Wanli Xinming

Chapter 218 Fran Machine

Luo Mingjian felt inexplicable at first when he heard Governor Luo's words.Immediately after thinking about it, I found that although Governor Alfonso's words were humble in his letter, he still showed Portugal's sense of superiority in occupying a dominant colonial position in the East when it came to occupying Burma.

In order to clarify the source of the Portuguese's sense of superiority at this time, it is necessary to make a brief description of the past exchanges between Portugal and the Ming Dynasty.

In the 17th year of Yongle (1419), Don Alfonso Enrique, Prince of Portugal, Duke of Viseu, also known as Prince Henry, went out to sea and discovered the Madeira Islands after founding a nautical school and an observatory. The beginning of a great journey to open up sea routes.

In the tenth year of Hongzhi (1497), Vasco da Gama led 4 ships, 150 soldiers and sailors to the west coast of India.

In the 12th year of Hongzhi, that is, two years later, Vasco da Gama's fleet returned to Lisbon, earning a net profit of sixty times the cost of the voyage, which caused a sensation throughout Europe.Manuel I gave him the highest honor, granted him the land of two towns, and authorized da Gama to have the privilege of exempting some goods from the East.

The route opened by Da Gama not only marked the opening of the east-west route, but also became the first driving force for the large-scale expansion of Europe.

In the fifth year of Zhengde (1510), the Portuguese Albuquerque led [-] soldiers to occupy Goa, allowing Portugal to gain its first stable stronghold in the East; the following year, he led his troops to occupy Malacca (Manla Plus), controlled all maritime trade from East Asia to Europe, and based on this, established the Lisbon-Goa-Melaka colonial system.

After the establishment of this system, although the Portuguese did not have official relations with the Ming Dynasty, they basically monopolized the smuggling trade between China and Europe.A great deal of wealth flowed to Lisbon from China, Japan, the Spice Islands and India, making Manuel I the richest monarch in Europe.

In the three years of Zhengde, Manuel once posed a lot of questions about China to the captains heading east: "Where did they (referring to the Chinese) come from and how far did they travel? When did they go to Malacca or other places where they traded? Where? What goods to bring. Are they cowardly or belligerent? Do they have general weapons or artillery? Are they Christians or pagans? The country is a neighbor." and so on.

In the sixth year of Zhengde (1511), Albuquerque first encountered five Chinese merchant ships and met Chinese people in Manlaga. At that time, he believed that the Chinese were civilized people.Later, attracted by the king's request and the discovery of new wealth, Albuquer sent a fleet to visit Daming twice in the ninth year of Zhengde (1514) and the tenth year of Zhengde.

There are few records of these two visits in official historical records.The earliest mention of Zhengde's nine-year visit was the Italian Andrea Kosari, who wrote in his letter to the Italian Duke of Medici in the tenth year of Zhengde:

“Chinese merchants also crossed the Great Bay to Malacca to buy spices. They brought musk, rhubarb, pearls, tin, china, raw silk and all kinds of exquisite textiles such as brocades from their own country.”

"The Chinese are skilled in craftsmanship, comparable to us. It's just that their eyes are a little smaller and their appearance is ugly. They dress like us and wear the same shoes as us."

"Although many Chinese say they profess or partially practise our religion, I can confirm that they are all heretics."

"Last year, some of us went to China by boat, and the Chinese didn't let them land, but they all made huge profits. They said that shipping spices to China was as profitable as Lisbon, because they were mostly in the cold zone, and they didn't know how to do it. Spices are in huge demand.”

This was the first documented exchange between Western colonists and the East.According to the historical data of later generations, during the two visits during the Zhengde years, the second visit mission was led by Tomei Pires, and arrived in Guangzhou first.However, the misunderstanding caused by the firing of the gun salute and the slow treatment by the bureaucrats of the Guangzhou authorities led to the fate of the mission.

After Tomei Pires explained the misunderstanding and showed the "sincerity" of gifts and exchanges—that is, bribes, they finally obtained permission from Governor Chen Xixuan to let them go to Beijing with gifts for Wu Zong.

But God seems to be joking with Eastern and Western civilizations.When he and the embassy traveled across mountains and rivers to Beijing, one of his flashy and brutal colleagues, Simao Andrade, took a document of approval to go to China given to him by the King of Portugal, ignoring Albuquer's obstruction. , took four warships from Malacca to Tuen Mun Island in Guangdong.

After Simang Andrade entered Tuen Mun, he took out the style of the Spice Islands, and forced the islanders to build a fort and set up artillery.When Guangdong officials went to negotiate, the reason he gave was that the Ming government did not fight pirates, so they had to protect themselves.

Even more speechless, he erected a gallows on a small island near Tuen Mun and hanged a Chinese "pirate" there - a move that completely angered the court.

Simao undid all of Tomei Pires' previous efforts.The imperial censor Qiu Daolong and He Ao attacked the Portuguese mission, which was called Franji at that time.In addition to criticizing Simao's rude actions towards Ming, the censors also questioned the mission why Frangis had taken over the court vassal Manlaja without authorization.

Of course, the unlucky Tomei Pires couldn't answer, although Wu Zong said that "Franji doesn't understand etiquette, and will deal with us according to our rules after a long time."But he was too ill at the time to lead the major diplomatic effort.

Because of this, Tomei Pires did not receive the honor of seeing the emperor, and was taken back to Guangzhou, where he was imprisoned.At the same time, Wang Hung, then the provincial governor of Guangdong, gathered a hundred armed ships to attack the Simang fleet and fortress on Tuen Mun Island.

It was a hundred to four, but because the Portuguese ship was large and its artillery fire was sharp, it could not be attacked for a long time.In the end, Wang Hong could only choose to besiege.Later, the Portuguese waited for reinforcements, and a fierce naval battle broke out between the two sides.

In the beginning, both sides suffered heavy losses.However, due to the fact that they were backed by the mainland, there was an endless supply of small centipede ships from the Ming army. They finally drove the Portuguese back to Malacca, destroyed the Tuen Mun Island fortress, captured two ships and 42 people, and won the victory.

After the news of Wu Zong's death spread to Guangdong, the Guangdong side executed all the captive Portuguese, completely cutting off the road of reconciliation between Portugal and Daming.The colonial authorities in Malacca wanted to retaliate, claiming that "a fleet of six warships could take Guangzhou".

The Portuguese can make such a judgment, in fact, the strength of the Daming navy was exposed during the battle of Tuen Mun Island - it was impossible to win with a hundred to four.

However, the revenge of the Malacca colonial authorities did not take place, because at that time the armed merchant ship owners believed that the war was not as important as trade. Do?
Therefore, during the Jiajing period, Daming, who "closed the country in isolation", threw all the profits from overseas trade to the smugglers and the Portuguese, and Daming and the colonists lived in peace for decades.The second semi-official contact between the two sides was held in Bago, Myanmar, until Zhu Yijun led the Ming Dynasty to recover in this time and space.

In this contact, the Portuguese, without seeing the Ming navy, paid tribute to the army's invasion of Myanmar, but it is normal for a maritime empire to have some vague sense of superiority.

Luo Mingjian found Luo Wanhua's dissatisfaction. From his standpoint, he could explain it to the Governor of Goa or not, depending on the ultimate purpose of his visit.

Although Luo Mingjian was very influential in Goa because of the Jesuits, he did not have an official colonial identity after all.Therefore, he was hesitating whether to take Luo Wanhua's words, which would mean that he had changed from a messenger to a semi-official negotiator, and this would only increase the resistance of Luo Mingjian's mission to the mainland. [Note 2]
The colonization process in the Western world has been accompanied by the spread of Christianity, and it is difficult to say which wealth or religion played a greater driving role in the colonization process.In one word: "Portuguese's maritime empire in Asia - a combined military and nautical enterprise cast in a religious model."[Note 1]
Missionaries are well-behaved when faced with territories that cannot be conquered by force. "Saint Xavier" became famous in later generations because he realized that the mission in East Asia must be flexible and principled, and "missionaries should adapt to the local culture" is his core idea.

The extraordinary status given to Xavier by later East Asian Christians should be a victory of historical materialism, and his actions were judged by placing him in the historical environment at that time.

Otherwise, East Asian Christians cannot explain that Xavier turned a blind eye to the harsh persecution of Christians and Buddhists by the colonial authorities in Goa, and turned a deaf ear to the colonial authorities' oppression of the natives and plundering of wealth.

Of course, some people think that Xavier remained silent when the colonial authorities clearly violated the "Ten Commandments" of Christianity - no amount of powder could cover it up. [Note 3]
After a short thought, Luo Mingjian decided to learn from the great St. Francis Xavier, so he replied: "Dear Governor, in my opinion, Governor Alfonso is not qualified to guide you, the Governor of Myanmar. How to do things. As the head of the Goa authorities, he should know very well that by occupying Myanmar, China has entered both the South and Western oceans at the same time. When he faces a great empire far beyond his own strength, humility is his The only choice."

When Luo Wanhua heard this, he thought that this was not right with what the emperor said.How can the Franbot talk so well?

During his time in the attendant's room, he rose from an imperial scholar to the third grade at a rate of one step per year, and of course he also experienced repeated whippings in the officialdom.At this moment, he showed an unfathomable expression and relaxed, nodding slightly with a smile that was not a smile, signaling Luo Mingjian to continue.

Luo Mingjian was unwilling to let the Governor of Goa delay the missionary plan of the Jesuit Society, and he bowed again: "Your Excellency Governor, I am a devout Christian. My mission is to preach the Gospel to everyone who has not heard of it. To this end, I am willing to give my personal everything in exchange for an opportunity to preach in China - I wonder what your country's religious policy is like?"

Hearing this, Luo Wanhua secretly said in his heart, "Here, come, not as the emperor expected." In addition to worshipping the emperor who was far away in the capital, he replied with a smile: "China's policy on religion is very loose, and every A Chinese has the freedom to choose his religion since ancient times, and he can believe in any religion approved by the state."

Luo Mingjian listened, swallowed a mouthful of saliva and said, "Then may I ask whether Christianity is permitted?"

Luo Wanhua shook his head and said, "Of course not."

In Luo Mingjian's eyes, two frantic little flames flickered and went out quickly.He felt that he had no choice but to settle for the next best thing.First try to see if you can win Luo Wanhua and let him preach in Burma.

Who knows, Luo Wanhua continued: "It's not that our country discriminates against your religion, but that you don't know whether your religion is a cult - in our country, it is illegal to spread a cult. As for a decent religion, it doesn't matter whether it has followers or not. , you can apply for a permit.”

"Praise Jesus! Praise the great, broad-minded Emperor!"

　[Note 1]: Quote from Costa AD, SJ the Christianity of the Goa island [M]. Bombay, 1986 - don't ask me what I mean, I'm Versailles.

　　[Note 2]: The Society of Jesus is one of the major religious orders of the Catholic Church. Founded in Paris in 1534 by the Spaniard Saint Ignatius of Loyola, it aimed to oppose the Reformation movement in Europe.Following the example of military discipline to formulate strict rules, it is also called "Jesus Company".In addition to strictly abiding by the "extreme wealth", "extreme beauty", "extreme desire" and "three vows", fellow members should also be unconditional allegiance to the Pope and perform all the tasks assigned by him.The Society of Jesus played a huge role in the spread of Christianity.

　　[Note 3]: "There are also people" in "some people think" does not include Lao Mo.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)