, Ming Dynasty 1805
Shen Fu guided Zhu Jingyuan to become familiar with the logic and rules of Ming's foreign affairs, focusing on understanding Ming's demands and bottom lines in all aspects.
Remind Zhu Jingyuan of the details that need to be paid attention to in external activities, and how to discover and deal with various logical and linguistic traps.
Finally, he predicted what might happen during the negotiation and made a relatively comprehensive response plan in advance so that Zhu Jingyuan would be well aware of it.
These contents are actually very complicated and cannot be explained clearly in a short period of time.
Therefore, after the Zhoushan Island officially set sail, Shen Fu came to teach Zhu Jingyuan every morning, and Zhu Jingyuan also studied as patiently as possible.
As he learned more, Zhu Jingyuan felt more and more that being an official of Honglu Temple in the Ming Dynasty was much easier than being a modern diplomat.
You don’t need to care too much about your external attitude, you don’t need to pay special attention to various etiquette details, and you don’t need to be particularly careful when speaking.
Don't worry about using the wrong word and offending a certain country or group, because it doesn't matter if you offend.
No country or group can make Ming be cautious. On the contrary, when other countries do things, they must first consider Ming's attitude.
Two days later, on the morning of January 20, the fleet arrived at the Keelung Mansion of the Haidong Chief Envoy.
Representatives from the Ryukyu Kingdom, the Four Japanese Domains, the Two Korean Domains, the Three Xianbei Domains, and the Four Beiyinzhou Domains also arrived in Keelung Mansion in the past two days.
After officials from the Ministry of Civil Affairs carefully verified that their identities were correct, the first batch of vassal representatives officially joined the mission.
That afternoon the fleet set sail again.
Five days later, on the afternoon of January 26, the fleet arrived at Huangzhuang, Java Island, and docked at Yecheng Port.
Next the fleet will enter the Little Western Ocean, followed by a voyage of nearly 7,000 kilometers.
Therefore, the fleet must carefully check the mechanical status here, and at the same time replenish sufficient fuel and living supplies.
Eight Huangpu River-type cruisers from the mainland will also break away from the escort fleet and return here.
However, there will be eight 18,000-ton capital ships and 12 10,000-ton or above armored cruisers to join them.
The fleet repaired for four days at the port of Yecheng, and after gathering representatives from various vassal states in Nanyang and Tiannan, it set sail again on February 2, the 34th year of Taiping.
The fleet passed through the Sunda Strait between Java and Old Port, officially left the inland sea area around the Ming Dynasty, and entered the Little Western Sea.
Due to the addition of capital ships with a speed of only 18 knots, the entire fleet could no longer maintain a speed of 20 knots.
At the same time, in order to ensure that the fleet had enough endurance to cross the Little Western Ocean, the fleet commander kept the fleet sailing at a speed of fifteen knots.
Twelve days later, on the morning of February 15th, the fleet successfully arrived at the supply port in southern Massachusetts.
Fuel and supplies were replenished again, the mechanical condition of the fleet was checked, and the ship set off again two days later.
After sailing for another five days, on the afternoon of February 21, the fleet finally arrived at the Western Cape.
Zhu Jingyuan stood on the spacious balcony, looking at the increasingly clear coastline in the distance, and all the events of this journey flashed through his mind.
This ocean voyage covered a total distance of 8,600 nautical miles, nearly 16,000 kilometers, and took a total of thirty-two days.
The Zhoushan Island passenger ship we boarded was large enough and much more stable than a small boat during the voyage. We did not encounter particularly bad weather on the way.
Zhu Jingyuan, Lin Zexu, Shen Fu, and Wang Lai all often took ships, and like most other passengers, they did not suffer from obvious seasickness.
"I Have a Picture Book of Ghosts and Gods"
Niu Jian, who rarely rides on boats before, felt a little dizzy after getting on the boat, but it didn't take long for him to adapt.
There were also a few people who reacted violently. After Zhu Jingyuan visited their situation at that time, he originally planned to stop at the Lion City before entering Xiaoxiyang.
The Lion City, also known as Singapore, is the southernmost tip of the Nanyang land. There are railway lines here leading to mainland China.
Zhu Jingyuan prepared those who were severely seasick to put off the boat and bought them train tickets back to their homeland.
However, when the fleet reached the vicinity of the Ambrosia Islands, these people were basically able to eat and would not continue to vomit.
These people themselves did not want to give up the opportunity of this ocean trip, and they did not want to quit the design team of the new warship.
So they all told Zhu Jingyuan that there was no need to get off the ship, and they all believed that they could persevere.
After Zhu Jingyuan asked the doctor on the ship to check and confirm that they were fine, Chai finally gave up his plan to go to the Lion City and went straight to the Sunda Strait.
The space on the ship is also completely sufficient. The large ship with a quota of more than 2,400 people actually only carries less than 2,000 people.
All kinds of living, leisure and entertainment facilities are available. Once you get used to it, it will be a very relaxing journey.
More than a month of life at sea came to an end before I knew it.
The Zhoushan Island is getting closer and closer to the coastline, and the scene on the distant coast gradually appears.
You can see the tall and majestic dark red city wall, as well as the rows of buildings below and around the city wall.
When the Ming Dynasty acquired the Western Cape, explosives had been widely used and could not be more widely used.
But at the forefront of Xiyang Cape, the Ming Emperor still built a tall and heavy city wall.
He probably regards this place as his own yard, and doesn't feel safe enough without a city wall.
Later, with the development of the city, Xiyang Cape, like Jingshi New City, quickly expanded its construction area beyond the city walls.
Because there is more freedom outside the city wall than inside the city wall, and it is closer to the dock, the area outside the city wall is now more prosperous than inside the city wall.
The distance to the coast continued to shrink, and Zhu Jingyuan's attention fell on the pier.
There are already a large number of ships docked there.
There are a large number of warships of different types and levels, as well as a large number of passenger ships of different sizes and shapes, with flags of various colors flying above the ships.
The most popular among them is the Ming Dynasty’s “red background sun and moon flame flag”…
Zhu Jingyuan's ship and the surrounding convoys also had similar flags.
Zhu Jingyuan's mood is quite complicated every time he sees a film of such flags.
Because I have seen this thing many times in my previous life, it is the so-called "Sun, Moon, Star and Three Stars Flag" circulated on the Internet.
It actually comes from the mural "Zhang Yichao Recaptures Hexi" in the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang. It is the graphic on the flag used by Zhang Yichao's troops in the mural.
A smaller yellow circle is cut inside the blue circle, and outside the blue circle is an irregular black decoration in the shape of a burning flame.
Put this symbol in the middle of the red flag, and it will be a universal flag that can be used by any Ming Dynasty person. Its actual function is equivalent to the modern national flag.
Add a black border on the upper and lower sides of the red background to form the Ming Army flag.
Add a few blue and white stripes above and below the red background to form the Ming Dynasty Navy Flag.
Zhu Jingyuan felt that this flag must be the masterpiece of Emperor Shizu, because ordinary Ming people may have never seen this thing.
The original Sanchen Banner known to Ming Dynasty people was actually the Taichang Banner, the first of the emperor's nine flags.
Its pattern is a red sun in the upper left corner, a white moon in the lower left corner, and a series of seven stars in the middle.
To the right of the three images of the sun, moon and stars is the main area of the flag, where are twelve horizontal dragons.
The combination of the four symbolic images of the sun, moon, stars and dragon is the exclusive symbol of the emperor of the Central Plains.
In today's Ming Dynasty and even the entire world, this rather complicated Taichang flag pattern is still the exclusive symbol of the Ming emperor.
Taixi people think that it is the most noble family symbol in the world, two or three grades higher than those fancy badges in Taixi.
But the emperors of the Central Plains would not think of it, nor would they allow the Taichang flag to be used by ordinary people, so the Taichang flag could not directly become the national flag.
Before Emperor Shizu came up with the sun and moon flame flag with a red background, the Central Plains dynasty had never made a special national flag.
Because after King Qin conquered Liuhe, in the inherent understanding of the Central Plains Dynasty, it was not another country coexisting with other countries.
He is the ruler of the world who inherits the destiny from heaven, and there is no force that requires him to take the initiative to differentiate himself from its legal equality.
Even during the separatist period, most people believed that their own dynasty was orthodox and denounced other dynasties as pseudo-dynasties.
Even if I have to accept it on the surface, I still think so in my heart.
In most cases, the Central Plains dynasty only needs its own internal distinction, or even only the most special emperor.
The emperor's logo had very strict regulations, covering everything from clothing to architecture to flags.
But apart from the emperor, the logos of ordinary people and ordinary troops were very personalized before Emperor Shizu made the unified flag.
They either use their own surnames as signs, or use colors to distinguish different formations based on their own command habits.
The flag on the Mogao Grottoes mural is actually Zhang Yichao's own flag. His surname was supposed to be on the middle circle, but it fell off due to weathering.
It's just that his design is really good. It coincides with the sun, moon and stars, and is used by modern people in various Tang Dynasty TV series.
Later, it spread on the Internet, and was finally taken to the Ming Dynasty by Emperor Shizu and used as the national flag of the Ming Dynasty.
If it were not for the Sun and Moon Flag made by Emperor Shizu, the flags now flying on the ships of the Ming Navy should still be the completely personalized flags.
The navies of the Thai and Western countries were probably completely confused when they saw the flag of the Ming Dynasty fleet.
Others may not understand it, but that's not a problem at all.
Those powerful Central Plains dynasties had an aloof mentality that is unimaginable to modern people and is natural:
Why do you need to understand what I do?
What does it have to do with me if you don't understand me?
Emperor Shizu’s Sun and Moon Flag helped the Taixi people solve a big problem.
Currently, only one-third of the ports in the Southwest Cape carry the Ming Dynasty’s sun and moon flag, and the majority are those gaudy Thai and Western flags.
In other words, a large number of representatives from various countries in Europe and the West had arrived at the Western Cape before Zhu Jingyuan.
After all, among the European and Western countries, even Lucia, which is the farthest away from the Western Cape, is closer than the capital of the Ming Dynasty.
Representatives from various countries in Europe and the West, as well as princes and nobles, were eager to attend the event.
Zhu Jingyuan delayed for ten days before setting off.
Zhu Jingyuan is not sure yet. The Ming delegation led by him is sometimes the last one to arrive.
But isn’t the protagonist the last one to appear?
The speed of the Zhoushan Island is getting slower and slower, slowly moving into the port where ships are everywhere.
Huangzhuang Pier received news a few days ago that full martial law has been in effect since the day before yesterday.
There are no ordinary people on the dock shore now, only groups of uniformed guards and soldiers patrolling back and forth.
Although the representatives of the Western Yi who had arrived at the Western Cape wanted to come out and watch the Ming fleet dock, they were all forced to stay in their guest rooms today.
No one dares to violate it easily, because no matter what status they have in their own country, they are white ghosts in the eyes of the Jin Yiwei here.
They didn't dare to try it. If they deliberately violated the requirements and ran out, they would be beaten directly.
Anyway, this situation only lasts for a day or two, just get over it.
After the Zhoushan Island officially entered the port, it finally turned off its propellers completely and relied entirely on the assistance of tugboats to slowly dock at the dock specially reserved for it.
The sailors on the ship threw down the cables and "tied" the passenger ship, and the sailors lowered the gangway.
Guan Tianpei first arranged for two hundred soldiers to disembark and check the environment and personnel around the dock.
After directly taking over the security of the dock where the passenger ship was located, Zhu Jingyuan disembarked the ship with two staff members under the escort of Guan Tianpei.
Then, without staying too much on the pier, he was sent directly to Haijiao Huangzhuang City and moved into a mansion specially prepared for the princes and grandchildren.
The overall layout of the Haijiao Huangzhuang city wall is very similar to the old capital city of the Ming Dynasty.
It's just that the direction is completely opposite to that of the capital. The old city of the capital is facing south, while the city of Xiyang Haijiao is indeed facing south.
And there are obvious differences in the specific divisions. The manor in the Western Cape is not so much a city as a land and sea fortress.
The city wall is still a three-story matryoshka structure. The innermost core area is the emperor's palace, where only the emperor and his concubines can live.
Zhongcheng is a villa where the emperor, royal family members, and favored ministers can stay after obtaining permission.
The outer city is an ordinary fortress city area with the largest area, including a large area of land and a dedicated dock.
The outer city was originally used to house the garrison, guests from all walks of life, as well as local residents and workers, as well as space reserved for various urban supporting facilities.
Now there is actually a ring city, which is the outer city area surrounding the city wall, and a larger civilian dock area.
Zhu Jingyuan was arranged to live in the palace in Zhongcheng, and Zhu Jianfeng followed closely and moved into the courtyard opposite Zhu Jingyuan.
Then the ordinary officials, craftsmen, and representatives of the Thai and Western countries who arrived before all lived in the manor in the outer city.
Zhu Jingyuan entered the palace arranged for him, found the bedroom and fell asleep.
Living on a passenger ship is not tiring, but after all, after floating on the sea for more than a month, when you suddenly land on land, it is inevitable that the world will spin.
Moreover, the time zone kept changing throughout the second half of the voyage, but Zhu Jingyuan always maintained the pace of life in the Ming Dynasty.
It is evening in the Western Cape, but it is already early morning in the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Jingyuan is now like getting up and getting off the boat in the middle of the night. This is actually the time when his body is the sleepiest.
Now that we have arrived at our destination, it’s finally time to adjust to the jet lag.
Zhu Jingyuan slept until six o'clock the next morning. When he woke up again, he felt much better and his feeling of dizziness was significantly reduced.
I stretched myself out of bed, took a shower, had something to eat, and started planning my next trip.
First, he went to meet the shopkeeper of Cape Imperial Mansion, and then he also had theoretically one of his own ministers, a delegation from the Dashi Kingdom.
Next came representatives from vassal states such as Tianzhu, Dashi, Dongmo, Mazhou, and Nanmo, as well as representatives from imperial villages around the world.
In fact, it's easy to talk about the affairs of Ming Dynasty's own people. The more important thing is to say hello to Xiyi after this.
After studying with Shen Fu on the road for a month, my diplomatic mission has finally begun.
