Chen Longzheng had the right to maintain his pride. He wasn't the only one who thought so. The Genoese thought so too. After Chen Longzheng displayed the mysterious and elegant Chinese art, the calligraphy was kept by the governor of Genoa. No one knew when it would be revealed to the public.
However, the governor of Genoa was even more enthusiastic about Chen Longzheng. He invited Chen Longzheng to tour Genoa with him.
This was something that Chen Longzheng liked. Therefore, Chen Longzheng didn't reject the invitation. He had thought that he would see many new and interesting things, but what he saw disappointed him greatly.
Few people, small city, dilapidated, dirty. This was his first impression of Europe.
There were very few people. He thought that he had seen a lot of people at the port, that there were as many Europeans as the Chinese population, and that there was a sea of people everywhere. But when he really started to tour this so-called most prosperous and richest city in Europe, he was disappointed to find that, except for the governor's palace and some very special buildings around it, most of the buildings were low, dilapidated and disorderly, and more importantly, there were very few people.
It seemed that the people gathered at the port were the entire population. There weren't many people in the city. Previously, there were many people on both sides of the road, but after a certain distance, it was as if he had entered a no man's land. Moreover, the smell was terrible. There was a strange stench. He had smelled this in some of the villages in Daming. It was something that farmers had to do to fertilize their crops. Human feces and urine were fertilizers used for farming.
But this was in the city, and the cities of the Great Ming Dynasty had very strict hygiene requirements. If you dared to urinate and defecate on the streets, you would be caught by the authorities, stripped of your pants, and flogged to see if you dared to urinate or defecate on the streets. Perhaps this kind of situation still happened in some dark alleys, but at least on the sides of the road, where the pedestrians could see with their eyes, there was no feces or urine.
However, in this city, one could see feces and urine on the streets. Chen Longzheng even saw a few children squatting together to defecate before running away laughing.
He felt a little nauseous and had the urge to vomit.
In Myanmar, when Xiao Ruxun was planning the city, she planned and designed facilities called public toilets in many corners of the city. It was mandatory that the citizens and outsiders had to go to these places to relieve themselves. Otherwise, they would be caught by the authorities and fined. Moreover, the fines were not small. Over time, people strictly followed the regulations of the authorities and went to the public toilets to relieve themselves.
Because of the smell, Xiao Ruxun would arrange for people to burn some herbs that had the effect of repelling odors and insects twice a day. Then, every day before sunset, there would be people who would take the human feces and urine from the public toilets out of the city and deliver it to the farmers. The farmers would dry it and mix it with grass to use as fertilizer. Because of the large floating population and the small amount of farmland, the feces produced by the few big cities every day was enough for the farmers.
Therefore, in the cities of Myanmar, one would not be able to smell the stench. Therefore, when they left the aristocratic district and entered the civilian district, Chen Longzheng was not used to it. He asked the governor of Genoa in confusion, "Why don't you go and deal with the feces and urine? Putting it on the side of the road not only smells bad and doesn't look good, but it's also easy to spread infectious diseases!
Governor Renaya looked at Chen Longzheng in confusion and explained, "Isn't this a very normal thing? It's the same no matter which city you go to. This is still considered good. Because this is the capital, there are some rules. You have to go to some smaller cities. Even we can't stand the smell!
Chen Longzheng turned pale with fright. Then why don't you guys deal with it?
The governor was dumbfounded. How to deal with it? Isn't this a normal thing?
Ricci couldn't stand it anymore. He quickly tugged on Chen Longzheng's sleeve. Don't say anymore. This place is like this. European cities don't have as many people as Daming, so there's less feces and urine. No one wants to deal with it. It's always been like this. We don't even have enough to eat, so why would we care about this? Do you think every city is like Yangon?
Ricci couldn't stand it either. After living in Daming and Myanmar for so many years, he was no longer used to the stench.
Chen Longzheng was only able to breathe normally after he returned to the aristocratic district. The stench just now had made him dizzy, and he almost fainted. After that, he refused to travel to other places even if he was beaten to death. After that, the recruitment of talents was done by Ricci, who went around and contacted people, and then brought them to Chen Longzheng. After the interview, Chen Longzheng felt that they met Xiao Ruxun's requirements, and asked him if he was willing to go to China to live and work.
Most of them agreed immediately. A few of them seemed to have doubts and didn't dare to agree. After all, it was too far away. Although the rumors were wonderful, those who had the courage to travel to China were basically the type who had nothing to worry about. Moreover, the salary from China sounded good, so some of them decided to take the risk and go take a look.
Chen Longzheng received ten to twenty invitations every day, inviting him to the nobles' banquets. As time passed, the news of the Chinese's arrival in Genoa spread from Genoa to the surrounding areas. The Duchy of Milan knew about it, the Pope knew about it, and even the French knew about it. They all took action and sent people to Genoa to see the elegance of the Chinese and ask if there was any possibility of doing business with them.
They didn't know why the Chinese had come to Genoa, but they had some sources that said that the Chinese seemed to be planning to establish a trading partnership with Genoa. They wanted to do business with Genoa and sell silk, porcelain, tea, and so on from China.
This kind of news was enough to make these people go crazy with jealousy. Everyone knew how profitable the porcelain, tea, and silk business was. How could they let the Genoans monopolize such benefits? Everyone had to come and get a piece of the pie! Representatives of the central government, merchants, feudal lords, and nobles all rushed to Genoa to meet the Chinese.
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