Zhengde was in a good mood during this time, after finding Zhou Chong, his own brother, he finally completed a heart, and Zhou Chong is not like he is infertile, and now he has a daughter, and he also told himself in a letter some time ago that his two wives were pregnant together, which made Zhengde and Empress Dowager Zhang overjoyed, thinking that it was time to give birth to a boy.

As long as his younger brother Zhou Zhong has a boy, it is equivalent to him having offspring, at least the succession to the throne is no longer a problem, which also makes a mountain that has been pressed in Zhengde's heart finally disappear, although he still has some mind about his inability to have children, but he will not collect young women who have given birth to children into the palace as before, and even he feels that his previous thoughts are really ridiculous.

In addition to the royal private affairs, the affairs of the court also made Zhengde very relieved, especially the corn and sweet potatoes that Zhou Zhong gave him before, after a year of trial planting, these two crops are really amazing, of which the yield of corn is stable at about 500 catties, and the yield of sweet potatoes is about 3,000 catties, of course, if it is dried sweet potatoes, the yield will shrink a lot, but it can also exceed 1,000 catties, such an amazing output shocked the entire imperial court, without his supervision, Li Dongyang and Yang Tinghe and those people are desperately promoting these two crops, intending to leave a good name in history.

This year is the most critical year for the promotion of corn and sweet potatoes, after last year's breeding, the two crops have been able to be planted in a large area, and the name of corn and sweet potato has also begun to spread out of the capital, many people know that the court has two kinds of food with amazing yields, so at the beginning of the year. There are quite a few state capitals that have written books. I hope that the imperial court can give some of the sweet potato and corn seeds to themselves.

Requirements for those state capitals. The cabinet is very cautious, after all, the growth of a crop is also limited by the environment, corn and sweet potatoes grow very well near the capital, and the yield is also very high, but it does not prove that the yield in other places is also very high, so the court decided to choose a few state capitals with a similar climate to the capital to promote large-scale planting, as for other state capitals. It is just to send a small number of seeds and seedlings for these state capitals to try to plant, and if the growth is good, it will not be too late to promote it on a large scale in the coming year.

Thinking of the bright prospects after the promotion of corn and sweet potatoes, Zhengde couldn't help but laugh excitedly, he didn't like to be the emperor very much, so he could push the things in the court, but he couldn't push it over, so he let others deal with it for him, and Liu Jin before was the spokesperson he pushed to the court. It's a pity that Liu Jin himself is not angry, and he is the most angry. He had to dispose of Liu Jin, originally Zhengde wanted to find another spokesperson, but after finding his own brother, he also solved the problem of inheritance of the throne, which made Zhengde suddenly have a kind of motivation, and began to ask about the government from time to time, although not as diligent as his father Xiaozong, but much stronger than before.

However, although Zhengde is more diligent than before, his nature has not changed much, he still plays when he should play, and sometimes he can't even take care of the government, fortunately, Li Dongyang and his people have long been accustomed to Zhengde's temperament, in their opinion, now the changes under the emperor's majesty have made them very satisfied, and there is no need to be too harsh.

When Zhengde was in Shuangyu Port, he heard Zhou Zhong talk about overseas things, as well as the strange customs of those European countries, especially for the custom that Europeans do not take a bath for both men and women, Zhengde is even more curious, he wants to know what a person who does not take a bath from birth will look like? It's a pity that the European craftsmen Zhou Chong found have already learned to take a bath, so he has never been able to meet a European who does not take a bath.

It is also this regret in his heart, so when Zhengde heard that the Portuguese actually sent a mission to meet him, he immediately agreed without hesitation, of course, he was not just to satisfy his curiosity, in addition, he heard Zhou Zhong say when he was in Shuangyu Port, among the current European countries, although Portugal is small and outnumbered, but its strength is the highest among European countries, so he also wants to see this European power this time.

Therefore, when the officials of Honglu Temple reported to him that the Portuguese mission had arrived in the capital, Zhengde was also very happy, and summoned Da Gama and his party in the leopard room in the afternoon.

"The envoy of Portugal to a small overseas country, Vasco. Reach. Gamma, meet His Majesty the Ming Emperor! After Da Gama entered the main hall of the leopard room, he immediately led Magellan and the others behind him to kneel down and salute, these rituals were all required by the officials of the Honglu Temple when they entered the palace, otherwise they would not even be able to enter the Forbidden City.

Speaking of the Forbidden City, da Gama and they have been amazed since they came in, they used to think that the royal palace of Portugal was majestic enough, but it was not until they saw the Forbidden City where the Ming Emperor lived that they realized how ridiculous and ignorant they were, their own king only lived in a stone fortress, but the emperor of the Ming Dynasty actually built a city within a city for himself in the capital, and the Forbidden City, which covers such a vast area, is only the private residence of the emperor's majesty, if he didn't see it with his own eyes, I'm afraid I can't believe it anyway.

It is also to see this majestic Forbidden City, as well as all kinds of beautiful buildings in the palace, so that Da Gama and others are very in awe of the Ming Emperor from the bottom of their hearts, after all, the person who has such a majestic palace is probably the most powerful person in this world, so they dare not not be in awe, and it is this kind of awe born in their hearts, so that they do not have the slightest resistance when kneeling and saluting, in their opinion, this Ming emperor should be the only person in the world who can be compared with God.

"Flat!" Although the cabinet was not there, Zhengde did not mess around, wearing a dragon robe, and made a solemn expression on his face, which added a bit of psychological pressure to Da Gama.

After Da Gama and the others stood up, Zhengde looked at the other party seriously, although he really wanted to lean over and smell what Da Gama and these people who never bathed were smelling like, but this occasion was really not suitable, so he could only endure his curiosity and said: "I already know that you have signed a treaty with my governor, promising to compensate Da Ming with two million taels of silver, which makes me also see your determination to admit your mistakes, so I also approved this treaty, in the future, you must abide by the laws of Da Ming, and never regenerate incidents!" ”

For the lesson of Zhengde, Da Gama and the others naturally nodded yes, they all knew that the young man in front of them was the ruler of the entire Ming Empire, and the power in his hands was greater than that of the popes in Europe, so they didn't dare to have the slightest disrespect in their hearts.

After Zhengde pretended to reprimand a few words, he also felt very bored, and immediately began to ask Vasco da Gama about the situation in Europe, and how they crossed thousands of mountains and rivers to reach Daming?

In order to show his erudition, he first talked about the situation in the whole of Europe, and as a result, Zhengde only had one impression after listening, that is, "chaos", the kinship between the countries of Europe is extremely complicated, he will not be clear for a while, and the wars between various countries are endless, today you fight me tomorrow I will fight yours, there is no day of peace, the reason why the Portuguese are so hard to open up, in addition to seeking overseas wealth, In fact, they also want to open up their own living space, and even if Portugal in Europe is destroyed, they can still establish a country overseas.

For this kind of chaos in Europe, Zhengde couldn't figure it out for a long time, and after the last time, he simply stopped thinking about it, but focused on the strange customs of Europe, such as not taking a bath, and Da Gama was very proud to tell Zhengde that he hadn't taken a bath for ten years, and the last time he was surrounded by water or accidentally fell into the sea on the boat.

Hearing that the Portuguese ambassador had not taken a bath for ten years, this made the eunuchs and palace maids in the main hall look at Da Gama with a bit of disgust and fear in their eyes, and a few eunuchs who were relatively close involuntarily took two steps back.

Zhengde was also very curious, and stood up and walked to Da Gama's side, but before he could get close to da Gama, he was stopped by the smell of a pungent spice, and he really didn't have the courage to go forward, and at the same time thought that it was no wonder that these Portuguese were so desperate for spices, and it was estimated that if the whole of Europe were without spices, they would have become a dung pit long ago.

In addition to the custom of Europeans not bathing, Zhengde also does not understand the special position of the European pope, in his opinion, religion is only used to educate people's hearts, how can it meddle in secular power, and the power of the pope is so great that he can directly appoint and dismiss the king of a country, which is unimaginable in the Ming Dynasty, so Zhengde can not understand what kind of existence the pope and the church are? However, this also gave Zhengde a wake-up call, and decided to tighten the control of religion in the future, so as not to repeat the mistakes of Europe in the Ming Dynasty.

After learning about the situation in Europe, Zhengde asked Da Gama in detail about the path from Europe to Daming, these paths he had heard Zhou Chong talk about before, but Zhou Chong only got the knowledge from the books of later generations, and the knowledge of the Tao was not very detailed, especially in terms of sea routes, Da Gama personally opened up the route from Europe to the Indian Ocean, so when it came to the hardships on this route, Zhengde listened to it very fascinated, and when he heard that Da Gama was passing through the furious southern tip of Africa, he couldn't help but admire the bravery of Da Gama and others.

In general, the first meeting between Zhengde and Da Gama, the Portuguese envoys, was still very perfect, the Portuguese gained the favor of Zhengde, Zhengde also satisfied his curiosity, and even held a banquet in the palace to entertain Da Gama and his party. (To be continued......)