New Shun 1730

Macau is now in complete chaos.

The devout people who are unwilling to give up their faith from all over the country have found spiritual satisfaction here, but spiritual satisfaction does not affect their stomachs.

Tens of thousands of newcomers are crowded in the small Macau. They have no place to live and can only build slums everywhere.

There are no jobs and no land to farm. Gangs are rampant in various Chinese neighborhoods.

Opium dens, usury, slave recruitment offices, children, slaves, contract maid agencies... are everywhere in Chinese neighborhoods.

Even if the Chinese in Macau convert to Catholicism, they have no status.

Moreover, the Chinese who shed blood and fought for Portugal have not yet gained status. Even if these later believers are devout and avoid persecution by pagans, how can they have status?

98 years ago, in the 15th year of Chongzhen in the former Ming Dynasty, Portugal gained independence from Spain. When the news reached Macau, the Chinese and Japanese in Macau held a grand ceremony to show their loyalty to Portugal.

Japanese Catholics who took refuge in Macau wore kimonos, carried Japanese swords and held fans, and held a grand parade in the streets of Macau on July 7.

Chinese Catholics were not far behind, and a large number of Chinese who joined the army held a grand military parade in Macau to celebrate the restoration of the motherland and the ascension of John IV.

However, less than two months after this grand event, these people found that "I originally wanted to look to the bright moon, but the bright moon only shines on the ditch", and their hard work was still not recognized by others, and they were still third-class people.

So they wrote a letter to John IV.

"Your Majesty:"

"Chinese Christian citizens in Macau declare: As we all know, we have abandoned Chinese politics and laws, obeyed the Portuguese legal system, and continued to be your Majesty's loyal servants."

"From the day this city was born, we have become an important part of it..."

"However, the Portuguese here prohibit us from participating in navigation activities and prohibit us from going to Guangdong for trade. Once the war starts, we will be used as cannon fodder. But we are busy running for a living, where do we have time to fight?"

"They even prohibit us from wearing coats, because wearing coats is a privilege of Europeans, to distinguish our lowly status."

"They forced us to modify our wills, and the orphan's money was confiscated, and they Take it for sailing. "

"In words and attitudes, they insulted us, and even slandered us in front of Chinese pagans - their attitude towards those Chinese pagans was much better than that towards us Christians, and this was not conducive to the conversion of the motherland in Macau - Chinese pagans found that there were more benefits to not believing in Christ than believing in Christ, and they could get more freedom and grace. Christians had to face insults and slander, and were not even allowed to wear coats. "

"We beg Your Majesty:"

[Allow us to join the brotherhood as a Jesuit]

[Allow us to trade in the same place as Portuguese and mixed-race people]

[Allow us to wear coats]

[Our vigilance and garrison obligations are only in wartime. Do not serve in the army in peacetime]

[Our orphans' money is prohibited from being used by others]

[When living in Bombay, Ceylon, etc., please give us the same rights as local indigenous Christians]

This letter was sent to Portugal, and the King of Portugal also responded, but it was useless. The governor was just a fart, how could the local council listen to this nonsense, it was just a formality.

The first group of people are pure-blooded Portuguese and pagan Chinese who trade with Macau; the second group of people are mixed-blood; the third group of people are Chinese Christians who have just converted.

Now that the daughter-in-law has become the mother-in-law, these Chinese Christians who complained at the beginning have taken root in Macau for a long time and at least have their own industries, jobs, and residences.

In recent years, the large number of newcomers who have poured in during the Dashun ban on religion have neither residence, nor jobs, nor status.

People are not afraid of being inferior to others, but they are afraid that there will be no one inferior to them. After this group of people entered, the conflicts between the old Chinese and the new Chinese also increased, and the whole of Macau fell into a kind of chaos like the apocalypse.

Fighting, buying and selling people, slave trade, fighting for territory in the streets, fighting at the docks, robbery, theft...

Many people regretted that spirit and faith could not fill their stomachs. So many Christians who were driven away or came voluntarily hope to return to their original lives.

However, the policy of the Dashun side is to allow entry but not exit.

Because officials do not want to take responsibility, you say you regret it and don't believe it, but what if it's fake? What if you continue to preach after you return?

I will be a good person and let you go back, it's just a piece of cake. But in the end, you pretended to convert, regretted it later, and preached secretly, the court will be held accountable.

The court's ban on religion was an order from the Forbidden City, which was no small matter. Back then, the customs group loved money so much, but no one dared to ship war horses and military books to Japan. What can be compromised and what cannot be compromised, everyone has a protective talisman in their hearts.

This good person, it's better not to do it.

There are good officials who went directly to Guangzhou and explained the matter to the Guangdong Jiedushi.

But the Guangdong Jiedushi only replied with a sentence from "The Analects of Confucius".

He said: Who are Boyi and Shuqi?

He said: They are ancient sages.

He said: Do you resent it?

He said: If you seek benevolence and get benevolence, why resent it.

This matter was dropped.

Now the chaotic Macau is completely out of control.

This kind of place is most suitable for such private transactions, and it is also the most suitable place to recruit people to be mercenaries.

Moreover, there are many grievances between Macau and the Netherlands, and this is also a place where the Dutch have no power. The Chinese insurgents in Batavia chose to meet here, both to guard against the court and to guard against the Netherlands.

Soon, Fazaklai met the Chinese who wanted to meet in a hotel as agreed.

At the beginning of the meeting, Fazaklai carefully looked at the liaison officer of the Chinese insurgents.

He was not very old, only about 27 or 28 years old.

His face was dark, obviously living in the tropics.

He was not tall, but very strong, not like the thin and strong slaves, but the strong with relatively adequate nutrition.

At first glance, Fazaklai judged that this person should be the core figure of the Chinese insurgents in Batavia.

He was not the slaves who were forced to revolt, but more like the kind of street knight who wanted to take advantage of the chaos to achieve great things.

Fazakle has studied Chinese history, knows about Emperor Gaozu of Han, and has always known that there are many ambitious Chinese in Southeast Asia.

There are many Chinese in Southeast Asia, such as those who seek positions, those who rebel and seize ships to become pirates, those who serve as generals in small countries, and those who farm taxes and establish their own regimes.

Fazakle has summarized these people: ambitious, capable, unruly, rebellious, disobedient to the court, and disobedient to anyone.

Just like Zheng Zhilong in the past, when he was weak, he could work for the Dutch, but once he became big, he would bite back.

However, this disadvantage has nothing to do with the East India Company.

Now Southeast Asia belongs to the Netherlands, and it is the core interest of the Dutch East India Company. This group of rebels cannot overthrow the Dutch East India Company, and they can only secede.

However, what Britain needs at this time is a chaotic Southeast Asia that the Netherlands cannot monopolize. Because Britain does not have the ability to reach out here and completely replace it at this time.

This group of people is exactly the force that the British East India Company needs.

On the premise that the Dashun court would not leave, the British East India Company determined that breaking the Dutch East India Company's monopoly in Southeast Asia was in the best interests of the company.

After revealing his identity, Fazakley knew that this person called himself Wang Wu, which was obviously a pseudonym. He should be worried that his relatives would be retaliated against, so he used such a very obvious pseudonym.

And Fazakley also knew that when the Chinese revolted, they liked to use pseudonyms. For example, many of the rebels in the late Ming Dynasty used nicknames and pseudonyms, and in the book that encouraged "rebellion" that was very popular in China, the 108 rebel leaders also had pseudonyms.

This is not difficult to understand.

Since he knew the other party's name, Fazakley went straight to the point.

"Mr. Wang, what is the goal of your uprising?"

The person with the pseudonym Wang Wu took out the rebels' charter and the pamphlets of the digging faction when the British killed the king.

"We hope to build a better country in Batavia. We want to change the land system in Batavia, abolish those corvées, allow the people to freely cultivate the crops they want to cultivate, and divide the land of the village community into pieces and distribute them to individuals."

"And... we hope to emulate your country's system. We have heard about some of your country's systems."

A few simple words made Fazaklai more convinced of the feasibility of this matter.

These few words proved that there was absolutely no power from the Dashun court. Although the Dashun court called for so-called benevolent governance, it would never allow such a situation to occur.

Among these people, there should be pro-British factions.

At this time, there were many people in Europe who had an ideal China, and Voltaire was the most famous one. He had been to Britain and knew what Britain was really like, but in order to "awaken the French", he praised Britain and China to the sky.

In the eyes of the Enlightenment, the truth is not important, what is important is conscience. Let people know that there is a perfect ideal country.

As for the truth, look at the titles of some books published in Europe at this time, such as Sweden's "People's Supervision System of the Tang Empire"... The truth is not important. What is important is that the kingdom of heaven has been destroyed and the Age of Exploration has arrived. There is an urgent need for an ideal country that has been heard of, exists in reality, and most people have never seen, seen, touched, and is mysterious.

Before most people can go abroad to experience it in person, in the era when information is transmitted by paper, this ideal country can carry all the thoughts of an individual.

And here, it is too close to China.

So Britain, like China in the mouths of some people in Europe at this time, has become an ideal country that some people have heard of but have never seen.

Fazakle has heard of the fanatical stories of the converts in Macau, and thought that if this group of people really regard Britain as an ideal country, it will definitely become the key to the company's foothold in Southeast Asia in the future.