Wanli Xinming

Chapter 297 Talking about the Dragon
When Ling Yunyi and Gong Xian attacked the city, Xu Guangqi, who was envoy to Europe, officially started his envoy career.Chinese literati, those who do not have the mentality of courtiers and concubines, have some ambitions of Ban Chao-the so-called turning around the world with one body, knowing all the countries, and making extraordinary achievements, but Zhang Qian, Fu Jiezi, Ban Chao, and Chen Tang are only a few.

Xu Guangqi's life was very smooth. Although his family was not rich since he was a child, he was able to support his career without too much difficulty, and he had no worries about hunger and cold.Later, he ran away from home willfully, and suffered some hardships on the road, but it was only a hundred days.

After entering the capital, Xu Guangqi started a life of hanging and lying.The study of Gewu is thorough at a little bit, and it is refined as soon as it is learned, and it will soon stand out in the Gewu Academy.What made him even more unexpected was that he was favored by the princess and became the captain of the son-in-law. In his 20s, he reached the end that others could only spend their entire lives to reach.

The 25-year-old Earl Xu reached the pinnacle of his life inexplicably, and he often felt as if he was in a dream.And the even more amazing situation is that he is now in the land of Europa, which is [-] miles away from home, far beyond the farthest distance that Zhang Qian and Ban Chao can reach-he has no doubt that he will go down in the annals of history forever.

On the seventh day of September in the 12th year of the Wanli calendar, on October 1584, 10 in the Julian calendar, after Xu Guangqi disembarked at the pier, he was directly taken to the Governor's Palace in Lisbon, which was also the residence of the Marquis of Denia.

After simply washing and changing clothes, Xu Guangqi, Luo Mingjian and the main members of the diplomatic corps, such as the left deputy envoy Wang Jiaping, the right servant of the Ministry of Rites, and the right deputy envoy Ma Jinglun, academician of the Gewu Academy, all attended the reception banquet of the Marquis of Denia.The head of the escort, Liu Chengxi and others, and some of the guards stationed in the Governor's Mansion counted the cargo on the dock and were responsible for guarding it.

At the banquet, Ambassador Perest took the lead in toasting, on behalf of Felipe, he welcomed Xu Guangqi to Lisbon, the first stop of the Iberian Confederation, and hoped that Xu Guangqi would be able to come to Madrid. Felipe II will be very welcome. Willing to receive distinguished guests from the East.

After Xu Guangqi expressed his thanks.The Marquis of Denia expressed his welcome on behalf of Lisbon, and Xu Guangqi spoke again to thank him.Afterwards, everyone took turns wishing Zhu Yijun a long life and having a toast; then wishing Felipe II good health and having a toast - and so on, they began to chat casually.

"Your Excellency, before you were 20 years old, you were a commoner in Seris? Did you not have any title?" This question was asked by the Marquis of Denia after Luo Mingjian introduced Xu Guangqi's personal experience.

Xu Guangqi smiled and nodded.With his nodding, just as Luo Mingjian expected: there were bursts of exclamations at the banquet.

It's amazing!Like a beautiful fairy tale, a former commoner married the emperor's sister, a real princess!

A lady with white powder on her face and constantly waving a small folding fan of silk feathers called out, "Your Excellency Count, you must have that omnipotent magic lamp!"

"One Thousand and One Nights" is not organized into volumes in Europe now, but there are many manuscripts.There are also multiple versions of Aladdin's story at this time. In some versions, he gained palaces and wealth, and some versions are close to the final version - Aladdin finally married a Chinese princess.

It is worth mentioning that in this collection of Arabic fairy tales, many of the protagonists are Chinese, such as Aladdin.And many of the places and characters in the entire "One Thousand and One Nights" also come from the Arab world and Europeans' imagination of China - Xu Guangqi and his experiences have satisfied all of this, and even exceeded the imagination of everyone in the Marquis' Mansion. beyond force.

The Countess, who had just spoken, was wearing typical Spanish-style clothing at the time, with a ruffle collar layered around her neck, below which was a narrow V-shaped placket that exposed the edge of her silk lace underwear, the tip almost reaching her chest, revealing a piece of snow-white skin.

The necklace that hangs from the ruff collar hangs all the way to the chest, where it forms a ball, and then continues down, and at the end there is a pearl on top of the bell-shaped dress. The material of the dress is green as the main color. silk with intricate embroidery.

All the members of the official mission had received training in the capital on the common sense and customs of the Europa people's life before they set off. Of course, it also included the main dresses of the European men and women at this time.

So the Chinese on the mission were not deterred by these topless women.Xu Guangqi only smiled when he heard the words, revealing the mysterious sense of oriental beauty and the ubiquitous exoticism, which made the ladies who have entered the era of "humanism" like Daming excited.

At the first meeting, everyone was relatively reserved, and there was no verbal confrontation - at least, the Catholic fanatics in the banquet hall did not inquire about the beliefs of Xu Guangqi and others.It is also possible that Luo Mingjian had already instructed before, and everyone avoided talking about this issue.

Later, someone became interested in the "scepter" that Xu Guangqi had been carrying, and an old marquis asked if it was the scepter of Earl Dongfang.Xu Guangqi explained: "Of course not. Even the emperor in China does not use a scepter to indicate his authority. This is a token in the hands of the envoy, which means that the person holding the scepter has the emperor's authorization."

The old marquis asked again what animal was on the scepter.Xu Guangqi explained: "As the representative of the emperor, there are three types of scepters. Two thousand and 600 years ago in our country, Yuan Sheng Zhou Gongdan wrote "Zhou Rituals". National festivals: Tiger Festival for the Mountain Country, People's Day for the Earth Country, and Dragon Festival for the Ze Country. "

"Because Lisbon, Spain is a seaport city, I used the Dragon Festival." Xu Guangqi's speech unconsciously brought some pride, and his expression was a little complacent. Yi Di is sick of China urgently, but it is still inexhaustible, and now the beauty of China is reappearing in the hands of Daming.

Spain has started its great voyage for nearly a hundred years. Except for the respect for the Ottoman Empire around it, it has never encountered a civilization similar to the Greek civilization.At this moment, when they heard the word "two thousand and six hundred years", as Xu Guangqi expected, they all gasped.

Immediately someone asked what animal he just pronounced "lone".Xu Guangqi could only continue to explain: "The dragon is also a divine beast. It has nine similarities: its head is like a camel, its horns are like a deer, its eyes are like a rabbit, its ears are like an ox, its neck is like a snake, its belly is like a mirage, its scales are like carp, and its claws are like an eagle. , palm like a tiger." After speaking, he raised his sleeve and pointed to the pattern of dark lines on it, "It's very similar to this."

Perez heard Xu Guangqi's introduction, and when he saw the reckless pattern, he exclaimed, "dragon!"

Luo Mingjian, who was sitting next to Xu Guangqi, hurriedly interjected: "No. The Chinese 'dragon' is completely different from Draco, although both are legendary creatures. The Chinese 'dragon' has a beard beside its mouth and a pearl under its chin. , there is an inverse scale under the throat, it is in charge of the matter of creating clouds and rain, it is a beast of auspiciousness, and it is completely different from Draco, who only breathes fire and destroys."

After listening to Luo Mingjian's explanation, Xu Guangqi understood that Perez understood the dragon as "Draco" - which also means "devil" in Latin.

Busily took over the topic and said: "Dragon can be big and small, can rise and hide; big can exude clouds and mist, small can hide and form; when rising, it soars between the universe, and when hidden is lurking in the waves. The Chinese sage Confucius once commented on his teacher Lao Tzu, saying, 'As for the dragon, I don't know, it rides the wind and clouds to the sky, I see Lao Tzu today, is it like a dragon?' , how could it be Draco."

The two of them hurriedly explained with pale faces, so that the Europa people present realized the seriousness of this problem, and it involved the emperor, so they could not take their seats indiscriminately.

After listening to Xu Guangqi's explanation, Perez said to Luo Mingjian: "Then Bishop, talk about it, what do we call it."

Luo Mingjian smiled and said, "I think either lon or ron is very good. When we can't understand it, it's better to call it by its pronunciation, rather than replace it with something completely irrelevant."

Everyone nodded yes, and someone immediately suggested a toast to China's magical 'lon'.After Xu Guangqi wiped away his cold sweat, he raised his glass with a smile and drank the wine.

　Lao Mo wants Ao to dry, and the words are all oblique. Good night!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)