The passenger ship Zhoushan Island officially set sail out of the port and joined the escort fleet waiting at sea.

Soldiers from Guan Tianpei's unit and passenger ship security personnel once again inspected the passenger ship as a whole.

Confirm again that there are no abnormalities, there are no people who are not on the list, and the basic safety of the passenger ship itself is confirmed.

Zhu Jingyuan took two staff members, accompanied by Guan Tianpei's soldiers, to visit various cabins.

Go and say hello to the negotiating delegation represented by Shen Fu, Shaoqing of Honglu Temple, and to say hello to the craftsmen headed by Wang Lai, the director of the Ship Department of the Ministry of Industry.

Ask people who have severe seasickness to reassure them to be patient and see if they feel better after two days.

If you really can't adapt, you can disembark at the next few ports.

Zhu Jingyuan felt that this was what he should do, but officials and craftsmen all praised him, as did His Highness the King of Food, Corporal Lixian, and so on...

After walking around on the boat, Zhu Jingyuan returned to the door of his living area and looked at the door opposite.

After hesitating for a few seconds, he cautiously avoided the area in front of the door and asked Guan Tianpei to arrange for a soldier to knock on the door.

"Who is that outside?"

The servant inside looked through the peephole and saw only a soldier outside, so he asked aloud.

After the soldier here reported the big food king, the other side said "please wait".

Not long after, the door was opened, and Zhu Jianfeng, wearing a nightgown and regular clothes, appeared at the door:

"What does your good nephew have to do with your uncle?"

Zhu Jingyuan had no expression on his face:

"I went to visit the boat and finally came to Uncle Jiu, so I came over to say hello."

Zhu Jianfeng had no expression:

"Oh, uncle, nothing happens here. My dear nephew, please come back..."

Zhu Jingyuan looked at Zhu Jianfeng who was about to close the door subconsciously, and finally couldn't help but stretched out his hand and shouted:

"Wait a minute! What are you doing? Why are you here to participate in this negotiation?"

Zhu Jianfeng seemed to be very indifferent and said:

"My father asked me to come over, so I came over."

After saying this, Zhu Jianfeng looked behind him again. Seeing that there was no one around, he grinned and said:

"Our current situation is very good. Everyone knows that the relationship between us is very bad, and Xiyi will also know when the time comes.

"It's natural for me to be a villain, and it's natural for my nephew to be a little gentle.

"Okay, the villain is going to drink and have fun. If my nephew is not interested in joining, don't come and disturb me..."

After Zhu Jianfeng finished speaking, he closed the door directly, not giving Zhu Jingyuan a chance to continue speaking.

Zhu Jingyuan stretched out his right hand and opened his mouth, with one sentence stuck in his throat:

What does it mean that the relationship seems to be bad? Could it be that our uncle and nephew originally had a good relationship?

Zhu Jingyuan was speechless at Uncle Jiu's explanation. Guan Tianpei looked on in confusion, but the two aides saw the clue.

Niu Jian whispered to Zhu Jingyuan:

"Your Highness, the student thinks that what His Highness Ninth Highness said is right, and the two Highnesses can just cooperate."

Zhu Jingyuan did not comment, frowned and returned to the room, sitting on the soft couch and thinking.

Could it be that he, the ninth uncle, really doesn’t have any special ideas?

Being driven out by the old emperor to negotiate, he just accepted it as a matter of course?

Zhu Jingyuan knew that simply thinking this way would not lead to any results, so he could only continue to observe.

Anyway, we were on the road for more than a month, and the number of guards on the ship was ten times as many as his.

And there is a saying that is indeed true. The relationship between the two people does seem to be very bad, so there is no need to specialize in acting.

Zhu Jingyuan felt that he should not go and say hello to Uncle Jiu.

He shook his head and put his matter behind him, and continued chatting with his staff.

From the afternoon to the evening of that day, the Zhoushan Island passenger ship kept sailing at a speed of ten knots. At nine o'clock the next morning, it left the Bohai Sea and entered the Yellow Sea.

Then the passenger ship communicated with the escorting fleet to confirm, and simultaneously increased the speed to twenty knots.

At this time, Zhu Jingyuan was with two staff members and came to his balcony to look at the sea in the distance and the accompanying warships in the distance.

The main force of the fleet escorting the Zhoushan is four Yangtze-type armored cruisers.

The full load displacement is 15,000 tons, the main weapons are four 240mm main guns, and 12 160mm rapid-fire cannons, with a maximum speed of 23 knots.

Then there are eight Huangpu River-type armored cruisers.

The full load displacement is 4,500 tons, the main weapons are four 200mm main guns, six 160mm rapid-fire cannons, and the maximum speed is 23 knots.

Only two types of armored cruisers accompanied it, and no main battleships joined.

Because the Zhoushan is a high-speed passenger ship with a maximum speed of 23 knots and can cruise at 20 knots at ordinary times, the battleship cannot keep up.

Of course, the more important reason is that the Zhoushan is now sailing in the "inland sea" of the Ming Dynasty.

Ice Sea (Sea of ​​Okhotsk), Whale Sea (Sea of ​​Japan), Bohai Sea, Yellow Sea, East China Sea, South China Sea, Gulf of Siam, Java Sea, Sulu Sea, Banda Sea, Timor Sea and other China, Nanyang and Tiannan regions

Both sides and coasts are the inland sea of ​​the Ming Dynasty.

The Ming Dynasty and the Xiaoxi Ocean are the main spheres of influence of the Ming Dynasty, but they cannot actually be completely and absolutely controlled.

These coastal inland seas are the actual and absolute defense zones of the Ming Navy. Hostile fleets cannot enter these places, let alone fight.

Under such circumstances, arranging a fleet escort of this size is already beyond the norm.

Once out of the inland sea area, the fleet will slow down and the main battleships will join in.

Zhu Jingyuan and two staff members were admiring the scenery on the sea for a while. Shen Fu, the young minister of Honglu Temple, received the invitation and rushed over.

After the two parties exchanged a few simple polite words and said hello, they sat down in the living room, and Shen Fu officially began to teach Zhu Jingyuan.

Lin Zexu and Niu Jian, two staff members, were allowed to follow Zhu Jingyuan to observe.

Shen Fu started from the most basic and introduced to Zhu Jingyuan the working model of Honglu Temple, as well as the details that require special attention:

“External affairs were originally led by the Ministry of Rites, and the focus of these affairs was also etiquette.

"It's not that the most important thing is the way Ming officials should use to salute when they face foreign envoys or kings.

"In other words, that's not the essence of etiquette.

“The essence of Ming Dynasty’s external etiquette is to give different countries and people treatment commensurate with their actual status.

"For example, among the European and Western countries, those with the largest territory and the most powerful national power, Lucia, England, and France, can be regarded as princely vassal states.

"Secondly, the four countries of Prussia, Austria, Spain and the Ottomans can be regarded as vassal states, while the Netherlands, Sardinia, Portugal and other countries can be regarded as principalities.

"When facing the monarchs of Lu, Britain and France, you should show the same respect as you would the prince of Ming Dynasty, and try not to take the initiative to belittle or treat him poorly.

"Although, in most cases, even if the Ming envoy treats his monarch slowly, the other party will usually not do anything, but it may cause setbacks in the work of Honglu Temple..."

Niu Jian and Lin Zexu nodded slightly as they listened.

Zhu Jingyuan, who has two lifetimes of memories, now feels a little confused about time and space.

The meaning contained in Shen Fu's words was to give the monarchs of Lu, Britain and France the respect similar to that of the Ming princes, which already raised the standard.

I would like to remind you not to deliberately denigrate and be slow to treat others. This is because people often did this in the past, right?

As much as possible means that it’s not a big problem if it’s derogatory, right?

The key is that the purpose of raising standards is just to facilitate Honglu Temple's work and avoid unnecessary trouble, rather than to truly recognize the other party's status in the heart...

Nowadays, ordinary people and officials in the Ming Dynasty still don't think much of Xiyi as a human being. No wonder they continuously sold out their teammates.

And even now, the Western Yi countries are clearly classified into different levels.

The highest level among the three countries of Britain, France and France is only the prince level.

Prussia only received treatment from a county king, while Portugal only received treatment from a prince.

As for other countries, their status is obviously worse than this.

This clear classification of countries is completely different from modern diplomatic concepts.

Although modern countries are actually differentiated by their size, all countries are nominally equal. Politicians have to "pretend" to some extent in public.

But in this era, it is impossible to even pretend. In fact, it is not just the Ming Dynasty, but other countries are also similar.

Zhu Jingyuan sighed in his heart. When he was sorting out his thoughts, Niu Jian asked a question:

"I would like to ask Shen Shaoqing, students remember that Portugal has a quite vast territory called Brazil in the Nanyinzhou area. Why do we only treat each other as public servants now?"

Zhu Jingyuan thought that Shen Fu would explain the issue of actual national strength.

As a result, Shen Fu directly explained from another perspective:

“Because our Ming Dynasty’s official attitude does not recognize Portugal’s occupation of the so-called Brazilian region.
To be continued...