Volume 5: Fellow Traveler Chapter 847 The Second Boot Lands
What happened to the falling out? What kind of reaction is this? Look at the weird expressions of the third and fourth princes, who almost popped their eyes out. That's the right reaction, right? Eunuch Liang, what's with your expression of wanting to agree with him? And you're saying that the emperor, a crazy admirer of Taizu, also thinks so?
Zhang Shou only felt a faint sadness in his heart. He wanted to be reprimanded for this, so that people would have less expectations of him. After all, he was too far away from the turbulent era of Emperor Taizu. Unless he was immortal or traveled through time again, there was no chance for them to meet. He actually had no interest in reading this annoying note.
Therefore, after a long while, he smiled bitterly and said, "I thought you would be furious and scold me, Eunuch Liang!"
"When I first proposed this view to the emperor, he was so angry that he almost skinned me alive." Speaking of the past, Liang Jiucheng still looked very calm, as if it was not him who almost lost his head at that time. Seeing that the Crown Prince, who was praised by everyone for his calmness and stability, also dragged the Fourth Prince, and the two brothers looked at him curiously, he coughed lightly.
"I can't say I understand much about the small country that uses this kind of writing. Moreover, because we are too far away and we don't speak the same language, I can't say I know much about their language. The West is too far away, the land route is difficult, and the sea route is dangerous. Even if the fleet occasionally brings a few people from their side, nine out of ten don't understand the writing. Those who do understand the writing are often not used to the life in our dynasty, and their lives are short."
"At the most important time, the emperors such as Gaozong and Sejong were no longer so enthusiastic about the old things of Emperor Taizu. Even Emperor Yingzong was the same. Most of the royal ships only sailed in Goryeo, Japan and the Southeast Asian countries. It was not until the late emperor and the emperor that the old system was gradually restored. So the samples were not enough. It was only when I compared it with a book about that small Western country that I felt that Emperor Taizu did not learn well."
Zhang Shou watched as the man turned around and headed for a nearby bookshelf. After a while, he returned with a book. He almost couldn't hold back his expression after glancing at the cover. It was a Bible... a Bible!
Thinking about the distant West, and the fact that it was the Dark Ages before, the most easily accessible book was indeed the Bible. He could only suppress the weirdness in his heart and secretly calculate how likely it was that Eunuch Liang Jiucheng was just being modest.
Could it be that the fleet had already kidnapped a missionary who knew English from the west, and that the eunuchs in the palace who had a very strong learning ability had already translated the corresponding text? Although Britain was considered a remote area in Europe at that time, and the status of English was far inferior to Latin, Spanish, French, Italian, etc., this was not necessarily impossible!
"I painstakingly studied the words and sentences in this book, and compared them with many words and sentences in Taizu's handwritten notes. In ten years, I sorted out dozens of boxes of notes. Finally, I confirmed that the words used in it are very similar to some of the words used by Emperor Taizu, but the sentence structure is very strange. This is also because the people brought back from that small country died too young and could not learn our language well..."
Hearing Liang Jiucheng talking seriously about the differences in vocabulary, sentence structure... he almost mentioned the differences in tenses - after all, it is impossible for someone who has never actually come into contact with Indo-European languages to go so deep - Zhang Shou was still overwhelmed with emotions, and felt as if he had returned to the time when he first started learning English in advance and was completely in the dark.
I think he marked all the English words with Chinese characters to force memorization and recitation, but who would have thought that in this day and age, someone could compare so many messy things with a pile of Taizu's handwritten notes and a Bible. I sorted out a lot of notes, and this perseverance in learning is really terrifying!
As for the third and fourth princes, one looked at the disabled but strong-willed old eunuch with great admiration, while the other was dazed like a clay or wooden sculpture, his mind filled with the descriptions of the dozens of boxes of notes.
Dozens of boxes, ten whole years, this eunuch Liang is really patient!
So Zhang Shou could only laugh dryly and said, "I just said it casually, which is not as good as the hard work you put in, Eunuch Liang. In this case, please consider what I said before, Eunuch Liang, and report it to the emperor on my behalf if he asks."
This time, Liang Jiucheng readily agreed. At this point, he did not continue to move out the Taizu's handwritten notes for Zhang Shou to review, but led his men back the same way, repeating what the emperor had said to the third and fourth princes last night - it was the so-called tradition of the emperors of all dynasties to move all the Taizu's handwritten notes and remember their locations.
Zhang Shou, who had previously thought that he was bored, thought to himself that he was bored countless times this time, and even looked at the Third Prince with sympathy. However, the little Crown Prince, who felt his gaze, said very seriously, "Not only me, but my fourth brother will also help."
"When my fifth brother grows up, he can come in too. Only if everyone takes it seriously, the Taizu's handwritten notes will eventually be understood by others."
That's right. When Taizu's notes are really translated, I really have to consider whether I should follow Taizu's example and set sail to colonize overseas... But the sea route is indeed too risky. Or I can go by land, but the prerequisite is to have a strong army. You know, if you go all the way west, you will run into the Ottoman Empire!
Although he could also urgently forge and tamper with the Taizu's letter in his hand, who knows what the other letters are like!
With such a painful sadness, Zhang Shou finally left the Gujin Tongjiku. However, just as he stood firm, he saw a familiar figure rushing towards him. When he arrived in front of him, he didn't even say hello, but directly dragged him away. Zhang Shou ran a few steps and found that he couldn't keep up with the pace at all, and he was so angry that he was choked.
"Hey, hey, let go, or someone will die!"
But the final result of his protest was not letting go, but being thrown high up by someone. When he landed safely, he was lying on the other person's back. If this were normal, he would have laughed and scolded and that would have been the end of it, but at this moment he was in the palace, and the third and fourth princes and Liang Jiucheng behind him might have been completely confused, so he certainly couldn't just let it go.
"Ah Liu, put me down quickly, let me be clear! Do you hear me? This is the palace, not your home!"
"I'm here on orders." Ah Liu said these five words directly and straightforwardly. Noticing that Zhang Shou behind him seemed to have stopped breathing, he added, "My family is fine. Nothing's wrong."
It was not until Ah Liu finished speaking the second half of his words that Zhang Shou felt relieved, and then he raised his hand to wipe the sweat off his forehead. You know, Ah Liu's attitude just now was too shocking, and his first reaction was to think about what might happen to the lady who suddenly fell ill.
But even though he was slightly relieved, a premonition of something big happening still lingered in his heart, so he couldn't help but yelled in a bad mood: "Everyone is fine, you should also make your words clear to me first! You are so ostentatious in the palace, do you want everyone in the capital to discuss the fact that you ran around the palace on my back from before to after the New Year?"
"Don't worry, Master. They won't discuss you because there are other things to discuss."
Ah Liu said this incoherent sentence, and found that Zhang Shou behind him had already started to pull his ear in anger. He could only helplessly say: "It's not that I don't want to say it, but the madman said that you should see the emperor first before you can say it."
Hearing this extremely difficult statement, Zhang Shou could not help but scratch his ears, and then he angrily scolded: "Do you listen to him or me? You keep saying that he is a lunatic, why do you still listen to him? What happened?"
Zhang Shou had asked for the third time. As if it was really hard to avoid it, Ah Liu whispered, "There is an envoy claiming to be from China who arrived at Qinhuangdao, east of Shanhaiwei. The envoy said that the king of their China is a descendant of Taizu, and founded a country in Haidong Continent, tens of thousands of miles east of our dynasty. This time they came back to recognize their ancestors."
“…”
At that moment, Zhang Shou felt like the second shoe had finally landed. In this cold twelfth month, even if Qinhuangdao is an ice-free port in the future, Qinhuangdao at that time was right next to Shanhaiguan, and it seemed that it had not yet developed? Wait, the Ming Great Wall did not seem to be as long as in the future, and Shanhaiguan seemed to have been built, but it was far from the momentum of the world's first pass...
Zhang Shou's thoughts flew out unconsciously, and he finally recovered them after running wildly for a while. Then he endured the toothache and asked: "Let me ask you, is it a big ship or a small ship? If it is a big ship, how can it anchor in Qinhuangdao? There is no port there, right? Also, in terms of monsoon, winter is more suitable for going south, and summer is more suitable for going north..."
At this point, he suddenly realized another very important issue. If they really crossed the ocean from America, they would most likely have to rely on a large number of rowers, just like the Western sailing ships. Of course, if they could build a steam engine in America in such a short time, that would be another matter .
Ah Liu certainly couldn't answer Zhang Shou's very detailed question. He carried Zhang Shou all the way to Qianqing Gate before stopping, only to find Chen Yongshou waiting there. When he saw the two of them, he came forward with a beaming smile.
"Master Liu, if possible, please do me one more favor... Can you bring His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and the Fourth Prince here together? And can you ask Eunuch Liang to come over as well?"
"Yes." Ah Liu never refused sincere and well-intentioned requests. He nodded, and when Chen Yongshou thanked him repeatedly and led Zhang Shou inside, he turned and ran, not thinking about why his actual master Hua Qi was also here and asked him to bring the two brothers back alone.
Zhang Shou had been running wildly on Ah Liu's back for a while, and when he came out of the Ancient and Modern Collection, the heat on his body had not been completely blown away by the cold wind. Therefore, when he first entered the Qianqing Palace, he did not feel warm, but felt that it was too hot.
In fact, at this moment, the emperor was pacing back and forth in the hall, Chu Kuan was motionless like a stone Buddha, and Hua Qi was leaning against a pillar. Just by looking at these three people, he felt an irritable and difficult atmosphere. Obviously, the news that Ah Liu just brought, the emperor, his ministers, the master and the servant were all unable to make a decision.
Sure enough, as soon as he saw him coming, the emperor said, "Chu Kuan, tell Zhang Shou about this first."
Even though Ah Liu had already said it, Zhang Shou still listened carefully to Chu Kuan's explanation of the whole story. In fact, there were only a few more details than what Ah Liu said, such as the small boat going ashore, a large ship anchored at sea, and the small boats carrying a total of 28 people ashore. The Shanhaiwei temporarily detained all the people there and sent out small boats to guard, etc.
After listening thoughtfully, he asked, "Let's not talk about the letter of credence or whether they can prove that they are the descendants of Taizu. I just want to know one thing, that is, how can they prove that they are from Haidong Continent?"
How do these guys prove that they are from America? Could they bring a bunch of seeds and fruits of American crops? However, thanks to the two guys, Old Salted Fish and Monk Canghai, the court is now very accepting of overseas crops, which means that it is impossible for people to prove that they are not Ming people through these simple things.
As for the setting of strange clothes, that is even more impossible. You claim to be tracing your roots, but do you have the nerve to wear native clothes when you go ashore?
Under normal circumstances, the emperor would have praised Zhang Shou for his sharpness, but he was in no mood to do so at this moment. He glanced at Chu Kuan and saw that he was hesitant to speak, so he simply said to Hua Qi: "Tell Zhang Shou what kind of evidence these guys have produced!"
"Among them is a piece of calligraphy written by Taizu himself." After saying these words, Hua Qi saw that Zhang Shou's expression was indeed a little subtle. He knew that Zhang Shou felt that this kind of thing was nothing to worry about, so he sighed helplessly, "Don't think this is making a fuss over nothing. There are indeed many authentic works of Taizu in the world. However, this piece of calligraphy has content."
"It says that when Taizu drifted there, he was temporarily unable to return because of a shipwreck. Although he had enough craftsmen on board and there was also local wood, he encountered natives and fought a battle, followed by several more battles. Because the natives were belligerent, he had to subdue a native tribe, and then he went on to fight in all directions..."
Zhang Shou couldn't help but interrupt, "This is somewhat similar to what Lao Xianyu about the stone tablet he found in Haidong Continent. It's not that I'm suspicious, Taizu's handwriting can also be forged."
The emperor looked at Zhang Shou with even more satisfaction - no matter which emperor it was, he would be extremely satisfied with his subjects who insisted on orthodoxy. He waved his hand to signal Chu Kuan and Hua Qi to stop talking, and then he said word by word: "They also brought back the magic bow that Emperor Taizu had back then."
Zhang Shou's expression almost froze. The rumor that Taizu was the best archer in the world was still circulating until now, but he knew the trick behind it, because the man who was a rapid shooter at the beginning mentioned in his treasured handwritten note that there were spare bowstrings, but not enough special arrows. Could it be that this antique could really be preserved?
