Chapter 263 The Ming Empire in the eyes of Leonardo da Vinci
Tong Laowu and Tao Hei were originally the lowest class craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty and had little idea of court attire. If they were given python robes, they might not know how valuable they were by wearing these clothes, but they had seen the emperor wearing royal robes when he was on patrol. Wearing the flying fish suit, they know what it means to wear the flying fish suit.
Therefore, they were all in high spirits at the moment, and even felt like they were dreaming. Their hands were hanging stiffly in the air, fearing that they would touch the precious Feiyu suit they were wearing, and their smiles were also stiff, and even a little trembling, fearing that they would be touched by those present. The officials laughed sarcastically.
After all, it was the first time for them to be in front of Fengtian Gate with so many officials who they usually dare not look at.
Fortunately, the first person to receive the award was Wang Shouren, Minister of the Ministry of War. Basically, what Wang Shouren did, they also learned to do it.
Tong Laowu never thought that he would be so valued by His Majesty the Emperor just by developing a musket that could be loaded with bullets without the need for a match cord.
Therefore, he has never been so proud of his career as he is now. He couldn't help but secretly vowed to make the rifled gun that His Majesty desired with all his heart, otherwise he would be sorry for His Majesty the Emperor.
The same was true for Tao Hei. He looked at his hand that was broken due to an accident while making iron. He still felt that being so valued by the court and the emperor, it was worth it even if he lost his life to go in.
"The country is governed by a great doctor. Your Majesty attaches great importance to my doctor and actually gives it to me as a minister. This shows that your Majesty is a kind and kind king. Our people in the Ming Dynasty are blessed!"
Li Yanwen sighed in his heart. He was not as excited as Tong Laowu and Tao Hei, but now that Zhu Houzhao valued him as a doctor, it also made him respect the emperor Zhu Houzhao even more.
Xu Jing also didn't expect that one day he would become a second-rank official in the court. This reminded him of his murder in the imperial examination in the twelfth year of Hongzhi. He couldn't help but sneer in his heart:
"Back then, the villain intended to block my, Xu, Qingyun's path, but I, Xu, would eventually have to meet the Lord of the Ming Dynasty! If those villains had known about it, I don't know if they would have been furious!"
Kang Hai, the cabinet scholar, presented the medal, and Zhu Houzhao presented it to him personally, and the seven people thanked him with great gifts one by one.
Ten thousand taels of silver is also a huge sum of money, and the significance and value of this huge sum of money are also great. Even the powerful people in the court are envious of it.
Some nobles in the court could not help but secretly think that it would be difficult for a family like theirs to establish martial arts. It would be better to work hard on these strange skills, and maybe they could win the favor of His Majesty and revitalize the family.
Zhu Houzhao did not expect that because he set up this royal highest science and technology award, all the dignitaries in the DPRK and China would start to pay attention to academic careers.
Even the Duke of Wei began to spend a lot of money to find people to develop aircraft, and the British Duke also suddenly wanted to recruit Qingke to build iron-clad ships.
Da Vinci, who came to the Ming Dynasty for the first time, also learned about this grand event from Pires. He was very surprised and very happy that the Ming Dynasty valued secular knowledge so much.
"This empire called the Ming Dynasty is as luxurious and elegant as the legend. She is like an oriental beauty just out of the bath, exuding sunshine-like charm, even more fascinating than the legend. The streets here are orderly, and every day There is a trash can every 100 steps. The trash can has artistic characteristics, and the street is therefore as clean as a shelled egg. The surface is as smooth, but the texture is very hard. I heard adults in the Ming Dynasty say it is cement, a kind that can solidify quickly. The adhesive.”
"And what surprises me even more is that the people here are rich. Commoners and nobles wear expensive silks. They are even erudite. They have more schools than churches and temples;
This is really a secular world, a humanistic world, not a world of worshiping gods. I really like it here. Even their kings did not spend their extra wealth on religion, but gave it to some engineers and artists. Give them generous rewards and even make them nobles! For the first time, I began to feel that I was a little unfortunate. Unfortunately, I was not born in such a country! ”
"In this country, religious beliefs are indeed free. Even some nobles are willing to listen to me telling them stories from the Bible. I have also begun to learn to accommodate their Taoism and Buddhism here."
Leonardo da Vinci carefully recorded his feelings after arriving in the Ming Dynasty, and even recorded them in Western paintings.
Raphael and Michelangelo were no exception, and even Michelangelo began to carve all living things in the Ming Dynasty.
At this time, Pires found them: "Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, His Majesty the Ming Emperor is going to summon you. Remember to follow me to the Royal West Garden tomorrow."
"Even the emperor is willing to see us, this is really great!"
Da Vinci and others were almost jumping for joy. Although they were very famous in later generations, in this era, even in Florence, they were not valued by the Medici family and the Florentine nobles. Nowadays, They were naturally overjoyed when they heard that the wealthy Emperor Ming wanted to see them.
Da Vinci hurriedly began to look through his paintings, hoping to give the Ming Emperor Zhu Houzhao his most satisfactory painting.
The same goes for Raphael. He rummaged through his piles of Madonna statues, fearing that the painting he presented at that time would not satisfy the Ming Emperor. Michelangelo held his sculpture and looked at it carefully, thinking whether it would make His Majesty the Ming Emperor happy if he presented this thing.
……
After Zhu Houzhao met Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael, he did not expect that these three people also gave them gifts.
This made Zhu Houzhao very happy. After all, he also knew that the works of these three people would be extremely valuable after hundreds of years. Therefore, he accepted it happily and even couldn't help but said: "I didn't expect them to be quite sensible." , I know how to give a gift and avoid the trouble of asking for it myself.”
"Pires, tell the three of them that I respect their freedom of creation and research, but Ming Dynasty cannot tolerate lazy people. They can tell me what they want to do in Ming Dynasty, and I can help them." Zhu Houzhao said to Pires.
Pires translated Zhu Houzhao's words to Da Vinci and three others.
Da Vinci and the other three felt very happy after hearing this. What they wanted most was freedom. So after hearing what the Ming Emperor Zhu Houzhao said, he hurriedly said: "Thank you, His Majesty the Ming Emperor. Now I, Da Vinci, just want to get to know you well." Everything about the country.”
Michelangelo and Raphael didn't say the same either.
Zhu Houzhao nodded and said hurriedly: "In that case, I allow you to go to the Capital University to further your studies first, and learn our Han language first."
When Zhu Houzhao was talking, Leonardo da Vinci pointed to the astronomical telescope behind Zhu Houzhao (it was invented by Galileo in 1609 and appeared here earlier): "May I ask His Majesty the Ming Emperor, what is the iron tube behind you?"
"This is my Ming Dynasty's object for astronomical observation, and it is called an astronomical telescope." After Zhu Houzhao said it, once Pires translated it, Leonardo da Vinci and others became curious and hurriedly asked Zhu Houzhao to allow them to use the astronomical telescope.
Zhu Houzhao didn't refuse and asked Liu Jin to teach them how to use it.
When Leonardo da Vinci used the big telescope, he was surprised and said in Western language: "My God! Guess what I saw? It turns out that the Milky Way is made up of stars all over the sky. Jupiter, that should be It’s Jupiter, and there are celestial bodies orbiting it. Isn’t the earth the center of the universe? My God! How is this possible?”
Leonardo da Vinci left the astronomical telescope in horror and murmured in despair: "The knowledge this empire possesses is shocking!"
At this time, Michelangelo and Raphael, who also looked at the sky with astronomical telescopes, were as horrified as Da Vinci and said to themselves stupidly: "I didn't expect it, I really didn't expect it. It turns out that the universe It’s like this!”
Seeing this, Liu Jin couldn't help but ask Zhu Houzhao: "Your Majesty, these three Xiyi are like a flower girl getting on the sedan for the first time. It is really inappropriate! Do you want to reprimand them?"
"No need. When the officials of the Qintian Prison saw such an astronomical scene for the first time, their reaction was not much weirder than them. Pires, remember to take them to the Capital University to study the language." Zhu Houzhao said and took Da Vinci I flipped through the presented paintings and saw a Western painting with a very large scale, so I gave it to Tang Bohu: "I'll lend it to you to take a closer look at. Maybe it will help you with your painting. Their Western paintings are different from those of the East." , take a good look.”
After hearing what Zhu Houzhao said, Tang Bohu hurriedly accepted the words and took a look. He was stunned and said to Zhu Houzhao in a low voice:
"Your Majesty, please forgive me for being so arrogant. This Xiyi man is so bold. He dares to send you a picture of the palace. Moreover, the scale is too large, and it is very lifelike and has no subtlety. If this is what Taoism would be like, Those who know this may call them sycophants.”
"What they have here is not erotic pictures, but humanism. You know, understand it well." Zhu Houzhao said with a smile and asked the eunuch to bring the other two works, a sculpture by Michelangelo and a Raphael. Your statue of Our Lady went to Cining Palace.
Seeing that the birthday of the Queen Mother Zhang was approaching, but the Queen Mother Zhang was depressed because her two younger brothers had not returned to Beijing since they went to sea. Therefore, Zhu Houzhao thought that he would take advantage of Da Vinci and others to present Western paintings. When he was working with Western Yi sculptures, he gave these Western Yi paintings and Western sculptures to the Queen Mother, saying that they were his The two uncles asked someone to bring it back to the Queen Mother. The scale of Leonardo da Vinci's painting was too large, so Zhu Houzhao couldn't give it to him directly, so he gave it to Tang Bohu to watch, and planned to keep it for himself to admire privately, while Michelangelo Zhu Houzhao felt that the Queen Mother Zhang would be able to accept the sculpture and Raphael's Madonna.
After Empress Dowager Zhang learned from Zhu Houzhao that it was a gift brought back from the West by her younger brother, she really became interested and hurriedly asked someone to open it and have a look. When she saw Michelangelo's sculpture, she couldn't help but wave her hands and said:
"Take it, take it, what's so good about a man without clothes? These barbarians are indeed very uncivilized. Your two uncles are still so mindless. They dare to send this to the palace. Why don't you get down?" "Reprimand and reprimand"
(End of chapter)