Smuggling Daming

While Zhou Zhong was enjoying family happiness at home, Da Gama and his party took the boat arranged by Zhou Zhong all the way north, and finally stopped at the port under construction at Tianjin Wei, which is nominally the governor of the world. The military port built by the back door is actually used for civilian use most of the time, mainly because Jiangnan’s goods are directly transported to the capital, and even Zhou Zhong is planning to directly change the southern grain transportation to sea transportation, but this matter involves too many interests , so it is still under preparation.

"General God, I heard that your country has previously implemented a policy called sea ban, stipulating that civilian ships are not allowed to enter the sea, and overseas businessmen are also not allowed to bring their ships close to the coast of Daming. This has also led to the desertion of countless ports along the coast of Daming. , but along the way, I saw that many ports along the coast of Daming are under construction, could it be that Daming has lifted the sea ban?" Vasco da Gama stood on the bow of a warship, looking at the bustling port in front of him Asked a young Ming general next to him.

"Hehe, I didn't expect the ambassador to be very familiar with my Ming's government orders. Back then, my Ming Dynasty had just expelled the Mongols, and the country was not peaceful, but the pirates were rampant along the coast, so the sea ban was imposed. But now my Ming Dynasty is strong. , the Japanese pirates have already been wiped out, so there is no need for the sea ban, but this decree involves the interests of many people, so it is not easy for His Majesty to abolish it directly, so it is retained in name, but in fact it has already begun to be lifted The sea is banned!" The young officer known as the General God explained with a smile.

The young officer's name was Shenning, the youngest son of Shenying.At the same time, Shenying is also the most favored. He is only in his 20s this year. He has been learning the art of war with Shenying. When he wiped out Liu Wu and Liu Liu, Shen Ning was promoted to the defense due to his merits. In the last war with Portugal, he He also made great achievements repeatedly, and now he was promoted to be a guerrilla general and transferred to work under Zhou Zhong. This time, he was sent by Zhou Zhong to escort Da Gama and others to Beijing.

Da Gama heard that Ming had in fact begun to abandon the policy of sea embargo.I feel fortunate and regretful in my heart. Fortunately, Daming gave up the sea ban, so they can buy so many products from Daming, which allowed them to make huge profits in Europe. It is a pity that after Daming gave up the sea ban, they must Will vigorously seek to develop sea power.The initial establishment of the Governor's Mansion of the Four Seas has already frightened Portugal. If this oriental dragon is allowed to develop for a few more years, I am afraid that the whole of Europe will tremble under its dragon claws.

Vasco da Gama and his warships had a special berthing position, so they didn't have to wait like those merchant ships from the south, so their ships were quickly parked, and Shen Ning met the local officials.Immediately lead Da Gama and the others to Tianjin Wei to rest, and a special person is in charge of the gift to Zhengde on board.

Tianjin Wei knows it by name.This is a guard post guarding the capital, and its geographical location is very important. It can be said that it is the gateway of the capital, so there has always been a large army stationed here. However, with the passage of time, the Tianjin Guard's army has also relaxed. all the same.The land of the military households was annexed by the upper-level officers, and slowly became the tenants of the officers.Moreover, with the increase of population, more and more children of military households have no land to farm, and finally they can only find other ways to support themselves, so Tianjin Wei gradually changed from a military base to a town, although it is not as good as the ones of later generations. Prosperous, but already quite large.

After Da Gama entered Tianjin Wei, he has been looking at everything around him with greedy eyes. Although there are many legends about the land of the Central Plains in Europe, the legends are always legends. No one knows what the real land of the Central Plains is like. They can only guess the prosperity of the Central Plains through Marco Polo's travel notes. He has seen a corner of this huge empire through Guangzhou and Shuangyu Port before, and now he has finally come to the heart of this empire. kind of scene?

Da Gama had seen the prosperity of Guangzhou and the prosperity of Shuangyu Port before, and these two places also satisfied his fantasy of Ming Dynasty. In his opinion, even Guangzhou and Shuangyu Port, which were far away from the capital of the empire, could be so prosperous , then the places close to the capital will definitely be more prosperous and prosperous.

disappointment!Very disappointed!When da Gama looked at the scene around him, all the beautiful fantasies about Ming were gone, because what he saw was nothing but poverty and filth. They can be seen everywhere, but he didn't expect that Daming, which entrusted Europeans with beautiful fantasies, is actually not much different from Europe.

In fact, Da Gama was a bit too harsh on Tianjin Wei. After all, it was not a commercial port before, but a military base. Coupled with the army's influence, it is still poor except for poverty, although now with the construction of the port, it makes It began to become prosperous, but compared with Guangzhou and Shuangyu Port, it still seemed extremely poor and backward.

After Da Gama rested in Tianjin Wei for two days, all the gifts were transferred from the boat to the carriage, and then the group headed for the capital along the official road.Through these two days of understanding, Da Gama's understanding of Tianjin Wei has also deepened a lot, which also surprised him to find that although the small town in front of him is dilapidated, it is also full of vitality just like Shuangyu Port. Many years ago, this would be another Shuangyu Port, perhaps even more prosperous than Shuangyu Port. The constant flow of trucks on the official road alone proved that his guess was likely to come true.

However, as Da Gama walked along the official road, it was also the first time for him to go deep into the interior of Daming, but the sights on both sides of the road made him a little disappointed with Daming, because he saw dilapidated villages everywhere, Occasionally, the people of the Ming Dynasty are all yellow and hungry, and they can tell at a glance that they are often hungry. This is completely different from the Central Plains land full of gold in their European fantasies. Sometimes they even He felt that the average standard of living of the Portuguese was higher than that of Daming, which made him disillusioned with Daming, but at the same time he couldn't help but look down on Daming.

A few days later, Da Gama finally arrived at Beijing City, the heart of Daming. When they suddenly saw such a prehistoric behemoth standing there in the heart of the plain, Da Gama and his group were all stunned. They have also seen many famous European cities, but compared with the large-scale capital city of Beijing, they are all far worse.Moreover, the closer they were to the city of Beijing, the more people would be on the road, and the villages and towns they passed were also very prosperous. Although they hadn't entered the city yet, Da Gama and the others could already guess how prosperous the city was.

The city of Beijing did not disappoint Da Gama and his group. When they entered the city through the tall city gate, they were immediately stunned by the bustling scene in the city. The previous Guangzhou and Shuangyu Port seemed to them very The bustling, but in front of this huge Beijing city, there is too much difference. Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, can't even compare with Guangzhou, let alone compare with the Beijing city in front of you.

There are many shops on both sides of the streets in Beijing, and all kinds of exquisite products are placed on the counters. From time to time, people in the shops sell them to passers-by. Among these goods, Da Gama and the others know the porcelain, silk and tea. Waiting for the products they dreamed of, there are also products they shipped to Daming from Europe, and there are more products they don't know, which dazzles them for a while, looking left and right, like bumpkins entering the city.

The people in the capital are also very curious about Da Gama and the Portuguese with different eyeballs and hair colors. After all, after many years of sea ban, even if there are Hu merchants, they usually appear in coastal cities. The Hu Chamber of Commerce appeared in the capital, so these people were very curious about the members of the Vasco da Gama mission, and even some big girls and young wives who never went out ran out of their homes to watch the fun.

However, the people in the capital were curious. They also saw Shen Ning and other officers beside Da Gama, as well as the troops on both sides. This made ordinary people dare not go forward to inquire. Many people with better memories have already remembered that when the previous Governor of the Four Seas won a battle overseas, he sent a few such barbarians to His Majesty. Another prisoner of the Governor of the Four Seas overseas?

The officials of Honglu Temple had also received the news of the arrival of the Portuguese mission, but they didn't pay much attention to it. After all, in their view, the so-called Portugal was no more than a small country in Southeast Asia, and they wanted to covet the Strait of Malacca before. , and finally lost to the navy of the Governor of the Four Seas, so it is even more worthless. Therefore, the officials of Honglu Temple did not care about the arrival of the Portuguese envoys, and they did not even send people out of the city to greet them. When Jia Ma and the others arrived at the gate of Honglu Temple, a few officials came out to arrange board and lodging for them.

Although Da Gama did not understand the etiquette system of Ming Dynasty, he was a smart man. After seeing those lazy officials at the gate of Honglu Temple, coupled with the contemptuous expressions of the other party and the kind of officials of Ming Dynasty that he had learned before His conceited and conceited mentality made him immediately understand the situation in which he was underestimated, and he couldn't help being very annoyed. In addition, Magellan in the mission seemed to have seen something, and his face also showed an angry expression. After all, as a powerful country in Europe For one, they had never been so slighted.

But no matter how angry Da Gama and Magellan were, they could only endure it silently. After all, they came to Daming to open up business routes with Daming. There is no problem with Zhou Zhong now, but if he offends the Emperor of Ming in the capital, Then all their previous efforts were in vain. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my biggest motivation.)