When Yin Feng heard Xu Guangqi's name, he suddenly thought that Xu Guangqi was currently farming in Tianjin.
"How about we go meet Mr. Xu," Yin Feng said: "He happens to have no official position. If we can invite him to our Taiwan, then the university hall I propose can be officially established."
In the thirty-eighth year of Wanli, the year of Matteo Ricci's death, Xu Guangqi's term of office expired and he returned to Beijing to resume his duties. Since then, except for a few temporary errands, he has been serving as a relatively idle reviewer of the Hanlin Academy.
Unlike ordinary literati and officials at that time who were keen on socializing with pen and ink, Xu Guang devoted more time to scientific and technological research such as astronomy, algorithms, agriculture, water conservancy, etc., and engaged in a lot of translation and writing in this area. In the 40th year of Wanli, he worked with Italian missionaries Xiong Sanba co-translated "Taixi Water Law". During this period, Xu Guangqi also collaborated with missionaries to revise "Elements of Geometry" again and published the second edition.
While learning science from the missionaries, Xu Guangqi also participated in religious activities as a Catholic, helped the missionaries publish religious books, and also protected the missionaries' activities. As a result, Xu Guangqi was said by the court officials to be not doing his job properly, and he had some conflicts with other officials. They disagreed, so he wrote to become an official, purchased land in Tianjin, planted rice, flowers, medicinal materials, etc. From the 41st to the 46th year of Wanli (16l3, 1618), he engaged in agricultural experiments in Tianjin and wrote "The Rules of Manure Blockage" "(fertilization method), and wrote the outline for his later agricultural masterpiece "Agricultural Policy Encyclopedia". The rest of the time was mostly spent traveling between Beijing and Tianjin, with leaders of the Jesuit Chinese diocese such as Long Huamin and Xiong Sanba and others. He had a very close relationship. This time they all went to Xu Guangqi's home in Tianjin. Therefore, when You Wenhui came to visit, there were only some new missionaries to China in the church in Xuanwumen, and almost no one recognized You Wenhui.
When You Wenhui heard that Yin Feng said that he was going to visit Xu Guangqi, he was very happy and said: "Paul Xu is the pillar of our Chinese church in the mainland, and you, the ship owner, are the protector of our church in the coastal areas. You should meet,"
Before Yin Feng could say anything, Zeng Shan shook his head and said: "Master Xu is an upright official and has good conduct. He is completely different from those corrupt officials. Because of this, I think he will never go to our Taiwan."
You Wenhui asked anxiously: "Mr. Zeng, why is this?"
Zeng Shan said: "When I was traveling in the capital, I also met Mr. Xu. I don't know much about other aspects, but he is concerned about the country and the people, and is a loyal minister of the imperial court. Our Zhonghua Company's status is very embarrassing. If the name is not justified, Mr. Xu will never go to our Taiwan,"
Yin Feng nodded: "Second brother, you are right. I didn't expect this: although Xu Guangqi is a Catholic, he is first and foremost an official of the imperial court and a loyal minister." He shook his head regretfully: "What a pity. Mr. Xu Guangqi is talented and intelligent, but he did not pass the imperial examination until he was forty-seven, and then he began to study this technology. This was a waste of the most creative years in his life. If he had started studying mathematics and other knowledge from the West 20 years earlier, ,How many inventions will there be,"
Zeng Shan, Xu Hongji, Chen Zhongji, and You Wenhui looked at each other in confusion, not understanding what Yin Feng was talking about.
"Forget it, there's nothing else to do in the capital. Everyone, let's leave the capital tomorrow and go south."
Zeng Shan, a scribe who had stayed in the capital for several years, lost his temper and said quickly: "Brother Feng, since you have come to Beijing, let's visit the city. Since the Liao and Jin Dynasties, it has been said that Beijing has the 'Eight Scenes of Yantai', which are Ji The smoke trees at the door, the hanging rainbow in the Yuquan, the dawn moon in Lugou, the snow in the west mountain, the clear waves in Taiye, the spring clouds in Qiongtai, the sunset in Jintai, and the greenery in Juyong are worth seeing. In addition, Beijing also has the "Eight Scenic Spots of Xiangshan" ',..."
Yin Feng shook his head and interrupted Zeng Shan: "Forget it, let's talk about it next time, we will come back one day,"
Only then did Zeng Shan realize that he was not here for fun, so he shut up and sat down in embarrassment.
…
The next day, Yin Feng and his party left the capital and headed south along the canal to Nanjing.
Yin Feng still kept You Wenhui and asked him to wait for Long Huamin and others to return in the South Hall, and then told them the request to send more missionaries. Yin Feng also asked You Wenhui to take away a batch of books from the Jesuit Catholic Church. , all of which are works recently written and translated by Xu Guangqi: the first 6 volumes of "Elements of Geometry" (co-translated with Matteo Ricci), "The Meaning of Measurement", "Similarities and Differences of Measurement", "Sweet Potato", "Pythagorean Theory", " "Jian Ping Yi Shuo", "Taixi Water Law".
There is no such thing as intellectual property in this era. Yin Feng plans to print and publish these books in large quantities after returning to Taiwan, and some of them will be used as teaching materials.
However, on the third day after Yin Feng and others left, Long Huamin, Xiong Sanba and Xu Guangqi returned to the capital. Yin Feng and Xu Guangqi failed to meet, which left endless regrets.
You Wenhui also failed to complete his mission; after Long Huamin took over Matteo Ricci's position, he pursued a missionary policy that was completely different from that of Matteo Ricci. He strived to preach among the lower class people, and he also adhered to the characteristics of fundamentalism and was not allowed to use Chinese. Words such as "God" are no longer advocated for missionaries to learn from Matteo Ricci, "use science and technology to pave the way for missionary work", and Matteo Ricci's missionary policy of "respecting traditional Chinese customs" has been abandoned. You Wenhui failed to learn from Longhua The people here are getting more missionaries who understand science and technology. Long Huamin even asked the Taiwanese diocese not to waste time on spreading scientific and technological knowledge and to concentrate on the work of "saving people's hearts for God."
This directly led to another conflict between the Chinese United Company and the Jesuits.
…
Yin Feng, who had no idea about this situation, was heading south along the Grand Canal. They boarded a ship belonging to a Ganzhou merchant who was closely related to Huaxing Alliance. Along the way, for the sake of confidentiality, Yin Feng and others tried their best to avoid interacting with Huaxing Alliance in various places. No., Huaxing Bank, and Bank No. were contacted.
At the same time, the main battleship Dingyuan and the Xinxing, led by Mai Dahai, left the Bohai Sea together with other warships of the task force, bypassed the Shandong Peninsula, and headed south close to the coast of the Yellow Sea. This time the fleet still broke through the Denglai River at night After traveling to the flood area, we entered the Yellow Sea without any danger.
Near Jingqu, the situation along the road was relatively stable. When the group entered Shandong, they saw groups of refugees wandering around. When passing through Bazhou, Yongqing and other places, the group saw that the houses along the way were empty** , most of the mulberry and jujube trees have been cut down, and there is not a single cow or sheep in the fields. The residents support the old and the young, either dig up the soil for food, or pick grass everywhere for food. It turns out that Shandong suffered a locust plague four years ago, and most of the land was harvestless. Because officials did not organize manpower to maintain water conservancy, Shandong suffered from disasters year after year. Since the beginning of spring this year, it has not rained for more than three consecutive months. Now there is famine in Shandong, and the tragic phenomenon of cannibalism has appeared.
Yin Feng and others went south along the canal. Due to the large number of water transport ships traveling from north to south, the conditions along the river were relatively good. A little away from the bank of the canal, you could see the tragic scenes of fields being abandoned and people dying of hunger everywhere.
Near Linqing Customs, the ship of Yin Feng and others was blocked by a bank checkpoint on the canal. Linqing Customs is the first customs and tax collection office in Shandong from the capital along the canal. Only two iron ropes were locked across the canal. Across both sides of the river, in front of Linjingguan Tower, there are five pontoons connected by iron cables across half of the river.
Yin Feng's boat had already been taxed twice in Hebei. When he entered Shandong, he came across another bank checkpoint. He couldn't help but sigh: "These banknote checkpoints are almost as fast as the highway toll stations."
Xu Hongji was accompanying him and asked curiously: "What is a highway?"
Yin Feng quickly changed the subject: "How many banknote checkpoints are there along the way south?"
Xu Hongji thought for a while and said: "Four years ago, when the tax eunuch Yang eunuch was disrupting Shandong, I passed through the southern part of Shandong and Fujian and Zhejiang. There were at least three banknote checkpoints from Shandong to Nanjing, both in Zhenjiang and Nanjing, but these were established by the imperial court. The bank checkpoints, the checkpoints set up privately in various places and the tax checkpoints temporarily added by the tax eunuchs, these are not included."
Yin Feng sighed again: "This is a heavy burden for long-distance trafficking."
Xu Hongji sneered and said: "This is also for ordinary businessmen. Those wealthy businessmen with high-ranking officials and nobles as their backing can pass without paying taxes at all. These subordinate officials at the bank are also bullying the weak and fearing the strong,"
There is a constant flow of small private boats downstairs at Linjing Pass. The floating boats on the shore will open a small opening every day, called Xiaoguan, to allow local private ships to pass by. However, larger merchant ships must stop for inspection.
The ship Yin Feng was on had to stop to pay for the passage. The merchant ship passed the customs and paid taxes. All kinds of participants were required to fill in the list. The merchants filled in the list and reported the goods carried, such as "a businessman from a certain prefecture and a certain county", entering and leaving a certain customs, " Live somewhere to sell, or send goods to somewhere", and then fill in the goods being sold, such as "How many numbers are there in the satin silk box, how many pieces of satin in the first number, how many pairs of certain satin clothes", etc., and "someone in the boat owner, shop Someone in the household, someone who is the owner of the pond, someone who writes the order, prepare a detailed report," the boat owner fills in the list, indicating the head of the beam and the quantity of the goods carried, such as "A certain prefecture, a certain county, a person in the boat owner, or out of customs, It may be imported into the customs, loaded with a certain merchant or a certain person, or a certain amount of rice and wheat, or a certain amount of goods, or there may be a ticket for payment, or it may be reported to someone at the port or written by someone at the customs port, and most likely the ship will be loaded with rice and wheat. There are many of them. If it is carrying goods, it must be the same as what the merchant reported, so that it can be checked. Related to this, "each shop, the owner of the crossing, and the dock" must submit a list, stating that "the goods shipped out of customs were purchased by the shop. The shop owner handed in the number; the number was written at the wharf of the customs ship, the number was handed in at the wharf, and the goods were shipped in and out. If they passed through a pond somewhere, the owner of the pond would hand in the number." In short, filling in the content is exhaustive, which is much more troublesome than the toll stations of later generations. .
After the merchant submits the list, the tax officer "checks the same", calculates the amount of tax paid according to the current regulations, "registers and fills in the tax plate", orders him to go to the tax office, and pays the tax in turn. The tax officer gives the merchant a receipt for the goods. Fill in the note, "When the merchant reports the goods, the banknotes must be paid in silver. In addition to issuing them to the official for collection, he will also give the receipt license. The customs officer will verify the cutoff and release it immediately." When the merchant passed the customs, the official The agent will need to check the cargo ticket. If it does not match the goods, he will not be allowed to enter or exit the customs.
Moreover, merchant ships have to queue up to pass the customs. When entering the customs, they are given one hundred black chips; when exiting the customs, they are given one hundred red chips with a fixed number. The chips are given according to the order every day, and they are inspected and released sequentially, first in, last out. Merchants To hold the ticket, the boat owner gets the money to pass the customs. Of course, if you are willing to pay some bribes, you can clear the customs in advance. This matter will be handled by the Ganzhou merchants who often travel between the north and the south. Moreover, in official circles, there is a popular code for bribery, calling gold "Huang Jing". ", silver is "white wax", Yin Feng only did business overseas before and was not good at it.
Xu Hongji was right. Yin Feng and his party were intercepted at least eight times along the way before they arrived at Zhenjiang on the Yangtze River.
Ahead is Nanjing, the remaining capital of the Ming Empire.