Dragon Sea Empire

At the end of the 35th year of Wanli, in January 1608, Italian missionary Jin Nige, assistant to Matteo Ricci of the Chinese Diocese of the Jesuits, and Italian priest Guo Jujing who had just come to Nanjing to preach at the invitation of Xu Guangqi, these two Chinese and Western cultural exchanges history Famous people from all over the world came to Quanzhou Port together.

Jinni Pavilion, this is the Chinese name, with four characters, and its original name was Nicolas Tregaud. It was born in Douai, France on March 1577, 3. It is located in Flanders, which is Western Europe. Historical place name, the time when Kinney Court lived was under the rule of Spain. People called this place "Belgium" according to the Belgian tribe who lived here in ancient times. Douai, the hometown of Kinney Court, was conquered by France more than half a century after his death. However, Tournay, an important place of its religious life, is still in Belgium. Therefore, it is not unreasonable for Kinnige to be regarded as a Frenchman today. Therefore, the French are studying the history of Sino-French exchanges. At the time, Jinnige was generally regarded as the first French Jesuit to come to China without hesitation.

Jinnige joined the Society of Jesus on November 1594, 11, and did not complete all the studies required by the church until March 9. However, after the Taiwan Diocese of the Society of Jesus was established a few years ago, Bishop Baradas asked Jesus The headquarters of the association reported that manpower was urgently needed, so he was sent to the Far East to preach in 1607. He set off from Lisbon, Portugal. In the autumn of 3 (the 1605th year of Wanli), he arrived in Nanjing via Zhaoqing and began his missionary career in China. Ni Ge studied Chinese with the two priests Gao Yizhi and Guo Jujing. It didn't take long for the news that Taiwan's inspectorate banned churches and closed churches.

At that time in Nanjing, many people also expressed a very hostile attitude towards Catholicism. If celebrities and eunuchs like Xu Guangqi were not there to support Catholicism, these Western monks might have been driven out of Nanjing long ago.

Matteo Ricci was very worried, and he did not want to see the missionary career he had worked so hard to create damaged because of the ban on religion on a remote island. He was not ignorant of Taiwan. I have already paid attention to Yin Feng, the initiator of the Zhonghua Company, because of the book "A Journey of East and West". Baradas and You Wenhui all came to Taiwan under his orders.

This time, he didn't understand what happened in Taiwan, so he sent a letter in Beijing, requesting Jinnige to go to Taiwan to inquire about the situation, and if possible, to do some mediation work to solve the problem of banning religion.

In the original historical time and space, Jin Nige was the inventor of the earliest Chinese Pinyin scheme, but now he came to China and was not familiar with the situation, so he had to ask Father Guo Jujing for help. When Yin Feng led people to besiege Macau two years ago, Guo Jujing As the negotiating envoy of the Macao municipal government, he had dealt with Yin Feng before, and he immediately agreed to Jin Nige's request.

Therefore, the two missionaries appeared together in Quanzhou Port.

Quanzhou was an important place for Catholic missionaries in China during the Yuan Dynasty, but now there is no trace of Catholicism. In the third year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (1575), the Spaniards helped the Ming Dynasty defeat Yin Feng's ancestors under the city of Manila. Lin Feng, a Catholic Augustinian Archbishop de Rada arrived in Quanzhou from Manila, asked the Fujian government for a reward, and asked Xingquan Taoist Yin for permission to stay and preach, but was refused and was driven away. History It seems to be a joke. Today, Yin Feng’s Chinese company has occupied most of the Philippines and firmly controlled the coastal areas of Fujian. However, Jesuit missionaries Jin Nige and Guo Jujing are going to set off from Quanzhou to ask the Chinese company to lift the ban on preaching .

At this time, there were still more than 300 Chinese company guards stationed in Quanzhou City in the name of yamen servants and regiment trainers, assisting the Quanzhou prefect yamen to manage the post-disaster Quanzhou City. The two spent a lot of money to board a merchant ship that did not belong to the Zhonghua Company. The owner of the ship was a Zhejiang businessman who was related to the governor of Fujian, so he dared to let two Western missionaries board the ship.

The boss of the ship led the two of them to the cargo hold at the bottom, and whispered to them: "The owner of the Huaxing United has a strict order that all Western missionaries who want to take the ship to Taiwan, oh, that is, Dong Fan, must go to their various places." The port’s semicolon report is filed, and you’d better not come out until you reach Taiwan,”

The two missionaries looked at each other and nodded helplessly.

However, the journey was unexpectedly smooth, and they arrived in Taiwan Hong Kong safely and smoothly.

In fact, Yin Feng did not issue an order to prohibit Western missionaries from entering Taiwan. In fact, he only ordered that the identities of missionaries be strictly checked, and Spanish missionaries were not allowed to enter.

Those Chinese company employees who handle port affairs in Quanzhou do know the difference between Spaniards and people from other countries, but ordinary people and ordinary businessmen don’t know that there is a difference in nationality between these Western bearded men who look similar. Therefore, Fujian Along the coast, the saying that Taiwan Hong Kong banned the entry of Western missionaries spread everywhere.

After Jin Nige went ashore, he still didn't believe his own feelings, he said curiously to Guo Jujing: "Dear priest, the port officials here don't seem to collect taxes.

Guo Jujing smiled: "The port we are in is owned by Zhonghua Company, that is, under the jurisdiction of Yin Feng, the actual ruler of this island. His merchant fleet is currently on the coast of Fujian, and it may be the largest along the coast of China. Those ships moored in the port Most of the ships belong to Chinese companies, and some come from Southeast Asia, India and other places, all of which have Sinochem shares, so this is a free port, and there is no port tax at all.”

Jin Nige was slightly taken aback: "God, no wonder the officials here are so clean. They were not allowed to collect taxes at all. When I landed in Guangzhou, those greedy tax collectors asked me for money in broad daylight."

Guo Jujing said: "You are wrong. When I came here the year before last, the board of directors of the ruling local company publicly sentenced a person who used his power to embezzle money into exile. According to my observation, compared with the officials of the imperial court on the other side, the officials here are almost different. It can be regarded as an example of honesty and integrity, and the local supreme ruler Yin Feng often said: Under his notice, all corruption and bribery are absolutely prohibited."

"It's also possible. In China, where there is no God's favor, at least their top officials are still smart and wise. Look, my lord priest, someone has come to pick us up,"

As soon as the two missionaries entered the city, they found that the bishop of Taiwan, Baradas, was wearing a monk's robe, and several Chinese monks.

"Welcome, God bless you, you are finally here," Baradas saw the two of them, and pulled them back very excitedly: "Great, respected Father Matteo Ricci is in good health."

"God bless, he is still in good health and can serve our Lord for many years," Jinnige crossed his chest and asked curiously: "My lord bishop, how did you know that we are here? Arrive, and it seems that your movements are still free,"

Baradas smiled bitterly: "When you boarded the ship in Quanzhou, someone sent a pigeon to report to the relevant officials here. You can't imagine how tightly the Chinese company controls the coastal areas of Fujian. The people here I am a supporter of the Chinese company. Not all the court's decrees are valid here, so please pay attention to your words and deeds. The most powerful and influential people here are businessmen, especially businessmen who own shares in the Chinese company. They can directly question the company. The upper class also enjoys many special rights; such as priority to unload goods at the port, priority to purchase land and so on. In short, I think this place is more like the city of Venice in Italy, a republic composed of merchants. Of course, although there is a board of directors in name. Institutions, but generally speaking, it is still a dictatorship. Captain Yin Feng Yin has unparalleled influence and has many supporters, especially among ordinary poor people. He has a high prestige, so I hope you, at any time, Don't say anything inappropriate about him in public,"

He looked at the people coming and going around, and said with a wry smile: "Our church is indeed sealed, but as far as most of our missionaries are concerned, we are still free."

Jinnige represents Matteo Ricci and the Missionary Ministry of the Society of Jesus in China, and Guo Jujing is only here to help out voluntarily, so the young missionary Jinnige who took the initiative to ask questions, he followed along and asked curiously: "My lord bishop , after I went ashore, I saw a huge temple with luxurious decoration. Could it be said that Buddhists have great influence here? "

Baradas replied: "Are you referring to the Niangma Palace by the pier? That is not a Buddhist temple, but a temple of the goddess of the sea believed by coastal residents in China. Merchants and fishermen here are all superstitious about this goddess, even in the Some of our believers secretly go to worship her. Now there are about 400 residents on this island, and there are about [-] to [-] temporary residents. Most of them work in factories and farms here, and travel between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait regularly. There are local aborigines, hundreds of blacks, thousands of Malays, many of our followers, about [-] Europeans settled here,..."

Baradas stood still, with a sullen face, pointing to the east of the city and said: "Not far away, near the trade market, a Jewish ghetto has appeared recently. About 200 people from Mexico, Manila, Goa or African Jewish businessmen live there, and some of them are even shareholders of Chinese companies. Just a few days ago, the company’s board of directors decided to allow them to build a small synagogue.”

Jin Nige and Guo Jujing were taken aback, and Guo Jujing couldn't help but said: "When I came to Taiwan and Hong Kong the year before last, there were only a dozen new Christian businessmen here. Where did these Jews come from now?"

"Yin Feng, the big owner of the Chinese company, ordered last year that Jews are allowed to retain their own national beliefs, and as long as they agree to work for the company, they are allowed to settle in Taiwan...Since the year before last, the Madrid Inquisition and the Lisbon Inquisition have united in various colonies The properties of those new Christians were confiscated, and a few were hanged and burned to death, so this year, a large number of Jews were called by the Chinese company to come here," Baradas said helplessly, the actions of the Inquisition in his own country, It is difficult for him to judge from any standpoint.

You Wenhui is from Macau, he had studied at Guo Jujing's place, and he also interjected at this time: "Not only that, since Yin Dadong's family here reconciled with the imperial court, their business has become bigger and bigger, and the population under their jurisdiction has also increased. , so three Buddhist temples and five or six Mazu Sea God Temples have appeared in the local area; Muslim businessmen from Quanzhou have also built a mosque here, "