Things in Europe were really too far away for Ming Dynasty.
Even if we take the fastest sea route, if the journey is smooth and without any accidents, it will take almost a year to convey the news to the capital of the Ming Dynasty.
There are so many things that can happen in a year, and the news comes and goes.
That is to say, almost two years had passed since Zhao Yuanhong's request for instructions arrived in Ming Dynasty, and after Zhu Ying gave the instructions, Zhao Yuanhong received the news.
In a situation where there are many large and small countries in Europe, any news has lost its original meaning in two years.
In this case, it can only depend on the individual's ability.
Daming can only be regarded as a help to Zhao Yuanhong.
But it is very useful for pulling off tiger skin.
The three most popular luxury goods in the Ming Dynasty were tea, silk and porcelain.
In this distant Europe, it can be said to be hard currency.
For some very small countries, a shipment of goods from the east far exceeds the wealth of the royal family.
The news that Zhao Yuanhong, an Eastern nobleman and an official of the distant, mysterious and powerful Ming Empire, had appeared in Europe quickly spread throughout Eurasia.
Especially the Hines family, a wealthy family famous for maritime trade, has spoken out, and now this distinguished oriental noble is looking for ocean-going collaborators.
This made almost all the nobles become very crazy and gathered in large numbers towards Constantinople.
After Zhao Yuanhong spent nearly half of his wealth to treat the nobles, officials, and priests of Constantinople to a sumptuous dinner, he also officially assumed the positions of imperial minister and finance minister.
Through soup kitchens, the residents of Constantinople also have hope of living.
Especially after knowing that the current imperial minister of the empire was a mysterious oriental noble, his eyes began to glow.
The most important thing is that in just one month, Constantinople became very lively, completely losing the previous feeling of depression and dilapidation.
Some areas even started to become lively.
These changes were all brought about by Zhao Yuanhong.
There is a secret rumor among the nobles that this Eastern noble official has a seal in his hand. As long as he obtains the approval of the Eastern nobles, he can travel to the distant Ming Empire in the East and be protected by the Ming Empire at sea.
You can also buy many expensive teas, silks, and porcelain from the East at low prices, even without any quantity limit.
We can load as much as you can on the boat.
This kind of thing is enough to make all the nobles who hear it go crazy.
Who doesn't know that the wealth at sea is the most exaggerated, how many great nobles are involved in maritime business, and the largest buyers and sellers in the world are now the Ming Empire.
The Capital Palace News had actually spread to Europe with maritime merchants, but the distance was too far, and there were so many countries in between, so many nobles just hired a Chinese translator to listen to the story.
When the things in the story can become reality, the shock will become extremely exaggerated.
"Don't you know why the Hines family works so hard to give the family wealth to the mysterious Eastern nobles?"
"The food delivered to Constantinople these days alone is enough to feed tens of thousands of people. The Hines family has spent a lot of gold coins to get this food, which has caused the price of food to rise recently."
"I even heard that the Hines family loaned three hundred thousand gold coins to that noble nobleman from the East."
Some nobles whispered secret news.
Of course other nobles came with great interest.
"The Hines family is crazy. Three hundred thousand gold coins is not a lot, but buying so much food is not a small sum. I am afraid it will cost two to three million gold coins. This is going to destroy the family.
If all their foundation is taken away, aren’t they afraid of going bankrupt?”
The nobleman who had spoken before immediately said with disdain: "That Eastern nobleman is a real Eastern official. Do you think other members of the Hines family are idiots?"
"They were originally engaged in maritime trade, and their business has even gone to the distant East."
"It is said that a few years ago, a member of the Hines family saw with his own eyes the commander of an army of more than 100,000 people in the distant Ming Dynasty. He was respectful in front of this Eastern nobleman. He was truly powerful.
Big shot."
"There are also those soldiers who came with them. Each of them is a very skilled knight. It is said that the armor they wear is not something we can make here."
"That is to say, those armors will not be sold, otherwise they will really be charged a sky-high price. This is armor from the East and has great collection value."
"Besides, I heard that this Eastern nobleman issued an IOU to the Heines family, allowing the Heines family to use this IOU to exchange for a large amount of goods, even gold, in the Ming Empire."
"With just one trip to the east, all the investment the Hines family has made now will get a huge return."
Such words made the blood of all the nobles who heard it boil.
It seems as if everyone saw that a few years later, the Hines family brought back countless tea leaves, porcelain, and silk from the distant east, goods that were equivalent to gold.
By that time, the Hines family will become the wealthiest family in continental Europe.
"I don't know if the Eastern nobleman still needs help. If I can also get an IOU, I can travel to the far east with the Hines family."
"Then the family's wealth will definitely increase tenfold."
A noble sighed subconsciously and said.
He does not mean that.
Some powerful nobles have made their own plans.
Following this, a large number of nobles entered Constantinople and wanted to see the Eastern nobles.
These nobles often have a large number of servants and guards around them, making the entire Constantinople lively.
Where there are many people, more people will naturally be attracted to do business.
Constantinople seemed to be revitalized all of a sudden.
And when the second nobleman who received the IOU from Zhao Yuanhong appeared, it immediately caused a great sensation.
Of course, some people were worried that the bamboo basket would be in vain, so they sent personnel to the sea to find out the details of Zhao Yuanhong, especially the businessmen who had been to the East.
Zhao Yuanhong himself was extremely famous and controlled a lot of power when he was in Annan.
As a maritime merchant, such a big shot must understand.
After it was confirmed that Zhao Yuanhong was the former big shot in Annan, the nobles still had no hesitation.
Moreover, as a piece of news came, it directly shook the European continent.
The Ming Empire in the far east has formed the most powerful ocean-going fleet in the world. It is currently on its way from the South to the West. Their final destination is very likely to cross the Arabian Sea and reach the Persian Gulf.
This news came from the Daming Residence newspaper.
In other words, Ming's ocean-going fleet had already set off when they saw this news.
And in the Di newspaper, the power of this ocean-going fleet was recorded in detail.
"Is the Ming Empire really that powerful?"
The Ming Dynasty Capital Residence Newspaper, which was not taken seriously at first, suddenly saw a surge in price because of Zhao Yuanhong's relationship.
From the original twenty gold coins, it has now become unavailable for hundreds of gold coins.
But the above description of the size of the fleet, especially the size of the treasure ships, makes everyone who hears it feel incredible.
Can any empire really build such a huge ship, especially in this ocean-going fleet from the East, there are still two hundred ships?
This is unbelievable to the nobles of all countries in Europe. Many people even think that the difference in numbers on both sides causes problems in the size conversion.
But after comparing it with many parties, we found that the proportion and size of the exchange were not wrong.
Some nobles even went to ask Zhao Yuanhong.
"Sir, can the Ming Empire in the far east really build such a large ship?"
Zhao Yuanhong looked at the nobleman who provided him with a million gold coin loan, and explained with a smile: "This is called a treasure ship in our Ming Dynasty. It relies on the wind direction of the ocean to draw strength. It is as tall as a city tower and is extremely powerful. It really exists.
.”
"Treasure ships like this are now being built every day by a large number of shipyards in our Ming Dynasty. Perhaps in the near future, you will be able to see them with your own eyes."
With Zhao Yuanhong's explanation, these nobles had a clearer understanding of the prosperity of the distant Ming Empire.
Such a powerful empire seems to be incomparable even to the Byzantine Empire in its most powerful period.
What followed was a frenzied integration of more nobles into Constantinople.
Manuel II was in the Holy Palace, looking at the nobles lining up not far away who wanted to meet his ministers from the attic where he was.
He picked up the expensive drink in his hand and took a sip.
"I seem to have seen the time when the empire was most powerful. Mr. Zhao was really the man sent by God to save Byzantium."
He spoke softly to his wife next to him.
The wife next to me also smiled and nodded with satisfaction.
Because of the financial support provided by Zhao Yuanhong to the royal family, Manuel II now not only has new clothes, but also has a lot of fine wine and food to enjoy.
Even though power was concentrated in the hands of himself, the imperial minister, he didn't care at all.
At least his wife has already worn silk from the Eastern Ming Empire.
The royal family regained its initial dignity.
As for power, he never had much control over it.
Zhu Ying doesn't know about the situation in Europe yet. Zhao Yuanhong's letter is still on its way to the capital of the Ming Dynasty.
The battle between the Ottoman Empire and the Timur Empire is what Ming Dynasty is most concerned about now.
In fact, the political changes in these countries in Central Asia have no impact on the current Ming Dynasty, but if you want to get involved in Central Asia, there are many aspects that need to be considered.
The distance between the Ming Dynasty and Timur's empire was about four to six months.
This distance is neither long nor short.
If it is at sea, the time can be reduced even further.
What Zhu Ying needs most now is to continuously absorb the wealth of the entire world.
This wealth is not only reflected in money, but the recruitment of talents is what Zhu Ying attaches more importance to.
Only when there are people, there is a world.
To this end, Zhu Ying has introduced many plans, mainly regarding the selection, protection, and transportation of talents from all over the world.
Some very good welfare benefits are also given to these talents.
As far as the entire world today is concerned, there are many monarchs who really value talents, but only the Ming Dynasty can provide the current treatment of the Ming Dynasty.
"Dasun, your latest law seems to have made many people dissatisfied."
"Actually, for a problem like this, you can just let us be the villain. There is no need to affect your reputation."
In the Qianqing Palace, Zhu Yuanzhang spoke.
He was talking about the recent announcement.
It is a restriction on land and food.
This announcement was issued by Zhu Ying in the name of the great grandson of the Ming Dynasty, and it greatly affected the interests of the nobles of the Ming Dynasty.
There is a lot of content in the announcement, and most of it is described in elegant prose. In fact, it means that it is not for the common people, but for the entire noble class of the Ming Dynasty.
To put it simply, there are two points. One is the restriction on land.
According to the current title of the noble, a detailed division of how much land can be controlled was issued.
That is to say, in each different title, if there is too much land under the name and exceeds its own limit, it will be considered to be illegally hoarding land.
For these illegal lands, the Ming government had the power to directly revoke the title deeds and return them to the court, while also imposing fines.
As for food, there are the same restrictions.
According to current per capita standards, the amount of food hoarded in an individual's name cannot exceed three years' food consumption.
That is to say, a person cannot have enough food for more than three years.
If the amount of food hoarded exceeds the standard of three years of personal consumption, it will be considered as illegal hoarding of food, and it will be suspected of hoarding and driving up food prices.
This has a great impact on all nobles, even the landlord class.
The reason why such restrictions were issued is because with the development of Ming Dynasty, more and more families are becoming rich.
When a family becomes rich, they naturally want more land and food.
Therefore, the land sales that were once restricted by Zhu Ying are now being purchased by many people taking advantage of various loopholes.
After all, things like land plots are unavoidable for most Han people, and this cannot be changed in a few words.
After discovering this problem, Zhu Ying issued such an announcement without hesitation.
It is aimed at the latest rising families.
This also caused Zhu Ying's good reputation to seem to have suddenly slipped. Many people had begun to complain that His Highness Taisun was curbing the development of people's livelihood and competing for wealth with the people.
Of course Zhu Yuanzhang understood Da Sun's intention and supported it, but he just wanted to take the blame on himself.
Anyway, as far as reputation is concerned, Zhu Yuanzhang has nothing to care about.