The major events of the country are sacrifices and wars.

On the first day of the eighth year of Hongwu, while other people were still celebrating the Spring Festival, Zhu Qi attended the first tribute meeting with sacrifices as the theme.

Only the Ming Dynasty officials in Beijing on the first day of the Chinese New Year can participate in the meeting. In addition to the Ming Dynasty officials, there are also envoys from surrounding countries. Although there is not as grand as the future generations of all countries, as the absolute core area of ​​East Asia, no matter if any regime occupys the Central Plains, it can regard itself as the superior country of the Celestial Empire. Other small countries will come to worship as soon as possible when they receive news.

The Ming Dynasty inherited the tribute system of the Han and Tang dynasties, so naturally he would not refuse the worship of small surrounding countries.

Zhu Yuanzhang was very thrifty towards himself, but he had to be grand in foreign affairs. After all, this represents the face of the country and the dignity of the country above the heavens.

At the court meeting, Zhu Qi was also wearing the prince's robe and stood in front of the court officials, listening to Zhu Yuanzhang finishing the tribute in front of him, and then followed him to shout long live the mountain and worship.

Then envoys from various countries presented tribute gifts, and the Ming Dynasty gave back gifts, which were mostly better than tribute gifts.

Someone may want to say, ah, your tribute system is a big loss. The things you give are not valuable, but the things you give are so valuable. Aren’t we losing money?

Indeed, on the surface, this may indeed be a bit of a loss, but if you analyze it in fact, it will not be a loss at all.

Zhu Qi only realized today that in addition to coming to pay tribute, envoys from various countries also had an important task, which was to "do business"!

Ninety percent of the Ming Dynasty's foreign trade was monopoly of the state, and the Central Plains dynasty, which originated from the commodity, traded with any country, can basically be sure to maintain its own trade surplus. The tribute system is to maintain this form of national trade and is also a symbol of the alliance between the Ming Dynasty and the country.

Not every country can pay tribute. For example, the Duan family, which is still entrenched in Dali, once had the idea of ​​tribute to the Ming Dynasty, but Zhu Yuanzhang did not accept it at all. Let’s not talk about your Duan family being a minister of the Northern Yuan Dynasty. Zhu Yuanzhang could not tolerate a king of different surnames in his eyes.

The Duan family of Dali just wanted to continue to dominate Dali, and then they wanted to pay tribute. Zhu Yuanzhang was determined to unify the world, so how could he accept it?

According to statistics, during the period of Emperor Xuanzong of Ming Dynasty, when the tribute system was the most prosperous, nearly 70% of silver and copper in the world flowed into the Ming Dynasty. During the Wanli period, including the silver mined from the Great Discovery in the Americas, 85% of silver in the world also flowed into the Ming Dynasty.

Unfortunately, the great benefits of foreign trade are no longer directly controlled by the emperor, but are gradually flowing into the hands of the literati class under the bewitching of a group of greedy civil servants. Needless to say, the country and the emperor are crazy, and those literati were full of oil. Finally, they were confiscated by bandits and the Qing Dynasty, and the Qing Dynasty was directly raided. The income from the house search alone was equivalent to the treasury income of the Ming Dynasty for nearly ten years!

If there is this money, how could Li Zicheng be there? How could the Qing army enter the pass?

Later, the Qing Dynasty, which entered the Central Plains, also inherited the advantages of foreign trade. Before the Opium War, 300 million taels of silver flowed in every year. In terms of economy, the only thing that could be fought was probably the Empire of Britain, which was the Sun-Sun-Setting.

In short, the tribute system has both advantages and disadvantages. As for whether the benefits outweigh the disadvantages or the disadvantages outweigh the advantages, Zhu Qi thinks it is mostly the latter. If he becomes the emperor, it’s not a big deal to pay tribute. Taking advantage of the ignorance of the world, no one has opened the full picture. It’s the truth to occupy more territory as soon as possible!

But I just thought about it all. If I really had to stand up and do this, Emperor Yang of Sui was the lesson of the past. During the Tang Dynasty, the way of occupying culture invasion, the use of kindness and power and the assistance of the world was the real kingdom.

Zhu Qi was thinking about it here. The court meeting ended at noon. Everyone stayed and ate an open-air meal. The meal was very exquisite, with all kinds of delicacies, music, singing and dancing. Zhu Qi was a feast for the eyes.

Unfortunately, my translucent butt is not as beautiful as Xiaoxiang Pavilion. Oh, my Xiaoxiang Pavilion...

Zhu Qi couldn't help but feel inexplicably sad.

It was difficult for Zhu Qi to wait until the end of the dynasty meeting, and then he had time to take a breath, but he was having a family banquet again without stopping. On the first day of the Lunar New Year, of course he had to have dinner together.

In the past two days, they were either having a family banquet or on the way to a family banquet.

Fortunately, starting from the second day of the Lunar New Year, I can relax well, and the same is true for those noble children.

As soon as the second day of the Lunar New Year comes, a group of people have made an appointment and don’t say anything. They go to Xiaoxiang Pavilion first. As for why they don’t go to the Royal Entertainment Center, of course, it’s because the Royal Entertainment Center is now full of customers!

Moreover, Zhu Qi felt that he had learned until he was old, and he still had a lot of business things to learn in Xiaoxiang Pavilion.

A group of noble children surrounded His Highness the King of Liao and His Highness the King of Yan, and went straight to Xiaoxiang Pavilion. The madam Xiaoxiang Pavilion was excited to see His Highness the King of Liao, and fainted on the spot. She asked with a red face:

"Your Highness, why haven't you come to see us for so long? The girls just miss you so much. Without His Royal Highness the day, the girls can't sleep all night."

Look, this is called professionalism, reward, immediately!

After Zhu Qi finished the reward, he immediately said that he and others were here for investigation, so he quickly called a group of girls to come. I want to personally examine how good my professional level is.

This time, the madam looked like a silky face and shook her handkerchief and said, "I'm not sure what the palace is, there is no girl today."

When Zhu Qi heard this, he was surprised. Is the Jiaofangsi also on New Year's holiday?

Then I heard the madam explain that it was a couple of academies who invited some high-ranking officials in the court at Xiaoxiang Pavilion, and the girl from the Xiaoxiang Pavilion was wrapped up by them.

Just like in modern times, various academic institutions often hold seminars. Private schools in the early Ming Dynasty were very developed, and many juren who passed the imperial examination were from academies.

The academy focuses on lectures, participates in political affairs, praises and criticizes people, and often invites civil officials and celebrities to tell the classics and history of the political affairs together.

For example, the Donglin Party, which was once prosperous in the late Ming Dynasty, started with Donglin Academy and became larger and larger.

However, Zhu Qi never expected that these academies would ask officials to comment on political affairs and accumulate political qualifications, but they actually found all the girls in Xiaoxiang Pavilion. It seems that the scale this time is quite large.

As for why you want to find women who are popular when giving lectures, it is of course a habit of art and elegance since ancient times.

Seeing this scene, Zhu Di suggested, "Or why should we go to another house?"

Zhu Di just finished speaking when he heard someone walking out of Xiaoxiang Pavilion and asked in surprise:

"The two masters are His Highness, His Highness, His Highness, King Yan?"

Zhu Qi was stunned, and then saw a gray-bearded middle-aged man standing in front of him. He was sure he didn't know him. Zhu Di nodded beside him and said:

"Who are you?"

The man hurriedly approached a little, and after being stopped by Gao Jin, he introduced himself in a literary way.

He is a lecturer at Chongzheng Academy and came out after hearing Zhu Qi and others' words. For him, it is naturally quite rare to see the two princes in one breath, but he still asked, what are the two high men here for?

Zhu Qi was stunned. He couldn't say that he was here to go shopping in the brothels. Although Zhu Yuanzhang did not prohibit officials from entering and leaving the romantic places at this time, in history, officials were prohibited from going to the romantic places since the tenth year of Hongwu. Moreover, in Zhu Qi's concept, it was more or less a pity for men to come to such places. If others could come over, Zhu Qi was embarrassed to walk in openly.

However, Zhu Qi was not panicked and said with his hands behind his back:

"Ha, I heard that some academies are giving lectures here, so I naturally came to take a look."

The lecturer was ecstatic when he heard this. Unexpectedly, the academy lecture attracted His Highness the King of Liao and His Highness the King of Yan to come!

Needless to say, please come in and invite it!

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Chapter completed!