【Ticket Request】

The boy with the letter is a nephew of Ye Yiwei, only eighteen this year, on the way back, he also encountered the local people in Guangxi, and when he returned to Guiyang, he first went to the Futai and then went to Poly Bank, and after delivering the letter, he was arranged by Ding Yi to go to his dormitory to rest.

Ye and Wang and their entourage arrived in Zhaoqing on the tenth day of October after Chongyang, and sure enough, they met Wang Zunde there. Although Wang Zunde is a self-denying official, he also felt that this was a good thing after reading the letters between Wang Mingde and Wang Xingping, so he specially arranged for his family to accompany Ye Yiwei and Wang Ge to Guangzhou.

The group set off from Zhaoqing and went down the Xijiang River on the twenty-second of last month, which was the day of the frost, but this kid from the Ye family went back a few days earlier, counting today's journey is less than a month, in fact, it is fast.

At nightfall, the bonfire had been erected, and together with the right-hand men on the counter and the head of the grain depot, they were gathered in the yard of Poly Bank.

The torches reflect the early winter sky red, and also warm people's hearts, and the roasted mutton is set off by cumin sold from the Western Regions, and the aroma and oil and gas make the appetite of people who have worked hard for more than a month. Ma Zhong didn't care about the identity of the guests, and helped the cook to barbecue meat in the courtyard and greeted everyone by the way, while Wang Zhongde and others, who were invited to be guests, only cared about the noisy drink, and the soldiers were in a good mood for no reason, especially Wang Zhongde and Liao Si, who were the leaders of the group, had just been summoned into his camp by Sun Changzuo a few days ago, which was equivalent to having more affordable benefits in the local reward.

As a martial artist, following a general like Sun Changzuo, there will naturally be more opportunities for meritorious service in the future, and after this time, he will have to be promoted to half a level. Since the excavation of the moat in the outer city, the guerrilla garrison battalion of Guiyang Mansion has been moved to the north of the city, and the Fuzhong has opened up another piece of land in the outer city that has not yet been built, and it is specially used to garrison the 3,000 elite soldiers in Guiyang Mansion, and a school field has been built in the Weiqing Gate that has just set up the table.

After several rounds of wine, all those who should be saluted have been saluted, and those who should have slept have been slept. Wang Xingping only left Ye Xianlian - the one who sent back the letter during the day, this is something serious to ask.

"What is the water situation in Guangdong this year?" As soon as a few people entered their dormitory, Wang Xingping asked with concern.

Ye Xianlian also drank some wine, but she was still sober, thinking about the situation when she came back, she replied: "I heard that there was a big flood last year, and the officials and people of Zhaoqing Mansion spent more than four months to renovate the embankments of the Xijiang River. ”

"That's good, it's best to go back to Guangdong this time, even if you can't make it, you have to come back safely." This is the way Wang Xingping has been emphasizing himself recently, everything is about caring for employees, and the work is just not lost, and he doesn't need to be in a hurry for a little unsatisfactory.

"Don't worry, Uncle and Uncle Wang can save it." Ye Xianlian wanted to show that what she said was true, and explained the next arrangements of the two to Wang Xingping one by one, "Uncle said that Foshan is mostly recruiting craftsmen, and Uncle Wang is good at smelting, so he naturally knows how to deal with the furnace households, and it is enough for him to bring people over." Uncle only went to Guangzhou to open the customs and then went to Xiangshanao, so that he could see the ordnance factory of the Franco. ”

After hearing this, Wang Xingping also felt that Ye Da Cabinet was handled very properly, "When you go out, they are naturally in charge, so it's okay, as long as the two ends become one, this trip is not a loss." ”

Wang Xingping was in a relaxed mood when he said this, in fact, he didn't expect that Tieye could have such a scene today, he still had to wait for foreign aid from Guangdong, and now it seems that even if there is no blacksmith from Foshan or foreigners from Macau to come, his official business will not be bad, but Guangdong faces the South Seas, which is the place of trade of all countries, and it is also a great benefit to himself to get some new technology or business news, and Guizhou is closed here after all.

Thinking of this, Wang Xingping was concerned about the experiences of everyone on this trip.

"Little Fifth Brother came back from Guangli, what new things did you have to tell me over there?"

The fifth elder of the Ye family, who went out for the first time, opened the conversation when he heard this, "The novelty can't be talked about, there is only one strange thing, there is a woman slaughtering cattle on the street in Guangdong, the older one is called the butcher, and the younger one is called the butcher." And when slaughtering the cattle, it is necessary to count the crimes of the cattle that will be slaughtered on weekdays, such as ploughing the land and not crossing the water, which is really unusual. ”

Of course, there are cattle slaughterers in Guizhou, and even the natives will kill cattle to entertain guests during festivals, but what has been strange in the past is nothing more than that the barbarians in the west and east of the water are not allowed to see blood, and they are all beaten to death with wooden hammers, but the slaughter of women is difficult to see even in the wild land of Guizhou.

Wang Xingping was also interested, but he was not surprised, and then took over, "I heard that many women in Lingnan do not take female celebrities as their business, and are good at cooking. ”

Ye Xianlian said with her eyebrows fluttering, and her eyes lit up when she heard Wang Xingping say it, "The owner is really well-informed, I heard Uncle Wang say that I didn't believe the customs over there, but after arriving in Zhaoqing, there are indeed many women in the restaurant and tea shop who show up to cook." ”

Wang Xingping happened to be watching Tang Fang Qianli's "Miscellaneous Records of Throwing Waste" these days, and he was even more amused when he heard what Ye Xianlian said, "Little Fifth Brother doesn't know, since the Tang and Song dynasties, Liangguang has been such a custom, and slang people are married, and what they say is 'My female tailor robe will not be burning, if you repair the water snake and yellow eel, that is, one will win the other." ’”

As soon as the words fell, Ding Deshui's uncle and nephew also laughed, the customs of the Central Plains and the south are different, even Wang Xingping, the northern immigrants who came to Guizhou many generations ago, felt that the customs of Liangguang were novel, but it also confirmed the reputation of Cantonese people as foodies since ancient times.

Ye Xianlian was brought up to talk, and said: "In fact, these are also ordinary, that Guangzhou Port is connected to the South Seas, and the customs of overseas Yi people are very different, and our group has seen the Buddhist temple built by the monk Taixi in Zhaoqing, which is called a ghost house by the locals." ”

When Ye Xianlian said this, she naturally didn't know that Taixi did not have a monk, but Wang Xingping knew that Matteo Ricci first went to Zhaoqing in China, where the first Catholic church was built, but at that time, in order to hide people's eyes, all the Catholic priests were named Buddhists and dressed in monk clothes, so the prefect of Zhaoqing at that time took it as a Tianzhu monk, and also wrote a plaque specifically for this church, which was for Xianhua Temple. Wang Xingping had been to Guangdong once in his previous life, and this church could still be seen next to the Chongxi Pagoda by the Xijiang River, but it was already dilapidated and changed into a residential house.

That Chongxi Tower is a big place in Zhaoqing Mansion on the bank of the Xijiang River, a group of people have arrived in Zhaoqing will naturally go, the Xianhua Temple built by Matteo Ricci is in the Taxi, and it is common to bump into it.

Wang Xingping said with a smile: "I think there are no ghosts in that temple." ”

Matteo Ricci lived in Zhaoqing for six years before being expelled by the governor of Liangguang before he went to Shaozhou and Nanjing to preach, and there were no more foreigners in Xianhua Temple.

"It's true that there isn't, but there are a lot of people outside Guangzhou, we heard about it in Zhaoqing, and this year's Wanshou Festival came to congratulate the Nanyang envoys a lot more than in the past, what Annam, Siam, Boni tribute envoys are now anchored in the port of Guangzhou." Speaking of what she has seen and heard outside, Ye Xianlian, who has rarely traveled far away, can't wait to tell the proprietor everything she sees, and even the rumors of Guangzhou that she heard in Zhaoqing have been mentioned in every detail.

But Wang Xingping heard something of interest here.

"Nanyang envoy ......" He was thoughtful when he heard this, Wang Xingping was not particularly clear about the tribute situation of the Nanyang foreign domain, and only knew that many things had to rely on tribute to get the officials and people of Beijing to enjoy. When it comes to Siam and Annam, it is natural to think of elephants, where there is a big court meeting in Beijing, there are two tigers and leopards and six elephants in the palace. Among the five ceremonial vehicles of the Son of Heaven, the big chariot and the jade chariot are both driven by two elephants. In the past, the imperial court also set up elephant taming guards in the southwest of Guangxi, specializing in capturing and domesticating wild elephants to pay tribute to the imperial court, but with the passage of time, these guards have now become the main guards, and the elephants in the elephant house in Beijing rely more on the Tusi of Guangxi and Yunnan and the tribute of the Nanyang countries.

Wang Xingping still heard Wang Mingde mention these things, and only then did he know that in the Ming Dynasty, the Son of Heaven Dynasty was already going to take the elephant car, and Wang Mingde went to Beijing to take the exam in the summer after being ambushed, he had seen the mahouts in the official in the Desheng Gate several times in the West Sea washing elephants, and the palace set up another elephant room in the imperial horse prison in order to facilitate the driving.

There is also an interesting case in the middle, when the elephant dies of old age, the elephant house must hand over the dead elephant to the Guanglu Temple outside the Donghua Gate to prepare the elephant meat for the banquet, but because the official documents have been exchanged for many days, the dead elephant has often been rancid, but it must also be handed over according to the regulations, and the result will make the streets along the way smelly, and pedestrians cover their noses to avoid it. For a long time, there are many elephant bones buried in the ground in the backyard of Guanglu Temple. At the time, people ridiculed the bureaucrats of various ministries for procrastinating in their work, and it became an anecdote to tell. And Wang Xingping just thought about the weather in the north in winter, and he also felt that this elephant taming in Beijing was really a matter of labor and money.

Today, Wang Xingping heard Ye Xianlian mention the Nanyang tribute envoy and thought of this matter, he said: "This time the Nanyang tribute envoy also has a tribute elephant? ”

"No, ordinary tribute elephants travel by land, and this ship is not good for living animals."

Although I have never seen the sea, let alone transported elephants, Ye Xianlian is no stranger to the tea and horse trade in Yunnan and Guizhou, and there are very few people who take ships to the north of Shuixi horses.

After saying this, Wang Xingping also felt that he had asked abruptly.

But Ye Xianlian's next words aroused his more interest, "The Siamese envoy lost his ability to return to China last time, and he was delayed in Guangzhou for a long time. ”

If there is a tribute ship from overseas, there is an indulgence in the south and it is not acceptable, in case of such a thing, the chief secretary and the sea officials of Guangdong will definitely carefully check it, and it will not be easy to let the tribute envoy land, and I heard Ye Xianlian say that the Siamese envoy arrived in Guangzhou on the 23rd day of the seventh lunar month.

Thinking of the Siamese envoy, another name jumped into Wang Xingping's ears.

'Bo Mud'

Listening to Ye Xianlian, the last time Siam paid tribute was in the forty-first year of Wanli, although it was four years apart, but it is said that it was because of the new king of his country who ascended the throne, it is still easy to say. But this time there is also the Bo Ni country, this small country in the South Seas last paid tribute in the Jiajing period, fifty or sixty years ago, and suddenly came to pay tribute.

Before he could speak, he realized that it was already late at night, and Wang Xingping gradually became sleepy, and he became absent-minded when he listened.

Ye Xianlian said it but didn't pay attention to it, and was still talking to herself, "The tribute ship of this Bo Ni country also claims to have been left behind, and the proprietor said that it is not a coincidence." ”

"Maybe it's been a long time, and it's reasonable to be lost." Wang Xingping didn't think there was anything wrong.

Not to mention that after a few decades, Siam's Kanhe has only been damaged for four years, as for the previous few times when Kanhe was damaged, although Wang Xingping didn't know, he expected it to be the same.

"It's strange that the tribute ships of this Boni country seem to be here to do business, and the Siamese tribute envoy also urgently urged Yousi to let them go north to the capital as soon as possible, but the tribute envoy of the Bohai mud country started to do business with merchants in the port of Guangzhou." Ye Xianlian continued to speak.

The tributary envoys are also asking for money, in the Ming Dynasty, the tribute is more of a political significance, but for the surrounding subject countries, it is both economic and political, often some small Nanyang countries of the tribute envoys themselves are businessmen or generals, there are a lot of personal interests in the middle, since the Hongwu time, the imperial court will not ask too much about the local merchants and tributary envoys to buy and sell goods, so there are often overseas merchants who pretend to be tributary envoys to the coastal ports of the Ming Dynasty to buy and sell special products, since it is said that the tribute envoys of the Bo mud country love to trade with people in the port of Guangzhou, There have been no tributes for many years, but it really seems that he came to the Ming Dynasty in the name of envoys.

So Wang Xingping smiled and said: "I think it's a fake name from a boat on the sea." ”

"But it is said that the tribute envoy and the Yiguan on the ship are all Han people, but the hair and short clothes are eye-catching, but they are by no means similar to the Nanyang and red-haired fans."

With a 'snap', Wang Xingping's oil lamp, which was holding Mars in his hand, fell to the ground, and the oil was spilled on the ground.

Isn't Bo Ni Country the place of Brunei in the future? Zheng He had been taught in the middle school textbooks of the places where he went to the West, so it is no wonder that he heard it familiar before.

Brunei...... Han Chinese with short hair and clothes

Ye Xianlian was busy helping to clean up the oil lamp that fell on the ground at this time, but her mouth did not stop, she wanted to tell everything she saw and heard, but she fell on the end.

"And I heard that the mission not only brought the Nanyang spices and things to pay tribute this time, but also the mercury mirror that can illuminate people delicately, even the officials in Zhaoqing Mansion have mentioned a lot, I really don't know how to make it......"

[Note: The time of Siam's tribute is based on Tian Jinsheng's "Report to Siam on Tribute", which was July 23, 45 years of Wanli. The time of Bo Ni's tribute combined with the time of Spain's sweep of North Borneo to contribute to Brunei shows that when there was the last tribute to the Ming Dynasty at the end of Jiajing, it was at least 50 years from the 45th year of Wanli.