In the autumn and October of the tenth year of Zhengde, the first Ming Dynasty red background black dragon pattern flag fluttered on the Mediterranean Sea.

This is the flag of the Ming Dynasty.

Emperor Zhu Houzhao of Zhengde issued an edict in the seventh year of Zhengde to establish the style of the Ming national flag to symbolize the national spirit.

In the end, the Ministry of Rites spent a year selecting such a national flag style.

The red background of the black dragon flag is mainly the color of Zhu Xuan, which naturally represents the enterprising and unyielding spirit of China, and the dragon pattern is naturally the totem that represents the country of China.

Zhu Houzhao issued an edict to the whole country on the winter solstice of the eighth year of Zhengde, and all the official offices, schools, military bases, city gates and ships going to sea in the Ming Dynasty must fly this flag, and the Ming sailors have the obligation to protect and save the ships flying this flag.

The Ming flag is a common phenomenon in the South Seas.

However, in the interior of the Mediterranean, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean, it is the first time that the Ming flag has appeared.

It was first seen in the Ceuta region of this North African port city.

It is bordered by the Strait of Gibraltar to the west, Spain, France to the north, Sardinia and Corsica to Rome to the east, and even to the Ottoman Empire.

Besides.

Across the Strait of Gibraltar, Ceuta is directly navigable to Guinea, where many of the Francs hoarded gold from Guinea.

And now that the Ming Dynasty occupies this place, he naturally will not plan to give up again.

Countless gold will naturally be shipped back to Daming in the future.

Emperor Zhengde was not Emperor Yongle.

Xia Yan is not Zheng He, since he occupies this place, he naturally has no idea of giving up.

Therefore, after taking this port city from the hands of the Franco, Xia Yan ordered the Ming flag to be planted here, and announced that it officially belonged to the capital of the Ming Western Travel Province, and appointed Wang Youquan, an alternate official supervisor, as the prefect of Ceuta Province.

Zhu Houzhao's official position to Xia Yan was to patrol the West as the right attendant of the military department, and gave him many convenient rights.

That is to say, in the entire west of the Indian Ocean, during the period when Xia Yan was still in this position, he himself could have the final say, that is, the king of the West, if he took down the Western pope and chopped it with a knife, Zhu Houzhao would not blame him now.

Not to mention the fact that the government is now open.

Xia Yan, an official of the Ming Dynasty, set up a government in Ceuta, the purpose of which was naturally to set up a stronghold in the Mediterranean for the Ming Dynasty to provide supplies for the Marquis of Jianchang to continue to advance westward.

Zhang Yanling, Marquis of Jianchang, did not stay long in Ceuta, and before da Gama's injuries were fully healed, he and his fleet set sail for the east.

Xia Yan used wine to strengthen the Ming nobleman, who represented the first Ming dynasty that was about to cross the Atlantic, and shouted:

"Jianchang Hou! Xia used to misunderstand you, thinking that you were just an uncle, but now with your courage to continue sailing for the Ming Dynasty, Xia will be in awe of you! If he returns to the Ming Dynasty one day, Xia will be the first to ask for credit for you! ”

Zhang Yanling smiled slightly and looked at the choppy sea: "Okay! Xia Shilang, Ben Hou can also see it, you are different from other civil officials, and Ben Hou will have to rely on you in the future, I am afraid that the matter of asking for merit will really depend on you, otherwise those old stubborn people really think that Ben Hou is wasting money and food in vain, and when the time comes, Ben Hou will bring back real money and silver from outside the country, and let them all take a look! ”

With the voyage all the way, Zhang Yanling no longer just holds the original intention of proving that the earth is a sphere, and begins to pay more attention to whether he can plunder more wealth.

Xia Yan is still a scholar after all, and he is not interested in Zhang Yanling's desire to find more gold and silver, he is more interested in Zhang Yanling's desire to prove that the earth is a sphere, so he can't help but remind: "Marquis Jianchang, don't forget your original intention of promising Your Majesty, the entire Ming Dynasty scholars are waiting for you to come back to see whose theory is right!" ”

"Nature is not forgotten, in fact, there is no need to go, and it can be basically concluded that it is a sphere, these days, we are on the sea to see the various phenomena have been corroborated, and the ancients said, the earth dwells in the sky, its body is round, in response to the heavens, China should live in the north of the equator, so the North Pole often appears, the South Pole is often hidden, the North Pole is one degree lower than the north two hundred and fifty miles, and the north is one degree higher, and so on, and it can also be proved by the angle of observation of the North Star!"

"But in any case, after agreeing to Your Majesty, Ben Hou still went to visit, not to mention that His Majesty once said that Columbus of the Spanish Dynasty had crossed this sea in the fifth year of Hongzhi and discovered a new continent, and even according to the whole continent as his own, I Daming can not just watch others get benefits, Ben Hou wants to occupy a piece of territory for Daming! Except for my emperor's nephew, how can these barbarian emperors of the West be qualified to have these new continents, farewell! ”

Zhang Yanling bowed his hand to Xia Yan as he spoke, and then ordered the fleet that had already replenished fresh water and food to continue sailing.

Xia Yan also arched his hand, and after instructing Wang Youquan, the prefect of Ceuta, to set sail for Rome.

Lying on the deck, da Gama couldn't understand what the two Orientals were saying, and he didn't know what kind of punishment he would face, he cursed in his heart that these Orientals were devils, and at the same time he wanted to survive and no longer suffer inhuman torture, so he also hoped in his heart that these Orientals would forgive him.

Vasco da Gama wondered why the man who followed the Orientals and depicted the sea in front of him and spoke the Franc language had not been punished like himself, and had even possessed possessions and women.

……

Xia Yan glanced at the distant sail shadow in the west, then put down the binoculars and looked up at the blue inner area of the Mediterranean.

The officers and men of the battleship had also faded away from the madness and barbarism of yesterday, and they were all seriously and nervously guarding their surroundings, and the experience of the sea over the past few days had told them that the closer they got to these Western countries, the more enemy ships they would encounter, so as soon as they left the coast, they did not dare to take it lightly.

Fortunately, along the way, because most of Italy at this time was still under the rule of the Austrian Empire, and the areas that were not ruled had just become independent from the hands of the Pope and were in a state of secession, forming a relatively small city-state republic, so it would not pose a threat to the Ming fleet at this time.

For the Ottoman Empire, he is now expanding in the Balkans and has not yet expanded westward.

Therefore, Xia Yan and his Daming cruiser arrived in Rome smoothly.

At this time, Rome was also the capital of the Catholic Papal States.

Since the Frankish kings dedicated the city to the Pope 800 years ago, it has been the holy city of Catholicism.

It was not until twelve years later, when the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V sent troops to burn and loot the area, that the Renaissance began in Rome, which had lost the papal order.

Therefore.

When Xia Yan and the Ming fleet appeared in Rome, Rome was still in the Middle Ages under the rule of the Pope.

"This is the legendary, the man from the East?"

"Their ship is just too big!"

"They're missionaries?"

"Quick, tell the bishop!"

……

Xia Yan's envoy Pires led a team of Ming officers and soldiers ashore first.

Pires found a priest named Francie, and expressed the purpose of the Ming Dynasty's visit: "Please tell the Senate and the Pope that we are envoys from the Eastern Ming Empire, and I represent the Ming Emperor Zhengde Emperor's Minister of the Right Attendant of the Military Department, the Western Admiral Xia Yan, and we are here to inspect the Western countries, so that we can establish trade and cultural exchanges in the future." ”

"The envoy of the Ming Empire, sent by Emperor Zhengde? Not the Pope? ”

The priest named Francie was surprised to ask, he grew up in Rome and was a devout Catholic, so he thought that other religions would have their own popes.

"There is no pope in the Ming Empire, our king is the emperor, we are not here to preach, but to inspect and investigate! We've brought you goods, but there are also guns! As long as you are friendly to us, we are willing to trade goods with you, we don't want to become enemies of each other, and we can only communicate with guns when the time comes! ”

Pires said so much, but there was only one sentence that made the priest let go of his mustard heart, and that was that Da Ming was not here to preach.

"Quick, go and tell the bishop that it's a messenger from the East, not a missionary!"

As soon as the pastor heard that the people from the Ming Dynasty were not here to preach, he was relieved, and even regarded the people from the Ming Dynasty as if they were coming to make a pilgrimage, so he became excited.

Rome is still under the rule of the Pope, but the Pope's Holy See is not in Rome, but in Avignon, France, therefore, after the appearance of the people who knew the Ming Dynasty in the city of Rome at this time, only Cardinal Togers of Rome became the first senior clergyman to face the first arrival of the Ming officials.

At first, Todjes was still a little afraid, afraid that these Orientals had come to destroy his papal state, but after receiving the news from the priest Francy, he rejoiced again, and said in his heart:

"It seems that this Oriental man has come to make a pilgrimage, and their emperor must have believed in God, and must have come to ask the Pope to crown him, and I don't know which missionary was the credit of spreading our teachings to the East, so that the emperor of the East also became a believer!"

"Let those who attempt to apostasy see that our Catholicism has not died out, and that in the far East, there are people who come to make pilgrimages, what does this mean, this shows that our Catholicism is heading for glory!"

After Bishop Togers spoke, he greeted the messenger of the Ming Dynasty ashore with excitement and excitement.

Xia Yan stepped on the land of Rome for the first time, but he didn't have much affection for the city at first, and he found that the civilians here didn't seem to be better dressed than the people of the Ming Dynasty, all of them were old cloth clothes wrapped in jet-black drive, and there were empty faces under the unrepaired stubble.

Even the streets were messy and filthy, and the scattered fruit and vegetable leaves smelled moldy and rotten under the long-term humid air.

"This may be the medieval Rome that Your Majesty is talking about, and it is indeed not a city that people want to live in!"

Xia Yan frowned, straightened out his bright scarlet official robes, and rode into the city of Rome.