On the eighth day of the seventh month of the thirteenth year of Yongle, the Yuejianglou Wharf once again shook the sky, and the lights were everywhere to welcome Zheng He, the chief soldier and eunuch who sent the Western army, back to China.

Because the eunuchs belonged to the retainers, the important officials of the imperial court did not need to come to greet them in person, and only the relevant yamen sent people to greet the officials and foreign envoys who followed Zheng He's envoys.

This time, Zheng He's envoys from Guli, Java, Manraka, Champong, Ceylon Mountain, Mugudushu, Taoshan, Lambali, Burawa, Sumatra, Malin, Rasa, Kurumus, Kechi, Namwuli, Saliwanni, Pahang and the diplomatic envoys of the Old Port Propaganda Embassy were accompanied by Zheng He.

For example, Kezhi is the Cochin area on the west coast of India in later generations, and this is the first time to come to the Ming Dynasty to accept the canonization of the Ming Emperor.

Today's India is not a single country, but dozens of large countries and hundreds of small states, most of which have been regarded as the Ming Dynasty.

This time, the people who greeted them were headed by Zhu Zhanji, supplemented by the Ministry of Rites, and the Ministry of Households, the Navy, the General Administration Department, the Honglu Temple, the Jinyi Guard and other yamen all sent personnel to greet them.

The regulations for the welcoming ceremony were also handed over to Zheng He, who was still on the ship, and the other envoys the day before, so there was no fear that someone would make jokes because they didn't know the etiquette.

Every time at this time, the idle gang and the old people of Yingtianfu are the most fond of joining in the fun, and they often gather outside the cordon to enjoy the "wild people" from overseas as if watching a big play.

Yes, in the hearts of today's Ming people, out of the Ming Dynasty is a barbarian land. Even if it is an important minister of a country, or even a prince, he is a savage in the hearts of the Ming people.

Today's Ming people are so confident and even proud in their hearts.

This time, Zhu Zhanji personally greeted the envoys, which also aroused greater enthusiasm among the Ming people. Because according to today's general practice of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty is the upper kingdom of the Celestial Empire, and any country is one level lower. Therefore, unless he is the king of a country, he needs to bow down when he sees Zhu Zhanji.

This time, Zhu Zhanji personally greeted him, and those envoys from all over the world had to bow down without exception.

The self-confidence of the Ming people was built up in such a ceremony.

It's a pity that after the original Zhu Zhanji gave up Annan, all the small countries saw the weakness of the Ming Dynasty. Since then, it has gradually ceased to recognize the Ming as the suzerain.

Even if Zheng He finally went to the West to save the situation, it would be useless in the end.

What is ridiculous is that the later "Great Qing Dynasty" only saw the glory of this time, and also inherited the mentality of the Celestial Empire and was arrogant. In the end, he was beaten on the head and bled by a group of small countries, and bowed down to him.

Zhu Zhanji was wearing a red silk robe and a crown of nine heavens. Because of the hot weather, the Shenglong robe was made of silk yarn, and it was only worn in two layers, and the wide-sleeved robe was not hot.

Standing next to him was Ma Huan, a general who followed Zheng He's envoy to the West, and was introducing the envoys of various countries to Zhu Zhanji at this time.

Ma Huan, a native of Zhejiang Huiji, is proficient in Persian and Arabic. In Zheng He's mission, he served as a general secretary and a teacher, and held two positions, both as a translator for foreign affairs and as a dissemination of Chinese culture.

Because he was selected into Zheng He's fleet because of his "good understanding of Fanyu", and was deeply used by Zheng He, he was one of the people in the mission who knew the most about the situation in Fanbang.

On this voyage to the West, Zheng He's fleet sailed through the Arabian Peninsula for the first time, and reached the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia and Malingdi (Kenya) in East Africa.

Zhu Zhanji is also relatively clear about the situation in other countries, and Zhu Zhanji will make detailed statistics on each of the first three trips to the West, and the people who are usually sent to the West are not as clear as him.

But this trip to Mecca, including East Africa, made Zhu Zhanji still a little curious.

He also wanted to know how the Ottoman Empire, known as the shield of Europe, was fighting against the Byzantine Empire.

He was a scumbag in his previous life, and he was not familiar with Chinese history, let alone foreign ones.

It is only in life that I have come into contact with people and affairs in various countries that I have some understanding of foreign history.

He only knew that in the fifteenth century, the Ottoman Empire defeated the Byzantine Empire and then became a powerful empire that spanned Asia, Europe and Africa.

Then they cut off the passage between Asia and Europe, monopolized the trade between the two places, so they forced the Europeans to start going into the sea, setting off a vigorous Age of Discovery.

But he didn't know exactly when it was, what happened, and who was the best at this time.

Ma Huan knew a little about this, and when they went to the West, the Ottoman Empire finally had a new sultan named Mehmed I, and the emperor of the Byzantine Empire was called Manuel II.

Because of his faith, he didn't know much about Byzantium and was extremely hateful.

This time is not suitable for deep conversation, so Zhu Zhanji made another appointment with him to record all the information he knew.

Before they got off the boat, Zheng He worshipped the god of the river, and the god of the sea had already worshiped when they entered the Yangtze River, thanking the god of the river and the god of the sea for their protection.

In fact, Zheng He's voyage to the West is all coastline, and it is also a sea route that all countries have already walked, plus the ships are huge and the scale is huge, so there is not much danger.

At this time, the deep-sea direct voyage is still something that no one dares to try.

After the worship, everyone waited according to their status, thousands of people got off the boat in turn, and then knelt down in front of Zhu Zhanji, who was sitting on the platform that had been erected, and bowed three times and bowed nine times.

The chief eunuch Wang Yan also came in person today and read out Zhu Di's holy decree and commendation, and everyone thanked him one after another.

At this time, the envoys of other countries stepped off the ship under the leadership of the ceremonial officer.

Most of them were dressed in their own national costumes, and the prince from the Maldives was a dark-skinned middle-aged man of about thirty years old and of short stature.

He was wearing a skirt made of coconut shells, and his upper body was naked, which sparked ridicule from the Ming people watching from the periphery.

It was the first time he had come to Daming, and he had never seen such a magnificent city and so many people, and he was already trembling.

After kneeling down to Zhu Zhanji, Zhu Zhanji stood up, and when he saw Zhu Zhanji's majesty, he was so frightened that he knelt on the ground again and kissed Zhu Zhanji's boots.

This scene also sparked even greater ridicule, and many people in the Ming Dynasty spontaneously applauded and cheered.

Zhu Zhanji is tall, about 1.85 meters according to the size of later generations, although it is not as tall as 1.96 meters in his second life, but it is also about the same height as in his first life.

And this prince who walked through the mountains was less than one meter six tall, standing in front of Zhu Zhanji, he was really like a little monkey.

Zhu Zhanji helped him up with his own hands and greeted him with a smile as kind as possible.

He should have learned Chinese for more than half a year on the road, so he said in unfamiliar Chinese: "Slip the mountain...... The prince, also Mu Tuo to the noble Ming Emperor...... Say hello to Sun. ”

Zhu Zhanji said with a smile: "When you come to my Daming, you can see more everywhere, see the customs of my Daming, and you can also learn the culture of my Daming, and build your country as rich and strong as my Daming." ”

He had some difficulty listening to this sentence, and looked at Ma Huan for help, Ma Huan translated it with him in Persian, he immediately thanked him again, and then asked his entourage to contribute a box.

Li Liang took the box and opened it to see that it was all pearls the size of a dragon's eye, a full twelve.

Although he was well-informed, Li Liang was also shocked at this time, originally he didn't look down on this prince, but now seeing him is like seeing a gold mine.

The envoys of each country had finished their greetings with Zhu Zhanji, and Li Liang also received a large number of gifts of all kinds.

The envoy from Berumos gave Zhu Zhanji a pure Damascus knife, and this gift was the most in line with Zhu Zhanji's heart.

At this time, it was almost noon, and all the envoys were invited into the carriage by the officials of Honglu Temple, and let them settle down first.

After two days and some palace etiquette, they will be allowed to enter the palace to meet Zhu Di.

However, Zhu Zhanji invited Zheng He and Wang Jinghong to board his grandson's car and march to the palace together. Not only himself, but even Zhu Di was also curious about Zheng He's experience and energy in the West, and he didn't want to wait for a moment to listen to Zheng He's experience on the way.

Zheng He is 45 years old this year, and his long-term life at sea has made his complexion slightly darker than the average person. But because he is a eunuch and has no beard, his face is now a little darker, and he is more manly and general.

Zheng He looked at Zhu Zhanji, who had begun to grow stubble on his upper lip, and sighed, this grandson had looked at him differently since he was six years old.

Over the years, no matter what happened to him, it was this grandson who blocked it for him, and even when someone reported him for public and private purposes, this grandson never cared, but punished the person who reported it.

As soon as he came back this time, when he was in Quanzhou, he encountered the restructuring of the naval division, when he heard that now Taisun has mastered the national naval division, and he wants to integrate all the forces of the naval division to form a navy.

He knew that his long-awaited era of sea power would start in the hands of this grandson.

On the way back from Quanzhou, he also kept thinking that what he had learned in his body would finally be useful.

Zhu Zhanji thought about it the same as Zheng He.

Zheng He is known as the pioneer of the Age of Discovery, and he is an expert on sea power who put forward the theory of sea power 500 years earlier than Ma Han.

In order to protect a Beiping, the Ming Dynasty gave up the nine sides, the Heilongjiang estuary, and Jiaozhi in the hands of Zhu Zhanji.

When the cochin was lost, the chain reaction caused the Ming Dynasty to lose the South Seas and the Western Ocean, and the Ming Dynasty at this time completely lost its status as the suzerain.

But now, Zhu Zhanji will absolutely not allow all this to happen, and he wants to firmly control the whole of East Asia in his own hands.