Great Zhou Empress

At the end of the drink, the two of them drank up both jars of wine. For the first time in this era, Xue Zhijing felt a little dizzy, and seemed a little drunk.

Ayla was drowsy even more.

She told Xue Zhijing a lot, and almost told Xue Zhijing all the stories from her childhood to adulthood.Poor child, because he is too beautiful and smart, he has never had a playmate of the same sex since he was a child. He covered himself up to protect himself when he was young, and he never dared to show his true face in front of the opposite sex.

This may be the first time she has had the opportunity to speak freely with her friends.

Xue Zhijing brought in the old woman who worked in the mansion shop to change Ayila's clothes, freshen her up, and arranged her to sleep in the main room facing south, while Xue Zhijing washed and slept in the side room by himself.

Early the next morning, while eating breakfast together, Xue Zhijing told Ayila about his plan.

"Today, I will go to your house with you to visit. My father hopes that the marriage will allow your family to have a deeper connection with the Dacheng Dynasty, but Gui Guogong is actually just a very ordinary clan, and the relationship with the core of the royal family is already far away. You The plan is good, but I have a better plan. It is a waste of your talent to be an ordinary court lady. I will suggest that the empress set up a brand new department, which is probably a combination of astronomy and calendar research + the Ministry of Industry. Department, let you serve in it. In this way, you will be a female official of the imperial court. I believe that your father can weigh the pros and cons of the two parties. Is it better to marry you to a marginal clan or let you have a relationship with the empress. "

Ayla's father's name is Suleiman. Xue Zhijing was a little uncomfortable seeing an Arab man in traditional Han costume at first, but after hearing the other party's fluent Chinese, he gradually got used to it and could regard him as a Dacheng Dynasty a member of

Sure enough, the power of language is the most powerful, and language and culture are the key to a nation.

Another exchange of pleasantries, Xue Zhijing's status as a sixth-rank female official in the court, is always treated as a guest of honor in such a family.

What's more, Suleiman's eyes lit up when the two were able to chat about business matters.

Suleiman even started to complain about his hard work to her, "I've grown older these years, and I really don't want to float across the sea to sell goods anymore. Every winter, the monsoon from the north goes south, and I have to travel until the summer of the next year." To reach Dashi, wind and waves, hidden reefs, and pirates, I have to meet them several times every time. When I get to Dashi, my big boat of [-] materials has to charge more taxes because they know that I am going from Dacheng. Those small boats in the country can’t take so much. It will take two years at the fastest to go back and forth, and I really can’t run.”

Xue Zhijing said affirmatively, "The smooth flow of business routes depends on businessmen like you who are not afraid of hardships."

"Hey, I'm getting old. That's why I want to retire. I want to retire in Guangzhou and let my sons who are worthless go to Nanyang. They can't do ocean business. Then I want my most precious daughter Marrying a nobleman can be regarded as taking root here."

Finally talking about Ayila, Xue Zhijing expressed her thoughts.

"This?" Suleiman really needed to think about it.

In the Dacheng Dynasty for decades, how did he not know the various relationships in the court, and how did he not understand what kind of clan Gui Guogong is, but he is a foreigner, and it is already invincible to be able to climb up to Gui Guogong .

Xue Zhijing's proposal made him a little moved, but Bianjing City is really far away from Guangzhou.

"Bianjing City's prosperous children have gone to sea. If Ayila goes, the empress is going to be a matchmaker with her~" Xue Zhijing looked at Suleiman with a smile, "Take a sea boat from Guangzhou and go to Mingzhou to transfer to the inland river. The boat can reach Bianjing in less than half a month at the earliest."

Xue Zhijing also saw that Suleiman was not a father who just wanted to sell his daughter for glory, he just made the best choice for Ayla in his position, for his own family.

In the end, he agreed to Xue Zhijing's proposal.

After the two chatted happily, Xue Zhijing even became a shareholder of their family's fleet.

Suleiman wanted to get closer to Xue Zhijing, a female official from the imperial court, and Xue Zhijing also wanted to have his own line with foreign maritime merchants, so the two hit it off.

With an insider like Suleiman, Xue Zhijing slowly began to understand the affairs of Shibosi better.

Shibo has more problems than she thought.

Because there are huge interests in it, everyone including the clan, local officials, and wealthy merchants are involved in it, and the whole body is affected by it.

They gain profits through additional taxes on sea merchants, smuggling, and pirates.That's right, most of the pirates in the surrounding waters are actually not without background, and they are all related to these local clans and officials.

While collecting information related to the Shipbuilding Department, Xue Zhijing followed the relaxed Ayila to learn more about the structure of the ship and the situation in various sea areas after going out to sea.

Giving Ayila a position is not as simple as giving Yuan Jin a position. Yuan Jin can also be said to have a precedent like General Hua Mulan in the previous dynasty, but the empress also struggled to find an excuse to deal with the Privy Council in charge of the military. After a long time, Yuan Jin was finally made the commander of the Xiongzhou area.

Ayila is an ordinary woman, and according to her paternal lineage, she is even a foreign woman. It is impossible to give her an official position in the court.

They can only bypass the existing court position setting and place Ayila as a court lady.

Xue Zhijing knew that in the feudal era, the identity of a woman only existed in the backyard and harem.

She remembered that in her previous life, the news announced that the tomb of Shangguan Wan'er, a famous female official in history, had been excavated. The epitaph said that she was a talented person of Emperor Gaozong of Tang Dynasty and Zhaorong of Emperor Zhongzong of Tang Dynasty.Both Cairen and Zhaorong are concubines of the emperor, Cairen is the fifth rank and Zhaorong is the second rank.

Obviously, Shangguan Wan'er is not a real concubine, but just borrowed the position in the harem in order to have an identity that can match her status.Because the rank of ordinary palace ladies is not high, the highest rank is just the fifth rank in the palace, and the position in the harem can reach the same rank as the prime minister, and even go beyond the rank when it comes to the empress.The position of Cairen should be granted by Wu Zetian, and the position of Zhaorong should be obtained after she cooperated with Tang Zhongzong.

The same is true of the Dacheng Dynasty. The whole society did not give women a formal position facing the society.

In the reply letter from the Queen Mother, she wrote that she decided to add a Sitian Zao Office in the palace to be in charge of the research of astronomy and calendar and the manufacture of utensils.

This position was tailor-made for Ayla.

Ayila went to Bianjing City, not only can cooperate with Qin Tianjian in research, but also can find research topics by herself.The Qin Tianjian of the Dacheng Dynasty is still very rigorous in the study of astronomy and calendar. After all, it is always necessary to calculate the annual solar terms for the court so as not to miss the farming time. At the same time, it must also predict when there will be solar and lunar eclipses, and when comets will return Category.

With this platform, Ayla can do her favorite work of measuring the longitude and circumference of the earth.Her research in this area can be said to be almost system-wide, and she can even go to the equator and high-latitude regions for data measurement in a [-]-material ship made by herself.

The study of astronomy and calendar, the manufacture of corresponding utensils, and the manufacture of sea ships are not just some basic research, but also have great practical significance.

The economic and cultural development of the Dacheng Dynasty is reflected in all aspects. A further understanding of the astronomical calendar can enable a deeper understanding of changes in climate, wind direction, and ocean currents. The development of utensil manufacturing made the floating compass appear in this era, making ocean navigation safer. The improvement of five thousand large sea-going ships has made it possible to travel to Africa.

It can be said that no basic knowledge is useless.

This is also the reason why the empress is willing to support, she even said that she will pay for it.

Because Xue Zhijing still had to deal with the affairs of the Shibo Department here, she asked Ayila to go to Bianjing City by herself first.

Xue Zhijing finally collected enough information, but she was also weighing how good it would be to send such a piece of information to the empress's desk. It is estimated that the officials in the south will have to exchange blood, and even a considerable proportion of clan members will be involved.

The Dacheng Dynasty has been established for too long, so long that the foundations have begun to soak in water and rot.

After weighing it, she first sent some materials that needed to be processed first to the empress.

However, after the materials were sent out, something happened to her.

It's just that she was in a daze at that time, and she didn't even know how she was fainted. For a long time, she even felt that her consciousness and body had been separated.

When she slowly woke up, what she smelled was an extremely disgusting smell, like a pile of sweaty smell mixed with excrement and urine, which made her frown in discomfort.

Her muscles were still sore, but her eyes were open.

In the dark place, a few pairs of blank eyes looked at her.

This is a place like a warehouse, the ceiling is very low, there is no natural light, only some lanterns are on, but Xue Zhijing can still see this place clearly after adapting to the dim light.

Like a cabin?

But it should be the cabin on the ground floor, there are many wooden canopy beds, many people slept on the wooden canopy beds, some of them were dead or alive, only the pair of blank eyes just stared at her.

At this time, she was also sleeping on a wooden canopy bed.

The body is shaking slightly.

Could it really be the cabin?

Xue Zhijing repeatedly recalled the last memory, only vaguely remembered that her carriage was forced to stop, and then what happened?She should have been drugged, causing some loss of memory.

She asked into the eyes looking at her, "Hello, where are we? Do you know?"

The other party looked to be a little boy of twelve or thirteen years old, except for the bright eyes, everything else was too dark, and his hair was even more messy.

After asking for a long time, the other party said, "We are all slaves."

"???"

The other party seemed to be weak when speaking, and so were most of the people around him. I wonder if it was because he ate too little?

Xue Zhijing inquired carefully for a long time before he learned some truths.

She is really on a boat now. This boat departs from Guangzhou, and its destination is Champa in Nanyang. In addition to normal cargo, there are also trafficked slaves like them on board.

Xue Zhijing almost gritted his teeth, why is there such a thing as the slave trade in the Guangzhou Shipbuilding Department?

Well, she probably guessed that she must have touched the interests of these people, and the other party acted first.

But at this time, drifting at sea, what should I do?