did with India.

Shen Wanxiang added meaningfully: "The Ming Dynasty does not lack these ten or twenty years. On the contrary, time is on the side of the Ming Dynasty."

"Yes, in ten or twenty years, the industrial revolution will flourish in our Ming Dynasty. I don't know how far it will have developed by then. But what we can be sure of is that the Ming Dynasty will become even more powerful!"

Several people laughed heartily, and amid the laughter, Zhao Shizhen asked: "Then how do we respond to the interests of Osman Sultan Nurbanu and Venice?"

(End of this chapter)