Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 222 Meeting Qi Shuai for the First Time (Part [-])
In Kaiping, for the first time, Gao Wushi saw the regular army of the Ming Dynasty—if the palace guards were not counted—the Southern Army of the Ming Dynasty, which was called the Qi Family Army by later generations.

It is completely different from the half-beggar appearance of the frontier army as imagined. Qi's army is neat and well-equipped, with bright armor. Although Qi Jiguang came here in the name of patrolling defense this time, he only brought [-] Musketeers and did not enter Kaiping Town. From time to time, a neat military formation was set up for military parades or battles, but the high-spirited momentum of the soldiers of the Southern Army even reminded Gao Wushi of the spirit of the soldiers when he watched the National Day military parade.

Is this the Qi Family Army, which was formed during the Jiajing period and spread across land, water, north and south, and shined brilliantly in the hands of three generations of emperors?

Standing on the tower, watching the Qi family army coming all the way from a distance, Gao Yushi was in a daze for a moment.

Of the three generations of emperors in Jialong and Wanli in history, Jiajing was regarded as a faint tyrant, Longqing was regarded as a mediocre lord, and Wanli was even worse.It seems that when these people commented on Jialong Wansandi, they directly ignored the improvement of the lives of the common people under Jialong Wan's great reforms, as well as the continuous emergence of famous ministers and generals in these three dynasties and their achievements.

Especially during the Longwan period, the ancients themselves regarded it as a glorious and prosperous age, and for some reason, it was turned into a precursor to the end of the Ming Dynasty in later generations.

There is no need to cite those too uncommon examples, just look at how Feng Menglong described the Ming Dynasty in the Longwan period in "Jing Shi Tong Yan":
"Sweep away the remnants of the Hu and set up the emperor's body, the dragon and the phoenix dance in Cui Wei; the sea and the sky are surrounded by the left, and the Taihang Mountain is surrounded by the Taihang Mountain. Jinou shares the sun.

This poem only praises the prosperity of my dynasty's capital in Yanjing... From the nine generations of Yongle Lord to Wanli Lord, this is the No. 11 emperor of my dynasty.

This son of heaven, smart and powerful, with both virtue and blessing, ascended the throne at the age of ten, and in his 48 years of reign, three rebellions were brought to an end.Those three places?

Japan Sekibaira Hideyoshi, Nishika Kuo Chengen, Banzhou Yang Yinglong.

Ping Xiuji invaded North Korea, and Gu Chengen and Yang Yinglong were local officials who conspired to rebel, and they were flattened one after another.

Yuanyi were not afraid of submission and fought for tribute.The real thing is: one person can celebrate the people's peace and happiness, and the world will be safe and peaceful. "

Of course, there are always people who do not believe in the records of the Chinese themselves, but believe in the so-called foreign scholars, thinking that their records are worthy of trust.

Well, without arguing about this, let’s take a look at how foreigners recorded the Long Wan period according to these people.

"Collection of Matteo Ricci's Letters IV. Letter from Ricci to Mr. Roman, Director of the Spanish Taxation Department, written in Zhaoqing in September 12 ([-]th year of Wanli)":
"The fertile, beautiful, rich land of China, as well as the knowledge and ability of the Chinese people, are really extraordinary, too high and too big. If you write him in detail, you will need several volumes."

"In China, although people are frugal in consumption, it is very common to wear silk. In addition, there are also clothes made of hemp and other things, which we generally do not have. They use sorghum and rice to make various wines; Therefore, even a very poor person can buy wine for [-] cents, which is enough for a day, and they are not used to drinking water.” ——The “[-] cents” here is probably Matteo Ricci’s own conversion.

You see, from the perspective of foreign scholars, during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, the people were so rich that they used wine instead of water.
This is not over yet, let’s look at the following statement by Matteo Ricci:
"In particular, the production of wheat and rice and other vegetables far exceeds that of Spain, which I have seen with my own eyes... This is due to the good relationship between care and sowing and the cultivation of the land. They seem to cultivate more than we do. better."

"China is naturally curious and optimistic. It looks like a big garden as a whole, with indescribable tranquility and serenity.... In short, there are two roads, land and water, and it is like a big Venice."

"The whole of China seems to be planned by a mathematician, measured with a compass, and each village and town has its place...Because there are so many small farms and small cities, I can say that the whole of China is like an incomparable big city."

"People say that they are as beautiful as the works of the Romans. These few I have seen are really beautiful. The streets are straight, the floors are paved, and there are more arches than Rome; It is more solemn, showing that the country is well governed, the work is great, and the marble inscriptions on it, with beautifully carved characters, seem to be much better than ours."

"The land of China is very clean and healthy. I remember that there was no plague or infectious disease there, so it is full of old people with white hair. Although we can attribute this to the good government... There are dances and music throughout the year, and there There are places for pleasure, ponds for fishing, and other places for recreation, etc."

"Farmers always have one or two pieces of good-looking clothes for meeting officials or friends, or when receiving guests; they are usually stored away. If there are no good-looking clothes, it is inconvenient to receive guests or meet officials....The clothes of ordinary people and nobles are not the same. Same, but both have good looks, with lots of accessories on the hair."

"...I confess to your Excellency that the things I want to describe, if I hadn't seen them with my own eyes, would be unbelievable: there are continuous ports all the way, if you go to Guangdong, and then go to other markets, even the two major ports of Lisbon and Venice are not like this Large shipment throughput, here, in a word, you can buy anything anyone wants. Some neighboring countries such as Japan, Cochin China, Siam, Malacca, Java, Moluccas and others all come to China trading."

"This cannot be regarded as the happiest land. It is rich in products, rich in all kinds of gold, silver and precious stones, with crisscross rivers, dense lakes, and fruit trees and flowers everywhere; so people in this land neither believe in nor hope for the Garden of Eden. , They regard the land they own in this world as a paradise on earth."

Just as he was distracted, Gao Wushi suddenly realized that his arm had been touched by someone. Only then did he come to his senses, and heard Gao Mo remind him in a low voice: "Young master, the person in the red silk python robe in front should be Qi Nantang Qi. Chief Rong."

Gao Wushi looked intently, and saw a tall, steady and fast general in red robes walking towards him. There were several generals following him, but he waved his hand and stayed behind. rear.

At this time, Gao Yushi was wearing a blue civil official uniform with a white pheasant patch on his chest - this was the standard given according to his fifth-rank status as a "fake bachelor's servant".As I said earlier, the "false" here means "agent" or "temporary". Although the emperor made it clear that he was too pragmatic regardless of his grade, the Imperial Academy also wanted to save face. You are pretending to be a bachelor, which is equivalent to being an agent. If you don't even get the second and third positions in the Hanlin Academy, you are not ashamed of someone Gao, but I am ashamed of the Hanlin Academy.

And the python robe that Qi Jiguang wears is supposed to be super-grade. In terms of rank, it is a hundred and eight thousand miles higher than the fake fifth-grade high pragmatism.

However, Qi Jiguang strode forward, and Gao Wushi had just stepped forward to greet him, but before he had time to hand over, Qi Jiguang had already stood still, raised his hand high, and bowed to the end: "Qi, the chief officer of Ji Town, has seen Gao Read it."

Gao Wushi originally had a smile on his face, but when he saw this scene, he froze immediately.

(End of this chapter)