(I have been completely confused. I don’t know whether Italians put their surname first or their first name first. If anyone who is proficient in Italian can explain this problem clearly, I will be grateful. Until then, I will just treat it as myself.
It’s okay to write an Italian name, first name first, last name last)
At this time, several Ming Dynasty officials came in with a few servants and began to distribute meals to them. Jijano stood up and thanked him: "Thank you, Deputy Ambassador Zhao."
"What's there to be grateful for?" Deputy Zhao said with a smile, "I just brought you food."
"I thank you not for delivering meals, but for escorting us all the way from Yiwu to the capital. The journey is long and really hard," Jihano said.
Vice Envoy Zhao smiled and said nothing. Although the journey was indeed difficult, he, or the entire officials of the Fanguan in Yiwu, were willing to send the northwest envoy to the capital.
Yiwu is really a drab city. Even though there are more and more people in these years and commerce has developed, it is still not comparable to the cities in the Central Plains. They all want to take a look at the Central Plains and see the prosperous scene of the Central Plains. But
They are court officials and cannot leave their posts at will. They can only escort envoys.
Of course Quijano didn't know what Deputy Zhao was thinking. He thanked Deputy Zhao a few more times, and Deputy Zhao left the cabin with the helpers.
Quijano spoke a few more words to Gilberti and Bardi, and was about to leave when he suddenly heard a child crying. Bardi smiled helplessly and said, "It must be Alberti who is crying."
"I really don't understand why Batista had to take his whole family, including his only seven-year-old son, to the east and to the capital of the Ming Dynasty," Quijano said.
"Although Leona was born into a noble family, his family background has declined by his generation. You also know how worthless Italian nobles are. He will not get any benefits just by being a noble. Three years ago,
He even had to sell his ancestral home and came to Genoa to make a living by painting."
"However, his painting skills were not good and he could only survive. At this time, Donatello came to Genoa from Rome and was willing to hire him as his assistant. Of course, he wanted it. But Donatello wanted to come to Ming Dynasty again.
, if Leona does not follow Donatello, he will have to fall back into a state of barely surviving. After all, he is from a noble family and is more arrogant than those of us who are from common people. He would rather follow Donatello.
He wanted to adventure in the East, but he didn't want to fall into that kind of life again, so he brought his family to the Ming Dynasty." Gilberti explained.
Quijano glanced at Leona Batista, his wife and the crying child in his wife's arms, and shook his head, not knowing whether it was out of pity for him or because he felt that what he did was wrong.
Turned around and left the cabin.
As soon as he left, many people in the cabin immediately started devouring their food. Just now Quijano was here, and these second- and third-rate painters, sculptors and their assistants wanted to leave a good impression in front of him, so they chewed their meals carefully just now;
Now that Quijano had left, there was no need to hide it. Seeing this scene, Gilberti shook his head, picked up his lunch box and walked to the other side of the cabin, where he sat with Bardi and talked about artistic issues while eating. They
Of course, the two of them still ate slowly and carefully.
Except for Gilberti and Bardi, there were no first-class painters or sculptors present, but there was one person who ate slowly like the two first-class artists. This person was Leona Bardi, who was just discussed by Guijano.
Star. He saw his son crying all the time. He felt very annoyed and was afraid of offending others. He couldn't help scolding: "Ocissa, please make Alberti stop crying quickly!"
"If the child cries, you will only scold me!" Ocissa Battista did not dare to disobey her husband's words and coaxed the child softly, but complained.
Leona couldn't hear what she said clearly, but he could tell by the shape of her mouth that she was not just coaxing the child, but also saying something. He recalled what happened along the way and quickly guessed that Ocissa was complaining about him.
, became even more angry, put down the lunch box and couldn't help but beat her.
"Leonard, there is no need to be so angry. Every child comes from a period of moodiness and joy. My two sons were noisier than Alberti when they were seven years old. They got better after they were ten years old.
"At this time another person said.
Hearing this, Leona put down his raised hand, picked up the lunch box and started eating. He didn't want to offend the person who came with him, even if he was just an artist's assistant like him. He advised the person to see him start eating again and smiled.
Laughing, he turned back to continue eating, and at the same time joked to the two eleven or twelve-year-old boys: "You see, how kind I was to you back then. I never scolded or even beat you because you cried."
"That's because you're usually not at home when we cry." The older boy responded with a smile, and the younger boy also chuckled.
"You talk too much," their father scolded, but it was obvious that he was not angry.
After a while, everyone had finished their dinner, and the attendants left by Quijano went to call the servants of the Ming Dynasty to take away the lunch boxes. Since the Ming Dynasty government did not allow them to disembark at will, most people had nothing to do at night.
They walked into the small cabin next to the big cabin and went to sleep. Of course they couldn't get a single room. Ten people lived in one cabin, which seemed a bit crowded. But people like Gilberti and Baldi could certainly get a single room.
Early the next morning, the ship pulled anchor and continued to the capital. I don’t know how long it took, but the sun had risen very high. They arrived at the dock outside the capital of the Ming Dynasty and arrived at the capital of the Ming Dynasty.
"This is the capital of the Ming Dynasty!" Jihano got off the ship first and pointed to the city not far from the dock.
"This is the capital of the Ming Dynasty!" Baldi said in surprise: "This city is so big? Even the city of Rome is only one-fifth of the size of this city at most. The Ming Dynasty wanted to defend such a large city.
, How many troops are needed to maintain law and order in such a large city? How many police officers are needed?" Gilberti did not exclaim, but he was only a little more surprised than Baldi.
As for the others, they were even more surprised. After all, Gilberti and Bardi had been to Rome and had seen the world, and their tolerance was higher. The others had only stayed in their hometowns and three republics, and had never seen anything like this.
In a big city, their mouths opened wide, as if they were about to dislocate.
"As far as I know, there are a total of forty-eight guards stationed near the capital. The guards are a military unit of the Ming Dynasty. Each guard has a total of 5,600 people, excluding officers, and there are forty-eight guards. At full strength, there are a total of 68,800 people.
As for the police, I haven’t asked, so I don’t know,” Quijano said.
"So many troops!" Baldi was even more surprised: "I know that the Ming Dynasty has a lot of troops. After reading the diary written by Claviyo, I know that including the mobilized vassal troops, they can dispatch 800,000 troops to fight. They will at least
It has an army of one million people. But the Ming Dynasty is so big that 68,800 of them are placed in the capital?"
"First of all, I want to correct you on a question. Not all of the Ming Dynasty's army is a standing army. The Ming Dynasty has more than 400 guards, of which the standing army only has more than 40 guards, accounting for one-tenth of the total number of guards. However, the standing army guards
Each guard has 1,100 soldiers, so the total strength accounts for one-fifth of the entire army."
"Oh, I just made a miscalculation. Twelve of the forty-eight guards near the capital of the Ming Dynasty are standing military guards. Calculated this way, the total strength at full strength should be 60,000."
"As for the remaining less than 400 guards, the Ming Dynasty adopted a very special conscription model. The soldiers of these 400 guards were served by selected citizens, and they were held for generations, similar to the Roman Republic
There was a compulsory military service system at that time, but not all citizens had to undertake compulsory military service, only some citizens." Quijano added.
"Then what are the benefits to these citizens who undertake compulsory military service?" Gilberti suddenly asked.
"They don't need to bear taxes, and they can bring back loot every time they fight." Quijano replied.
Gilberti didn't speak anymore, just shook his head. Although he was famous for his sculptures, he also went to university and took elective courses in history and philosophy. The part of European history that no country can bypass is ancient Rome. University professors all believe that
As the country's territory becomes larger and larger, the system of compulsory military service cannot last long; but without the implementation of compulsory military service, citizens who have lost their land will become urban poor and refuse to serve in the army, relying only on the votes of the senate election.
Making a living by buying votes (buying votes) led to the army being dominated by barbarians, and in the end the country still could not survive.
He didn't know much about the political system of the Ming Dynasty. It was said that it was very different from Europe. But human nature was the same, and sooner or later this small-scale compulsory military service system would not be maintained.
But this has nothing to do with him. It is said that the Ming Dynasty was only established less than fifty years ago, and the collapse of the military system was still early. He only came to the east to carve sculptures for the emperor of the Ming Dynasty. It is better not to talk too much about political matters.
Baldi didn't think so much. Compared with Gilberti, he only knew painting and sculpture, and his family had no money for him to go to college. He didn't know much about Roman history. He just walked towards the city gate and marveled at the capital of the Ming Dynasty.
At the same time, he asked some small questions to Quijano. Some of the questions Quijano knew, and some he didn't know the answers to, but he reluctantly gave explanations.
Walking very close to the city gate, Baldi raised his head and looked at the huge city gate, marveled again, and asked: "Mr. Quijano, what is this thing they carved on the city gate?"
What’s the use?”
But this time his question did not receive a timely response. Baldi lowered his head and looked to the side. Quijano was no longer there. He looked around hurriedly and saw Quijano standing by the city gate, talking with other people.
One person spoke enthusiastically. The person had brown hair and was obviously from Europe.
‘Who is this person? Is he the permanent envoy sent by the Kingdom of Castile to the capital of the Ming Dynasty? But sending an envoy to the Ming Dynasty does not seem to be of much use and is not necessary.’
He was about to walk over, but his arm was suddenly pulled by someone. He looked back and saw Gilberti, and asked: "Lorenzo, why are you pulling me?"
"Didn't you see? Quijano and that person are old friends. They haven't seen each other for many years. They must have a lot to say. It's better not to disturb them now. And there is nothing to do standing here. I want to observe carefully.
The structure of the city walls of the capital of the Ming Dynasty, as well as the techniques of some of the less refined sculptures on them. Even in the rough sculptures, the sculptor's technique can be seen," Gilberti said.
"You are right. I also want to observe it carefully. But I am not observing the city wall, but the people coming in and out of the city gate. Not only is this city much larger than Rome, but it also has more people.
, the goods or supplies they carried were also very strange, and I suddenly had an inspiration. If I observe them carefully, I can draw a good portrait of the group." Baldi also said with a smile. (To be continued)