The rise of the prince

Chapter 548 The Western World + Suffering (Including Popular Science)

Slowly, Li Xingzhou finally understood what Prince Kang's so-called "acceptance" was all about, that is, accepting others as concubines, but Prince Kang really understood the taste.

Under the guidance of Prince Kang, Li Xingzhou slowly chatted with his seventh grandma after saluting.

She has been in the palace for more than ten years, and she has almost completely learned to speak Chinese. Prince Kang named her Zhou Li, probably from the similar pronunciation of her original name.

Li Xingzhou slowly chatted with him, the seventh grandmother, and the more he talked, the more surprised he was. At first, he didn't quite understand it, because Li Xingzhou couldn't hear what the place name she mentioned, and he couldn't be sure where it was.

The place names spoken by his seventh grandma did not use the English of later generations at all.

English is a kind of hodgepodge language that is slowly mixed. It is the result of the evolution of ancient English, Latin, French and many other languages. That's why it is commonly used. It is normal that he can't understand it at all. It is very likely that the seventh grandma Doesn't even speak Old English, though she's blond.

However, following his seventh grandma's description of the geographical features of her hometown, some iconic rivers, mountains, and lakes, Li Xingzhou gradually determined in her mind that she may be from Hungary, and her pronunciation of the motherland is the same as Later "Hungary" is also very similar.

She said that her father was the best glaze maker in their area, and they watched him make glaze since they were young, because she was the most ingenious among several brothers and sisters, so she learned the best.

Later, she had two older brothers and her father took a boat to sell glazed goods in the Kingdom of Jerusalem in the east, but was robbed by the Crusaders and separated from her father and elder brother.

She couldn't understand the language, and was abducted by a group of people who couldn't understand the words. More than 200 different men and women tied their hands together and were dragged northeast by horses for almost half a year.

Until they entered the endless desert from the grassland, some of their people were sold to people on the road, and many of them died of illness. Many of the slave owners who escorted them also died of illness in the desert. The last remaining four slave owners were afraid that they would rebel. , fled in the night, and left them in the desert.

In desperation, they had no choice but to bury their heads and continue eastward, and some people died. Finally, more than [-] people walked out of the desert, reached the grassland under the snow-capped mountains, and settled there.

There are not many of them, and they live in a group. Because she can make colored glaze, she quickly exchanged some necessary materials for life with the local small village, became the team leader, and lived there.

As a result, after living for a few years, cavalrymen that she had never seen before suddenly came from nowhere and burned, killed and looted the surrounding tribes. She couldn't understand the language, and no one took her in.

She took the glazed wares she had brought with her as a reward, sailed eastward by boat, met Prince Kang at the ferry, and was taken in by him, so she gradually learned about the world.

After listening to her narration, Li Xingzhou sincerely felt that this journey was not easy, and it could be said that he escaped death.

He also has a better understanding of the current situation in the West. The existence of the Kingdom of Hungary is more certain of Li Xingzhou's guess about the timeline. At this time, if the European generation is not wrong, the most powerful should be the Holy Roman Empire, the French Empire, the Kingdom of England, the Byzantine Empire, and the Grand Duchy of Poland. , the Principality of Kiev, the Grand Duchy of Vladimir, etc.

Moreover, the Crusades have already marched eastward and established the Kingdom of Jerusalem, which means that the Abuyu Dynasty established by Saladin exists, and the Arab Empire should also exist.

According to Grandma Seven's description, the Crusaders have already begun to rob caravans entering and leaving Jerusalem, which means that Saladin is probably about to make a move.

The main cause of the Crusades was Jerusalem, which is a very important city in world history because it is a holy city of three religions.

The so-called three religions are Islam, Christianity, and Judaism.

It is worth noting that the three religions have the same origin. At the beginning, Islam and Christianity both claimed to be the inheritors and advocates of Judaism. The only true god they believed in was "God", but they called them differently.

Judaism calls it "Yahwei", Christianity calls it "Jehovah", and Islam calls it "Allah or Allah."

For Judaism, Jewish heroes once established the Kingdom of Judah, built a temple for God in Jerusalem, and placed the "Ark of the Covenant" in it. Jerusalem has since become the only residence of God in the world.

For Christianity, Jerusalem is the place where Jesus suffered and was finally crucified on the cross. Later, Christians established the Cathedral of the Holy Sepulchre and the Cathedral of Our Lady in Jerusalem, and Jerusalem has since become a holy place for Christianity.

For Islam, the Arab Muhammad founded the religion, ascended to heaven in Jerusalem, and took Jerusalem as the initial direction of worship for Islam. Since then, Jerusalem has become a holy place for Islam.

The gathering of the holy sites of the three religions not only makes Jerusalem one of the most famous holy cities in the world, but also makes it suffer from wars ever since.

In the famous Crusades, Christianity burned, killed and looted under the banner of retaking the Holy City. After the city was finally broken, the Crusaders slaughtered all Christians and Muslims in the city. Later, Saladin would defeat the Crusaders and destroy the symbol of Christ. The True Cross, retaking Jerusalem, but the war did not end.

Later, there were many crusades one after another, surrounding Jerusalem, and Christ and Muslims shed an unknown amount of blood.

But this also made Jerusalem a place where cultures blended and businesses flourished. Baldwin IV, the king of Jerusalem, was also committed to maintaining peace among various sects, so Grandma Seven's father took them there to do business.

It's a pity that the good times didn't last long. Facing the powerful Saladin, the Knights Templar didn't miss any chance to die. They shouted the slogan of God and began to rob the caravans entering and leaving Jerusalem, especially the Arab caravans. Finally, they got their wish The enraged Saladin was defeated, and the True Cross was also destroyed in this battle.

After getting this information, Li Xingzhou hissed a little. Although it was more than ten years ago, there will not be much change in ten years.

From this, Li Xingzhou has a better understanding of the world pattern.

His seventh grandmother, Zhou Li, was also very happy, because after so many years, her experiences and sufferings were finally recognized and interested, and she talked endlessly about what she had seen and heard along the way, although some of her memories were blurred.

The two of them talked for several hours, and they were still not interested until the afternoon.

Li Xingzhou admires this grandma in her forties even more. From her mouth, Li Xingzhou understands the general situation in the West and the Middle East, understands the whole world more specifically, and admires her hardships along the way.

Hardship is not just a man-made disaster, but more a challenge to nature.

In ancient times, the land was vast and the population was sparse. As a modern person, there is little concept. To give a simple example, China's current territory of 963 million square kilometers is home to 14 billion people, but how many people were there in ancient China?
Taking the Tang Dynasty as an example, the largest period of territory was the reign of Emperor Gaozong. Under the cultural and martial arts of Tang Gaozong and Li Zhi, the territory of the Tang Dynasty reached its peak of 1260 million square kilometers, but the population was only about 8000 million!

In this way, it is easy to understand why large territories were difficult to defend in ancient times, with sparsely populated areas and barren mountains everywhere.

China's population exploded twice, once in the Song Dynasty and once in the Qing Dynasty.

The reason for the increase is simple. The Song Dynasty promoted high-quality rice seeds and doubled the grain output.

During the Qing Dynasty, a large number of American crops were widely promoted in China, such as potatoes, corn, etc., and grain production exploded again.

Before the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, China had always been in an environment of vast land and sparse population, as well as outside the Great Wall. Therefore, in the area of ​​the Tubo tribes, his seventh grandmother and his party could settle down after finding suitable land for living, and no one came to take care of them.

In short, it was not easy for him, the seventh grandma, to go all the way.

Zhou Li was also very happy. She said that she could no longer remember the faces of her father and brother, her name, and where her family was, but she was lucky to survive. Fortunately, she met Prince Kang. , the brother of the country's most honorable emperor.

She is very satisfied with her current life, and also feels very happy. She does not want to lose her father's craft by firing colored glaze every day.

The conversation lasted until dusk, Li Xingzhou couldn't help standing up, and solemnly bowed to his seventh grandmother, who had escaped death.

I originally wanted to see her glaze firing technique, but I didn't want to talk about it for a day, and I didn't have time to watch it.

Seeing that the sky was getting dark, Li Xingzhou had no choice but to leave temporarily, and made an agreement with King Kang and his Seventh Grandma to come back tomorrow.

Kang Wang said that tomorrow he will bring his concubine and a small stove for making colored glaze to visit the Pingnan Palace in person.

Li Xingzhou was very happy and made an appointment with them at that time.

When he went out, Di Zhi had already been waiting outside Kang Wang's mansion for a long time, it seemed that he did not stay in the mansion for long.

"Let's go." Li Xingzhou got on his horse, and Di Zhiye and several nursing homes followed.

"My lord, have you seen the glasssmith?"

"I saw it, very pleasantly surprised." Li Xingzhou said, "When did you come out?"

"I just came out and waited for a while, and the prince came out." Di Zhi said.

"Oh, don't brag, I already asked the concierge, saying that you have been waiting outside the door for more than two hours (more than four hours)." Li Xingzhou snorted: "It seems that my sister-in-law still doesn't welcome you."

"My lord, it has nothing to do with Princess Yongming, but the subordinate came out by himself. I'm not used to the atmosphere of the palace."

"Really." Li Xingzhou sighed, "I think it's a matter of morals, not Kang Wang's mansion, but the whole world."

As he spoke, he galloped on his horse and galloped all the way to the palace.

That night, under the banner of not doing anything, he dragged Shiyu to Gillian's bedroom and told them what happened during the day.

After listening, the two little girls were shocked.

Chatting and chatting about worlds they had never heard of, it became superfluous to put Li Xingzhou down.

In fact, the women in the palace have a subtle relationship, and Li Xingzhou can vaguely feel that Qiu'er and Yue'er have the best relationship, but poetry worships Qiu'er, and always pleases Qiu'er from time to time. While studying poetry, Yue'er and Gillian often went in and out together, probably because they were leading the maids in the mansion and managing the perfume workshop.

Moreover, Shiyu is in charge of the accountant of the palace, and Qiuer is always busy with her designs, so she usually buys some snacks, or buys clothes for him and sisters, etc. Gillian and Yueer are in charge of it. Gillian is the mistress , but she doesn't understand these things and needs Yue'er's help.

But there is a rare unity, that is, both Shiyu and Yue'er have a bad opinion of Qifang, thinking that she behaves badly and harbors ulterior motives.

Gillian is very polite about Qifang, but Qiu'er doesn't put her mind on these things. Every time Qifang lives in the palace and greets her, she will absent-mindedly nod and say "oh", it's not that she is being rude , but to everyone, except him.

The two little girls talked about the same thing, Li Xingzhou told them about Prince Kang and Zhou Li's coming tomorrow, Shiyu nodded and said that he would arrange the reception.

Let go of one thing, and naturally there will be another.
"Fu'an, how do you think I'm doing these few steps?" In the Kunning Palace, the stoves at the corners of the golden nanmu pillars have been removed. Spring is here, and birds are singing from time to time outside the palace, full of vitality.

Eunuch Fu An supported the emperor and walked down the stairs slowly, "The emperor's arrangement is of course perfect."

"Hehe, you old cunning, there is no such thing as a seamless arrangement in the world." The emperor smiled and looked at the gradually clear sky full of stars.

　Happy National Day, I wish the motherland prosperity!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)