Why did the major shareholder of the iron factory write Xia Chan's name?

Because during Wang Yuan's steelmaking, Xia Chan happened to come to Zhejiang. was first escorted to Hangzhou by the Jinyi guard, and heard that Wang Yuan was in Shaoxing, so he went straight to Shaoxing.

You read that right, Xia Chan was escorted south by the brocade guards!

On the first day of the Lunar New Year, Huang E gave birth smoothly and wanted to send someone to report to Wang Yuan.

When the imperial concubine heard the news, she sent the eunuch to congratulate her on the third day of the Lunar New Year, and said that the emperor had written a letter to Wang Yuan and was about to send it to Zhejiang. If Huang E also wanted to write a letter, he could bring it with him, and Huang E simply asked Xia Chan to go south with Jinyiwei.

Sending the maid to Wang Yuan's side is naturally convenient for serving and living.

The content of the family letter written by Huang E mainly has three points: first, he said some trivial things in life, everything is fine at home, and Wang Yuan should not worry; second, the Shuidong Song clan sent an envoy to pay tribute to the horses and brought Song Ling'er's letters; Third, his son's nickname is called Chu Yi, which makes Wang Yuan think of a big name.

Song Ling'er's letter was relatively complex in content, and it also introduced the situation in Guizhou.

First of all, the Shuixian clan was divided into three, and finally began to tear the skin of the face, and the imperial court sent officials to mediate, and the boss of the An clan actually killed the officials and rebelled. Because the boss of the An clan was brutal, after the public rebellion, he was quickly killed by the clansmen, and the territory was divided between the second and third children. The second child is brave and good at fighting, and the third child is defeated and retreated, but the third child is insidious and cunning, and buys the tribes in the second child's jurisdiction to rebel.

The An clan was not only divided into two forces, but also a Miao chieftain rebelled and grew stronger. The Miao chieftain repeatedly asked for Fu Fu and wanted to become the new Tusi, but did not receive a response from the imperial court.

Secondly, Song Ling'er's brother-in-law and cousin Song Ren died of illness, because he had no children under his knees (the only son died of illness a few years ago), and the Song family also fell into civil strife due to inheritance. With the support of Song Ling'er, Song Gongzi successfully ascended to the throne, and now he is cultivating his life and recuperating and engaging in agricultural infrastructure construction.

It's a pity that Song Gongzi's father, Song Jian, has passed away, and Song Gongzi himself has another tendon, and he actually built ten schools within half a year, and built a number of water conservancy facilities at the same time. The Song economy was on the verge of collapse, and the people were exhausted by forced labor. The major horses still did not listen to the greetings, and intensified their efforts to oppress the people under their rule. The benevolent government vigorously promoted by Song Gongzi actually forced Miao to rebel again, and Song Linger couldn't persuade him at all.

At the end of the letter, Song Linger kept talking about her son. She also said that she met a bamboo bear in the wild and gave birth to three baby bamboo bears, two of which were abandoned. Song Linger took it home to raise, unfortunately raised one to death, and the one that survived became her son's playmate.

Wang Yuan couldn't cry or laugh when he read this, other children all have cats and dogs, and his own children really raised pandas.

Brought to Zhejiang, there were also many letters from disciples, mainly talking about the development of the School of Physics and what experiments they had done.

There is a physics man named Nie Guang, who was inspired by the gliding of birds, and used his knowledge of mechanics and air currents to install a pair of wooden wings for himself. Then he jumped down the hill and broke his leg neatly, and the physics faculty covered his medical expenses, and the guy lay on the bed to improve the gliding device before his leg was healed.

As for Zhu Houzhao's letter, it was sent directly from the border town, and he did not return to Beijing to see his wife and children during the Chinese New Year.

Zhu Houzhao said that the degree of erosion in the border town was more shocking than he imagined. Shanxi's generals below the general army, above the fifth grade, were replaced by the emperor for nine, one of whom was beheaded. Shaanxi and Liaodong are not too far apart, anyway, they were picked up by the emperor.

Zhu Houzhao was very confident, believing that the border towns had been put in order, and the troops in each town were quickly replenished and trained, just waiting for the little Mongolian prince to go south to open the scoop. The emperor told Wang Yuan to deal with the affairs of Zhejiang as soon as possible, and that he must return to Beijing by August at the latest, and then immediately set out for the frontier, and the two princes and ministers joined forces to deal with the autumn invasion of the Tatars.

By the way, Xia Chan also brought a treasure knife, which was a Uzi scimitar given by Zhu Dangshu, the king of Xiliang. The whole body is made of Damascus steel, and the blade has a gorgeous pattern, and the Uzbeks gave it to Zhu Dangshu as a gift, and Zhu Dangshu sent thousands of miles to Wang Yuan.

Regardless of anything else, the sharpness of this Uzi scimitar ranked first among all Wang Yuan's weapons. The principle is very simple, the fine grain of Damascus steel forms invisible serrations on the blade, which can easily reach the level of blowing hair and breaking hair.

Poor Wang Yuan, the champion, has no calligraphy, painting and antiques at home, nor does he have any valuable four treasures of the study and ancient books of the past dynasties, but he has a large collection of all kinds of awesome weapons.

In the Ming Dynasty, the price difference between the Uzi scimitar and the Japanese knife on the market was nearly two hundred times!

……

Wang Yuan received dozens of letters, and at the same time that the steelmaking was successful, Zhang Xuan finally returned from Nanyang and successfully brought back several cannon casters.

Let's go back more than four months.

Zhang Xuan landed in the Portuguese colony of Malacca on a fleet led by Bao Chaoxiang.

Malacca was known as Manraka by Ming Dynasty officials and was a subject state of the Ming Dynasty.

In the sixth year of Zhengde, when Wang Yuan was taking the top prize, the Portuguese landed in Malacca. Defeated the Malacca defenders, built castles and established colonial strongholds, and then continued to attack for several years, occupying a large area of Malacca, and the king of Malacca was almost unable to hold on.

The Portuguese governor in Malacca was officially called the "Viceroy of India".

The new governor, Fernand Pires, arrived at the auction of goods at the port of Hangzhou, and went to Daming while Wang Yuan watched the tide of Qiantang. He wanted to formalize trade relations with China, but returned to Malacca after the storm and heavy losses caused by the Champa situation.

Only two and a half months after returning to Malacca, the adjutant suddenly came to report: "Your Excellency the Governor, a Chinese fleet of more than thirty three-masted galleons has come to the port. ”

"A large fleet, just trade with them as usual." Pires said.

The adjutant said: "Some people claim to be subordinates of the Governor of China and want to meet with Your Excellency for a detailed discussion. ”

"Chinese emissaries? Invite them in! Pires was overjoyed and immediately called an interpreter.

The Portuguese Doge's Residence, was a castle built near the port.

Bao Chaoxiang was trading goods at the docks, and Zhang Xuan only brought one attaché, and then strode into the castle.

Pires bent down and saluted: "Honorable Chinese Governor Emissary, I am Fernand Pires, Governor of Portugal and India, and it is a pleasure to meet you in Malacca. ”

Pires's translator, who was only a Malaccan nobleman, immediately paraphrased this passage with more honorifics.

Zhang Xuan thought to himself: This Buddha is a red-haired ghost, polite and courteous, but he is not a barbarian.

Zhang Xuan arched his hand and said: "I am Zhang Xuan, a subordinate official of the Ming Dynasty Governor of Zhejiang. ”

The interpreter said: "Your Excellency the Governor, this Lord's surname is Zhang, his name is Zhang Xuan, and he is a subordinate official of the Governor of Zhejiang, China. ”

Pires smiled and said, "Mr. Zhang, it's an honor to meet for the first time, please sit down and talk." I also prepared a dinner party and ate it together later. ”

"No hurry!"

Zhang Xuan suddenly asked the teacher: "Does Governor Pi know that Manraka is a subject country of the Ming Dynasty?" You Francois people, attack and occupy Manraka without authorization, and the Ming Dynasty has a reason to protect your subjects! ”

The interpreter was shocked, repeated the words, and said: "Your Excellency, the Chinese officials are greedy for money, and we must bribe him with a lot of money." ”

Pires immediately sent someone to carry a box of silver, and said with a smile: "This is a gift for Your Excellency. ”

Zhang Xuan didn't come to ask for the crime, so he immediately pretended to be a corrupt official and accepted a box of silver with a smile. said: "Governor Wang is opening the sea in Zhejiang, and the Franc machine can trade in Hangzhou. It's not illegal trade on the Cantonese side, it's normal trade with official documents. However, there are several conditions. ”

Pires was overjoyed: "What conditions?" ”

Zhang Xuan said: "First, you are not allowed to trade in the name of Manraka; Second, I need a gunsmith; Thirdly, I need a shipbuilder. ”

Pires was very generous and didn't bother to bargain: "As long as I can trade with China normally, I can agree to these conditions." ”

This cargo really wanted to establish relations with China, and in history, he personally led a fleet to Guangzhou in 12 years. In order to express his respect for the Ming Dynasty, the salute was fired with the highest etiquette, which frightened the Guangzhou officials to immediately mobilize their troops, and thought that the Francos had come to fight.

And this translator at this moment is Zhu Houzhao's Portuguese teacher in "History of the Ming Dynasty" - Fire (Hezhuo) Yasan!

These two, who bribed all the way in history, threw money from Guangdong to the capital, and finally saw Zhu Houzhao in Beijing, just to establish a "tributary" relationship with the Ming Dynasty.

Seeing that Pires agreed happily, Zhang Xuan put forward a new request, hoping to obtain various Tessie crops.

Explaining the characteristics of sweet potatoes, Pires immediately understood that sweet potatoes were already commonly cultivated in Spain at this time.

Pires said with a smile: "The crops Your Excellency said will be delivered next year at the latest." I can also bring a new crop with an amazing yield, and if I can get a summons from the Emperor of China, I will bring it with me. ”

Zhang Xuan said ambiguously: "As long as Your Excellency brings these two new crops, I will immediately ask Governor Wang to report to the imperial court." ”

It was just reported, and it didn't say that the emperor would definitely summon it.

And the new crop that Pires is talking about, in addition to sweet potatoes, is corn! Both of these things have been promoted in Spain, but potatoes have not yet reached Europe.

Keep it a secret from the Ming?

Protect the fart, as long as you can meet the emperor smoothly, Pires can sacrifice her mother.

Today's China is invincible in the eyes of Westerners, and it belongs to the Oriental giants that must be licked on their knees!

As for the cannon caster or something, the Franc cannon has already been spread, and some Chinese merchant ships in Guangdong have it, and next year King Ning will quietly cast the Franc cannon for rebellion.

(Updates will resume tomorrow.) ）