I'm the Farmgirl You Can't Mess With

Chapter 1358: Side Story: Having the Whole World in View (35)

Editor: Atlas Studios

In order to promote cultural exchange between countries, apart from Buddhism and Daoism, Confucianism, Legalism, Mohism, and other schools of thought, anyone who wanted to go overseas to do a cultural exchange with various countries could obtain a certain number of free tickets. Also, food and accommodation were free.

Qi Haoran couldn’t bear to open his private treasury and let them choose from his gold, silver, and jewelry, so he specially spent money to get craftsmen to forge a batch of exquisite porcelain to be presented as gifts to the various countries. As there was also the Great Qi’s logo on it, regardless of how many years had passed, it would be officially recognized.

Seeing that the children were so enthusiastic, Qi Xiuyuan reluctantly rewarded the children with the brocades ¹ that Great Qi had received as tribute this year. It was considered a national treasure because it was said that only Great Qi possessed the weaving technique necessary to produce such brocades.

On the other hand, Western merchants in Great Qi couldn’t get their hands on these brocades even if they offered large sums of money. This was because other than paying tribute, the rest were mostly bought by the nobles of Great Qi.

In addition to the brocade, they also brought along various other types of cloth. Since they were gifting local specialties, they naturally had to choose high-yielding and high-quality cloth.

Fan Zijin gave the children some rabbit jerky and said, “Help me promote this. If anyone likes it, ask them to place an order. Great Qi will deliver it.”

Rabbit farming in the north had already reached a scale, and the farms were being managed by disabled and retired veterans. Now, all the old, weak, and crippled soldiers in Great Qi earned a livelihood from working at the rabbit meat factories. Although Great Qi’s domestic consumption was sufficient, it would naturally be better if they could expand sales. After all, there were not many rabbit jerky exported to the west now, so the west wasn’t a major export market in this area.

Smiling, Fan Zijin said, “Nutritious and delicious, rabbit jerky is also one of the national treasures of Great Qi.”

The corners of the children’s mouths twitched. They resigned themselves to fate and asked someone to move the things away. Since they had obtained this for free, it would be a waste not to take them.

Seeing that everyone had expressed their stance, Mu Yangling couldn’t just do nothing. She asked the Harvest Grain Store to send over a few bags of wheat seeds and grain seeds and said, “Distribute some in every country along the way. If they want to import these grain seeds, just place an order. Our Harvest Grain Store welcomes their orders.”

Little Leopard was annoyed. “I’m an envoy, not a businessman…”

No one paid attention to him and simply went about their business.

With the support of the adults, everything went very smoothly. The courtiers quickly selected the envoys who would be going with them. Of course, those officials were chosen from the Ministry of Rites.

Little Leopard had thought that the courtiers would still object. Unexpectedly, after the kids said that they were representing the royal family on a diplomatic mission, the officials no longer uttered a word of objection. When they expressed that they could take some Imperial Court officials with them on the diplomatic mission, the officials even praised them and quickly chose the envoys.

How shameless. They were still arguing over this the day before, but the next day, they were beaming at them so happily.

In any case, the fleet was ready not long after the Double Yang Festival. In high spirits, Little Leopard and Little Fu were sent out of the capital by their families to the nearest port.

At this moment, it had been half a year since Joao was imprisoned.

He was imprisoned for vying with others for the throne.

His father had long passed the title to the youngest son born from Joao’s stepmother. When he and his brother returned, they could not even inherit a manor and were almost kicked out of the house.

If not for Zhu Yi’s support, they would not even be able to maintain the basic social interactions of the upper-class society. After all, the two brothers had not earned much money in Great Qi.

Despite this, Joao never gave up on seizing back the title. Later on, he saw an opportunity when the crown prince of his country was killed in England.

Qi Haoran thought that Portugal would fight England to the death because of this. After all, that was their crown prince. However, it was not the case; the two countries remained on good terms.

Tiger Head explained to his confused father, “That crown prince is not Portuguese, but French. The Emperor of Portugal did not have a son, so very early on, he named his sister’s eldest son as the crown prince. That princess married a King of France, and her eldest son died in the battle against England.”

“The Portuguese royal family doesn’t want to abide by the Emperor’s wishes and let the princess’s son ascend the throne, so they’re not at all saddened by his death.” Little Lion continued, “But the Portuguese royal family’s struggle for the throne in the previous two generations was too intense. The person closest to the Emperor is his younger sister. Other than that, they’re all outside of the collateral relatives by blood up to the fifth degree of kinship.”

“Of course, there’s no such concept of collateral relatives by blood up to the fifth degree of kinship in the west, but the meaning is the same. Those remaining in the Portuguese royal family are not close to the Emperor by blood. Joao and Jose are lucky to be two of the eight closest people. It’s very difficult for Joao to snatch back his father’s title, so he wanted to fight for the throne instead. In the end, he didn’t get his father’s support, so he was quickly framed and imprisoned. He must be living a miserable life now.”

Qi Haoran and Qi Xiuyuan could not understand why a country’s emperor would be chosen from another country.

This was like Mingzhu entering a marriage alliance with someone from Great Yuan. Then, when Little Treasure and the others all died, the Emperor and the courtiers did not want to choose someone from the Qi family to inherit the throne. Instead, they went to Great Yuan to bring back one of Mingzhu’s sons to become the Great Qi Emperor.

Even if it was Mingzhu’s son, he was still the son of the Emperor of Great Yuan. Wasn’t this equivalent to giving Great Qi to Great Yuan?

The two brothers shivered at the same time and spat together. Pfft, pfft. Mingzhu would never enter a marriage alliance with Great Yuan. Qi Haoran would find a talented and obedient husband for her precious daughter, and the couple would go on to live happily ever after.

Qi Xiuyuan said to his sons seriously, “Should all your descendants die one day, if you don’t want to pass the throne to the collateral descendants, I’d rather you pass the throne to your sister than to her son.”

Little Treasure and the others twitched their mouths and said helplessly, “Royal Father, what nonsense is that!”

No matter what, Joao had a legitimate claim to the Portuguese throne—he was a member of the royal family after all!

Therefore, Little Leopard’s trip to the West was very promising.

Qi Haoran stroked his chin and said, “I heard that Joao and Jose’s mother came from the royal family of France. Then do you think he can also fight for the throne of France when all the princes of France are dead?”

As soon as he said that, the room fell silent. Everyone looked at him in shock.

Qi Haoran shouted, “Why are you looking at me like that? I’m just making an analogy, aren’t I?”

Little Treasure couldn’t help but clap. “Fourth Uncle, your inference skills are impressive, but the key is, how is that even a possible scenario, the princes of France all ending up dead?”

Qi Haoran muttered, “How would I know? Isn’t it said that France has been fighting with England for nearly a hundred years? Who knows, they might all die during the war?”

Everyone was silent.

At this moment, Little Leopard, who was standing at the bow of the ship and facing the wind, said ambitiously to Little Fu, “Think about it, isn’t this inheritance rule of the Westerners very beneficial to Joao and Jose? Not only do they have the bloodline of the Portuguese royal family, but they also have the bloodline of the French royal family. Perhaps their ancestors possess other royal bloodlines, too. If they fail to seize the throne of Portugal, they can set their sights on the French throne instead.”

At only 15 years old, Little Fu was full of enthusiasm as he said, “As long as you work hard, anything is possible!”

“That’s right!”

The two children sailed deeper into the sea confidently. A few Imperial Court envoys on the ship were sitting in the cabin with a tea cup in their hand and looking out. They said suspiciously, “I keep feeling that the two young masters are discussing something incredible. Do you think we can return to Great Qi safely in two years?”

The other officials said in unison, “It’s difficult!”