To understand a mysterious region at the national level, there are only a few things you need to know.

Political, military, and cultural.

Politics includes the geographical pattern, the political system, and the relationship between countries.

The military includes the number of troops, the main means of delivering military strikes, the potential for mobilization for war.

Culture includes religious beliefs, the universal values of society, and what the productive base of the means of production depends on.

These elements are all that Zhu Yunwen needs to understand through Zheng He, and the latter did not disappoint Zhu Yunwen, who has not wasted his years in Arabia in vain, holding in his hands either hearsay or first-hand news of refugees from Europe.

The bubonic plague that swept across Europe a few decades ago has affected all areas of Europe, whether political, military, or cultural.

"Right now, in the Far West."

"It's called Europa, so that's what you call it."

Faced with Zheng He's puzzled gaze, Zhu Yunwen found a casual explanation for himself: "I read some essays left by Genghis Khan on his western expedition in Beiping earlier, and there are many countries in the far west of Arabia, and the countries there have given a name to the land they coexist in, called Europa. ”

Zheng He was convinced of this answer, so he replaced the somewhat vague name of the Far West with this name.

"Your Majesty is right, there are many countries in Europa, and the slaves and maids asked some Europa people who fled from Hus, and their land 'galloped from east to west' in less than half a month, so it can be inferred that the size of its national territory is less than my Ming Province, and there are dozens of such countries."

Hussite, which country?

Zhu Yunwen frowned and couldn't think of it for a long time, this name was too cold.

If he knew the history of Europe, the name would not be unfamiliar, the Hussites were not a country, according to the written word, it should be called Czechoslovakia, and the Hussites were the leaders of this region in the process of resisting the Crusades, so when they claimed their identity, they called themselves Hussites.

"You just said that you fled east?"

"Yes, flee east."

Zheng He nodded firmly and said: "The wars in Europa are very frequent, and I heard that there are two countries that have been fighting for decades and have not stopped so far. ”

This statement made Zhu Yunwen instantly think of the Hundred Years War between Britain and France.

At this juncture, the Hundred Years War between Britain and France is not in full swing, calculate the time, and in a few years, Joan of Arc should show its prominence.

"They worship a religion called 'God,' and many of the kings of Europa need a religious person named the Pope to be crowned orthodox, and hundreds of years ago, when their holy land of Jerusalem fell, the pope called and organized the vast majority of the countries of Europa to fight the war of reconquista, which lasted for hundreds of years."

Isn't this the Crusades?

"Because of the invasion and resistance of religious beliefs, the war activities throughout Europa are very frequent, although most of them are very small, but the frequency and frequency of outbreaks are quite large, therefore, a large number of Europa people by ship and land, hoping to find a way to our Ming Dynasty, oh, their books record that our Ming Dynasty is China."

The word "China" was born extremely early, and it is by no means an abbreviation because of later generations.

The ancients believed that the Central Plains Shenzhou was the center of heaven and earth, and claimed that it was inconclusive whether Marco Polo's travels existed, but Genghis Khan's westward expedition, because of this military act, made Europeans know that there was a powerful and rich empire in the east, which was the center of this heaven and earth.

Therefore, in the European appellation, they also call the country of the East the country as the central country.

The impact of Genghis Khan's expedition to the west was by no means confined to one area of warfare, the simplest example of which was the introduction of gunpowder that changed the way warfare was conducted in Europe.

And the bigger change is a seed planted in the mind that cannot be seen.

The Europeans learned because of this invasion that there is a country in the East!

Like us Chinese, Europeans have always believed in their bones that they are the only ones in the world, just like myths, we have Pangu, they have God.

Suddenly knowing that this world was very large, and the territory and population they had always been proud of were so small in front of the country in the east, they naturally had a yearning.

The world-famous voyage of Columbus is not to prove that the world is round, and he will definitely arrive in China when he sets off from Europa to the west.

Under the difference of ideas and culture, the thinking of Europeans was more advantageous and avoided disadvantage, and this thinking was further deepened by the Black Death.

"They hope that the Arabs will take them through the sea to our Daming, but more of these people will die in Arabia."

Zheng He shook his head and said: "Because of the religious war, the Arab tribes hate the Europa, and the Europeans who traveled east were all detained and enslaved by the Arab tribes. ”

"Where are they now?"

Zheng He thought for a while and replied: "The slaves and maids arrived in Quanzhou one step ahead of them, calculate the time, at this time, this group of Europa people should have just arrived in Quanzhou, if they didn't arrive, they should have arrived soon." ”

At this time, breakfast was almost eaten, and the people on the left and right removed these dishes and bowls and replaced them with fragrant tea.

In the rising water vapor, Zhu Yunwen seemed to see a group of white-skinned things in his memory, with the posture of 'world overlord' and 'leader of the civilized world', walking towards him.

"You're in Arabia, do you have anything else to discover?"

Zhu Yunwen's question made Zheng He a little confused, so he asked tentatively: "What does Your Majesty refer to?" ”

"It's like, do these Europa people have some messy fantasies?"

Zhu Yunwen didn't know how to describe it, so he had to describe it according to the general meaning: "For example, do any of these Europa people like to talk nonsense and talk about unrealistic things?" ”

What is technology, technology is to make the impossible possible, and rationalize this process through knowledge.

Therefore, fantasy is the foundation of the birth of science and technology, and the improvement of the theoretical system of fantasy through practice is the process, and the final result is the complete result.

"Or, have these people mentioned some nonsense knowledge, and said some obscure things such as chemical reactions, physics experiments, etc."

The more Zheng He listened, the more confused he became, and after thinking for a long time, he shook his head firmly: "No, they just wanted to come to our Daming, and the slaves asked them why they wanted to come to Daming, and they all said that they wanted to pursue and see the mysterious and powerful China in the book, and the others were never mentioned." ”

Just a bunch of poor middle peasants who can't survive in Europe?

A group of adventurous explorers?

There's a for this bunch of things.

Zhu Yunwen frowned, a little disappointed, and then asked, "Do you know that there is a war on the Europa side now, and there are muskets?" ”

"There are parts."

"What kind of style?"

This answer made Zhu Yunwen a little nervous, how many years did gunpowder reach Europe before the musket was born and used in war?

"It's similar to what we used before, there is no large-scale armament, I heard that Europa mainly relies on cavalry at the moment, a kind of iron floating slaughter similar to the original Jurchen Jin people, covered in armor, and even the horses are covered with heavy cavalry."

Traditional tactics of the noble heavy cavalry in Europe.

Zhu Yunwen relieved his mind at this time, since Zheng He said that it was similar to the musket used by the Ming Dynasty before, it should be a musket, after all, before Zheng He went to sea, the arquebus had not yet been born, and Zheng He had never seen it.

In terms of the use of firearms, the current Daming is still one position ahead of Europe.

But even so, Zhu Yunwen did not dare to have the confident idea of 'the current Europe, in front of the Ming Dynasty, can only be regarded as a younger brother', it is true that the current Europe tied together may not be able to defeat the Ming Dynasty, after all, in the era when cold weapons are the mainstream means of warfare, population represents the war potential.

After the Black Death, the population of all of Europe was really not much bigger.

But it is still not to be taken lightly, because the leap forward in technology is always achieved inadvertently.

Although Europe is now a younger brother, it may only take 30 or 50 years for others to overtake.

And before overtaking, it was precisely the many technical difficulties that I overcame in the process of being a younger brother in the past few decades.

Without the accumulation of decades of being a younger brother, where would he stand up overnight.

What Zhu Yunwen didn't know was that in less than 20 years, the arquebus would be born in Europe and evolve wildly, and the arquebus became the mainstream configuration in the Hussite War.

Developed according to this principle, a short arquebus, similar to a pistol, was developed.

The Europeans then continued to develop and the arquebus was phased out less than a hundred years after its inception, and the flintlock pistol was born.

In other words, when Qi Jiguang obtained arquebus technology from the Japanese, the Europeans were already equipped with flintlock pistols.

During the Wanli period, when the poor finances of the Ming Dynasty were no longer able to build fortune ships to guard the sea frontier, the English had defeated the Spanish Invincible Armada, and the 'continental balance of power' policy and the corporate system and the joint empire system authorized by the government trusteeship that affected the world pattern became the foundation for the construction of the empire on which the sun never sets.

At this time, who is the younger brother?

In two hundred years, let alone confronting the whole of Europe, even if you want to win against Britain and France alone, it is enough to choke.

So you can't think that just because you're a younger brother now, you can't think it's like this forever, maybe you have the reserves to stand up as the boss now, but you haven't had time to change things on paper yet.

"Summons Quanzhou Port, and when this group of Europa people arrives, they will be sent to Nanjing immediately."

Zhu Yunwen instructed: "Prepare the translation, I want to talk to them." ”

Daming will build muskets and cannons, and know the formula of gunpowder, but there has been no systematic knowledge base, no corresponding mathematics, physics and chemistry system knowledge impartation, and it is impossible to train scientists in large quantities, which has always been Zhu Yunwen's anxiety.

Zhu Yunwen doesn't know if there are talents in this area in Europe now, and I don't know if there are books in this area.

So he had to figure it out, and then bring all these talents and books back to Daming, and do his best to support them to improve!

(There are two more chapters in the evening.) ）