Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 579: Tribute from the Western Barbarians

With the implementation of the reform of equalizing the land tax, the reform was progressing steadily and slowly in the court, except for some private letters between some gentry, which contained many slanders against the current emperor.

Wu Jinkun has long been portrayed as a cruel and evil official. As for Lu Ping, he is a lackey who would like to eat the hearts and livers of a pair of boys and girls raw every day.

However, such obscure propaganda did not form public opinion in various places. After all, the current Qian Dynasty is not comparable to the previous Ming Dynasty. Today's newspapers cover large-scale propaganda all day long, making the influence of gentry no longer as powerful as before to influence the court.

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Outside Tianjin Port, six Western ships were floating on the sea.

Look at the flags of these seven ships, two Portuguese, three Dutch and two Spanish.

There are many conflicts among countries at sea today, so it is an extremely rare phenomenon that the ships of these three countries can only gather together.

The reason why the three countries all came to the outside of Tianjin Port was mainly because Zheng’s increasing dominance at sea made them feel increasingly overwhelmed.

After Zheng Chenggong surrendered to the Qian Dynasty, although the Zheng family was still very powerful in Fujian, with the appointment of officials and the deployment of troops, Zheng Chenggong knew that if things continued like this, within 30 years, the Zheng family would find it difficult to influence Fujian.

Therefore, after the end of the Liao conquest campaign, Zheng Chenggong requested to return to Fujian. Once back in Fujian, Zheng Chenggong focused his main energy on building Luzon.

Once Zheng's power was placed in Luzon, it would inevitably affect the Dutch in Batavia.

Therefore, with the help of the Dutch Governor-General in Batavia, Rudolf Hofstra, these barbarians decided to bypass the hardliner Zheng Chenggong and contact directly with the ruler of the ancient Eastern empire.

Ru Hansuige believed that since Zheng Chenggong had submitted to the Qian Dynasty, the emperor of the Qian Dynasty must be able to command and control the Zheng family.

Moreover, after consulting a lot of information, Ru Hansuige felt that the emperors of the East were all very arrogant. As long as they were a little more humble and flattering, as long as they could make the Emperor of the Qian Dynasty happy, perhaps even Luzon could be given to them.

Therefore, Ru Hansui contacted Spain and Portugal, and asked Zheng to open the sea route in the name of paying tribute to the emperor of the Qian Dynasty.

This request was indeed something Zheng Chenggong could not refuse. Therefore, he sent a speedboat to report the news to the court while closely monitoring the foreign ships.

When this news reached the capital, the atmosphere in the court became extremely warm, making the court, which had been a little dull due to the Kong family incident some time ago, become joyous.

When the ministers heard this, they wrote letters to the emperor one after another, either saying that the prestige of our dynasty had spread far and wide, or that our dynasty ruled the world with benevolence and virtue, and that people from all directions came to pay tribute and all nations were submissive.

After a few days of excitement, Liu Xunchun advised in the court: "Now the Western Yi countries have come to pay tribute without hesitation, across the ocean, and with gifts. This shows that the prestige of our dynasty has shaken the world. This is because your majesty's virtue has benefited the people, and only then can such a grand event be possible."

Liu Xunchun then changed the subject and said that the court must return the favor with generous gifts to show the stability of our dynasty and the prosperity of the people. Many of the ministers agreed with Liu Xunchun's words.

For a moment, the court was filled with praises, as if the arrival of a few Western barbarians could prove the great prestige of the Qian Dynasty.

In fact, for an empire, there is nothing wrong with appropriate reciprocity, even if it means suffering a slight loss, as long as you are not made a sucker.

Although Meng Jun had no good feelings towards the arrival of several Western barbarians, especially the Dutch, Meng Jun had originally wanted to buy ships from the Dutch. As a result, the Dutch quoted him a sky-high price of 600,000 taels per ship, which was simply taking advantage of him. However, since these people had come all the way here, it would not hurt to hear about their purpose.

Following the imperial court's order, Tianjin Port allowed foreign ships to dock and equipped them with horse-drawn carriages to transport the treasures offered as tribute by the foreigners.

Officials at all levels in Tianjin watched with great interest as tribute after tribute was loaded, many of which were rare and precious items from the Central Plains.

The officials in charge of recording tribute and the people in charge of interpretation often had disputes over the names of tribute, which took a lot of time.

It was not until two days later that the list of tribute from the Western Barbarians was sent to the capital, and the tribute was brought into the capital along with the barbarians.

In the palace, Meng Jun looked at the long list and couldn't help laughing: "These barbarians bully the weak and fear the strong. They only know how to add icing on the cake, but never want to help in times of need."

After saying that, Meng Jun threw the list on the table and motioned Meng Bian to pick it up and have a look.

Meng Bian respectfully took out the list, and saw at the beginning: "Doruo velvet, 12 rolls of Japanese satin, 20 rolls of serge satin, and 34 rolls of Western cloth."

Meng Bian asked in confusion: "Your Majesty, what are these things? What is dolo velvet? Serge satin?"

Meng Jun said calmly: "It's a kind of wool fabric that can be used as a carpet."

Meng Bian said, "Oh!" and continued reading. "Six pieces of flowered banba, six pieces of flowered velvet, a gilded pavilion, two self-ringing clocks, two musical clocks, two wall clocks, six snuff bottle boxes, two sets of glass chessboards, two pearls, two strings of small pearl bracelets, and a gold-inlaid agate toothpick holder."

Then Meng Bian turned another page, and the following pages were all about glass paintings, hanging screen paintings, table screen paintings and the like, while the last page was about some spices, lacquerware, perfumes, enamels, paintings, gems, wine, medicines and so on.

Regardless of whether it is valuable or not, at least on the surface, Ru Han Sui Ge has put some thought into it.

Meng Bian closed the list, frowned, and asked, "Your Majesty, do you think these barbarians have evil intentions?"

Meng Jun said, "Some time ago, the Qingluan Guards reported that the Prince of Nan'an was secretly encouraging the people of Fujian to move to Luzon. They said that the Prince of Nan'an treated the migrants very well. For every family with three people, they were given 100 mu of land, enough food for two years, and silver. For a family with five people, the reward was doubled."

Meng Bian was a little puzzled and asked, "Yes, I asked Your Majesty at the beginning whether to secretly stop it. Your Majesty, didn't you say to let the Zheng family do what they want and even give them convenience? But what does this have to do with the tribute of the barbarians?"

"The Zheng family secretly encourages the people to migrate to Luzon, which means that the Zheng family has focused its energy on Luzon, and this makes the Portuguese in Batavia feel threatened. Ninety-nine percent of these foreigners come here for the Zheng family's affairs!" Meng Jun said confidently.

Meng Bian paused for a moment, and finally asked: "Your Majesty, did the Zheng family have any ill intentions in relocating the people?"

Meng Jun glanced at Meng Bian and said calmly, "As long as the Zheng family does not use tough means to relocate the people, I can turn a blind eye. As for ambition, when has this Nan'an County Prince not had ambition?"