"God, this is a god-like country. This city is so huge..."
As soon as the Portuguese envoy Rhodes entered Nanjing, he was stunned. Looking at the wide and straight streets, the beautiful buildings on both sides, and the endless flow of people, he kept exclamating.
The dozen or so Portuguese soldiers who came with him were equally shocked and amazed when they saw the shouts of hawkers coming from the streets on both sides and the Chinese costumes worn by the Han people entering and exiting the restaurants and shops.
Guangzhou City already made them feel very large and prosperous, but compared with the current city, Guangzhou City is like a castle in the countryside.
Seeing this group of Xiyi people yelling and screaming, the staff sent by the governor of Guangzhou looked full of contempt.
It’s no wonder that these Portuguese people reacted like country bumpkins entering the city. The largest city in Europe at this period probably only had a few hundred thousand people, and it was also extremely dirty, without any order, with no clothes on, and no food to eat.
Beggars abound.
But today's Nanjing city has a population of more than 1.5 million. After rectification, the environment has been greatly improved. Coupled with the implementation of the New Deal, beggars are almost no longer seen on the streets. The poorest people at least have something.
Decent cotton clothes, but more of them are wearing brocade clothes.
In Europe, only aristocrats could afford to wear silk clothes, but in Nanjing, even the servants of wealthy families could afford to wear them. The numerous food options along the street simply blinded the eyes of Rhodes and others, and made their eyes water.
Drooled.
As the ghosts and screams of these Portuguese people also attracted people on both sides of the street, but everyone just pointed out curiously and did not watch.
Obviously, many European missionaries have come to the Ming Dynasty over the years, and the people of Nanjing are no longer as novel to the Western Yi people as they used to be.
"Mr. Liu, I want to visit the capital of your country first. I wonder if it will cause you any trouble?"
The group of people walked through the streets and traveled for several miles. Not only did they not reach the end, but the surroundings became more prosperous and lively, and the buildings became more magnificent. Rhodes finally couldn't help but said to the staff, if you can't enjoy it as much as you want,
Visiting this paradise-like city will definitely be the biggest regret in his life.
"There's no rush to visit. I'll have plenty of time then. Let's find a hotel to stay at first, go to the Ministry of Rites to negotiate, and see what the situation is like!"
The staff member's surname was Liu. He spoke calmly and in a gentle tone. It was obvious that he had gained a lot of benefits from Rhodes.
"Okay! I am very confident about whether I can be received by the most distinguished Queen Mother of your country."
Rhodes had no choice but to suppress his impatience to go have some fun immediately and nodded.
Although the staff member surnamed Liu despised the Portuguese's directness, he did not refute it. These guys did bring a lot of rare treasures this time, and they might be able to please the Queen Mother and get summoned.
If you come to pay tribute, you can go directly to the Ministry of Rites, and the Ministry of Rites will also arrange accommodation, but Rhodes is here to negotiate on behalf of Portugal, let alone accommodation. If there are no official documents and private messages from the governor of Guangdong, the Ministry of Rites will probably ignore them.
Because in the eyes of officials from the Ministry of Rites, no country in the world is qualified to be on an equal footing with the Ming Dynasty.
Either they are vassal states who come to pay tribute and request the Ming Dynasty to be canonized, or they are barbarians who do not know the heights of the world and are arrogant. As for negotiation, it is impossible.
So after the staff member named Liu took Rhodes and others to stay in an inn, when they went to the Ministry of Rites to submit official documents the next day, Rhodes was kicked out as soon as he said that he was here to negotiate with the Ming Dynasty on behalf of the Kingdom of Portugal.
"Mr. Liu, your officials are so rude. How can they treat a diplomat like this?"
"Sir Rhodes, I have warned you long ago not to claim that you are here to negotiate. If you say that you are here to see the treasure, why do you still make the decision on your own?"
The staff member surnamed Liu was also a little annoyed that he was disobedient, causing him to be embarrassed and kicked out.
"Okay, Mr. Luo, what should we do next?"
Rhodes also knew that his eyes were darkened.
"It seems that we can only visit the Minister of Etiquette directly."
The staff member surnamed Liu said helplessly, although it is not difficult to meet the Minister of Rites with a private message from the Governor, but which of these high-ranking officials in Nanjing is not a person who eats people without spitting out their bones?
Let them eat one more bite, and he will have to eat one less bite. After all, the silver and treasures brought by these Portuguese are limited, which is why he did not go directly to the Ministry of Rites to submit a letter as soon as he arrived.
Sure enough, there was a private message from the governor of Guangdong. The Minister of Rites reluctantly met with the two of them. Rhodes gave him a glass mirror and ten thousand taels of silver. The Minister of Rites finally agreed to help present the memorial.
However, the Minister of Rites did not dare to go directly past Mage Lao to report to the Queen Mother. As a result, he reported the matter to Ma Shiying, who only replied that he would report it when he had time and ignored it.
The staff member surnamed Liu was helpless after receiving the reply from the Minister of Rites. He knew this would be the result. This time, Rhodes brought only two glass mirrors in total. The smaller one was given to the Minister of Rites, and the larger one was intended to be presented to the Queen Mother.
, so he had to ask Rhodes to give 30,000 taels of silver to Ma Shiying as a tribute.
Ma Shiying, who had received the money, also knew that the Queen Mother was very concerned about the wealthy Portuguese, so he did not continue to delay and took the time to report it to Zhang Yan.
I have to say that Rhodes is still very lucky, because Zhu Cixiang's reply regarding how to deal with the Portuguese in Macau has arrived.
So when she learned that the Portuguese had sent an envoy to Nanjing to meet with them, Zhang Yan immediately decided to summon them in person. As for the so-called treasures, she didn't care.
The Portuguese indeed spent a lot of money this time. Although there were only two treasures presented to Zhang Yan, they are very rare even in Europe.
One is a bottle of rose perfume prepared by the top master in France, and the other is a full-length mirror that took a lot of effort to be transported to the Ming Dynasty. It is two meters high and one meter wide.
Such a large glass mirror is extremely easy to break at sea, so under normal circumstances, the Xiyi people would not transport such a large mirror to the Ming Dynasty. They were usually small mirrors as big as a palm, or a little larger at most.
Such a large full-length mirror is extremely rare even in Europe, so when the guards carefully carried the mirror to the main hall, the civil and military officials in the hall were amazed.
Even Zhang Yan stood up, a little moved, and the affection in her eyes was self-evident. As for the bottle of rose perfume, because the fragrance was too strong, she didn't like it.
"Such a large mirror is indeed a rare treasure. Your country is interested, so the Ai family accepted it."
Zhang Yan quickly returned to her usual demeanor and nodded towards Rhodes.
Xun'er said that he would trade with those Western barbarian countries on an equal footing in the future, so he did not pretend to be a superior country.
Then a group of eunuchs carefully carried the mirror to the harem.