Chapter 166: The Impolite Ming Envoy

Information cocoons are everywhere.

Court officials construct information cocoons to deceive the Emperor; the Emperor unites the Ming officials to form a monopoly on power through information cocoons directed downward; the Ming relies on the information cocoon and secrecy mechanisms of granular gunpowder to guarantee its advantage in firearms; and the Ming officials use their power to interpret knowledge to further deconstruct the teachings of the Sages and monopolize local power.

Such information cocoons are ubiquitous, appearing to have impenetrable barriers that ensure information cannot be effectively disseminated, yet the universal connection between all things allows the news within these cocoons to silently spread everywhere.

Gao Qiyu and Xu Fan's understanding of the Atlantic Ocean was outside of any information cocoon—they knew nothing. They were soon to witness the cruelty and terrifying power of nature; the violent Atlantic would leave Gao Qiyu and Xu Fan with memories for a lifetime.

Gao Qiyu, Xu Fan, and the others boarded new ships, switching from three ships to five. These sailing ships were only five zhang, eight chi, and five cun long—about a quarter the size of the four-masted ocean-crossing ships rebuilt by the Ming. They were no more than one zhang and eight chi wide, with a length-to-width ratio of 3.25:1, and a draft of one zhang and two chi. They were a type of three-masted sailing ship known as a galleon.

"You see, this terrible and wretched hygiene. Father God above, why must creatures like rats and fleas exist in this world?" Antonio looked at the rats that didn't even avoid people, his face full of pain. These rats had brought many diseases to the New Spain world, and these diseases had time and again snatched away the lives of the indigenous people.

"Why switch to smaller ships? Are smaller ships safer?" Gao Qiyu could understand choosing land routes to save on water travel, but he did not quite understand why they didn't choose larger ships.

"Because large ships are expensive, the ships are expensive, and the cargo on a large ship that sinks is expensive. We use small ships to spread the risk. If one must choose between profit and life, profit is clearly more expensive than life," Antonio said, leaving Gao Qiyu in silence.

Gao Qiyu couldn't help but recall a remark by the young Emperor: a punch costs three wen, ten punches cost fifty wen, and beating a man to death costs one tael of silver—or perhaps not even a tael, as beating a man to death goes unpunished, with someone else there to clean up and cover it up. If one does evil without even knowing it, then there is no such thing as being "wealthy and ritual-abiding."

When human life is marked with a price, and even marking that price becomes a form of extravagance, can there still be any order in the world?

And now, Gao Qiyu found he had encountered such a situation. Past Confucian studies could no longer explain this extreme phenomenon; a new methodology was needed to explain this problem.

And as it happened, his former teacher, Zhang Juzheng, possessed a methodology that could explain this phenomenon: the theory of contradictions.

Gao Qiyu could not yet think clearly about what kind of contradictions had given birth to this reality of collapsing rituals and ruined music.

He soon became unable to think at all.

Because the ships had set sail, and the tossing of the Atlantic far exceeded Gao Qiyu's imagination.

The winds were high and the waves were fierce. All the sailors were desperately raising, lowering, reefing, and adjusting the sails. Antonio couldn't even care about things like rats. Sweat, rain, and seawater mixed together. People felt as if a giant force had grabbed their feet and was swinging them back and forth; their bodies were still there, but their souls had already flown away.

For Gao Qiyu, Xu Fan, and the other Ming people, this was a brand-new experience.

Gao Qiyu had thought he had completely adapted to sea travel, but only after boarding this ship did he learn what seasickness really meant.

He couldn't even drink water. Twelve hours after setting sail, he drank water for the first time. Twenty-eight hours after setting sail, Gao Qiyu finally started to eat. Xu Fan's situation was much the same; even the experienced sailors were vomiting uncontrollably, their condition only slightly better than Gao Qiyu's.

In such weather with high winds and giant waves, the most difficult thing was controlling the ships. The wind was too strong; the continuous gales made these five ships as difficult to control as wild horses that had broken their bridles. The trade winds were extremely unstable; the ships seemed to be moving forward, yet also seemed to be moving backward, especially on the open ocean, where it was impossible to distinguish.

Everything depended on the captain's command.

Amidst the violent winds and giant waves, the ships constantly emitted all sorts of creaking and groaning sounds, as if at any moment, the ships would fall apart in the wind and waves.

Only three days after departure, one ship suffered a water leakage incident. Gao Qiyu then watched helplessly as that ship, after struggling for a day, began to fall behind. Although the remaining ships tried to approach it several times, they ultimately failed, and some sailors, in despair, jumped into the ocean and were subsequently swallowed by the wind and waves.

That ship sank.

Antonio's complexion turned extremely poor. He had been extremely lucky on the Pacific, where two ships that had gone off course still managed to catch up with his flagship by following the ocean currents. He was exceptionally unlucky on the Atlantic; just after setting sail, one ship had already sunk into the sea.

Those sailors whose names no one remembered disappeared into the ocean, along with Antonio's cargo.

Ocean trade remained an extremely dangerous business at the time. By comparison, people preferred the Lisbon—Cape Verde—Cape of Good Hope—Goa—Malacca—Macau—Nagasaki trade route, as this path did not require facing the violent Atlantic. By comparison, the Indian Ocean was as gentle as a young girl.

Antonio's misfortune continued. Soon, another ship reported water leakage. This time, the black laborers at the bottom of the ship desperately plugged the leak, preventing a repeat of the tragedy. Stumbling along, the four ships arrived at Cape Verde after sailing for fifty-six days.

Cape Verde, the Cape of Freedom. As long as you had silver and gold, you could get anything you wanted here. This was a place abandoned even by the gods; there was no such thing as ritual, righteousness, integrity, or shame, nor order. Force and money were the greatest violence, and also the greatest order.

The best-selling commodities here were spirits, tobacco, women, and slaves. The chaos here was the order; anyone could be sold with a marked price. One could even see those black-haired noblewomen; every time they appeared, it would trigger frantic looting and armed conflict.

Cape Verde was divided into the Windward and Leeward Islands. On the Windward Islands were the Portuguese troops, while on the Leeward Islands was a paradise for pirates. They constantly robbed and extorted all passing merchant ships under various pretexts. The tall city walls witnessed countless defenses and attacks in history. Almost all the ports here had bastions extending deep into the ocean, guarding the harbor.

Almost all the seaports had a specially built brothel, but the layout of these brothels consisted of cramped little rooms, one after another. Those Gypsy women seemed not to mind exposing their skin at all; they were stark naked, lying on the railings without any restraint to solicit customers, occasionally cursing some "cheap goods" for having booming business.

As soon as the sailors got off the ship, they headed straight for these brothels. The long voyage had left them completely pent up.

Many legends circulated here. It is said that a pirate named Duguay-Trouin once led eight thousand pirates composed of Frenchmen and slaves, using four hundred ships to capture a Portuguese port and demand a huge ransom—this was a myth of force. It is said that someone here once dug up boxes and boxes of gold coins overseas; those gold coins were obtained by previous pirates robbing merchant ships—this was a myth of wealth.

Gao Qiyu and Xu Fan were completely unable to adapt to all of this. The Ming, of course, also had the flesh trade, but the Ming brothels that Gao Qiyu and Xu Fan frequented emphasized style and atmosphere. Although the purpose was the same, at least it had some connection to poetry, prose, and music.

But here, it was unscrupulous.

Antonio stayed here for nearly half a month. He had extensive connections here, and the cargo he brought was sold to smugglers at an extremely high price. Afterward, the ship that had been emptied was recorded in the ledger as a tragedy that had perished in the ocean.

Antonio kept a portion of these silver coins for himself and divided the rest equally among all the sailors. Since everyone had received benefits, everyone would keep their mouths shut and not report it to Philip II.

Even Gao Qiyu, Xu Fan, and the twenty-nine other envoys each received a share.

Each share contained a total of three hundred and fifty-seven 8-reales silver coins, equivalent to about three hundred taels of silver.

A red envelope from Zhang Juzheng to Feng Bao was only one hundred taels of silver, and one thousand taels of silver could support the Quanchu Guild Hall for a year. In other words, this single dividend could support the Quanchu Guild Hall for nine years.

"Facts prove that collecting taxes is more reliable. Even if they refuse to pay, the Inspection Offices spread across the Ming's maritime borders can still investigate a thing or two. This kind of monopoly trade by official ships and official commerce is itself an opportunity for people to steal wealth," Xu Fan said in amazement. Of the four ships, Antonio had eaten one himself.

Gao Qiyu thought for a moment, recorded this scene, and said, "Philip II must be well aware of this, so he only demands his share of the profit. That sunken ship was also Antonio's own interest; otherwise, he wouldn't need to be the captain."

"Likewise, the design of watertight compartments is truly important. That way, even if there is a leak, it won't lead to a sunken ship and total loss."

In the Cape of Freedom, this place abandoned by the gods, Gao Qiyu and Xu Fan felt very bad. It was too dirty here, with human and animal feces everywhere. More than ten thousand people were squeezed into a harbor fortress. In such a terrible sanitary environment, plagues were everywhere.

In the Ming, feces could be sold for silver. Even the first emperor of the Southern Song, Song Gaozong, acted as a "feces road master" to make money!

"The Deshou book is famous in the market, and even a single person is taxed three thousand. No need to ask about the lantern brocade, the fluttering palace flags are inserted into the feces boats."

Gao Qiyu kept these people at a respectful distance, fearing that he might contract some plague and never be able to return to the Ming for the rest of his life. After waiting for half a month, Gao Qiyu and Xu Fan set sail again, heading for Seville.

Seville was the home of the Indies trade, the distribution center for goods from all of New Spain and the New World. The reason it was called the Indies was because of a misunderstanding.

When Columbus made his great voyage, he thought he had arrived in India and called the people there Indians, so he called the home of New World trade the Indies.

And Seville, as the home of New World trade, was extremely prosperous—this was something Antonio emphasized repeatedly.

Yet, in the eyes of Gao Qiyu and Xu Fan, this prosperity was nothing more than that, because the population was too small. The permanent population was only one hundred and fifty thousand. No matter how Antonio boasted about the glory of this city, in Gao Qiyu's eyes, it was just a slightly larger prefecture city.

Machines were still not widely used in the West at the time, and manual labor remained the primary mode of production. Handicraft workshops were the most important industry and commerce. With only one hundred and fifty thousand people, how developed could its handicraft industry possibly be?

Taking Lin Qing in Shandong as an example: in the fourteenth year of Zhengtong, the city wall of Lin Qing was nine li long; in the sixth year of Zhengde, it was expanded to twenty li; in the twenty-first year of Jiajing, it was expanded again, with the city wall enclosing thirty li; and in the third year of Wanli, Lin Qing requested an expansion again, this time enclosing forty li.

Lin Qing was located along the Grand Canal, so there were quite a few merchants and gentry. A forty-li walled city, by general estimation, held about three hundred thousand people, but there were endless "grass markets" outside the city of Lin Qing, so it should have been over five hundred thousand, or even more.

And according to the Yellow Register of the twenty-sixth year of Hongwu, Suzhou Prefecture governed 7 counties, with a total of households and population; the city of Suzhou alone exceeded 1 million people.

Gao Qiyu and Xu Fan did not have high expectations for the "home of trade," and upon arrival, just as Gao Qiyu and Xu Fan had guessed, for the Ming, this was indeed a small town.

Although that cathedral was indeed magnificent, compared to the Ming's Porcelain Tower, the cathedral was not worth mentioning.

This place possessed massive amounts of gold and silver, so prices were rising at an incredible speed.

Gao Qiyu soon investigated the source of these massive amounts of gold and silver.

The first aspect came from Central West, with major production areas east of the Alps, Austria, Germany, Bohemia, and Saxony. The annual production of silver in these places exceeded 2.75 million taels.

The second part came from Portugal; what they brought back was gold from the West African coast. This figure had always been relatively confidential, but Antonio, the heir to the Portuguese throne, revealed this specific figure: more than 125,000 taels of gold were brought back from West Africa annually.

And the silver brought back from the New World exceeded 4 million taels annually.

Calculating it, more than ten million taels of silver appeared on the entire Western land annually.

In Seville alone, the speed of price inflation had more than quadrupled in the past ten years. For Philip II, this was an unacceptable status quo. He had to find a way—even if it meant concentrating large amounts of silver, it would be better than letting it circulate in commerce and causing prices to soar again.

Therefore, exquisite silk entered the New World home of trade. Even though Philip II and Antonio had tried their best to sell it at a terrifying price, this price was so crazy that Antonio doubted whether he would mess up the errand.

Because Philip II set the price of silk to be equivalent to gold.

But the sales of silk remained extremely good.

A bolt of silk weighed about five and a half jin, totaling a weight of... The Ming earned 1.23 million taels of silver from this batch of silk, and even this made the court inside and out full of joy. Yet Philip II wanted to sell them at a sky-high price—equivalent to gold!

Philip II wanted to sell them for 8.62 million taels of gold or equivalent silver.

After Gao Qiyu and Xu Fan received this news, they both felt that Philip II was crazy, but soon Gao Qiyu and Xu Fan understood that they, as Confucian scholars, simply did not understand commercial dealings, nor did they understand the West at all.

Philip II's silk sold very well. Sixty bolts were sold on the first day, 120 bolts on the second day, and then it maintained a quantity of about two hundred bolts, selling these silks at a terrifying speed.

Gao Qiyu did not understand the West, let alone the current fashion of the Westerners. With the fall of Constantinople, the demise of Rome, the end of the Middle Ages, and the arrival of the Renaissance, a yearning for Rome spread throughout the West. The Romans had highly valued silk. The silk of the West was neither exquisite nor durable, while the silk from the Ming made the Westerners flock to it.

With the decline in sales, Philip II gradually adjusted the price of silk. A month later, at the end of the third month of the fourth year of Wanli, the price of silk was no longer sold by the bolt, but by weight. Finally, it was equal in weight to silver, and sales gradually stabilized. In other words, these ninety thousand bolts of silk brought Philip II an income of at least over 9 million taels of silver.

Must raise the price!

This was Gao Qiyu and Xu Fan's greatest realization. All that shiny silver was being earned by the red-haired barbarians—was this not a sin!

How could this be allowed!

Philip II received the envoys from the East with the highest etiquette of the Spanish royal family. Ten thousand ibexes, driven by shepherds, arrived in Seville. Under the escort of the sheep flock, the Ming envoys headed to Madrid, the capital of Spain.

The Spanish Empire was a kingdom on the backs of sheep. The welcome of these ten thousand sheep was indeed the highest etiquette of this country.

Aranjuez Palace was located on the banks of the Tagus River. The river flowed quietly under the shade of dense forests. The red and white walls were visible through the gaps in the trees. The first thing seen was the round tower, which connected to the city wall. On the round tower were mortars, their dark muzzles aimed at the direction from which the enemy might attack.

Gao Qiyu looked at the round tower and the city wall. The city wall was divided into three layers, with musketeers, archers, and a group of spearmen standing on top. This was a very interesting way of building a castle. Gao Qiyu took note of the defensive capabilities of this type of castle.

And today was the day Aranjuez Palace received guests. Everyone wore the king's coat of arms, their expressions solemn and grave.

Standing at the city gate to welcome Gao Qiyu, Xu Fan, and the others was a general.

This sturdy man with a full head of black hair, deep eyes, and a high nose bridge said quite solemnly, "Respected envoys, please allow me to introduce myself, as a special envoy to welcome the arrival of the two envoys and all the warriors."

"I am the brother of the Emperor of the Empire on which the sun never sets, Lord of the Autonomous Territory of Barcelona, nightmare of the Barbary pirates, fear of the Moors, Regional Commander of the Holy League Navy, victor of the Battle of Lepanto, Grand Master of the Order of Uclés, Lion of Castile, Guardian of the Empire on which the sun never sets, Don Huo Huan."

"I have received a good education because of the nobility of my blood, and I have used the sword in my hand to guard the glory of the Empire on which the sun never sets and the Holy See."

If one could understand this long string of titles, one would understand just how great this person's power was.

He was Philip II's half-brother, the Lord of Barcelona. He had wiped out the Barbary pirates and quelled the Moorish rebellion. In that great Mediterranean battle that changed the entire West—the Battle of Lepanto—he was the Regional Commander of the entire Western United Holy Fleet. He had completely crushed the Ottoman harassment of the West and was the Grand Master of the Order of Uclés, a Spanish knightly order canonized by the Pope.

There was a lion on the coat of arms of the Spanish royal family, and that lion represented the Kingdom of León, which made up the Spanish Empire. He said he was a lion, which meant his existence maintained the peace of León Province.

The Empire on which the sun never sets was the Spanish Empire, and "Guardian" was the title Philip II gave his brother.

"Thank you for the gifts bestowed by the noble Emperor of the Great Ming Empire, which have finally allowed a price war that could very well have spread across the entire West to be eased," Don Huo Huan saluted again, thanking the envoys from afar very solemnly.

A price war was caused by the appearance of precious metals like a flood, causing prices across the entire West to soar, especially food prices. Because everything was rising in price rapidly, social contradictions were intensifying rapidly. Everyone was trying to find a way to voice their anger, and to concentrate these precious metals and then find a flood discharge outlet.

Philip II had found it—in the Ming.

Antonio did not speak. He knew that the Ming envoys could understand. These Ming people had figured out everything they wanted to know in just three days in Seville. Even those burly guards could pretend to be descendants of Roman nobles in fluent Latin.

Antonio even had a mischievous thought: if these guards claimed to be the last Roman Emperor, Constantine XI, a large number of people would believe they were truly Constantine XI.

Gao Qiyu looked at Don Huo Huan, nodded, and said, "Alas! You who have multitudes in all directions, listen clearly to my single proclamation. Only the Emperor bestows grace upon all the people. If they have constant hearts, they can stabilize their positions as subjects."

Antonio heard this, was stunned for a long time, and said, "Envoy Gao, can you say that in a way I can understand? I don't understand what you said, and I don't know how to translate it."

Antonio was the interpreter responsible for translation work. Gao Qiyu's sentence had directly left Antonio unable to function.

You open your mouth and close it with this kind of talk that no one understands—how am I supposed to translate this!

Xu Fan thought for a moment and said, "It means that the people in all directions must obey the proclamation of one person, and that is the Emperor. The Emperor bestows kindness upon all the people under heaven, and must follow the constant nature of the people, enabling them to live stably. This is the Emperor's duty. It means that you need goods, and we need silver, so that everyone can live stably. This is what the Emperor wants to see."

Xu Fan translated it earnestly, and only then did Antonio understand, translating it into a string of gibberish.

"Two envoys from afar, do you speak Latin?" Don Huo Huan, as Regional Commander, could of course see their exchange. This group of Ming envoys understood Latin.

Gao Qiyu and Xu Fan both nodded. They were envoys of the Ming. On any formal occasion, they had to speak the Han language. This involved rituals and laws. The great affairs of the state lay in sacrifices and military matters. Even tens of thousands of miles away, they could not discard rituals and laws.

"Please, two envoys. The Emperor of the Empire on which the sun never sets has been waiting for your arrival." Don Huo Huan led the group of envoys into the castle.

Gao Qiyu and Xu Fan had communicated with Antonio about etiquette. In Spanish court etiquette, only allegiance required kneeling, and it was obviously impossible for the two Ming envoys to pledge allegiance to Philip II.

The red and white palace appeared before everyone. In front of a huge square stood many Spanish soldiers.

Gao Qiyu held a state letter, walked step by step to Philip II, bowed, handed the state letter to Philip II's secretary, and said, "Our Ming Emperor has sent a state letter to manifest the virtue of cherishing people from afar."

The content of this state letter was not much different in style from the state letter Philip II sent to the Ming. The beginning was full of flowery praise, and only then came the agreement for fixed trade. It also explained the raw silk ban, but the state letter did not mention a single word about the conflict in Luzon.

Philip II was already forty-nine years old, and his spirit was still very good. He flipped through the state letter. There were two copies of the state letter, one written in Han characters and one written in Latin. The reason for writing this Latin state letter was that the West did not understand Han characters. If there were errors in translation, it would be difficult to correct them over such a long distance.

The implementation of the Ming's Single Whip Law and the widespread silver shortage in the Ming required the West's silver.

"Two envoys, please sit. I hear that the Ming is a powerful country. Is it as powerful as my country?" Philip II put down the state letter, signaled for the envoys to sit, tilted his head slightly, and said, "The warriors under my coat of arms can use the weapons in their hands to conquer every place that needs to be conquered."

"My brother, give the envoys from afar a drill of the invincible Spanish square formation."

"Yes." Don Huo Huan was wearing iron armor, ready for the military drill. When Philip II gave the order, Don Huo Huan came before the soldiers.

Gao Qiyu sat down and did not immediately refute, but watched the entire drill of the Spanish square formation very earnestly.

"Is the King too confident?" After watching, Gao Qiyu looked at Philip II and said calmly, "Our Ming has a population of over one hundred million. Is it not a daydream for the King to attack our Ming with such a formation?"

Gao Qiyu was in a foreign land, without any cowardice. When Philip II showed his aggressiveness, Gao Qiyu directly said that this Spanish square formation, which dominated the West, was nothing more than that.

Antonio was completely numb!

He was going crazy!

Philip II was a king who liked to resort to force, and the thing he liked most was war. The terrifying profit of silk made Philip II sprout the idea of conquering the Ming, and Gao Qiyu, as the Ming envoy, spoke very, very impolitely.

Was he not afraid that this war maniac would directly kill this Ming envoy?

Antonio wanted to translate it tactfully. Just as he was weighing his words, he saw Xu Fan open his mouth and use fluent Latin to express Gao Qiyu's words completely, even cursing out "daydream."

Gao Qiyu continued, "I heard that your country's Governor of Luzon, Francisco, said he would conquer the Ming with forty men, then increased it to two or three thousand, and finally increased it to twenty thousand. This number keeps increasing as you learn more about the Ming. I am very curious, how many men does the King intend to use to attack the Ming? Or rather, as you learn more about the Ming, how many will it increase to?"

"One hundred thousand? One million? Ten million?"

The house I bought today was delivered, so I went to receive it and didn't get home until 8 PM. Spain is a kingdom, not an empire, but they boast of being an empire themselves. Ancient Han envoys spoke impolitely and acted even more impolitely; they were not like modern diplomats who become foreigners after serving for a few years. Please vote for monthly tickets, Awoo!!!!!!!!!!!!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 167 =====