It turned out that when Zhu Zhen was in charge of Honglu Temple, Zhu Su had expected that those Western barbarians would definitely want to entangle Zhu Zhen, so he specifically ordered that if he saw these Western barbarians, he would take a detour and not meet them face to face. There is a chance to meet.
The intention is to leave these Westerners alone and dampen their energy first.
But these Westerners were chasing him too closely. They were waiting at the gate of Honglu Temple and squatting at the gate of Prince Zhuzhen's Mansion every day. Zhu Zhen did not dare to go against his brother's wishes, for fear of meeting these Western barbarians face to face, so he was cautious every day, and it was like a cat-and-mouse game with these Western barbarians. After going back and forth, he actually drove the great Prince Chu of Ming Dynasty to a point of neurasthenia.
Zhu Su couldn't help laughing when he heard his complaint: "You are also a prince. As long as you hide in the palace and don't go out, those red-haired ghosts will dare to chase you into the palace?"
Zhu Zhen was speechless at the words. After a long time, he felt embarrassed and said: "This...it's boring to be bored in the house..."
Zhu Su smiled, and he understood Zhu Zhen's mentality. He has been locked up in the palace to study since he was a child. Now that he has finally left the palace and opened a mansion, he does not want to be another caged bird in a birdcage. Moreover, Zhu Zhen liked to listen to books. When he was young, he pestered him to take him to listen to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. If he was locked up in the house for several days without being able to read, it would be even worse than killing him.
"How many gifts have you accumulated from Xiyi?" Zhu Su suddenly asked.
Zhu Zhen was stunned and quickly answered: "I have sent them back and forth ten times. Yesterday I sent more than ten East Pearls in one trip. If the total is converted into silver, it will be at least 20,000 taels."
"Twenty thousand taels...heh, these red-haired ghosts are really rich." Zhu Susa said with a smile. After receiving such a large amount of money, it's no wonder that Zhu Zhencheng was terrified. After all, people with short hands...
"Let's do this. In a few days, you can arrange an occasion for these red-haired ghosts to meet you." Zhu Su said. "I will hide behind the curtain then, and you will obey my orders."
"The Prince of Chu's Mansion has almost blackmailed us. If we continue to blackmail them, I'm afraid they will back down."
"It's time to change our name and continue to beat these Westerners properly."
"Okay." Zhu Zhen was overjoyed. He wanted to get rid of these difficult red-haired ghosts quickly. "Then tomorrow, I will make arrangements immediately..."
…
On the second day, under Zhu Zhen's call, Zhu Su successfully met the red-haired Western Yi people.
These Yi people were wearing complicated shirts, and their hair seemed to have been specially styled to make it slightly curled. They also applied powder on their faces and held their heads high, giving them a noble look.
"Why don't you kneel before His Highness the King of Chu?"
The soldiers at Honglu Temple were particularly displeased with these Western barbarians. These Western barbarians were always wandering outside Honglu Temple in the past few days. If they had not been ordered in advance, they should have been charged with spying on the Yamen and arrested. . But even though these ugly faces like Rakshasa were hanging around outside every day, these soldiers were annoyed. Now that they had the opportunity, they didn't hurry up to scare these Westerners.
"His Royal Highness the King of Chu does not know. In the West, such barbaric etiquette as kneeling has never been frowned upon. If Your Highness is willing, we can kiss the back of your hand with a kiss on the hand. But if we kneel down, noble Western gentlemen have never received such an education." One of the red-haired barbarians said.
Behind the bamboo curtain, Zhu Su sneered slightly, and then whispered a few words to Zhu Zhen. Zhu Zhen immediately recounted: "I heard that Marco Polo, a Western gentleman from the Yuan Dynasty, once met with Emperor Kublai Khan of the Yuan Dynasty. Not only did he kneel down and kowtow to him, but he also served as his minister for several years."
"When you came to the East, you probably saw Marco Polo's travel notes. You are considered to be Marco Polo's descendant."
"I am very curious. Your ancestors have knelt down a long time ago, so why would you be unable to do so? Do you think that the swords of our Ming Dynasty are not as sharp as those of the Qianyuan Dynasty?"
After hearing the words of His Highness the King of Chu, the soldiers guarding the left and right immediately pulled out some of the knives hanging on their waists. The squeaky sound of the sword being drawn out and the cold light of the scabbard immediately frightened the other red-haired Yi man's face to turn pale. He immediately grabbed the companion who had just spoken nonsense and said in peace: "His Royal Highness the King of Chu, We have no intention of despising Ming Dynasty."
"My companion has just arrived in the East not long ago, and he still doesn't know the Eastern principle of 'doing as the Romans do when in the country'. Since we are in the East, we should naturally use Eastern etiquette to meet nobles...Felut, kneel down quickly. In front of you is the noble Ming Emperor. The Sixth Prince, we should show him the highest courtesy..."
As he spoke, he knelt down firmly, raised his hands and kowtowed to Zhu Zhen on the spot. The red-haired Yi who had just spoken nonsense saw the unkind-looking soldiers around him and knelt down in shame. With a livid face, he gave Zhu Zhen a decisive nod.
"Ping Shen." Zhu Zhen said, thinking that Fifth Brother said that these barbarians are all bullying the weak and afraid of the strong. This statement does not deceive me. Just now, when the red-haired barbarian saw that I was young, he actually wanted to use some kind of hand kiss to take advantage of a grown man. It was really disgusting that Long Yang was so good... Thinking of this, Zhu Zhen felt a chill. , and then quickly sat up straight, his face serious. I don’t want to show my timidity just because I look young anymore.
"You have asked to see me many times, and I have known it for a long time. It's just that Honglu Temple is busy with affairs, so I was able to take the time to meet you today." Zhu Zhen said. These few words made him feel guilty. There is nothing to be busy in Honglu Temple. Usually he is just Come here to see me, and then either go back home or go to the teahouse to listen to a book. But this was what Fifth Brother told me to say, and it didn't mean that I deliberately lied. "You want to see me, what's the matter?"
"Is it because I am not used to living in the Ming Dynasty? If there is any need for my mediation, I will do my best."
"Your Highness, we do have something to trouble Your Highness." Westerners never know how to beat around the bush, but after listening to Zhu Zhen's polite words, they climbed up the pole and made requests according to the situation. This appearance of power made even the soldiers standing nearby frown. Just listen to Na Xiyi say: "We heard that a great new continent was discovered to the east of the Ming Dynasty. In the new continent, many precious animals, plants and gold were discovered."
"We in Britain want to gain the power to trade with the New World. Therefore, we ask the great Sixth Prince to allow our fleet to go to the New World and start trade with the cities of the Ming Dynasty..." The red-haired Yi man said sincerely.
This person seemed to be much smarter than the other person. Perhaps he knew that people in the Ming Dynasty generally believed that Yi people were ignorant. He seemed to be consciously using this stereotype, and he appeared to be very sincere and straightforward in his words. Unfortunately, as soon as Zhu Su saw his fair face and the flash of complacency in his blue eyes, he had already raised his vigilance to the maximum. This man seemed to have no authority, but as soon as he met him he told him that he wanted to go to the New World for trade, but his real purpose was definitely more than that.
They must have roughly gotten an idea of the size of Fengming Continent from the leaked general map of Kunyu and Ten Thousand Kingdoms. He also guessed that Ming Dynasty would not be able to swallow such a large area in a short period of time. On the surface, they wanted to trade with the Ming city, but in their hearts, they definitely wanted to colonize Fengmingzhou to compete with the Ming Dynasty.
Facing someone as powerful as Ming Dynasty, they are businessmen. But facing the weak and civilians in small countries, they are undoubtedly robbers.
"...You also want to go to Fengmingzhou?" After getting Zhu Su's intention, Zhu Zhen started to pretend. "This... is difficult to handle."
He touched his chin, which had not yet grown much beard, and looked very troubled. "The Ming Dynasty also has its own regulations on the maritime trade exploration and cooperation in Fengmingzhou."
"If you are not a merchant of the Ming Dynasty, you must at least be one of the subordinate countries who can respect me, the Ming Dynasty, as the suzerain."
"You...are just merchants coming from the West? Do you have the credentials granted by the king of your country, willing the whole country to surrender to the emperor of tomorrow? If not, this matter will be really difficult to handle..."
(End of chapter)
