Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 924 0919 [Arabian Nights]

At the grand court meeting, Cheng Yu, along with Yu Yunwen, Hu Quan, Qian Chen, Zhu Xiaozhong and others, reported to the emperor in front of all the civil and military officials.

Cheng Yu took out the work report and read:

"During this overseas mission, we exchanged letters of credence with a total of 32 foreign countries. Among them, the envoys did not go to several foreign countries in Southeast Asia in person. Instead, merchants delivered the letters of credence on their behalf and brought the envoys back to Guangzhou to wait for the reunion..."

"The ports, mileage, star maps, longitude and latitude, climate, crops, customs, and political systems were recorded along the way... The marine clock had a design flaw and a huge error occurred after a big storm..."

"We brought back more than 40,000 books from various countries, all carefully selected together with local scholars. There were especially many medical books, totaling more than 13,000. We also brought back 12 foreign doctors and a large amount of overseas medicinal materials..."

"We purchased 425 excellent horses from various countries. 37 of them were sick and stayed in Ceylon for recuperation. Another 12 were sick and stayed in Guangzhou for recuperation. Another 5 died of illness at sea. The rest have been transported to the horse farm in the northern suburbs of Kaifeng. When I left there, 16 were still sick..."

"Of the horses that the Ming cavalry took to sea, only half returned home alive, some sick or dead. Some of them may not have died, but stayed in Ceylon because of illness."

"The envoys earned a lot of gold and silver through trade, but it is impossible to calculate how much they earned. This is because many of the goods were used to exchange for books, scholars, doctors, and horse breeds. The foreign goods shipped back to the country have not been sold yet. Some of the gold and silver treasures were looted from foreign countries..."

"Leaving aside the books, scholars, doctors, and horse breeds, minus the salaries of all the staff and the money spent on travel, the officials of the Maritime Customs have helped to make a rough estimate. The profit from this voyage is more than 100 million taels of silver. This is just a conservative estimate, and it may be more after selling the goods."

"In addition, envoys from various countries brought many tributes. In fact, they were gifts in return for our gifts, but they were not counted as profits. This is also a huge fortune. Some kings even gave slaves in return. I really don't know how to calculate the value."

"There are also three Buddhist treasures from Ceylon, the value of which cannot be calculated."

"During this voyage, five soldiers died in battle. Eighteen sailors were lost in the storm, one sailor broke his back and became disabled, and two sailors were killed while operating the sails in the storm. One official, two clerks, and six soldiers died of illness. Another eight people were seriously ill and stayed in many countries along the way to recuperate. The rulers of those countries promised to take good care of them."

"During this voyage, many warships were damaged by the storm. One of them was severely damaged and difficult to repair in a short period of time, so it was sold at a low price to an Indian merchant, and an Indian ship was purchased to supplement it."

After listening to the work report, all the civil and military officials showed surprised expressions.

The conservative estimate of net profit was more than 100 million taels of silver, and this does not include gifts from various countries, books, horse breeds, scholars, Buddhist treasures, slaves, etc.

This is pure profit!
Zhu Ming asked, "The cost of building the ship has not been taken into account, right?"

Cheng Yu replied: "We didn't calculate the cost of shipbuilding, we only calculated the cost of repairing the ships during the voyage. Almost every ship had a major repair during the round trip, and this repair also cost a lot of money."

Zhu Ming ordered:
"All the dead will be given generous compensation."

"The disabled sailor has been ordered to receive a monthly salary of a first-class official in his place of residence. This should be paid for 20 consecutive years without delay, or else he will be severely punished. The reason why it is not paid all at once is because we are afraid that he will be remembered by others because of his disability."

"For those who are stranded in other countries due to illness, their families can receive their salaries as usual before they are brought back to their home countries. If it is confirmed that the person died of illness abroad, an additional pension will be issued."

"Ministry of Personnel and Ministry of War, you will discuss the rewards for all members of the envoys based on the envoys' report of merit, and submit a list of rewards to me for review."

Chen Dong and Zhang Guangdao stepped out: "As ordered!"

Zhu Ming asked, "Who wants to go to Ceylon to be the Governor? Officials above the fourth rank can recommend themselves. If they go, they will be promoted immediately and can return to the country to report on their work after a few years."

There was silence.

Ceylon is still too far away, the Lion Country in the Buddhist scriptures.

Cheng Yu stepped out and said to the ministers: "The temperature of the Ceylon port we occupied is about the same as that of Luoyang in early summer all year round. Although there are hot days occasionally, they are not much hotter than the midsummer in Luoyang. There are no four seasons there, only dry season and rainy season. The dry season is refreshing and pleasant, while the rainy season is slightly humid. The islanders know how to build water conservancy projects, are good at farming, and have abundant products. They all believe in Buddhism there."

Are the four seasons like early summer in Luoyang?

The islanders know how to farm and produce abundant products? And they believe in Buddhism?
This isn't exile to a deserted island; this is a paid vacation!
While everyone was still pondering the authenticity of the information, an official stood up and said, "I am willing to go to sea and serve as the Governor of Ceylon!"

It was Cheng Yu's cousin Cheng Kejun. He knew that his brother would not lie, so he was the first to come forward and recommend himself.

Moreover, this guy was promoted to the fourth rank last year, which just meets the requirements for going to sea as a governor, and the benefits of promotion can be maximized.

Zhu Ming nodded and smiled: "Okay, it's you."

Seeing that the candidate for governor had been decided, many fourth-rank officials regretted their decision and wondered why they hadn't rushed to grab the position.
Seeing his cousin serving as the governor, Cheng Yu smiled and continued, "Your Majesty, since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, many temples have been destroyed. Sometimes, many eminent monks were crowded in one temple. We can send thirty eminent monks to Ceylon to spread Buddhism."

"Oh? What's the situation of Buddhism there?" Zhu Ming asked.

Cheng Yu elaborated: "Several decades ago, when Ceylon broke away from the Chola Kingdom and became independent, there were less than ten pure monks left on the island, and most of the Buddhist scriptures were destroyed by the Brahmins. In order to promote Buddhism, the first two kings invited eminent monks and Buddhist scriptures from Pagan (Myanmar). Today, most of the famous monks in Ceylon are from Pagan, and they believe in Theravada Buddhism."

A pure bhikkhu is a monk who can wear robes, observe the precepts, and protect the Dharma. Although there are many Buddhists in Sri Lanka, during the reign of the Chola Dynasty, monks turned to Brahmanism. There are very few monks who can still strictly observe the precepts, and they are in a miserable situation. After the restoration of the country, they even had to go to Burma to learn Buddhist scriptures.

Zhu Ming asked a lot more about Ceylon's situation, and finally gave the order:

"Order the Buddhist Registrar's Office to select ten eminent monks from across the country, and bring twenty disciples with them to go to Ceylon to spread Buddhism. Tell them that Ceylon is the Lion Country mentioned in the Buddhist scriptures. Also, all the major Buddhist sects in the Ming Dynasty must select a representative."

"The Ministry of Rites is carving the golden seal of the King of Ceylon, preparing to officially enthrone the King of Ceylon."

"Another five-sided silver seal will be engraved to confer titles on five Mahakasyapas. Four of them will be conferred on the Sri Lankan monks in the island's territories. The remaining Mahakasyapa will be conferred on the monks who came from the Ming Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty monks will live in the territory of the King of Sri Lanka. After understanding the situation and recruiting many disciples, they will go to the island's territories to preach."

Asked again about scholars and books, Zhu Ming continued to announce:

"All scholars from various countries who are willing to stay in the Ming Dynasty, especially the famous scholars from the Seljuk and Green Caliphate, will be given a position in the Hanlin Academy by the Ministry of Rites."

"Select a group of imperial officials and medical officers, and then select a group of imperial students and medical students to work with scholars from various countries to translate the tens of thousands of volumes of books brought back from overseas."

"Translation completed, needs to be verified."

"Especially overseas medical books, many of which contain superstitious theories. We should remove those errors, retain the essence of medicine from various countries, and finally compile a "Ming Dynasty Medical Canon" that integrates Chinese and foreign medicine."

"Other disciplines should also be rigorously demonstrated and experimented. I heard that there is also a kind of logic. The dialectics of the pre-Qin period in China and the logic of Indian origin actually have the shadow of logic. But it is different from logic. This discipline can also be studied in depth."

"Cheng Yu just said that he brought back a book called "The Book of Optics" from the Green-clad Caliphate. This book can also be studied seriously, and compared with the optics of my Ming Dynasty, and then published into a book after learning from each other's strengths and weaknesses."

Next, Zhu Ming instructed that the horses should be well taken care of and that good horses from various countries should be crossbred.

The new Jinshi candidates who were on internship were asked to copy Hu Quan's records of various countries. In addition to the key information that was helpful for navigation, the rest of the local customs and overseas experiences could be copied down and compiled into a booklet.

Zhu Ming even planned to have the Hanlin Academy work with envoys and scholars from various countries to compile a book of "Arabian Nights".

The stories in the book are drawn from all countries, from Egypt and Seljuk in the west to Srivijaya and Java in the east. Any strange legends and folk stories can be included.

There is no need to say anything about encouraging citizens to go overseas, but at least it can broaden their horizons.

If this book becomes a best-seller, it will let the officials, civilians and scholars of the Ming Dynasty know that there are countless interesting countries and interesting stories overseas.

Don’t stand still!

When the court was dismissed, Zhu Ming kept Hu Anguo and told him his thoughts on "Arabian Nights".

Hu Anguo asked, "Your Majesty, do you want the Hanlin Academy to compile a collection of strange stories?"

Zhu Ming shook his head and said, "No. First, it must show exoticism and involve the customs and habits of various countries. Second, the words and sentences must be appreciated by both the elite and the masses. Try to use colloquialisms to write, so that it can be told directly to farmers in the countryside. Third, the stories must be positive and praise kindness, goodness, wisdom, bravery, loyalty, diligence, and perseverance."

Hu Anguo asked, "How vulgar is the colloquialism?"

The great scholars of the Northern Song Dynasty used vulgar language when annotating classics, but for the common people, it was often still difficult to understand.

Zhu Ming said: "The writing style of this book, Arabian Nights, should be the same as the way ordinary people talk. And it must be interesting."

"This...I'm afraid it can't be written by scholars." Juan Guo said.

Zhu Ming suddenly thought of someone and said with a smile: "The Hanlin Academy compiled all the stories and finally gave them to Li Bangyan for careful revision. If he doesn't understand the content of various countries, he can communicate with the envoys of various countries."

"Yes." Juan Guo said.

Zhu Ming continued, "I have already thought of the beginning. The story takes place in a country in Arabia. There is a cruel king who takes a concubine every day and kills her at cockcrow. The people of the country are terrified and flee abroad. The prime minister can't find the girl and is worried that he will be killed by the king."

"The prime minister's daughter is extremely intelligent and takes the initiative to marry the king as his wife. She also tells the king a story every day before the cockcrows."

"The king pardoned her for one day in order to hear her story. So the prime minister's daughter insisted on telling the king stories every night for a thousand and one nights."

Hu Anguo was surprised and said: "This book sounds very interesting."

(End of this chapter)