Emperor Ming Dynasty

Chapter 1135 Missionary Career (please vote)

After some inducements, Guo Heng really couldn't stand the test and chose to surrender.

As a maritime merchant, he certainly understood that the key to maritime trade in the Ming Dynasty was silk. Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces all relied on silk, which provided food and clothing for millions of people.

But there was no way, the King of Ceylon gave too much.

He originally wanted to ask whether the Ceylon royal family was descended from Jianwen, but when the words came to his lips, he could not spit them out.

Seemingly noticing his expression, Zhu Ci ate the lobster calmly: "Try this lobster. There is nothing to eat at the beach, just some sea cucumbers, fish, and more lobsters."

"Yes!" Guo Heng said with a smile: "The imperial chef did a good job, and the common people like to eat it!"

The two of them had their own worries, and they ate neither quickly nor slowly.

Later, Zhu Ci took Guo Heng to a side hall.

Under the illumination of candles, a wooden box was erected to make people's eyes bright.

Zhu Ci asked someone to take it down and open it gently, and an imperial edict was revealed:

"This is His Majesty's decree."

Guo Heng hurriedly knelt down, raised his hands, held the imperial edict, and looked at it carefully.

Not to mention the words on it, those huge red marks made him tremble.

This is real.

The silkiness and delicacy of silk and satin are something that not many people can imitate even in the Ming Dynasty, let alone overseas.

"Without the support of the imperial court, do you think we people can establish a vassal state?"

Zhu Ci said earnestly: "Guo Qing, relax, Ceylon is also the Ming Dynasty. You are not trying to support the enemy, you are serving the Ming Dynasty."

Guo Heng was filled with joy at this time. No matter how broad his knowledge was, he would certainly not know about the things that Ceylon did not attend during the New Year's Day dynasty.

At this time, he was surrounded by the word orthodox name, which made him smile heartily:

"Your Highness, put it down, I will definitely live up to your high expectations."

Zhu Ci nodded and emphasized again: "Silkworms and mulberry trees are the most important. If you can't get them, you will go back to your hometown and bring over some Han people who are short of land and food. I will definitely have a place for them here."

"The imperial court does not allow the vassal state to abduct people privately. You have to be careful..."

After sending him out of the palace, Zhu Ci exhaled and lay half on the couch.

The maid on the side kept fanning him.

The hot and humid weather is really uncomfortable.

The second eldest brother, Zhu Dingze, came over, looked at his eldest brother, who had already turned gray on his temples, and said distressedly: "Brother, he is just a Han businessman, how can he pay so much attention to him?"

"You do not understand!"

Zhu Ci smiled and said: "This Ceylon can only live between the Netherlands and Portugal. What do tens of millions of people mean?"

"Do you know my ambition?"

"Establish another ancestral temple and overseas!"

"That's right!" Zhu Ci said in a deep voice, "But the temple is just the beginning. The most important thing is to survive. After you survive, you will live a better life."

"Then the next step is to capture Colombo and unify the entire island of Ceylon."

"When the time comes, we will have [-] troops. Who dares to show us mercy?"

When Zhu Ding heard this ambition, his face flushed and he was very excited.

The small country of Ceylon, with its tens of millions of people, was only one government in the country, but it was different to capture the island of Ceylon, which was the size of a province.

In this way, the feudal king will be worthy of his name.

"Han merchants are huge throughout Nanyang. They have abundant financial resources and will be our biggest help in the future."

"I can give them official positions and money, as long as they can help Ceylon."

"Sooner or later, the three of us brothers will go to Beijing openly and openly to meet Emperor Shaowu."

A few days later, Guo Heng took a tour around Ceylon and was granted a thousand-acre manor. He also owned a mansion in Jidu, with two indigenous beauties and me accompanying him.

Different from the black beauties in Southeast Asia, Tamils ​​are of mixed race, with darker outlines, big eyes and straight noses, but their skin is slightly darker.

This is already considered aesthetic.

Finally, Zhu Ci said goodbye reluctantly: "Now in Ceylon, there are only more than [-] Han people. They are moving around in various ways. I don't know how many are slaves, but the native people are dozens of times more. This is Ceylon's misfortune."

"Guo Qing, please!"

"Don't worry, Your Majesty. There are twenty or thirty bachelors in every village in my hometown, and there are at least three to five hundred bachelors in such a large county. When the time comes, all you need to do is prepare beauties!"

After saying this, Guo Heng knelt down and kowtowed in a formal manner, performing the courtesy of a monarch and a minister.

Only then did the sail set sail.

After leaving Crescent Bay of Ceylon, Guo Heng recovered from his excitement and looked at Ceylon Island, which was getting smaller and smaller until it disappeared, and then he sighed:
"The King of Ceylon is real, but is he really a descendant of Jianwen? He didn't give me an accurate answer..."

On the return journey, up the east coast of India, the Dutch were polite to open ships and still allowed supplies.

to Chittagong, Bangladesh.

As early as more than 100 years ago, the Bengal Sultanate was annexed by the Mughal Dynasty and became a state under it, and the Governor of Bengal was sent to govern it.

Due to the great distance and extreme wealth, the Governor of Bengal was also called the Vice-King, with a high status and great power.

However, when Guo Heng arrived in Bangladesh again, he was invited by its governor.

It made him scratch his head.

The governor did not hesitate and said directly: "Your country arrogantly occupied the Bukhara Khanate and did not take our Mughal Empire seriously at all."

"Well, Governor, I am a businessman!" Guo Heng said helplessly.

"I don't care, you have to inform your king that the Bukhara Khanate is a Muslim country, and your country will never be allowed to take whatever is not included. Do you want to launch a jihad?"

After a lot of spit and flying stars, the governor was willing to give up.

Guo Heng set out on his return journey full of doubts and confusion.

……

"Boom-"

In the early morning, before the mist had dissipated, the distant bells had already resounded throughout the city. Every household began to open their doors and windows, and began a busy day.

Vendors walking along the streets also appeared at this time, working hard for a day's meals.

With the opening of the customs, Songjiang Mansion was like a carriage walking from a country road onto a spacious and flat official road, its speed suddenly increased.

In just ten years, the total population has exceeded 300 million, and nearly 40 people live in Fucheng, which can be described as first-class prosperity.

Many food stalls are operating in the streets and alleys. Steamed buns, steamed buns, soy milk fried dough sticks, especially the fried dough sticks wrapped together. The smell of frying spreads hundreds of steps, trapping people who go out to find food.

Although the price is as high as three cents, in Songjiang Mansion, where there is no shortage of money, many people love it and almost cannot live without it.

The man is kneading the noodles, while the woman is frying and flipping the noodles with long black chopsticks. It can be said that there is a tacit understanding of cooperation.

"Here, your two fried dough sticks!" The woman picked up the yellow straw paper, wrapped the two fried dough sticks, and handed them to the guest.

"Crab!"

The woman felt a little strange after hearing this emphasis. She raised her head and saw a strange man with black hair, a hooked nose, and deep green eyes in front of her.

"Oh my god, what a ghost!" She was startled. "Female donor, don't be afraid of me, I don't eat people!"

The priest said with a smile, took out six copper coins from his arms, then sat on the chair and started eating, nibbling with relish.

"Don't be afraid, boss lady, that's a monk from the church!"

At this time, a few men wearing single coats and trousers were drinking porridge, biting deep-fried dough sticks and laughing:

"Recently, a new monk temple was built near our pier, the Western Monk Temple. This monk has been here for half a month and is going out for the first time!"

"Sorry, I'm not a monk, I'm a priest, a servant of the Lord!"

The priest reluctantly put down the fried dough sticks and spoke solemnly.

"Okay, great monk." The warriors smiled and drank the porridge with pickles even more enthusiastically.

Seeing them talking and laughing, the boss's wife knew that they were not monsters. She immediately breathed a sigh of relief and patted her strong chest. A tremor made the laborers' mouths go dry.

Then she carefully served the rice porridge mixed with mung beans: "Master, please forgive me, I didn't mean it."

"You must never complain to Buddha..."

The priest didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "Okay, but let me say it again, I am a priest and I worship God!"

"Whether it's God or Buddha, please don't complain anyway. May our family prosper and make a fortune!"

Andre sighed and said no more. Then he picked up the chopsticks skillfully, picked up a few pickles and put them in his mouth.

There are so many foods in the Ming Dynasty, and rice porridge is the easiest to accept. The aroma of rice and pickles make people have endless aftertaste.

Coupled with a fried dough stick, it is simply oily and fragrant, and it is simply hard to resist.

After a while, he finished all the food and then started walking around with a full belly.

The people along the way turned a blind eye to it.

Since the customs was set up in Songjiang Mansion, it has also become a place for the spread of Catholicism, with more than a hundred missionaries gathered here.

Not everyone is stuck in one place like the early boss.

Catholicism is freely preached in the twelve major customs areas, including Taiwan Prefecture, and the amount of activity is still huge.

Compared with Taoism and Buddhism, which have gone through the pioneering period and have reached the point where they are just sitting around collecting money, Catholicism is still struggling to survive.

The imperial court treated Catholics equally and only required them to abide by Matteo Ricci's rules, not to force preaching, and not to violate laws and disciplines.

But it is so difficult to open up wasteland.

As Andre walked along, the number of people who knew him could be said to be negligible. Among hundreds of people, only a few saluted him to show respect.

After walking about three hundred steps, we arrived at the church.

This is a three-story church that combines Gothic and Ming styles. Although it is a bit weird, you will get used to it after looking at it for a long time.

Arriving inside the church, hundreds of people were listening to the Bible. He sat at the back and stood up to listen.

This group of believers are true believers who have been operating nearby for many years, and are not just people who give away things for free.

Half an hour later, the lecture ended and everyone slowly dispersed.

"Andre!" The priest raised his head, his eyebrows full of deepness: "This place will be handed over to you in a few days. Don't betray the Lord's trust."

"Don't worry!" Andre nodded in agreement.

The two of them walked side by side, wandering around the slightly narrow church, and talked about preaching.

Songjiang Prefecture governs four counties, and there are four churches in the old city. However, the prefecture is too big, and a new church was recently built at the dock, which was put into use in less than a month.

"In the morning during the Wanli period, Father Bi Fanji preached in Songjiang. After a hundred years and a series of wars, the number of believers in Songjiang Prefecture was only 3000."

The old priest said solemnly: "These people are from a wealthy family. Their families are rich and powerful, but their faith in the Lord is not firm."

"In fact, because the imperial examination requires geography and geometry, several scholars came to ask for advice, pretending to be religious, which is really dumbfounding!"

"Now that the church is newly built, there are many low-class free people nearby. They have nothing but the best believers. No one can save them except the Lord!"

Andre nodded in agreement: "The above did this for these reasons."

"So, I hope you can come up with real ways to make the new church more lively!"

The two of them were speechless and walked around for a while, and Andre said goodbye to the old priest.

In the afternoon, he summoned several subordinates to discuss such preaching.

In the church, under the priest are assistant priests, which can also be said to be trainee priests. They are direct subordinates and are all promoted by devout believers.

After all, there were no seminaries in Ming Dynasty, so we had to make do with it.

Even so, these people are still able to read and write.

"When the new church was first built, only some old believers from nearby came, but there were no new believers. We need to start preaching urgently!"

Andre said in a deep voice.

At this time, a thin man stood up and whispered: "Dear priest, in my opinion, the traditional method is to visit the elderly and provide relief to young children. We have to add another one, teaching children to read for free! "

"Oh?"

Andreqi said: "I heard that there was social science in Ming Dynasty?"

"But social studies need to be repaired, and our church does not need it. We just need to give them the words of the Bible."

"Inappropriate!" Another person objected: "The law should not be given lightly. If the Bible is passed down so easily, isn't it disrespecting God?"

This also makes sense.

Andre nodded.

"In my opinion, it's better to give away eggs for free!"

The man said respectfully: "Most people are greedy for petty gains. If you get free eggs, you will naturally attract many people."

"We are handing out eggs and preaching God at the same time. If things go on like this, our church will definitely become famous, and then the common people will naturally come to pray..."

“If the eggs can hold on, I’m afraid there’s nothing our church can do.”

Andre thought of the hundreds of thousands of people in Songjiang City and immediately shuddered.

Where can I have so much money to buy eggs? It would not be worth it to sell the entire church.

This strategy is a bad idea.

"Father, why don't you teach geometry and geography to those talented people for free?"

Finally, an honest-looking man smiled and said:

"As you know, the scholars in the Ming Dynasty were all country squires. They almost responded to everything and had high prestige."

"If you get close to them and build a good relationship with them, then the people in the countryside will naturally get close to us."

"When you have a good reputation and can establish good relations with the local gentry, why worry about failing to succeed in your missionary work?"

"Very good!"

Sure enough, after more than half a month of implementation, the first batch of believers were the servants of the scholar.

The momentum gradually grew, which made Taoist temples and temples in the city uncomfortable.

(End of this chapter)