Cheng Yue played the piano music several times, happy and satisfied, as soon as his fingers left the keys, the women immediately burst into warm applause!

Rou Niang sweetly leaned into Cheng Yue's arms, stretched out her right arm to hook Cheng Yue's neck, and caressed his cheek with her jade fingers. Cheng Yue pulled it again, and Mrs. Gu also fell into his arms. Mrs. Gu was not as generous as Rou Niang, she was suddenly startled, her face was flushed, she quickly jumped away, and hid behind Mrs. Song with a smoke, trying her best to hide the happy smile on her face, her heart was full of indescribable and indescribable tenderness.

"Okay!" Almost at the same time, there were earth-shattering cheers and crazy applause from the lower deck and outside the boat!

Marco Polo's father, Niccolò, jumped to his feet and cheered, pointed to the boat with great excitement, and said excitedly to his younger brother Matteo and Marco Polo: "Did you hear that? What wonderful music! Is it played by the legendary piano? Is it a musical instrument from heaven? Why is it a bit like a clavika (the predecessor of the piano)? ”

Matteo exclaimed: "The music just now is so beautiful, unbelievably beautiful, why does the Governor know so much esoteric music theory at such a young age?" And this kind of music is more like our European music, which is very different from the music of the Great Yuan and the Great Song. If we can learn to play the piano, we can make a fortune all over Europe with this alone! ”

Marco Polo said wistfully: "What a blessing to hear such beautiful music." I wonder if the Metropolitan Governor is willing to teach us? It's fine to teach just a little bit. I know some clavika, will it be easier to learn piano? ”

Niccolò shook his head and said, "Even if the Metropolitan Governor is willing to teach, he has a noble status and doesn't have much time. Second, we don't have a piano either. We haven't seen this instrument before. But I'm sure. It must have been very expensive, and it would have been a long way from here to Europe, and the cost of shipping by sea and land would have been a staggering amount, and it would not have been possible to get the piano intact, and it would be useless for us to learn. ”

Marco Polo said dejectedly: "Father is right, I don't want to learn, let's continue to make a dictionary." ”

Niccolò said, "Don't be discouraged, maybe the Grand Governor will be able to transport a piano to Europe." Don't you forget, isn't the Metropolitan going to build a canal? Saying that it could connect the Red Sea with the Mediterranean, the piano would have been easier to transport than it is now. But the most important thing is the piano making method, if you can learn this, it doesn't matter if the piano is lucky or not. ”

Matteo said: "Brother is whimsical again, and the method of making the piano must be one of the biggest secrets of the Grand Duke, how can we learn it?" We still haven't been able to figure out the secrets of porcelain, and that's the key to making a fortune. ”

Europeans racked their brains for thousands of years and couldn't figure out how porcelain was made, so Marco Polo went to China to visit the porcelain workshop himself. By asking the craftsmen and looking at the raw materials and the production process, I learned about the process of making porcelain. It was written into his book, and since then the secrets of Chinese porcelain have gradually become known to Europe.

However, in the beginning, the porcelain made by Europeans was too soft to be used properly, and could only be sold to the poor as inferior products. After hundreds of years of countless failures, a European alchemist finally produced qualified hard porcelain through crazy research and experimentation when his life was threatened, which replaced Chinese porcelain to a considerable extent. Cheng Yue was well aware of this history, so he strictly restricted the outflow of technology, and was especially wary of foreigners, even if Marco Polo and others served under him, they were not allowed to approach porcelain workshops and craftsmen, which made the three Venetians depressed when they thought about it.

Niccolò said, "This is normal, most of the governor's secrets are priceless secrets, and we should do the same." The most important thing for us now is to serve the Governor well and become his cronies. I firmly believe that the Grand Governor will become the most powerful man in the whole East, even more powerful than the Mongols! And if his western expedition with Kublai Khan could succeed, we would have unimaginably great power and wealth in Europe! Isn't that what we've always dreamed of? ”

Matteo said with a little hesitation: "But...... The Metropolitan Governor does not seem to have a favorable attitude towards Christianity and does not even allow us to preach in Lin'an. ”

Marco Polo interjected: "Uncle, maybe the Metropolitan Governor is John, the Priest, but we were mistaken, he is not Christian!" In fact, it is also reasonable. Anyway, he will still lead his invincible warriors to Europe to save us! ”

In the thirteenth century, due to the long period of war-filled turmoil, low productivity, harsh environment, and miserable life in Europe, the most important thing in their hearts was to have someone to save them. As a result, Europeans under the control of the papacy generally believed that there was a priest king John in the far East, that the people under his rule were devout Christians, that the country was prosperous and powerful, that people lived in peace and contentment, and that King John had an invincible elite army that he would one day command to save the world.

Some people have also questioned that Europe is already a completely Christian world, but Europe under the rule of the Pope is not a world of rich countries and strong people, but wars and devastation, so why can John's kingdom prosper? But this voice never had a chance to reach society, and it was only known that John, a priest from the Eastern Christian kingdom, would lead an elite army to save them from the dire situation.

(This incident is by no means made up by the author, but a true account of history)

As soon as Marco Polo's words fell, the bodies of Niccolò and Matteo were shocked! Pondering ensued.

It is confirmed from the legends that Cheng Yue is indeed the closest to the priest King John, who the Europeans believed in and would save the Europeans from the dire situation, and he did not believe in any religion, which also happened to respond to the doubts of some wise people in Europe. In this way, is Cheng Yue really the legendary King John?!

Seeing that they were still hesitant, Marco Polo affirmed: "I have been thinking about this matter for a long time, and all the conditions of the Grand Governor are in line with those of the priest King John. He was young, handsome, erudite, and invincible. The Southern Song Dynasty under his rule was richer than all the rest of Europe combined. He deterred the Mongols and terrified the overseas nations! On top of that, he cut his hair short, learned French, and he dreamed of going west and conquering Europe! It was now the end of the thirteenth century, and if he had not been John the Priest, then there would never have been one again. Father, uncle, there is no doubt that John, the Priest King, is the ship before us! The clothes he wears, how similar to the style of Europe. How similar the instruments he used to those in Europe! How much the great journey he sketched fits with the legendary Priest King John! All this clearly tells us that the monarch who appeared in the East must be King John! And we will see with our own eyes that King John, the conqueror of the new world, will save all that Europe has to offer! ”

Matteo held back his enthusiasm, but still argued, "But the Metropolitan is not yet a monarch. ”

Marco Polo said categorically: "He will definitely become a monarch, of course he will become a monarch!" Uncle, I am willing to accept any bet to prove my judgment. ”

Matteo did not answer, he, like Niccolò, had already been persuaded by Marco Polo. Now, they no longer doubt that Cheng Yue is the legendary priest King John who wants to save the people of Europe!

The Grand Duke, the King of Zhennan, or, John, save us!

Cheng Yue didn't know that he had suddenly become the legendary priest King John, and after playing the piano, he began to teach Lu Qi and other eight concubines the piano music just now, and Kuo Kuolun and Ba Bahan also followed. Ba Ji was finally able to accompany Cheng Yue, laughing constantly when playing the piano, the royal boat was warm and pleasant, and the atmosphere was excellent.

As the night deepened, Cheng Yue and his wife and concubine went back to the room to rest. In the middle of the night, Cheng Yue's ghost slipped out of the room, touched Kuo Kuolun's cabin, made love with Kuo Kuolun and Ba Bahan for a while, and then quietly slipped back into the room.

The next day, the boat set off again, and in the afternoon of the same day, arrived in Suzhou as scheduled.

Cheng Yue did not get off the ship in Suzhou, he was very tight this time and could not be delayed in Suzhou. He only met with his subordinates Wenwu on the ship, and talked with them about the day and the exam, and then set off overnight.

The fleet quickly went all the way north, and when it reached Xuzhou, it happened to catch up with 60,000 troops. When the army saw the imperial boat that Cheng Yue was riding and the golden dragon flag with a red background hanging high above, they all cheered and ran on the shore to salute Cheng Yue.

Cheng Yue also specially boarded the bow of the ship and gave a standard military salute to the army, which caused the Great Song Dynasty armies to become even more fanatical - because, in more than 200 years, this was the first large-scale cross-border expedition of the Great Song Dynasty!

The army passed through Xuzhou and soon arrived at the border of Dayuan, but Kublai Khan still sent Zhang Hongfan and Meng Qi to meet him. Unlike last time, the army of the Yuan Dynasty was no longer as close to the enemy, and Zhang Hongfan and Meng Qi only brought more than 100 personal soldiers.

The boat of the two people docked on the imperial boat, and was pulled to the boat by the escort to meet Kuo Kuolun, Ba Ba Han, Wan Ze, Nang Jia Zhen, Ku Tolun and Cheng Yue.

After the ceremony, Cheng Yue saw that Zhang Hongfan still maintained short hair, and said with a smile: "Have you been ridiculed in the past few months?" It's rare that you don't waver. ”

Zhang Hongfan said with a smile: "The prince may not know, now Dayuan is cutting more and more short hair, most of the streets, it is not uncommon to see short-haired men, and there are more in the army." As soon as we cut it, of course, our own soldiers will follow suit, and others will follow suit, plus short hair is indeed convenient, and the lower officer estimates that at least a quarter of the army has cut short hair, and there will only be more in the future. ”

Cheng Yue nodded and said: "It's so good, what do men always do with such long hair, long hair fluttering, tender like water?" (To be continued.) )