Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 1086 Tribute
After Wang Fuzhi's guidance, Zheng Hongkui finally put aside his worries. Although he would not know what happened in the end until he returned to the capital and met the emperor, the situations along the way did prove what Wang Fuzhi had said. Whether the ship first arrived in Guangzhou, then went to Xiamen and Fuzhou, or continued to go north, local officials at all levels, including the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi Xiong Wencan and the Governor-General of Fujian and Zhejiang Hong Chengchou, were all courteous to Wang Fuzhi and Zheng Hongkui, and they were amazed at their successful return from a three-year and thousands of miles mission to Europe.

This made Zheng Hongkui's remaining worries disappear. If the emperor really wanted to punish him, neither Xiong Wencan nor Hong Chengchou would treat him with such courtesy. They would have sent people to arrest him directly. How could they be so polite?

With the facts in front of him, Zheng Hongkui was completely relieved, and at this time he also heard from other people how Zheng Zhilong fell. When he learned about what Zheng Zhilong had done, especially Zheng Zhibao's audacity, Zheng Hongkui couldn't help but sigh that these two guys were simply looking for death! In one sentence, it can be described as greed and greed, and death is not a pity.

But even so, the emperor did not kill Zheng Zhilong, but only took away his military power and official position and sent him to the capital for custody. Even his title was still retained, and Zheng Zhilong's wife and children were not implicated, including his eldest son Zheng Sen, who was still able to continue studying as a student in the Imperial College.

However, Zheng Zhibao was not so lucky. Although he was spared in the end, he was pardoned for a capital crime but not for a living crime. He was imprisoned and suffered, and it was unclear whether he would be released in the future.

Because of Zheng Zhilong, Zheng Hongkui did not go ashore after arriving in Fujian with the fleet, and did not meet anyone from the Zheng Group, showing an attitude of avoiding suspicion. Hong Chengchou privately praised his attitude and personally visited Zheng Hongkui at the dock to board the ship. The two had a very pleasant conversation.

As the fleet arrived in Ming Dynasty, Charles II finally set foot on Ming Dynasty land and saw the mysterious country in the East that had been praised by Europe for thousands of years.

The power and wealth of the Ming Dynasty had only been heard of, but when he saw it with his own eyes, even the prepared Charles II was shocked by what he saw.

Charles II was shocked when the fleet arrived in Guangzhou and saw the magnificent city of Guangzhou and the crowds of people everywhere. In his opinion, Guangzhou alone was larger than any city he had seen in Europe, and the population was completely incomparable. Pedestrians shuttled through the streets, and the sounds of shops and hawking could be heard everywhere. The shops were full of all kinds of goods, and people wearing gorgeous silk could be seen everywhere, walking, riding in cars or sedan chairs. Even ordinary people, judging from their complexion and clothing, were much better than those in Europe.

Especially when Charles II learned about the population of Guangzhou, he was almost shocked. This reaction was almost the same as when Adolf came to Ming Dynasty. Moreover, several years had passed since Adolf came to Ming Dynasty. Now Ming Dynasty has become more prosperous than before because of the recovery after the war. This gave Charles II a greater shock.

But this was just the beginning. After leaving Guangzhou, Charles II passed through port cities such as Xiamen, Quanzhou and Fuzhou. The larger and more populous cities he saw shocked him again and again. In the end, he was almost numb and could only keep muttering "Oh God!" He had no other ideas.

The route was slightly different from the one Adolf took when he came to Ming Dynasty. Because it was an diplomatic mission, their ships could go directly north without having to go to Nanjing via the Yangtze River and then go north to the capital via the Grand Canal.

Moreover, as the former admiral of the Shandong Navy, Zheng Hongkui was extremely familiar with the route to the north. He took over the command of the fleet after the fleet arrived in Ming Dynasty, sailed up the coast all the way, and finally arrived at the Shandong Peninsula. After arriving in Shandong, looking at the familiar place so close, Zheng Hongkui couldn't help feeling a little emotional.

Currently, Qingdao in the southeast of Shandong Peninsula has been designated as a trading port, but the current Qingdao is not as complete as Leiden. Due to the huge scale of Europa's ships, it is inconvenient to dock at the Qingdao port, which has not yet been fully formed, so they went straight around the Shandong Peninsula and went ashore in Leiden.

After arriving at Laiden, under the command of the navigator sent by the Beiyang Navy, the ship gradually approached the dock of Laizhou. After the ship docked, Zheng Hongkui, who had returned to his hometown, was the first to disembark. As soon as he stepped down from the gangplank, he heard a familiar voice calling his name not far away. Looking up, he saw two old friends smiling at him not far away.

"Li You! Li Xin!"

How could Zheng Hongkui not recognize these two people? Wasn't the young general in military uniform his old partner Li You? And the one next to him in the uniform of a second-rank civil official was Li Xin, the governor of Shandong.

"Brother Rijian, we haven't seen each other for many years. You are finally back!" The two men walked quickly forward, and their warm greetings were heard before they arrived.

"Two Brothers Li..." Zheng Hongkui was a little excited. It had been three years since he left. Li You's appearance had not changed much, but his expression had become more calm and dignified. As for Li Xin, it goes without saying that this Lord Li was both civil and military. They had cooperated a lot in Shandong and had a deep friendship.

"It's good that you're back, it's good that you're back!" Li You stepped forward and grabbed Zheng Hongkui's arms. He looked him up and down, grinning and nodding.

"You've worked hard on the journey, Rijian. Knowing that you'll arrive in Hong Kong today, General Li and I have already made arrangements and have come to pick you up." Li Xin's beard, which he had broken back then, has now grown longer, and he looks less like a warrior and more like a civil servant. After all, he is the governor of Shandong, not a military general.

As they were talking, Wang Fuzhi and others also got off the boat and came to the dock. Zheng Hongkui hurriedly introduced Wang Fuzhi's identity to them. Although it was the first time for the two to meet Wang Fuzhi, they already knew his name and identity, and the two sides were very enthusiastic when they met. Then, Li Xin said that he had already set up a banquet in his mansion, and since he had arrived in Shandong, it was like being at home. Today he would welcome everyone, and then take a day off, and he would arrange a carriage to take them to the capital the day after tomorrow.

Since Li Xin had already made the arrangements, they naturally could not refuse. Wang Fuzhi and Zheng Hongkui smiled and readily agreed, but at this time, Charles II came over and secretly looked at Li You and Li Xin with a curious look.

Seeing Charles II, who looked like a different countryman, Li You couldn't help but look at him a few more times. At this time, Charles II grinned at him, waved at them, and greeted them in a strange tone, saying "Hello!"

"Hahaha! This guy is quite interesting. He can actually speak the official language of the Ming Dynasty." Li You was stunned and couldn't help laughing immediately, and joked to Zheng Hongkui.

Zheng Hongkui looked back at Charles II. Although this guy understood what Li You said, he was not annoyed at all. Instead, he smiled in a familiar manner and looked very interested.

"He followed us all the way back. I learned a lot of Ming Dynasty Mandarin. Although he doesn't speak very fluently, I can still understand him."

"Oh, it seems that this yellow-haired barbarian is not stupid." Li You lowered his voice and laughed, then asked: "Is this man the slave that Brother Rijian bought in Europe? Brother Rijian is really interested, why didn't he bring back some European women? I heard that European women are very charming, why did you buy a man?"

"Don't talk nonsense, this is not a slave!" Zheng Hongkui quickly interrupted the other party and told Li You the identity of Charles II in a low voice.

When Li You learned that this young European man with strange clothes and strange accent was actually the king of a European country, Li You was stunned. He never thought that a European king would follow the Ming Dynasty delegation to the Ming Dynasty. It was unbelievable!

"Charles is not really a king. He is the eldest son of the previous British king. However, there was a war in the country and the previous king was executed by the rebels. Although he has the title of king, he was actually exiled by his country's ruler. He has been wandering around Europe for many years. This time when we went to Europe, we happened to meet him. He didn't have anywhere to go in Europe, so he followed us back to Ming Dynasty."

"Oh, by the way, he didn't come alone, he also came with his wife. His wife is not an ordinary person either, she is a princess from a European country, Portugal, which is what we in the Ming Dynasty call the Portuguese. The Portuguese people living in Macau are the people of that country."

After listening to Zheng Hongkui's explanation, Li You was stunned, while Li Xin's eyes suddenly lit up.

"Brother Rijian, you just said that this Charles is the king of a European country? His wife is a princess of another country? Is it true?"

"Of course it's true. How can it be fake? Brother Nong also knows about this. Moreover, I am only the deputy envoy, and Brother Nong is the chief envoy. If it weren't for Charles' special status and some other reasons, I wouldn't have brought him to my Ming Dynasty."

"This is no small matter!" Li Xin suddenly became excited. He quickly asked Wang Fuzhi to come over, and then the four of them walked aside and started talking.

Li Xin said that since the identities of Charles II and his wife were not ordinary, it would be fine if they didn't know about it, but now that they knew about it, it was no small matter. As the monarch of a European country and the princess of another country, the couple came to the Ming Dynasty. Isn't this the behavior of the monarch of a foreign vassal state coming to pay homage to the emperor of the Ming Dynasty?

During the Yongle reign, Zheng He's fleet sailed to the West. When they returned to the Ming Dynasty, monarchs and envoys from the Southeast Asian countries followed the fleet to the Ming Dynasty. It was no exaggeration to say that "all nations came to pay tribute" at that time. This event was even recorded in history books. Now that Charles II and his wife are in such a position, and as the king and princess of Europe, their status is much higher than that of the monarchs of small Southeast Asian countries, coming to the Ming Dynasty is equivalent to recreating the Yongle prosperity? Isn't this a trivial matter?
Hearing what Li Xin said, Wang Fuzhi suddenly came to his senses. He should have thought of it a long time ago, but because he had been in Europe for a long time, and many habits of Europeans were different from those of the Ming Dynasty, including differences in thinking, and Wang Fuzhi and his people had been familiar with Charles II for a long time, and usually did not treat him as a real king, so he ignored this matter.

A foreign vassal came to pay tribute, and the king and his wife came in person, and Charles II's wife was a Portuguese princess, so there was a lot to be done. Although the Ming Dynasty had been revived, it was still far from the level of the Yongle era. If we publicize this matter, it would not only be of great benefit to the Ming Dynasty, but also please the emperor and make it known to the world. Why not do it?

(End of this chapter)