Far east, after more than a month of sailing, Columbus and his entourage, led by the tributary ships of the Kingdom of Malacca, arrived in Guangzhou and went to Guangzhou to report.

The envoy sent by the Kingdom of Malacca***, led Columbus and his entourage, came to the management office of the Municipal Shipping Division, holding the Kanhe (tributary permit) issued by the Ming Dynasty, and asked to see the Guangzhou Municipal Shipping Division. Tribute is a major national event, and Guangzhou Bo Si naturally immediately greeted it. Of course, this requires a process......

For example, when the Guangzhou Bo Si was seen holding a scepter representing the imperial court, it meant that the formal tributary process was required......

It's not the first time I've come to pay tribute, so I naturally know the process. When he saw the scepter, he immediately knelt down, bowed three times in the direction of the northern Jingshi, and said respectfully in Chinese, which he was not very proficient in:

"On behalf of my King Mahmud, the envoy of Manchuga (the name of the Kingdom of Malacca in the Ming Dynasty) respectfully asks His Majesty the Emperor Sheng'an, I am the Ming Dynasty to serve the four seas, and all countries will come to court!" Yes, *** will be a sycophant, obviously a Malay, but he said "I am Ming"......

Guangzhou Bo Si lifted Ding Haishan to face the greetings of ***, stood up straight, and said with a solemn face:

"St. Gongan!"

He prostrated three more times and said,

"Minister, thank you!"

And Ding Haishan, the Guangzhou Bo Si Lifter, replied:

"Heavenly grace!"

He prostrated three times again and said:

"Full of thorns, forever obey the word training!"

Ding Haishan replied:

"Honesty is a precept!"

……

Then, this set of tributary three bows and nine bows was finally completed. And the Guangzhou City Bo Si raised Ding Haishan, and people respectfully invited the imperial court scepter back.

In fact, *** does not necessarily have to go through this set of processes in Guangzhou. He can also go north directly, go to Jingshi, live in Siyi Pavilion, and wait for the Great Dynasty Meeting. After going to the court, go through this process.

However, it was not necessary for these vassal states to participate in the Great Dynasty every year. For example, last year, Emperor Hongzhi died, the new emperor Zhengde ascended the throne, and the Kingdom of Malacca has sent people to Beijing to congratulate him. Therefore, in the next few years, Malacca did not have to send people to Beijing to congratulate. Generally speaking, these vassal states, within three to five years, will send people to the north to participate in a great court meeting, instead of sending people to the north to the capital every year. And the ordinary tributary trade only needs to be carried out in the Guangzhou City Bosi. And the ceremony of three bows and nine bows can also be completed in Guangzhou City.

Columbus watched this complicated process from the sidelines, and was about to kneel, and was suddenly a little dumbfounded...... He didn't speak Chinese, and he didn't like to kneel, so he didn't know what to do for a while......

And Ding Haishan, the secretary of Guangzhou City, is also very interested in Columbus, a blonde and blue-eyed "ghost". So, he asked:

"*** My lord, what is the origin of these ghosts? Doesn't seem to understand etiquette? ”

He bowed and bowed, and replied:

"Lord Ding, this ghost comes from the far West Ocean, and it is said to come from a place called the Grand Duchy of Beihai. And this person, named Columbus, seems to have been sent by the Grand Duke of Beihai to pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty. This just shows that my Ming Dynasty is powerful all over the world, and all nations are coming! ”

Ding Haishan was stunned for a moment, and then said happily:

"Exactly! However, they don't seem to have the tributary to match, right? ”

"Of course not, isn't this a good application......" *** said.

"This matter can't be the master, and the court can only make a decision. By the way, ***, does this country really exist? Ding Haishan asked suspiciously.

"This ...... The minister didn't know. After all, this Western fan is also the first time to come to the Ming Dynasty to pay tribute. According to this Mr. Columbus, they traveled a year by boat and thirty or forty thousand miles by sea to reach the ......"

"It's so far away...... Ding Haishan was also stunned when he heard it.

But whatever, he is not qualified to decide anything. So, he held out his hand to Columbus and said:

"Since you have come to apply for tribute, what about the tribute?"

Columbus didn't know why, looked at Ding Haishan's outstretched hand, and thought that the other party was asking for a bribe. Fortunately, Columbus was surrounded by two young translators trained by Marin.

The two translators, one named Conté and the other Sconda, were extremely linguistically gifted talents selected by Marin from the gifted teenagers of East Friesland. Although they are only 19 years old, both of them have been learning Chinese with Ma Lin for more than three years. Of course, it is the Mandarin of later generations.

Seeing that Columbus was cold, Kong Tai immediately jumped out, made a Chinese salute to Ding Haishan, and said respectfully:

"Back to my lordship, because we Baron Columbus don't understand Chinese, so the two of us will negotiate with you and your lordship, please forgive me!"

The two of them used the Mandarin of later generations, which is still different from the official dialect of the Ming Dynasty now. However, although there are differences between the two official dialects, there is no problem in communicating with each other.

Ding Haishan looked at Kong Tai and Sconda with interest, and said:

"You two are speaking a good official language, but you have some northern accents......"

The official dialect of the Ming Dynasty in this era is based on the official dialect of Nanjing, and there are not many tongue rolls. After all, the Ming Dynasty unified the whole country from the south to the north, and the southerners were dominant, and the official language was biased towards the south. Later, Mandarin had more tongue rolls, and it was also mixed with words outside the customs brought by the Manchu Qing Dynasty, such as "Hutong". In addition, during the Manchu Qing Dynasty, the northerners had an absolute advantage. At the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, the "Southern Party" in the DPRK and China was also baptized in blood. Therefore, the official dialect of the Manchu Qing Dynasty has a strong northern flavor. And Mandarin was developed from the Manchu official dialect, and naturally there are many tongue rolls, and in the ears of the Ming people, it is full of northern flavors......

Remembering Marin's confession, Conté replied:

"Probably, the person who taught us the Grand Duke to speak Chinese is from the north of the Ming Dynasty......"

"Oh, you Grand Duke still know Chinese? Also, why did his duke add the word 'big'? Ding Haishan asked curiously.

"Of course, our Chinese dialect is taught by His Royal Highness the Grand Duke himself. As for why it is called the Grand Duke...... Because our Grand Duke's strength is stronger than that of ordinary dukes! For this, Kong Tai is still full of pride.

"By the way, your grand duke came to pay tribute, is your king allowed it?" Ding Haishan suddenly remembered that since the other party claimed to be the Grand Duke, there should be a king on it. And the Grand Duke bypassed the king to pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty, which seems to be unruly......

"It's okay, our German king, like Zhou Tianzi during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period of your country, has no real power. And our Grand Duchy of Beihai is also equivalent to one of the Seven Heroes of the Warring States. Therefore, it is completely up to us to decide whether to pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty or not! Kong Tai said proudly.

Ding Haishan was curious:

"Oh, do you still know the Spring and Autumn Warring States and the Seven Heroes of the Warring States? Do you still know Zhou Tianzi? ”

"The lower official doesn't know very well, it was His Royal Highness the Grand Duke, and the lower official doesn't know the story......"

"Oh, I see...... So, what about the tribute? Ding Haishan stretched out his hand again.

"Please take a look!" Kong Tai respectfully handed over the letter of Chinese written by Ma Lin himself......