Zhu Hezhi finally left all the 5,000 taels of silver in Sweden, used part of the silver to buy all the works of Descartes' life, and invited Descartes' former students, friends, and colleagues to go to Daming to translate these works. ()

The rest was managed by King Christina of Sweden. Anyone who is willing to come to Daming to learn Cartesian philosophy and scientific thought can get the passage money from this silver.

Such generous decisions, if held in posterity, could easily be perceived as self-conceived. However, in the current world, it takes eight to nine months to travel from Daming to Europe each way, or even longer. If you send someone to ask for instructions, wait for a reply, it's really daylily cold.

Worse still, it was easy for the emperor to think that the person was useless and had no talent for decision-making.

King Jing's approach was really recognized by Zhu Cihong, and he privately lamented that he did not waste a prince's title in vain. If King Jing really brought back five thousand taels of silver, then Zhu Cihong would really cry and laugh.

The five thousand taels of silver of the Ming Dynasty arrived in Europe, where the silver was tightened, but it was a huge amount of money! Even the king of Sweden was thrilled to hold this amount in escrow - because the fruits of the silver were also a huge amount, and the king had control over the silver.

King Jing brought back gifts from the royal families from Europe, ranging from small glass balls to large sailing ships, as well as a large number of skilled workers. These workers may not know a single letter, and the things they make may not be able to enter the eyes of the Ming craftsmen, but the stones of its mountains can attack jade, and their ancestral techniques have the effect of broadening their horizons and ideas for the Ming craftsmen.

That's what a prince should do.

When Zhu Cihong met with Zhu Hezhi, the king of Jing, it was the day he returned to the Ming Dynasty, and he looked tired, so the meeting was not long. Later, Zhu Hezhi asked for an audience several times - he was nominally the emperor's nephew - Zhu Cihong did not receive him because of the time, but only gave a banquet to express his acceptance of this heart.

If Zhu Hezhi came earlier, he would like to go to America. Zhu Cihong had already arranged a time to meet with him alone and ask about his specific plans.

In the Zongren Mansion, Zuo Zongzheng Zhu Yujian sent an envoy to Portugal as the king of Tang and stayed in Europa. Zhu Changjie, the right Zongzheng, is a teacher and does not care about the affairs of the Zongren Mansion. Zhu Yihai, a member of the Right Sect, was in charge of the royal library and immersed himself in ancient rare books all day long. If you don't think about "Lu", where are you willing to care about other people's affairs?

The only way King Jing can really take is Zhu Xianxuan.

Zhu Xianxuan took the gift brought back by Zhu Hezhi, two Ottoman scimitars, and 100 catties of agarwood and sandalwood from India.

Zhu Hezhi is only responsible for the envoy, and he has no property of the Jing Domain, where did he get the confidence to give such an expensive gift?

Because he is taking the most important trade route in the world at the moment.

Zhu He didn't realize that the future was full of business opportunities, so he didn't make special preparations. However, the ship sails on the sea. The sheer fleet attracted other small merchants. Fearing the threat of pirates, these small caravans offered to go with King Jing's fleet. This is a common occurrence at sea, and it is by no means free when the deviation in strength is too great.

Small merchant ships are fully loaded, only cargo and no money. Zhu Hezhi did not care, took these goods to the South Seas, exchanged silver from the Dutch and Portuguese, and then continued westward, buying a large number of Indian specialties in Indian ports. Various spices.

When the fleet leaves the Indian Ocean and enters the African range. Zhu Hezhi also appropriately sold spices in exchange for gold and precious stones. By the time he arrived in Lisbon, the prices of all the goods had risen more than tenfold. In the blink of an eye, he became a generation of wealthy people, enjoying the huge profits of maritime trade in the Age of Discovery.

After returning to China, Zhu Hezhi already had the money to build his own Jingwang Mansion, and thanked those who had helped him. This feeling of getting rich made him very addicted. He is even more curious about the new world where the legend is full of gold and silver. However, to build an ocean-going fleet with his current financial resources is simply a fool's dream.

So Zhu Hezhi thought of raising money from his relatives, and then he had the saying of fighting the autumn wind. Not only to borrow money, but also to save face. He is also a vassal king. What if the emperor doesn't allow it? Now that it has been liberalized, the vassal king can move outside in a limited way, but the vassal king who used to be in the country can't even go out of the city casually.

Of course, the above are all Zhu Hezhi's rhetoric.

Because Zhu Cihong was going to meet Zhu Hezhi, when he was about to discuss the voyage with him, he inadvertently got some other news.

The secret agent sent by Dongchang to Europe pointed out in the report that Zhu Hezhi, the king of Jing, had normal contacts with King Christina of Sweden. It is even hinted that King Jing left a huge amount of silver in Sweden and entrusted it to Christina, and it was on the basis of this abnormal relationship that the decision was made.

This report was sandwiched between a stack of reports, but Zhu Cihong didn't have time to pay attention to it at all. For the Ming Emperor, the European problem was too far away and was not the core interest of the Ming Dynasty at present. It's just that now that it's been turned out, it can't be ignored.

So Zhu Hezhi was passed into the palace and received by the emperor himself.

"What kind of man is the King of Sweden?" Zhu Cihong asked.

Zhu Hezhi did not doubt him. He knew that His Majesty the Emperor was a soldier, and that Tessie's most famous soldier was none other than King Gustav II of Sweden.

"Back to Your Majesty, now King Christina of Sweden is the daughter of Gustav II. Her father died in battle, and she was appointed king. So she ascended the throne at the age of six. It was only in October of that year that the coronation ceremony was held in Sweden. Zhu Hezhi was dressed in court clothes, and he couldn't see his figure, but his face was angular and his skin was dark, which showed that the voyage had also brought indelible changes to his body.

"Shouldn't a woman be called a queen?" Zhu Cihong asked chatting.

Zhu Hezhi smiled: "It should be like this." However, she was mistaken for a man at birth, and later she was educated like a prince, and her father took her seriously, so she ascended the throne under the name of 'king' instead of 'queen'. ”

"Well, he ascended the throne at the age of six, and he was only crowned two years ago, so he shouldn't be too old, right?" Zhu Cihong also seems to be very gossipy.

"It's going to be seven out of twenty this year." Zhu and Zhidao.

"Hey, it's just the same age as King Jing." Zhu Cihong said.

Zhu Hezhi's face froze, a little embarrassed, and said: "Your Majesty, the minister is twenty-five ...... this year."

"Oh, really?" Zhu Cihong leaned back and said in a deep voice, "Then why did you tell King Christina that you were the same age as her?" ”

Zhu Hezhi's face turned red.

He had planned to learn the Tessie language on board, but he wasn't much motivated, learning only a little Latin and French - because Descartes was French.

After arriving in Sweden, Zhu Hezhi relied on Daming to communicate with people in and out.

This general secretary graduated from the University of the World and was trained by Jesuit priests such as John Tong, and there was no obstacle to communication with the European aristocracy. Not only was the language proficient, but even the etiquette was not flawed, which surprised the nobles who received Zhu Hezhi in various European countries.

Zhu Hezhi naturally took him very seriously.

It's just that I don't know that this person is a secret agent of Dongchang, and King Jing's every move, word and deed in Europe is under the control of Dongchang.

Including a horseback picnic with King Christina, what the two said when they joked.

"Is it a lie?" Zhu Cihong added.

"No, ......" Zhu Hezhi felt a little dry: "It's the minister who was frivolous with Meng Lang at that time." ”

Zhu Cihong pulled the topic back and said, "You did a good job in the matter of envoying Taixi. I didn't call you here today to settle old scores. I just want to make sure that your intention to sail to America has anything to do with this female king. ”

Zhu Hezhi fortunately tanned his skin at sea, otherwise it would be as red as cooked shrimp. His yearning for the new Big 6 is precisely because he knows that there is a Swedish enclave in America, called New Sweden, which is a place that King Christina yearns for very much.

"It's not personal." Zhu Hezhi denied it and said: "But if the minister wants to go to America, he is indeed inspired by Keshi." I think Sweden is a small country, but the size is similar to that of a province in China, and there are even overseas enclaves, and the income is quite large. Then I have hundreds of thousands of soldiers in the sea, why don't I occupy those borderless lands, so that I can plan for future generations! ”

Zhu He's words are half-truths and half-truths. It was true that he learned that there were Swedish colonies in the Americas after listening to Christina's introduction, but at that time he was not thinking about the great cause of his family and country, but more about riding horses and whips with beauties, galloping on picturesque plains.

"You are a descendant of Renzong, a descendant of the Heavenly Family, if you exile yourself just because you were rejected by a woman, I don't think it's worth it." Zhu Cihong said.

Zhu Hezhi had a colic, and he thought he had forgotten about it.

As the envoy of the mysterious country of the East, the emperor's relatives, enjoy the title of prince, Zhu Hezhi received the highest level of courtesy along the way. The Portuguese Governor of Goa even sent him personally to Lisbon before returning to Goa. The King of Portugal and the King of France also received him in person and expressed their willingness to trade with the Ming Dynasty.

Charlie, a member of the British royal family who went into exile because of the English Civil War? Stuart also wanted to meet with Zhu and ask for help, but apparently he was not qualified. Zhu Hezhi politely declined his invitation on the grounds that the emperor's order was in his body and could not be delayed, and immediately went to Stockholm by sea.

Such courtesy made the young King Jing a little fluttering, and he also despised the royal family of the Taixi Kingdoms, and once thought that their etiquette was too crude and had strong traces of barbarism.

That was until he met King Christina in Stockholm.

This woman with different shoulders made Zhu Hezhi feel full of vitality at first glance, not at all like flowers in a greenhouse.

"When I was a baby, the babysitter accidentally dropped me to the ground and broke my shoulder bone, so I didn't mean to scorn others with my high and low shoulders." Christina chuckled and whispered, "Although I do use this disability to despise some people. ”

Zhu Hezhi couldn't help but think of the joke made by King Christina at the first dinner, which made him so embarrassed that he didn't know how to answer. (To be continued......)

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