"The envoy of the Kingdom of Castile, Ro Gozelaiz Claviyo, pays a visit to His Majesty the Ming Empire." Claviyo expertly uttered the greetings, then hesitated a little before kneeling on one knee.

"Flat." Yoon-hee also used the most formal title.

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Claviyo said again.

"Brother Zelaizi, that's what I call you. How are you doing in my capital these days? Yun Xi said a few words to him according to etiquette, and after letting him sit down, he stopped talking nonsense and asked directly.

"Your Majesty, I have a good life in the capital of Daming." Claviyo said with a smile: "The capital of Daming is too rich, I came to Daming from my country, and I have passed through many prosperous and rich cities along the way, such as Basra, such as Samarkand City, which are far inferior to the capital of Daming. ”

"I sold everything I had in exchange for the copper coins of the Ming Dynasty, and was rewarded by Your Majesty, and gave me a small amount of money every month, and with this money I bought many things, whether it was food or anything else, and enjoyed many delicacies, and enjoyed many things that I had never seen in the West. ……”

"I am also very grateful to Your Majesty for allowing me to stay in the Pavilion during this time. I ask Your Majesty for permission to repay Your Majesty. Claviyo spoke a lot of words in praise of the Ming Dynasty in Chinese, which was not particularly proficient, and finally said this.

Hearing his words, the subordinates of His Royal Highness all ridiculed Claviyo in their hearts: "It's just a messenger of a barbarian country, and it's hard to say whether the population and land are a province or not, just thank Your Majesty for your reward, and dare to say such things as repaying Your Majesty, it's shameless!" Some of them couldn't see either Yoon-hee or Claviyo because of their size, and they had mocking expressions on their faces. But no one dared to speak. Yun Xi attaches great importance to the rules, and as a eunuch who does not abide by the rules, except for the 'three kings' back then, they are all executed.

But Yun Xi himself was relieved and understood what he meant.

According to the rules set by Yun Xi after he succeeded to the throne, unless he has been unable to summon these envoys of the Fan Kingdom, the envoys of the Fan Kingdom can only stay in the Ming Dynasty for no more than two months; But it has been seven months since Claviyo arrived in Daming in Layue, and Claviyo is also well aware of his special treatment, he should not be able to guess what Yun Xi thinks, but he knows that he must use his place.

However, Yun Xi didn't say anything about it right away, just smiled and chatted with him.

Yun Xi talked to him a lot, mainly asking him what he thought of Da Ming and mainly Ying Tian. Yun Xi actually doesn't care much about foreigners' evaluation of Da Ming, because this is meaningless to Da Ming, and no matter how they think of Da Ming, it will not have an impact on Da Ming.

But as a foreigner, a foreigner who has never been in contact with Eastern civilization, looking at the problem from an angle that some people near the Ming Dynasty will not ask, may be able to point out problems that are not easy for everyone to perceive.

Claviyo did say what he thought was a problem with the Ming. "Your Majesty, I think the Ming Dynasty is too strict with its subjects' restrictions on astronomical research? As far as I know, in the Ming Dynasty, since ancient times, subjects of the empire were not allowed to delve into astronomy without permission, and watching the stars at night would be punished by death if they were discovered. ”

"In faraway Europe, people who do not follow the papal explanation of their opinions about astronomical phenomena will be burned at the stake, but there is no restriction on the observation of astronomy. Many scholars, independent of the Holy See, look up at the stars on a good night, study the laws of the planets, study why they move the way they do, and others predict the future based on astrology. ”

In fact, not only for astronomy, Claviyo believes that there are problems with the scientific research of the entire Ming Dynasty. He felt that the people of the Ming Dynasty were not interested in studying the reasons behind a certain phenomenon, and they did not attach importance to scientific research. He was puzzled that astronomers, who were very important in European society and respected by the aristocracy and the church, were considered liars by some officials in the Ming Dynasty, or were not respected.

It was precisely in order to prevent the folk wild astronomy enthusiasts from arbitrarily interpreting astronomical phenomena and endangering the emperor's rule when they observed them, that China banned the study of astronomy. ’

And the supreme authority in the field of philosophy in your European countries is God, not a person in reality, and no matter how you interpret it, you can explain it by God's unknowability, or God's omniscience, so observing astronomy and making predictions in private will not affect God's authority, nor will it affect the sacredness of religion, so it is not forbidden. Of course, Copernicus's proposal of heliocentrism as an alternative to geocentrism was not expected by the church. Yun Xi said in his heart.

The earliest ban on folk research in astronomy was during the Jin Dynasty. From the Cao Wei period, metaphysics began to circulate among the scholar class, and it quickly spread, and the government and the opposition were full of agnosticism. During this period, some people linked metaphysics and astronomy to explain it, and at the same time, because the Sima family's means of seizing the throne of Cao Wei were not legitimate, many people did not approve of it at that time, and all kinds of remarks that were not conducive to the rule of the Sima family circulated in the country, which aroused the vigilance of Sima Yan, Emperor Wu of the Jin Dynasty. He then decreed that the study of astronomy was forbidden by the people.

This rule was inherited by successive rulers, sometimes more lenient and sometimes stricter, but in general it was forbidden for the people to study it privately, but some regimes that did not complete the unification were unable to do so.

Daming naturally inherited this regulation, it is said that one of the reasons why Liu Ji was valued by Zhu Yuanzhang was that he understood astronomy and feng shui, and the reason why Zhu Yuanzhang had to get rid of him in the later period was because of the same reason. Otherwise, when Liu Ji had to resign and return to his hometown, the power of the DPRK and China had been wiped out, he would not have died. After his death, the earl's income inherited by the eldest son was doubled.

Yun Xi is also very entangled in this. If the ban on astronomical research is completely lifted rashly, I don't know how many people who have enough to eat and have nothing to do, or who are afraid that the world will not be chaotic, will use this to spread rumors and make trouble, or claim to be the emperor and become an emperor. After 1949, there were still many people who claimed to be emperors under such a powerful propaganda offensive, let alone in this era. Of course, now that the Ming society is basically stable, these people can't make any big waves, and it is even more nonsense to overthrow the Ming Dynasty, but there is always some trouble.

But if they don't let go, they won't be able to study anything valuable for a thousand years with the astronomical officials of the Qin Heavenly Prison, who mainly eat and wait for death. What's more, the earliest breakthrough in modern science was astronomy, which led to the development of physics and mathematics. It is easier to take a path that has been proven to work than to take an unknown path. Therefore, in order to promote the development of science in the Ming Dynasty, Yunxi merged the Guozijian after setting up the Gezhi Academy, and dismissed those who did not have real talent and learning, and those who had real talent and learning were left to continue to observe astronomy.

At the same time, the ban on the private study of astronomy was still not lifted, but Yun Xi issued a holy decree that if anyone found in the local area to study astronomy without permission, he would be sent to the capital, and the local government should not dispose of it privately. After these people were sent to the capital, Yun Xi would let the people who were proficient in astronomy in Gezhiyuan inspect them, and if they were just casually talking nonsense, they would be exiled overseas, and those who really had the ability to stay in Gezhiyuan.

But he also had difficulty explaining these words to Claviyo, and since these measures had only been in place for more than two years, the results were not yet obvious, and the lack of interest in the study of natural phenomena could not be changed overnight. So Yun Xi just said: "After all, Da Ming is different from Europe, so it's not easy to generalize." After listening to his explanation, Claviyo did not dare to ask, and the topic passed like this.

But everything he said after that was to praise Da Ming. "Your Majesty, Da Ming is really good, compared to Europe, except for what I just said, everything else is much better than Europe!"

"The streets of Daming are so clean! Although there are some people who will throw away the garbage at will, there are special people to clean it, and the overall appearance is very clean, especially the several streets that are very wide and lined with nobles on both sides of the road, which can be said to be spotless. ”

"The most amazing thing for me was that there wasn't any human or animal droppings! Your Majesty, you must know that even the cleanest cities in Europe, several free cities in Italy, which are about the same level of cleanliness as Yingtian City, will step on feces if you don't pay attention on the road! Although the city council has set up public toilets, very few people go to public toilets, all on both sides of the street. ”

When he said a short word, the whole palace was laughing at him, and this time they showed a very obvious smile, and some even laughed out loud, and then immediately covered their mouths, and their faces were red.

Only Yun Xi and Wang Xi did not laugh. Wang Xi is because he has seen too many strange things and can bear it; Yun Hee is because he had heard about it in his previous life.

Before modern times, cities in European countries were far less clean than those in the East, especially feces, which were almost everywhere. Of course, this is not because the Han Chinese are inherently morally superior to the Europeans, but because of two reasons.

First, the economy of the modern East has always been more developed than that of Europe, and the common people are richer than the common people of Europe.

Of course, the second point is more important, that is, in ancient Europe, it was not known that dung could be used as fertilizer! In China, and later spread to surrounding countries, it was discovered early that manure could be used as fertilizer, so in order to collect fertilizer, people in cities and villages have set up public toilets, and the manure obtained is used to fertilize their fields, and if their fields are not used up, they sell them to others. Yes, you read that right, dung was sold for money in ancient times! And it's a very sought-after commodity. In ancient times, there was a term called 'dung ba', which refers to the person who owns the city's public toilets and makes a living by selling manure, although the reputation is very bad, but in small counties is generally one of the richest people.

Because of the above, it is rare for people in Eastern countries to defecate outside the toilet (it is difficult to say that urination), and even if someone defecates on the street, the feces will not stay long and will be shoveled away.

Yun Xi's face was expressionless, and after the people in the palace had laughed enough, they coughed, Wang Xi and Lu Yi hurriedly reprimanded them, and Yun Xi also said: "After that, I will definitely punish these people who laugh at you." ”

"It's nothing," Claviyo himself doesn't think so: "They have a legitimate joke, because the streets of the Ming city are much cleaner than those in Europe." ”

"And the Ming is far better than Europe, not only this one." Claviyo continued: "Although I haven't traveled far from Yingtian City, I have also noticed that not only is the road in the city very smooth, but even outside the city there is a road that is very smooth, and the two-wheeled carriage can travel quickly on it without any problem. The roads in Europe are only relatively smooth in the cities, and even if you just pass the city gates, the roads are potholes, and the ground is seriously subsided, and even if a horse-drawn cart travels from the road at a very slow speed, it is inevitable that some goods will be bumped down. ”

"At the same time, because of the severe subsidence, the road is lower than the sides, and no one will build sewers outside the city, and whenever it rains, it will be flooded."

"Why hasn't anyone repaired the roads outside the city?" Wang Xi asked. He wasn't embarrassed to ask that question, but he didn't have that concern.

"Although uncommon in Western Europe, it was not common for the Byzantines and the Great Cannibals to use eunuchs, and the Great Cannibals regularly went to East Africa to catch black-skinned people, castrate them and sell them to the nobility, both domestic and foreign. Of course, there are also dark-skinned people who are cut off with two eggs cut off and then sold to noble ladies, both in their country and abroad. Claviyo has traveled to many countries and is accustomed to this.

"This eunuch, you may not know, the European countries are completely divided, but the cities are free and do not belong to any lord; Moreover, a slave who fled to the city became a freeman as long as he was not captured by his original master within a year, so the lords around the city were reluctant to repair the road to the city. And the people in the city, because the land outside the city belonged to the lord, they had no right to use it, and they could not repair the roads. ”

Of course, there was another reason he did not say, and that was that there was also a decree in medieval Europe that the goods that passed by merchants who were jolted off horse-drawn carriages belonged to the lords of the land. Of course, the merchant will definitely not take the initiative to give something to the lord, but if it is discovered by the lord or the knights under the lord, he will definitely not be able to keep it.

But this decree was criticized by many people even in Europe, and Claviyo knew that it was wrong because he was well-informed, and felt that it was more embarrassing to say it than to pee on the streets, so he didn't say it.

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