Chapter 14: Lang Tao Sha Order (Part 4)
While his caravan was still there, Lu Ning looked around the capital and rented a small courtyard for himself. The reason was simple: Lu Ning was worried that his daily martial arts practice would affect others. Even if it cost a little more money, it was better than getting into conflict with other tenants.
She doesn't need that money anyway.
The other members of the caravan helped Lu Ning buy some basic furniture and supplies, gave her many instructions, and then said goodbye to Lu Ning and returned to Gansu with the various gifts she had chosen for her future sister-in-law.
Lu Ning's initial curiosity about the capital city also turned into normalcy, and he continued to practice martial arts and review his lessons every day as usual.
At the beginning of February in the sixth year of Xizai, the Spring Examination was officially held. It lasted for several days and the capital was more lively than before.
For most candidates, the spring examination is over and they can take a break from their years of hard study and have the leisure to stroll around the capital.
Of course, there are also a small number of people who are still concentrating on preparing for the palace examination, and Lu Ning is one of them.
Fortunately, Wang Xinglan was there to teach him, and Wang Yue had also given him some guidance before, so Lu Ning's palace examination went smoothly and he was selected as the third place.
Ma Yuzhen, who was taught by Wang Yue before, was a top scholar, so Lu Ning's third place was not very eye-catching. However, it was rumored that the third place was given to people with outstanding appearance. Lu Ning was the first woman to be the third place. In addition, she was still young, only 20 years old this year, and she was already a martial arts third place. Therefore, she was quite conspicuous, and her popularity was no less than that of the previous top and second place scholars.
After the rankings were announced, no matter they were Jinshi or other categories, the selected candidates had to express their gratitude, attend the banquet of grace and honor, and worship at the Confucius Temple. There were about 160 civil Jinshi and military Jinshi selected, and there were about 100 qualified candidates in each of the other categories.
As there were so many people taking the imperial examinations over the years, the banquet of grace and honor could no longer be held all at once. Therefore, the civil and military Jinshi and the other six categories were divided into three banquets, each of which was held by the Ministry of Rites. After all the banquets were over, people would go to worship at the Confucius Temple.
After a series of activities are completed, those who have qualified only need to report on time and wait patiently for tasks to be assigned.
The top three in each subject will be directly assigned official positions. Surprisingly, especially the civil scholars, they often refer to the rules left by their ancestors and directly enter the Hanlin Academy to take up positions. After that, they will slowly accumulate qualifications. If they are lucky, they can enter the cabinet at around the age of 40. As long as they can continue to outlast those ahead of them, they will have the opportunity to serve as the chief minister of the cabinet.
But this time was quite different. The emperor ordered that the top three students in each subject could directly enter the Nanyang Academy, and the rest would enter the Nanyang Academy, Hanlin Academy and other places based on the assessment.
Thinking about what his aunt said, Lu Ning understood that the emperor indeed attached more importance to matters at sea.
Judging from the emperor's hurried look, there is a high probability that he wants to let this group of people go to sea with King Hui.
As expected, the people who taught them were King Hui Zhu Shuyuan and her husband Zhang Yu. Both of them had gone to sea many times. Zhu Shuyuan participated in the compilation of books at the Nanyang School, and Zhang Yu was an official in the astronomy department of the Academy of Sciences. They were both knowledgeable and experienced.
Even though there are now imperial examinations for royal family members, there are not many royal family members who are as knowledgeable as Zhu Shuyuan. After all, she is the daughter of Emperor Xianzong, the sister of the late emperor, and the aunt of the current emperor. She has studied with the late emperor since she was a child.
Fortunately, Lu Ning had learned a lot of knowledge about geography, astronomy, hydrology, etc. needed for marching and fighting from Wang Yue, so he was not in a very bad state. He even ranked among the top in several assessments. In comparison, others were not so lucky.
Some people, like Lu Ning, grew up in the inland and had never even seen the ocean, let alone mastering a large amount of knowledge in a short period of time. Only a few officials from Liaodong, Shandong, Nanzhili, Guangdong, Fujian and other places could accept it well.
"Xiao Lu."
"Hey." Lu Ning heard Zhu Shuyuan's voice and quickly turned around and saluted, saying, "Your Highness, I pay my respects to you."
After spending some time together, Lu Ning had gotten used to the fact that King Hui was not arrogant. Compared to the vassal kings, she was a bit like Lu Ning's mother. Except when she was teaching, she was very kind on weekdays and could be described as "kind" to them, her students.
"Why are you being so polite?" Zhu Shuyuan said with a smile, "Tomorrow, the ten of you will come with me to the palace to pay homage to His Majesty."
Lu Ning was slightly stunned, and immediately said: "I understand."
It seems that the emperor has asked people to prepare everything, and soon after the meeting, he will let them follow Zhu Shuyuan to sea.
Seeing that she understood, Zhu Shuyuan reminded her, "Your family is in Gansu. Remember to write a letter back and tell your parents and family."
Lu Ning's mind had long since flown to the sea, and he hadn't thought about this. Upon hearing this, he hurriedly bowed and said, "Thank you, Your Highness, for reminding me. I almost forgot."
Zhu Shuyuan waved his hand and said, "It was the same when I first went to sea. If the late emperor hadn't reminded me, I would have forgotten to leave a letter for my mother and my mother."
Lu Ning was stunned for a moment, but soon understood who the mother and mother Zhu Shuyuan was referring to were.
However, she was still thinking about sending a letter home, so she didn't think too much about it. She began to think that she might be away for two or three years, and she had to let her parents feel at ease.
After the morning court session the next day, everyone who changed into their regular clothes was allowed to meet the emperor, including all the cabinet members. The chief minister Song Cuilian sat below the emperor, while cabinet ministers Qin Jiao, Li Dongyang, Lu Xi, Xie Qian and others stood beside them.
The Prime Minister Song Cuilian is nearly seventy years old. Although her hair is full of silver, she is still in good spirits and sits there with great dignity.
"Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you."
Seeing King Hui coming, the emperor, who had been sitting at the top reading the memorial, finally smiled and said, "King Hui is so polite. Li Banban, please show King Hui a seat."
"yes."
In this dynasty, there was a distinction between the emperor and his ministers. When discussing matters, even those in high positions like the Prime Minister had to stand and speak. It was not until the Yuanguang period that the precedent of setting up a seat next to the emperor was established, considering that the Prime Minister was often old. Later, important ministers of the emperor such as Yu Qian, Xu Yun, Shi Heng, and Wang Yue were occasionally given the honor of sitting.
In most cases, the royal family members sat down and talked. After all, the clan was small in number, and the relationships within the royal family were very close.
Zhu Shuyuan sat down calmly and said, "Your Majesty previously ordered these officials who had not yet taken up their posts to study with me at the Nanyang Academy. Now that they have begun to show some results, I am leading them to present this to Your Majesty for your review."
Lu Ning noticed the emperor's gaze sweeping lightly over them, and he stared closely at the floor tiles in front of him, not daring to make any unnecessary movements.
During the palace examination, she had seen the emperor several times, but she only caught a glimpse of the emperor's figure and had not even seen his face clearly. Although the distance was closer now, Lu Ning still did not dare to look at him any longer for fear of offending the emperor.
The emperor withdrew his gaze and said, "Very good. I have already ordered the Maritime Affairs Bureau and the six ministries to prepare. In seven days, you will depart for Shandong. Zhu Jianhuai, the crown prince of Prince Ji, will escort you. You will first conduct an inspection tour from Tsushima to Kyushu, and then proceed south to India."
Zhu Shuyuan immediately stood up and said, "I obey your order."
The emperor's tone was more amused. "You are too polite, Aunt. This time the journey is long, and the fleet still relies on you to lead it."
Now that he was closer to the emperor, Lu Ning could hear a hint of gentleness in her imperial majesty.
"I rely on your majesty's trust and bear a heavy responsibility, but I have devoted my heart and soul to my country and my family. How can I deserve the word 'dependence'?"
The emperor also ordered the cabinet to make sure all the supplies and personnel on the ship were properly arranged and handed over to King Hui and his officials for inspection. He also ordered officials along the route to be notified in a timely manner to pay attention to reception and supplies. Only after this was done did he let everyone leave.
After Zhu Shuyuan led everyone out, he saw that they all looked secretly relieved. He couldn't help but laugh and said, "You are officials in the court. You will have many opportunities to meet His Majesty in the future. What are you so nervous about?"
Everyone smiled and agreed, followed Zhu Shuyuan out of the palace, and then began to discuss their preparations for returning.
On the third day of April in the sixth year of Xizai, the main members of the fleet went to Shandong and departed from Dengzhou Port. According to the route planned by the emperor, they first took the entire fleet to patrol the sea near Shandong to deter Japan. Then they officially went south to the Jinghai Chengxuanzhengshisi for simple supplies, and then went to India along the old route.
They did encounter Japanese pirates and pirates on the way. The former ran away when they saw the Ming fleet. Lu Ning followed the navy's small warships to chase them, but only destroyed two of the ships in the end. The latter were easily let off.
Lu Ning was a little curious at first. According to national law, all these smugglers should be arrested.
It was the navy who told her that these smugglers were more vulnerable to being robbed by Japanese pirates, and they wanted these thieves and pirates dead more than anyone else. Over time, these people also had a certain combat effectiveness. Although the court did not "recruit" them, it also had connections with these people. The court's weapons were more powerful, but these civilians were more familiar with the Japanese pirates. The two sides cooperated with each other and could maintain calm in the Ming Dynasty's waters.
The entire journey to India took about two months. After spending so much time on the sea, he had only stepped on land for a few days. When Luning set foot on the land again, even though he could not understand what the local people were saying, he was still deeply moved.
Finally I can keep my feet on the ground!
Zhu Shuyuan noticed her little thoughts and was quite amused. "It's okay. I've had plenty of time to get familiar with it these past few years."
Lu Ning responded, watching the merchants doing business with the locals in a familiar manner. He couldn't help but sigh, "Although I heard that a lot of the national treasury's income depends on taxes from overseas merchants, this scene is even more lively than I imagined."
Zhu Shuyuan's face was filled with pride. She gazed at the bustling dock market and said, "Without my mother's decisiveness, how could we have the revived Ming Dynasty we know today?"
In addition to selling goods locally, everyone has another task, which is to inquire about the rumored foreign barbarians.
Coincidentally, the caravan learned about this from the locals. They said that when they were doing business, they heard that there was a fleet of foreigners in the south and they were exploring the local area along the way. After confirming the authenticity of the news, they told the Ming Dynasty.
The reason is very simple. Although the Ming Dynasty traded with India, it had no intention of occupying the local area.
It is difficult to say about these outsiders whom we have never met. For the common interests of all, they should of course be protected by the more powerful Ming Dynasty.
After briefly understanding the situation, Zhu Shuyuan began to have Lu Ning and others patrol the waters near the Indian port and build simple defensive fortresses.
Before, when he was in charge of the Jinghai Administration Commission, the Ming Dynasty had also gone to war with Malacca. Although Zhu Shuyuan had never eaten pork, he had seen pigs run. Regardless of whether they were locals or outsiders, both sides had to make more preparations when they did not know each other.
The Ming fleet also had official factories in India, and people from Jinghai came to deliver supplies regularly, so it was not difficult for it to stay in India for a year or two.
All they have to do is show their hospitality to those outsiders.
The reality did not disappoint their expectations. Less than a year later, in the spring of the seventh year of Xizai, they saw what the locals called "barbarians".
These people were dressed strangely and looked somewhat similar to the Yarkand merchants that Lu Ning had met in Gansu. Their accents were also very strange, no less than those of the local Indian people.
Before entering the port, the two sides confronted each other for a long time. After each side sent envoys to communicate with each other through simple body language, the two sides temporarily reached "peace".
Zhu Shuyuan was naturally extremely vigilant against these people and did not allow them to go ashore. Instead, he temporarily stopped them at the official factory built by the Ming fleet and sent people to patrol everywhere while trying to find out their intentions.
After about a month of communication, both parties understood what the other party meant.
The Ming Dynasty’s requirement was to conduct peaceful trade, but it was strictly forbidden for the other party to go ashore. Once discovered, the Ming Dynasty would directly declare war.
These barbarians hoped to conduct business exchanges with the locals, preferably obtaining some simple goods such as silk and tea, so that they could report back to their superiors.
Lu Ning immediately realized that the country of these red-haired curly-haired barbarians also had a structure similar to that of the Ming Dynasty, with a monarch and ministers, and these people were also imitating the large-scale maritime exploration and exchanges carried out during the Yuanguang period.
It seems that they are also interested in the "wealth" in other places, but they have not yet reaped as fruitful results as the Ming Dynasty.
After briefly sorting out this information, Lu Ning couldn't help but feel a chill on his back.
Fortunately, the Ming Dynasty had seized the opportunity before them, and it was also thanks to the fact that the current emperor is still very interested in the ocean.
Lu Ning had a vague feeling that the danger of these people was not as simple as it seemed.
"Xiao Lu, have you sorted out the information about the Portuguese?"
Lu Ning came back to his senses and asked in confusion, "The Portuguese? Your Highness, are you referring to those foreigners?"
Zhu Shuyuan nodded slightly, his face serious, and said, "Yes, I asked the translator, and from now on I will use 'Falangji' to refer to these barbarian countries."
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