Smuggling Daming

Just when Ashikaga Kazuki was about to enter Kyoto the next morning to meet his cousin who had been separated for many years, Zhou Zhong, who was far away in Shuangyu Port, was also entertaining guests, but he was not entertaining a man, but a man. An exotic beauty.

"Welcome Miss Xila, it's just that you come as a guest, you don't need to bring any gifts!" Zhou Zhong smiled when he saw Miss Xila carrying a gift box in the front living room. Yesterday he invited her to be a guest at home, but Qian Miss La was very happy, and made an appointment to visit this afternoon. Unexpectedly, the other party came with a gift just after lunch.

"Hehe, it's not really a gift. It's just that you said you liked the bread my mother and I baked yesterday, Mr. Zhou, so I brought some. I hope your wife and sister will like it, Mr. Zhou!" The exotic and weird Chinese laughed.

She has now learned some etiquette in the Central Plains, knowing that Zhou Zhong said that he was not allowed to bring gifts, but he was just being polite, and he still had to bring gifts when he came to visit. This kind of rice wine is not as spicy as white wine, but it is very suitable for their European taste.

Zhou Zhong was very happy to hear that Ms. Sheila sent bread. Yesterday at noon, he tasted the Mediterranean meal made by Sheila's mother and daughter. However, their cooking methods are very monotonous. For example, the meat is either roasted or It is boiled, and a lot of spices are added. It tastes weird, but the bread is baked well, and it tastes very similar to the French croissants of later generations, so I praised a few words. I didn't expect Miss Shira to remember it. , I brought it as a gift today.This would allow Jinxuan and Zhuo'er to taste it.

Seeing that Zhou Zhong was very happy to accept the gift, Ms. Xila looked around the living room, only to find that Zhou Zhong was alone, and asked very strangely: "Young Master Zhou, why are you the only one? Introduce me to your wife and sister?"

Hearing the other party's question, Zhou Zhong smiled and said: "Our family lives in the chamber of commerce. The first half where we are now is the office of the chamber of commerce. It is inconvenient for the female family members to come here. So we can't come here. Come to greet me, I can only wait in the inner room, I hope Miss Xila will not blame her!"

"Why is it inconvenient? I have also seen many Central Plains women in the town. They are not like those Muslim women who can only let their husbands see their appearance. Instead, they walk on the street very generously. Why, Mr. Zhou?" The women in your family can only stay in the inner house?" Although Miss Xila has some understanding of the cultural customs in the Central Plains, she still doesn't understand some other customs.

Zhou Zhong was taken aback when he heard this, and after thinking about it for a moment, he smiled and said, "Miss Xila doesn't know, most of the women you meet in Nanyang Town are from small families. They usually need to buy vegetables in person. Cooking is naturally unavoidable. But in a big family like ours, there are many rules and restrictions on women, and in addition, there are servants to do chores at home, so they can only stay at home. come out."

"What is a small family and a small family, and what does a big family mean?" Miss Xila was a little confused by Zhou Zhong's explanation, because she did not understand the meaning of the two key words.

I saw that Miss Shira didn't understand.Zhou Zhong had no choice but to explain in detail. In fact, it is simply the difference between the rich and the poor.After saying this, Ms. Xila immediately understood that no matter where she was, there were differences in status and status, and she also learned from Zhou Zhong that it's not that women from rich families cannot see outsiders, but that they have been treated by others since childhood. Their education generally prevents them from contacting men other than their husbands, but communication between women is still very common.

Hearing this, Ms. Sheila also nodded understandingly. She knew that women in the Central Plains did not contact women other than their husbands in order to maintain women's loyalty to their husbands.Today's European men also do not allow their wives to associate with other men, and in order to prevent their wives from cheating, chastity belts are very popular in Europe, especially in her hometown of Italy, where many unmarried or married women wear chastity belts. A chastity belt, and she also saw her friends wear it with her own eyes. Fortunately, her parents were relatively enlightened and did not force her to wear that kind of thing.In contrast, women in Daming are only forbidden not to have contact with other men, which in her opinion is much better than that inhumane chastity belt.

Now Zhou Zhong personally brought Ms. Xila to the inner house where his family lived. Wang Jinxuan and Zhuaner already knew that a woman from Europe came to visit yesterday. They were also very curious about it, especially Zhou Zhong told them Some anecdotes about Europe made them look forward to Miss Shira's visit even more.

As soon as Zhou Zhong took Miss Xila into the inner house, he saw Jinxuan, Zhuaner, and Bai Mengwan standing on the road waiting for them. When they saw Xila whose appearance was very different from that of the Central Plains women, they all showed Surprised, although they had seen Father John and Priest Nader before, this was the first time they had seen a woman from Europe.

Compared to Jinxuan and the others' curiosity, Ms. Sheila also showed great interest in Jinxuan and the others' clothing and accessories. Her two big blue eyes were always looking at Jinxuan and the others. I have come into contact with many women from the Central Plains, but those ordinary women don’t have much clothing, unlike Jinxuan and their jewelry, which are very delicate and exquisite. For a while, Miss Xila was dazzled, and only felt that the three women in front of her were The clothes and jewelry on the body are all beautiful.

Seeing that both of them were interested in each other, he introduced them with a smile, and then Jinxuan invited Miss Sheila to talk in the yard where she lived. Miss Sheila also readily agreed, so the four women of similar age chatted and laughed. He laughed and left, leaving Zhou Zhong on the road.

Zhou Zhong originally wanted to go with Jinxuan and the others, but they were talking about women. For example, Sheila was very interested in the jewelry on Jinxuan and the others, while Jinxuan and the others were very curious about Sheila's appearance. Especially the other party's blue eyes and tall nose, which are very interesting to them.

Zhou Zhong was not interested in the topics between women, and he thought that if the other party talked about some private topics between women, it would be inconvenient for him to be present, and he still had things to do, so he didn't Go along with him, and turn around and go back to the front yard to continue his business.

Yesterday he learned about the strength of the Portuguese from Father John and Chilawa, and he also knew very well that with his current strength, he could not prevent the Portuguese from occupying Malacca, so he had only one way left, which was to take advantage of the Taking this opportunity to go to the capital to meet Emperor Zhengde, he persuaded the other party to send troops to help him.

Since he was going to see Emperor Zhengde, he naturally had to bring some gifts, and these gifts must not be too ordinary, after all, the other party was the emperor of Ming Dynasty, and ordinary gifts could not catch his eyes, so after returning yesterday, Zhou Zhong kept Consider the gift.

Gift giving is a technical job. Generally speaking, you can’t give money directly, otherwise it will look too tacky, and the gift should match the identity of the recipient. For example, if the recipient’s family is poor, then you can’t give it too expensive Firstly, people may not be willing to accept it, and secondly, even if they accept it, they will definitely have to give a gift of similar value when they return in the future, which will cause a burden to other people's families.

Of course, Emperor Zhengde is the son of heaven, so Zhou Zhong doesn't have to worry about the above problems. Naturally, the more expensive the gift, the better, but Emperor Zhengde is rich all over the world. He has never seen any rare gifts, even if Zhou Zhong can find some rare specialties from overseas. , but maybe Daming’s palace already had it, and it was more and better than what he sent. After all, when Zheng He went to Nanyang, the rare treasures were all pulled back by the whole ship. Although after so many years of wear and tear, but There must be a lot left in the palace, and the overseas specialties I gave are not unusual at all.

It was also thinking of the above that Zhou Zhong had a hard time preparing the gift. It was not until today when Miss Xila came to visit that he suddenly had a flash of inspiration and finally thought of the gift he was going to prepare.

It turned out that when Zhou Zhong saw Miss Xila, he suddenly thought that the fleet that transported Miss Xila had sent other things, that is, sweet potatoes and corn. The quantity of these two crops is not very large. and then slowly spread it out, but now that I think about it, it is too slow to spread it by his own power alone. If these two things can be given to Emperor Zhengde as a gift, and then with the help of the Daming government If it is popularized by the power of the country, it will definitely be promoted to all parts of the country in the shortest possible time.

Although in the eyes of others, corn and sweet potatoes are not expensive gifts, but for Emperor Zhengde, who is the Son of Heaven, these two crops are the most precious gifts in the world. After all, only the people in the world can eat enough. , his country can be more stable, and his position as emperor can be done more comfortably.

Thinking of giving sweet potatoes and corn as gifts to Emperor Zhengde not only solved the problem of promotion, but also he didn't have to worry about the gift anymore.

However, Zhou Zhong soon thought that although sweet potatoes and corn are very important to the Ming Dynasty, only he knows the importance of these two things. Although they had to be given, other gifts were also indispensable. If these gifts were to be liked by Emperor Zhengde, then he had to grasp his personality and hobbies. This was a bit difficult, but it was not impossible to solve. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my biggest motivation.)