Chapter 44: The Empire of the Setting Sun

  Hou saw Zhong Jinwei coming out with the imperial edict outside the Wu Men and was stunned, so he quickly ran over: "Mr. Zhong, congratulations!"

  Zhong Jinwei smiled and said: "Congratulations, congratulations, but I have no money to reward you, really no money!"

  An Guiyi also smiled and said: "Mr. Zhong, don't joke with me, if I were to take your silver, my father would kill me."

  "Stop for a moment," An Guiyi changed the subject, "Mr. Zhong, your father-in-law said that His Majesty has asked you to wait in the side hall, he will come over after the morning court."

  Zhong Jinwei was hesitating, then suddenly understood, oh yeah, to the richest and poorest person in this dynasty to borrow some silver to pass the days.

  He then followed An Guo-yi back to pay his respects to Emperor Chongzhen.

  After arriving at the side hall, An Guiyi bid farewell and left. Zhong Jinwei handed over the imperial edict to Aqi, who had been waiting for a long time. Aqi unfolded it and took a look, "Zhongxing Bo, annual salary of 1,100 stones", a smile couldn't help but appear from the corner of her eyes. Then she carefully preserved the imperial edict, saw Zhong Jinwei drinking tea, just turned around, and couldn't help but bow: "Your humble servant congratulates Zhongxing Bo!"

  Zhong Jinwei heard this and chuckled: "Come on, give me some!"

  Aqi knew he didn't have silver, and couldn't help but feel a bit strange, what was there to reward?

  Then, with a smile, she said: "Thank you for your reward!" and stretched out her hand to ask for the reward.

  Zhong Jinwei revealed a strange smile: "It's not about reaching out to receive rewards, that's the etiquette of Westerners, we don't learn from them; you bring your face closer, I'll give you one!" It seems that this kissing is also a Western tradition, but Zhong Jinwei only chooses the etiquette he wants.

  Aqi started to feel a bit strange and immediately reacted, guessing it was something about that matter again, and couldn't help but blush.

  At this time, Emperor Chongzhen arrived, which just resolved the awkwardness, and Archie retreated to one side.

  The Chongzhen Emperor accomplished two things today, and with the prestige of Zhong Xian in the Taihe Hall, he was in a very good mood, walking in with a smile.

  Zhong Jingwei didn't know what to do at this time, whether to still treat Emperor Chongzhen as a friend like before or now that he had become his subject, he should use the etiquette of a subject.

  Chongzhen Emperor was a clever man, and at the sight of Zhong Jiawei's awkward appearance, he guessed something and smiled: "Mr. Zhong, no, Master Zhong, you don't have to be so formal. I still hope that you can chat with me as usual, without any outsiders present, we won't engage in empty courtesy."

  Zhong Jinwei was delighted when he heard Emperor Chongzhen say this, and quickly invited Emperor Chongzhen to sit down at the table.

  After the Emperor Chongzhen sat down, he smiled and said to Zhong Jinwei: "Master Zhong, you just spoke on my behalf in the hall. You don't know how those people usually irritate me, not doing things, but every day they just talk nonsense with me."

  Zhong Jinwei smiled awkwardly, "This... we didn't mean to."

  "Master Zhong asked some questions on the temple, can you tell me what they are?"

  "Your Majesty, there is something uncivilized and inconvenient to say."

  "It doesn't matter, I just want to know what questions would make them speechless."

  Zhong Jinwei recalled and then said: "Pig means pig, youarethefatpig means that person is a fat pig."

  Chongzhen Emperor burst out laughing when he heard this, and while still laughing, he pointed at Zhong Xian.

  Wang Cheng'en on the side saw Emperor Chongzhen laughing so hard, and he also laughed, but didn't know if he was laughing along with Emperor Chongzhen or really thought it was funny.

  Chongzhen Emperor finally managed to stop his laughter and said repeatedly: "You, you, ah you, in my imperial court, in front of many civil and military officials, scolding him as a pig, your guts are really big enough! Aren't you afraid someone will understand?"

  Zhong Jinwei didn't think much at the time and directly said it, now hearing Chongzhen Emperor say this, he scratched his left hand on the back of his head, thought for a moment, and said: "Your Majesty, I believe that no one should be able to understand this language at this time." "Why, are you so sure? Which country's language is this?"

  "This is the language of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland."

  "Oh, is it very far? Is this country big?"

  At that time, people seemed to be unfamiliar with European countries, so they asked Emperor Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, where is the map I brought?"

  Chongzhen Emperor also looked unclear, looking at Wang Chengen.

  "Your Majesty, the map of Zhongxingbo was previously copied by someone, and there were two copies. Only five parts of each copy have been drawn so far. The original has been kept safe by Madame Zhongxingbo."

  Zhong Jinwei looked at Emperor Chongzhen, and Emperor Chongzhen waved his hand, meaning you are in charge of your own territory.

  Then Zhong Jinwei called out to Archie and spread out the map on the table.

  Zhong Jinwei first pointed out the location of the Ming Dynasty to Emperor Chongzhen, then pointing to a small island in the upper right corner of the map said: "Your Majesty, please look, this is the country I just mentioned, commonly known as England."

  Chongzhen Emperor took a look and found that there wasn't even one province of the Great Ming. He smiled and said, "It's so small, no wonder Master Zhong is not afraid of anyone knowing this national language."

  Zhong Jingwei listened and thought about the future, feeling that it was an opportunity. He sincerely said to Emperor Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, don't underestimate this country."

  "What's so special about it?" Chongzhen Emperor asked in surprise.

  "In what specific year I have forgotten, probably after a hundred years or so, this nation will rise in the world and be known as an empire on which the sun never sets."

  "What is the British Empire?"

  "It's because the sun shines on its territory for twenty-four hours, oh, all twelve zodiac signs shine on it, so it's called the Empire of the Setting Sun."

  "Is there such a strange thing?" Emperor Chongzhen was surprised.

  Wang Chengen and Aqi on the side also ignored etiquette, stretching their necks to see if there was such a strange Empire of the Sun that Never Sets.

  "Not in that sense, Your Majesty. The phrase 'Empire on which the sun never sets' means that this country's dominion is so extensive that it spans across the entire globe."

  Zhong Jinwei said as he pointed to the map: "This, this, and this, all of these were once his territory. He truly achieved dominance over all under heaven, none not being his land."

  "How is this possible!" Emperor Chongzhen exclaimed, then stared intently at the small British island on the map, trying to figure out what made Britain so special.

  "Your Majesty, nothing is impossible. Look now at the Portuguese and Dutch in Macau, those are the Franks, their country is actually here." The Ming dynasty to the Qing dynasty had always thought that the Franks were only around the Malacca Strait.

  The brain of Emperor Chongzhen has already broken down, it's all so far away, such a small place!

  Zhong Jinwei took the opportunity to continue indoctrinating: "Your Majesty, in this era known as the Age of Great Navigation, these small countries are now, under national support, citizens set sail to find all kinds of benefits. They start from here, along this line, and come all the way to Da Ming."

  Zhong Jingwei continued to draw that famous navigation line on the map with his fingers, pointing it out to Emperor Chongzhen.

  Wang Chengen's line of sight was blocked by Zhong Jinwei's hand, so he unconsciously turned around and found a position to continue watching.

  "They came along this line, encountering weak tribes and countries, they would directly rob them of their gold, silver, and treasures, and enslave their people. When encountering powerful nations, such as the Ming Dynasty, they would change to being merchants doing business. Then they would transport the acquired wealth back to their own country."

  In fact, those Westerners also fought against the Great Ming, but they didn't win. This point is known to Emperor Chongzhen, it seems that fortunately, they won, but the reason for winning was that their people were really too few.

  "They, they shouldn't be able to grab much either, right?" Emperor Chongzhen thought that with so few people, they wouldn't be able to grab many things.

  "Your Majesty is wrong, on their way here, apart from the Great Ming, they didn't dare to rob anything else, but basically everything else was robbed."

  Zhong Jinwei pointed to Africa and said, "Your Majesty, this continent is still in the primitive tribal era, it's where black people gather, those Kunlun slaves, those primitive people who drink blood, can they win against these Westerners with guns and cannons?"

  Chongzhen Emperor didn't even think about it and shook his head.

  "This continent is rich in gold, silver, diamonds, precious stones and many other resources, including human labor. They were all taken away by them. Or if something was lacking at home, what was more profitable, they forced the local people to plant without any compensation."

  Zhong Jinwei pointed to Australia and North America, saying: "The situation is the same here. Now, throughout Europe, so many small countries are encouraging going out to sea, grabbing territory, whoever arrives first gets it."

  Then Zhong Jinwei sighed and said, "It's really a pity. If our great Ming dynasty had opened up to the sea earlier, there wouldn't be so many places for these Westerners to run amok, and our country wouldn't be short of money either. The land in Southeast Asia is very fertile, and you can plant three or four crops of grain a year. They only need to plant once to have enough to eat. When our great Ming dynasty has a famine, we can just transport grain from outside, or scatter people all over the place, and there will be people from our great Ming dynasty everywhere. Our great Ming dynasty could also become an empire where the sun never sets."

  Chongzhen Emperor recalled that Zhong Xian had mentioned this matter before. Looking at the map again, he was a bit puzzled: "Master Zhong said that the empire where the sun never sets, how come there are so many people from their country occupying so many places?"

  When Chongzhen Emperor asked this question, Zhong Jinwei tilted his head and thought for a moment before explaining: "It's like this, they encourage their nationals to go out to sea, discover a place, if it can be occupied, they will entrust the person who discovered it to manage it. The official title of this person is called Governor-General, this Governor-General is the local emperor, controlling the local chiefs. So when they occupy a place, they don't need many people to rule that place, and then suck blood from there."

  The Chongzhen Emperor listened and then asked again: "If this person betrays the country and establishes a separate state, how should it be handled?"

  "It's impossible!"

  "Why?" Emperor Chongzhen immediately asked in response to Zhong Wen's words.