Chapter One Thousand Four Hundred and Thirty Three Tributes will not be accepted! Tributes are not allowed!
"Lord Fantai! I...student...there is still something...an item of 'knowledge' that I don't understand. Please ask Fantai for advice!..."
Hearing that the chief envoy Wang Zhe was serving tea, Shi Wende suddenly became anxious and had to call out carefully.
In a formal meeting like this, once the host starts serving tea, it is equivalent to sending the tea away and driving them away. But the purpose of his coming this time was not even uttered! And he wants to see you again next time
It is almost impossible to bring up this matter in Fantai...
"Huh? There's another 'knowledge' you don't understand?..."
The chief envoy Wang Zhe frowned slightly, and his eyes were a little cold. He picked up the tea that was brought to him, took a sip, moistened his throat, and then said lightly.
"Sicheng, get up and have a sip of tea. If you still don't understand anything, you can ask me."
The meaning of mentioning is that you can only say one thing. Shi Wende bowed respectfully, then stood up, holding the teacup in both hands, and whispered.
"In Fantai, if there is a Fan kingdom in the east, they come to our shipping department in Ningbo Port by boat and ask for tribute to the emperor... Will the court accept it or not? Is there any criterion for judging it?..."
"The Banren Kingdom of Dongfan? Dongfan Yi? Asking for tribute?..."
Hearing this, the chief envoy Wang Zhe was slightly startled, recalled the records of Xia Dongfan, and said doubtfully.
"I remember that there is a record of the Sanbao eunuch's voyages to the Western Seas in the Jiage Library of this province. It is said that 'Traveling through the Eastern and Western Seas, I did not show Chen fear of the rear, but I could not avoid the Eastern Fan because I was far away', and 'The Eastern Fan went to Quanzhou very close.'
There are scattered settlements in deep mountains and swamps. There are no kings and there are fifteen communities, with as many as a thousand people and as few as five or six hundred people'..."
"These Dongpan Yi people are just savages in the mountains and rivers, living in groups. From Yongle to Xuande, there has never been any tribute... Why did they suddenly appear this time?..."
"Hmm...Shi Wende, are you sure you are from Dongfang Yi? Aren't you some cunning merchant who pretends to be a Fan to pay tribute?..."
"Fan...Master Fantai! Students...little people are sure of it! They are Dongfanyi people, from Jilongshe in the north of Dongfan Island. They admire me, the Ming Dynasty king, so they come thousands of miles to pay tribute. It's true.
!…”
Hearing the chief envoy's question, the sweat on Shi Wende's back suddenly wet his clothes. He never expected that at his age, the chief envoy could memorize the records in these classics and archives.
It must be clear. The memory of these Jinshi is really scary...
"As for the foreigners on the ship...all of them have deep-set eyes, high cheekbones and wide mouths, cyan skin and bare feet...you can tell the difference at a glance, and they are definitely not the replacements of some maritime merchants!..."
Shi Wende vowed firmly and categorically that it must be Dongfanyi.
As for how the Dongfan people came from? Of course he sent a ship to Dongfan from Fujian, and then recruited them from the Fan people’s villages! In recent decades, many people from Fujian and Zhejiang went to sea, and some people
Settled on Dongfan Island, opened up fields in the rainforest, and intermarried with the Ban people. On the west and north sides of the island, there were gradually more villages where the Ban people intermarried with the Han people, and they could communicate with the Fujian and Zhejiang people...
And Shi Wende's purpose of spending food and cloth to recruit these people was also very simple. That was to strive to pay tribute to the court in the name of "Eastern Fanyi". Then he got a gold leaf inscription of the Ming Dynasty, or at least a
The tribute message from the Zhang tribe has arrived!
In this way, the Shi family of Chongming can separate a tribe, take the sailors, and migrate to the Jilong Mountain area of East Fan, making a superficial separation from the original family on Chongming Island. Then, separate the families and use them again.
As Dong Fanyi, he used the prospecting alliance to maintain sea trade...
In this way, the main family transformed into gentry, and the branch family became a tribute tribe. The dilemma was solved. The main family and the branch family supported each other. One was engaged in business and the other was engaged in sea trade. They both had legal identities. It was not perfect! It’s a pity that this plan was calculated.
The loud voice, in front of the Chief Minister Wang Zhe, was...
"Ha! The Yi people from the East are here to pay tribute?...Is this a document asking for tribute and exploring trade? Or are you bolder and want to enshrine a vassal country with a gold-leaf inscription?..."
The chief envoy Wang Zhe's eyes were cold, he glanced at Shi Wende, and then he spoke quietly.
"Sicheng, you brought people to pay tribute... It is indeed a 'hard work' and 'spreading the king's knowledge'... But our emperor Ming Ming's criterion for judging and measuring, the qualifications of this vassal to pay tribute... are never some Yi people who suddenly appeared.
It’s all easily available!…”
"If you want to pay tribute to our Emperor Ming, you must first follow the rules and follow the recorded old rules! Are these Yi people recorded in the ancestral training of Emperor Ming? Are there any of the fifteen countries that Taizu did not conquer?
Include them? To be more relaxed, among the more than one hundred tributary countries accepted by Taizong, are there any names of these Fanyi?... If they are not in the list of Taizu and Taizong, what qualifications do they have to pay tribute to our emperor Ming Dynasty?
…”
"You need to know that since the death of Xuanzong, Yingzong and Xianzong to this day have not canonized new vassals! The gold-leaf inscriptions of this vassal state only replace the old with the new, and there is no reason for new canonizations! ...
"
"As for further down the line, those documents that were given to the foreigners for their transactions... In the past three dynasties, none of them were given to the new foreigners from overseas who came to pay tribute!... This is the reward from our emperor, and it is the real gift to the foreigners.
Those who show their strength and official status! Only those frontier barbarians who have been transformed into kings can be comforted by the Kanhe Book!..."
At this point in the reprimand, the chief envoy Wang Zhe took the tea and moistened his throat. Then he slowly opened his mouth and once again showed off the terrible memory of a second-grade Jinshi official who is one of a million people.
"Six years ago, I succeeded to the throne and changed the Yuan Dynasty. It was the first year of Hongzhi (1488). Haixi Hushimen Guards Barbarian Women Zhidu Commander Fan Longha, Mao Lianwei Barbarian Women Zhidu Commander and other officials died suddenly.
Kuchu, the commander of the female direct capital of the Hulan Mountain Guards, Jiaquchi, the commander of the female direct capital of the barbarians of Yeer Dinghe Guard, Sanchiha, the governor of the female direct capital of the barbarian guards of Yishi Zuowei, and Yilibaga, the commander of the female direct commander of the Supingjiang Guards
, Sainha, the commander of the savage capital of Tolunwu Guard... Each of the seven female tribes came to pay tribute, and the tribute was horses and mink skins. And the court gave them a banquet and silk, satin and colorful clothes in return!..."
"This is the Liaodong frontier, the key right arm of our Ming Dynasty! The women of the tribe have always been brave and recalcitrant, and they are easy to be won over by the northern barbarians, so we must allow them to pay tribute and then return with generous rewards!..."
"In the same year, Sichuan Changhe Xiyudao Ningyuan announced to comfort the envoys, conquered Zhaba Yanqian, the leader of Dugang of Saizhai, Zagu appeased Sijake, sent Songsiji, the leader of the Cimafan monks, and Cangwang, the leader of the Shengfan clan Xiao... Xichuan cooked fans and Wuszang raw fans came to pay tribute, and the tribute was Pulu. The imperial court gave them silk, colorful clothes and money ingots in return!..."
"This is the southwest borderland, the key backbone of our Ming Dynasty! The Sichuan-Tibet tribe is located on a mountain plateau. It is condescending to Sichuan Province and it is difficult to conquer it. That's why we must allow it to pay tribute and give generous rewards!..."
"In the same year, King Aheima of Solu Altar in Samarkand sent his envoy A'ala to assassinate the emperor; Jike, the governor of the left guard of Handong, sent his envoy to command Gegan. The two vassals paid tribute with jade, stones, horses, camels and other items. And the imperial court gave him a banquet, silk, satin and colorful clothes, as well as a replacement of books and gold watch..."
"This is the Northwest Silk Road, my left hand for the wealth of the Ming Dynasty! The countries of Samarkand maintain the Silk Road and support the finance and taxation of Shaanxi, so they must be allowed to pay tribute and be appeased by canonization!..."
"Also in the same year, the Wei Qingshishan tribe in Taozhou, Shaanxi Province, the Nandu tribe, the Qingshapo tribe Zaji, the Zana Berlin Qizhan tribe Lujie... three tribes of captives from Gansu and Ningxia in the northwest came to pay tribute. The tribute was armor and horses. The court still gave them At the banquet, I was given silk, satin, colorful clothes and money ingots and returned..."
"This is the northwest frontier, and it is the important left arm of our Ming Dynasty! To win over the northwest tribes by dividing them is to weaken the tribes of the northern tribes in the northwest, so we must facilitate their contacts and let them return home!..."
"Northeast, northwest, southwest, the people our government currently allows to pay tribute are all the barbarians on the frontier who are difficult to conquer and have an important position. Appeasement is better than using weapons! The more you appease the barbarians on the border, the less rebellion there will be and the less the northern barbarians will be. Strength! The maintenance of these tributes is beneficial to the country!..."
"As in the Yongle and Xuande years, the bad government of the middle-ranking officials who widely paid tribute overseas, regardless of the court's annual income, and raised troops overseas in vain, has long since disappeared! Nowadays, gentlemen gather in the court, and they will never allow the middle-ranking officials to be treacherous and affect the sage's political affairs again!... "
After talking about the "Ming Dynasty tribute standards" and angrily complaining about "the middle officials are traitors," the chief envoy Wang Zhecai sneered, stared into Shi Wende's eyes, and reprimanded him in a deep voice.
"As for the 'overseas tribute' and the 'Dongfan Kingdom' you are asking for... I, Zhejiang City Bosi, will not accept it! No tribute is allowed!..."
