Just a few decades ago, the French across the Channel would refer to England as a rural place with the city of London. And King James I once said that London is like a rickety child's huge head.

Whether it is the contempt of the French or the self-deprecation of the British, it all shows that London can indeed be called a real city for Europe.

Located on the banks of the River Thames, this city is now not only the capital of the United Kingdom, but also the heart of the British economy and the largest trading port of the United Kingdom. In just three hundred years, London has grown from a population of 40,000 in the 14th century to a population of around 350,000 today, second only to Paris in Europe.

On the Thames, the most shocking thing for the visiting Chinese was that the walls of the city of London were actually the product of the Romans more than a thousand years ago. The imposing walls, seven or eight miles long and about six or seven meters high, are hard to believe existed more than a thousand years ago.

The plans left by the Romans for the city of London still influenced the development of the city, and until their arrival, the ordinary areas of the city had not broken through the walls left by the Romans. The six gates left over from the Roman period, the Gates of Aide, the Bishops' Gate, the Xinxing Gate, the Lurdes Gate, the Aechs Gate, and the Corripo Gate, are still in use after tinkering.

However, in order to escape the Black Death in the city, the royal family and nobles built the Westminster Palace area on the banks of the River Fleet in the southwest of the city, which has now developed into an independent Farrington district outside the city. Instead of the crowds and stench of London in the city, the aristocracy and wealthy merchants clearly preferred the clean air and beautiful surroundings of Farringdon.

To the south of the Thames, around the bridge that crosses the Thames, people from all over the country gather here, gradually forming five settlements. Although it is not protected by walls, the inhabitants of a country that has defeated the Armada do not feel any insecurity.

As the transport and economic centre of the British Isles, the city of London was able to provide for a large number of jobs and the ability to support the families of these migrants, so when the ships of the Chinese mission passed over the Thames, the tall walls on the north side of the Thames and the houses and streets on the south bank of the Thames were a bit like the southern part of the country.

Under the guidance of the British ** ship, the ships of the Chinese mission docked at the docks in London. It had already been learned from the merchant ships that had been driven back home that there was a survivor of the Ambon massacre among the visiting missions of the Emperor of China, and this aroused great interest among the citizens of London.

When Ida and the others stepped on the London Docks from the boat, they were shocked to find that it seemed that the entire citizens of the city of London had appeared on the docks and the streets around the docks to see the legendary Chinese countess. From an orphan who was an exile to a countess who was favored by the Chinese emperor and then canonized by the Chinese emperor, this is a real-life version of the legendary Cinderella.

For British society, which was rapidly moving towards mercantilism, this kind of legendary story was too much for the appetite of the lower middle class citizens. A poor man who is uneducated, goes on an adventure overseas, ends up making a lot of money from the natives, and then returns home. It is the ambition to win its own interests on the sea, the most realistic portrayal of the British people.

The British House of Commons sent several members of parliament, represented by MP Oliver Cromwell, together with the chief adviser sent by King Charles I, Bishop of London, and others, to the docks to meet the Chinese mission.

Ida was more impressed by the taciturn MP Oliver Cromwell than the illustrious Bishop of London, and although he didn't say a few words to him, the tall MP had a quality that was hard to ignore.

After boarding the carriage that had been arranged, Ida and the members of the mission went to the Palace of Westminster in front of the citizens of London.

Charles I received the Chinese delegation in the Palace of Westminster, which was built about 600 years ago and was designed as a fortress when it was first built, so it was more like a magnificent castle than a palace.

On behalf of the mission, Ida presented credentials and gift slips to Charles I, who sat on the velvet throne, perhaps for the first time since the Palace of Westminster, when a woman was formally promoted to the King of England as a foreign envoy. In Europe in this era, discrimination against women is still the mainstream of society.

Men believe that women are stupid and should not discuss anything about politics or science with them except for domestic affairs. Of course, the French were perhaps an exception, and they either made women smarter than men the mistresses of kings or sent them to the gallows as a cover for their incompetence.

After Charles I had instructed his chamberlain to take the credentials and the gift list, Ida bowed to him again and said, "His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, in order to show his goodwill to the British people, has also asked us to bring us a gift for the British people, and I hope that His Majesty will allow us to teach the English people the art of preventing smallpox." ”

Ada's words immediately caused a stir among the nobles and councillors in the hall, smallpox and the plague were among the two major killers in the city of London. Compared with the bubonic plague, which broke out once every few decades, smallpox was a demon that the nobles could not avoid if they wanted to, especially smallpox, which was a serious threat to children.

Charles I was a king who firmly believed in the supremacy of royal power, and he was also a ruler who wanted to make a difference, and after listening to Ada's statement, he was also extremely surprised and asked: "Can smallpox also be cured?" ”

Ida shook her head and said, "Pox is not a cure for smallpox, but a way to prevent it. Your Majesty could have someone inquire into whether the cattle farmers were less likely to get smallpox..."

If the British faith is not inclined to Protestantism, and Ida does not represent the Chinese emperor, just by virtue of her desire to plant the pox on the cow's body, it is enough for people to shout Ida a "witch" and burn her at the stake.

But now, all eyes are turned to His Majesty on the throne, waiting for his final decision. Charles I was also a little embarrassed, as a king who was inclined to the Catholic sect, his position was naturally one of tradition, and he did not have a good opinion of this kind of witchcraft planted on people with cowpox.

But as an English monarch who grew up in a Protestant atmosphere, Charles I was not so ignorant. The reason for his support for the revival of Catholicism was the desire to restore the monarchical tradition of the supremacy of the king, after all, only Catholics would truly recognize the noble belief in the divine right of kings.

However, thinking of the huge financial benefits of friendship with the Chinese emperor, Charles I did not think that the pox technique was so evil. A hundred years ago, in the time of Henry VII, the annual annuity and other expenses paid by the Royal Treasury to the courtiers were about 10,000 pounds, and the annual treasury cost about 250,000 pounds if the daily expenses of the royal family and the clothing of nobles and members of the royal family were included.

But today, the annual payment of salaries and various expenses to officials alone amounts to 340,000-360,000 pounds per year, and if you add the royal and other expenses, it reaches about 600,000 pounds per year, which is almost comparable to the annual customs revenue of Britain.

Add to this the spending on armies and wars in Europe, and Charles I, who always felt that he was in a difficult position, had begun to reconsider the levy of the tonnage and pound tax, and now that the arrival of the Chinese mission had opened his eyes to a new source of wealth, he could not arouse himself in refuting Ada.

Charles I thought about it for a long time, and finally said to Ida and the other members of the Chinese mission: "As His Majesty the Emperor of China, I will thank him on behalf of the British subjects. But Britain is not China after all, and our citizens may not be able to accept this form of treatment, so I will submit it to the Royal College of Physicians for study and discussion to decide whether or not to carry out the pox surgery..."

Although Charles I was not able to accept the suggestion to spread cowpox to prevent smallpox, Ida was satisfied with the meeting with the king. Charles I, with his goatee, looked strange, but his interest in Oriental China made Ida think that the trip to England was at least seventy percent successful.

Of course, Ida didn't know that at this time, there were more than 200 members of the Royal College of Medicine in the United Kingdom, and even more than 500 practitioners in London, half of whom were still practicing medicine without a license. The best medicine of the doctors of the Royal Academy of Medicine was bloodletting, and because of the resemblance of herbalism to the practice of witches, it was in obscurity throughout Europe after the witch hunts of the Middle Ages.

However, the backwardness of medicine has deepened the belief of ordinary people in religion, and the patients who have recovered themselves under the comfort of priests are higher than those of unreliable and expensive doctors.

Ida obviously didn't know what kind of freak she was facing at the Golden Medical School, so she could still show her gratitude and support to Charles I.

After the official meeting, the court banquet held by Charles I immediately made Ida the star of the banquet.

Ida took out the porcelain that had been shipped to the Palace of Westminster, a set of white porcelain with a golden lion mark on it, which was specially fired by Chongzhen as a gift to the King of England, which Charles I liked at first sight, and he exchanged this set of porcelain for the silver cutlery in front of him.

In addition to this set of sixteen pieces of tableware for Charles I, there were also 130 sets of second-class blue and white porcelain tableware, which Ida also took out and distributed to the people attending the banquet.

At that time, Ida was just thinking that this banquet would open up the demand for Chinese porcelain in the British. But she didn't expect that this move almost caused a storm.

At the end of the feast, the nobles who had been given the porcelain tableware offered to take it home and treasure it as a thank you to the Emperor of China for the gift he had given them. However, Charles I believed that the porcelain brought to the Palace of Westminster was the property of the royal family, and was not a gift from the Chinese emperor to these guests.

The rudeness of these British nobles and parliamentarians in front of the emperor stunned Ida and the Chinese envoys. Eventually, after Ida persuaded her to give the same amount of porcelain to the royal family, Charles I reluctantly allowed the guests to go home with their utensils.

In the leafy manor house, where Charles I assigned a royal estate near the Palace of Westminster to the Chinese mission, Ida spent her first night back in her homeland, exhausted from a stressful and hectic day, and she began to miss life in Beijing as she lay in bed.