Although Zhu Jinsong always preferred to cross the river by feeling the stones, after feeling the stones for so long, he didn't mind feeling the silly eagle.
Therefore, Zhu Jinsong had always intended to cultivate the Westerners, after all, if the silly eagle could do it, so could he, Zhu.
In Zhu Jinsong's plan, the cultivation of Westerners would only be implemented after dealing with the old dog Qian Long, because occupying only a corner of the empire meant that there were not many dogs to lead out, and the difficulty of cultivating Westerners would naturally increase infinitely.
However, Zhu Jinsong never imagined that Pierre, a cousin of Louis XVI, would be a pro-China enthusiast who brought his own supplies, and his symptoms were not light.
Pierre's praise for the Ming Dynasty even made Zhu Jinsong, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, blush in secret.
The common people of the Ming Dynasty had great trust in the government, which was rarely seen in the whole of Europe – this was the result of cracking down on corrupt gentry and clan forces, and for this, the Ming Dynasty had also seen many heads roll, but the newspapers did not mention it.
They did not impose any taxes on the common people, but instead continued to spend money on building roads, schools, and libraries – this was true, but the financial situation of the Ming Dynasty was by no means as relaxed as Pierre said, quite the opposite. Whenever money was needed, Liu Huaiwen, the head of the financial system, would curse loudly in the streets. Not only would the heads of all departments in the Ming Dynasty avoid Liu Huaiwen, but even Zhu Jinsong, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, did not want to see Liu Huaiwen, otherwise Liu Huaiwen would always ask Zhu Jinsong for money to buy cats.
This information, as long as you wanted, could be seen in their "Ming Daily" – only what Zhu Jinsong, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, wanted them to see, could they see.
The Emperor of the Ming Dynasty has only had one wife so far – he had been fighting non-stop since he crossed over, so when did he have time to select concubines?
Yes, similar things were what Zhu Jinsong wanted Pierre to see, but Zhu Jinsong did not expect that before Pierre saw these things, he had already landed himself on a stretcher.
Judging by Pierre's symptoms, there might be a large number of similar pro-China enthusiasts in the whole of Europe, and the Bourbon family, represented by Louis XVI, was likely the main force of European pro-China enthusiasm.
In response to this situation, the always helpful Emperor Zhu Jinsong immediately decided to increase the dosage for Pierre and these students who came to study in the Ming Dynasty.
If nothing else, the elaborate etiquette and rituals would definitely make these European nobles feel what it means to have "presence."
And European nobles liked to compare – French nobles created elaborate Chinese etiquette, what would the nobles of Ji... no, the nobles of England think? What would the nobles of Austria think?
Nobles, with their fiefs, money, and time, what else could they do but toss these meaningless things around?
It must be arranged.
...
Pierre not only put himself on a stretcher, but even wanted to stay in the ICU for a while – every time they arrived at a city in the Ming Dynasty, Pierre would take the French nobles to shop and buy crazily.
In order to let these "country bumpkins from the countryside" "broaden their horizons" in the Ming Dynasty, Pierre even specifically applied to the Ming Dynasty court, requesting that the Ming Dynasty allow him to take French nobles and students to the rural areas of the Ming Dynasty, so that they could see what life was like for the common people of the Ming Dynasty.
Then, these French nobles and students became "country bumpkins."
"There are so many people in the Ming country?"
"They can plan the fields so neatly?"
"They can build irrigation canals next to every piece of land?"
"God, how many steam engines has the Ming country manufactured? Why are there steam engines next to the wells in these villages? Are they planning to completely enter the steam engine era?"
Just as the group of bumpkins were exclaiming in amazement, Holbach and Diderot looked at each other.
Academician Holbach said in a low voice, "Watt!"
Academician Diderot understood and nodded, also saying in a low voice, "Yes, Watt's factory could not have manufactured so many steam engines, and even if it could, it could not have been transported to the Ming country in a short time. And according to Watt's personality, he would not have authorized the Ming country, so it is likely that the Ming country has infringed upon Watt's condenser patent."
Watt often sued others for infringing his patents, and even his assistant's experiment of using a steam engine to drive a passenger car did not receive his support. Even in his later years, Watt held an antagonistic attitude towards steam locomotives.
And whether it was Academician Holbach or Academician Diderot, although both of them were thorough pro-China enthusiasts, unlike the French nobles who stood with the royalty or capital, both of them knew that they were Frenchmen first, and then pro-China enthusiasts.
If the Ming Dynasty was similar to the previous Tatar Qing, or only slightly better than the Tatar Qing, then both of them would still be firm pro-China enthusiasts, tirelessly promoting the Chinese system to Europe.
However, the Ming Dynasty's "cheating" like bending the road to overtake made Academician Holbach and Academician Diderot feel threatened, even though this powerful Ming Dynasty was "France's best ally in the Far East."
Of course, it was impossible for France to directly turn against its ally, the Ming Dynasty, because having a strong ally was also a good thing for France.
But who knew what the descendants of those Anglo-Saxon bandits would do? Who knew if this European troublemaker would stir up trouble in the Far East?
At the very least, it was obvious that the Ming Dynasty had infringed upon Watt's patent, right?
It seemed perfectly reasonable for someone to come to the Ming Dynasty to seek justice?
However, upon further reflection, Academician Holbach and Academician Diderot gave up this almost absurd idea – France could not deploy large numbers of troops to the Far East, could the descendants of those Anglo-Saxon bandits deploy troops to the Far East?
Besides, what did England's patents have to do with the Ming Dynasty? France also did not seem to pay much attention to England's patents...
With a sigh, Academician Holbach could only say helplessly, "Forget it, let's not bother with what the Ming Dynasty and the descendants of those Anglo-Saxon bandits are doing."
"What we can do now is to urge Pierre to speed up and strive to get those two hundred students to study in the schools of the Ming Dynasty as soon as possible."
Academician Diderot also sighed and said, "Yes, this is almost the only way at present – after all, we originally wanted to promote the whole of Europe to learn from China. Although there have been some accidents now, the overall idea is not wrong."
It must be admitted that Pierre, who voluntarily walked into the ICU, set a good example for the French nobles. The remaining more than two hundred French nobles and French students voluntarily got into wheelchairs, and some even actively got onto stretchers.
For example, Maria, the sister of the French deficit Madame, Archduchess Luha Antoinette of Austria.
If a normal person were to offer to exchange land and be disliked, or seek marriage and be disliked, most normal people would feel embarrassed.
But Archduchess Luha Antoinette did not feel embarrassed. Instead, she felt that the Ming Empire and the Emperor of the Ming Empire were truly noble and superior, a thousand times better than the country bumpkins in Europe.
Archduchess Luha Antoinette began to think about how she could get a Ming household registration, and even began to learn the language, characters, and etiquette of the Ming Dynasty for this purpose.
Pierre was frightened by Luha Antoinette's madness.
This truly fulfilled Mr. Lu Xun's saying – once women go mad, there is no room for men.
However, the method by which Archduchess Luha Antoinette wanted to learn etiquette was somewhat incorrect.
Any noble with a normal brain who wanted to learn Ming Dynasty etiquette would definitely try to seek help from the Ming Dynasty government immediately. However, Archduchess Luha Antoinette's first thought was to find places with many women and learn etiquette among women from Ming women.
So the question arises.
Where in the Ming Dynasty would there be a concentration of women?
There were three possible answers: one was the Ming Dynasty's women's social schools, another was the women in the streets and villages, and the third was... brothels.
First of all, the women's social schools were for elementary school girls, and they definitely had nothing in common with Archduchess Luha Antoinette.
Secondly, the women in the streets and villages would only regard Archduchess Luha Antoinette as a yellow-haired, blue-eyed monster when they first saw her. It would be good enough if they didn't gossip about her, so how could they get along with her?
Therefore, Archduchess Luha Antoinette had only one remaining good place to learn.
Brothels.
Pierre was almost driven mad by Archduchess Luha Antoinette's choice.
How could a woman like you enter a brothel in the Ming Dynasty? Are you out of your mind?
After much persuasion, Pierre finally managed to dissuade the frantic Archduchess Luha Antoinette. Pierre decided not to let these "country bumpkins" broaden their horizons anymore, but planned to take them to Jinan Prefecture quickly.
Otherwise, who knew what Archduchess Luha Antoinette and those nobles with money and time would do.
Coincidentally, Emperor Zhu Jinsong of the Ming Dynasty thought the same way. The two parties hit it off, and the speed of Pierre and others' journey immediately increased.
However, before Pierre and the others could reach Jinan Prefecture, Zhu Jinsong received news that was both expected and unexpected.
As the plan proposed by Zhu Zhongqu of Zhejiang and his Tai Shis and Dukes to attack the Ming Dynasty universally failed, Bai Ziqi, who had declared himself the Governor-General of Liangguang of the Ming Dynasty, also fled with his five thousand elite troops, taking with him the entire family of Li Weiqi, the eldest grandson of the former King of Annan, Li Wei, who was staying in Guangxi.
Then, Bai Ziqi, in his capacity as the Governor-General of Liangguang of the Ming Dynasty, led his troops into Annan under the banner of restoring the Li family.
As expected, the Annan rebel Ruan Hue also sent someone to the camp of Bai Ziqi's army, humbly begging for surrender, and then, after Bai Ziqi temporarily lowered his guard, launched an attack on Bai Ziqi's camp with elephants carrying cannons.
Of course, Zhu Jinsong, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, did not care about the love-hate relationship between Bai Ziqi, Li Weiqi, and Ruan Hue.
What Zhu Jinsong cared about was that Ruan Phuc Anh finally sent envoys to the Ming Dynasty, requesting Zhu Jinsong, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, to adjudicate for him – for example, to abolish the enfeoffment of the impostor Li Weiqi, to enfeoff him, Ruan Phuc Anh, as the King of Annan, and to send troops to eliminate the rebels Ruan Yue, Ruan Hue, and Ruan Lu, the leaders of the Western Mountain Army.
In return, Nan'an was willing to be a southern vassal of the Ming Dynasty forever, paying tribute every year without interruption.
Zhu Jinsong had already expected this news because Louis XVI and Pierre, a first-class pro-China enthusiast, had already sent word.
What Zhu Jinsong did not expect was that Ruan Phuc Anh's train of thought was somewhat abnormal – he dared to send people to request enfeoffment and aid without first inquiring about the situation in the Ming Dynasty?
Does His Majesty, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, look easy to fool?
PS: By the authority of the Emperor, entrusted by Heaven, it is decreed: We command all our silly netizens to have a happy new year, and you shall heed this decree!