The Rise of the European Emperor

Marin didn't care about He Zhenwu's thoughts. After his 100 personal guards lined up, Marin began to arrange for the sailors to carefully lift down the 9 Galapagos tortoises that had been selected.

The 9 Galapagos tortoises are the healthiest among the 13 surviving tortoises, so they are naturally the most suitable for gifting. When the nine tortoises were lifted down, He Zhenwu's mouth was wide enough to swallow two eggs...

Lao He has lived for more than 40 years and has never seen such a huge tortoise. He didn't really believe it when he received a mission to pick up a black turtle, thinking that it was a barbarian who was playing tricks to ask for a reward. In the end, the facts told him—this is really true...

Not only He Zhenwu was dumbfounded, but also the surrounding soldiers of the Ming army were also very confused. Obviously, they were all taken aback. Kong Tai, who was by Marin's side, wanted to laugh a little. In fact, when he saw the tortoise for the first time in Keelung, he was no better than these soldiers of the Ming army.

Seeing that He Zhenwu and other soldiers of the Tianjin Guard of the Ming Army were stunned, Marin had no choice but to remind them:

"General He, this is Xiangrui, why don't you take it?"

In ancient times, auspiciousness was very important. Having auspiciousness means that a court has face. It is not a good thing to neglect Xiangrui.

He Zhenwu was reminded by Marin, Ruchu woke up from his dream, and quickly arranged for someone to pick up the Galapagos tortoise. However, the soldiers who were assigned stopped and did not dare to step forward.

why? The Galapagos tortoise is huge, weighing several hundred kilograms, like a beast. Also, many turtles are carnivorous and bite.

But the Galapagos tortoise is actually a mild species that eats fruits and vegetables, but these soldiers of the Ming army didn't know it. After all, the size of the Galapagos tortoise is there, and it is very deterrent. After Marin explained, these Ming soldiers came over tremblingly to carry them. Then, the Galapagos tortoises were carried into very clean guest rooms, treated better than humans.

Later, Marin reminded that these turtles do not eat meat, but only fresh fruits and vegetables and tender grass. Of course, even if He Zhenwu had ten guts, he wouldn't dare to let these auspicious men known as "xuangui" eat grass. Therefore, these Galapagos tortoises eat fresh fruits and vegetables bought in the market, and these tortoises eat with relish. Fortunately, it is early summer, and vegetables are abundant. If it is winter, it will be very difficult to get fresh vegetables. Ordinary people can't eat it at all. Only some royal manors use hot springs to grow vegetables, and they will eat fresh fruits and vegetables.

...

After arranging these uncle turtles, He Zhenwu began to arrange the board and lodging for Ma Lin and others. Because he is a foreign feudal lord, Marin's treatment is naturally not bad, and he lives in the best inn room on the Dagu Port side. The 100 guards were also assigned to the room.

However, He Zhenwu dared not let the soldiers and sailors on board land. After all, these fan soldiers seemed to be very elite, and he couldn't bear it if they went ashore and caused trouble.

Therefore, He Zhenwu finally decided to let the 900 guards and sailors stay on the ship. However, He Zhenwu ordered people to send food and water boats to supply the soldiers and sailors on board. As for whether to let those people disembark, He Zhenwu told Ma Lin that this would have to wait for Jingli's instructions. Moreover, he also sent his subordinates to go to the capital to ask for instructions.

Dagukou is not far from the capital city, only 340 miles away, and the post station system keeps changing horses and galloping, and you can arrive on the same day. On the day Marin landed from Dagu Port, He Zhenwu also sent a message to the capital to ask for instructions. After all, he was just an officer of the local guard. He didn't know anything about receiving foreign envoys or even the country's lord.

Then, Marin and his party temporarily stayed in Dagukou,

Waiting for the response from the capital...

...

When the news reached the capital, it immediately caused an uproar in the court. Some conservative civil officials believed that it was not in accordance with etiquette for the ruler of the Beihai Kingdom to land in Beijing from Dagukou, and should have landed in Guangzhou, Fuzhou, Ningbo and other ports that received foreign vassals.

However, Liu Jin said that the North Korean envoys did not go through these three ports when they came to North Korea. Moreover, the other party came to offer auspiciousness, so it is normal to be special. Then, a group of Liu Jin's minions also supported Liu Jin's point of view. Some people actually say that it is more auspicious for the auspicious black turtle to land from the Dagu port in the east. Because, this represents "Purple Qi coming from the east", which is most suitable for the arrival of the mysterious turtle.

This metaphor is very ingenious. Now, those aggressive admonishers could not refute. After all, the Confucian dynasty still attached great importance to auspiciousness. Only with auspiciousness can it show that the existence of these ministers in the court is reasonable.

Therefore, the ministers discussed, and the Ministry of Rites sent a Yuanwailang (equivalent to the deputy director) to lead a team to Tianjin Wei Dagukou to receive Ma Lin, the foreign lord. At the same time, welcome back the auspicious black turtle.

However, when it came to setting the rank for Marin, the courtiers disagreed and started a dispute. According to the usual practice, vassal states such as Korea, Japan, and Ryukyu have the same status as county kings, and the Mongolian ministries are not sure. But the actual situation is that the imperial court recognized their status as county kings, but when it came to the Ming Dynasty, when they went to court or held banquets, the vassal kings stood or sat (during banquets) under the marquis and uncles of the Ming Dynasty.

This mainly shows the dignity of Ming Dynasty. Look, you, the lord of a foreign vassal state, have a lower status than my uncle Hou of Ming Dynasty. But apart from their lower ranks, their ranks are not low. For example, they did not need to salute Hou Bo of the Ming Dynasty, but only saluted the emperor, prince, and prince first. Moreover, they bow four times to the prince, and the prince needs to pay back two. As for Duke Hou of the county, they saluted each other. It stands to reason that their rank is higher than that of Hou Bo, but the Ming Dynasty considered itself superior, and Hou Bo's status was no less than that of the monarch of the vassal state. Moreover, although the vassal king and the king salute each other, it is usually the vassal king who salutes first.

...

Of course, that's not the point. The point is - how to calculate Marin's level...

If Marin claims to be the king, then there is no need to talk about it, just refer to the kingdoms such as Siam and Malacca. However, Marin claimed to be the Grand Duke, which made the emperors and ministers of the Ming Dynasty a little dumbfounded-what the hell is the Grand Duke? Is it a king?

It stands to reason that the grand duke should belong to the duke. But the problem is that Beihai State is an independent country, not a principality on the surface.

Then, a minister asked—is he a monarch like the princes of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods? Everyone nodded in agreement, but how should an independent prince like the Spring and Autumn and Warring States be classified in the current Ming Dynasty? Moreover, let's say he is a duke, there is a word "big" in front of it...

Finally, Liu Jin got annoyed and said:

"Stop arguing. Since he himself calls himself Grand Duke, let's not give him the status of the king of the vassal state, but give him the rank of Duke. Of course, when he is scheduled to go to court, he will be ranked under Duke Hou! See me as Duke of Chao. , must first salute!"

The ministers quickly said "good"...

Then, now that the level has been set, it is necessary to set the court service. Moreover, the general court clothes are rewarded by the Ming Dynasty. According to the regulations, the Duke of the state wears a black gauze hat on his head, a jade belt, and unicorns embroidered on his clothes (civilian officials embroider birds, military officials embroider beasts). The only problem is - how tall is Malin...

Regarding this issue, Liu Jin also gave an opinion-when the Ministry of Rites sent the Yuanwailang of the host and guest department to the reception, according to the system, it was necessary to let Ma Lin and his entourage officials "practice for three days", so as not to make a fool of themselves when they officially went to court. And the person responsible for teaching etiquette is naturally Yuanwailang, the host and guest department.

What Liu Jin meant was that during the three days of teaching etiquette, Yuanwailang could measure Ma Lin's height, fatness, and thinness, and then rushed back to the capital to report the data. Then, the Towel and Hat Bureau, one of the eight bureaus of the inner court, rushed to make a suitable official uniform and sent it to Marin before he left for Beijing...

As for the 9 mysterious turtles, Liu Jin also attached great importance to them, and ordered Jin Yiwei to send a team of big Han generals to Dagukou to welcome back those auspicious "xuan turtles" as soon as possible...

As for the question of whether Marin's other 900 guards were logged in, Liu Jin also thought about it carefully, and thought that they should be put ashore, otherwise Daming would lose his momentum. However, you can put it ashore, but you are not allowed to carry weapons ashore, so as not to cause disaster...

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