kvmb Chapter 314 Storytelling
Chapter 314 Storytelling
Diego was so startled by the laughter that he dared not speak again.
Wanli sat still on the chair and said to the eunuch beside him, "Give Lord Tao and the other three a seat."
It looks like we're going to sit down and have a long talk.
So Min Xi and others were given seats, sitting across from Wanli. Wanli should be eleven years old this year, a lively and active age, but he has been an emperor since he was nine years old, and all the child's nature has been suppressed by this crown.
Unfortunately, Empress Dowager Li had high expectations for her son, and Zhang Juzheng also hoped to serve a wise ruler, so he was extremely strict with the child. As a result, the emperor, who grew up under heavy pressure, eventually became extreme in character. Min Xi still felt a little sympathy for the little emperor.
"I heard that you went to Fulangji in Europe. Can you tell me what happened?" Wanli asked.
Yun Ji then briefly recounted what had happened.
Yunji's storytelling ability was far inferior to Minxi's. Wanli was very unsatisfied and asked, "The way the Fulangji speak is completely different from ours, right? How do you communicate?"
Min Xi said: "Your Majesty, I have learned to speak their language from the Fulangji people on the ship."
Wanli nodded: "You are quite good at learning to speak. You learned the Fulangji language so quickly."
"Thank you for the compliment, Your Majesty."
Wanli looked at Diego again: "I heard that the hair and eye colors of the red-haired barbarians are different from us. They say they have red hair and green eyes. I think Diego doesn't seem to be much different."
Diego has a typical Southern European appearance, with dark brown hair and brown eyes, which is very different from his appearance in Western and Northern Europeans.
Min Xi replied: "Your Majesty, Europe is very large, and their ethnic differences are also very large. Diego is from the south of Europe, and his hair and eyes are darker, similar to our Ming people. The ethnic groups in the west and north of Europe are more different from us, with yellow and red hair being the main colors, and many of their eyes are blue and green, which is what we usually call the red-haired barbarians."
"Have you ever seen a foreigner with red hair and green eyes?" Wanli asked.
Min Xi nodded: "Yes, in addition to Flanders, we also went to Greater Luzon, France and England. The people of Greater Luzon and Flanders look similar, but most people in England have blond hair and blue eyes."
Wanli nodded to indicate that he understood.
Wanli thought for a moment and said, "I heard that you brought back a lot of food and crops from Europe, and also brought back a large sail. The Prime Minister said that this is a great thing that benefits the country and the people. What reward do you want?"
Min Xi said: "Your Majesty, I have not thought about asking for any reward. I just hope that our Ming Dynasty will be forever stable and the people will live and work in peace and contentment forever."
After hearing this, Wanli looked at him with a hint of sarcasm in his eyes: "I heard that people living in this world always have something to seek, nothing more than fame and fortune. Since you don't want a reward, then you value reputation?"
Min Xi found that he had been thinking too simply. It was true that the little emperor was born in an imperial family and must have been used to all kinds of flattery. He could not be a simple child. Min Xi said, "Since Your Majesty thinks so, I would like to ask Your Majesty to open up trade routes and allow foreign merchant ships to dock at Quanzhou Port."
"Is that so?" Wanli asked with some disbelief.
Min Xi continued, "Whenever foreign merchant ships dock at Quanzhou Port, the officials of the Maritime Customs will count the cargo on board and collect a certain import tariff, such as 20% to 30% of the price of the goods, or pay in kind. This will not only prevent the southeastern sea from being harassed by foreign ships, but also increase the national treasury revenue."
Wanli asked, "What benefit did you get from this?"
"We can do business with foreign companies and make profits without leaving the country."
Wanli nodded. This was in line with human nature. "I will discuss this matter with the Prime Minister."
In fact, Ming merchant ships returning from overseas were also subject to a 20% tax in kind. Foreign ships were not allowed to enter Ming ports, and they could only dock in the vicinity of Ming, such as Spanish ships docked in Luzon, Dutch ships docked in Penghu, and Portuguese ships were probably the first to enter the mainland of Ming, but they could only dock in Macau.
Foreign countries wanted to do business with the Ming Dynasty, so they waited for Ming merchant ships to trade with them. Therefore, the Ming Dynasty and foreign countries had exchanges in goods, but very little in terms of technology. Min Xi proposed this idea in order to allow Europeans to enter the Ming Dynasty, so that the Ming Dynasty would have the opportunity to go to Europe in the future. In addition to exchanging goods, there would also be exchanges at the technical level.
Wanli thought about it and it seemed that there was nothing to ask. However, it was not easy for a few commoners to come to the palace, and there was a European. He was a little unwilling to send them back like this, so he said: "Tell me about your interesting things in Europe, let me hear how their customs and habits are different from those of the Ming Dynasty."
Min Xi and Yun Ji looked at each other, and they both nodded in tacit understanding. Then Min Xi said, "Then let me tell your Majesty some interesting stories to relieve your boredom."
Wanli changed his posture, leaned back in his chair, and said, "Give me tea!"
The young eunuch quickly served tea to the four people.
Min Xi held the tea and suddenly smiled and said, "Your Majesty, do you know what is the most popular product we sell in Europe?"
Wanli thought for a moment and said, "I know this, tea leaves and porcelain."
"That's right. Tea and porcelain are luxury goods in Europe. Ordinary people can't afford them. Even their nobles can't afford them. European nobles imitate us Ming people to drink tea. They drink it from a saucer. Even the Queen of England drinks tea from a saucer, and makes a "tsk tsk" sound while drinking to express her praise for the tea." Min Xi couldn't help but smile when he thought of the queen holding a saucer and inviting them to drink tea.
Wanli was in high spirits and laughed, "Drinking tea from a saucer and making a slurping sound? This is really interesting. How can you drink tea from a saucer that shallow? And what about the Queen of England? They even have a woman as king?"
"That's right. The English respect bloodline. If there is no male heir in the royal family, the throne will be passed to a woman. England has had several queens."
Wanli frowned: "Wouldn't their king marry a few more concubines and have a few more princes?"
Min Xi shook his head: "Europeans believe in monogamy and do not take concubines. The king only has one queen and will not remarry unless he gets divorced or the queen dies. And divorce is usually quite difficult."
"The king is the ruler of a country and he has the final say on everything. Why is it so difficult to get a divorce?" Wanli was puzzled.
Min Xi explained: "Because marriages in European countries are almost all political marriages. The royal families of all European countries are almost all relatives. This is to ensure the purity of bloodline. They will choose marriage partners from relatives. Therefore, once the marriage is concluded, it is almost impossible to divorce. This also leads to a low survival rate for royal babies in European countries. It is extremely difficult for them to survive to adulthood."
"Why is this?" Wanli continued to be a curious baby.
Min Xi continued to explain: "There are scholars who study biological genetics in European universities. They found that the probability of having problematic children is higher when close relatives marry. This is because many family diseases will be stimulated during marriage."
"Are you serious? Wouldn't it be good to strengthen the relationship between relatives?" Wanli was a little unconvinced.
Min Xi said: "This is what European scholars say. And this kind of problem did happen in European royal families, so the heir to England can only be inherited by women in the end."
Wanli nodded slightly. What Min Xi told him was indeed very new and really opened his eyes. "What you said is indeed very interesting. Is there anything else new?"
Min Xi had no choice but to continue telling him the story: "I and my brother went to several European countries, and the most bizarre experience was the trip to England. At that time, we took the mission ship of the Flamme to England. The Flamme and England had a good relationship because they had a common enemy, Greater Luzon. That time they went there to consolidate the relationship between the two countries. England is an island country, on the edge of the European continent, and you have to take a ship to get there. On our way to England, we encountered an English pirate ship, and they directly bombarded the mission ship that was sent to their country..."
Min Xi knew that the emperor would definitely want to hear something exciting, so he told the emperor about how he and Yun Ji were captured on a pirate ship on the way to England. As expected, Wanli listened with great interest. After all, selling a cake for one or two taels of gold, using soy sauce meatballs as poison to intimidate pirates, and giving them chili peppers to detoxify, it was a very satisfying story to hear about.
Wanli found that Min Xi was a better storyteller than Yun Ji, so he kept telling him stories until lunch time, and even rewarded them with an imperial meal in the palace.
It was the first time that Min Xi and Yun Ji ate the imperial meal from the Ming Palace. They felt that the taste was just so-so and not as good as the dishes cooked by Chef Liu from Yunxiang Restaurant.