India was a country that was well-known in the surrounding area due to the prevalence of Buddhism, and its national strength was also quite powerful.
The distance between it and the Ming Dynasty wasn't too far. In fact, they were practically next to each other.
Zhu Yunwen was naturally very knowledgeable about this country.
When the ship docked at the coast of India, the King of India received the news and even came to pick up Zhu Yunwen in person.
Because Zhu Yunwen represented the emperor of the Celestial Empire and the entire Celestial Empire, India took him quite seriously.
India was also very well-known in the Ming Dynasty, mainly because of Buddhism. After all, Buddhism in the Ming Dynasty was introduced from India, and there was a story of the eminent monk Xuanzang traveling to India to obtain Buddhist scriptures during the Tang Dynasty.
All these factors combined led to India gaining considerable fame in the Ming Dynasty.
Not long after Zhu Yunwen disembarked, the King of India came to the seaside to personally welcome him.
In India, the class system was even more rigorous than in the Ming Dynasty. Their class system was determined by surname, somewhat similar to a noble system.
When Zhu Yunwen saw the king of India, he smiled and said:
"As a relatively large country in the southwest, India should also be willing to open up a trade route, right?"
He was very direct, and the King of India immediately smiled and said:
"What His Highness the Crown Prince of the Great Ming is quite right. I have long heard that the Great Ming is opening up a new Maritime Silk Road and have long been very interested in it."
However, most of the trade between India and the Ming Dynasty was conducted overland, and the routes were relatively shorter.
Therefore, this sea voyage seems unnecessary.
Zhu Yunwen thought about it carefully, then nodded and said:
"That's true. Although both countries are coastal, we share land borders, so we don't really need to go through the trouble of taking the sea route. However, as far as I know, there isn't much trade between our two countries on land."
Now that I am here, let's take this opportunity to have a proper discussion about this matter. If we can reach an agreement, it will benefit both countries.
The King of Tianzhu nodded repeatedly, then gestured for Zhu Yunwen to enter the royal city and palace.
Zhu Yunwen naturally didn't stand on ceremony and prepared to go along.
At this moment, some people from India brought in several elephants, and the King of India said:
"Grandson of the Ming Dynasty, please ride the white elephant."
Zhu Yunwen smiled wryly. It was his first time riding an elephant, but it seemed that elephants were the primary mode of transportation in this country, so he couldn't really say anything.
So he and Zhao Qingzhu sat on one elephant, and Ma Sanbao then sat on another elephant.
Then, together with the King of India, they marched in a grand procession towards the royal city.
Along the way, Zhu Yunwen saw many people and learned about their lives in India. Overall, they were relatively backward.
Of course, this is in comparison to the Ming Dynasty. Compared to other countries, it is much better.
The local people are relatively hardworking; you can often see them working along the way.
Similarly, this place is rich in fruits, and Zhu Yunwen felt that Southeast Asia and the countries in the southwest region had a natural advantage in the fruit industry.
Many tropical fruits can be grown there.
Upon entering the Indian palace, Zhu Yunwen addressed the Indian king, saying:
"I see that your country has a great variety of fruits, and the cultivation techniques are quite good. I think these fruits can be sold in large quantities to our Great Ming Dynasty, and the people of our Great Ming Dynasty will surely like them very much and be happy to accept them."
Upon hearing Zhu Yunwen's words, the King of Tianzhu immediately replied with a smile:
"To be honest, Your Highness, our Tianzhu (India) does indeed have a variety of fruits that grow very well. Every year, the people have more than enough fruit to eat. However, while there is an abundance of fruit, there are indeed shortcomings in agriculture."
Most of the time, people don't have enough to eat. Fortunately, fruit makes up for this, but eating fruit all the time isn't a good solution.
If these fruits could be exported in large quantities and sold to the Ming Dynasty to earn money to buy grain, that would indeed be a good thing.
Zhu Yunwen smiled and nodded, then said:
"In that case, let's make this fruit a project for our collaboration."
The reason Zhu Yunwen raised this point was that he felt most of the people of the Ming Dynasty were not short of money, and it would be a good thing if they could have more delicious fruits to eat.
It's not that the Ming Dynasty lacked fruit, but due to its geographical location, some areas couldn't grow good fruit. Only areas closer to the south were better suited for fruit cultivation.
Since they're available in India, it would be a real shame not to buy them and enjoy them.
Furthermore, this is also the first step for Zhu Yunwen in conducting business, to let the other party realize that there are benefits before cooperating.
Later, Zhu Yunwen will definitely make him realize that the real benefits will definitely come from the Ming Dynasty.
After all, judging from the current situation, it seems that India can only offer fruit.
Fruit is something to be enjoyed, something that people feel they can buy for practical purposes once they have a certain amount of money.
It is not a necessity, at least not in the current social context.
Food, daily necessities, and all sorts of items related to clothing, food, shelter, and transportation are what can be considered necessities and important things.
And all these things existed in the Ming Dynasty.
Relatively speaking, is fruit more important than grain? Of course, it's obvious that grain is more important.
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