Standing on the streets of Haojing, Qian Cheng looked at the people around him who looked very different from him. Although he had been here for almost two months, he was still not used to it.
It was even more difficult to listen to them speak. They were babbling and talking about all kinds of things.
Qian Cheng glanced at the barbarian next to him. Although this guy nodded and bowed to him with a friendly smile on his face, Qian Cheng felt that it was strange.
As the leader of Dongchang, Qian Cheng would certainly not delay his business for his own likes and dislikes.
This foreigner was called Francis or something.
Qian Cheng felt awkward calling him Old Fu. Anyway, it sounded about the same.
According to Old Fu, he came from a country called Spain. It sounded like it was the case.
The people living in Haojing were all Portuguese. They were neighboring countries. Old Fu said that they had arrived in City M on a large ship full of silver.
This time, they were here to buy something, but the pirates in Daming did not seem to be very friendly to them.
Qian Cheng knew that the pirates that Old Fu was talking about were the Wokou pirates. Currently, the largest group of Wokou pirates in the open sea should be Lin Feng.
After the death of Wang Zhi, the owner of the Fifth Peak Ship, Lin Feng was considered a large group of Japanese pirates on the sea.
When the Wokou pirates were at their peak, the Southeast was in ruins. Whether it was Wang Zhi or Xu Hai, they were both famous pirates.
Qian Cheng did not know that after Lin Feng, there would be another powerful pirate group rising. They were the pirate group led by Zheng Zhilong.
They had fought against the Spanish and the Dutch, and were famous throughout Asia.
Whether it was the Spanish or the Dutch, if they wanted to do business with Daming, they had to pay taxes to him.
After Daming was destroyed, Zheng Zhilong's son, Zheng Chenggong, was still active along the coast. However, without the support of the country, his power had declined greatly.
Coupled with the fight with the Qing Dynasty, there was a lot of internal friction. After Zheng Chenggong's death, the Zheng family still jumped around for many years.
From then on, the colonial powers all over the world had their eyes on the ancient land of the East.
In their eyes, this was already a piece of fat meat. However, this fat meat was a bit hard on their teeth. If they were not careful, their teeth would fall off before they could eat the meat.
Qian Cheng recorded everything he had seen and heard, preparing to compile it into a book and send it to the capital.
It was said that the emperor liked the bird that he sent last time, but the emperor also said that he had to work hard and not think about these messy things.
This time, Qian Cheng was prepared to work hard and make as many contributions as possible.
Old Fu was one of the many barbarians he had recruited. They were all working for Qian Cheng.
Qian Cheng paid, and they bought things for Qian Cheng. This was just the beginning, starting with some guns and cannons. In any case, Qian Cheng bought everything that he felt was meaningful.
The higher-ups had already said not to be afraid of spending money.
It was just that Qian Cheng hadn't found some of the things that the emperor wanted him to pay attention to, but he had already issued a high reward.
For example, there was a kind of seed called rubber. Although there was no news about it, it was said that someone had seen it.
Qian Cheng felt that he would definitely be able to find it. He was full of enthusiasm. He was also very concerned about the sea map period, but he also knew that this matter could not be rushed.
Whether it was the barbarians or the Japanese pirates, they valued the sea maps very much. No one was willing to take them out.
Capital, Palace of Heavenly Purity.
Zhu Yijun was eating breakfast. His breakfast was very simple, but it was very healthy.
He knew that his body would become fat in the future, and he would also get gout. It would be so painful that he wouldn't be able to walk, go to court, or even become a cripple.
Gout would be very troublesome in the future, let alone now. He didn't want to get this disease.
In history, the Wanli Emperor was scolded badly because he didn't go to court. They were more or less sincere, and there was no way to verify this. From Zhu Yijun's point of view, it was fine to just listen to this kind of thing. In fact, there was no need to listen to it.
Those officials were all actors. If they had a chance to scold the emperor, they would definitely scold him!
Scolding the emperor was too common in the Daming Dynasty. To put it bluntly, it was to increase one's reputation.
The promotion of civil officials in the Daming Dynasty was not based on political achievements, but on reputation. How did reputation come about?
Of course, it was earned.
Investigating corrupt officials had a high price, and it was easy to get into trouble. The gains did not make up for the losses, so scolding people to increase one's reputation was very normal.
Scolding the eunuchs, scolding the Grand Secretary, and then scolding the Emperor, from top to bottom. Only then did he show that he was brave and that he was wholeheartedly serving the public. His reputation soared.
If one really looked into it, they would realize that they didn't do anything. They just raised their reputation well.
These people grew stronger, and soon became the Donglin Clique. They scolded people all day long, and if you asked them to do anything, they only knew how to earn money.
Donkey dung on the surface was referring to them.
If he didn't go to court because he was crippled, he might be scolded by them. In history, the Wanli Emperor had explained it to them, and he was very patient. He said that he was sick and couldn't go, but they didn't listen.
If they believed it, how could they scold him? If they didn't scold him, how could they raise their reputation? Of course, they didn't believe it. You could never wake someone who was pretending to be asleep.
The Wanli Emperor even found the Cabinet Minister Shen Shixing and asked him to write an article to testify for him. It was useless, and he scolded them from top to bottom.
When the Qing Dynasty was established, these were all black material. The Wanli Emperor was directly nailed to the pillar of shame.
The Jiajing Emperor didn't go to court either. He hid in the palace to concoct pills all day, and no one saw him scolding him.
There was a reason why the Wanli Emperor was being targeted, and this reason was Li Chengliang.
Li Chengliang had a mixed reputation, but he definitely spared no effort to smear the Qing Dynasty. This was because many of Nurhaci's relatives died in Li Chengliang's hands, including Nurhaci's father, Tark II.
When the hatred was big, if they didn't pour dirty water on you, who would they pour it on? The Wanli Emperor was the same.
The Ming Dynasty didn't perish under Chongzhen, but under Wanli. This kind of argument naturally came out. No matter if it was Wanli or Li Chengliang, they had to be nailed to the pillar of shame. Otherwise, how could the Qing Dynasty show its authenticity. Even Zhang Juzheng couldn't run away. Anyway, he was smeared from top to bottom.
Compared to the Jiajing era, the Wanli era was much better. Whether it was the victory of the three great expeditions or the stability of the domestic political situation, everything was done well.
Why didn't anyone say that it perished under Jiajing, but under Wanli? It was because during Wanli's era, the Qing Dynasty could be considered to have stepped onto the stage of history.
Nurhaci took revenge for his father, so Wanli was naturally his enemy. I was oppressed, so I resisted. It would be strange if the Wanli Emperor had a good record.
Zhu Yijun didn't care about being scolded. In the future, he had seen many haters. They would scold you for no reason, just because they were unhappy.
After scolding him, you couldn't do anything to him. At least in this era, he could still catch him and beat him up.
If it really didn't work, he could ask Dongchang to take care of them. Why was Wei Zhongxian able to suppress the world? It was because he made them afraid of him.