Smuggling Daming

In order to find out the strength of the Portuguese in India, Zhou Zhong chatted with Chilawa for a whole morning. In addition to being their interpreter, Father John also told some information about the Portuguese that he knew, which made Zhou Zhong The information obtained is also more comprehensive. Knowing that their current strength cannot compare with the Portuguese, if they want to prevent the opponent from occupying the city of Malacca next year, they can only ask the Ming court for help.

At noon, Zhou Zhong stayed at Chilawa's house for a Mediterranean-style lunch. Although the dishes were a bit simple and the taste was a bit strange, they were more novel, so Zhou Zhong also ate very happily.In fact, according to Chilawa's habit, they hope to invite Zhou Zhong for dinner, but now Zhou Zhong and Chilawa are very busy, and they finally took time to sit together today. I have my own things to do, so I can only have a casual lunch.

During the lunch time, Zhou Zhong first asked Chilawa about their living habits in Nanyang Town, and the other party expressed that he was very satisfied with his current life. The only problem was that his Chinese was too poor. Unable to communicate with others, and Father John could not accompany him as an interpreter, which brought a lot of trouble to his life and work. Fortunately, Xila now speaks Chinese very well, so when he needs to communicate with others, he They always take Sheila with them.

Hearing this, Zhou Zhong couldn't help. After all, learning Chinese not only takes time, but also requires talent. The reason why Ms. Xila can master Chinese so quickly is that she usually has a lot of free time.And she is willing to use Chinese to communicate with others. Second, she has a good language talent, which Chilawa is not as good as her own daughter.

Next, Zhou Zhong was concerned about Father John's missionary career, and asked him if he had developed new believers in Shuangyu Port?As a result, the other party was very happy and said a lot, which probably means that since the establishment of the church, the people in Shuangyu Port have a little more respect for him, a foreign monk from outside. When they preached, a few people no longer showed a very repulsive look.This is undoubtedly great news for Father John, and it also makes him full of confidence in his future missionary career. He has even seen that the bishop seat in the Central Plains Region is already beckoning to him.

Seeing Father John's excited look, Zhou Zhong was noncommittal about his development in missionary work. In fact, he didn't have a good impression of Catholicism and Christianity. It turned out that those priests in history used the name of missionary work.However, they acted as the pioneers of the Western colonists. They spied on the missionary areas and opened up the way for those colonists. The reason why China in later generations was reduced to a semi-colony is also a lot of credit for those priests.

But now Father John did not show signs of inquiring about information, he is only carrying out general missionary activities now.Moreover, he did not do anything that would endanger himself or Daming, so Zhou Zhong would not stop him from preaching normally.Sometimes he even needed the help of Father John, and at that time he had to make the condition of helping the other party preach, such as the recruitment of European craftsmen and the establishment of the church. This cooperation is beneficial to both parties, and Zhou Zhong asked himself It also took a big advantage, after all, the arrival of those European craftsmen will bring immeasurable great help to him.It may even affect the development of Ming Dynasty. These are naturally more important than a mere church.

In addition, Zhou Zhong is not optimistic about Father John's missionary career.Although Catholicism in history had been introduced to China in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, after hundreds of years of development, until the end of the Qing Dynasty, the influence of Catholicism in the Central Plains was still minimal, until later Western colonists opened the country with cannons, As a result, the national spirit of the entire Central Plains fell into a trough, and Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism also declined. This made Catholicism develop a lot in China, but even so, Catholicism still does not occupy the mainstream in China.

Think about it, for hundreds of years, Catholicism has not been able to achieve any great development in the Central Plains. Now it only depends on Father John and Priest Nader. It is no better than Buddhism and Taoism, not to mention that Buddhism and Taoism have a long history in the Central Plains, which is not comparable to Catholicism who has just arrived.

Of course, although Zhou Zhong knew this, he would not tell Father John directly. Instead, he encouraged the other party to work hard to preach, so that when Father John encountered difficulties, he would ask himself, and he would also be able to learn from the other party. In exchange for more benefits, Zhou Zhong couldn't help but smile evilly when he thought of this.

After lunch, Zhou Zhong and Chilawa went to the shipyard again. Father John couldn't go because of something, so Chilawa called Miss Shila to be his interpreter.

Speaking of which, Zhou Zhong hasn't been to the shipyard for a long time. When he came last time, the shipyard had just been expanded. However, when Zhou Zhong came this time, he found that the whole shipyard was bigger than when he came last time. More than twice as many, although the number of shipyards has not increased, it is much larger than before. Hundreds of shipbuilders are busy in the shipyard. Although there is a lot of water in the shipyard, most of them are craftsmen hired by the Chamber of Commerce from Daming , can not really be regarded as people in the chamber of commerce, only some management personnel and important technical personnel in the shipyard will be absorbed into the chamber of commerce.

I saw a few huge lucky boats standing there in the dock, and it seemed that they were about to be completed soon. What's more, they were different from ordinary lucky boats in that these ships had left artillery fire in advance. After casting, they will be installed on these new ships first.

But Zhou Zhong didn't come to visit the shipyard today, but to see the design progress of Chilawa's new ship.There is a row of houses on the east side of the shipyard. This is where some important personnel of the shipyard work. Chilawa also has a room of his own here. When entering here, Zhou Zhong immediately saw a blueprint on the table. There was a side view of a sea ship drawn on it, which aroused his interest, so he walked over and looked at it seriously.

Seeing that Zhou Zhong was so interested in the ship he designed, Chilawa was also very happy to explain it to him, and Miss Xila next to him translated: "Mr. Zhou, the main body of this new ship is our most advanced Clark in Europe. Ship, but I have absorbed some advanced shipbuilding technology of Ming Dynasty and made some improvements. For example, this new ship uses the watertight compartment of Ming Dynasty, which makes the ship safer. In addition, I also changed the original round stern to a square ship At the same time, the height of the forecastle is lowered, and the length of the hull is also elongated, which increases the speed of the new ship a lot, and sails more smoothly, which is definitely more suitable for ocean-going sailing than the original Clark ship!"

Zhou Zhong nodded again and again when he heard this. The drawings drawn by Chilawa are not as complicated as those of later generations, so he can understand them. Coupled with the other party's explanation, he also feels that the shape of this new ship is more scientific. Among other things, just lowering the height of the forecastle can make the center of gravity move down, which can increase the ship's ability to engage in wind and waves.

Speaking of it, Zhou Zhong didn't know how to build a ship, but after all, he had hundreds of years more knowledge than people of this era, and some physical things were more difficult for him, so he listened to Chilawa's explanation, and proposed I have some theoretical insights, many things Chilawa has never heard of, but when I think about it seriously, I think it is very reasonable, which makes him feel awe of Zhou Zhong, and Miss Xila next to him also did not expect Zhou Zhong Zhong actually knows so many things, a pair of wonderful eyes can't help but look up and down Zhou Zhong, and his eyes are also full of curiosity.

Zhou Zhong had only been in the shipyard for more than an hour, and he proposed all the improvement methods he could think of for the new ship. Although some places were too idealistic, at least the current technology could not achieve it, but there were quite a few very pertinent opinions. These have opened Chilawa's eyes, and at the same time promised that he will try his best to apply these improvements to the new ship.

Then Zhou Zhong bid farewell to Chilawa, and Miss Sheila sent him out. When they parted, Miss Sheila suddenly said, "Young Master Zhou, does it count if you invite me to your house today?"

"Of course it counts. As long as Ms. Xila is willing to come, I am very welcome!" Zhou Zhong said with a smile. He also has a good impression of this young girl from a foreign country, especially the other party admires the culture of the Central Plains. It gave Zhou Zhong a sense of pride, and he also hoped that Zhuaner and Jinxuan would have more friends.

Miss Xila was also very happy to get Zhou Zhong's affirmative answer again, but then she asked again: "Then I don't know when you will be free, Mr. Zhou, then I will visit your home, and you can introduce me ?”

Hearing that Miss Xila originally asked this question, Zhou Zhong smiled and said: "I will be at home these few days, even if I have something to do, I will usually be in the front yard of the chamber of commerce, so you can come anytime Yes, when the time comes, I will have someone prepare a sumptuous Central Plains food and wait for Miss Shila to taste it!"

"That's great. The banquet when we received the wind last time was very delicious. Unfortunately, I haven't learned how to cook it yet. The dishes made by the restaurants in the port are also delicious, but the price is really expensive. We didn't bring much money when we came out. , and you haven’t paid your father’s salary yet, so we only went there once and didn’t dare to go again.” Miss Xila said happily, and finally urged Zhou Zhong to pay his father’s salary with half truth and half falsehood.

Zhou Zhong laughed loudly when he heard this: "The dishes cooked by the chef in my family are much more delicious than those in those restaurants. As for your father's salary will be settled at the end of this month, and your father's salary is not a small amount. At that time, even if your family of three eats in the restaurant every day, I'm afraid you won't be able to spend it all."

Zhou Zhong felt a little distressed at the end. In order to let Chilawa work for him with all his heart, he not only promised that the other party would give him a boatload of porcelain after ten years of service, but also had a generous salary every month. This kind of treatment It can be compared with Sanniang and the others.

"Hee hee, then I would like to thank Mr. Zhou for your generosity. I will be free tomorrow afternoon, and I will definitely visit the house then!" Miss Xila said with a smile, she is also full of expectations for tomorrow's visit. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my biggest motivation.)