Chapter 2122, you are the one with crooked melons and cracked dates
In Taihe Square, envoys from all over the world were waiting patiently. Naturally, those at the end of the line were a little impatient.
"This Ming Dynasty man is too slow to do things, and he is very long-winded. It has been several hours, from morning to afternoon, and it is not our turn yet."
Young Ferdinand rolled up his sleeves and looked at the watch on his wrist from the Ming Dynasty's Wushuang. He looked at the time on it and then stamped his feet. He was already very tired from standing.
These people from the Ming Dynasty are really serious. They don’t even provide a chair or anything, and they always ask everyone to stand. The key is that it is already noon, and everyone has not even drank water yet, and their hungry stomachs are growling.
called.
"Your Majesty the Duke, we will be here soon."
"The vassal states of the Ming Dynasty have finished their interviews, and it will be their turn soon."
Karl, the translator beside him, said quickly.
"Um!"
Ferdinand nodded, then thought for a moment and said, "Why do Ming people have so many rules?"
"Can't we meet together?"
"The Ming Dynasty is a country that pays attention to etiquette. No matter what you do, you must pay attention to the word etiquette, especially at the court level, so there are many cumbersome procedures and rules."
"The Ming Dynasty is a land of etiquette, and the emperor is a role model for the people in the world. This is naturally the most important thing."
"Meeting him one by one is also to show that the Ming Empire attaches great importance to him!"
Karl explained in detail that he was a master of the Ming Dynasty. He not only studied the language and characters of the Ming Dynasty, but also studied all aspects of the Ming Dynasty, especially the poetry of the Ming Dynasty.
"The Ming Empire is different from ordinary empires. The Emperor of Ming Dynasty is not only the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, but also the emperor of more than 100 vassal states, more than 200 colonies, and more than a dozen vassal states."
"It is already a great honor for us to have the honor to meet the Emperor of Heaven."
After hearing Karl's words, Ferdinand curled his lips in disbelief and stopped talking.
After coming to the Ming Empire, he had seen the prosperity, wealth and etiquette of the Ming Empire. The so-called aristocratic etiquette in Europe was simply a joke compared to the etiquette of the Ming people.
As for dining, Carl lectured Ferdinand for more than an hour before he was finished. He even practiced using chopsticks specifically for this purpose.
Because according to the schedule, the day after tomorrow, the Emperor of Ming Dynasty will hold a grand banquet to entertain guests from all over the world. Ferdinand will attend at that time, so he will naturally have to know the table manners of the Ming Dynasty people.
This time to meet the Emperor of Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty court sent special eunuchs to teach some etiquette and precautions, etc. There were many rules and many things to pay attention to.
In general, in the Ming Dynasty, a country of etiquette, this word of etiquette was emphasized everywhere, which made Ferdinand feel like a barbaric boy from the countryside who didn't understand anything.
The European stuff is completely unacceptable in the Ming Dynasty. Many of it is even taboo and a sign of serious impoliteness.
For example, Europeans like to kiss a lady's hand to show respect, but if it were in the Ming Dynasty, let alone someone else's wife, even if it was his own wife who did this in public, she would be laughed to death.
Being scolded.
Also, people in the Ming Dynasty pay attention to the distinction between men and women. They do not kiss each other, and it is even more impossible to dance together.
In the Jinluan Hall, the envoys of the Spanish Empire were meeting.
This time, Charles V of Spain also spent a lot of money and sent ivory, gems, swords, BMWs, fine wines and a bunch of other things. There were many types of gifts, and they were all expensive things.
There is no way, Spain has a lot of tough battles to fight next, which require the arms and weapons of the Ming Empire and the loan support of the Ming Empire.
As the new emperor ascended the throne, he naturally wanted to perform well in order to deepen the relationship between the Ming Empire and the Spanish Empire.
"The Persian Empire presents to His Majesty the Ming Emperor six BMWs, six boxes of precious stones, six boxes of top-quality lapis lazuli, a Persian treasure island, six boxes of Persian pearls, six boxes of agate, and six Persian beauties!"
"Egypt presents to His Majesty the Ming Emperor two BMWs, two boxes of gems, six crocodiles, six hippopotamuses, six lions, six leopards, a golden sword, and six Egyptian beauties!"
"The Ottoman Empire presented to His Majesty the Ming Emperor nine BMWs, one precious sword and one scimitar,,,,,,"
"Announcement of the presence of the envoy of the Holy See!"
On the side of the Holy See, the Ming Empire ranked them second to last, mainly because the Ming Empire did not like people from the Holy See.
Because the Holy See has always been trying to spread their Christianity to the people of the Ming Dynasty, it has violated the laws and regulations of the Ming Dynasty many times and secretly sent missionaries to the Ming Dynasty to translate scriptures.
But the influence of the Holy See is also very great, and almost all of Europe is under their huge influence.
Finally it was his turn. Cardinal Paul also wore the red robe of a cardinal, with a cross on his chest and a small red round cap on his head. He walked into the Golden Palace in a very serious and respectful manner.
"Paul, the red-coated archbishop of the Holy See, meets His Majesty the Ming Emperor. May the Lord bless you and may you be everlasting!"
Paul prayed for Zhu Houzhao very seriously.
Zhu Houzhao watched with interest. He was also very interested in religion.
Historically, Zhu Houzhao liked Buddhism and gave himself a long Buddhist title. He also liked to learn Buddhist knowledge from the monks. For this reason, he even studied Sanskrit specifically. He was also proficient in Sanskrit and was able to communicate with the Uzbek area.
The eminent monks came to discuss profound Buddhist teachings.
The old Zhu family also has a tradition in this regard. Emperor Jiajing believed in Taoism, and he even named himself a Taoist real person. He was addicted to leisure alchemy and could not extricate himself. He basically stopped attending the early dynasties.
Now I see this European monk and I am also interested.
"On the order of the Pope, I have brought here a Bible, a Holy Cross, a Holy Grail, and a pair of scarabs to congratulate His Majesty the Ming Emperor on your grand treasure. May the Lord bless you, and may you shine like the sun in the sky.
!”
This time, the Holy See also spent a lot of money and brought some important Christian relics and treasures to present to His Majesty the Ming Emperor. The purpose was naturally to obtain the right to preach in the Ming Dynasty.
"Um!"
"You are interested."
Zhu Houzhao nodded slightly to express his gratitude.
"Dear His Majesty the Ming Emperor, our Pope asked me to send blessings and greetings to you. At the same time, we also hope to obtain your permission to allow us to bring the light of the Lord to your rich and powerful empire. Please allow us to do so, your great Majesty.
accepted our request!"
Paul respectfully expressed his wishes to Zhu Houzhao.
"Since you have the intention, then..."
Zhu Houzhao looked at Paul and agreed without thinking.
In his opinion, it didn't seem to be a big deal to let this foreign monk preach. Whether the people of Ming Dynasty believed it or not was another matter.
"Your Majesty, wait~"
At this time Liu Jin stood up and said: "Your Majesty, our government has always strictly prohibited the spread of any foreign religions in our Ming Dynasty, and also prohibited our Ming people from believing in any foreign religions, and also prohibited anyone from translating any foreign religious scriptures into Chinese, etc.
wait."
"European Christianity has always had a profound control over the secular world. It not only has huge influence and control over the kings of European countries, but the kings must be canonized by the pope when they ascend the throne."
"In addition, Christianity also levies tithe taxes in various European countries, requiring believers to hand over one-tenth of their income to them, and also sells indulgences and other tools and methods to make money."
"My Ming Dynasty will never allow such a religion to spread. Once it spreads, the consequences will be disastrous!"
After Liu Jin finished speaking, Zhu Houzhao's eyes widened slightly. This European monk was so awesome. His divine power was above the underworld, and he could even tax people and repay the tithe. This tax was really heavy enough.
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
"How can such things that are above the imperial court be introduced into the Ming Dynasty? Once it spreads, it will cause endless troubles!"
Wang Shouren also stood up to express his position. He is now a cabinet minister again. Not long ago, Yang Tinghe felt that he was about to die, so he resigned and went home, preparing to return home.
"Your Majesty, this kind of religion without a king or a father cannot be allowed to be introduced into our Ming Dynasty!"
Yang Yiqing and others also stood up and expressed their opinions.
Now Buddhism and Taoism in the Ming Dynasty are very prosperous. Not long ago, they severely restricted the expansion, new construction of Buddhist temples, the number of monks, etc.
"In this case, let's drop this matter."
"Return all your things, and don't mention this matter again in the future."
After hearing this, Zhu Houzhao realized the seriousness of the matter. Only then did he realize that Christianity in Europe was not as simple as it seemed, so he directly ordered with a cold face.
When he heard the translation, Paul's eyes turned red, and he failed again. The Emperor of Ming Dynasty was about to agree, but the ministers of Ming Dynasty were allowed to disturb him. It was really infuriating.
Feeling disappointed and helpless, Paul walked out.
The last person he met was Duke Ferdinand of the Habsburg family.
When Ferdinand came in, everyone couldn't help but widen their eyes slightly when they saw him, because this guy's chin was really long and big, seriously protruding.
But fortunately, I had taken a shower carefully before coming here and used Daming soap, so there was no unpleasant smell on my body, otherwise it would really kill me.
"Dear His Majesty the Ming Emperor, on behalf of the great Habsburg family, I send you my most sincere blessings and present the gifts carefully prepared by our family to your great Majesty."
Ferdinand stuttered a bit because of his big chin, but fortunately, no one understood what he said, and it was all translated by a translator, so everyone was not anxious to death.
"His Majesty the Great Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, our Habsburg family is very eager to marry His Highness the Princess of the Ming Dynasty. We also ask for His Majesty's grace to bless our family. This will be the supreme honor of our family."
At the end, Ferdinand finally revealed the most important purpose of this eastward trip, which was to ask the Ming Emperor to marry a princess to the Habsburg family.
"You, a crooked person, want to marry my daughter?"
Zhu Houzhao didn't think anything of it at first, but when he heard that the other party was here to propose marriage, he became furious.
Damn you, why don't you take a picture of yourself without taking a pee, you look too ugly.