In Shuxiangyayuan Community in the western suburbs of Beijing.
With the shouts of the newsboys selling newspapers, the whole city began to come alive, becoming noisy and lively.
Gilt woke up from his sleep. The mattress made of springs was very comfortable to sleep on. Covered with a quilt made of cotton, it formed the most powerful seal in this winter, making it difficult for people to get up.
"Oh, it would be great if I could marry a Ming Dynasty woman."
Gilt shook his head helplessly. It has been almost half a year since he came to Ming Dynasty, and it has been more than four months since he settled in the capital. He also has a deeper understanding of this huge empire.
During the past six months, he had been to the northern grasslands and visited the hometown of Genghis Khan, which was already the grassland province of the Ming Dynasty. The powerful Mongols were herding cattle and sheep for the Ming Dynasty people.
He also visited Korea and Japan and felt the strong influence of the Ming Dynasty in Korea and Japan. People there were learning from the Ming Dynasty in an all-round way. Everything and every aspect was greatly influenced by the Ming Dynasty.
He also went to Shanxi along the repaired cement road, tasted Shanxi millet porridge, and drank Shanxi Fenjiu; along the south cement road, he also went to Shandong, and compared his drinking ability with Shandong people.
In the short half-year of Ming Dynasty, he never stopped for a day, trying to understand this huge empire from all aspects.
To this end, he also specially studied Chinese characters and language, and also gave himself a very authentic Chinese name, Ximen Xue. Ximen has the same pronunciation with Spain and Xue. Even though it sounds a bit like a woman's name, Gilt still likes it very much.
The Chinese name Ximen Xue.
In addition, he also shortened his hair, shaved off his beard, put on Ming Dynasty clothes, and even spoke with a Beijing accent.
Washing it clean with hot water heated by honeycomb briquettes, Gilt habitually went to the teahouse next to the community to have morning tea while listening to the newspaper reader in the teahouse read the day's Ming Dynasty Morning Post.
Through the Ming Dynasty Morning Post, you can learn almost all aspects of detailed information about the Ming Dynasty. Compared with asking for it yourself, the research is more comprehensive and accurate.
"Mr. Ximen, are you still the same?"
Gilt is an acquaintance of the teahouse, because he comes from Spain, a distant European country, and his blond hair and blue eyes make everyone remember him at once.
"Same old~"
Geert smiled and nodded. When he came to Daming, he was already used to drinking morning tea. If he didn't drink it for a day, he would be without energy for the whole day.
Soon, a pot of Longjing, a bowl of mutton soup, a few steamed buns, and a side of haggis noodles were served. At the same time, the newspaper reader invited by the teahouse also started reading the newspaper.
While he tasted it carefully, he also held a newspaper and listened to the newspaper reader reading it carefully.
"Pa~"
Mr. Xingmu, who was reading the newspaper, slapped his hands on the table and said in a clear and straight voice: "A great victory in the Western Regions. One battle will determine the Western Regions..."
"Another great victory in the Western Region!"
Geert looked at the newspaper and couldn't help but sigh.
He still remembered that before the Chinese New Year, the newspapers reported the news of the great victory in the Western Regions. Not long after that, good news came from the Western Regions, about the great victory in the Western Regions.
The Ming army completely defeated the Chagatai Khanate's army, and even the Khan of the Chagatai Khanate was captured alive.
Gilt looked at it carefully. Because he had just learned Chinese, he didn't know some words, and it was difficult to understand the meaning of some words. Fortunately, the newspaper reader gave a detailed explanation, and he was able to understand the meaning quickly.
"The Ming Dynasty is really too powerful. One Western Expedition used 200,000 troops, but this is only one-fifth of the total strength of the Ming Dynasty. There are millions of soldiers. This year, they will expand their navy and expand the size of the navy to 20.
Ten thousand."
"The Ming Empire was so powerful that one country could sweep across Europe."
Gilt couldn't help but sigh.
In the past, in his understanding, the powerful countries included France, the Holy Roman Empire, and the Ottoman Empire. But now, he feels that compared with the powerful Ming Empire, these are just dregs.
Whether it was the Ming Dynasty's taxes, military strength, force, whether it was the strength of the army or the navy, the Ming Dynasty was enough to completely destroy any country he knew.
"Thank God, we Spain and Ming are now allies!"
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but make a cross on his chest.
Because of the interests of the Americas, the Ming Dynasty and Spain reached an agreement. Spain recognized the Ming Dynasty's sovereignty over the Americas, and the two sides joined forces to clear out all the colonial strongholds of European countries in the Americas except Spain.
The Ming Dynasty recognized Spain's exclusive trading rights with the Ming Dynasty in the Americas. It also recognized that Spain was the most powerful country in Europe and supported Spain in dealing with Portugal and fighting European pirates.
He felt that forming an alliance with the Ming Dynasty was definitely the wisest choice. If such a powerful empire became your enemy, it would definitely be a nightmare.
Look at the current Western Regions and Central Asia. The powerful khanates established by the descendants of the Jin family were all destroyed by the Ming Dynasty, and even the descendants of the Jin family were captured alive.
"The Western Region is already very close to Central Asia. Further west, it can already border the Ottoman Empire. Further west, you can reach Eastern Europe, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Black Sea. If the Ming Dynasty continues to fight there, this land trade route will be
It can be opened up, but then it will not be a good thing for us in Spain."
Looking at the newspaper carefully, I saw that the Western Regions and Central Asia were also published on it. This printing technology is too advanced.
After analyzing the map, he soon realized a problem. The land trade routes might be opened up by the Ming people.
I drank my morning tea very slowly and took a full hour.
"Child, check out~"
Fold the newspaper carefully. This newspaper will be sent back to Europe.
"Mr. Ximen, a total of eighty pieces!"
The waiter hurriedly came over and said:
"Don't look for the extra ones, they will be rewarded to you~"
Geert took out his money bag, took out a banknote and put it on the table.
"Okay, thank you Mr. Ximen for the reward!"
When the waiter looked at the banknotes on the table, he immediately thanked him happily. It was a banknote of one hundred yuan, the latest small-denomination banknote issued by the First Bank of Ming Dynasty.
The lives of ordinary people are mainly based on copper coins. The value of silver is too high, so the First Bank of Ming Dynasty also withdrew new banknotes.
Because of the good credit of the First Bank of the Ming Dynasty, banknotes with face values of ten coins, twenty coins, fifty coins, and one hundred coins were quickly circulated throughout the Ming Dynasty.
The silver note that Gilt put on the table just now was a one-hundred-coin banknote, which was a full reward of twenty-coin for the child. It was still quite generous.
"The people of Ming Dynasty live a very prosperous life!"
"Everything you buy is measured in terms of one penny, but your income is measured in silver. There are so many things that one tael of silver can buy."
Gilt walked out of the teahouse, looked at the bustling streets, and sighed.
If you understand the Ming Dynasty in detail, you will lament the wealth of the Ming Dynasty people. Calculated according to the Beijing-Tianjin area, the income of ordinary people has now reached the standard of four taels of silver per month.
Income is high, but prices are very low.
Marine fish from Tianjin cost a few cents per catty, rice from Nanyang cost a few cents per catty, and flour from Liaodong still cost a few cents per catty.
In Europe, white sugar could only be enjoyed by nobles. In the Ming Dynasty, the price was only less than 100 cents per pound, which was very cheap.
In addition, the cloth of the Ming Dynasty was ridiculously cheap. Before the prices of wool and cotton increased, the price of a piece of cotton cloth was only a few tens of cash. The supplies were extremely abundant, which made the people of the Ming Dynasty worry-free about food and clothing and live a prosperous life.
Compared with their hometown of Spain, the people of Ming Dynasty lived in paradise.
Look at the bustling streets in front of you and the high-rise buildings on both sides of the streets. The streets here are clean and tidy, and there are people cleaning them every day. The Ming Dynasty people here are gorgeously dressed and everyone has a rosy complexion. When everyone talks, the most talked about thing is
National affairs.
Everyone is discussing the great victory in the Western Regions, the Ming Dynasty's announcement of relocating millions of people to the Western Regions, and also discussing going to the Western Regions to grow cotton, growing sugar cane in Southeast Asia, doing business in the West, building private colonies, etc.
Everything in front of him made Gilt feel that this is what a truly great empire should look like.
The country is prosperous and powerful, has a strong military, and is victorious in every battle. All the countries in the four directions are defeated and surrendered to itself; the country's monarch has strong power, is full of pioneering spirit, is diligent in national government affairs, and serves the people of the empire. The ministers in the court are shrewd.
He is capable and dedicated to assisting the monarch in handling national affairs.
The people of this country have abundant food and clothing, and more importantly, they are full of love and loyalty to this country in spirit. A kind of pride and self-confidence makes every foreigner who comes to the Ming Dynasty feel dirty. This is what a great empire has.
a noble nation.
Confident, self-reliant, hard-working, intelligent, loyal to their country and king, and proud of their own civilization.
From the people of the Ming Dynasty, even ordinary people, everything Gilt saw made him couldn't help but sigh: "This is a truly great empire!"