"I ask your majesty to give my entourage movable type printing and papermaking technology." Claviyo said seriously.
"Dear Your Majesty," Claviyo said, "I have carefully studied history. Although the Qin State implemented a centralized system of power as early as the Warring States Period, problems later appeared in this system, which led to the demise of the Qin State and the re-establishment of the system.
The established state had to partially restore its original system: some land was directly under the central government, but most of the land and population were ruled by the aristocracy."
"Although the newly established Han Dynasty later completed the centralization of power, it did so with the help of an idea called 'Confucianism', and it took nearly a hundred years to complete the centralization of power."
"As for Castile, no, there is no thought similar to 'Confucianism' in the entire European history, not even in the ancient Greek era when thinking was very free."
"Therefore, it is necessary to spread the idea of 'Confucianism' widely in Castile, so that scholars who support the king accept this idea, and at the same time make appropriate changes so that the church can accept it, and then carry out reforms."
"The reason why I want to invite several politicians or scholars from the Ming Dynasty to Castile is not only to learn how to implement a centralized system, but also to widely spread 'Confucian' ideas."
Having said this, Claviyo raised his head and looked at Yunxi: "Your Majesty, you may not know the significance of the country you rule in Europe. Since "Marco Polo's Travels" was spread in the West, everyone has
Dreaming of coming to the rich land of the East."
"At the same time, although some countries are engaged in wars with other countries and have not sent envoys to the city of Samarkand, all countries on the Mediterranean coast and all countries in Eastern Europe are paying attention to the Timur Khanate and pay attention
Follow every move of this country. Now the news of the war between the Timur Khanate and the Ming Dynasty should have spread to Europe, and all the above-mentioned countries will pay attention to the outcome of this war."
"When the news of Ming Dynasty's victory over Timur Khanate spread to Europe, all European countries will be shocked by Ming Dynasty's powerful force. Scholars will want to study why Ming Dynasty can be so powerful. As a civilized country, it can defeat people like Timur Khan.
A barbaric country like the Erhanate."
"At this time, suddenly several scholars from the Ming Dynasty came to Castile. Not only the king, but also all the nobles, scholars and churches would warmly entertain them and ask why the Ming Dynasty was so powerful."
“So, when the Ming Dynasty scholars spoke of ‘Confucian’ ideas, scholars throughout Europe would actively study Confucianism, allowing it to be widely disseminated.”
"And the reason why I asked your distinguished Majesty to let my attendants learn movable type printing and more advanced papermaking technology is also to spread the 'Confucian' ideas. Our country's papermaking technology is very backward, and the cost of producing paper in papermaking workshops and
It takes much more time than the papermaking workshops of the Ming Dynasty, which makes the price of paper much higher than that of the Ming Dynasty. The price of paper is so high, it limits the spread of knowledge, allows the nobility and the church to monopolize knowledge, and makes the common people ignorant.
, which is detrimental to the development of the country."
"The purpose of learning movable type printing is the same as that of advanced papermaking. European printing is too backward, which also limits the spread of knowledge."
"At the same time, if the king can master advanced papermaking and movable type printing, he can also use advanced technology to spread ideas that are conducive to the implementation of a centralized system more widely, so that the implementation of this system will be accepted by more people."
"So, your Majesty, I ask you to let my attendants learn movable type printing and more advanced papermaking technology." Clavio finally said.
Yunxi looked at his expression and didn't know what to say. Claviyo may have reasoned that although the Seris people were not very keen on spreading their ideas to foreign countries in history, they had never stopped them, and the emperor had never stopped him.
After he succeeded to the throne, he actively spread Confucianism to the outside world. Even if Castile became stronger, there was no possibility of conflict with the Ming Dynasty, so his idea of spreading Confucianism in Europe would be supported by him; at the same time, the Ming Dynasty's government also
He had no idea of monopolizing the two advanced technologies of advanced papermaking and movable type printing in the hands of a few people, nor restricting their external circulation, so he expressed his plans frankly. However, Yunxi's own ideas were different from those of Clark.
What Viyo had in mind was completely different.
First of all, Yunxi did not support the spread of Confucianism in Europe. Although Confucianism conflicts with the philosophy of the church, this conflict may lead to chaos in Europe and delay the development of this golden period in the future, but it may also create a
powerful European countries.
Yunxi believes that when Confucianism developed to the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, more than 90% of it was dregs. However, this idea was still very advanced when it was first born. It was the smearing of the past dynasties that gradually made it full of dregs and rigid. Because of this,
If the guest officer needs it, what Kelaviyo will bring back will definitely not be the Confucianism that has been repeatedly painted after the Song Dynasty, but closer to the origin, the thought that Yunxi has always wanted to promote. If a certain country absorbs both Confucianism and Christian philosophy
With the advantages of this kind of thinking, this country will be very advanced in ideology and system.
At the same time, the Age of Discovery is approaching. Yunxi is not sure whether there will be ships sailing around the continent from the Cape of Good Hope to the Indian Ocean. He is also not sure whether there will be ships that will get lost while sailing on the east coast of the Atlantic Ocean and arrive at the South Hanzhou continent. It is even less certain.
I am sure whether there will be ships from the Han continent coming to Europe. Once any of the above three situations occurs, the Age of Discovery will come for European countries. By then, their ideas and systems will be very advanced and they will have opportunities for development.
This European country will be a difficult enemy for Ming Dynasty to deal with.
Of course, this enemy cannot defeat the Ming in the Indian Ocean, but this country is likely to create a powerful country in the west that spans both sides of the Atlantic. After all, the Ming is too far away from there, and there are too many expansion directions to take into account, and it cannot be defeated.
Even if the ship wanders, it can reach the European countries in the southern Hanzhou continent.
Therefore, Yunxi now does not support the spread of Confucianism in Europe.
It is even less likely that he would like advanced papermaking and movable type printing to spread to Europe. Needless to mention the benefits of advanced papermaking, Clavijo himself has made it very clear; but movable type printing has a huge impact on the progress of European civilization.
, far greater than advanced papermaking technology.
Movable type printing has never become a mainstream printing method in the Ming Dynasty. Even if only common Chinese characters are counted, there are at least two thousand to three thousand. This means that if publishers want to use movable type printing, they must cast so many typefaces in advance.
The initial cost investment is too high, and the typefaces are not like the fixed assets of later generations that can continue to be used after twenty years of depreciation, and are easily damaged. At the same time, the handwriting of books printed using movable type printing is also unclear, and people are not willing to
Buy. Therefore, publishers in the Ming Dynasty rarely used movable type printing.
But Europe is different. Regardless of whether the Latin alphabet or the Cyrillic alphabet is used, there are only a few dozen letters. Even counting the letters repeated on each page of the book, the typefaces required to be cast are far less than the commonly used Chinese characters, and the initial investment cost is very low.
Many. And European countries seem to have used a better ink in the era of block printing to make the writing clearer. So when Gutenberg independently discovered movable type printing in 1440 AD, it quickly replaced the original block printing.
This technology enabled the printing industry in Europe to develop tremendously and effectively promoted the development of European civilization.
Therefore, Yunxi was not willing to spread advanced papermaking and movable type printing to Europe.
However, 'I don't seem to have a good way to prevent Confucianism and these two technologies from spreading to Europe.' Yunxi looked at Claviyo and thought to himself.
Confucianism is an idea that Yunxi has been working hard to spread to the outside world after he succeeded to the throne. Even though he has rejected Claviyo now, Claviyo took away several unsuccessful scholars from the vassal country when he returned to Castile.
It is also very easy, and it is impossible for him to issue a decree prohibiting the spread of Confucianism to Klavyo, which would cause confusion in bureaucratic thinking.
The same goes for the two technologies. These two technologies have spread too widely in the Ming Dynasty and surrounding countries, and the difficulty is not high. He can indeed issue an edict to prohibit the spread, but the country and the vassal country may not take it seriously. What he just thought in his mind
There is no way to explain the reason to Fan Guo, not to mention that the explanation may not be useful.
‘The only way seems to be to get rid of Claviyo and his entourage.’ Thinking of this, Yunxi’s eyes changed as he looked at the lowered Claviyo’s head.
Yunxi thought about it very seriously and finally decided to let it go. 'I still have time to go to his place.'
But Kelaviyo stood in front of him and had to answer. Yunxi didn't think clearly for a moment and asked: "Brother Ze Laizi, isn't Daming good?"
"Dear Your Majesty, I just praised the Ming Dynasty greatly. I think the Ming Dynasty is much stronger than Castile. And these words are the truth from the bottom of my heart. I definitely did not deceive you, Your Majesty." Clavi said.
I could understand the meaning of Yunxi's question, but he said it immediately.
"You don't have to worry." Yunxi smiled and said, "I'm just curious. Since the Ming Dynasty is so good, why didn't you consider staying in the Ming Dynasty and not return to Castile?"
"The Ming Dynasty also has Semu people who were brought from Europe by the Mongols. You don't have to worry about looking too alien. Moreover, the people of the Ming Dynasty have always been willing to accept people from outside the Ming Dynasty who have integrated into the Ming Dynasty. You don't have to worry about being excluded; I will treat them equally and will never
Partiality."
"Your Majesty, you are right." Clavio replied: "You are such a great and broad-minded emperor, just like Caesar the Great in ancient Rome. I am not worried about being ostracized in the Ming Dynasty."
"But my family are all in Castile, and I love my wife and two underage children very much. I can't leave the three of them alone in Castile. And His Majesty the King treats me very much."
Well, I heard there is a saying in the Ming Dynasty: A scholar will die for his confidant, so of course I cannot leave His Majesty the King and stay in the Ming Dynasty." (To be continued)
