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

Chapter 969 Wang Fuzhi

"What? Zheng Qing doesn't want to?" Seeing that Zheng Hongkui was stunned but didn't answer, Zhu Shenzhui's tone was a little bad.

"No, no, no... It's not that I don't want to, but I was really surprised and couldn't react for a while..." Zheng Hongkui replied quickly.

Zhu Shenzhui's tone softened after hearing this, and he nodded slightly, saying, "This is a big deal. If I really didn't have a suitable candidate, I wouldn't have let Zheng Qing go. Zheng Qing has done a good job in the Shandong Navy in recent years, and I am very satisfied with him."

"Your Majesty, I am deeply terrified by your evaluation of me..."

Waving his hand, Zhu Shenzhui continued, "Sending an envoy to Europe is our national policy, not only for diplomatic reasons, but also for military and other considerations. Zheng Qing also said just now that our Ming Dynasty is far inferior to Europe in the manufacture of warships. If this situation does not change, won't our Ming Dynasty always be suppressed by the warships of European countries in the future?"

"How can the great Ming Dynasty be content to be under someone like that? Zheng Qing is the admiral of the Shandong Navy and is proficient in naval warfare, and he knows the importance of it. I have already reached an agreement with the European envoys, and they are willing to provide shipbuilding technology and send craftsmen to the Ming Dynasty to assist the Ming Dynasty in shipbuilding. This matter will be specifically handled by the officials of the Ministry of Works who are on the mission, but I do not trust these officials, so I need to send a trusted and reliable minister. After thinking about it, I think it would be more appropriate to let Zheng Qing go."

"With your ability, Mr. Zheng, you should be able to do this for me. In addition, please take a good look at Europe for me and see what the situation is like in Western countries. The current situation is different from the past. European countries rely on their maritime advantages to travel all over the world. We must be on guard! Although the journey is far and takes a long time, it will be worth it for the Ming Dynasty if we can understand the root cause."

"Since it is not the right time to go south on the trade route, let's put it aside for now. Zheng Qing's position as the admiral of the Shandong Navy will still be reserved for you. During your trip to Europe, the navy can be temporarily managed by someone else. Judging from the current situation of the Shandong Navy, the problem is not too big. When Zheng Qing comes back, I will definitely be of great use to him. Zheng Qing, please don't let me down!"

Zhu Shenzui praised Zheng Hongkui in a series of compliments. Zheng Hongkui's blood boiled after hearing these words, especially when Zhu Shenzui directly regarded him, Zheng Hongkui, as his trusted minister, which made his blood rush to his head and made him want to die for his friend.

Strike while the iron is hot, Zhu Shenzui generously promised to promote Zheng Hongkui to a higher rank. Don't underestimate this rank, as Zheng Hongkui is now a first-class viscount. If he is promoted to the next rank, he will become an earl.

Although the current titles have been changed from the original three ranks to five ranks, with the addition of a civilian rank, for the nobles of the Ming Dynasty, only the three ranks of duke, marquis, and earl are real titles. As for the latter two ranks, their value is far from enough, not to mention the civilian rank.

From Viscount to Earl, this is what Zheng Hongkui dreamed of. Once he became Earl, even if it was the third-class Earl, he would be considered to have truly squeezed into the ranks of true nobles. Hearing this promise, how could Zheng Hongkui hold back? He immediately agreed, patted his chest, and swore to do a good job for the court and live up to the emperor's expectations.

Just like that, on the first day Zheng Hongkui excitedly returned to the capital, he was suddenly transformed from the admiral of Shandong Navy to the deputy envoy of the Ming Dynasty delegation that was about to go to Europe.

Zhu Shenzhui planned to transfer Zheng Hongkui from Shandong Navy to prevent the Zheng family from having too much influence in the Ming Navy. He was going to attack Zheng Zhilong in the south, so he made such an arrangement to prevent Zheng Zhilong from noticing too early and to eliminate the potential threat from Zheng Hongkui.

In fact, Zhu Shenzhui still trusted Zheng Hongkui, but he did not dare to put all his trust in Zheng Hongkui. After all, he and Zheng Zhilong were brothers, and no one could predict what Zheng Hongkui would think if he touched Zheng Zhilong.

Get rid of him in advance, and then use this legitimate reason to send him to Europe. A round trip would take at least two years, and if there were delays on the way, it could take three or four years. Zheng Hongkui was not in the Ming Dynasty, so Zhu Shenzhu could send someone to take over the Shandong Navy from him, which also eliminated the problems that might occur after moving Zheng Zhilong.

As for the promise to Zheng Hongkui, it was true. This arrangement was actually a kind of protection for him. When he was not in Ming Dynasty, he would not be involved in the subsequent events. When he came back and the dust settled, he would comfort Zheng Hongkui and it would be considered as doing him justice.

Diplomatic missions to Sweden and Poland are already being prepared, and this time the Ming Dynasty will send a mission of high standards.

Zheng Hongkui, as the deputy envoy designated by Zhu Shenzhui, was naturally among them, and the chief envoy would of course be a civil servant. However, it was not easy to choose this person. Ordinary civil servants would not be willing to leave the glamorous world of the Ming Dynasty and take the risk to go on a diplomatic mission to Europe. This would take at least two or three years, and there would be unpredictable risks along the way. If things went wrong, they might die on the way. For a Chinese, dying in a foreign land is not a good thing.

Besides, the barbarian lands are disdained by most scholars. In the eyes of these scholars, the Western barbarians are not much better than the savages who eat raw meat and drink blood. Who would be willing to go to such a hellish place?
But the mission to Europe was decided by Zhu Shenzhui. No matter what, the mission had to be formed. This made the Ministry of Rites very difficult. Qian Qianyi, the Minister of Rites, was very distressed these days. He asked many people and they refused. Some people even pretended to be sick and hid away because they were afraid that Qian Qianyi would force the mission on them. Qian Qianyi was so angry that he cursed. Just when the time for the mission to be formed was tight and the official list had to be submitted, Qian Qianyi was anxious. However, a young official volunteered and expressed his willingness to go to Europe.

Upon hearing the news, Qian Qianyi was overjoyed and immediately asked someone to find the person for an interview. He met with the official and was very satisfied with him after the discussion. He also felt that this official was a good candidate both in terms of his background and official position. So Qian Qianyi went to the palace to meet Zhu Shenzhu the next day and submitted a list of names for the envoy.

"Wang Fuzhi?" When Zhu Shenzhui saw the name of the envoy sent by Qian Qianyi, he was slightly stunned and felt that the name sounded familiar.

"Your Majesty, Master Wang was the seventeenth Jinshi in the second class of the imperial examination selected by Your Majesty. He later became a Shujishi and entered the Hanlin Academy as an official. He is currently an editor in the Hanlin Academy."

"I remember now, this Master Wang is the son of Wang Chaopin from Hengyang?"

"Your Majesty has a good memory. This is the person." Qian Qianyi nodded with a smile.

The image of a young official in his twenties or less than thirty emerged in Zhu Shenzhu's mind. After Zhu Shenzhu ascended the throne, he held a special imperial examination. This Wang Fuzhi was a Jinshi in the special imperial examination and had achieved a good result of 17th place in the second class.

The reason why we remember Master Wang is because of an essay he wrote in the palace examination. Compared with other people's essays, Wang Fuzhi's was extremely good. The article was meaningful and he had a good understanding of people's livelihood. Moreover, it can be seen from his article that Wang Fuzhi had a deep study of astronomy, geography, classics and history, including military affairs. He was a rare talent.

After the palace examination, Zhu Shenzui made a point to learn more about Wang Fuzhi. He then learned that he came from a scholarly family. Although his father, Wang Chaopin, failed the imperial examinations many times, he was extremely knowledgeable. After no longer taking the imperial examinations, he returned to his hometown to teach students, talk about literature and discuss articles. He was quite famous in Hengyang and was even known as Mr. Wuyi.

Wang Fuzhi was his third son. He was very smart since childhood and passed the imperial examination at a young age. He followed his father Wang Chaopin to study in Beijing. At that time, Wang Chaopin was studying at the Imperial College. According to the rules, he could be directly appointed as an official after graduating from the Imperial College. However, Wang Chaopin could not stand the bribery in the officialdom at that time and disdained it. Therefore, in the end, he was not appointed as an official but was dismissed and returned to his hometown.

After returning to his hometown with his father Wang Chaopin, Wang Fuzhi did not give up his studies. In the eleventh year of Chongzhen, Wang Fuzhi went to study at Yuelu Academy in Changsha. Later, he passed the imperial examination and became a juren. He took the examination again but failed. It was not until Zhu Shenzhu opened an imperial examination that he finally passed the examination and became a jinshi.

Wang Fuzhi's father Wang Chaopin had in-depth research on Confucian classics, especially "Spring and Autumn Annals", and Wang Fuzhi himself was even better than his father. Not only was he as good as his father Wang Chaopin, he also had research in astronomy, geography, classics, history, and military affairs. He could be said to be one of the best among the younger generation of Ming Dynasty literati. Moreover, Wang Fuzhi was not the kind of literati who was powerless. He not only read books but also practiced martial arts. He could be said to be both civil and military, and a good talent.

This time, the Ming Dynasty wanted to send an envoy to Europe, but no one was willing to serve as the chief envoy. Wang Fuzhi volunteered to serve as the chief envoy to Europe. Although Wang Fuzhi's official title was not high, as an editor of the Hanlin Academy, he was only a seventh-rank official, but don't forget that he was an official of the Hanlin Academy, which was the most noble department of the Ming Dynasty. The officials of the Hanlin Academy were much higher than other officials from the beginning, and even if they were of low rank, they were not comparable to other officials.

Before the Ming Dynasty, there was a saying that one cannot enter the cabinet without being a Hanlin, which means that officials who have not served in the Hanlin Academy are not qualified to enter the cabinet as cabinet elders. From this point of view, officials in the Hanlin Academy are equivalent to the reserve of cabinet elders, and no one dares to look down on those who enter the Hanlin Academy even if their official positions are not high.

Moreover, they often stayed in the Hanlin Academy for a few years, and then were transferred to other departments or sent to other places. Because of their experience in the Hanlin Academy, they were promoted very quickly. As long as they were lucky, it was common to be promoted from the seventh rank to the fourth or fifth rank within ten years. If they were lucky and capable, it was common to become a provincial governor or a minister in more than ten years.

This is how Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng entered the political arena, and most of the cabinet ministers, including the first and second assistant ministers, did the same. So after entering the Hanlin Academy, the future career was smooth. Wang Fuzhi only needed to follow the steps and gain experience in the Hanlin Academy, and he would not have to worry about not having a good career.

But such a person volunteered to go to Europe, which surprised Zhu Shenzhui, but also made him very happy. Since Wang Fuzhi was willing to be the chief envoy, Zhu Shenzhui certainly would not object, and after learning about this person's situation, he became more interested in him and directly asked someone to find Wang Fuzhi to meet him in person.

(End of this chapter)