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There were more than 200 people in the Daqin delegation, but only Zhang Haoran and more than 20 people actually participated in the reception for John IV. The others moved around freely and "collected folk songs" in Lisbon.
Lisbon is an ancient city, a bit dirty and messy, far from being as prosperous and clean as Nanjing, and human and animal feces can be seen everywhere on the streets;
But here there is a tall Gothic castle, representing Europe's superb architectural technology.
There are many navigation technologies here, representing Europe's advanced navigation technology.
There are many workshops here that produce industrial products and works of art that represent European social civilization.
Be tolerant to diversity, tolerance is a virtue.
This time, in addition to think tank personnel, such a large delegation was also accompanied by many top craftsmen from the Qin Dynasty. They came mainly to collect advanced technologies from all aspects of Europe.
They would do this every time they arrived in a city, visiting every corner of the city, using money, exchanges, or various exquisite goods brought from Daqin as bait, using all means to acquire European talent and technology.
For example, Liu Chun used ten bars of soap and received technical training from a watchmaker named Leoncius in Lisbon. The soap was worth one dragon coin when it was exported from Daqin, but after European merchants brought it back, the price increased 15 times. Ten bars of soap were equivalent to 150 dragon coins in Europe.
Although Leon Hughes was the best watchmaker in Lisbon, 150 dragon coins was a huge sum of money for him. No wonder he immediately agreed to pass on the technology to Liu Chun.
European royal palaces do not have the concept of facing north and south like Chinese palaces. On the hill east of Lisbon is the ancient Alfama district, with a tall castle built on the hill and the Royal Palace of John IV at the foot of the hill.
On the second day after the Qin envoys arrived in Lisbon, John IV hosted a banquet in the royal palace to entertain Zhang Haoran and his entourage.
John IV was very attentive to this reception, striving to make the Qin envoys feel at home.
Since John IV declared independence, Portugal has been plagued by disasters, including a sluggish domestic economy, several riots and repeated diplomatic setbacks.
In order to seek foreign support to jointly fight against Spain and recover lost territory overseas, he sent diplomatic envoys to Britain, France, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Denmark and Rome, expressing Portugal's willingness to join the Bourbon family group headed by France to fight against the Habsburg family group headed by Spain.
However, for these countries, it was more profitable to treat Portugal as an enemy than as an ally, because in this way they could openly attack the commercial ports and strategic fortresses in the hands of the Portuguese.
So the so-called "Reconstruction Diplomacy" of John IV resulted in a sad result: Portugal broke away from the Habsburg family group, but was not accepted by another group.
Especially for England, where Leon IV placed the most hope, Portugal paid a huge price to obtain substantial support.
Since ancient times, there has been a long-standing alliance between Britain and Portugal. For example, the change of dynasty in Portugal in 1385 received strong support from Britain. It is for this reason that Leon IV placed high hopes on Britain.
But the situation was different this time because it happened to coincide with the English Revolution. Charles I was executed and Cromwell came to power. Seeing this, John IV wanted to remain neutral and wait and see.
However, a group of British royalists, using the long-standing alliance between the two countries as an excuse, led a fleet loyal to the king to anchor in the port of Lisbon, and used it as a base to attack Cromwell's fleet.
Cromwell, enraged, sent a fleet to blockade the port of Lisbon, cutting off the sea route to Brazil. The two countries almost went to war.
Now John IV is considering whether to open the trade territories in Brazil, Africa and the East to Britain and offer preferential tariff rates in exchange for Cromwell's understanding.
Knowing Grape's difficult situation, it is not difficult to understand why King Laiang IV attached so much importance to the Qin envoys. The entire palace was decorated anew, and the nobles in the city were invited to attend the welcome dinner.
His queen Luisa de Gusmao, his second daughter Anna, and his third daughter Catalina all changed into the "mobile gardens" presented by the Qin envoys and attended the welcome dinner together.
Princess Anna was sixteen years old and Princess Catalina was fourteen years old. They were naturally beautiful with slender and graceful figures. When they appeared in the "moving garden", they immediately attracted waves of admiration and praise.
Even at the banquet, John IV, who was 48 years old at the time, personally played a song for the distinguished guests who came from afar, and was in great spirits.
When John IV was about to start performing, Mashidu introduced John IV's achievements in music to Zhang Haoran.
Zhang Haoran learned from Masto that John IV was a music fan. He had developed an ever-increasing interest in music since he was a child and established a deep friendship with Portugal's greatest composer, João Lourenço Rebieiro.
After inheriting the title of Duke of Braganza, he began to collect a large number of musical works, and he bought all the new works published in the European music market from publishers and distributors.
After he ascended the throne, the country's diplomatic agencies all got involved, making Portugal's music collection the largest in Europe and even the world at that time, with two thousand printed books and nearly four thousand handwritten scores.
After he finished playing, Zhang Haoran immediately stood up and praised: "Your Majesty the King has extraordinary skills, which really opened my eyes. Such wonderful music makes people feel like spring breeze.
Your Majesty may not know that our Great Qin Emperor is also very accomplished in music, and some of his works are often circulated among the people, and the people all compete to sing them. If your Majesty goes to Daqin, you will definitely find common ground with our Great Qin Emperor and establish a deep friendship. "
Mashidu quickly translated Zhang Haoran's words to John IV.
Joao IV was immediately overjoyed and said, "That's great. I didn't expect that the emperor who established the powerful Qin Empire also loved music. I suddenly feel a yearning for the Qin Empire."
Zhang Haoran was chosen to go on a diplomatic mission to Europe, so he was naturally a very shrewd person. He immediately grasped John IV's sore spot, started with his favorite music, and described Qin Mu as a music lover in order to bring the two closer.
To be honest, Qin Mu did have quite a few of his songs spread among the people. No matter what, out of respect for him, the people of the Qin Dynasty would naturally sing along with the songs composed by the emperor. However, it is not certain that Qin Mu was obsessed with music.
Anyway, through this conversation, Zhang Haoran quickly made the communication between the two sides become harmonious.
Afterwards, Zhang Haoran asked the musicians who came with him to play a piece of music called "High Mountains and Flowing Water" on the spot, and told the story of Boya and Zhong Ziqi to the grape nobles present.
Then Zhang Haoran asked the ladies accompanying him to perform the Chinese tea ceremony. The elegant and flowing movements of the maids amazed the grape nobles at the banquet.
The people Zhang Haoran brought with him were all elites from all walks of life in Daqin. This grand welcoming banquet ended up being more like an exhibition of traditional Chinese culture.
King John IV and the Queen watched with great interest. Generally speaking, Europe is still far from being able to compare with the extensive and profound Chinese culture in terms of culture and art. Seeing this, the Portuguese nobles present were very impressed.
Inside the tall palace, large candles were lit, making it as bright as day. Although the atmosphere of communication between the two sides was harmonious, Zhang Haoran was always displaying Chinese culture. After watching for a long time, John IV became secretly anxious.
After all, he is the king of a country. It will not be too late to carry out artistic exchanges later, but if he does not finalize some things now while everyone is happy, and win a chance for Grape to get out of the predicament, there will be no chance again if he misses this opportunity.
Portugal urgently needs a powerful ally like the Qin Empire. With such an ally, even if countries like Britain and Spain are not worried that the Qin Empire will come to their homeland, they have to consider whether they can keep their colonies in the Far East, India, and even Africa if they offend the Qin Empire's allies. The consequences of the Netherlands being an enemy of the Qin Empire are already vividly presented to European countries.
The fastest and most effective way to form a relatively stable alliance with the Qin Dynasty is undoubtedly through marriage.
Whether in the East or the West, no matter if you despise it or are unwilling to do so in your heart, the preferred way to form an alliance is political marriage.
John IV saw his daughter Catherine, who was good at singing and dancing. Although she was only fourteen years old, she had grown into a graceful and charming girl, even more beautiful than her mother.
"Katerina, you are good at singing and dancing. Please perform a song and dance for the distinguished guests from afar tonight."
******************(To be continued...)
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