Visiting the emperor is not a simple matter, this is true in both the East and the West, before meeting the emperor, the court eunuchs should explain the etiquette of meeting the emperor, so as not to lose the honor in front of the king.

The "Zhou Li" also lists in detail the kneeling rituals of the ancient Chinese "Nine Bows": "One is called Ji Shou, two is called Dun Shou, three is empty Shou, four is Vibrating, five is auspicious worship, six is fierce worship, seven is Qi worship, eight is praise worship, and nine is Su worship." In the Roman Empire, it was not so complicated, and it was generally enough for foreign envoys to kneel before the Roman emperor.

The etiquette of the Hajj has increased and decreased over time, but the content of the courtiers to perform a great salute when they see the emperor has remained almost unchanged for eternity. Therefore, when the emperor saw his ministers kneeling on the ground, he did not feel that there was anything wrong, and his subordinates bowed their heads to the people sitting on the dragon chairs, and did not feel degraded.

For example, in 1792, when the British envoy Macartney met with Emperor Qianlong, the dispute over etiquette often mentioned in the world that the Chinese way of "kneeling and nine bowing" or the British style of etiquette did not seem to be consistent in Chinese and English accounts. According to British records, the mission knelt on one knee and did not kowtow according to the etiquette of an audience with the British king. The Chinese minister's recital said, "Ask the tribute envoy and others to go up and kneel three times and kowtow nine times."

In any case, the controversy over etiquette made Qianlong extremely unhappy, and the specifications of the reception immediately changed. In his edict, he said: "It seems that this arrogance is very unpleasant, and its supply has been completely reduced." All extraordinarily rewarding rewards will not be given here. …… Waiyi enters the Hajj. If you are sincere and obedient, you will be gracious and show tenderness. If you are a little arrogant. It is Yi Wufu who receives grace, that is, reduces the gift of his reception, in order to show the system, and the same is true of this way of controlling foreign vassals. The Qing Dynasty saw itself as the "Celestial Empire," subsuming the wider world into a self-centered tributary system, and was unfamiliar with international relations other than tributary relations. To be fair. In an environment of closed eyes and self-containment, not only the rulers of the Qing Dynasty would evaluate everything in the world in a self-centered manner, but I am afraid that anyone would do the same.

Where there is a dispute. There are always both internal and external parties involved, and the Chinese side is fighting and the foreign side is also fighting; At the same time, the dispute over etiquette was not only encountered by Shunzhi, Kangxi, and Qianlong. It was in the Tang Dynasty. Tang Taizong Li Shimin also encountered problems of the same nature, and the historical span is very large. "Sending Tang Envoys" cloud: The big food sent envoys to Tang and entered the horses. The envoy Jin saw Taizong, "only Ping Li does not worship", but Taizong explained it with "great food and special customs", which is not surprising. The reason why this incident did not cause an uproar is not only related to the personal character of the Tang Dynasty emperor, but more importantly, the Tang Dynasty was strong and not exclusive. Have a strong sense of self-confidence.

The strength of a nation's self-confidence is not determined by whether it dares to defy a country. It is not to see whether it has the courage to inflate itself, but to clearly understand itself, firmly believe in itself, and this belief is not transferred by the environment.

Although under the teaching of the court eunuchs, two envoys from barbarian tribes were asked to meet Leo I with the etiquette of the Eastern Roman Empire, which still made them quite unhappy, after all, the Germanic people had not been in contact with civilized society for a long time, and many Germanic barbarians did not have the concept of etiquette at all, but in order to persuade Leo I to send troops to contain the Hun Empire, they still endured.

After entering the main hall, the two envoys stopped at a distance of two-thirds of the way into the main hall according to the eunuch's instructions, and knelt down on one knee and said: "Your Majesty, the Emperor of the Eastern Empire, on the orders of the king of our clan, the special envoy of the Eastern Goth, Volo (Barrick, the envoy of Gerpid), came to meet the Emperor Xià, and wished the Emperor and His Majesty His Majesty a beautiful marriage, happiness and health!" ”

The Roman Empire at this period was just like the ancient Chinese dynasties, the Western Empire had declined, they thought they were the center of the world, and the people from outside the country should come to the court, and now the Ostrogoths and the Gerpid people sent envoys to the court, Leo I was of course very happy, and his vanity was greatly satisfied, Leo I smiled, raised his hand and smiled: "Okay, good, two messengers, please get up!" ”

Volro and Barrick paused again and then got up and said, "Thank you!" ”

After the two stood up, they each took a roll of sheepskin from the entourage behind them, held it above their heads, and stood up and said: "Respected Emperor and Empress Xià, before the foreign ministers and others left, the king of our clan had asked the foreign ministers to carry some gifts to the emperor and the empress, and now the gift list is here, and please use this gift list to check the amount of gifts, if there is no mistake, please write down the receipt in your own handwriting, and when the foreign ministers go back, they can also bring it back to our king."

There was no need for Leo I to signal, the emperor's chamberlain walked down the steps and took the two gift lists, the Goths in this period did not have any writing, they used Latin, of course, and in this period there were still many unsatisfactory and literate Romans to the barbarian tribe to beg for a living, so many barbarians began to learn the Romans to use words, began to learn the Romans to use utensils and tools, and the patriarch-level bosses also began to talk about etiquette.

The chamberlain opened the two rolls of sheepskin and presented them to Leo I and the new Empress Venina respectively, the couple each looked at a gift list, and then exchanged another copy, Leo I smiled after reading it: "The gifts are very rich, very good, Augustus is very satisfied, count the gifts, Augustus will let the chamberlain do it, and after the inventory is completed, it will send you a receipt, this matter does not need to be in a hurry." Since the two envoys have come to Constantinople, it is better to stay in Constantinople for a few days, and if you think Constantinople is okay, you can stay here for a while longer! ”

Augustus, most commonly referred to as Octavian, the first emperor of the Roman Empire; But Augustus can also be used as a title for Roman emperors, which means "emperor", and at the same time the emperor's self-title, just as ancient Chinese emperors called themselves "I". "Caesar" is the name of the emperor's designated heir or person whose rights are second to him. Augustus refers to the name of the masculine emperor, and in the case of the feminine emperor (female) the name is Augusta.

The two of them bent down again and bowed their heads and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty the Emperor!" ”

Then Volo said: "Honorable Emperor Xià, before the foreign ministers came, my king specially instructed the foreign ministers, so that when the foreign ministers saw His Majesty, remind His Majesty to be especially careful and vigilant against the Xiongnu Empire in the west, the current Xiongnu Empire is no longer the previous Xiongnu Empire, after the death of Attila, the whip of God, both the Eastern Empire and the Western Empire have entered a relatively peaceful matter, but now it is different, the Xiongnu Empire is getting stronger and stronger under the control of Qin Dong, and they have annexed the vast areas of the north, Countless barbarians became their vassals, even Deng Zhixike, who had been against him, was not his opponent, and was driven to the steppe north of the Caspian Sea, where he was in the company of a group of barbarians who migrated from the east, and no longer dared to peep into the area west of the Attila River, and their southern court king Sambus and the western court king Urgan were not strong enough, even if the two were united, they were not Qin Dong's opponents, if the Xiongnu Empire under Qin Dong's control was allowed to develop like this, I am afraid that it would not take a few years, Qin Dong is another Attila, Rather than being constantly attacked and harassed by the Xiongnu Empire at that time, it is better to let the Xiongnu Empire stop developing or weaken its strength now, and if His Majesty the Emperor is determined, he will strangle it in the cradle before it develops and grows! ”

"Bold!" After Volro's voice fell, an official under the hall immediately scolded him loudly, "The Xiongnu Empire under the control of Qin Dong has always been friendly with our country, Qin Dong is very open-minded, and he is not xenophobic, he set up a trading market on the border to facilitate business and trade between the two countries, and each takes what he needs, it is precisely because of this move that our two countries have a good relationship, and after opening up border trade, our country's economy has improved significantly, the circulation of materials has accelerated, and the people have money and live a better life, it's really a great crime, where are the guards outside the palace? Don't pull these two sinister people out and kill them! ”

Several guards outside the hall who heard the shouts immediately rushed in to arrest and take them away, and Emperor Leo I waved his hand: "Don't be rude, they are foreign envoys, as long as they don't assassinate Augustus on the main hall and don't violate the laws of their own country, we can be rude to them, let alone cause harm to their personal safety, retreat!" ”

Several of the guards bowed and saluted, and then turned and retreated.

After the guards withdrew, another official stood up and said, "Honorable Augustus, the minister thinks that what the envoy of Volro said is not unreasonable! ”

Leo I, who has been an emperor for several years, also knows how to speak as an emperor and how to deal with court disputes, he did not immediately express his opinion, but first to listen to what the following officials say, and now there are officials who agree with Volro's statement to cut off diplomatic exchanges with the Xiongnu Empire, and limit the rapid development of the Xiongnu Empire, and nip the threats it may bring in the bud, of course he wants to let this person have a reason, so he said: "Go on!" ”

"Yes, my majesty!" The official responded, and then said: "Your Majesty, the minister thinks that my country has not gained any benefits after making friends with the Xiongnu Empire, and what our merchants sell from the Xiongnu Empire is nothing more than some leather, wool products, beer, beef and mutton jerky and cheese, etc., and although these things are small in our country, they are not impossible to produce themselves, if we do not import these things from the Xiongnu Empire, the price of these things in our country is higher at most, and it does not affect people's livelihood and livelihood. But from our country to the Xiongnu Empire is basically flour, ironware, pottery, dried fish, cloth, silk fabrics, etc., of which flour, ironware, cloth and silk fabrics are strategic materials, trafficked from our country to the Xiongnu Empire is equivalent to the enemy, let the Xiongnu Empire use these things to develop and grow! Also, for more than a year, the Xiongnu Empire did not know how to know the method of making salt, and the salt they made was even better than China's, and the price was low, and now they are dumping a large amount of salt in our country, which has greatly damaged our salt industry, and the salt produced cannot be sold, and many salt people have no place to live! Please order to finally have a relationship with the Xiongnu Empire, close the border passages, and don't let the Xiongnu Empire continue to grow and develop! (To be continued......)