The captain smiled with satisfaction, picked up the porcelain bowl and took a big sip. The excitement brought by the strong alcohol made him feel extremely transparent. He stretched out his hand and wiped it on his mouth, and said: "After being knighted, then
It means Xungui, do you know what it means?"
"I know." Harder nodded. A noble is a noble.
When the captain saw it, he continued: "As long as you are knighted, even if it is just an earl, it is a super-grade official rank. You must know that under His Majesty the Ming Emperor, the highest official rank among the six ministers is, but even if
The ministers of various ministries are only of the second rank, while the earl is directly of the upper rank. The biggest wish of many ministers of high rank and ministers in their lives is to be awarded the title of earl by virtue of their merits."
Hader was stunned for a moment. In the past, he didn't know what nobility meant in the Ming Dynasty. He only thought that he was as noble as the nobles in Persia. But now it seems that this is not just an ordinary noble? This is completely
Among the nobles, the top nobles who hold real power.
Harder was instantly filled with desire for the title, and secretly swallowed in fear, and said: "Hader knows His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. As long as Harder works hard to make contributions to the Ming Dynasty, I think he will still do it after His Royal Highness the Crown Prince becomes the emperor.
Give Harder a title."
"Hahaha" the captain burst out laughing, pointed at Harder, shook his head and said: "You only know one, but not the other. If the emperor grants you a title now, it will be a title that can be passed down to the country and will not be replaced by hereditary.
Do you know what hereditary neglect means?"
Hader shook his head. How could he, a Khrumos man, know what hereditary neglect was?
The captain smiled when he saw it, and explained to Harder more patiently: "Hereditary means that as long as you are awarded the title of Earl, no matter how many generations your title is passed down to your descendants, the Earl will always be the Earl.
If you are an earl, you will always be a marquis. As long as the Ming Dynasty is still here, your descendants can receive a day's worth of royal rice."
"But if you wait until His Highness the Crown Prince ascends the throne before conferring a title on you, it will be different. Then it can only be an ordinary title. Such a title will be lowered by one level each generation. In other words, if you are given a title
If you are granted the title of earl, then in three generations, your descendants will transform from nobles to common people again."
After hearing this, Harder's expression suddenly changed. According to the captain, isn't this the same as a noble? If it is not managed well, it will change from a noble to a commoner, also called a down-and-out noble.
"Of course, there are no absolutes in this world." Seeing that Harder was listening carefully to what he said, the school captain burst out with his teacher-like personality. He couldn't help but said to Harder again, "Even after His Royal Highness the Crown Prince ascends the throne, he can be conferred a title.
position, but the merit required is even greater.”
After saying that, the captain glanced at Harder, which meant that he should not think about it.
These two jars of wine from Harder were very worthwhile, allowing him to understand many of the secrets of the titles and nobles of the Ming Empire.
Thinking about this in his mind, Hader walked to the deck and saw His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, as well as the Marquis of Zhenhai and the Marquis of Suyi standing in the distance, and he suddenly felt extremely excited.
In the past, he only thought that the two marquises were similar to the other marquises he knew. How could he truly understand the power of the two marquises? Now that he understood it, he could not help but be more cautious.
Hader walked behind Han Du and others, put his right hand on his chest, bowed and said: "Hader pays homage to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, and pays homage to the two princes."
Han Du turned around, glanced at Hard, and couldn't help but frown. They hadn't seen each other for a few days, so why was Hard more reserved? But Han Du didn't bother to care about the reason why he became like this.
Pointing directly to the coast in front of him, he said: "Do you know where this is? How far is it from Ceylon?"
After saying that, Han Du casually handed Hader a telescope.
It was the first time Harder saw this thing. He held it in his hand and didn't know how to use it. Yuda stepped forward, took the telescope and opened it, then gave it back to Harder and taught him how to see it.
Harder saw that the scenery in the distance that was originally completely unclear was reflected in the telescope, and he could see it clearly.
"This, this is simply a miracle. Is it the appearance of a god?" Hader suddenly exclaimed.
When Han Du saw this, he frowned even deeper and asked with some dissatisfaction: "I want to ask you, do you know where this place is? How far is it from Ceylon? What kind of miracle is it?
?This is a telescope. Its function is to enable people to see farther. It is not a miracle."
Hard took a deep breath, managed to suppress the shock in his heart, and quickly replied: "Hard knows this place, it is near the country of Ceylon. If Hard guessed correctly, as long as we continue to sail a certain distance in that direction,
You can reach the country of Ceylon."
"Okay." Han Du nodded, this answer was quite satisfactory to him.
He stretched out his hand towards Hader and motioned for him to return the telescope to him.
Harder held his hands tightly
Holding the telescope tightly, he was very reluctant to return the telescope to Han Du. But no matter how reluctant he was to give it up, he had to return it to Han Du.
After dilly-dallying for a long time, Hard reluctantly put the telescope into Han Du's palm. The moment he let go, he felt as if he had lost something very important. This feeling was even worse than his
The loss of my son is still more intense.
Han Ducai didn't care about Hader's mood. After taking the telescope, he immediately ordered: "Yu Da, pass the order and move forward at full speed with full sail."
"yes."
Harder stayed with Handu and others, and under his guidance the fleet soon arrived in Ceylon.
Ceylon is a huge island, separated from the subcontinent by a strait. The island is flat on all sides, with towering mountains and forests in the middle.
The first thing Han Du and others saw was a wide white beach. There were eight or nine ships docked on the sea near the beach. Some of these ships were going east to the old port, while some were coming from the old port.
When we get here, we are ready to go west.
There is no trace of the harbor on the entire beach, no plank roads, no houses, and not even a single local aboriginal. The people on the beach who are as busy as ants are all people on docked boats.
It was exactly as Hader said, it was very desolate and there was nothing.
Han Du looked back at Hard in confusion, and Hard quickly explained: "Master Marquis, this is what it is like here. If you need fresh water, you can only go to the island to find the water source and transport it back by yourself. If you need food,
Then you need to go deeper and exchange with the locals. Of course, if you want gems, you can also exchange with the locals."
"Gems? What gems are there?" Zhu Biao turned around and asked curiously.
Hard smiled and bowed before replying: "Your Royal Highness, this is Ceylon, also known as the country of gems. The most abundant here are all kinds of gems. Almost all the gems that Hard has seen are here.
They are all there. And there are a lot of them, and they are very cheap. In the past, every time Harder passed through here, whether he was going to the Old Port or back to Hurumos, he would exchange some gems here and take them away."
"What do you usually trade with them for gems?"
Harder nodded and said: "The locals like cloth, especially the cotton cloth of the Ming Dynasty. They like to exchange it for gems. Of course, the nobles of Ceylon also like the porcelain of the Ming Dynasty. You can exchange the porcelain for top gems."
"You just trade cotton with them for gems?" Han Du's eyes widened in surprise when he heard this. At the same time, he thought to himself, no wonder the price of cotton in Old Port has always been high. In the past, Han Du thought that Westerners liked to wear cotton.
Well, now it seems that their purpose is to transport it to Ceylon in exchange for gems.
The price of a piece of undyed cotton cloth, that is, cotton cloth, is only 500 guan in the capital. But when the same piece of cotton cloth arrives in Old Port, the price is more than 14 guan, and sometimes it even rises to 200 guan.
Ten guans, almost ten times the price in Beijing.
In the past, maritime merchants probably thought that Western merchants were stupid for buying cotton at such high prices.
But now it seems that it is not certain who is smart and who is stupid.
Although Handu didn't know how many gems a piece of cotton cloth could be exchanged for in Ceylon, he could imagine with his toes that the profit might be more than ten times, dozens or even hundreds of times.
Han Du thought of the maritime merchants who followed him here. They lost two ships and a lot of cargo. Perhaps this information could make up for them.
"Go and call Fu Yong." Han Du turned his head and ordered Yu Da.
Yu Da nodded, turned around, climbed up the mast, climbed into the watch box and gave orders to the sentry. After hearing this, the sentry nodded in agreement, stood up, beat gongs and drums for a while, and began to play flags.
After receiving the order, the navy officers sent Fu Yong to the flagship.
Fu Yong, who slid over from the rope and landed on the deck, quickly ran towards Han Du.
With a pop, his legs knelt on the ground, "Fu Yong, a common man, pays homage to His Highness the Crown Prince, and pays homage to the Marquis of Zhenhai and the Marquis of Suyi."
Although Zhu Biao didn't know why Han Du called Fu Yong over, he smiled, nodded slightly, and raised his hand to signal: "No courtesy, get up."
"Thank you, Your Highness!" Fu Yong knelt down respectfully before standing up.
He raised his hands to Han Du and asked with a smile: "I wonder what the Marquis has to do with the common people?"
Han Du said with some guilt: "This time I caused you to lose two ships and a lot of cargo. I owe you."
"Master Marquis, please don't say such things." Fu Yong waved his hands toward Han Du. He did not dare to let Han Du apologize to him.
Instead, he persuaded: "How can there be anything foolproof when sailing on the sea? Since Cao Min and others have decided to follow the Marquis, they have already made preparations. The two ships lost this time were still within the plan of Cao Min and others."