While Ling Yunyi and Gong Xian were conquering the city, Xu Guangqi, who was on a mission to Europe, officially began his career as an envoy. Chinese literati, who do not have the mentality of being a concubine, all have the ambition of Ban Chao - the so-called people who can turn their bodies around in an extremely remote area, learn about other countries, and achieve extraordinary feats can only be heard by Zhang Qian, Fu Jiezi, Ban Chao, and Chen Tang.
Xu Guangqi's life was very smooth. Although his family was not rich since he was young, it could support his career without too much hardship, and he did not have to worry about hunger or cold. Later, he ran away from home willfully and suffered some hardships on the road, but it only lasted a hundred days.
After entering the capital, Xu Guangqi started a life of cheating and winning. He became proficient in the art of studying things once he learned them, and soon became outstanding in the Institute of Gewu. What made him even more unimaginable was that he would win the favor of the princess and become the Prince Consort, and in his twenties, he would reach the destination that others would spend their entire lives reaching.
At the age of twenty-five, Earl Xu has reached the peak of his life inexplicably, and he often feels as if he is in a dream. What's even more amazing is that he is now on the land of Europa, a hundred thousand miles away from home, far beyond the farthest distance that Zhang Qian and Ban Chao can reach - he has no doubt that he will go down in history forever.
On the seventh day of September in the twelfth year of Wanli, October 10, 1584 AD in the Julian calendar, after Xu Guangqi disembarked from the ship at the pier, he was directly taken to the Governor's Palace in Lisbon - which was also the residence of the Marquis of Denia.
After briefly washing and changing clothes, Xu Guangqi, Luo Mingjian and the main members of the envoy, such as left deputy envoy Wang Jiaping, right minister of the Ministry of Rites, and right deputy envoy Ma Jinglun, academician of the Gewu Academy, attended the welcome banquet of the Marquis of Denia. The head of the escort group, Liu Chengxi, and some of the guards stationed at the Governor's Mansion were counting the cargo on board the ship at the dock warehouse and taking charge of guarding it.
At the banquet, Envoy Perez took the lead in raising a toast, expressing his welcome to Lisbon, the first stop of Xu Guangqi’s visit to the Iberian Confederation, on behalf of Felipe, and looking forward to Xu Guangqi’s visit to Madrid. Felipe II will be very happy. I am willing to receive distinguished guests from the East.
After Xu Guangqi expressed his gratitude in his speech. The Marquis of Denia expressed welcome on behalf of Lisbon, and Xu Guangqi spoke again to express his thanks. Afterwards, guests and hosts followed suit, and everyone took turns wishing Zhu Yijun long live and had a drink; then wished Felipe II good health and had a drink - and so on, and then started talking casually.
"Your Excellency, before you were twenty years old, were you a commoner in Serris? Didn't you have any title?" This was asked by the Marquis of Denia after Luo Mingjian introduced Xu Guangqi's personal experience.
Xu Guangqi smiled and nodded in agreement. With his nod, just as Luo Mingjian expected: there were bursts of exclamations at the banquet.
How amazing! Just like a beautiful fairy tale, a former commoner married the emperor's sister, a real princess!
A noble lady with her face covered in white powder and waving a small silk and feather folding fan shouted: "Your Excellency, you must have that omnipotent magic lamp!"
"One Thousand and One Nights" has not been compiled into a volume in Europe, but there are many manuscripts. There are many versions of Aladdin's story at this time. In some versions, he gained a palace and wealth, and some versions are close to the final version - Aladdin finally married a Chinese princess.
It is worth mentioning that many of the protagonists in this collection of Arabic fairy tales are Chinese, including Aladdin. Many of the places and characters in "One Thousand and One Nights" come from the imagination of the Arab world and Europeans about China - Xu Guangqi and his experience satisfy all these, and even exceed the imagination of everyone in the Marquis's house. outside the force.
The countess who just spoke was wearing a typical Spanish dress at this time. The ruff collar was layered around her neck. Below it was a narrow V-shaped placket that exposed the edge of the silk lace underwear. The tip almost reached her chest, revealing a piece of snow-white skin.
The necklace hanging from the ruff collar hangs all the way to the chest, forming a ball shape there, and then continues downward. There is a pearl at the end that is placed on the bell-style silk skirt. The material of the skirt is mainly green. Colorful silk with intricate embroidery patterns.
All members of the official mission received training in the capital about the common sense of European life and customs before setting off, including of course the main attire of European men and women at this time.
Therefore, the Chinese people in the mission were not intimidated by these bare-chested women. Xu Guangqi just smiled when he heard this, revealing the mystery and ubiquitous exoticism of an oriental handsome man, which made the ladies who had entered the "humanism" era like the Ming Dynasty excited.
When they met for the first time, everyone was relatively reserved and had no verbal exchanges - at least, the Catholic fanatics who filled the banquet hall did not inquire about the beliefs of Xu Guangqi and others. It is also possible that Luo Mingjian has given instructions before and everyone avoided talking about this issue.
Later, someone became interested in the "scepter" that Xu Guangqi had been carrying, and an old marquis asked if it was the scepter of the Earl of the East. Xu Guangqi explained: "Of course not. Even the emperor in China does not use a scepter to mark his authority. This is a token in the hand of the envoy, which represents that the person holding the scepter has the authority of the emperor."
The old Marquis asked again what animal was on the scepter. Xu Guangqi explained: "As the representative of the emperor, there are three types of scepters. Two thousand six hundred years ago in our country, the Yuan Saint Zhou Gongdan made the "Zhou Rites", in which the chapter "Di Guan·Zhang Jie" said: "Every The festivals of the states are: Tiger Festival for the mountain country, People Festival for the earth country, and Dragon Festival for the Ze country. "
"Because Lisbon, Spain is a seaport city, I used the Dragon Festival." Xu Guangqi was unconsciously proud of his speech, and his expression was also somewhat complacent. After all, the "rituals" of these two thousand and six hundred years ago - although several Ciyi Di was seriously ill in China, but he still kept the line, and now the beauty of China is restored in the hands of the Ming Dynasty.
It has been nearly a hundred years since Spain began its great voyages. Apart from its respect for the Ottoman Empire around it, it has never encountered a civilization similar to the Greek civilization. At this time, when they heard the term "two thousand six hundred years", as Xu Guangqi expected, they all took a breath.
Then someone asked what kind of animal he just pronounced "lone". Xu Guangqi could only continue to explain: "Dragon is a mythical beast. Its body has nine similarities: the head is like a camel, the horns are like a deer, the eyes are like a rabbit, the ears are like an ox, the neck is like a snake, the belly is like a mirage, the scales are like a carp, and the claws are like an eagle. , the palms are like tigers." After speaking, he raised his sleeves, pointed at the dark patterns on them and said, "It looks like this."
After listening to Xu Guangqi's introduction and seeing the row of wild patterns, Perez exclaimed: "dragon!"
Luo Mingjian, who was sitting next to Xu Guangqi, quickly interjected: "No. The Chinese 'dragon' is completely different from Draco, although both are legendary creatures. The Chinese 'dragon' has a beard next to its mouth and a pearl under its chin. , there is a reverse scale under the throat, which is responsible for making clouds and rain. It is an auspicious beast, completely different from Draco who can only breathe fire and destroy."
After listening to Luo Mingjian's explanation, Xu Guangqi realized that Perez understood dragon as "draco" - which also means "devil" in Latin.
He hurriedly took over the topic and said: "A dragon can be big or small, it can rise or disappear; when it is big, it stirs up clouds and spits out mist; when it is small, it hides and hides its form; when it rises, it soars in the universe; when it is hidden, it lurks within the waves. Chinese Sage Confucius once said of his teacher Lao Tzu, "As for the dragon, I don't know. It rides the wind and clouds to the sky. When I see Lao Tzu today, is he just like a dragon?" The Chinese also believe that the emperor is a real dragon - the emperor who is praised by the world for his benevolence and righteousness. , how could it be Draco."
The two people hurriedly explained with pale faces, making the Europeans present realize the seriousness of this problem. It involves the emperor, and they cannot be indiscriminate.
After listening to Xu Guangqi's explanation, Perez said to Luo Mingjian: "Then please tell me, Bishop, what should we call it."
Luo Mingjian smiled and said: "I think lon or ron are both good. When we can't understand it, it's better to call it by its pronunciation instead of replacing it with something completely irrelevant."
Everyone nodded in agreement, and someone immediately suggested a toast to China's magical 'lon'. After Xu Guangqi wiped off the cold sweat, he raised his glass and drank the wine with a smile.
7017k
