In the second year of Jianwen of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Di led his troops to cross the Zhigu River to seize power southward. Three years later, the name was changed to Yongle, and the name Tianjin appeared in the early years of Yongle.

As an important military area, Tianjin officially established a guard in the second year of Yongle. The Tianjin left guard was established the following year, and the Tianjin right guard was added the following year. The last three guards were collectively called Tianjin guards.

…

On April 3rd, Lin Yun, together with Zhou Fang, the Shaoqing of Honglu Temple, several officials and translators, took a boat to Tianjin Wei to welcome the British envoy.

It is also embarrassing to say that there is no qualified English translator in Honglu Temple. Perhaps Great Britain is too far away from Dachu, so it cannot attract the attention of Honglu Temple officials. Zhou Fang searched all over Honglu Temple for translators, and unexpectedly found that

Only one Portuguese translator knew some English.

Zhou Fang is a middle-aged official with handsome appearance and elegant demeanor. He was born in the same class as a Jinshi, and spent money to get a job in Honglu Temple.

He has a sister named Zhou Hui, who was adopted as the imperial concubine by Emperor Zhide just last year.

Borrowing the help of his own sister, Zhou Fang rose from a sixth-grade chief of Honglu Temple to a fourth-grade young minister of Honglu Temple, which can be regarded as a three-level promotion in a row.

Although his official position was several levels higher than that of Lin Yun, Zhou Fang did not dare to show off in front of Lin Yun. Tong Jinshi was naturally a head lower than Tan Hualang, not to mention that he was appointed by the emperor to assist him on errands.

…

At noon on the 6th, the official ship on which Lin Yun and others arrived arrived at Tianjin Wei West Bank Pier.

Standing on the deck of the bow of the ship, Lin Yun held his hands on the side of the ship and looked at the dozen or so warships docked at the dock, looking at them carefully.

The four-year-old warship docked at the pier on the right is hoisted with the British flag, and the eight-year-old warship on the right is looking much worn out and has insufficient tonnage. The number of cannons on it is naturally incomparable.

The only thing that made Lin Yun feel lucky was that the British warships at this time were not steamships. As long as the Dachu Navy pursued them with all their strength, they still had a chance to escape the fate of being beaten.

…

After the ship docked, several officers from Dachu came up from a warship to greet them.

An officer with a big face rushed to Zhou Fang who was in front and saluted: "The last general is Wu Mingyuan, the deputy general of the Guangdong Navy. On the order of Lord Zhou, the commander-in-chief, he is escorting the British delegation to Beijing to meet the saint. May I ask your surname?"

?”

Zhou Fang: "I am Zhou Fang, the young minister of Honglu Temple. I have been ordered by the Emperor to come to greet the British delegation."

After Zhou Fang finished speaking, he motioned to his officials to hand over the official document to the other party for review.

After Wu Mingyuan read the official document, he immediately smiled and said: "Master Zhou, I will accompany you to see the envoy of Great Britain."

Zhou Fang frowned and asked: "What is the identity of the ambassador of Great Britain? Do you know?"

Wu Mingyuan said awkwardly: "I heard that the name of the ambassador of Great Britain is George, Earl of Ma. It is so difficult to remember foreign names. I will not be able to remember them all."

Zhou Fangchong asked Lin Yun: "Lin Daizhao, are the foreign earls the same as our earls?"

Lin Yun: "Absolutely. There are no marquises among the foreigners, and there are very few kings."

Zhou Fang nodded and said, "Then let's meet on their boat."

Everyone gathered around Zhou Fang and walked towards the largest gunboat. Lin Yun was sizing up the warship when he saw Wu Ming approaching him from afar and asked with a smile: "Excuse me, sir, what is your name?"

Lin Yun smiled and said: "My name is Lin Yun, and I work as a handyman in the waiting room of the Hanlin Academy."

Wu Mingyuan smiled and said: "Sir, you are being humble. Who doesn't know that the Hanlin Academy is a small cabinet, and you are all close ministers of the emperor."

After a pause, Wu Mingyuan lowered his voice and said: "I will bring some local specialties from the Guangdong Sea and send them to you and Mr. Zhou on the ship later."

Lin Yun smiled and said, "Thank you, General."

"You're welcome."

While they were talking, everyone came to the front of the largest gunboat and saw a group of foreigners coming out from the gangplank. Among them was a Chinese, who must have been the translator hired by the foreigners.

Zhou Fang stopped and stood there waiting for the foreigners to come over and greet him.

Lin Yun secretly laughed when he saw this. This guy was afraid that he would lose etiquette in front of foreigners and be impeached by the imperial emissary after he returned.

After thinking about it, Lin Yun walked a few steps quickly, came to those foreigners, and asked in English: "Who is Earl George?"

The foreigners on the opposite side were all stunned when they heard this. Immediately, the foreigner who was walking in front with an old face and a little gray temples took two steps quickly and said to Lin Yun in surprise: "Can you speak English?"

Lin Yun nodded and said, "Yes."

"Great, I'm George Macartney."

Lin Yun smiled and said: "Hello, Mr. Count, welcome to our Da Chu as a guest. Let me introduce to you. This is Mr. Zhou Fang Zhou, the young minister of Honglu Temple in our Da Chu Kingdom."

George Macartney raised his hand to Zhou Fanggong and said in blunt Chinese: "Hello, Mr. Zhou!"

Zhou Fang quickly raised his hands and said, "Can Sir Earl speak Chinese?"

George Macartney turned to look at Lin Yun. He couldn't understand what Zhou Fang was talking about.

Lin Yun smiled and translated for him, and Macartney quickly replied in English: "I only know this sentence in Chinese, and I learned it now."

Next, George Macartney introduced the group of foreigners following him to Zhou Fang. Lin Yun was shocked after hearing this. According to Macartney, except for one deputy envoy, all the others were

The best in the UK from all walks of life.

After the greetings, Zhou Fang took out the emperor's edict and said to George Macartney: "Earl George, please kneel down to receive the edict."

When Lin Yun heard this, he was immediately embarrassed. He asked a British earl to kneel down to receive the imperial edict, and he would not agree even if he was killed.

Macartney and the foreigners behind him looked at Lin Yun, waiting to hear his translation.

Seeing Lin Yun's troubled expression, Zhou Fang asked him, "Lin Daizhao, what's the matter?"

Lin Yun whispered: "The foreigners don't kneel down, they regard kneeling as humiliation."

Zhou Fang said dissatisfiedly: "Do as the Romans do. Since they want to see our emperor, they must respect our etiquette."

When George Macartney saw the two of them talking incessantly, he asked the interpreter he hired: "What are they talking about?"

The translator said awkwardly: "Master Zhou, please kneel down to receive the imperial edict from our emperor."

As soon as these words came out, the foreigners following George Macartney were all shocked, and they all accused Zhou Fang of going too far.

Seeing this, Zhou Fang asked with a guilty conscience: "Lin Daizhao, what do they want to do?"

Lin Yun said speechlessly: "Of course I don't agree to kneel down."

Zhou Fang suddenly felt dizzy. There were so many foreigners opposing him, which made him feel even more stressed.

George Macartney knew the Chu Dynasty very well and knew that kneeling to receive imperial edicts was the etiquette of Chu officials. However, he was a nobleman of Great Britain, so he naturally refused to accept such humiliating etiquette.

He asked Lin Yun: "Master Lin, can you cancel this ceremony?"

Lin Yun said in embarrassment: "If it is cancelled, you will not be able to see our emperor."

When Macartney heard this, he was also in a dilemma. He had gone through a lot of hardships to get to China, and naturally he was not willing to just go back home.

Zhou Fang: "Lin Daizhao, how about we go back and ask the emperor for instructions before making a decision?"

Lin Yun thought for a while and said: "Master Zhou, why not read out the imperial edict first? Let's accompany the foreigners to Tongzhou first. When we get to Tongzhou, there should be a reply from His Majesty."

Zhou Fang nodded and said, "That's okay. I'll go back and ask someone to ask for your Majesty's order."

"OK."

Lin Yun told Macartney the results of his and Zhou Fang's discussions, and the other party naturally agreed. To express his gratitude, he also invited Zhou Fang and Lin Yun to board the ship for a banquet.
Chapter completed!