It has been three days since they arrived in Beijing, not to mention that they have not seen the emperor, not even the high-ranking officials, as if the whole city of Beijing does not care what the envoys of the Spanish Empire are doing, and the reason given by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is that the emperor is very busy and has no time to meet foreign envoys for the time being. The Spaniards understood this explanation very well, because in the past three days, they finally realized that they really underestimated the country. They came not only to a large empire whose territory was larger than the sum of all European countries, but also to a powerful empire that surpassed Europe in the fields of science and technology, culture, medicine, art, and military affairs.

"Garcia, did you say that we have made a big mistake, this is not some barbaric and uncivilized pagan country, but a protectorate of other gods who are not under God's rule!"

Seeing that Fernando's state was getting more and more depressed, the bearded man didn't know how to comfort him: "Fortunately, people in this country are not too interested in the ocean, maybe we can still get some benefits from it." ”

"You're right!" The tall, lanky man seemed to regain some of his spirits: "God will not abandon his faithful believers, and the greatest weakness of this country is that it cannot rely on its own merchants to transport these fine goods to Europe, and only our great Spanish Empire can complete the voyage around the earth!" ”

The bearded Garcia opened his mouth and didn't speak, in fact, he wanted to remind himself of his boss. Even without the Spanish Empire, there were still Dutch and Portuguese rushing to complete this work, in fact, this was also the traditional route of others, but he felt that it was not a good idea to hit Fernando too much, after all, this lord could be regarded as a straw bag in addition to the status of a nobleman, and if he had no confidence at all, it would not be conducive to future work.

The reason why there is such a big contrast in just three days is all due to Jacob, an Italian. Although Fernando flatly denied that Spain had ever planned to invade China, Jacob could guess from their expressions, so he decided to let these two ignorant guys have a good understanding of the actual situation in China. So, with the permission of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Jacob took two Spaniards and a group of retinues around the city of Beijing in his half-baked Chinese, and in addition to the dazzling array of goods and the sheer size of the city, what surprised them the most was not China's wealth, but Jacob's secret telling them how big China really was and how many people China really had.

In addition to the formidable name of the Whip of God, the last time the Mongols brought the Black Death, which made medieval Europe even more gloomy and dead. Therefore, when the Spaniards knew that the current Chinese Empire had once again expelled the Tatar attack and established the country, they already had a clear understanding of the strength of the Chinese army. And according to Jacob, who was fortunate enough to enter the best universities in China because of his familiarity with anatomy, he found that many of the scientific achievements that the Europeans were proud of during the Renaissance were only used here to teach students the basics, and that the true scientific knowledge would not have been known to him as a missionary.

In short, in these three days, the more they learned about China, the more they were ashamed of the ignorance of the Europeans, not to mention that the country where the musket and artillery they used to bully the natives was invented, and the priest who did not understand military affairs said that the Chinese elite troops were being equipped with a new sense of musket, and the flintlock pistol, which was still advanced in Europe, had now been issued to the colonial regiments in the north, so that the peasants had a certain ability to protect themselves in the face of the Mongols. After hearing this kind of news, the bearded Garcia scratched his ears and cheeks anxiously, wanting to see what the new musket looked like, but unfortunately his attempt to approach the barracks failed to succeed, if it weren't for the title of an envoy himself, it is estimated that he would have seen the methods of the original Ming Dynasty Jinyi Guard in prison at this time.

In addition, Jiang Tian heard a funny statement from the secret agent, saying that since Jacob met these two Spaniards, the communication between them was in a language that he had never heard before, which did not belong to the scope of known Western languages, but it seemed to have some kind of connection with the existing language, so Zhang Tao's intelligence personnel analyzed that there should be an independent set of languages between European missionaries and nobles from various countries to communicate some things that could not be heard by civilians in order to keep them secret. After reading this analysis report, Jiang Tian laughed, but this can't be blamed for these spies being insightful, after all, they don't know the laws of the development of European languages. In fact, for the convenience of communication, Jacob happened to use Latin, which most of the nobles needed to learn.

Time passed bit by bit, Jiang Tian had to personally guide the establishment of the modern logistics system every day, and naturally forgot about the two Spaniards, so after a month, the weather had become more and more hot, and the two people finally couldn't help but find Jacob and ask why they had not been received by the Chinese emperor. The Italian naturally can't be the master of this matter, and the matter was reported to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs knows very well that the director of this reception is Jiang Tian, and His Majesty issued a holy message, so it was transferred to the Academy of Sciences, and the old man Song, who is no longer in charge of scientific research, looked at it, and also pondered that he couldn't manage this matter, but Jiang Tian was staring at the trial operation of the canning factory outside the city for the past two days, and at the same time he was also groping with a group of soldiers to formulate logistics management specifications. Theoretically, it was impossible for Jiang Tian to come to meet them regardless of national affairs, so he forwarded this official document to the factory outside the city in the form of a general document, and it was not certain whether Jiang Tian had time to read it.

Jiang Tian really didn't have time to read it, and when he found that this ordinary document pressed under the important official letter, it had been more than ten days, and the weather at this time had entered the hottest season of the year, seeing that the canning factory basically didn't have to worry about it anymore, and the first batch of supplies to the navy had also been shipped to Jeju Island, which would become an important supply station for the navy in offshore activities, and the three 600-ton destroyers that had started construction at the same time had also been outfitted and were about to start sea trials. It can be said that the planned rapid strike fleet has begun to take shape, and he almost regarded Huangzhuang as a second office, so he packed up his documents and prepared to rush back to the capital.

Jiang Tian is leaving, which means that Wu Yuan, who often comes to report to work, will not appear again, Su Yuniang, who was full of expectations for love, was also half cold, although Wu Gongzi can often be seen during this time, but people don't look at themselves at all at all, no matter how they show their talents and appearance, at most they will get a few words of praise from the other party, so when this canning factory with slag in Jiang Tian's opinion is on the right track, Su Yuniang, who was originally humble and enthusiastic about learning management knowledge, gradually fell silent. Jiang Tian saw it in his eyes but did not intervene, because he understood that even if he came forward to be a matchmaker, even if the Wu family did not dislike Su Yuniang's identity, as long as Wu Yuan did not really like her, then there would be no happiness in his married life.

Wu Yuan followed Jiang Tian back to the city, and also took away Su Yuniang's hope, when parting, Wu Yuan had to squeeze out a little time to hang a stiff smile in order to prevent her from being passive and slacking off, and encouraged the other party a few words, which somewhat balanced the girl's heart, and there would not be too much loss and self-abandonment, but through this matter Su Yuniang finally figured out one thing, she was blinded by the love of men and women depicted in the novel before, and the pure love of this world may not lead to a sweet marriage, Especially for wealthy nobles who are high-class, the primary consideration of marriage is always the interests of the family, as for love...... Men may go to the Qinglou Chu Pavilion to spend money to get drunk, and women can only wipe away their tears and conceal their sincerity to accompany men.

I have to say that her thoughts are very negative, which proves that Wu Yuan's attitude hit her hard, but the kid's last false encouragement made her heart rise a glimmer of hope. Although it was very weak, it really allowed a girl to find her purpose again. Wu Gongzi has been watching himself, which means that his efforts during this time have not been in vain, maybe if he works harder, he will be able to gain the real favor of the other party! It is said that the IQ of a woman in love is negative, and it seems that this sentence is still very reasonable.

On the way back to the city, Jiang Tian lay in his carriage and looked at the report he found, during this time, the Spaniards jumped up and down in Beijing City and turned around a lot, and even the Eight Hutongs did not let go, fortunately, these two people did not have those diseases common to European nobles, otherwise the sisters in the Hutongs would be in trouble. It reminded him of Jacob's mention of the export of medicines, and the Italians must have boasted before them that the ancient Eastern empire had some miraculous medical skills. Thinking about it carefully, Jiang Tian found that he didn't have to bother to do anything at all, because the hole cards he mastered were far from being comparable to Spain's chips, so it was better to let them see it generously, and then add a ban on the exit so that they could not see it, which would be more appetizing.

So the two Spaniards, who were bored and a little long-awaited, finally waited for the notice of being received by the imperial minister. In the past month or so, they have not spent more than a month in the post house in vain, and they have also inquired a lot about the Lord Jiang who is about to meet, of course, they know that this kind of young but favored minister by the emperor cannot be offended, on the contrary, if they can please him, they may be able to get a lot of help.

"Come on, take out my velvet dress!" Fernando solemnly ordered the servant, not caring at all about the surprised look in the other party's eyes. Why? Because it's hot!

Of course, the bearded Garcia was not so stupid, he just wore an ordinary cotton uniform, and besides, he was not an official envoy, so he didn't have to dress himself like a tropical parrot like those aristocrats.

Fernando walked out of the inn with his head held high, but it didn't take long for him to regret his decision, wearing a thick ** cotton corduroy gown, a bunch of intricate decorations on his body, exaggerated bloomers, a thick white @ pink on his face and a wide-brimmed black top hat with two turkey feathers stuck in the hat...... Really like a macaw. The most important thing is that the carriage they were riding in did not open the windows to ventilate, and it didn't take long for our skinny Spanish nobleman to sweat, and even worse, the carriage walked for a long time and seemed to show no signs of stopping. The Spaniards finally couldn't help themselves, and lifted the curtain of the window to peek out, only to notice that they were leaving the city, and that they seemed to be walking north into a wood. In an instant, Fernando, who was good at imagination, flashed countless thoughts in his mind, and the most likely thing was that this Lord Jiang did not receive him at his own yamen, but chose to meet at the manor outside the city.

Of course, Jiang Tian doesn't have a manor, even if there is, it is a small courtyard in his hometown, the reason why the Spaniards think this way is because of habit, most of the nobles in Europe have manors in their fiefdoms, and in China, officials will naturally build a mansion in line with their status in their hometown, but because the Beijing officials have to deal with official business at any time, unless it is a character such as a relative, no one usually lives outside the city. The second is that the Spaniards noticed that the road on which the carriage traveled was very special, the road surface was not very wide, but it was paved with a material that seemed to be a stone, and it was very smooth.

After walking for a long time, the carriage finally stopped, and when they got out of the carriage, they found that they came to a very simple place, where there were no towering houses and towers, only low walls surrounded by rammed earth and wooden fences, and a simple wooden door with a simpler plaque on it, which read: Army Weapons Test Ground!

Jacob, who was traveling with him, looked at the sign for a long time, but his half-life Chinese level still couldn't understand the meaning of these words. Immediately after that, a few people who looked like soldiers came over, and their attitude was very kind, but they said that they could only walk through, and gave some warnings such as not to look casually, and not to run around. Garcia was happy in his heart, and his professional habits made him immediately see that this was a military camp, and the real Chinese Army that he had always wanted to see was in front of him.

After entering the gate, there is nothing special except for some brick and stone bungalows, just to prevent these guests from running around, there are heavily armed soldiers guarding every key position, and the sharp-eyed Garcia can see at a glance that the muskets on the shoulders of these people are different from the traditional flintlock muskets, but it is not clear what is different. It wasn't until they had passed through the quarters and walked along the path into a grove of trees that they saw a relatively open flat area at the end of the road, with a huge umbrella stuck in the ground, just sheltering the sun from the round table below, and a group of young people were sitting leisurely on a chaise longue and drinking tea at the table.

Fernando glanced at Jacob, and the other party gave him an affirmative look, this is Lord Jiang who wants to summon you. The helpless Spaniard walked over and bowed slightly to Jiang Tian, who was posing for the score, while Jacob said in Chinese on the side: "Honorable lord, this is the envoy of Spain, because I don't know how to translate his title, but I know that he has ...... The corresponding to your country should be the title of the viscount. ”

Jiang Tian nodded, did not stand up but tilted his head to look at Fernando, this unreasonable behavior made the Spanish Viscount very annoyed, but because he still had a task on his side, he temporarily suppressed his anger. After looking at it for a while, Jiang Tian said to Jacob: "You ask this viscount for me, if he feels very hot, he doesn't have to wear such a thick cotton wool clothes, I just have a set of cool silk clothes and pants here, see if he is willing to change into it and chat, anyway, today is not a formal diplomatic note." ”

In fact, Fernando wanted to maintain his dignity, but when he saw Jiang Tian's clothes, he still couldn't resist the temptation and the test of the high temperature, and finally decided to change his clothes and come over. Jiang Tian's clothes and pants are actually made in the style of modern clothing, which is very similar to the military uniform currently equipped, but the material is replaced by cotton cloth and silk, which is of course cooler to wear. After the Spaniard sat down, Jiang Tian personally poured a cup of tea for the other party: "Please forgive me for taking so long to receive you, and I chose this kind of place." I've heard about you, maybe making plans to attack China is really some drunken nonsense. ”

After listening to Jacob's translation, Fernando nodded hurriedly: "You are right, I think this is a misunderstanding!" ”

Jiang Tian smiled slightly, not only did he laugh, but several young people behind him also laughed quietly, Jiang Tian waved his hand to let them shut down and then continued: "Since it is a misunderstanding, then we should follow the normal procedure to let you meet His Majesty the Emperor of our country, but before that, I have some things I want to ask for Your Majesty first." ”

Hearing him say this, Fernando's mind was half relieved, and then his tone returned to the demeanor of a European nobleman: "Is there anything I can do for you?" ”

Jiang Tian still waved his hand: "Don't worry, I mainly want to invite you to watch a game today, we can talk about business later." Come on, haven't you seen the friendly envoys sweating like rain? Don't bring the shaved ice yet! ”

As soon as his words fell, someone hurriedly took out some crushed ice from a wooden barrel on the ground, poured sour plum soup in a bowl and brought it to Fernando, Jiang Tian also held a small bowl and ate two bites, the Spaniards saw that they could still enjoy ice cubes on such a hot day, and it was really the best aristocratic treatment, so they ate it unceremoniously, and the shaved ice quickly cooled the heart of the viscount, but what happened next made the viscount who had no talent completely cold to the end, as if falling into an ice cellar.