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

Chapter 1087 The prosperous age
"The King of England? The Princess of Portugal? Good fellow!"

On the second day after the delegation's ship arrived in Laizhou, Zhu Shenzui in the capital received a memorial delivered by an express horse from Li Xin, the governor of Shandong.

This memorial not only reported the return of the mission to Europe, but also specifically explained the situation of Charles II and his wife who came to the Ming Dynasty with the mission. In addition, Li Xin said that the foreign vassal kings came to the Ming Dynasty from afar, which was no small matter. The Ming Dynasty was now thriving and had a revival. At this time, the King of England and the Portuguese princess and their wife arrived in the Ming Dynasty to pay tribute. Doesn't this prove that the Ming Dynasty will soon reappear the Yongle prosperity? All nations come to pay tribute?

Li Xin said in his memorial that he had originally planned to send someone to escort the delegation to Beijing the next day, but for this reason he felt that the previous arrangement was not appropriate. Since Charles II and his wife were added to the delegation, the previous arrangement was no longer suitable.

Li Xin reported the matter to the emperor and suggested that the court should send suitable officials to Shandong immediately to welcome him. All etiquette should be carried out in accordance with the highest level of tribute from foreign vassal states. The court should also publicize this matter widely, as it would be a good thing for the Ming Dynasty.

After reading Li Xin's memorial, Zhu Shenzhu was surprised and agreed with Li Xin's suggestion. Li Xin was right. This was no small matter. The king and princess of Europe came to the Ming Dynasty. This was a big event. The Ming Dynasty not only had to receive them with the highest etiquette, but also publicize this matter to let everyone know that the Ming Dynasty was no longer the Ming Dynasty before. The Ming Dynasty would enter a prosperous era again and regain the prosperity of the Yongle period.

Publicity was necessary. How could Zhu Shencui miss this good opportunity? He immediately summoned Zhang Xijun, Qian Qianyi, and officials from the Honglu Temple to inform them of the matter and asked them to make preparations as soon as possible and immediately send people to Shandong to welcome Charles II and his wife and the delegation to Beijing.

In addition, although the Zongli Yamen had been set up, Zhang Xijun was extremely capable and completed the establishment of the Zongli Yamen in just a few months. With the assistance of the North and South China Navy, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Royal Bank, he had already devoted himself to the new work in accordance with Zhu Shenzhu's idea.

However, the Zongli Yamen was a new department after all, and Zhang Xijun could not take care of everything in such a short time no matter how capable he was. What he lacked most now was a capable and trustworthy assistant. For this reason, Zhang Xijun, with the support of the emperor, had transferred many officials from various ministries and promoted many low-level officials, but it was still short of manpower. The return of the delegation made Zhang Xijun happy and he set his sights on Wang Fuzhi, the main envoy, and specifically asked Zhu Shenzhu for this person.

Zhu Shenzhu naturally knew about Wang Fuzhi's situation, although he had not yet returned to the capital and had not had time to meet with Wang Fuzhi to inquire about the situation of the mission. However, the memorial sent by Li Xin also mentioned the results of the mission to Europe and informed the mission that the mission had completed its mission in Europe and returned successfully.

Just for this reason, Wang Fuzhi has made great contributions. Such a capable minister will definitely be reused in the future! Moreover, Wang Fuzhi was sent to Europe as an envoy, and he was very familiar with the situation of European countries. With his three years of experience, he can be said to be the most suitable talent in diplomacy.

After the establishment of the Zongli Yamen, it was responsible for a considerable amount of diplomatic work within its scope of authority. However, there were not many people in the Ming Dynasty who were truly capable of doing these jobs. Even though Zhang Xijun was very capable, he had never been to Europe, let alone dealt with European countries.

So when Zhang Xijun asked for Wang Fuzhi, Zhu Shenzhui thought it was a good arrangement. Before Wang Fuzhi was sent on a diplomatic mission, he was only a seventh-rank editor in the Hanlin Academy. Because he was the chief envoy, he was specially promoted to a sixth-rank Hanlin Academy reader, and then entered the Zhanshi Mansion to serve as the left scholar. In addition, the emperor appointed Wang Fuzhi as the deputy minister of the Ministry of Rites and the minister of Fengyi. From these, it can be seen that Wang Fuzhi's highest official rank when he was the chief envoy was only the fifth rank. He was on a diplomatic mission for three years and successfully completed his mission and returned to the Ming Dynasty. With his merits, he must be promoted.

According to normal promotion, even if the emperor promoted him extra, Wang Fuzhi could only be promoted to the fourth rank at most. Moreover, Zhu Shenzui had not had time to consider where Wang Fuzhi would be appointed after the promotion.

Since Zhang Xijun had taken a fancy to Wang Fuzhi and wanted to make use of him anyway, it was most appropriate for him to go to the Zongli Yamen. Zhu Shenzhui immediately decided to promote Wang Fuzhi after he reported on his work and arranged him to work in the Zongli Yamen. Currently, there were no suitable candidates for the two assistant minister positions in the Zongli Yamen. If they were assistant ministers of the six ministries, they must be of the third rank. However, the Zongli Yamen was a newly established yamen. Although the assistant ministers of the Zongli Yamen were also called assistant ministers, they were not as good as the six ministries at present. With Wang Fuzhi's rank and ability, it was no problem for him to serve as the assistant minister of the Zongli Yamen.

He handed the matter over to the Zongli Yamen, the Ministry of Rites and the Honglu Temple. After Zhang Xijun and others said goodbye and left, Zhu Shenzhu once again looked at the memorial sent by Li Xin on express horse.

When his eyes fell on the name of Charles II, the corners of his mouth could not help but curl up. Zhu Shenzhu was not unfamiliar with the name of Charles II. It was very simple to say how he knew this person. It was mainly because Charles II's father, Charles I, was the only king in British history who was beheaded, and after his death, Cromwell, as the Lord Protector, was in charge of British politics for a long time. This history was an extremely important historical event in Europe, and it also had a long chapter in the history books of middle schools in later generations. Zhu Shenzhu, who had undergone compulsory education, certainly learned this history in his previous life and knew who Charles I and Cromwell were who were beheaded. But he didn't know much about Charles II, because he was only mentioned twice in the history textbook. However, there was another more famous Charles in Britain in later generations, or "Charles", who was known as the longest-standing prince in human history. His whole life was shrouded in the shadow of his mother, the old lady named Elizabeth.

Even for a long time, many people thought that the prince might not have the chance to become king, because the old lady was so long-lived that it seemed that she could stay on the throne forever. But in the end, the prince who had been waiting for 71 years finally lived until the day when the old lady died. At the age of 74, he finally became the King of England and was called Charles III.

Because of him, Zhu Shenzui specifically looked up the information of the three Charles, from which he learned some information about Charles II. He also knew that shortly after Cromwell's death, the British king who had been exiled in Europe for many years finally had the opportunity to be welcomed back to the country and was officially crowned and ascended the throne.

However, the reason why Charles II was able to return to England and become the real king was not only because the British people wanted him to be king after Cromwell's death, but also because of the great help from France at that time. Moreover, after Charles II became king, he was always controlled by France due to its manipulation and interference. Although he used many political means to try to solve this problem during his reign, he never achieved very good results.

In desperation, Charles II was also a ruthless man. After his death, he did not pass the throne to his son, but instead passed it to his younger brother James II, completely cutting off the subsequent influence of France on the British royal family, which also directly changed the subsequent political landscape of Britain.

Zhu Shenzhu knew only these things about Charles II, and he did not know anything else. But now no one expected that Charles II would come to the Ming Dynasty, which had never happened before. Because Zhu Shenzhu sent an embassy to Europe, the situation changed. Charles II, who was supposed to return to England soon after his marriage in Portugal, continued to live in exile in European countries to seek help from the royal families of various countries. In the end, France invested in Charles II politically because of the political turmoil in Britain after Cromwell's death, and sent troops to help him return to England and become king. It was also for this reason that Charles II began to be controlled by France, and now everything is completely different from history.

"The British Empire... hehe..." Zhu Shenzhui couldn't help but sigh. The name of this country cannot be avoided in China's modern history, and even in world history.

The British Empire, known as the empire on which the sun never sets, was the most powerful country in the world in the 19th century. Even though its influence declined after World War I and World War II, it is still one of the world's most powerful countries in the 21st century and its strength is not to be underestimated.

And now, the King of England, the future king of this powerful empire, has actually come to Ming Dynasty from Europe, and is about to come to the capital for an audience. How could this not make Zhu Shencui feel like he is in a dream?
At this moment, Zhu Shenzhu was looking forward to the day when he would meet Charles II, and planned to have a good talk with him to see what kind of person this person who left a mark in Western history was like. In addition, Zhu Shenzhu also had some ideas about the country of Britain. After he decided to confer titles on the royal family, including the princes of the royal family, the Ming Dynasty would inevitably explore the New World.

The New World today is not the New World of a hundred years later. Currently, the European countries occupy only the eastern region of the New World.

The southern part of the New World, that is, the future Central and South America, was first reached by Spain, the Netherlands, Portugal and other old powers of the Age of Discovery. Because the climate and soil of Central and South America are more suitable for farming, coupled with rich mineral resources, these countries took the lead in obtaining the most fertile land.

In the later United States and Canada, Spain only occupied a small part, while the land in the north along the east coast was occupied by Britain and France respectively. These countries have established a firm foothold in the New World and have been constantly immigrating and exploring for nearly a hundred years, but in the central and western regions, neither the former nor the latter has developed in this direction.

Compared with other countries, Britain's power in the New World can be said to be the weakest at present. This is mainly because Britain not only came late, but also because of the previous domestic unrest in Britain. France, as a traditional European power, is relatively much stronger in the New World. Although the two countries' territories in the New World do not border each other, they will inevitably come together as time goes by, and war will definitely break out for the sake of interests.

Forming an alliance with the weak Britain and winning over the future king can not only affect the political situation in Europe, but also bring in a potential ally for Ming Dynasty to open up the New World. This is a very good opportunity for Ming Dynasty at present. As for the future prosperity and crazy external expansion of Britain, Zhu Shenzhu is not worried. No matter from which point of view, the foundation of Ming Dynasty is incomparable to that of small Britain. With Ming Dynasty, it is still unclear who will be the real empire on which the sun never sets in the future.

(End of this chapter)