[Comprehensive History] Clothes are all over the world

Recently, the neighbors of Daming feel very headache, very headache.

The emperor of Ming Dynasty didn't know which muscle was twitched, and he said that he would send a mission to their country. No, it was not called a mission. They called it an "office" and they were stationed in their country for a long time.

How is this possible?

Once people stay here all the time, they are obviously spies. In the future, they will be caught if there is any small movement here.

Then how can you have fun?

The suzerain country and the vassal country must maintain a little distance so that the relationship can last forever, Your Majesty the Emperor!

No, no, Hong Wudi shook his finger to show that you misunderstood.

The team of envoys sent by the Ming Dynasty this time has nothing to do with your country, but only my descendants of the Ming Dynasty who live in your country.

We are all neighbors. Because of well-known historical reasons, many of our people went to your side before. Of course, they all went, and Daming would not do the kind of thing that insists on getting people back.

I am the son of heaven and also the father of the emperor. Since I am a father, I naturally have to take care of the current living conditions of the children, so we set up an office to take care of these wanderers who have left their hometown.

See if they are living in habit, have any difficulties in life, have they been bullied, etc.

As you can tell from the name, the office is the place to help with affairs.

At that time, when the vassal relationship was established, it was agreed that Daming would never interfere in your country's internal affairs, as long as it was reasonable, legal, and did not violate human relations, the office was only to serve Daming's courtiers living overseas, and would not do intelligence investigation tasks. The officials here are all decent people, so don't worry.

Who can rest assured! !

Zhu Yuanzhang pretended not to see the distorted expressions of the envoys, and smiled heartily, "By the way, didn't you say that you admire the Ming culture? When we dispatched the envoys, we specially selected them. They were all people of insight. Feel free to ask the teacher! How about it, am I very considerate?"

The envoys who came to pay tribute before the Ming Emperor’s birthday were all stupid. They came here at this time for the purpose of giving more rewards to Emperor Hongwu when he was in a good mood, but now this “reward” is too heavy, and they dare not take it go back!

And the most difficult thing is that these people are obviously very sad in their hearts, but they still keep smiling in the face of Emperor Hongwu's smiling question, expressing their gratitude to His Majesty, His Majesty's thoughtfulness, and the ministers are very grateful.

tears?Yes, what is flowing on the face are tears of emotion~ Your Majesty's great love is really too heavy.

Emperor Hongwu glanced at the eyeballs and saw the expressions of the envoys below. After a while, he waited for them to digest and sent out a sweet date: "The envoys of Ming Dynasty have another purpose. It has recently been discovered that the understanding among our subordinates is not thorough enough."

All the tribute envoys present shuddered, not because they overreacted, but because this sentence sounded really scary, and the next sentence seemed to send troops to "deeply" understand it, but Emperor Hongwu obviously had no intention of showing off. He took up the conversation.

"Some things have happened recently..." Hong Wudi recalled his face: "Because of some unexpected discoveries, I am really moved. You only know the porcelain, silk, and tea of ​​Ming Dynasty, and I only have a sporadic understanding of your country. , We are all of one mind, but we are like strangers to each other, such a situation is funny, I decided to strengthen understanding with Zhuqing."

"In the past, most of the exchanges between you and me were envoys sent by your country to Beijing. Daming seldom went there except to issue orders. If things go on like this, I'm afraid that the relationship will fade. The emotional connection begins with communication."

Emperor Hongwu's tone was bewitching: "The envoy will try to find the goods that my Daming really needs after going to your country, and will purchase them if they are suitable."

Oh oh oh oh!This is to start the rhythm of international trade!

The eyes of the messengers suddenly lit up.

For them, it is indeed profitable to buy things (tributary) from Daming and sell them back, but to put it bluntly, all the money they earn is the money of their own country. No benefit at all.

In fact, because they often buy Ming's "luxury goods", there are already some voices of opposition in the country.

But if Daming also plans to buy their things, it will be different. Daming has a lot of money and a large population, so they can make a lot of money if they have a little looser between their fingers.

The envoys looked at each other with complicated expressions. They knew that the emperor's ambition of Ming Dynasty was not limited to this, and they also used the strategy of adding sweet dates with sticks, but they had to say that the sweet dates were really delicious.

The temptation is right in front of you, who would be willing to spit it out, and there are so many neighbors around, wouldn't it be very conspicuous to jump around without others jumping?

Thinking about it carefully, there are so many vassal states in Ming Dynasty, and there are still many who were delayed due to various reasons this time, and I am not the most unlucky... Thinking of this makes me happy instantly!

Among the group of envoys with complex expressions, three envoys with joyful looks stood out.

Two of these three are from the Ryukyu Kingdom.

The Ryukyu Kingdom has a deep relationship with the Ming Dynasty. The name of the Ryukyu Kingdom was bestowed by Emperor Hongwu. Its original name was Liuqiu. Emperor Hongwu felt that this name was not auspicious, so he gave the word Ryukyu, which means glazed jade and pearl ball. It can be seen from the name that Emperor Hongwu loved this place.

Ryukyu did not disappoint Emperor Hongwu's feelings. Since the establishment of diplomatic relations with Ming Dynasty in Hongwu five years ago, he has admired Ming Dynasty's culture very much, and has come to Ming Dynasty almost every year to pay tribute.

However, Emperor Hongwu later ordered Ryukyu to pay a tribute for three years without incident. This is not because Ryukyu is like the next door to Japan as an excuse to make offerings to fight the autumn wind, but because Ryukyu islands are a certain distance from Ming Dynasty, and Ryukyu is mostly small broken fishing boats. , the center of gravity of the boat is unstable, and it is easy to be overturned by wind and waves.

At sea, there are no second results after capsizing.

It can be said that the envoys sent out wave after wave really risked their lives, and in order to prevent the envoys from getting lost on the way and missing the tribute, Ryukyu often sends two to three waves of envoys. Inquire, if an envoy arrives, they will pretend to be ordinary people, and if they have not heard the news of the envoy, they will call themselves envoys.

This is what Emperor Hongwu learned later, and Lao Zhu Na was really moved by this kind of textbook-style kind vassal state.

Reciprocating peaches and rewards, among the rewards issued by Emperor Hongwu every time, the rewards received by the Ryukyu Kingdom are also one of the best.

However, the two envoys were happy not only because of the possibility of trade, but because Emperor Hongwu's dispatch of envoys this time was a great opportunity for them.

Although Ryukyu is just a small island, the forces inside are quite complicated. Like Japan during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, Ryukyu is now divided into three countries, Shannan and Zhongshan. , Shanbei Kingdom, of which Zhongshan Kingdom is the strongest.

The Ryukyu envoys who came this time are from Shannan and Zhongshan. They planned to join forces to deal with Shanbei. Now that Emperor Hongwu wants to set up an office, isn't it just following their wishes, as long as the office If it is located in Zhongshan country or Shannan country, then Shanbei country will naturally lose its advantage.

Japan is also happy for the same reason.

Because the envoys of the Ming Dynasty went to Japan to wander around the territory of the Northern Dynasties, and brought the envoys of the Northern Dynasties to Daming, the Japanese royal family of the Southern Dynasties was very panicked. See you at Ming Dynasty.

Their idea is the same as that of the Ryukyu countries. As long as the envoys of Ming Dynasty build an office under their rule, it will undoubtedly prove that they are orthodox. Similarly, the envoys of Ming Dynasty will also become their leader.

As long as the location is well arranged, if the Northern Dynasty's army comes to attack, they will be able to push out the envoys of Ming Dynasty to see if the Northern Dynasty dares to do it.

If they don't do anything, they can go on for a while, and if they do, they can immediately go to Ming's territory and ask the Ming emperor to send troops.

No matter how you look at it, it’s a win-win ending. These two groups of people were so happy to bring the Ming’s envoy back to China. Compared with them, the Ming’s envoy team to Japan and the Ryukyu Kingdom looked serious and cautious.

I don’t know whether Emperor Hongwu did it on purpose or not. The envoys sent to several countries with delicate relations in Daming this time are all from his grandson. In addition to the five heavenly officials that Mu Bai personally ordered, Emperor Hongwu also made money for him. A few officials with excellent reputations, but also involved in the empty seal case, made up ten people.

The official sent to Japan was named Fang Keqin, who was the prefect of Jining, Shandong.This man is also a man of God.

The three generations of the Fang family were all Confucian scholars, so it can be said that they are heirs of poetry and books. Fang Keqin was studious and dignified when he was young, and he was a well-known prodigy in the local area. Later, he participated in the imperial examinations of the Yuan Dynasty. He was afraid to admit him because of his scruples, and then he wandered around, becoming famous all over the world because of his talents and studies.

In the second year of Hongwu, Emperor Hongwu set up schools in various counties and counties, and ordered the counties and counties to select talented people as professors. Fang Keqin was hired as a teacher, and there were more than a hundred scholars who went to study for his reputation. .

It's a pity that within a few years, Fang Keqin had to resign because his mother was old and needed to be taken care of. It is said that because of his departure, all the students in that school left the school.

After such a talented person became an official, he naturally had an excellent official reputation. During his tenure as an official, Jining's tax revenue, land property, and population all increased exponentially.

If it weren't for this big investigation of the empty printing case, such talents would have disappeared in the mountains and fields.

By the way, this man has three sons named Xiaowen, Xiaoru, and Xiaoyou. The three young men are influenced by their father and family tradition, and they are all educated people. This time, except for the eldest son, Xiaowen, who stayed at home to take care of the old grandmother. He, his family, and the other two teenagers all decided to travel across the ocean with their father.

It may be because of this family as a demonstration, there are many young people of this age in the team who left Daming this time, and some even went to find the officials who were going to be dispatched, and Mao recommended himself and said that he would go with him.

Young people are full of enthusiasm, thinking that they are going to spread the fire of civilization, teach Confucian knowledge and beliefs, and are deeply proud of their actions.

For this reason, before they left, they held an swearing-in meeting, and they must spread the etiquette and culture of Ming Dynasty to the world.

"Teaching cultural knowledge is a good thing," Mu Xiaobai, one of the patrons of the swearing-in meeting, knocked on the box on the table: "You guys don't forget to complete your own tasks first."

"Your Highness, please rest assured," several young men patted their chests one after another, "We will surely fulfill our mission."

Mu Bai nodded, still a little worried after thinking about it, and said: "Many of the countries you have visited have a large north-south span, and some seeds cannot be planted where the office is located, but it does not mean that they cannot be planted in other places. Still have to try more.”

"Even if you encounter something that can be planted, it's best to go to another place to try to see if there is a better harvest and a more suitable environment."

The students all nodded to show that they remembered it. Seeing Mu Bai touched the wooden box in distress, they all laughed and said, "Your Highness, don't touch it! If you touch it again, it won't sprout now."

"What do you know? These are the hopes for the future." Mu Bai sighed: "The area of ​​arable land in the Ming Dynasty is not much, and a large area of ​​arable land has been vacated for planting cotton. Now the population is not large. If the number of people increases, now How can the food produced be enough to eat!"

Yes, in his wooden box are large seed packages mainly made of cotton and linen. Of course, there are also some seeds of rice, wheat and millet in it, which are all new and improved varieties this year, for these young people Do experiments in foreign countries.

The four most important things in life are food, clothing, housing and transportation, but it must be said that food is the most important of the four things.

You can still survive without clothes, but without food, it only takes three days to turn good people into mobs.

Cotton is indeed a good thing. It is absolutely impossible for Da Ming to stop planting cotton now, but Mu Bai always believes that food safety is the first priority, and it is a bit wasteful to vacate precious arable land for planting cash crops.

... So the best way is to disperse the pressure, or find a better rice production area, or find a better cotton production area.

In short, both hands must be grasped, and both hands must be firm.

A young man who was about to go to Yiliba was studying the planting instructions in his hand. After a while, he touched his nose: "It is said that the place I am going to is a desert... It seems that it is not suitable for planting cotton... This thing seems very Looks like it needs water."

"So I put a lot of irrigation equipment icons in your box, you can try more." Mu Bai looked at the past very seriously: "I heard that the sun in Yili is strong. Although there is a lack of water, the local There are also irrigation facilities, and the honeydew melons there are grown through artificial irrigation. The honeydew melons can be irrigated, and the problem of cotton irrigation should not be too big, and Yilibali is the first place where cotton was planted, which shows that the climate conditions are not the same as Cotton grows well."

As he said that, he seemed to think of something, and said again: "If you see cotton with larger or stronger cotton wool in the Yili bag, you can also collect and save the seeds. We can also try to introduce the cotton to the Jiangnan generation."

"By the way, everyone, if you find fresh plants and local staple food in a foreign country, you might as well send some back. We can try to plant them in a place with a similar climate in Daming. Maybe it will have a miraculous effect." Mu Bai thought for a while, and then Remind: "Just be careful when you try it. Rice and wheat are the main food on weekdays. When eating fresh food, be sure to eat a small amount. Be careful of your body."

"Yes, Your Highness, don't worry." Several Xiangshan scholars who were leaving the country this time winked at him. Fang Xiaoru's eyebrows twitched when he saw Fang Xiaoru who was sitting upright with a familiar attitude. He had the urge to remind the other party to correct his attitude, but he He suppressed it forcefully, but he couldn't hold back Xiao Huangsun's last sentence, and couldn't help but start to output his thoughts.

Because after the little Huangsun sighed, he said sadly: "I really want to go too."