Borrow the day to change the day

As soon as the man heard that someone came up to him and called himself "I" to ask him for a question, he was a little curious and raised his head to look at the past.

Because the officials he usually comes into contact with, whether intentional or not, are full of official accents, and they are "the official and the official" at every turn, unlike this person who calls himself "I" like ordinary people.

When he looked up and saw the person in front of him, he found that it was a young man without a face of official authority, like a scholar he met on the side of the road, and the nervousness in his heart improved a lot.

He is also a person who has experienced great storms, just because what he did was not tolerated by the court.

I usually feel uncomfortable when I see small officials and officials, but now I suddenly see high-ranking court officials, even face saints.In front of the person who could decide his life or death with a single sentence, he lost his usual majesty and that glib tongue that could bring the dead back to life.

Now that he saw the appearance of the high-ranking official in front of him, he was a little relieved from the abnormal nervousness, and quickly replied: "My lord, my lord has something to say, and the grass-roots people know everything."

Seeing that his nervousness had eased, Zhong Jinwei continued to ask, "What is your last name, where is your family name?"

When the man heard that he was asking these most common questions, he replied without hesitation: "The humble name of the grassroots is Li Wei, a native of Yantai, Shandong."

Having said that, he turned his head to look at Xu Guangqi, then suddenly knelt down on the ground again, bowed his head and said: "The grass people are guilty, please my lord, please forgive me."

It turned out that after Li Wei introduced himself, he found that there was no way around what he had committed. In addition, Xu Guangqi had told him before that as long as he behaved well, he could guarantee the pardon of all his past sins.

He was also a person who came here in a big storm, and seeing that he couldn't avoid it, and the person who heard the news was not the kind of unreasonable person, so he simply recruited first. This feeling of trembling is really unbearable.

When Zhong Jinwei saw his posture, he turned to look at Emperor Chongzhen.

Emperor Chongzhen nodded to him, indicating that he would handle it.

Therefore, Zhong Jinwei said to Li Wei who was kneeling on the ground: "Li Wei is, you get up first. As long as you answer truthfully and help the court, not only the emperor will pardon your crimes, but it is not impossible to even give you an official position."

When Li Wei heard this, he felt happy. It seemed that he had made the right bet, and he immediately felt less burdened. He quickly thanked him and stood up.

"You tell me all your experiences, without any concealment or exaggeration, understand? Today may be a good day for your prosperity, but it may also be your death day, everything depends on whether your answer is true .”

When Li Wei heard Zhong Jinwei say the word "death", he suddenly felt a coercion from him, his heart trembled, and he replied repeatedly: "Caomin dare not, Caomin must answer truthfully."

He can also be regarded as a person who has experienced blood and rain, so he is very sensitive to the aura Zhong Jinwei cultivated from the battlefield and from his long-term leadership experience.

"Say." Zhong Jinwei said in a calm tone.

"Caomin's ancestors were originally military households. Because they couldn't survive, they simply went to sea to ask for a living. At that time, there were many people who went to sea, and they traveled north together, and finally found a way to reach North America."

When Li Wei introduced his experience, he had already heard that North America was mentioned by Xu Guangqi, so he memorized the term and used it now.

"In the generation of the Caomin, the Caomin did not want to live under the rule of Westerners, so they returned to Daming with the boat, but life was not easy, so they engaged in business at sea. Please forgive me, my lord and the emperor." After the confession came out, Li Instead, Wei felt as if a stone had fallen to the ground, and he wanted to kneel down again to plead guilty.

Zhong Jinwei didn't have time to pay attention to these things, isn't he just a pirate, the biggest pirate leader Zheng Zhilong is already an official now.

He stopped Li Wei and said, "Don't keep kneeling here and there. Let me ask you, what do you mean by living under the rule of Westerners?"

Seeing that Zhong Jinwei refused to let him kneel down, Li Wei did not insist, but still replied respectfully: "There is a place in North America that has to sail a long, long sea. The Westerners killed all the local aborigines and established the In the city, people like me and those who came from Daming live there. It’s just that my Ming people have good craftsmanship, and I robbed Western craftsmen of their jobs, and I am not of the same race as Westerners, so they sued the officials, making my life in Daming extremely difficult. "

Zhong Jinwei didn't quite believe it, but it seemed that Li Wei didn't seem to be lying, so he turned to Emperor Chongzhen and said, "Your Majesty, can I get a map?"

Emperor Chongzhen knew that Zhong Jinwei wanted to combine the map so that he could ask more detailed questions, so he nodded and asked Wang Chengen to take an imitation map from the imperial table, hang it on the screen and push it in front of Zhong Jinwei.

Li Wei was a man living at sea, and he couldn't take his eyes off the world map as soon as he saw it.He kept staring at the map, looking for the familiar places in his mind.

"Li Wei, where are the places ruled by the Westerners you mentioned?" Zhong Jinwei asked, pointing at the map.

When Li Wei heard this, he hesitated for a moment, then stepped forward and pointed to a place and said, "This place is called Mexico City."

Zhong Jinwei saw that it should indeed belong to Mexico, but it is not clear whether it is Mexico City or not.

"Tell me about the situation in Mexico City in detail." Zhong Jinwei ordered.

Of course, Li Wei didn't dare to stop talking, so he told everything about the situation in Mexico City.

It turned out that in the sixteenth century, after the Spanish invaders defeated the Indian civilization in Central America, that is, the Aztec Empire, they razed the capital of the empire, Tenochtitlan, and rebuilt it on the ruins. mexico city.

Around the 13th year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty, after the people of the Ming Dynasty wandered somewhere, they were left behind because of their various crafts.

But because he was not of my race, he was discriminated against by the Spaniards, and he was inferior, as if he had returned to the Mongolian and Yuan Dynasties.

As a last resort, all Ming Dynasty people believed in Christianity, and the situation improved.

But later, because all kinds of craftsmen in Daming, including barbers, tailors, silversmiths, carpenters, etc., were skilled and cheap, it was difficult for Western craftsmen to compete with them, and the defendant went to the city hall.The Spanish officials naturally favored their fellow clansmen, making life difficult for the Ming people.

Because of this, Li Wei came back to Daming all the way. He was a pirate and a smuggler, and he was familiar with the route to and from North America.

If Zhong Jinwei had read the "History of Latin America" ​​published by the Commercial Press in later generations, he would not have to ask Li Wei to explain so much.

Then Zhong Jinwei asked about the situation of some routes, and Li Wei pointed to Zhong Jinwei one by one on the map, and described some situations along the way.

These descriptions of his are basically consistent with the memories Zhong Jinwei brought from later generations, so it can be confirmed that what Li Wei can say in such detail is definitely not just hearsay, but must have been experienced personally.

Therefore, Zhong Jinwei turned his head to look at Emperor Chongzhen, nodded and said: "Your Majesty, there should be no falsehood in what this person said."

But I didn't expect that Emperor Chongzhen would still frown after hearing the affirmative answer, as if he was confused, which made Zhong Jinwei a little puzzled, so he asked, "Your Majesty, don't you believe me?"