While Ling Yunyi and Gong Xian were conquering the city, Xu Guangqi, who was on an envoy to Europe, officially began his career as an envoy. Chinese literati, who do not have the mentality of being a concubine, all have the ambition to be a class leader - the so-called turning one body into a corner of the world, Xiao Ru
Among all the countries, the number of people who have accomplished extraordinary feats is Zhang Qian, Fu Jiezi, Ban Chao, and Chen Tang.
Xu Guangqi's life was very smooth. Although his family was not rich since he was a child, it was able to support his career without too much hardship, and he did not have to worry about hunger or cold. Later he ran away from home willfully and suffered some hardships on the road, which lasted only a hundred days.
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After entering the capital, Xu Guangqi started a life of cheating and winning. He became proficient in the study of objects and soon became outstanding in the study of objects. What he never expected was that he would win the title of princess.
Favored, he became the Prince Consort, and in his twenties reached the destination that others spent their entire lives reaching.
The twenty-five-year-old Earl Xu has reached the peak of his life inexplicably, and he often feels as if he is in a dream. What is even more amazing is that he is now in the land of Europe, a hundred thousand miles away from home, far surpassing Zhang Qian and Ban Chao.
The farthest distance he could reach - he had no doubt that he would forever be remembered in history.
On the seventh day of September in the twelfth year of Wanli, October 10, 1584 AD in the Julian calendar, after Xu Guangqi disembarked from the ship at the pier, he was directly taken to the Governor's Palace in Lisbon - which was also the residence of the Marquis of Denia.
After simply washing and changing clothes, Xu Guangqi, Luo Mingjian and the main members of the envoy, such as Wang Jiaping, the right deputy envoy of the Ministry of Rites, and Ma Jinglun, the academician of the Gewu Academy, attended the reception banquet of the Marquis of Denia. Liu Chengxi, the head of the escort group, and others
A part of the guards stationed at the Governor's Palace were counting the cargo on board the ship and guarding it at the dock warehouse.
At the banquet, Envoy Perez took the lead in raising a toast, expressing his welcome to Lisbon, the first stop of Xu Guangqi's visit to the Iberian Confederation, on behalf of Felipe, and looking forward to Xu Guangqi's visit to Madrid. Felipe II will be very happy.
We are willing to receive distinguished guests from the East.
After Xu Guangqi expressed his gratitude, the Marquis of Denia expressed his welcome on behalf of Lisbon, and Xu Guangqi spoke again to thank him. Afterwards, guests took turns to wish Zhu Yijun long live and have a toast; then they wished Felipe II good health and had a toast.
——After that, we started talking casually.
"Your Excellency, before you were twenty years old, you were a commoner in Seris? Didn't you have any title?" This was asked by the Marquis of Denia after Luo Mingjian introduced Xu Guangqi's personal experience.
Xu Guangqi smiled and nodded in agreement. With his nod, just as Luo Mingjian expected, there were waves of exclamations at the banquet.
It's so amazing! Just like a beautiful fairy tale, a former commoner married the emperor's sister, a real princess!
A noble lady with her face covered in white powder and waving a small silk and feather folding fan shouted: "Your Excellency, you must have that omnipotent magic lamp!"
"One Thousand and One Nights" has not yet been compiled into a volume in Europe, but there are many manuscripts. There are many versions of Aladdin's story at this time. In some versions, he gained a palace and wealth, and some versions are close to the final version.
——Aladdin finally married a Chinese princess.
It is worth mentioning that many of the protagonists in this collection of Arabic fairy tales are Chinese, including Aladdin. And many of the places and characters in the entire "One Thousand and One Nights" originate from the Arab world and Europeans' views of China.
The imagination of Xu Guangqi and his experience satisfied all these, and even exceeded the imagination of everyone in the Marquis Mansion.
The countess who just spoke was wearing a typical Spanish-style dress at this time. The ruff collar was layered around her neck. Below it was a narrow V-shaped placket that exposed the edge of the silk lace underwear. The tip almost reached her chest, revealing a piece of snow-white skin.
The necklace hanging from the ruff collar hangs all the way to the chest, where it forms a ball shape, and then continues downward. There is a pearl at the end that is placed on the bell-style silk skirt. The material of the skirt is mainly green.
Colorful silk with intricate embroidery patterns.
All members of the official mission received training in the capital about the common sense of European life and customs before setting off, including of course the main attire of European men and women at this time.
Therefore, the Chinese people in the mission were not intimidated by these bare-chested women. Xu Guangqi just smiled when he heard this, revealing the mystery of the beautiful oriental man and the ubiquitous exotic style, which made the Chinese who had entered the "humanism" era like the Ming Dynasty
The ladies were very excited.
When they met for the first time, everyone was relatively reserved and had no verbal exchanges - at least, the Catholic fanatics who filled the banquet hall did not inquire about the beliefs of Xu Guangqi and others. Or maybe Luo Mingjian had already instructed them before, and everyone avoided talking about this issue.
Later, someone became interested in the "scepter" that Xu Guangqi had been carrying. An old marquis asked if this was the scepter of the Earl of the East. Xu Guangqi explained: "Of course not, even the emperor in China does not use a scepter."
To mark one's authority. This is a token in the hand of the envoy, representing that the person holding this staff has the authority of the emperor."
The old Marquis asked again what the animal was on the scepter. Xu Guangqi explained: "As the representative of the emperor, there are three kinds of scepters. In our country 2,600 years ago, the Yuan Saint Zhou Gongdan made the "Zhou Rites",
Among them, the chapter "Diguan·Zhangjie" says: "Festivals of all countries: Mountain country uses tiger festival, earth country uses people festival, and Ze country uses dragon festival."
"Because Lisbon, Spain is a seaport city, I used the Dragon Festival." Xu Guangqi was unconsciously proud of his speech, and his expression was also somewhat complacent. After all, the "rituals" of these two thousand and six hundred years ago - although several
Ciyi and Di were seriously ill in China, but they still kept on going, and now the beauty of China is restored in the hands of the Ming Dynasty.
It has been nearly a hundred years since Spain launched its great voyages. Apart from respecting the Ottoman Empire around it, it has never encountered a civilization similar to the Greek civilization. At this time, when I heard the term "two thousand six hundred years", Xu Guangqi was not surprised.
As expected, they all took a breath of cold air.
Immediately, someone asked what kind of animal he just pronounced "lone". Xu Guangqi could only continue to explain: "Dragon is a mythical beast. Its body has nine similarities: the head is like a camel, the horns are like a deer, the eyes are like a rabbit, and the ears are like
The cow has a neck like a snake, a belly like a mirage, scales like a carp, claws like an eagle, and palms like a tiger." After speaking, he raised his sleeves, pointed to the dark lines and wild patterns on them, and said, "It's very similar to this."
After listening to Xu Guangqi's introduction and seeing the wild pattern, Perez exclaimed: "dragon!"
Luo Mingjian, who was sitting next to Xu Guangqi, quickly interjected: "No. The Chinese 'dragon' is completely different from Draco, although both are legendary creatures. The Chinese 'dragon' has a beard next to its mouth and a pearl under its chin.
, there is a reverse scale under its throat, which is responsible for making clouds and rain. It is an auspicious beast, completely different from Draco who only breathes fire and destroys."
After listening to Luo Mingjian's explanation, Xu Guangqi realized that Perez understood the dragon as "Draco" - which also means "devil" in Latin.
He hurriedly took over the topic and said: "A dragon can be big or small, it can rise or disappear; when it is big, it stirs up clouds and spits out mist; when it is small, it hides and hides its form; when it rises, it soars in the universe; when it is hidden, it lurks within the waves. Chinese Sage Confucius once said of his teacher Lao Tzu, "As for the dragon, I don't know. It rides the wind and clouds to the sky. When I see Lao Tzu today, is he just like a dragon?" The Chinese also believe that the emperor is a real dragon - the emperor who is praised by the world for his benevolence and righteousness. , how could it be Draco."
The two people hurriedly explained with pale faces, making the Europeans present realize the seriousness of this problem. It involves the emperor, and they cannot be indiscriminate.
After listening to Xu Guangqi's explanation, Perez said to Luo Mingjian: "Then please tell me, Bishop, what should we call it."
Luo Mingjian smiled and said: "I think lon or ron are both good. When we can't understand it, it's better to call it by its pronunciation instead of using something completely irrelevant."
Everyone nodded in agreement, and someone immediately suggested a toast to China’s magical ‘lon’. After Xu Guangqi wiped off a cold sweat, he raised his glass and drank the wine with a smile.