Having said this, Yunxi had nothing to say to them for the time being. Chen Di and Zheng Yi retreated to arrange an audience with the envoys from the foreign country.
Yunxi took out the memorials related to these foreign countries submitted by various yamen. In the past two years, due to the many actions of the Ming Dynasty, the surrounding foreign countries had to change and follow the general trend. Some of them benefited.
Yes, some countries have lost money.
Yunxi usually didn't care about the actions of these foreign countries, because it was not worth caring about. The Ming Dynasty's authority in this area was too great, and he did not need to care about what any other country did. If what a certain country did was not in line with the Ming Dynasty's rules, the Ming Dynasty would
When an edict is issued, no country dares to disobey it until it is ready to conquer Majapahit.
However, since he was going to receive their envoys, Yunxi had better take a look at them temporarily.
"North Korea also sent a fleet to explore northward in the second year of Jianye, but the entire army was wiped out and has not recovered until now?" Yunxi had some questions: "I remember Yunxi said that he did not hire North Koreans to work in Vladivostok.
Did it make North Korea a lot of money? This money should be enough to make up for the losses of the Navy."
"Maybe there are some domestic issues that prevent him from spending all the money on rebuilding the navy."
"The Fuso people have established a more powerful navy than before. It is suspected that they have obtained a lot of gold and silver from the exploration in the north? This is not surprising. The Fuso people are not far from the north, and there are people who have been in the southern Ainu land all year round.
With experience in sailing around (Hokkaido) and even the Kuril Islands, it is normal to find gold mines in Kinning (Kamchatka).”
"..."
Yunxi watched for half a day and returned to Kunning Palace to have dinner with Xiyao at noon.
Of course Xiyao had already gotten up at this time. Even if she had nothing to do in the morning, she would not have been able to sleep until now.
The little ones also got up, because they were full of energy after getting enough sleep and were sitting at the dining table, probably discussing what to play in the afternoon.
Yunxi didn't care either, and just told the eunuchs and female officials in Kunning Palace: "If they play in the snow, they must wear more clothes."
He took another wonderful nap, and then got up to summon the foreign envoys.
The first North Korean envoy was exactly the same as the previous ones, requesting recognition of their famous ancestors in the Central Plains, and trying every means to get the Ming Dynasty to reward North Korea with more things. For some reasons, Yunxi agreed to the North Koreans' request as long as it was not excessive.
So everyone is happy.
The subsequent envoys were similar to the previous ones, with nothing new. The exchange between Yunxi and the envoy ended in two sentences.
However, Ahong State paid tribute for the first time this year, so Yunxi asked a few more questions out of curiosity.
Su Mengfa, the envoy of the Ahong Kingdom, said: "Your Majesty, the north of our country is probably the land of the Tibetans, but the high mountains have blocked communication. However, the Gurkhas and Tibetans in the west of our Ahong Kingdom have communicated with each other."
"As for India, do you know what the situation is now?" Yunxi asked.
"India? Your Majesty, India is not unified at this time. Although the State of Delhi previously owned most of northern India, since Timur defeated the main force of the State of Delhi, its control over the country is not as good as before. Although many places are nominally
It still belongs to the country of Delhi, but it is actually an independent country." Su Mengfa said.
'India is now divided. But this is not surprising. In ancient times, India was just a geographical term like Germany, and it was not a unified country. It was England who helped India complete the unification of the country and established a unified India. Even though England
Before leaving, the partition of India and Pakistan was carried out, and the remaining India was not much smaller than India, the country with the largest territory in history.'
'However, Timur actually appears in India. He is indeed a person who occupies an important position in the records of all important countries except China during this period in history.' Yunxi thought to himself.
Yunxi asked about other situations in India, and asked him to go down after learning more about the demolition of the national wall in Delhi.
Soon, all the fifteen envoys in front were received. Yunxi rubbed his eyes, stood up and walked around, and said to Chen Di: "Let the envoys from Annan Kingdom come to see you."
…
…
Outside the hall, I watched the envoys from the Fan Kingdom meet Yunxi one by one and then exit Jinshen Hall. I saw that there were fewer and fewer people waiting around me. Although Hu Yuancheng, the envoy from the Annan Kingdom, was very calm on the surface, he was feeling very calm in his heart.
But he is not as calm as he appears on the surface.
His lips would move occasionally, but no sound was produced, and the movements were so small that even people who were proficient in lip reading would not know what he was 'reading silently'.
Soon, Baihua's envoy went to meet Yunxi. He was the only envoy waiting in the palace. The officials of the Ministry of Rites were also a little relaxed. Hu Yuancheng took something out of his sleeve, took a look at it quietly, and hurriedly put it back into his sleeve.
.
Hu Yuancheng was just reciting something silently when he heard someone shouting: "Hu Yuancheng, the envoy of the Southern Kingdom of Xuan'an, is here to see you!"
He quickly stopped reading silently, straightened his clothes, and walked into the hall under the guidance of the waiter.
After a while, he walked to the palace where Yunxi was, and saw the people above him wearing bright yellow court uniforms. He immediately knelt down and said, "Hu Yuancheng, the minister of Annan's country, has met His Majesty the Ming Emperor. Long live His Majesty!"
"Get up." He only heard the voice coming from above his head.
Hu Yuancheng knelt for a while before standing up, lowering his head and saying: "The king of my country has asked me to wish your majesty a long life. I wish the Ming Dynasty will never be easy. I wish the empress good luck, and I wish your highness the crown prince..., I wish..."
"The lower country pays tribute to the upper country ten pearls from the South Sea and ten corals..."
"The king of the lower country also knows that today is the birthday of the emperor's fifth son. He wishes the emperor's fifth son a long and prosperous life, and presents a pair of gold Ruyi, a pair of silver and a pair of jade to the emperor's five sons."
Yunxi and Chen Di and others were very surprised. The beautiful words at the beginning were nothing more than the pearls and corals given. They knew that the birthday of the fifth emperor Wen Yin was acceptable, but they actually gave him such a precious gift.
That's very abnormal.
After all, pearls and corals are luxuries that cannot be eaten or drunk. It would be understandable if King Annan gave them to the emperor of the Ming Dynasty from a simple tree, but it would be understandable if he gave them to Ruyi made of gold and silver.
Gold and silver are currencies and general equivalents. Unless there are extremely special circumstances, gold and silver are very valuable things, which are different from simple luxury goods. No country has ever paid tribute to anything made of gold and silver before.
The more they behave like this, the more Yunxi becomes suspicious. If they show courtesy for nothing, they are either traitors or thieves. There must be something wrong with An Nanguo sending such precious things.
"The tribute sent by your country this year is so precious, how can I be embarrassed to accept it? Take it back." Yunxi said.
"His Majesty is the Emperor of Heaven. The Lord of our country said that in the world, only Your Majesty is qualified to use these things. Even if I take them back, my Lord can only seal them up and worship them day and night as His Majesty's reward. But this is the case.
Wouldn't it be a waste of natural resources? Therefore, I sincerely request your Majesty to accept the tribute from your country." Hu Yuancheng said.
Don't mention it, these two flattery words made Yunxi very comfortable, but Yunxi has never been a person who can be fooled by two flattery words. He said: "That won't work, since I am the emperor of the heaven.
, we must treat everyone in the world as my subjects, how can we accept so many precious tributes? Absolutely not."
Later, Yunxi saw that Hu Yuancheng seemed to have made up his mind, and said to him: "Your Majesty, the reason why our Annan tribute is like this this year is because in the 27th year of Hongwu, the late emperor, my Annan, has been paying tribute. Our country sends people here every year.
When the Ming Dynasty paid tribute, they always brought the previous tributes and added some more. This is all the tributes accumulated in the past few years, so it seems more."
"If Your Majesty divides it into tributes for each of these years, it will be a normal share. So please do not reject it."
After hearing what Hu Yuancheng said, Chen Di and others understood what he meant, and were even a little moved. They felt that it was not easy for an envoy from a foreign country to act like this. Although Yunxi felt that they just wanted to get more rewards, they also felt that they just wanted to get more rewards.
The doubt disappeared.
However, this is just an interlude before the official start of the confrontation, and the real confrontation will begin soon.
"I heard that your country's rebellious minister Li Jiyou suddenly died of illness in March last year?" Yunxi said.
"Your Majesty, this is indeed the case." Hu Yuancheng replied.
"But how come I heard that in the first month of the third year of Jianye, your envoy also said that Li Jisu was in very good health and had no pain; from the twelfth lunar month of the second year of Jianye to March of the third year of Jianye, only more than three months had passed.
, he suddenly died of illness without any warning? I feel a little strange."
"Your Majesty, there is a saying in our country that illness comes like a mountain falling and goes away like a thread. My rebellious minister Li Jisao is already in his sixties, so it is normal for him to suddenly become seriously ill."
"I also heard that Li Hancang, the son of your rebellious minister Li Jiya, also has some talents. Is he willing to return power to the king?"
"Your Majesty, the merchant king of our country is not an incompetent person. It's just that when he came to the throne, his rebellious minister Li Jiya was already in great difficulty, so he was controlled by Li Jiya. When Li Jiya died of illness, even though Li Hancang was talented, he was still young.
It was too minor to convince the public, so the king of our country seized the opportunity to kill him, just like Emperor Ming of Tang Dynasty killed Princess Taiping to put down the rebels and bring order to the chaos."
"But I heard that Annan's domestic decrees are still strict and the people are complaining." Although the Jin Yiwei sent to Annan just sent could not figure out what happened at the top, they can tell from what they saw and heard at Annan's port that Annan's current decrees are
This is not benevolent government.
If a person from a country with similar strength to Annan had asked this question, Hu Yuancheng would have gone berserk a long time ago. However, because it was the emperor of the higher country who asked him, he did not dare to get angry, but he showed an aggrieved look and said: "Your Majesty, the national situation of our country is different from that of
The upper country is different, and your Majesty cannot generalize; besides, the rebellious minister Li Ji Yao died not long ago, and the ruler of the lower country also just killed Li Hancang. After that, the former king died of illness and the current king succeeded to the throne. Some of the evil policies carried out by Li Ji Yao were not taken into account for the time being.
That’s why it was modified.”
After that, Yunxi asked about the previous king and the current king, but he asked cautiously. After all, he suspected that the royal brothers in the country were fighting each other and it was difficult to talk about it. He could only ask in a roundabout way, and some questions were spoken by Chen Di.
Ask, not ask.
Hu Yuancheng answered these questions one by one. Although there were times of hesitation, it can be seen from the subsequent answers that Hu Yuancheng was not hiding something, but that as a minister he could not talk about some things about the royal family.
After talking for half a day, everyone's mouths were dry, so Yunxi ordered tea to be served. He drank tea to moisten his lips, and asked Hu Yuancheng and Chen Di to also moisturize their lips and take a break.
Taking advantage of this moment, Chen Di said to Yun Xi: "From Hu Yuancheng's answer, we can probably guess that Chen Xi did not get the throne by killing Chen Rikun, but being able to become the king after Chen Rikun died was not an inheritance.
Come."
"This is just his one-sided statement, maybe it's a cover-up." Yun He said.
"Even if it is covered up, it is still a family matter of the Chen family." Chen Di said.
Chen Di's meaning is very clear. Even if Chen Yan really kills Chen Rikun and becomes the leader of the country, it is still an internal matter within the family. If no one comes to complain, don't interfere.
Yunxi was very anxious. If the truth of the matter was really like this, he really couldn't interfere. His purpose was not to promote justice in Annan.
"Perhaps this envoy named Hu Yuancheng is lying." Yunxi said: "The people from the Zhufan Hall monitored the people coming from Annan and tried to get the truth from the servants to see if they could find out the truth." Because they know what happened in history.
, he still doesn't want to accept the truth.
Chen Di moved his lips twice, but the words still remained unsaid. Although he had not arranged for anyone to monitor the routine before, Jin Yiwei had already done these things and had gained nothing so far, and he would not gain anything by arranging people.
.
‘Let’s wait a few days and then talk to His Majesty after we have really gained nothing.’ Chen Di thought to himself.
At this time, several people had finished drinking the tea in their teacups. Yunxi felt that there was no need to continue talking to Hu Yuancheng, so he stopped refilling the tea.
Yunxi was about to say a few words to end the summons when he suddenly thought of something and asked: "I wonder what position Ambassador Hu holds in the country? Messenger Hu is such a talented person and should be reused. If he is not reused,
It is better to stay in Ming Dynasty, I will give you the position of magistrate or doctor."
"Your Majesty, I hold the position of Young Master in the country." Hu Yuancheng replied.
"Young Master?" Yun He was surprised. In Annan, just like in China, the three nobles are the highest, followed by the three orphans. Hu Yuancheng doesn't look very old, how can he be the three orphans?
"I see you are not old, how can you be the three orphans?" Yunxi asked.
"Your Majesty, my Majesty, the country passed by Li Jiyou, a rebellious minister, and the previous king executed officials twice. There are not many talents in the country now, and I made great achievements while assisting the previous king, so I have to kill the three orphans." Hu Yuancheng replied.
"That's it." Yunxi said.
After that, Yunxi had nothing to say and asked him to step aside.
…
…
Hu Yuancheng walked out of the palace at a normal pace, without any sign of nervousness or anxiety. But he had just walked out of the palace gate and when there was no one around him, he whispered: "I will kill the envoy who came to the capital of the Ming Dynasty last year as soon as I go back."