A small mountain village as beautiful as a landscape painting, with mills, windmills, and a blond Westerner dressed as a Taoist priest. This scene made the corners of Shen Lie's mouth twitch slightly.
It's really too weird.
Until the tall Western Taoist priest saw the crowd, he hurried over to greet them, and bowed his head to Tian Hong, Shen Lie, and several royal guards.
Looking at the bright red brocade clothes Tian Hong and others were wearing, the foreigner seemed a little uneasy.
Just open your mouth.
This tall foreigner actually spoke fluent Fengyang Mandarin: "I don't know that you are here, and I am sorry for the delay."
Tian Hong responded lukewarmly: "No."
Under the scorching gazes of everyone, the foreigner in Taoist robes even lowered his eyebrows and said respectfully: "But I don't know why you are here?"
Seeing this man with blond hair, blue eyes, and a standard head, speaking fluent Ming Dynasty Mandarin, Shen Lie felt numb.
This feeling is like seeing a Harry Potter flying in the sky riding a pig.
Take a closer look at this tall and timid foreigner. He is really tall. He is over 1.90 meters tall, which is a head taller than everyone else.
However, although this man was tall, he was very skinny and had very little flesh on his body. He must have not lived a satisfactory life in the Ming Dynasty.
Living in the mountains and fields, eating simple meals every day, I was so hungry that I was skin and bones. I looked so miserable as a foreigner...
Looking at the pitiful appearance of this tall foreigner, Shen Lie felt relieved. This was the prosperous Ming Dynasty, not the semi-colonial and semi-feudal late Qing Dynasty.
Foreigners do not receive super-national treatment here.
When Western missionaries came to Ming Dynasty in this era, under the suspicious eyes of the villagers, they could only pretend to be grandsons with low eyebrows.
He even had to follow the local customs and convert to Taoism in order to pray for the mercy of the Ming Emperor.
If you had a more respectful attitude, sweeter words, and made His Majesty the Emperor happy, you might be able to get a part-time job as an official.
Speaking of the famous Western missionaries Matteo Ricci and Tang Ruowang during the Wanli period, the same was true. The earliest missionary who crossed the ocean from Europe to the Ming Dynasty was called Matteo Ricci.
As soon as Matteo Ricci came to the Ming Dynasty, in order to get close to the powerful people of the Ming Dynasty, he started to deceive with his sharp tongue. He said that the concept of "God" had already existed in ancient Chinese literature.
He also said that the traditional Chinese "heaven" and "god" are essentially the same as the "only true God" taught by the Catholic Church.
Matteo Ricci himself even wore traditional Chinese clothes and behaved very obediently to the Ming Dynasty. In the end, he successfully met the emperor and established a good reputation and relationship among the scholar-bureaucrats and dignitaries.
It was this man who opened the door for other missionaries to enter China in the future, and also created the way missionaries would operate in China for more than two hundred years.
On the one hand, this person used Chinese to spread Christianity, and on the other hand, he used natural science knowledge to win the favor of the people of the Ming Dynasty.
Matteo Ricci's missionary strategies and methods have been followed by the Jesuit missionaries who followed him to China, and are called "Matteo Ricci's Rules".
Of course missionary work is a joke, but Western missionaries such as Matteo Ricci and Tang Ruowang had a great influence on modern science in the Ming Dynasty.
It was this man who, together with Xu Guangqi and others, translated "Elements of Geometry", "Tongwen Zhizhi", "The Meaning of Measurement" and other works.
Matteo Ricci also produced a "Complete Map of Kunyu and Ten Thousand Kingdoms" and presented it to the Ming Dynasty. This was also the first world map in Chinese history.
This person also tried to use Latin letters to notate Chinese phonetic symbols, which was the prototype of Chinese Pinyin.
The book returns to its true story.
Amid the compliments of the foreign Taoist, Shen Lie and Tian Hong walked towards the small Western-style mill. As they walked, they looked at the potatoes planted next to the alfalfa with the corner of their eyes.
A huge field of potatoes was planted on a barren, ownerless land, from the foot of the mountain to halfway up the mountain, covering about ten acres.
Looking at this potato field, Shen Lie felt ecstatic in his heart, but he concealed it calmly.
A moment later, in a simple mill.
As a few people entered the mill, the scenery in front of them changed again. The mill was entirely made of stone, and it actually had two floors.
The upper floor is a simple residence, and the lower floor is a stone mill driven by a windmill, which is rotating slowly, and the millstone is filled with wheat.
On a table not far away, there were several thick-faced steamed buns, pickles, salted fish, and a bowl of boiled potatoes. The potatoes were small, dark, and looked like they had thick skin.
Shen Lie felt happy again, pretending not to notice, and winked at Tian Hong.
Tian Hong understood and said to the foreigner: "Don't be afraid. I will come in a few days to discuss something with you."
The foreigner hurriedly said: "My lord, it's okay to just say it."
Tian Hong said again: "My brother has taken a fancy to your mill and wants to pay a lot of money to buy it. Just tell me the price."
Buying a mill is of course a fake, but buying those potatoes and potato seeds is the real purpose.
Finished speaking.
The foreigner's expression softened and his eyes began to wander. He seemed to have seen a huge business opportunity and shook his head like a rattle on the spot.
A look of embarrassment appeared on the foreigner's face, and he began to shirk: "Your Majesty, you are serious. Although Pindao is a humble dwelling in the mountains, it is a place where you can live and settle down. Your Majesty, it is a bit difficult for others."
Shen Lie and Tian Hong frowned slightly, and naturally they understood that the foreigner's evasion was false and the extortionate price was true. This was going to make the lion open his mouth.
Shen Lie was speechless for a moment.
This person is really a China expert. I don’t know how many years he has been in the Ming Dynasty. He has even learned the essence of the Ming Dynasty people asking for high prices and paying back the money on arrival.
He looks like a profiteer.
Shen Lie had no choice but to follow his wishes and said: "How about if I give you fifty taels of silver and buy your mill, plus the crops outside?"
Then look at this foreigner who looks at his nose with his eyes and his heart with his nose, and starts to pretend to be deaf and dumb.
Shen Lie had no choice but to bid again: "Eighty taels."
Soon Shen Lie raised the price to a hundred taels of silver, but the foreigner still had no intention of letting go. He looked at the man's desperate attitude.
Shen Lie couldn't help but feel a little angry in his heart. It seemed that he was drinking as a penalty for skipping the toast.
Shen Lie winked.
Tian Hong understood immediately, straightened his expression, and said coldly to the foreign Taoist priest: "There were bandits in several nearby villages the day before yesterday, and some people were killed. Someone exposed you for harboring bandits."
The words are not finished yet.
The Western Taoist priest trembled with fright and cried out: "Your Excellency, you are aware of this. How dare a poor Taoist harbor bandits? Your Excellency..."
Tian Hong remained silent, and after finishing his part according to the script that the two of them had discussed in advance, it was time for Shen Lie to come on stage.
Shen Lie took a step forward, his face darkened, and he said coldly: "My master will naturally not wrong a good person, nor let a bad person go. If I ask a question, you answer."
The foreign Taoist priest said obediently: "I understand, I understand."
Identifying this person based on Tian Hong's fox fur, Shen Lie began to explore the details of this foreigner and said in a deep voice: "What is your name and where is your ancestral home?"
The foreign Taoist priest was frightened and did not doubt that he was there, so he hurriedly said respectfully: "In reply to this gentleman's words, the poor Taoist's name is Victor, and he is from Sweden."
Shen Lie nodded and then asked: "You are a Swedish citizen. Why did you come to our country, Ming Dynasty, all the way? What did you do before you came to Ming Dynasty?"
At this moment, the tall Victor looked like an obedient quail. He lowered his eyebrows and said, "This little man has traveled thousands of miles to come to the Ming Dynasty. Naturally, he admires the culture of the Ming Dynasty and wholeheartedly converts..."
The foreigner started talking, and the flattery continued like a torrent of river water, leaving Shen Lie speechless for a moment.
