Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 872 Tianshui Bridge Church

In addition to the charter business, there are several regular departures from each branch every day.No matter whether the passenger liner is full or not, it must depart when the time comes.In order to be able to arrive on time.Cargo ships travel together as much as possible, with 6 to 12 ships in each fleet. Each fleet is equipped with a steward who is responsible for purchasing along the way and negotiating at the gates. There is also a waterway bodyguard with several full-time security personnel to be responsible for the safety of the ship.Passenger liner ships must also be equipped with some security personnel if they have to pass through places with poor public security.

Because the passenger liner is sent out by shift, each outer cabinet can also take advantage of this to receive and send letters.This is not Zhang Xin's first initiative - the private ships of this time and space have long been responsible for this kind of business.Jiangnan has frequent business activities and a lot of personnel turnover. In addition to private letters, there is also a great demand for the circulation of various business letters. Of course, Zhao Yingong will not give up this business opportunity.If conditions permit, he also wants to open up passenger and cargo transportation and postal routes from Beijing to Jiangnan, and from Jiangnan to Guangdong.Of course, this kind of business involving cross-headquarters has to be coordinated by the General Administration of Guangzhou.

Mao Sansheng organized the passenger and cargo transportation companies of the Jiangnan Headquarters according to this method in various places, especially for the joint venture ship owners.Zhao Yingong knew that this matter was not easy-if the boat owners could not provide enough benefits, why would the boat owners join the joint venture and be exploited by coercion?
He knew that talking about "participating in joint ventures can increase business volume" is purely empty talk. To win over the boat owners, the first thing is to find a backer for the boat owners, so that the boat owners feel safe and secure.In the Ming and Qing dynasties, Yanshenggong Mansion received a large number of "fu households" from the common people.There are many fishermen around Weishan Lake who voluntarily volunteered, preferring to send fish and shrimps for the Confucius family, in order to get the backing of Yanshenggong Mansion.

The Australian brand can't be played in Jiangnan, and Eunuch Yang can't be said to have influence in Jiangnan.He has to find another local force to act as an umbrella.

For this reason, he and Jin Lige went to visit the Catholic Church in Hangzhou.

The Catholic Church in Hangzhou is located near Tianshui Bridge, which was purchased by Yang Tingyun in 1627, and then a small church was built here, with a priest's residence and a monastery attached.The residence was presided over by the missionary Guo Jujing—at this time, Guo Jujing was in charge of the missionary activities in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, which was equivalent to being the highest person in charge of the Catholic Church in the Jiangnan area.

Tianshuiqiao Catholic Church cannot be seen from the outside as a church—because it was rebuilt from a mansion at the beginning, if the cross on the top of the chapel inside could not be seen from the courtyard wall, passers-by would not notice that it turned out to be a "Cross Temple" ".

This place is the headquarters of the Catholic Church in the entire Jiangnan area.Jin Lige couldn't restrain the excitement in his heart, he drew a sign of the cross regardless of the people still on the street.

Zhao Yingong asked Jiying, his close servant, to come and post a post, and within a short while, the door was already opened.Two people came out and welcomed them in.

The buildings in the courtyard are much the same as the outside, a slightly Gothic style building was built here.One of the doors with stone steps has many windows on all sides, and many strange patterns are decorated around it.Looking in through the open doors and windows, the roof is high.There is another mansion next to the Catholic Church for the priests to live in. After Zhao Yingong and his party informed, Guo Jujing appeared soon.

He was a tall, heavy-set Italian, with a long, graying but still handsome beard, and a high, protruding nose.However, his curly hair was combed straight up in the Chinese style, like a Chinese Confucian scholar, wearing a square scarf and a white cloth gown.

Guo Jujing has always been known among missionaries for her "long and beautiful beard and burly figure".He came from an Italian noble family in Tuscany, and was very well-mannered.So much so that in the "Guo Jujing Incident" that caused an uproar in Guangdong in 1606, there were rumors among Guangdong officials and people that the Portuguese wanted to support him as the emperor of China.Although he is now in his seventies - a very old age in this time and place - he still looks healthy.He once studied Chinese in Macao, and then preached in Shaozhou, Nanchang, Nanjing, Shanghai and other places. Since he first arrived in Macao in 70, this missionary has been in China for nearly 1594 years.He speaks Nanjing Mandarin very fluently.He had a high status among the missionaries. When Matteo Ricci entered Beijing, he was the agent of the teaching affairs in Nanjing and other places.

Seeing Zhao Yingong and Jin Lige coming, he smiled and stepped down to welcome them.

When Father Terry met this priest, he was so excited that he couldn't help himself——Among the first batch of missionaries who first entered China to open up the situation, Matteo Ricci, Xiong Sanba, Jin Nige and others had passed away one after another. Among the "pioneers", only Guo Jujing is still alive and continues to preside over the academic affairs.

"Padre!"

"Hello, my brother." Guo Jujing greeted him with a smile.

Seeing Zhao Yingong, he hurried up to greet him and saluted: "Ah, Mr. Zhao, nice to meet, nice to meet, little brother has been waiting for a long time!" He is very experienced in this set of Chinese etiquette.
"Padre, this is Mr. Zhao. This is a letter I brought from Macau." Father Trigue said.

"Ah, it's easy to say, easy to say. I have received a letter from Mr. President." He said with a smile, and asked attentively: "Mr. Zhao, please come to the house first to serve tea."

The news that Jinli Pavilion was coming to Hangzhou was informed by the Jesuits in Guangzhou several months ago.In the letter, the Jesuits instructed Guo Jujing again, asking him to "help the Chinese people who came from Father Kaitrig as much as possible." Guo Jujing is a foreigner, so of course he can't talk about helping. The so-called helping is to use the power of the Hangzhou Church.

Zhao Yingong smiled and said, "I want to visit the church first."

"Of course, then please move this way first!"
Guo Jujing led the way, and a group of people walked through the courtyard, stepped up the steps, and entered the Catholic Church.

Zhao Yingong never went to church in the old time and space, but saw it in books and movies.He found that this church designed and built according to the Western style was similar to his basic impression.The entire lobby is narrow and long, with high ceilings and simple religious paintings.There are carved windows on both sides-very Chinese paper on the windows, so the church is a bit dark.

In the middle is a shrine decorated with incense lamps and curtains, offering an oil portrait of Jesus.Although Zhao Yingong doesn't go to church, he has seen many such images on weekdays and doesn't take it seriously.This surprised Guo Jujing—because whenever Chinese people come here, they will be very interested in the portrait of Jesus: not only because the painting is of a Westerner, but also because of the accuracy and lifelikeness of Western paintings.

The indifference of the "Aussies" is not a false disinterest.Guo Jujing could tell that oil painting was nothing new and novel to this Australian.

In addition to the altar in the middle, there is another altar on the left and right, each with a statue of a saint.

"This is St. Peter," Guo Jujing saw that Zhao Yingong showed interest in the altars on both sides, so he introduced: "He is holding two keys, pointing to the gate of heaven. The other is a statue of St. Paul, In the posture of a missionary, he holds the holy cross in one hand, and points to a sentence in Latin with the other—" The priest read it again in Latin, and then translated: "We preach the crucified Christ..."

Zhao Yingong followed him to visit a Notre Dame Church on the right.The layout of the Church of Our Lady is similar to that of the main hall, but smaller.A large conference room by modern standards.There is also a portrait inside, which shows the Virgin Mary embracing Jesus.

He estimated that the hall can accommodate about 200 believers, and the Notre Dame Church can accommodate 30 to 1000 people.The size of the Catholic Church in Hangzhou probably does not exceed [-] people.It's pitifully small for its size.However, there are a large number of officials, gentry and scholars in this church, and they have a lot of social influence.

After visiting the church, Guo Jujing invited Zhao Yingong and others to have tea in his residence.

The house is very simple, the furniture decoration is completely Chinese, and the bookshelves and desks are stacked with thread-bound books.If it weren't for the crucifix hanging on the wall, it's hard to imagine that this is a residence of a European missionary.

He immediately invited Zhao Yingong and Father Trige to sit down.Then a young servant brought tea. He was in his twenties, with a green coat and a hat, and with delicate features. He was clearly a Chinese. There was a small cross hanging on his chest. It seemed that he had joined the church.

The tea is green tea—it seems that the priest is doing as the Romans do.Zhao Yingong has long prepared a gift that suits him—even though the missionaries came to China with the ambition of being a martyr who gave up everything, and determined to spread the gospel in a foreign country for the rest of his life, this does not mean that they do not miss their past. living environment.

The gift Zhao Yingong prepared was a box of red wine.This is brewed by Xue Ziliang's small wine workshop in the farm.Of course, the grapes used are not wine-making grapes such as Cabernet or Pinot Noir, but ordinary fruit grapes.However, it is still a rare gift for Guo Jujing, who has lived in the interior of China for decades and rarely seen even by Europeans—it allows him to comfort his homesickness in his twilight years.

"Thank you, Mr. Zhao." Guo Jujing was very moved, and Zhao Yingong took the opportunity to inquire about church affairs in Hangzhou.In addition to his own desire to know, Dao Quanzi also wanted to know how powerful the Catholic Church in Hangzhou was.

Guo Jujing is not secretive about this.Although the church in Hangzhou is not as important as the church in Beijing, it is worse than other places in terms of stability.Although Yang Tingyun and Li Zhizao have passed away successively, their children and disciples are still very enthusiastic about the church.The Yang family, in particular, not only purchased land to build the Tianshuiqiao Church, but also donated a piece of Dafangjing land to bury missionaries.His daughter is named Irosi, and she has contributed a lot to the church.Therefore, the Yang family has the greatest influence on the Hangzhou Catholic Church.

　Now there are two churches in the vicinity of Tianshui Bridge in Hangzhou, one "Tianshui Church" is a Protestant church.Leighton Stuart's father used to be the pastor of this church. The one mentioned in this section is now called "Hangzhou Catholic Church", and the distance between the two is less than [-] meters.Don't get confused.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)