In addition to the charter business, each branch ship has several scheduled sailings every day. No matter whether the passenger boat is full or not, it must leave at the time in order to arrive on time. Cargo ships try to travel together, with 6 to 12 ships in each group, and each ship The team is equipped with a steward who is responsible for purchasing along the way and negotiating at the gates. There is also a waterway escort and a number of full-time security personnel who are responsible for the safety of the ship. If the passenger ship has to pass through places with poor public security, it must also be equipped with a number of guards. personnel.
Because passenger ships are dispatched on a scheduled basis, each outer locker can also be used to receive and send letters. This is not Zhang Xin’s first initiative—private ships in this time and space have already handled this kind of business. Commercial activities in Jiangnan are frequent. There is a lot of movement of people. In addition to private messages, there is also a huge 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 services from Beijing to Jiangnan and Jiangnan to Guangdong. Road. Of course, this kind of business involving cross-head office numbers must be coordinated by the General Administration Bureau in Guangzhou.
Mao Sansheng worked intensively in various places to organize the passenger and cargo transportation companies of the Jiangnan Headquarters according to this routine, especially to win over the joint venture ship owners. Zhao Yingong knew that this was not easy - if the ship owners could not be provided with sufficient benefits, why would the ship owners come to participate in the joint operation and receive benefits? Violent exploitation?
He knew that the current talk of "participating in joint ventures can increase business volume" was purely empty talk. To win over boat owners, the first step was to find backers for the boat owners so that they felt safe and secure. They recruited a large number of "households" from the common people. Many fishermen in the Weishan Lake area volunteered to contribute, preferring to serve the Kong family and send fish and shrimps in order to gain the backing of Yan Shenggong's Mansion.
The Australian brand cannot be promoted in Jiangnan, and Eunuch Yang cannot be said to be powerful in Jiangnan. He has to find other local forces to act as a protective umbrella.
To this end, he and Jin Lige went to visit the Catholic Church in Hangzhou.
The Catholic Church in Hangzhou was located near Tianshui Bridge. This land was purchased by Yang Tingyun in 1627, and a small church was built here, along with a priest's residence and a monastery. The missionary Guo Jujing presided over the residence. At this time, Guo Jujing was fully responsible for Jiangsu and Zhejiang. His missionary activities are equivalent to being the highest person in charge of the Catholic Church in the Jiangnan region.
Tianshuiqiao Catholic Church does not appear to be a church from the outside - because it was originally rebuilt from a mansion. If the cross on top of the chapel inside could not be seen from outside 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 region. Jinlige couldn't restrain his excitement and made a sign of the cross regardless of people still walking on the street.
Zhao Yingong asked Jiying, his personal servant, to come and post a message. Within a moment, the door had opened. Two people came out and welcomed them in.
The building in the courtyard is much the same as the outside. A slightly Gothic style building was built here. In the middle is a door with stone steps, many windows open on all sides, and decorated with many strange patterns. From the open door Looking through the doors and windows, the roof is very high. There is a mansion next to the Catholic Church for the priests to live in. After Zhao Yingong and his party informed, Guo Jujing appeared quickly.
This is a tall and burly Italian, with a long beard that has turned gray but is still very beautiful, and a high and raised nose. However, his curly hair is combed straight up in the Chinese style, like a Chinese Confucian scholar. , wearing a square scarf and a white cloth jacket.
Guo Jujing has always been famous among missionaries for his "long and beautiful beard and burly figure". He was born in a Tuscan aristocratic family in Italy and had excellent demeanor and appearance. So much so that in 1606, the "Guo Jujing Incident" caused turmoil in Guangdong. , there are rumors among Guangdong officials and people that the Portuguese will support him as the emperor of China. Although he is now over seventy years old - a very old man in this time and space - he still looks very healthy. He once studied in Macau. Chinese, and preached in Shaozhou, Nanchang, Nanjing, Shanghai and other places. Since he first arrived in Macau in 1594, this missionary has been in China for nearly forty years. He speaks Nanjing Mandarin very fluently. He had a high status among missionaries. When Matteo Ricci entered Beijing, he was responsible for the teaching affairs in Nanjing and other places.
Seeing Zhao Yingong and Jin Lige arriving, he lowered his rank to greet them with a smile.
When Father Terry Ge saw this priest, he couldn't help being excited - among the first batch of missionaries who entered China to open up the situation, Matteo Ricci, Xiong Sanba, Jin Nige and others have passed away successively. Among the "pioneers", only Guo Jujing is still alive and continues to preside over academic affairs.
"Padre!"
"Hello, my brother." Guo Jujing greeted him with a smile.
Seeing Zhao Yingong, he quickly came up to him and saluted: "Ah, Mr. Zhao, nice to meet you, nice to meet you, I've been waiting for you for a long time!" He was very experienced in understanding this Chinese style.
"Padre, this is Mr. Zhao. This is the letter I brought from Macau." Father Terry said.
"Ah, easy to say, easy to say. I have received a letter from Mr. President." He said with a smile, and then asked diligently: "Mr. Zhao, please come to the house first to serve tea."
The news that Jin Lige was coming to Hangzhou was informed by a letter from the Jesuits in Guangzhou more than a few months ago. In the letter, the Jesuits once again instructed Guo Jujing to "try to help the Chinese people brought by Father Getrigg." , Guo Jujing is a foreigner, so of course there is no help. The so-called help means using the power of the church in Hangzhou.
Zhao Yingong smiled and said: "I want to pay my respects to the church first."
"Of course, then please move this way first!"
Guo Jujing led the way, and the group walked through the courtyard together, climbed the steps, and entered the Catholic Church.
Zhao Yingong had never been to a church in the old days, but had seen it in books and movies. He found that the church, which was designed and built in a Western style, was similar to his basic impression. The entire lobby was narrow and long, with a high ceiling. There are simple religious paintings. There are carved windows on both sides - very Chinese, the windows are papered, so the church is a little dark.
In the middle is a shrine decorated with incense lamps and curtains, housing an oil painting of Jesus. Although Zhao Yingong does not go to church, he has seen many such images on weekdays and does not 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 indifferent attitude of "Australians" is not a false disinterest. Guo Jujing can see that oil paintings are not something strange and novel to this Australian.
In addition to the altar in the center, there are two altars on the left and right, each with a statue of a saint.
"This is St. Peter," Guo Jujing saw Zhao Yingong showing interest in the altars on both sides, so he introduced: "He held two keys and pointed at the door of heaven. The other one was the statue of St. Paul.
In the posture of a preacher, he held up the Holy Cross in one hand and pointed to a sentence in Latin with the other hand - "The priest read it again in Latin, and then translated: "We preach the crucified ***..."
Zhao Yingong followed him to visit the Notre Dame Church on the right. The layout of the Notre Dame Church was similar to that of the main church, but smaller. According to modern standards, it was a large conference room. There was also a portrait inside.
Portrait of the Virgin Mary holding Jesus.
He estimated that the hall could accommodate about 200 believers, and the Notre Dame Church could only accommodate 20 or 30 people. The size of the Catholic church in Hangzhou would not exceed a thousand people. It was small in terms of scale.
It's pitiful. But there are a large number of officials, gentry and scholars in this church, and it has considerable social influence.
After visiting the church, Guo Jujing invited Zhao Yingong and others to his residence for tea.
The residence is very simple, the furniture decoration is completely Chinese, and there are thread-bound books stacked on the bookshelves and desks. If it weren't for the crucifix hanging on the wall, it would be difficult to imagine that this was the residence of a European missionary.
He immediately asked Zhao Yingong and Father Trige to sit down. Then a young servant served tea. Huang Zongxi saw that he was only in his twenties. He was wearing a green robe and a small cap, and had handsome features. He was clearly Chinese, but there was a small child hanging on his chest.
The cross, it seems that he has become a Christian.
The tea was green tea - it seemed that the priest had already followed the Romans. Zhao Yingong had already prepared gifts that suited him - even though the missionaries came to China with the ambition of martyrs who gave up everything and were determined to spend their entire lives in a foreign country.
spread the gospel, but 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 was brewed by Xue Ziliang in the small winery on the farm. Of course, the grapes used were not special wine-making grapes such as Cabernet or Pinot Noir, but ordinary fruit grapes.
.However, for Guo Jujing, who has lived in inland China for decades and rarely sees even Europeans, it is still a rare gift - it allows him to comfort his homesickness in his twilight years.
"Thank you, Mr. Zhao." Guo Jujing was very touched, and Zhao Yingong took the opportunity to inquire about church affairs in Hangzhou. In addition to himself wanting to know, Dian Quanzi also wanted to know how powerful the Catholic Church in Hangzhou was.
Guo Jujing is not secretive about this. Although the Hangzhou church is not as important as the Beijing church in terms of status, it is worse than other places in terms of stability. Although Yang Tingyun and Li Zhizao have passed away, their children and disciples are still very enthusiastic about the church. The Yang family, in particular, not only purchased land to build Tianshuiqiao Church, but also donated a piece of Dafangjing land to bury missionaries. His daughter was named Yi Luosi, who contributed a lot to the church. Therefore, the Yang family has great influence on the Hangzhou Catholic Church. It also has the greatest influence.