(The third update, ask for a guaranteed monthly pass at the beginning of the month!) ）

From the second year of Xingqian, a fleet quietly gathered on Yuzhou Island, this is a medium-sized detachment, a fleet sailing from the Lushun Pass in Liaodong, in the past two years, this fleet has sailed through the Tsushima Strait many times, into the Whale Sea, they built a fortress in Ezo, set up a port in Vladivostok, and the natives in the north made clear the rule of the Ming Dynasty.

It was not so much a fleet as an expedition, and many of the places they sailed into were seas that had never been deep before. It was precisely because of their expeditions that the Heishui Governor's Mansion was built, allowing the Ming Dynasty to master the passage into the Outer Northeast from another direction.

And now, two months after the fleet's return to Yuzhou, it is setting off again, this time even further — to Europe, a sea where no Chinese ship has ever arrived.

Even if the sail shape of the Ming Dynasty ships can sail against the wind, but under the guidance of the northerly monsoon in winter, the ships can reach the Nanyang Islands more smoothly.

April 13 is the end of the northern monsoon season and the best time to move south. Once this period is missed, the sea enters the southern monsoon period. There were many problems with the fleet's voyage south, and although the navy had sailed against the wind again and again, it was more dangerous to sail against the wind at a time when it relied on monsoons and ocean currents for navigation, and it was also a time of frequent typhoons after that.

According to the plan, when the fleet arrives in the South Seas, it will join some of the ships of the South Sea Fleet and form a slightly larger voyage fleet, and then they will wait for the South Monsoon in Malacca. With the help of the southeast trade winds, the fleet can easily cross the Strait of Malacca and enter the Tianzhu Sea.

In the past few years, both the merchant fleet and the fleet have accumulated too much sailing experience, and now, what they need is to sail to Europe and complete the real communication between the Ming Dynasty and Europe.

However, because this was the first time to sail to Europe, the Cabinet felt that such a trip was too hasty. The Imperial Navy's first foreign visit naturally had to pay attention to some pomp.

"You can't be taken lightly by the West!"

So we must not rush things. However, in this regard, Zhu Mingzhong, as the emperor, seemed quite unimpressed. Although it was to show off its might to the Europeans and show the strength of the Celestial Empire, it was also one of the goals of the voyage. But, on the other hand, he also wanted to get to know Europe through this voyage. Learn about Europe in this era.

However, he certainly knew that the fleet's visit would most likely cause problems for the trip to Europe. Moreover, Europe and the Ming Dynasty have an understanding of each other's actual situation. Before, it was only through missionaries and merchants, and it can be said that there was no real communication between the two governments. And his own knowledge of Europe came only from later books or media. He himself knew little about 17th-century Europe other than what was written in the history books.

It is precisely for this reason that an espionage expedition may be more suitable for this era than a deterrence by force. But on the other hand, the fact that Batavia had already been seized also had to tell him that the size of the fleet could not be too small, otherwise it would certainly attract the prying eyes of the Dutch.

What was Europe like in the 17th century?

This is unknown, but it is also from this period that the original backward European civilization surpassed other ancient civilizations, so it naturally has its superiority. With a humble and learning mindset, we can naturally learn from each other's strengths.

If there is anything that Zhu Mingzhong is most pleased with the scholars of this era compared with the scholars of the 19th century, I am afraid that although they regard themselves as the Celestial Empire, they have never looked at the world with the mentality of "the Celestial Empire".

They were not like the officials and scholars of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, who often obsessed with everything with the idea that "the heavenly empire is superior and the earth is vast and rich", and with this inexplicable self-confidence, they established a certain sense of superiority and directly refused the opportunity to learn from all kinds of advanced things. Even after the Industrial Revolution, Western countries, whose productive forces began to increase rapidly, quickly caught up, the "Celestial Empire" still did not think so.

In the face of the science and technology transmitted from Europe, they will not talk about "strange tricks and tricks," but they are curious about them and conscientiously study them through various channels, completely ignoring the fact that these scientific theories are "barbarian traditions."

And this kind of open-mindedness is exactly what the Chinese people do not have two hundred years later, and Zhu Mingzhong is happy about it, otherwise even if the Ming Dynasty now has technology and civilization beyond the times, it will eventually be the "barbarians" in their mouths to catch up. The little technology he brought with him only slowed down the process. Therefore, when the scholars can look at Europe with a normal mentality and learn Western studies with a learning mentality, all this makes Zhu Mingzhong extremely pleased.

Especially after the decision to sail to Europe was made, no one in the Honglu Temple was willing to serve as the envoy to Europe in the face of the unknown "wild land" - because the envoy needed to stay in Europe when the fleet returned. In the academies of Zhongdu, there are still hundreds of students and a few officials who have taken the initiative to express their desire to visit Europe with the fleet, and they all hope to be able to communicate directly with European scholars, instead of reading the translated books of the Tongbunkan.

For their request, the imperial court naturally did not refuse, and even encouraged, after all, now Europe has been far ahead of the Ming Dynasty in many natural sciences, this kind of direct exchange, is beneficial to the academic progress of the Ming Dynasty.

At least overseas expansion, although the main energy of the imperial court in the future will still be on the mainland, and the policy of separating and encroaching on Nanyang will also be. Moreover, for a long time to come, the basic strategy of external expansion will still be gradually encroached.

And this encroachment strategy is mainly through the control of the coast, the development of colonies from point to point. As early as the beginning of the Age of Discovery, the Europeans had already conquered the Americas in the same way, and extended their tentacles into the South Seas, and even the Ming Dynasty.

Europe in the 17th century was chaotic, and the pace of European colonizers really unfolded in the 18th century, and even waited until the second half of the 18th century, and now all the Ming needed was to send envoys to Europe to take advantage of the contradictions between European countries to gain benefits for themselves in the New World and other regions.

For Europeans, the Ming Dynasty was too far away, and in the east, which was even farther away than the Ottomans, the distance would not make them wary. Just as European countries were trying to seek diplomatic benefits for themselves by befriending the Ottomans, now, all the Ming needed was to show them their strength and make them understand that the Ming was a great power worth engaging with and using.

Then, it's time for the fisherman to take the profit.

On April 18, the emperor traveled on this day, and after a long period of preparation, on the morning of this day, the passengers who had already gathered on the island of Yuzhou embarked on a ship bound for Europe. According to the arrangement of the imperial court, the mission to Europe is composed of seven warships, and in Nantianmen, nine more warships will be organized, and the officers and men on these sixteen warships, without exception, are all naval officers and soldiers who have long been accustomed to sailing, as for the accompanying officials and scholars, there are as many as 200 people, among them, in addition to the main envoy who has already gone to Nantianmen with a few civil officials, the deputy envoy and the accompanying 16 civil officials are traveling with the fleet, and there are also four missionaries of the Jesus Society who are accompanied by them, who will be responsible for introducing the Ming mission to the European countries. The fleet admiral was served by Zheng Ming, the king of Jianning County - he was the youngest fleet admiral in the Ming Dynasty, but the reason why he became the fleet admiral at the age of twenty was not because he was Zheng Chenggong's third son, but because he had already gone to sea at the age of 16 and had been exploring new routes in the north since three years ago. From captain to admiral, although it only took him two years, he opened up most of the northern routes. Last year, it was his expedition that determined that Khuwu Island was not connected to the mainland, and that there was a strait between Khugu Island and the mainland, and that he had discovered the Savage tribe when he sailed thousands of miles north along the coast.

Perhaps, Zheng Ming is the youngest admiral in the navy, but he is the most experienced officer in the Ming Dynasty. Of course, as early as in Xiamen, he had already had contacts with Hongyi, and also had a certain amount of involvement in natural science. Knowing that Europe was by no means an unspoiled wilderness, he was even as hopeful about the voyage as other scholars.

In the military port, Zhu Mingzhong stared at the fleet that was about to sail away, if it was ten years later, he would definitely let his son accompany him and let him see Europe, but now his son was only four years old.

It is also possible to go in the future.

After the fleet was about to complete its preparations for sailing, Zheng Ming and deputy envoy Chen Menglei rushed over one after another. There are still a few steps left, Zheng Ming and Xiong Cixu are separate.

"The last general and the minister see Your Majesty."

"Excuse me!"

"Your Majesty, the fleet is ready to set off at any time."

Zheng Ming's answer made Zhu Mingzhong respond.

"Oh, that's good, Deputy Envoy Xiong, is the mission ready?"

Looking at Xiong Cixu, who was the deputy envoy, Zhu Mingzhong just smiled slightly. Who would have thought that the Manchu Hanlin would actually learn Spanish after abandoning the official and coming to Qinghe, but even though he was one of the few officials in the Honglu Temple who knew Europe very well, he still did not want to be the main envoy, and was only willing to travel to Europe as a deputy envoy.

"Back to Your Majesty, the entire mission has been prepared."

Xiong Cixu replied respectfully.

Zhu Mingzhong nodded and asked.

"Vice Envoy Xiong, although you are not the main envoy on this trip, after the envoy arrives in Europe, he will take the opportunity to open an embassy in Europe, and the subsequent trips will be led by you, and this trip to Europe will be entrusted to you."

"Your Majesty, rest assured, the minister will be loyal to his duties and live up to his trust."

Xiong Ci shook his body and received the command. As the deputy envoy of the mission, he had been dealing with the Europeans for many years. He is not only familiar with the relations between European countries, but also fluent in Latin, Dutch, Spanish, French and other Western languages. Of course, he was appointed as a deputy envoy not because he could act as a "translator". But there is another extremely important task that he needs to complete, after all, this visit to Europe, as a deputy envoy, he can visit countries more conveniently. And in dealing with the Portuguese and the Spaniards, he had shown his talent to the fullest, and he knew how to deal with the red hairs. I also know what to do on the way from Daming to Europe, know what countries should be united, and know how to seize opportunities.

And this is exactly what Li Long, the young man who recommended himself, lacks. As for Li Long's envoy...... More often, it was for Europeans, and to a certain extent, in the next few years, or even ten years, for the European courts, Li Long was the representative of the Ming Emperor, and that's it.

But when interests are really involved, it requires people like Xiong Cixu, who have been in officialdom for a long time and also know the West, to fight for interests. After all, in this era, except for some young people who are eager for fame, no one wants to grow up in Europe.

However, Zhu Mingzhong will not let Li Long stay in Europe for a long time, and after a few years, he will be called back, and then tell the whole people through a series of commendations that being a diplomat is also the way to be promoted, and it can also be used beyond promotion, of course, this is to promote more people to take the initiative to go to Europe and go to other regions to serve as diplomats.

After all, in this era, academic exchanges, more often, need to be understood through diplomats, and young people to act as diplomats certainly have their shortcomings, but they are young, they can more calmly accept Western natural science, and introduce it to the Ming Dynasty, to make up for the shortcomings of the Ming Dynasty in natural science.

Xiong Ci's calm appearance made Zhu Mingzhong quite satisfied. While nodding and smiling, he turned back to Zheng Ming and spoke.

"Jianning, I have handed over a large fleet to you this time, two first-class ships and four second-class ships, even in Europe, it is a large fleet of quite amazing scale."

When mentioning "Jianning", Zhu Mingzhong can't help but think of "Jianning" in a certain department, but Zheng Ming's "Jianning" is the place name of Fujian, and it is also the origin of the title of the county king.

"The last general Xie Your Majesty cultivated. The last general will definitely send the mission to Europe safely, and then return to Daming unscathed. ”

Zheng Ming assured with great confidence that he did not feel any danger in this voyage, and all the dangers were in his expectation.

"Don't be busy making sure tickets just yet. This Tianzhu Sea and the Atlantic Ocean are not as good as our doorstep, at our doorstep, there is a fleet to support you, and we are the head snakes, but in Europe, it is different, then they are the head snakes. With a smile on his face, Zhu Mingzhong said tentatively.

"Your Majesty, rest assured, the last general thinks that it is not a raptor but a river! Since the last general led the troops over, then no matter whether he is a snake or something else, as long as he dares to come up, the last general will definitely use them to achieve my great martial arts! ”

Zheng Ming immediately assured in a deep voice.

"Good! That's what I want! ”

In addition to praise, Zhu Mingzhong looked at Zheng Ming meaningfully, but said in a caring tone with the younger generation.

"Ming'er, if you can successfully complete the task this time, I will give you the surname of the country, how about attacking Lord Yanping?"

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