For foreigners, it may be difficult for ordinary people to see one in their lifetime, so whenever they encounter one, they will definitely treat it as a rare thing and go up to watch it for a long time - later generations also had foreign affairs rules not to watch foreign friends - and for foreigners
For Zhu Ying, she had often visited the palace since she was sensible. During court meetings, it was common for her to hide in a corner and watch the excitement.
Therefore, all kinds of foreigners wearing strange clothes and strange appearances, which she initially thought were monsters when she was a child, later became commonplace, and she has long passed the age where she would be surprised at every turn. Now that she is older, she no longer has any interest in the Great Court Meeting.
But that doesn't mean she will forget the strange looks of those foreign envoys from the West.
Therefore, her first reaction was that Old Xianyu was fooling her, so she immediately asked dissatisfiedly. However, before Old Xianyu had time to explain, she heard Zhang Shouyouyou said: "Yingying, you are not right.
Comprehensive. Some Westerners have blond hair, blue eyes and white skin, some have curly hair and dark skin like Kunlun slaves, but there are also some who look similar to us, as if they are from the same origin."
"For example, the Mongols, as well as the Huns, Khitans, and Dangxiang people in the past, if they have the same hairstyle and wear the same clothes as us, then there will only be a slight difference." Because the races are not too different.
many……
Zhu Ying usually agreed with Zhang Shou's statement, but at this time she was unconvinced and said: "But that's what happens to the foreign races that border our country. If they are far apart, they can't look the same as us! This is
I discovered this after seeing so many envoys from foreign countries! Besides, Old Xianyu was talking about the West, not Southeast Asia. I have seen businessmen from various countries in Europe, and they don’t look like this!"
Seeing that the eldest lady was losing his temper, Zhang Shou said calmly: "Didn't Emperor Taizu say that the place we live in is a huge ball? You should have also seen the Ordnance Bureau's ball that crossed Europa.
Further to the west, there is actually a continent across the sea, which can also be said to be the Western Ocean. Of course, if I turn the globe around and look across the sea to the east, it can also be said to be the Eastern Ocean."
Zhu Ying's heart suddenly skipped a beat. Of course she had seen a globe before... There was one in the study room of the East Nuan Pavilion of the Emperor Qianqing Palace. She often played with it as a toy when she was a child. However, Emperor Taizu called it a globe, and they
The omission of the word "地" has not spread among the people. Only the story of Emperor Taizu Mengtian has countless versions.
Zhang Shou said it so boldly in front of two people who did not know the details. The result of sailing westward is to turn back eastward. Is this really good? You know, even those merchants in the southeast who make a living by trading at sea
, and few people know that the earth is round.
Sure enough, she saw Old Xianyu was slightly startled, and then showed an expression of attentive listening. On the contrary, Monk Zanghai yawned as if he was not interested, and used his eyes to signal the guy who had just escaped to hurry up.
Come back to work.
After a while, the little commotion that had just been stirred up completely subsided. But at this time, Zhang Shou changed his tone again.
"I am reminded of a story. It is said that in the last years of the Shang Dynasty, Youhou Xi led more than 100,000 troops to conquer Dongyi. On the way, he heard that King Wu of Zhou was attacking Zhou. He was so loyal that he immediately led his troops back to King Qin. However, he did not fight many battles.
I heard that King Zhou self-immolated and the princes surrendered to Zhou. He was ashamed to associate with these people, but he was unable to compete with King Wu of Zhou. After that, he disappeared with more than 100,000 people."
"In the history books, in order to show its orthodoxy and morality, the Zhou Dynasty made all the old officials of the Yin and Shang Dynasties, even if they were unwilling to surrender, such as Boyi and Shuqi who starved to death in Shouyang Mountain, at least their fate was made clear, but Youhou Xi
But there are no records of so many people under his command. There are rumors that they actually built many large ships, sailed eastward, and then arrived at a piece of land on the other side of the sea and moved there."
Zhang Shou's story actually involved the Shang Dynasty, which had relatively few historical records. Zhu Ying was attracted to it unknowingly. Even Old Xianyu couldn't help but ask: "Dr. Zhang, are you telling the truth?"
?That’s not a river or a lake, it’s a huge sea. Even those big ships now have to go through it with great effort, let alone three thousand years ago!”
The fox's tail is finally revealed! You haven't seen a globe. If you haven't walked through it, how do you know that it is the big sea? How do you know that it takes a lot of effort to get there? How do you not question that there may not be land on the other side of the sea?
!
Zhang Shou was in a great mood, and then he smiled and said: "That's why I just said, it's a legend."
Zhu Ying had taken it completely seriously. When she heard Zhang Shou suddenly say this, she immediately said angrily: "Ah Shou, I won't do this to you! I said so much in a serious way, and then added another sentence at the end, that's a legend... How could I
I’ve never heard of such a legend!”
So, it’s a good thing that Emperor Taizu didn’t popularize the legend of the merchants’ eastward journey to others... Otherwise, it would be impossible for me to use this story to bluff Lao Xianyu! Even in later generations, this fact has not been recognized by the historians.
Admittedly. The problem is to tell them that the Mongol race entered the Americas through the Bering Bridge in the Arctic. Later, the Bering Bridge disappeared due to plate changes. Who can understand?
Zhang Shou thought so in his heart, but he smiled and said: "The reason why legends are legends is because there is no way to verify them. But don't those Confucian scholars always talk about what happened in the ancient times with the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors? Who can be sure that Youhou Xi doesn't have any solution for him?
Crossing the ocean? Furthermore, for thousands of years from ancient times to the present, countless people have traveled far away from their homeland, leaving behind ethnic groups with the same origin overseas. That is normal."
"So, what Lao Xianyu said may not be a lie."
Seeing that Zhang Shou just used such a story to defend himself, Old Xianyu suddenly had mixed emotions. He also wanted to ask Zhang Shou whether the merchant's eastward journey was a legend or a fact, but he was afraid of exposing his fault, so he could only laugh and said: "Fortunately, Zhang Shou
Doctors are knowledgeable and talented, otherwise I would not be able to wash myself clean even if I jumped into the Yellow River."
Zhu Ying snorted in her stomach, you still want to clean up this salted fish? Now I think everything about you is suspicious!
The people brought back from overseas did not report to the government, but hid quietly in a place like this? And looking at the number of people at present, it was not just one or two. What was this going on?
As if he was aware of Zhu Ying's sharp gaze, Old Xianyu wiped the sweat from his forehead and quickly explained with a smile: "When I brought the person back, of course I wanted to report it to the government. After all, I brought the foreigners secretly.
Man, that is a serious crime. But Miss, you and Dr. Zhang have also seen that Xu Cheng has been the magistrate of Changlu County for five years and is so greedy that who dares to deal with him?"
As he spoke, he pointed to the monks and so-called barbarians who were working in all directions, with sincerity written all over his face.
"Look at them, let alone the weather like this. It's April, and they try not to wear clothes when working. Why, because working will damage their clothes, and they don't have so much money to buy them! Don't say it's them.
Well, just the damn monk Zanghai, and the disciples under him, who can be shirtless on weekdays? Who told me that making clothes is too expensive!"
The more Old Xianyu talked, the sadder he became, and his eyes were filled with tears for a moment.
"This is the life of poor people... If they don't even have the money to buy a few more clothes, how can they get the money to go to the government to pay taxes for them one by one? Hey, I just have a good intention to take people back and give them a
There is a way to survive, but I have no money! Zanghai is still managing the farm and growing vegetable fields for Wanghai Temple, otherwise there would be no place to take them in."
Seeing that Zhu Ying seemed to be persuaded by the old man, Zhang Shou suddenly said: "So, don't you treat them as slaves who don't need money and only care about food?"
"How can I not!" Old Xianyu finally jumped up suddenly as if his tail was being stepped on, "Dr. Zhang, if you don't believe me, ask them themselves if they are happy to stay here..."
"You have a good plan. They are overseas people without household registration and speak awkward Mandarin. If they are not willing to stay with you, where else can they go?" Zhu Ying finally came to her senses at this time and immediately snorted angrily.
He said, "You just admitted it yourself, you can't even afford clothes, you just care about food."
"It's true that I only care about food, but I also have two sets of clothes a year. Just like this, the past few years when I brought them back and settled them here, I was almost exhausted. As for the harvest... I can earn some money by growing some fruits and vegetables.
How much money? What’s more, after it was first planted, it was still not adapted to the climate, and the cotton has not made any progress until now.”
Old Xianyu didn't care about Zhu Ying's attitude, and directly called out Tianqu: "But even if I only care about food, it won't be easy. Look at Cangzhou. The reason why people were so angry that things like that happened before is not easy.
Just because you want to have enough food and clothing but can’t get it?”
Having said this, he raised his head and said stiffly: "It will be dinner in a while, and you can also take a look at Zanghai, his disciples, and these barbarians who have come across the ocean.
Do they eat the same thing?”
Zhang Shougang seemed to just ask casually, but in fact he didn't just want to find out what Lao Xianyu's attitude towards these so-called "barbarians" who lost their homes was, and whether he treated them as slaves. What he was more curious about was that people
Where did it come from?
You must know that from Northeast Asia to Southeast Asia, there is actually not much difference in race. These so-called overseas barbarians may not come from the Americas, but from closer places.
Moreover, if these so-called barbarians really come from the Americas, then are these people completely Native Americans, or are they descendants of Taizu's fleet?
So, not long after, someone picked out buckets of dinner food, opened the lid, and found beans and rice with salted fish. Zhang Shou saw that everyone had a big bowl, and the surprised "
The "Yi Ren" also devoured the food and ate it extremely deliciously. Even his companions and some of the bald monks were whispering to each other, so he turned around and solemnly raised his hands to the angry old salted fish.
"I wrongly blamed you, I'm sorry."
The fat monk Zanghai didn't say much from the beginning. He just watched the confrontation between Lao Xianyu and this group of distinguished visitors. Seeing Zhang Shou apologize so frankly, he couldn't help being surprised. Goodbye Lao Xianyu
Yu said it was okay with the look of a wronged little daughter-in-law. He couldn't help but scratch his hairless head, not knowing which of the two was the drama queen.
He couldn't help it, so he simply coughed and came out to be the peacemaker.
"Ahem, it's just a misunderstanding. There's no need to take Dr. Zhang too seriously, right? In fact, when Old Xianyu left the person to me, I was also furious. Don't look at the fact that I am nominally in charge of the Wanghai Temple's property, and I send it to the top every year.
A few grains of rice and vegetables will be enough, but they also need to be harvested in a good year. If it weren’t for the subsidies from the salt fields in the east, we wouldn’t be able to survive a disaster. But..."
He paused, then smiled at Zhang Shou and Zhu Yinghan and said: "However, these overseas barbarians are indeed satisfied as long as they have enough food and clothing. Dr. Zhang and the eldest lady, you don't know, it is said that in their place,
It’s even scarier than Mongolia, and even more terrifying than the Wusizang Xuanweisi in the west. It’s childish to use a child’s skull as a magical weapon.”
"Most of their city-states use people to sacrifice to the heavens and gods on weekdays. It is common for them to kill more than ten or twenty people for one sacrifice. If there is a big sacrifice, at least several hundred people will be killed."
"It would be better if there are prisoners of war in the war. If there are no prisoners of war, we will kill our own people. The so-called king is the high priest in charge of divine affairs... When the natural disasters were at their worst, the king even dedicated his daughter to some god, which is disturbing to hear.
Creepy."
As Zanghai spoke, he scratched his head and then sighed.
"I heard that a few decades ago, someone crossed the ocean to these barbarians and taught them our Mandarin, so we can still communicate with these people today. When Lao Xianyu brought them here, I heard those
, I simply feel like I have returned to the time of Xia Jie and Shang Zhou... Well, Dr. Zhang, I’m afraid you don’t know that these Yi tribes in front of you have just learned to make bronze.”
"Moreover, that was what a group of seafarers who were living there pointed out. At that time, the ship sank and a lot of people died. Do you want to build a ship when you come back? Well, you finally subdued a tribe of barbarians and were regarded as gods.
They offered sacrifices, but they didn’t know what was going on in their place. There were floods, droughts, and tornadoes all day long. They almost succeeded in a comeback led by a few priests who had lost their power.”
"There weren't any big livestock in that place. They had three seagoing ships at the beginning, but they kept a dozen horses, but they couldn't help it as time went by. They died of illness, old age, and death, and they couldn't even mate. After all, there were actually animals on the ships that went out to sea.
He also brought fodder and beans to feed the horses, which was extremely luxurious. I don’t know where such a heroic sea passenger came from, and he still took that route..."
"This group of seafarers were there to educate the people, encourage births, increase the population, and cultivate and weave. I don't know why they migrated several times. Although they could build ships long ago, more people felt that they needed to prepare all the tools and make full use of them.
Otherwise, we would be waiting to die at sea. It is said that many years passed like this, and the surviving seafarers grew old and died, and finally made bronze."
The fat monk said it vividly, as if he had seen it with his own eyes.
"As a result, during a migration, they also started fighting with another city-state. Although they won a tragic victory, the last person among the group of sea travelers who were regarded as prophets was almost dead. Before he died, he was carried
He arrived at the beach. If Lao Xianyu's boat hadn't happened to arrive, he would have died there quietly. He really tried his best to get home, but it was a pity that he was so stunned that he could not come back."
Old Xianyu did not stop Zanghai from telling the story, but at the end, he asked in a waning tone: "It's a pity that the last seafarer didn't come back. Instead, these barbarians followed my ship."