New Ming Year 11.
Europe, London, England.
"Name your price."
Tie Niaofei pointed at the plot of land in front of him, his gesture carrying a faint trace of arrogance. His translator froze for a few seconds before finally rendering the sentence into English.
Unfortunately, once translated, the line lost its original flavor and sounded far less imposing.
An English noble stood before Tie Niaofei, bowing slightly with a flattering smile.
"Mr. Tie, this land is in an excellent location. It is close to the center of London, has convenient transportation, and the terrain is wide and flat. As for the price…"
From here on, the translator continued working nonstop.
Tie Niaofei snorted.
"All that talk is just you trying to jack the price up."
The noble looked a bit embarrassed.
Tie Niaofei continued, "If you want to haggle with me, then you clearly do not want this deal. Let me tell you something. If this place will not have me, another place will. Countless nobles are begging me to set up my new-style factories in their cities. Lisbon, Serbia, Oslo, Amsterdam. The fact that I even came to London is already me giving you Englishmen face."
The noble hurriedly nodded.
"You are absolutely right, Mr. Tie. In that case, we will offer this land to you at the lowest possible price."
And just like that, the first factory in Europe was established in London.
The factory itself was not technologically advanced. Goods manufactured in New Ming were shipped over in parts, and workers in London were responsible for assembling them. Their work was simple and repetitive. Assemble, assemble, assemble.
To cut costs, Tie Niaofei went into the poorest rural areas of England to recruit child laborers. He paid their parents a small fee called a "contract fee" to bind the children to his factory.
During the contract period, these workers had no personal freedom. They obeyed the overseers in everything, could not return home, and could not work for other factories. All wages belonged to Tie Niaofei. In return, he only provided the most basic food and shelter.
Tie Niaofei made a fortune.
All the money he earned was converted into gold, silver, and jewels, then shipped back to New Ming by sea.
And once back in New Ming, he wore an entirely different face.
He engaged in charity, funded relief for the poor, donated to national infrastructure projects, supplied frontier troops with food and clothing for free, participated in disaster relief, and financed road and bridge construction.
When the Imperial Palace museum underwent restoration, he donated fifty thousand taels of silver.
When the great earthquake struck western Sichuan, he donated two hundred thousand taels.
New Ming Year 29.
Tie Niaofei was now old, his body showing clear signs of age, yet his drive to make money had not diminished in the slightest.
"Take this banner and go promote it in Europe."
He handed a large banner to his son, Tie Baoshan.
"I am too old to sail across the oceans now. From here on, the European business will be yours to manage."
Tie Baoshan nodded and took the banner. He glanced at it and saw a line written across it:
"Petite Bourgeois Lifestyle, Made in New Ming."
He blinked in confusion.
"Father, what does this mean?"
Tie Niaofei smiled.
"This is a business strategy I found in the Heavenly Book left behind by Dao Xuan Tianzun thirty years ago. It is called the 'consumerism trap.' Take this banner to Europe and promote the idea of the 'petite bourgeois lifestyle.' Define it for them. To be refined, one must drink New Ming tea, wear New Ming clothes, eat New Ming cuisine, and wear New Ming jewelry. That is what it means to have taste."
Tie Baoshan scratched his head.
"I do not really understand."
Tie Niaofei waved it off.
"It is fine. I do not fully understand either. It is the Heavenly Book after all. If mortals could understand everything in it, would we not all become immortals? Not understanding is normal. Understanding would be strange. You do not need to understand. Just do as it says."
Tie Baoshan nodded.
"Understood, Father. I will give it a try in Europe."
New Ming Year 30.
Tie Baoshan arrived in Lisbon and used it as his starting point, launching a massive advertising campaign.
Overnight, posters, illustrated booklets, and stage plays were flooded with a new term:
"Petite bourgeois."
Europe's middle class was instantly captivated.
There was, apparently, such a refined way of living. And the best part was that it was not limited to the nobility. Even ordinary middle-class people, with just a bit of extra money and effort, could reach it.
In no time, a wave of "petite bourgeois culture" swept across Europe.
Everyone began to fall in love with imported goods from New Ming.
Simply wearing New Ming clothing or eating New Ming food made people feel superior, as if they had risen to a completely different level of life.
And thus, a hierarchy of disdain was born.
Those who used New Ming goods looked down on those who used domestic products.
European nobles began to boast about having traveled to New Ming as a badge of honor.
Upon returning home, they would sigh with an air of superiority, convinced that their knowledge had surpassed that of the local bumpkins by ten thousand years.
One student who had studied in New Ming even made the famous remark:
"The air in New Ming smells sweeter than Europe's."
Zhu Cunji's travel guide, Good Mountains, Good Waters, was brought to Europe by Tie Baoshan and became an instant bestseller. Since copyright laws were not enforced here, he simply had his contract workers produce pirated copies in bulk.
Soon, a new hierarchy emerged.
Those holding genuine copies of Good Mountains, Good Waters looked down heavily upon those holding pirated versions, mocking them as:
"Even pretending, you cannot get it right."
New Ming Year 35.
The Prime Minister of England, dressed in a sharp suit and carrying himself with pride, boarded Tie Baoshan's merchant ship and traveled to New Ming for an official visit.
He already knew that England lagged behind New Ming, but he refused to admit defeat. He resolved to visit with dignity intact and show the people of New Ming the pride of England.
But the moment he arrived at Shanghai Port and saw its prosperity, the towering buildings, and automobiles filling the streets, it felt like taking a devastating blow.
He looked up at the skyscrapers around him and could not help but sigh.
"I see buildings over twenty stories high. I have never seen such structures anywhere else. In England, even if we could build them this tall, they would not be stable."
After returning home, he immediately proposed launching a modernization movement and shouted the slogan:
"Learn from Ming techniques to counter Ming."
However, the vast technological gap left England with no way to catch up.
New Ming Year 34.
Tie Baoshan established schools in major ports such as Lisbon, London, and Antwerp. The schools were called "New Western Language Schools," specializing in teaching Chinese to Europeans.
People flocked to enroll.
Mastering Chinese made it easier to work in New Ming. Even within Europe, there were countless situations where Chinese was now useful.
After all, Chinese had become the global lingua franca. Learn it well, and you could travel the world without barriers.
New Ming Year 35.
Tie Baoshan founded the luxury brand "Green," specializing in handbags, which quickly became a sensation among European women.
New Ming Year 38.
He launched another luxury brand, "Lishi," focusing on watches.
Interestingly, "Green" originally had an English abbreviation, "LV," but Europeans disliked seeing English letters. They felt it looked cheap. The bags had to bear the Chinese character "綠" to appear elegant and prestigious.
The same happened with "Lishi" watches. Though they had an English abbreviation, "LEX," Europeans rejected it. Only the Chinese characters "力士" could convey the status of a true luxury item.
And so, the strange irony of the age took full shape.