The first thousand five hundred and seventy-four chapters of the battle of etiquette
Xu Zhenchuan's mission to Europe, if placed in a world with advanced communications in later generations, would definitely be a major event that would cause a sensation around the world, and countless reporters and people would pay close attention to it.
However, in the 27th year of Xuanping, not many people know about Xu Zhenchuan's mission to Europe.
However, just because not many people know about it, doesn’t mean it’s unimportant.
In order to show that their country is a civilized country, rather than countless indigenous countries that were destroyed by the Tang Empire or used as colonies, the Spanish and Portuguese, although they are still somewhat hostile, are extremely hostile to Xu Zhenchuan's mission to Europe.
of importance.
Xu Zhenchuan stayed in South Africa for several months specifically to finalize many agreements, including very important etiquette issues.
For example, when Xu Zhenchuan arrived in Spain, what etiquette was used to welcome him?
At first, the Spaniards were prepared to welcome the nobles' etiquette, but they were directly rejected by the Tang Dynasty, because in addition to being a diplomat, Xu Zhenchuan also held an imperial edict and was an imperial envoy. To a certain extent, he represented the Holy Spirit.
Son of Heaven.
Therefore, the welcome etiquette must be high-end enough. The Tang Dynasty asked the Spanish side to organize the ceremony in the same manner as the Tang Dynasty domestic reception of imperial envoys.
But Spain naturally refused.
In the end, the two sides discussed and discussed, and the two sides decided on a series of etiquettes, the most important of which was that Xu Zhenchuan would go to Madrid to submit his credentials.
When submitting the credentials, it is not a ceremony such as directly presenting the credentials, but in the form of reading out the imperial edict.
Of course, the King of Spain will definitely not kneel down to receive the order, but he cannot sit down either. After the two parties have negotiated, he will stand to receive the order, but he must raise his hands above his head to receive the order.
In terms of titles, the King of Spain calls himself "King" and calls Li Xuan the Great Emperor. The Spanish ministers call themselves Foreign Ministers and call Xu Zhenchuan Shangguan.
The Tang Empire has always attached great importance to titles.
And this time it's even more important.
Since there is no vocabulary in current Spanish or Latin that can accurately translate the great emperor and the Holy Emperor, the officials of the Tang Dynasty required the Spaniards to use the title of the Holy Emperor in the official documents between the two parties.
The original Chinese text and no translation is allowed.
In the past, many Europeans generally used "emperador" as the translation of Li Xuan's title. In this regard, the early officials of the Tang Dynasty felt that it did not matter. After all, this word also has the meaning of emperor in Chinese in the European Latin family.
But now, officials of the Tang Dynasty believe that the word "emperador" can no longer accurately reflect the dignity of the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty, the Holy Son of Heaven, and the God Emperor.
On the one hand, this term is thought to be limited, referring to a certain group or the supreme ruler of a certain region.
Similarly, there is the Latin imperator, which generally means the ruler of the Romans.
But in the Tang Empire, Li Xuan's title was Great Emperor. In addition, Holy Emperor and Divine Emperor were also his titles. Li Xuan, the Great Emperor, Holy Emperor and Divine Emperor, was not only the supreme ruler of traditional China, but
He is the supreme ruler of all known and unknown spaces, the Son of Heaven.
This kind of title is no longer a ruler's title in the traditional sense, but has become deified.
Therefore, a simple word like "emperador" or similar words is not enough to reflect Li Xuan's nobility.
In addition, using the language of a barbarian country to address the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty is extremely disrespectful!
The incomparably noble Emperor of the Tang Dynasty cannot be described and called by you barbarians in Spanish, Portuguese and Latin.
In the past, the Tang Dynasty was too lazy to deal with these barbarians, but now that they have sent imperial ministers, they must pay attention to them.
How to pay attention to it?
The Tang Dynasty made it very clear that it rejected the Spaniards and the Portuguese to use their own language or Latin or any other barbarian language to call the Holy Emperor.
They were required to write "Great Emperor" in Chinese when addressing the Holy Emperor in official documents.
As for not being able to write, go and learn!
The people of the Tang Dynasty paid so much attention to the so-called etiquette issues, which also left the Spaniards and Portuguese speechless.
But writing the Great Emperor directly in Chinese doesn't actually have much of a problem, it's just a written symbol.
Furthermore, the Portuguese or Spanish in the Age of Discovery were very pragmatic, and they sometimes cared about so-called etiquette, but in the face of real interests, so etiquette was not worth mentioning.
Therefore, in fact, they did not understand why the Tang Dynasty had to care so much about these etiquette issues, and even did not hesitate to give up some practical benefits in exchange for the Spanish and Portuguese's regression in etiquette.
In any case, the three parties finally negotiated successfully, and Xu Zhenchuan's fleet officially entered the Atlantic Ocean.
Its scale is huge, with a total of thirteen ships. In addition to carrying dozens of formal diplomats, there are also more than 800 Marine Corps officers who were the first batch of embassy guards in the early stage.
If it is just to transport so many people, there is naturally no need for so many ships. In fact, most of the ships are ships transporting various materials. For example, one of the ships is carrying a lot of cement, which is going to Spain.
After the port of Sri Lanka, a consulate was established.
As for why cement is used in the construction of the consulate!
That's because a consulate is never a simple consulate. When necessary, a consulate can transform into a fortress.
Therefore, all the consulates outside the Tang Empire have a bastion structure, and the bastions of many consulates are made of large amounts of cement.
In addition to construction materials, there is also a large amount of ordnance. On the one hand, it is the equipment and supplies of the embassy guard itself, but the larger amount is ordnance that is ready to be transported to Europe for sale.
Matchlocks, spears, plate armor, cavalry swords, five-pound and nine-pound field cannons, two-pound shotguns, swords, daggers and many other ordnance.
In addition to ordnance, there are also a large amount of ammunition, cans, military tents, uniforms and other military supplies.
When the Tang Dynasty prepared these military trade aid supplies, they were arranged directly according to the standards of the early infantry divisions during the Unification War. According to the standards of the Tang Dynasty infantry divisions that combined matchlock guns and spears, they were enough to arm two
Infantry division.
These ordnance supplies are only the first batch of military aid from the Tang Dynasty to Europe. If progress goes well, more ordnance and weapons will be shipped to Europe one after another to help the Western barbarians resist the Tatars.
And there is no need to worry about the affordability in Europe. Although the weapons and weapons of the Tang Dynasty are not cheap to buy, Spain and Portugal are both rich countries, and they are also global colonial powers.
As for other countries, although they don't have any colonial blood transfusions, they can still purchase a batch of weapons by squeezing them a little or two.
According to the judgment of the business community in Datang, the arms trade potential in Europe is relatively large. If the market can be opened up, it will not be much worse than India and West Asia.
At present, there are only indigenous states in India, especially the Mughal Dynasty, which have become important dumping grounds for Tang Dynasty ordnance.
The Safavid Dynasty and the Ottoman Empire in West Asia were also important customers of the Tang Empire's arms trade.
Today, the European market is about to become an important arms trading area for the Tang Empire.
The envoy fleet led by Xu Zhenchuan was large in size. For safety reasons, the Spanish and Portuguese would send warships to escort them. In addition, the Tang Navy itself also sent four warships to escort it.
These four battleships are a combination of old and new. Among them is the cutting-edge steel steam battleship Wanbei of the Tang Dynasty Navy. This ship is the fourth ship of the Jiangnan class battleship. Although it is the earliest batch of steam steel battleships, it still remains in the Atlantic Ocean.
It belongs to the top combat power, with a displacement of more than 1,500 tons, which is enough to stand out among the heroes.
There is also a cutting-edge 1,000-ton frigate Tongzhou. The Tongzhou is said to be a cutting-edge warship. However, these new 1,000-ton frigates are positioned as cheap warships in the Datang Navy. They are sent to serve overseas in large numbers. The African Squadron has
There are as many as five ships, becoming the absolute main force of the African Squadron.
As for the other two ships, one is an early wooden battleship with sails, and of course, it was also modified with a steam engine.
There was also an early cruiser of only 800 tons, which was also modified with a steam engine.
The escort fleet composed of these four battleships is powerful enough!
It would be a huge pressure to have the Spanish or Portuguese warships on the side that were responsible for escorting, and were also responsible for surveillance and defense.
If Datang's fleet, including warships and more than a dozen armed merchant ships, launched an attack, it could cause a huge disaster in the Atlantic Ocean.
However, this time it was a diplomatic mission, so whether it was a navy warship or an ordinary armed merchant ship, they did not do anything too extraordinary and just followed the fleet honestly along the way.
Because of the lack of coal supplies along the way and the slow sailing speed of the Spanish or Portuguese sailboats, the fleet sailed north to Europe very slowly.
But no matter how slow it is, it has slowly arrived in Europe.
In December, when heavy snow began to fall in Northern Europe, the fleet led by Xu Zhenchuan finally arrived at Cadiz, the southwestern port of Spain.
Although it is already December, Cadiz is on the edge of the Mediterranean Sea. The local climate is a typical Mediterranean climate. Even in the depth of winter, the local temperature is still relatively comfortable.
Xu Zhenchuan stood on the bow of the ship and watched the fleet gradually enter the port. He was only wearing a relatively light woolen jacket.
At this time, the Spanish envoy beside him said in a proud tone: "Cadiz is one of the oldest cities in Spain. It has developed shipbuilding and commerce, and it is also the home port of our treasure fleet!"
"In the past many years, countless North African pirates have tried to capture this place, but we have all repelled them!"
Xu Zhenchuan looked at the dilapidated city in front of him. It was so small that it couldn't even accommodate the port dock where his fleet could dock for loading and unloading at the same time.
As a senior official of the empire, there is no need for him to deliberately attack these pitiful and pathetic barbarians!
Such a port city, placed in the empire's mainland, is at most the size of an ordinary third-rate coastal port city.
This is just about scale. If we talk about other aspects, let alone other aspects, it is incomparable!
As for the fact that the pirates couldn't conquer Cadiz, it doesn't mean that the empire can't conquer it either.