Under the starry sky and above the sea, Prince Charles looked at the lighthouse and sighed.
Not only him, but also envoys from France, Portugal, Persia, India, and Arabia were all staring at the bright lighthouse with dumbfounded eyes.
The lighthouse was built on Naozhou Island. The last emperor of the Southern Song Dynasty once made his capital here and upgraded Naozhou Island to Xianglong County. Then came the Battle of Yashan and the sinking of Shenzhou.
Zhang Ruifeng and Fan Chao were equally surprised when they saw the towering lighthouse.
Because when they went to sea, construction had just started here.
Maritime merchants from Gaozhou Prefecture and Leizhou Prefecture donated money to build a Tianhou Palace. Then, with government funding and donations from believers, a 36-meter-high Mazu Pagoda was built inside the Tianhou Palace.
In addition to belief, the real function of Mazu Tower is actually a lighthouse.
Moreover, a glass lens is used on the top to block the wind, somewhat similar to the Algonquin lamp. Due to the difficulty of making giant convex lenses, existing glass technology is expensive and heavy. Therefore, only a large convex lens is used in the middle part, and many small convex lenses are used up, down, left and right.
, it looks a bit like a Fresnel lens.
No matter what kind of lens light it is, anyway, the brightness is increased several times by doing this.
The Guangzhou Navy has moved here and turned Naozhou Island into a military port. Of course, there are also civilians on the island, supplemented by farming and mainly fishing. In addition to the military port, other ports and fishing villages are crowded with fishing boats docked everywhere at night.
As for trading ships, they can follow the lighthouse at night and dock at ports such as Haikang, Wuchuan, and Zhanjiang.
Zhanjiang was still a small fishing village at this time, but it was engaged in smuggling in the Ming Dynasty. After Emperor Zhao opened the sea, it quickly emerged as an outer port of Suixi County, and a small lighthouse was also built in the port.
That night, the envoy fleet and envoys from various countries stopped at the military port to rest.
Thanks to smooth winds and smooth water, they successfully arrived at Guangzhou Port the next night.
It was already midnight, and the lights outside Guangzhou were still bright. Envoys from various countries were allowed to disembark and move around, but they were not allowed to run around and had to follow Chinese officials all the way.
"There are so many lights, how much does it cost for one night?" The messenger from the Mughals felt that he was in heaven.
Prince Charles looked at everything around him excitedly: "Is there really a city that never sleeps in the world?"
At this time, the French aristocrats were the most luxurious in Europe. They often stayed up late at night to have fun. But this was limited to the Paris aristocrats, because only the French royal family could afford to light hundreds of candles and hold dance parties.
As for the city of Paris, it is pitch dark at night. Therefore, excrement workers are a high-risk occupation. They are not allowed to work during the day and can only collect excrement in the dark at night. Every month, excrement workers fall into the pit and drown.
No decent people were willing to do this work, which resulted in a severe shortage of excrement workers and made the whole city stink.
But here in China, lanterns are lit at night and cheap grease is used for lighting.
There is no need for street lights. This shop has a lantern, and that shop has a lantern. The small vendors along the street light oil lamps in their stalls and put a cover on them as the light source.
"Aren't the city gates open at night?" Charles asked.
Pan Wei explained: "The city gates are closed at night, but there is also a night market in the city."
The rise of night markets has brought a heavier management burden to the government. Public security issues are secondary, and the main problem is that fire protection must be done well. There are wooden houses everywhere in the city, and accidental fires may occur if you are not careful.
As night markets appeared in more and more cities, the imperial court also made corresponding regulations.
First, classify a certain area of the city as a legal night market to facilitate centralized fire management. Blocks that are not classified as night markets are not allowed to set up stalls or light fires at night.
Second, in the police force, special "sailors" are set up whose main responsibility is to guard the night market and perform firefighting. Shops and vendors operating in the night market must pay additional "water fees" every month.
Charles was unable to enter the city at this time and could only follow the Chinese officials and wander around the night market outside the city.
Night markets outside the city mainly serve business travelers.
Food stalls can be seen everywhere. Hungry sailors, if they dock with the ship in the middle of the night, they will rush to the night market to eat and drink. Of course there is food on the ship, but it is not comfortable to eat ashore, and if you hold it in for too long, you will feel like eating.
Step on the ground more.
Senior staff such as captains and accountants also have corresponding mid-to-high-end consumption places.
When he reached a street corner, Pan Wei took a look and immediately turned back.
"Why don't you go to the front?" asked a Persian official.
Pan Wei said: "It's very dirty there."
There are high, medium and low-end brothels in the Huajie Liuxiang red light district, which is a must for large ports. The crew stays at sea for a long time. Once they dock, they want to drink, eat and find women.
However, there are very few local prostitutes.
Especially in mid- to low-end brothels, local women are almost impossible to find.
Because families living in difficulty can apply for immigration, Guangzhou mainly immigrate to Nanyang to enrich the population of various overseas territories.
Over there in Coconut City (Batavia), there is a huge shortage of Han women, and women are frequently seeking divorce. The story of a helpless woman in Guangzhou who went to Coconut City and instantly became a treasure has long been spread. There is even a dedicated
Marriage agencies operate all over the coastal cities of Guangdong. Women under the age of 30 go to sea, and all meals and lodging are included. They can get married immediately when they arrive in Coconut City.
Who would want to be a prostitute when there are better options?
The mid- to low-end brothels in Guangzhou are all filled with women bought from overseas. Moreover, it is very convenient to "purchase" goods. There is an underground slave market in Macau, but the government turns a blind eye to this.
The wealthy people in coastal areas also raised domestic slaves again.
For housework that is purely labor-intensive, slaves can be purchased directly to do it, and they can also be brought with them to show off when they go out. However, the maids who serve tea and water, and the boys who greet them, have to hire local talents. Overseas slaves are bought.
too stupid.
This has led to an increase in the status of maids and servants, and it is difficult to find those who are comfortable with them. They can only sign contracts for five years at most, and they can choose to change jobs after the contract expires.
As long as they are smart and able to get things done, the maids and servants will live a comfortable life and are regarded as confidants by their employers. In order to win over them, the employers will help with matchmaking and give them some betrothal gifts and dowries to help them start a family, start a career and settle down.
Early in the morning, envoys from various countries wanted to visit the city, but the fleet had not yet docked and needed to replenish fresh water vegetables.
Before they even entered the city, they saw a team leaving the city.
The ones leading the way were veterans hired with high salaries. There were only two or three veterans, and their subordinates were all dark-skinned domestic slaves, and it was impossible to tell where they came from overseas.
The person carrying the sedan was also a domestic slave, his skin looked darker, and he was probably from a small country in India.
The young boy following the sedan was obviously Chinese. This young boy was actually wearing silk clothes and walked so arrogantly that some people thought he was a young man from some family.
Behind the sedan, there were some more house slaves.
People cheering in front and crowding behind, the scene was huge.
Zhang Ruifeng also planned to go to the city for a stroll. Seeing this scene, he couldn't help but ask passers-by: "Whose master is this?"
The passerby replied: "Mr. Chen is engaged in maritime business. The Chen family has dozens of ships."
Zhang Ruifeng muttered: "Even the nobles in Nanjing don't dare to show off. These maritime merchants are really rich and courageous."
After everyone entered the city, they saw another luxurious carriage.
Since the Monan grassland was recovered, the imperial court completely opened up horse trading. As a result, more and more wealthy people bought good horses to show their status, and this trend quickly spread to Guangzhou.
Tianjin, Lushun and Tamna (Jeju Island) have a large number of horses shipped south every year.
At first, the rich people in the south rushed to buy good horses, and gradually began to compete for carriages. Gold and silver plating was the basic operation. Some people even used Yun brocade as curtains, and the styles of carriages became diverse.
There were even shock-absorbing devices, and craftsmen were hired to make springs out of fine steel to prevent the carriage from traveling too bumpy.
After a whole morning of shopping, I still haven’t finished sightseeing in Guangzhou.
Thomas, who came from the countryside outside London, looked at the pedestrians on the street and the dazzling array of shops, and whispered to Charles: "Your Majesty, is this the largest and richest city in China?"
Charles shook his head: "I heard that Nanjing, the capital of China, is bigger and richer than here."
Several young men with obvious European characteristics, all with scribes' swords hanging on their waists, one of them with red hair, were talking and laughing as they walked towards the envoys from various countries.
A Portuguese envoy couldn't help but stepped forward and asked: "Are you Portuguese or Dutch?"
The red-haired young man who was questioned was furious, drew his sword and roared: "I am not Portuguese, I am a Chinese citizen, I believe in Mazu, I have graduated from middle school, and I studied at Guangzhou University (at my own expense)!
You foreign barbarian, if you dare to talk nonsense again, do you believe that I will kill you with a sword?"
The Portuguese envoy was so frightened that he backed away and muttered: "You are not Portuguese, how can you speak Portuguese? And you have red hair."
When the red-haired young man heard the last sentence, he immediately became even more angry: "In just two or three generations, my descendants will be black-haired, and they have nothing to do with you barbarians!" He said, speaking in Cantonese, "I'm angry.
It kills me, I am considered a barbarian, I must dye my hair black today!"
Pascal, a scientist from France, silently observed all this.
He was troubled by the conflict between faith and science. When he heard that the red-haired boy believed in Mazu, Pascal's expression immediately became very strange.
Can beliefs really be changed at will?
If you become a pagan, will God punish you? But the Chinese here don’t believe in Jehovah, but they live well and have built such a prosperous country.
What kind of existence is God?
The other scholars sent by the Queen of France were all writers and artists. They took the initiative to ignore issues of faith, admired Chinese architecture and costumes along the way, and recorded them casually. They were amazed by many gadgets.
The task of the Portuguese envoys was to request a marriage from the Chinese emperor.
On the way, they learned that all the Portuguese ports in Ceylon had been taken away by the Dutch. Now seeing the wealth in Guangzhou, these Portuguese envoys were very excited. As long as they marry China, Portugal's Asian colonies will be stable!
The Persian and Mughal envoys were simply shocked. They made up their mind to persuade the emperor to make good relations with China after returning home.
The city of Guangzhou alone has already impressed the envoys from various countries.