On the afternoon of September 19th, after a long journey of nearly a month and spanning thousands of miles, Zhang Yanling and his group of more than a dozen people finally entered the city of Guangzhou.
Guangzhou City is obviously an ancient city with a very long history. The Qin Dynasty unified the world and established Nanhai County. Guangzhou City is the seat of Nanhai County. It has a history of nearly two thousand years.
Over the past two thousand years, the people living in this land have changed countless times, but what remains unchanged is that Baiyun Mountain is still beautiful and green, and the Pearl River is still flowing slowly. In these long years, the city of Guangzhou has become more and more beautiful.
It is becoming more and more prosperous, becoming more and more majestic, and its status is becoming more and more important.
The location of Guangzhou Mansion is in line with the essence of Feng Shui. It is located between mountains and rivers. It is backed by Baiyun Mountain and Yuexiu Mountain, and faces the Pearl River, which runs wide into the sea. What is rare is that there is a flat land between the mountains and rivers.
For building a city, it can be said to be a geomantic treasure land with mountains on its back and water on its side.
Since the Tang and Song Dynasties, Guangzhou has been an important place for maritime trade. In later generations, Guangzhou was the main port of the so-called Maritime Silk Road. It is a world-famous oriental port.
Guangzhou was originally composed of three cities in the east, middle and west. Each has an artificial river running from north to south into the three cities, connecting the Pearl River and becoming an inland river navigation channel.
During the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty, Guangzhou Prefecture carried out some renovations, opening up the city walls between the three cities, connecting the three cities to the Hao River, and integrating the three cities into one. The left and right wing cities were expanded on the east and west sides, and the city outline was expanded in the north and south.
At this point, the entire city of Guangzhou has reached an astonishing scale of more than ten miles in radius. It has a population of nearly 90,000 households and more than 500,000 people. It has also become the most prosperous state capital in the Lingnan area.
After Zhang Yanling and his party entered the city, they were quickly attracted by this city full of Lingnan style. The whole city gave Zhang Yanling the feeling that it was full of vitality, vitality and vitality.
On the one hand, on the streets and in the rivers, carriages, horses and canopies loaded with goods flowed endlessly. It was a lively scene. On the other hand, in the bamboo shed teahouse facing the street, many people sat leisurely inside drinking tea and chatting.
They shook their fans and communicated in words that Zhang Yanling and others could not understand, and from time to time they let out hearty laughter. There was a sharp contrast between movement, silence, busyness and leisure.
The key point is that the people sitting under the shed drinking tea are not all well-dressed people. They look like ordinary people. They are dressed in ordinary clothes and drink tea from porcelain bowls. They drink, and then run away after shouting.
It was really fun to go to the small dock and start moving the goods.
Before entering the city, Zhang Yanling was a little worried that the costumes of herself, Chen Shiyi and others were too eye-catching. After all, there were more than a dozen cavalry, they were dressed very brightly, and their mounts were also tall horses. But after entering the city, she found that this
Such worries are simply unnecessary.
There are all kinds of people on the streets of Guangzhou Prefecture. There are all kinds of people. Some are riding tall horses and wearing brocade clothes, swaggering through the city. Some are sitting in gorgeous carriages with only the roof left, looking left and right as if there is no one else. Ordinary people wear short clothes, and some even
She was shirtless and wearing straw sandals. In short, no one paid any attention to Zhang Yanling when she walked on the street. They were not too conspicuous.
Not long after entering the city, Zhang Yanling saw the person he wanted to see. On a strange-style carriage speeding past, two people wearing black top hats, high-collared lace robes, and leather boots
The men passed by chatting and laughing. Zhang Yanling saw their big noses, golden hair, and sharp facial features. Coupled with their attire, she quickly realized that these guys were Chinese and European.
Caucasian.
Zhang Yanling knew that the Flemish Kingdom was Portugal in later generations. During this historical period, only the Portuguese had the ability to cross the ocean and come to the Ming Dynasty. These people were probably the merchants of the Flemish Kingdom.
What surprised Zhang Yanling even more was that the people on the street seemed to be used to this. They didn't feel particularly curious when they saw the blond, blue-eyed and strange-looking Fanguo people. The people nearby didn't even look at them.
And the group of Flemish people on the carriage actually looked as if no one was around and they were content. It stands to reason that when the Fan people came to Daming, they should be cautious. Thinking of the known merchant ships of the Flemish country occupying Tuen Mun,
Zhang Yanling was immediately confused about the fact that the court had failed to drive him away.
In Zhang Yanling's imagination, since the merchant ships of the Flemish Kingdom forcibly occupied Tuen Mun and the imperial court wanted to expel them, the relationship between the two parties must have been tense and hostile. How could there be people from the Flemish Kingdom riding carriages swaggering through the market as if no one else was around?
?Furthermore, judging from the attitude of the local people towards the people of Folangji, they should see such scenes often, so it is commonplace.
That is to say, the report received by the imperial court may not be accurate. And the merchants and personnel of the Folangji Kingdom should appear in large numbers and often in Guangzhou, so they are regarded as ordinary. That is to say, the businessmen and personnel of the Folangji Kingdom should be regarded as ordinary.
People's merchants came and went frequently, and it was by no means as simple as just arriving and occupying Tuen Mun recently.
If this is true, the Ming Dynasty's sea ban may have been lonely.
Of course, Zhang Yanling didn't want to draw conclusions prematurely. He had just arrived here, and he didn't know the specific situation yet, and he couldn't even distinguish between east, west, north and south. It was inappropriate to draw hasty conclusions.
What we need to do now is to find a place to live, settle down, and then conduct an in-depth investigation step by step to understand the situation inside.
Everyone walked east along a street and found an inn to stay temporarily in a secluded alley in Dongcheng.
That night, Zhang Yanling called everyone for a brief meeting.
"Brothers, our trip is not to visit the mountains and rivers, but to investigate important matters incognito. According to what I told you before, from now on, we are merchants from the north. I am Zhang Yi, Dongjia Zhang, and General Chen is
My butlers, you are all my companions and attendants. Stop calling me Lord Marquis and Lord Marquis. Use the same name and call me Master instead."
"As you command, Master." Everyone said hurriedly.
"Very good. I'm afraid we have to stay here for a while. It's very inconvenient for us to ride horses and carry firearms and grenades. So for the convenience of movement, we need to find another place to live. It's best to find a house to rent.
.This way you can act with peace of mind. Butler Chen will send two brothers to handle this matter tomorrow morning. The place must be quiet and spacious, and easy to access. The price does not matter."
"Yes! I'll go find the house tomorrow."
"This Guangzhou Prefecture is not simple. As you can see, there is a mixture of fish and dragons, and everyone is there. We saw people from China along the way, white, black, big noses, blue eyes, and they look like monkeys. Everyone, please keep a low profile.
, act as carefully as possible
Go up. Don’t be too cautious when something happens. From tomorrow onwards, Butler Chen and I will go shopping in the city. The rest of the people are waiting to sleep in the inn. I have a hunch that this trip will not be easy. If anyone messes up something big, I won’t listen.
.Tighten the strings in your minds, understand?"
This was the first time that everyone saw Mr. Hou say these words with such a serious face. They didn't know why Mr. Hou felt like this. In their opinion, they didn't see anything strange.
But since Mr. Hou said so, everyone nodded in agreement. Mr. Hou’s words must be correct. The people who can be chosen to accompany him this time are all absolutely loyal brothers. Zhang Yanling’s orders must be followed to the letter.