Wanli Xinming

Chapter 223 Customs
Slightly different from what Luo Wanhua had expected, the Jesuits placed more importance on being able to enter China than the emperor and his imagination.

In May of the ninth year of Wanli, Luo Mingjian met with Luo Wanhua in Bago. Governor Luo then reported to the emperor and asked the court to allow Fan Li'an, Luo Mingjian and Matteo Ricci to be the special envoys of the Papal State and the Governor of Goa. , went to Beijing to meet the emperor.

Valiant received a letter from Luo Mingjian in Japan in August, and because Goa was relatively close to Bago, Matteo Ricci received the order of Archbishop Vincennes earlier.

In October of the ninth year of Wanli, the three had gathered in Macau.Through unremitting efforts, Fan Li'an and Luo Mingjian finally opened a breakthrough in China's missionary cause and were highly praised by the Jesuit Society of Goa.

As an inspector of the Papal State in the Far East, Fan Lian was asked by him to come from the Bishop of Goa. Luo Mingjian learned Chinese because of his instructions.

This time, Matteo Ricci brought a letter from the Archbishop of India, Rodriguez Vincennes, in which he expressed his high appreciation for Varian and Luo Mingjian: "Both are true missionaries who are devout, virtuous and learned. He has done an extraordinary job with noble courage, and is about to spread the good news of God into new and fertile soil."

Vincennes also promised Valiant that he would report the two great achievements to the Pope and apply for the positions of leading archbishop and bishop in China respectively.Matteo Ricci was extremely envious when he heard the contents of the letter.

Fan Li'an and Luo Mingjian expressed no sense of this. To be honest, Fan Li'an didn't trust Vincennes to truthfully report the achievements of the two to the Pope - the possibility of stealing the results for himself was higher.

As the eldest brother of the three, Fan Li'an must protect the fruits of their victory.He has written to the Pope himself, telling the story of how the situation had opened up, and explaining to the Pope that he would stick to Xavier's missionary strategy, assuming the Chinese emperor would allow them to begin missionary activities.

Fan Li'an returned to Macau this time with four Japanese who had already converted to Catholicism.They are the assistants sent to Fan Li'an by the three daimyo Ma Qingxin, Otomo Zonglin and Omura Junzhong.After these famous names heard that Fan Anli was expected to preach in China, they hoped that they could arrange for people to sneak into the Beijing embassy and get some information about the movements of the Ming court.

After all, the entire Burma war went well in Ming Dynasty, and the results of the war shocked the entire East and South Asia. Although Japan was in the midst of war, it was not difficult to know the news because of its close contact with the French people.

Daming in this time and space has already shown a splendid state. The insightful people among the major lords in Japan cannot help but think about the future relationship between themselves and Daming. It is necessary to send someone to understand the situation.

Fan Anli also informed Luo Mingjian and Matteo Ricci about the situation in Japan and the missionary situation: after the battle of Erchuan in the sixth year of Tianzheng (the sixth year of Wanli), the most faithful servant of Christianity lost the people's hearts and minds, and is now being held by the pagan Shimadzu. The home fight is losing ground.

Takeda Shingen's heir, Takeda Katsuyoshi, launched an army to attack the Tokugawa clan this year, but before Fan Li'an left Japan, Takeda Katsurai had already betrayed his relatives, and the Takeda family's downfall would be in the blink of an eye.

The biggest event in Japan this year is not the war between the Tokugawa family and the Takeda family, but the "Kyoto Military Horse Exercise" organized by Oda Nobunaga in Kyoto in February. Fan Anli heard that the Emperor Mashinachi attended the exercise.

At present, the largest military and political force in Japan is Oda Nobunaga. When Fan Anli returned from Japan, he heard that the Oda Army had already laid down most of the land in Vietnam.Fan Anli judged: "If there is no accident, Japan's Warring States period is about to end, and Oda Nobunaga will take over all power."

For the Catholic Church, the expansion of the influence of Oda Nobunaga, who has a good impression of Christianity, is welcome, at least it is good for missionary work.With the expansion of the Oda family's influence, the number of Christian believers in Japan has grown to as many as 15, and there are more than 200 churches in total.

Fan Anli said that the foundation laid by the predecessors, such as Gago, Algarceva, and Saint Xavier, has now reached a very prosperous period.But no matter how well developed Japan is, it is still insignificant to the whole of the East, because the biggest fertile soil is in China.

When he went to Japan this time, he came into contact with many upper-class nobles.The most common problem encountered is, since the "Qiezhi Danzong" is so good, why don't the smart Ming people believe it.

Fan Anli said with emotion: "Chinese culture has had too much influence on Japan, and the extent to which Chinese utensils and poetry are sought after in Japan is astounding. If we can open up the situation in China, the spread of God's gospel will achieve unimaginable success throughout the East. ."

At the end of November in the ninth year of Wanli, Fan Anli and others completed the establishment of the mission.Including the Secretary of the Goa Governor who arrived in Macau with Matteo Ricci, the size of the mission reached more than 30 people.Later, Zhaoqing Mansion, which had already received the court's approval for Luo Wanhua's inscription, approved the entry permit for the mission.

Portuguese embassies need to enter through Guangzhou Customs, which has just put up a sign, because the port of entry is located in Guangzhou City.The embassy who wanted to enter from Zhaoqing did not raise any objections. They entered Liuxi River, a tributary of the Pearl River, by boat.

When the mission walked out of the pier plank road, they encountered a large group of Portuguese, there could be dozens of them.These people were crowding around the entrance of the yamen with a plaque of "Da Ming Guangzhou Customs" hanging on the door, and they were screaming.

Fan Anli looked at each other, not knowing what was going on.Just as he was about to drag a fellow villager over to ask, the gate that was still closed by the customs suddenly opened, and a group of guards in red clothes rushed out, all holding wooden sticks as thick as children’s arms, beating the Portuguese who were besieging the gate.

One of the captains was so angry, he took out a gun from his waist and fired a shot at the sky.This time, the hornet's nest was even stabbed. The gun-wielding Ming soldiers who were standing at the door to watch the excitement - they and Jin Yiwei were obviously not in the same team. They all raised the Wanli [-]-type muskets horizontally, looking like they were going to shoot all these ship owners.

Fan Anli and the others standing in the distance were stunned. Matteo Ricci, who was less than 30 years old, hadn't learned Chinese at this time, stood beside him and wailed: "Are you proud? Lean on you!"

Despite the tense atmosphere, Luo Mingjian burst out laughing.He then shouted: "We are the diplomatic mission that Governor Luo Wanhua allowed entry! Please don't shoot!"

Originally, the scene of Wolf Ben Dolphin was quiet for a while because of this shout.Immediately, the Portuguese businessmen saw that they were under the gun of the Ming army and quickly calmed down.The leader of Jinyiwei is a small flag with a ferocious appearance.Seeing that they were no longer making noise, he reached out and pointed at a fat man who looked like a Chinese in the crowd, and hooked his hand to let him come forward.

The fat man, wearing a satin jacket, walked over tremblingly.The Mingjun Xiaoqi said, "Are you Chinese?" The fat man nodded first, then shook his head, and said, "No, I'm from Ryukyu -- I can speak Chinese."

That Xiaoqi frowned and said, "Then can you speak French?"

The fat man nodded again.That Xiaoqi said: "The interpreters of the customs have eaten something bad today, and they all went home with diarrhea. After a while, the master of the customs will come out to speak, and you will translate it. If you tamper with the meaning of the master, I will kill you! Can you hear it clearly?"

The fat man nodded and bowed, indicating that he understood.The little flag tapped on his head and asked, "Did you hear it clearly?!"

The fat man was still nodding, but a Portuguese man next to him couldn't help it, and said in strange Chinese: "The officer asked you, did you hear it clearly? You answer!"

That Xiaoqi squinted his eyes and scolded, "Did you tell me? Go away!" The Portuguese had no problem listening to Cantonese. Seeing him being rude, his eyebrows were raised and his eyes were fierce.

Seeing his arrogance, the little flag stopped speaking, but the big stick in his right hand ran towards his forehead with the wind.The Portuguese didn't expect that this officer could be so savage, and he was unprepared to take the bat from his own Tianling Gai, rolled his eyes, and fell to the ground.

There was a coax in the crowd, and the Portuguese were a little unstable.Luo Mingjian couldn't help but shouted from a distance, "I'm going to Beijing to see His Majesty the Emperor's envoy. I can speak Chinese, and I can translate."

When the little flag heard the words "His Majesty the Emperor", he was no longer arrogant, and stretched out his hand to signal Luo Mingjian to come over.Luo Mingjian saw that his face was full of flesh, and his calf was twisting a little, and he slowly kept his demeanor and walked closer.

The little flag instructed: "You are all waiting here." After speaking, he turned around and entered the door.

(End of this chapter)