When these Western envoys entered the capital, the Ming Dynasty naturally received the news early. Although foreign countries from all over the world had come to pay tribute to the capital in recent years, the Ming court was already familiar with the fact that these foreign countries came to pay tribute to the capital.
However, this time it was the first time that more than a dozen Western envoys had arrived, so the Host and Guest Department under the Ministry of Rites was also very busy.
Siyi Pavilion, Honglu Temple, and Huitong Pavilion all sent capable and capable personnel to welcome the arrival of this group of Western envoys.
After the envoys of more than a dozen large and small Western countries, headed by Spain and Portugal, were arranged at Honglu Temple, they were trained by court officials and taught the etiquette of meeting the Emperor of Heaven.
Accompanied by officials from the imperial palace, he observed all aspects of the Ming Dynasty in the capital.
It has to be said that the Ming Dynasty has changed a lot in these years, especially in the tax reform, sea opening and other policies that benefit the country and the people, which were forcibly implemented, and under the high-pressure supervision of Jin Yiwei, they were thoroughly implemented to the bottom.
, the Ming Dynasty's finances and even the administration of officials have undergone great changes.
With the treasury fully filled, the imperial court was naturally willing to spend a large amount of money and food to promote various reforms in the Ming Dynasty.
Naturally, the capital as the heart of the Ming Dynasty was also the first to bear the brunt. Both the infrastructure of the capital and the various cities and towns of the Ming Dynasty have undergone earth-shaking changes.
Therefore, when these Western envoys walked around the capital, what they saw was naturally an extremely prosperous capital.
In the imperial city, Zhu Houzhao and Li Huan looked at the many rare treasures presented by the Western envoys in front of them. It must be said that the Battle of Manlajia, the Ming Dynasty defeated the Spanish army, which was a maritime power.
It has brought great deterrence to these Western countries.
This time when I came to see the Ming Dynasty, I naturally lowered my profile. Although I dare not say that I was completely following the etiquette of the Ming Dynasty to meet the Ming Dynasty, I also presented rare treasures as tribute.
Just like the mechanical clock in front of them, it looked extremely exquisite and luxurious. This clock seemed to be made entirely of gold, with a large number of gems inlaid on it.
Of course, what the emperor valued most was not the material of this clock, but the mechanical manufacturing capabilities of Western countries displayed on this clock.
Historically, the earliest mechanical clock that appeared in the Ming Dynasty was during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty. It was presented to the Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty by Westerners. His exquisiteness and beauty amazed the Wanli Emperor, and he personally ordered someone to set up a palace manufacturing workshop to imitate it.
Li Huan looked at the big clock with a strange look in his eyes. The development of Western science and technology in this era has shown some signs, but to say it has surpassed the Ming Dynasty is really an exaggeration.
The East really started to completely lag behind the West after the Manchus entered the country. During the Ming Dynasty, everyone from the emperor to the common people had a learning attitude towards many advanced technological creations introduced from the West.
Taking a deep breath, Zhu Houzhao caressed the big bell in front of him and said: "Li Qing, you once said that the Western barbarians are undergoing unprecedented changes. The storms caused by this change will become bigger and bigger. Otherwise, we will not be able to survive."
A hundred years later, it will have a great impact on our Ming Dynasty. I didn’t quite believe it before, but now when I look at these things, I am shocked to realize that what Li Qing said is correct.”
Li Huan chuckled and said: "Your Majesty, Westerners may have merits, but our Ming Dynasty is not bad either. In the past few years, the imperial court has attached great importance to craftsman talents, and a large number of people have emerged among the people who can be said to benefit the country.
The inventions and creations of our people, if things go on like this, our Ming Dynasty will always be at the forefront of the world, and there is no need to worry about being surpassed by other countries."
Taking a deep breath, Zhu Houzhao glanced at Li Huan, nodded slightly and said: "Previously, Li Qing wrote to request the establishment of the Royal Gewu Department of the Ming Dynasty. I will order the cabinet to discuss the matter of conferring awards to those craftsmen with astonishing achievements as Grand Masters of Gewu.
, come up with a charter."
Li Huan just nodded. To be honest, Li Huan had been silently promoting changes in Ming Dynasty's treatment of craftsmen.
People in later generations will all know one thing, that is, technology is the primary productive force, and Li Huan naturally knew this.
In this era, the representatives of science and technology are naturally those craftsmen who are ignored or despised by people. People's clothing, food, housing and transportation are inseparable from these craftsmen, but they are at the bottom of society.
It is said that the life of the military households in the Ming Dynasty Guards was the most miserable, but in comparison there were the craftsmen households. The social class of the craftsmen households was not as generous as those of the military households, and they were equally miserable.
However, under the influence of Li Huan over the years, the military households of the Ming Dynasty Guard House have naturally disappeared long ago. There are no longer military households like tenant households. The lives of those craftsmen households have also undergone earth-shaking changes.
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Without alerting anyone, Li Huan disbanded and relocated military households all over the country. At the same time, he also conducted a comprehensive sorting out of the craftsmen households in the world. While abolishing the household registration system that restricted people such as military households and craftsmen households, he also
Naturally, Li Huan would not let go of the skilled craftsmen among the craftsmen.
Having gathered almost 70% to 80% of the skilled craftsmen in the world, the generals under the leadership of Li Huan now have as many as hundreds of thousands of skilled craftsmen. Among them, in Li Huan's view, there are all craftsmen who are capable of miraculous feats.
There are dozens of people.
In Li Huan's view, the value of these craftsmen with amazing talents and miraculous skills, and their contribution to the Ming Dynasty, far exceeded those of the so-called Hanlin scholars.
This is why Li Huan petitioned the emperor to grant these craftsmen the title of Bachelor of Gewu.
In June of the 16th year of Zhengde in the Ming Dynasty
The Western envoys who came to Beijing to meet the Emperor of Heaven were finally summoned by the Emperor of Heaven after a month or two of teaching etiquette at Honglu Temple.
In the solemn Qianqing Palace, there are hundreds of officials, and on both sides of the corridor outside are the royal guards standing solemnly, each one like a statue, exuding a chilling atmosphere.
More than a dozen envoys representing Western countries came towards the Qianqing Palace under the guidance of the ceremonial officers. They looked at the solemn imperial palace along the way. It is conceivable that the impact it brought to everyone was huge.
Under the watchful eyes of hundreds of officials, more than a dozen Western envoys entered the Qianqing Palace respectfully, kowtowed to the emperor with great piety, and then presented their credentials with both hands.
Standing among the hundreds of officials, Li Huan could not help but smile as he watched the envoys from Portugal, Spain, England, the Netherlands and other countries, which represented the Western powers of this era, bowing obediently to the emperor one by one.
What is the Heavenly Kingdom? This is the infinite majesty of the Heavenly Kingdom.
However, Li Huan also knew that these Westerners have always been afraid of power and not immoral. As long as your fist is hard enough, these people will be extremely submissive.
If it were not for the fact that the Ming Dynasty had not defeated Portugal, a Western maritime power, several times at sea, how could these Western countries with their robber-faced faces be so honest?
Accepting certificates of credence from more than a dozen countries in the West gave the court a deeper understanding of the West. Although the ministers in the court knew that there were dozens of countries, large and small, in the far west, but for
In these countries that are thousands of miles apart, most of the officials in the court don't actually have much interest.
However, the attitudes and reactions of these officials are normal. After all, Ming Dynasty is now in an era of rapid development and change.
As a large number of vassals and clansmen of the Ming Dynasty were externalized, the imperial court's pace of external expansion did not stop at all. Especially under the promotion of increasingly powerful nobles and the military, the Ming army had already stepped out of the Ming Dynasty's territory.
It began to expand to all directions.
In the past, the biggest factors that restricted the expansion of the Central Plains dynasty were transportation, the speed of information dissemination, etc. In the final analysis, it was just one thing, that is, the convenience of transportation.
After all, the scope of control of a dynasty has its limits. Even if the territory expands temporarily, if it cannot form effective rule, once the Central Plains dynasty is in turmoil, the territory located in remote border areas will be greatly affected.
Will once again break away from the rule of the Central Plains Dynasty.
Now that Ming Dynasty is able to expand, one of the important factors is the emergence of a large number of smooth and convenient cement roads.
With the victory of the war against Japan, a large number of young Japanese people were turned into captive slaves and used to mine mines and build roads.
You can imagine how much change can be brought about when millions of captives are used to mine and build roads.
Several roads traversing the north and south of the Ming Dynasty were started at the same time, directly using millions of manpower. No matter if such a large-scale project was placed in any dynasty, its direct consequence would be the collapse of the dynasty.
But for the Ming Dynasty, it had no impact at all. Instead of shaking the foundation of the Ming Dynasty, it made the development of the Ming Dynasty seem to have wings.
The roads stretching for thousands of miles are the tentacles of the Ming Dynasty's external expansion. As far as the roads are concerned, the speed at which the Ming Dynasty can send troops and horses has increased several times compared with the past.
In a blink of an eye, more than ten years have passed, and it is already the 30th year of Zhengde in the Ming Dynasty.
A tall building with a height of several feet stands in the place where the general was the prisoner in the past. There are many newly built tall buildings within a radius of several miles. Among them, the Ming Dynasty Royal Collection Department, which has been established for more than ten years, is located here.
A carriage slowly entered the Ming Dynasty Royal Gewusi Yamen, the most eye-catching one.
Luo Tong, one of the Grand Scholars of Gewu conferred by the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, was wearing a robe and respectfully saluted Li Huan and said: "I have seen the Duke of the country."
Although more than ten years have passed, Li Huan does not seem to have changed much compared to back then. He does not look as old as the forty or fifty-year-old people in this era at all, even if Li Huan is only two years old.
No one in their teens would doubt it.
However, after years of pampering and being in a high position, Li Huan has already developed the temperament of a man of power. Looking at Luo Tong in front of him, a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth and said: "I read your report and said it was you.
The steam engine project that the Gewu Division has been studying for nearly twenty years has finally come to fruition, and I am here to take a look!"
Obviously Luo Tong and others already knew Li Huan's intention, so after listening to Li Huan's words, he hurriedly said: "If you want to check the progress of the steam engine, please move outside the city. The newly built steam engine is currently in the city."
Prepare to test the machine outside."
Li Huan raised his eyebrows and said, "Follow me out of the city."
Outside the city, there is a continuous stretch of factory buildings covering an area of more than ten miles, which is where the manufacturing bureau under the Ming Dynasty Royal Collection Department is located.
Li Huan and his party entered an area and saw a rumbling sound coming from a factory building. Along with the sound, there was a column of smoke like wolf smoke.
Seeing this, Li Huan couldn't help but raise his eyebrows and strode forward. Soon an ugly machine the size of an ordinary house appeared in Li Huan's sight.
Its structure is obviously very different from the steam engine in Li Huan's impression, but Li Huan knows that the roaring machine in front of him is the steam engine that he has been staring at for twenty years.
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Since Li Huan took over the general supervision more than 20 years ago, Li Huan has consciously gathered a group of skilled craftsmen to start researching steam engines.
It actually took twenty years from the very beginning of the steam engine principle to the actual working object.
However, in this era, it is acceptable to gather the power of a country, especially under the guidance of Li Huan, and spend twenty years to build a steam engine.
After all, more than ten years ago, the Ming Dynasty's ocean-going fleet entered the Americas and brought back a large amount of local American specialties, such as corn, sweet potatoes, rubber and other products.
Of course, since it entered the vast land of America, it was impossible for Ming Dynasty to turn a blind eye, especially when Western countries also discovered America.
Although America is vast and sparsely populated, there is enough area for both sides to occupy and expand, and it is impossible for the two sides to conflict for a while. However, under Li Huan's personal auspices, the Ming Dynasty relied on its advantages in population and national strength to start
A steady stream of people were transported to the Americas, occupying large areas of fertile land and a large number of mines.
With the large-scale development of Nanyang Province, a large amount of food produced in Nanyang was continuously transported back to the Central Plains in the past ten or twenty years. In addition, Annan, Champa and other places were gradually included in the territory of the Ming Dynasty. Although I dare not say
The Ming Dynasty has since gotten rid of the food crisis, and at least it can ensure the basic food and clothing problems of the Ming Dynasty people.
Once we get rid of the problem of basic food and clothing, the reproductive instinct that seems to be imprinted in genes will take over. Ten or twenty years is almost a generation.
Li Huan still remembers that when the New Deal was implemented, the imperial court counted the Ding population in the world. Although I dare not say that all Ding households were naturalized and counted, they probably accounted for 89% of the entire population. At that time, there were 980 Ding households in total.
There are more than 50,000 households and a population of more than 78.65 million.
Later, the imperial court divided the vassal kings and clans and moved a large number of people to Nanyang and Annan, Champa and even the Japanese Kingdom. Almost tens of millions of people were moved.