While Ding Yunyi was actively training his troops in Penghu, news finally came from Fujian.
"Peng Hu Biao" transferred General Hong to the Yuan Dynasty and inspected Ding Yunyi. He fulfilled his duties and was not afraid of the pirates' attack. He fought bravely in the face of danger and won a great victory...
Hong Tiaoyuan was promoted to the garrison of "Penghu Biao", and Ding Yunyi was promoted to the commander of "Penghu Biao". The soldiers on the island were each rewarded with one month's salary.
Everyone was happy for a while.
Hong Tiaoyuan did not expect that his daring brother would do all kinds of daring things. Instead of being punished, he would be put on the defensive.
Ding Yunyi finally became a high-level boss, even though Zou Weilian had wanted to give him this official position for a long time.
The official had been promoted, and a batch of supplies had been delivered, but the salary was still far away. Not to mention the one-month bonus, even the original arrears had not been seen.
There is really no way. The Ming Dynasty lacks nothing but money, and the shortage is severe.
Not to mention Penghu, which is not very important in the eyes of the imperial court, even the nine-border land is still in arrears. It is the sixth year of Chongzhen, and there is still a huge gap of four million taels in military expenditure, which is enough to give the imperial court a headache.
.
Fortunately, Ding Yunyi didn't have much hope in the first place, so he had to find a way to get the money by himself.
At this time, a foreigner came to Penghu Island.
This man's name is Sam Larch. He comes from the Jesuit San Andreas Monastery in Rome. He graduated from the Roman College and was ordained as a priest. He is thirty-seven years old this year.
He was invited by his forerunner Tang Ruowang to come to China to preach.
These foreign missionaries have had many twists and turns in China.
Under the leadership of the forerunner Matteo Ricci, a large number of foreign missionaries came to China, including famous missionaries such as Tang Ruowang, Deng Yuhan, and Luo Yagu.
As soon as the missionaries set foot on Chinese soil, they began to study Chinese language and culture carefully, and even aimed to master Beijing Mandarin. These Western monks followed the local customs, took off their monk robes, put on Confucian clothes, lived in Chinese-style houses, and devoted themselves to the study of Chinese scriptures.
History and ethics, looking for the fusion point of Eastern and Western cultures. In the process of interacting with celebrities in both the government and the public, these Western missionaries, who were knowledgeable about astronomy and geography, and were familiar with Chinese classics, naturally won the favor and affection of Chinese scholars and officials.
Trust, so as to achieve the purpose of spreading faith. This is the missionary strategy of "integrating Confucianism and super-Confucianism" pioneered by Matteo Ricci.
However, some fanatical missionaries believed that Ricci was too accommodating to the Chinese, which affected the "purity" of Catholicism and the development of believers was too slow. After Matteo Ricci's death, he began to change Ricci's missionary route and adopt a radical approach.
They resolutely rejected Confucianism and strictly prohibited Chinese Catholics from worshiping heaven, ancestors, and Confucius. This aroused the resentment and suspicion of the public and led to the "Nanjing Mission Case". The missionaries were expelled and almost no one existed in mainland China.
gain a foothold.
However, on the outside, church activities seemed to have stopped, but secretly the work did not stop. However, the "Nanjing Mission Plan" did bring certain losses and restrictions to the church. After a few years, the mission plan calmed down.
After Emperor Chongzhen ascended the throne, the scholar-bureaucrats repeatedly made mistakes in predicting solar and lunar eclipses, which made Chongzhen very dissatisfied, so he allowed missionaries to enter China, and Catholicism became active in China again.
It was under such circumstances that Sam Larch came to China.
In order to adapt to China, he had learned Chinese before and could speak fluent Beijing Mandarin. He also gave himself a Chinese name based on the pronunciation of Sam Larch:
Sarozzi.
Even though the name doesn't sound like a Chinese name no matter how you pronounce it...
Upon arriving in Penghu, Sarozzi immediately paid a visit to Hong Tiaoyuan, the highest administrative and military officer here.
The missionary took it for granted that since Hong Tiaoyuan was the highest official here, he had the final say in everything, so he didn't pay much attention to Ding Yunyi sitting aside.
This was the first time for Hong Tiaoyuan to deal face-to-face with foreigners, and he was even more surprised that Sarozzi could speak authentic Beijing Mandarin.
"I want to preach here." Sarozzi stated his purpose straight to the point.
"Preaching? What kind of religion?" Hong Tiaoyuanda was surprised.
"Catholicism." Ding Yunyi said smoothly at the side.
Sarozzi couldn't help but glance at Ding Yunyi: "Are you also a believer?"
"No, no." Ding Yunyi waved his hands repeatedly: "I don't believe in religion."
"That's such a pity. We are all God's people." Sarozzi made a cross on his chest: "God sent us to help the world get rid of disease and poverty..."
"Wait, wait." Hong Tiaoyuan quickly interrupted him: "I don't believe in this. I believe in Bodhisattvas. These are evil evil ways and they must not be spread here."
He Hong Tiaoyuan may not care about other things, but he is extremely firm in this aspect. He is a devout Buddhist and absolutely refuses to believe in Catholicism.
The imperial court agreed that these missionaries came to preach in the Ming Dynasty. That was a matter for the imperial court, but in Penghu, that was out of the question.
"Father." Ding Yunyi suddenly asked: "Penghu is a small place, and it is extremely cold. Why don't you go to Quanzhou, a wealthy place like Fuzhou, but why do you come here?"
“The communicators of God cannot dislike where they spread God’s thoughts.” Sarozzi said piously: “If everyone goes to prosperous cities like Beijing and Nanjing, then who will spread God’s thoughts in places like Penghu? So?
I volunteered to come here."
"Three... Mr. Ding, let him go quickly, let him go quickly." Hong Tiaoyuan seemed unwilling to let Sarozzi stay here for a moment longer: "There are many people in Taixi and there are no good people. A Hongyi
, a dry silk man who repeatedly invaded our Penghu area, maybe this person is also a spy."
Sarozzi shouted quickly: "No, no, I am not a spy, no. I am a priest, God sent me here."
Seeing that Hong Tiaoyuan was about to fall out, Ding Yunyi suddenly asked: "In addition to spreading the doctrine, does the priest also know how to talk about artillery manufacturing technology through telescope?"
In his memory, most of these missionaries who came to China knew astronomy and geography, and were particularly unique in the principles and techniques of artillery casting, manufacturing, storage, transportation, performance, gunpowder preparation, and artillery shell manufacturing. It seemed that
All of them are experts in making artillery.
"I understand all these."
Sure enough, Sarozzi said: "If you need it, I can help you make a cannon."
Ding Yunyi was overjoyed: "Which country are you from?"
"I'm Portuguese, what you call Franco."
"Okay, I'll take it."
Ding Yunyi's face was full of joy, and he pointed at Sarozzi: "Hong Shoubei, please let this man stay in Penghu."