In the southwest corner of Beijing, there is a government office next to a busy street. Old Beijingers know that if you want to buy some weird things or sell some weird things, this is the right place to go.
This is the Huitong Pavilion of the imperial court. The Huitong Pavilion is a post house, but the people in this post house are not the officials of the Ming Dynasty, but the people who come to pay tribute from the vassals of the Ming Dynasty. And Li Li led by Grisha
After people were taught basic Ming etiquette by Honglu Temple, they were sent from the Guest House of Honglu Temple to the Huitong Hall.
This place is under the jurisdiction of the Host and Guest Department of the Ministry of Rites. Currently, Grisha and her entourage can only be regarded as "naturalized people from the four barbarians, etc." and are not qualified as tribute envoys. After the introduction is sent, they will wait for the arrangement of the court or the emperor.
During the period of their reception, this will be their temporary residence. As for their daily meals and meals, the hosts and guests will naturally be responsible for them.
When vassals from all over the world came to pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty, in addition to the tributes they carried, the missions themselves usually carried some special products from their own countries, which were then sold in Beijing to make a profit. The Ming Dynasty court did not object to this matter, and even specially sent officials from the Ministry of Rites.
They opened a market near the Huitong Pavilion, so when there were tribute missions living here, the area near the Huitong Pavilion was very lively, and the people of Beijing were a little surprised.
However, this year's situation is a bit strange. In addition to the fact that the mission from Goryeo has not yet arrived every year, in the short period of one or two months, this joint residence has accommodated two groups of guests who came to pay tribute.
However, it seems that these two groups of owners are not very keen on these business activities. Except for a few people who go out occasionally, most of the time, these people stay in the hall eating and stuffing.
Just like now, a group of people are having a great time eating together in the restaurant.
Grisha looked at the dishes on the table and touched her belly, with a look of distress on her face.
She really couldn't eat anymore, but the smiling Ming official kept urging her to try this and that! There were so many dishes, even just a little bit of them would be enough to kill someone.
She used to think that the food she had eaten with Zhu Yunniang at Qian Wubing's place was delicious. However, now these exquisite foods that seemed not to be eaten could no longer be used as delicious food.
To describe it in words, this is simply a masterpiece of God. Compared with the food she used to entertain guests in the palace of the Roman Empire, it is almost like the food eaten by common people and the food eaten by nobles.
"Do they also eat the same food as us?" Through the screen, you can see the outside of the small courtyard with the whirling bamboo shadows, and there is a courtyard with a similar layout, and there are also people moving there.
"This is different!" The young official still said with a smile: "Those barbarians don't know where they came from. They didn't even know the land of our Ming Dynasty, so they came here and wanted to borrow some land from our Ming Dynasty.
As for "overwintering", is our Ming Dynasty's land so easy to borrow? It's so beautiful for them! And you can't compare to these outsiders. We are our own people. After a long journey, we are going home again.
Of course you have to treat them well!"
Pointing to the yard over there, there was a hint of contempt in the smile on the young official's face. Although the Li people in front of him were considered barbarians in the eyes of Ming officials, they had been naturalized in the Central Plains during the Han Dynasty.
, the friendship that has lasted for more than a thousand years is much closer than the barbarians who came from nowhere!
"The interpreter they brought has been seriously ill in the past two days. We can't even send a suitable person to the Siyi Pavilion. We don't even know where their country is. Where can we find someone to learn how to speak with them?
If the eunuch Sanbao was here, it would be easy to find some interpreters. At that time, when all the nations came to court, people would come from all over the place. Eunuch Sanbao must have been to the place where they came. It would be easy to find a few people to be the interpreters.
No simple matter!”
"Ah!" Grisha's eyes widened with surprise on her face.
"Don't you use it?" the young official advised the elder Li Ren on the side. Although he had long seen that the only little girl in the mission who could communicate with him normally had a very respected status, but as the only one in the team,
He still has to respect the elders.
Elder Li waved his hand to indicate that he was full. The young official wanted to persuade him again, but was suddenly shocked by Grisha's words.
"I know where they come from!" Grisha looked at the faces of the young officials: "They are Puduli's family!"
"Pu Duli's family?" The official nodded, and those people seemed to have said this. Unfortunately, the interpreter was originally a second-hand man, and fell ill as soon as he came. As a result, he now has difficulty communicating with the other party.
Otherwise, the other party's details would have been made clear long ago.
"Maybe you don't call him that, let me think about it?" Grisha and the entourage beside her muttered a few words, then turned around and said, "Franks, or Frank, do you have this name?"
"Frank?...&*...%@...￥" The young official refused a few words, as if he suddenly remembered something: "Aren't you talking about Franji? There seems to be this name in the south, they are Folang.
Robot?"
"To be precise, they are Puduli people from Folangji!" Grisha tilted her head and thought for a moment, "Puduli, Puduli, haha, in Ming dialect, do you think this looks like it or not?
Portugal is three words!”
"Miss Grisa is so knowledgeable, haha!" the young official laughed, and then muttered, "Portugal, what the hell is this name!"
"Can I go and have contact with them?" Grisha looked at her accompanying officials and said with some hope. He didn't know if private contacts between different envoy groups would not be allowed in this empire!
"Of course, but those drunkards are very rude. Miss Grisha can just talk to them from a distance. Huh? Miss Grisha understands what they say?"
"I understand!" Grisha laughed, with a smile like a little fox that had stolen an old hen.
Portugal is surrounded by Spain on three sides and is almost cut off from the European continent; on one side it faces the vast Atlantic Ocean and the distant and unknown new world. In Europe, Portugal is also known as "the place where the land disappears".
Apart from developing towards the sea, the Portuguese have no other way out, this is destined.
In the past few decades, the Portuguese have settled in the Madeira Islands, which are rich in products, and then arrived in the Azores Islands in the Atlantic Ocean. In the following more than 20 years, the Portuguese even reached Africa and brought back goods from Africa on their return voyage.
Portugal bought some black slaves. This was the first slave trade in European history. From then on, cheap black slaves appeared in the European market. Immediately afterwards, Prince Henry’s captains passed the desert coast and entered the rich West African coast.
They expanded to places such as Cape Verde (Green Cape) in West Africa,1 and then arrived at the Cape Verde Islands. Until the death of King Henry of Portugal fifty years ago, the Portuguese had explored Sierra Leone in West Africa and established a large number of traders along the coast of West Africa.
stand.
With the expansion of their colonies, their powerful fleets followed, all of which brought a flood of wealth to Portugal. It was this wealth that made Grisha's father not hesitate to send his young
The daughter travels thousands of miles away, trying to open up a golden trade route to bring fresh blood to the empire that needs money everywhere.
You said, how could Grisa not recognize these Portuguese people with rosy noses and red hair who are famous in Europe?
Of course, when Grisha came to the Eastern Empire, these Portuguese people also came from the ocean to the south of the empire. For Grisha, this was not a good thing.
These redheads, who relied on their powerful fleets to snatch colonies one after another, obviously realized that their colonial policy would not work in this powerful empire. They wanted to change their strategies and use gentler means to carry out trade in this empire.
.
I have to say that this is a very good wish. They came from the sea, and the route must have been opened up long ago. Once their trade started, they and Grisha achieved the same goal-bypassing the Arabs.
, allowing the endless wealth of the East to reach Europe directly.
However, their current situation is obviously not a little bit worse than that of Grisha. At least, in this hall, Grisha and her party are treated as guests, while these Portuguese people are left in the same place.
Here, there is a sense of self-destruction.
"What the hell!" A redhead with a mouth full of alcohol licked the last drop of wine in the bowl and muttered loudly: "Where's the wine? First mate, first mate, give your Captain Benson another drink!"
There was a sound of footsteps behind him, and the guy named Benson turned around with blurred eyes. The saliva from the corner of his mouth flowed out unconsciously. He was dreaming. How could he see this skin in this damn place?
For such a delicate white woman, she must have not touched a woman for too long to have such hallucinations.
It's just an illusion anyway, so it doesn't matter if you touch it! He blinked his eyes and grabbed the chest of the woman or girl who raised her chin slightly.
Grisha did not expect that the drunkard in front of her would suddenly act like this. She was caught off guard, and a pair of small pigeon breasts was grasped by the drunkard in his hand. Before the attendant behind her kicked the drunkard away with a scream, she was already kicked.
The other party grabbed and squeezed me hard!
The young official became a little panicked. The Li princess next to him (or so he thought) was scorned on the spot. Her face turned red with anger and she looked like she was about to commit suicide in shame and anger. The princess's entourage was taking the slutty Portuguese again.
The Portuguese people who were beaten to death but were not completely drunk also began to get up from the table and the ground to join the fighting group. The drunkards in the yard looked like princesses, tables, chairs and dishes flew together, and a big melee broke out.
In front of him, the performance started with great fanfare.