The Age of Discovery: Chinese cuisine swept across Europe

"Master Yun, this may be inappropriate." A colleague advised Yun Ji, "Maps have always been measured and produced by the Ministry of Works. You have never measured them, so how can you be sure of the accuracy of this map?"

Yun Ji smiled and said, "This map is a world map drawn by European countries. It may be distorted, but it is definitely not a map without basis. What's wrong with me offering a map of Europeans?"

The colleague who was trying to persuade him was speechless. If it was a map of the Ming Dynasty, it could not be made casually. Now Yun Ji was going to present a world map drawn by foreigners. Although it was not very useful, it was also a way to understand the world outside the Ming Dynasty, at least a new perspective on the world.

"Please do as you wish, Lord Yun!" the man had no choice but to say this.

Since Yun Ji was in the Hanlin Academy, it was very easy for him to present the map. He only needed to write a memorial and submit it together with the map.

However, Wanli had not yet taken power, and all memorials were handled by the cabinet ministers. The real decision maker was Zhang Juzheng. The memorials that the emperor could see were all selected by Zhang Juzheng and shown to him.

But his map still easily fell into Wanli's hands. In Zhang Juzheng's view, the map was of little value and was equivalent to giving the emperor a new toy.

When Wanli saw the world map, he was very interested and studied it carefully for two days. However, he still had many doubts, so he summoned Min Xi and Yun Ji, who drew the map, into the palace.

Min Xi explained the world map to Wanli for a long time, including the seven continents and four oceans. Wanli finally realized how vast the world was outside the Ming Dynasty, how far away the countries he had heard of were from the Ming Dynasty, and that there was actually a vast and rich continent if he went east from the East China Sea.

To the west of the Old World, the red-haired barbarians who were considered barbaric and backward were able to cross the vast ocean and reach the Ming Dynasty. They found a fertile land and harvested a large amount of gold, silver and treasures there.

This kind of cognition was quite shocking to a young emperor. As the most powerful country on this land, those small Western countries were able to develop and forge ahead, so why couldn't the Ming Dynasty do the same?

Wanli asked Min Xi: "Min Qing, is this map authentic? Is there any deviation?"

Min Xi replied respectfully: "Your Majesty, I saw this map from King Frangi. It was drawn by the best cartographer in their country. I think its authenticity is very reliable. After all, Frangi's navigation technology was once the strongest in Europe, and their fleet has been to most corners of the world."

Wanli confirmed with some disbelief: "Those Europeans you mentioned, did they sail to all the places on this map?"

"Not all of them, but I've been to many places. There are some places I may not have been to, so I drew them based on my guesswork," said Min Xi.

Wanli looked at the map and said, "Are those places unowned?"

"It's not an ownerless land. There are quite a few indigenous people here, but they are relatively backward and still live in a primitive state of slash-and-burn agriculture. They can't fight against the Europeans with muskets and cannons, so they can only be enslaved," said Min Xi.

Wanli thought for a moment and said, "How big is their fleet, sailing across the ocean to reach here and enslaving the locals?"

Min Xi said: "It shouldn't be big. At most, there will be a few or a dozen ships with only a few hundred people in total."

"A few hundred people are enough to enslave the local natives. The scale of the fleet is far smaller than the one led by eunuch Sanbao to the West. How did they do it?" Wanli asked.

Min Xi said: "We used guns and artillery to massacre the locals to scare them, because their fighting power was completely on the same level."

Wanli showed a shocked expression: "So barbaric! How is it different from the Tatars!"

"There is no difference, it's even more barbaric," said Min Xi.

"Then we in the Ming Dynasty had better not have anything to do with these barbarians." Wanli learned the Confucian ideas of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and trustworthiness since he was a child. He ruled the country with benevolence and had a subconscious aversion to the barbaric Europeans.

Min Xi said hurriedly, "Your Majesty, absolutely not. The Europeans were unable to defeat our Ming navy before, so they had to settle for second best and do business with us. However, the Ming navy did not win easily. Our guns and cannons had a lower range and lethality than the European ships. We won by using dense human sea tactics and drilling through their bottoms. Now that European countries have made their fortunes by plundering, they have made great progress in shipbuilding and guns and cannons. All new ships have replaced their bottoms with copper, and the range of their guns and cannons is even better than before. If there is another naval battle, we will no longer have any advantage."

Yun Ji took over Min Xi's words and said, "Your Majesty, everything my ninth brother said is true. If we completely refuse to trade with the Europeans, they will not be able to obtain the goods they need through trade, and I am afraid that another naval war will be triggered."

Wanli asked: "Then what do you think should be done?"

Min Xi said: "Now that the maritime ban has been lifted, we can continue to do business with them. We can even have official exchanges with European countries in exchange for their shipbuilding and gun-making technology to strengthen our Ming navy."

"Didn't you donate a Western ship to the navy? They are now imitating Western ships. We already have their technology, so why do we need to have official exchanges?" Wanli said.

Min Xi said: "Although the galleon donated by you is their most advanced ship now, they are also making progress all the time. Moreover, shipbuilding takes time, especially replacing all the navy with galleons, which takes a long time and requires a lot of silver, which we need to strive for now. If we continue to trade with the Europeans, we can not only exchange silver, but also buy high-quality shipbuilding wood from overseas."

Wanli looked at them, frowned and said, "I always feel that you are too tolerant of Europeans. You can't defend them just because they saved your life. The Yunqing family has always been doing business with Europeans. If you ban dealings with them, you will suffer a lot."

Yun Ji and Min Xi knelt down after hearing this. Min Xi said: "Your Majesty, please understand that my brother and I are not insisting on continuing to interact with Europeans for personal gain. We are aware of the terribleness of Europeans, so we made this suggestion. Confucius said: 'When three people walk together, there must be one who can be my teacher.' I think Europeans are good at shipbuilding and navigation, and we can learn from them. But we must not let our guard down and be on guard against being attacked by them at any time."

Yun Ji also said: "I know what your Majesty is worried about. Europeans are barbaric, but in the Ming Dynasty, they must obey the laws of the Ming Dynasty. If they do not obey the laws of the Ming Dynasty, it will not be too late to ban exchanges with them."

Wanli snorted: "I just don't want to associate with barbarians."

Min Si said: "The barbarity of the Tatars is no less than that of the Europeans. Your Majesty can just treat them as Tatars."

As expected, Wanli fell silent, knowing that he was acting on impulse. Compared with the Tatars, the Europeans obviously had much less hatred towards the Ming people. However, the Ming Dynasty still needed to sign an alliance with the Tatars and coexist peacefully, so there was naturally no need to break off relations with the Europeans.

Wanli sighed and waved his hand, saying, "Forget it, just treat it as a casual chat between us, the emperor and his subjects."