Catholicism entered China during the Wanli period, leaving Macao, and the first church was in Zhaoqing Mansion in Guangdong, on the bank of the Xijiang River, on the side of the Chongxi Pagoda. It is a very Chinese name, called Xianhua Temple. In the days that followed, the first European missionaries such as Matteo Ricci and Luo Mingjian used their connections in the upper class to travel to Hangzhou, Shaozhou, Nanchang, and Beijing, where they spread Catholic teachings.

Among them, their most important stronghold was still in Hangzhou and the north and south of Beijing, although Yu Zhaoqing was the first to build a church, but was soon expelled by the new powerful figures of Liangguang and Guangzhou, and had to go to the southern Jiangxi region. Guangzhou is not a forbidden place, but it has never been their main base for missionary work, and compared with Zhaoqing and Shaozhou, the influence and radiation scope of this important town in Tiannan is obviously much greater, and it is certainly more beneficial to the missionary cause.

Guo Zhiqi said this very calmly, and his face was also an obligation to add glory to the "Lord". However, there may be religious and devout people present, but none of them are not discerning. The Catholic Church, in fact, to put it bluntly, is a condition of exchange, or even just a preliminary sincerity, Guo Zhiqi took this out so that the Macao side could respond to his request for assistance, nothing more.

Here, Guo Zhiqi made a request, and also showed sincerity, and the hydrangea was thrown in front of those Portuguese gentlemen, although everyone was mentally prepared, but they inevitably had to rely on their eyes to exchange their views with each other.

In fact, Guo Zhiqi's request is not excessive, it is nothing more than to assist some weapons such as Hongyi cannons. The Bugarao Cannon Foundry in Macau is currently the best cannon foundry in Asia, which is exported to Japan, the Philippines, India and other places, and even sold back to Europe. Many of the Hongyi cannons that the Ming court originally purchased from Macao were also produced here, and not all of them were shipped from Europe.

This is exactly what Macao can get its hands on, and Guo Zhiqi has thought most clearly before trying to get Xiangshan County from Chen Kai. However, after such a sure thing, those Portuguese gentlemen, especially the person in charge of the Bugalao Foundry, did not readily agree to the matter after whispering to everyone.

"Dear John, the guns produced by the Bugarao Cannon Foundry are famous all over the world, and even in Tessie, there are countries that have come to order them. In terms of orders, it has been a long time coming. ”

"Can't we postpone some of these orders for a while?"

Guo Zhiqi is in an emergency, to be precise, he is going to send most of these Hongyi cannons to Li Dingguo, so that Li Dingguo can be used in the counterattack on Guangxi. In this, there is indeed a desire to compare Chen Kai to the bottom, but more importantly, he and Lian Chengbi have analyzed the siege ability of Li Dingguo's troops before, and it is likely that there will be problems that cannot be attacked for a long time for fortified cities like Wuzhou and Guilin. If such a situation really occurs, it will also have a not very favorable impact on going to Anlong for rescue.

However, no matter how sincere Guo Zhiqi was, the person in charge always shook his head like a rattle, repeatedly saying that there were also official instructions from Portugal, such as trade with Britain and France, and there were also issues such as the recognition of Portugal by the European continental powers to the newly restored Portugal.

Guo Zhiqi had no choice but to ask for the second best thing, and asked the Macao side to give technical assistance to help cast artillery. In addition, he is also going to buy some books on Western science and technology, and go down this road on his own.

"Dear John, the order is too tight for personnel to be sent out. However, if John was interested, he could study here, and it would be more convenient to worship or something. ”

The new governor of Macau, Bu Jialu, who just arrived last year, said very politely, but this is not something that Guo Zhiqi can accept. As a result, Guo Zhiqi simply refused on the grounds that he was busy with official business, and only said that he would return to Guangzhou after continuing to spend a few days in Macao.

"Since this is the case, it is inconvenient for us to continue to hold on. If you have any questions about theology or science and technology during your stay in Macau, you can ask them. ”

After a few polite words, Guo Zhiqi took his leave and left. However, the Portuguese gentlemen of the Macau Council and the Governor of Macau, Bougalo, did not disperse, but only revisited the topic after it was confirmed that Guo Zhiqi was far away.

"This dear John thinks things too simply, now in terms of missionary and business, we are not only the Ming Empire - it is not more than ten years ago, at that time, we must make every effort to open up the relationship between the gentleman class and the court of the Ming Empire, and now the Jesuits have the wisdom of Mr. John Adam Scharr von Bell in the court of the Tatars, and in the court of the Ming Empire, the Queen Mother, the Empress and His Royal Highness the Prince of the Ming Dynasty have also developed the Queen Mother, the Empress and His Royal Highness the Prince of the Ming Dynasty to become a church, and has made great achievements."

From a missionary point of view, there are indeed two very different situations now than they were then. For them, the Portuguese gentlemen and the members of the Society of Jesus, there was a sea change in their feelings and needs.

"Yes, back then, the council was invited to organize mercenaries to go to Guilin to help in the war, and at that time, it was Yajilou who patted his chest and said that he would baptize the royal family. In fact, he did, and the mercenaries of the council also defended the city of Guilin for the Ming Empire, ensuring that the Ming Empire was not wiped out by the Tatars. But now, the Ming Empire does have the momentum of turning around, but anyone with a discerning eye can see that behind that momentum is the all-out efforts of Governor Chen, who is at odds with John, has the greatest connection. John was baptized, but it wasn't worth offending the Council's connections and partners for years for the sake of a John. ”

The Portuguese have their own interests, just like the Cantonese and Western civil official groups represented by Guo Zhiqi also have their own interests, and they are all the same in principle.

The basis of cooperation has always been the intersection of interests, and now Guo Zhiqi's proposal can indeed make interests intersect, but it will produce a change that is contrary to the established direction for many years, even if the governor of Macau who decided to show favor to Chen Kai and the Zheng group behind Chen Kai is the predecessor of Bujialu, but Bujialu will not change rashly out of the interests of Macao and Portugal.

"As previously agreed, during John's stay in Macau, the council will try its best to accommodate his requests that are not too excessive. After all, if the Ming Empire really drove the Tatars away, in the political arena, John would also have a closer relationship with the court and the royal family than the Governor Chen, and he would still be the figure that the council needed to fight for. ”

The policy was decided again, and they carried it out like this. On the other hand, Guo Zhiqi's side also figured out the key early when he left the council, and it was nothing more than "order" as an excuse, and they tacitly understood each other.

As he said, after spending another two days in Macao, Guo Zhiqi collected some books on Western science and technology, then bid farewell to the council and set off for Guangzhou.

When he returned to Guangzhou, the scene in front of him had changed drastically from when he left. In these days, Chen Kai has transported a large number of Guangzhou people from Chaozhou and Zhongzuo, and these people have settled in Guangzhou again. In addition, the more than 10,000 people in Chen Qice's place, as well as the screening work on Henan Island day after day, are also making the popularity of the city continue to recover.

On the wharf in the south of the city, the number of civilian ships and merchant ships is gradually increasing, and the wharf is also lively. Guo Zhiqi got off the boat and rode into the city in a carriage, from the window of the carriage, you can also see both sides of the streets and alleys in the city, there are a lot of shops along the street, and the proprietors, account offices, and small workers are all busy inside, and they are almost idle.

Vitality is the main theme of Guangzhou City at the moment, in this regard, Chen Kai is in charge of the overall situation, Li Dingguo also instructed Jin Weixin, who is in charge of the civil affairs of Guangzhou, to cooperate, but as a higher-level official - Lian Chengbi, the governor of Liangguang, because he does not have the civil power of Guangzhou City, and there are not enough Guangzhou people in his hands to intervene, so he is inevitably excluded.

can only watch in the city of Guangzhou, but when Guo Zhiqi is outside, the civil official group in western Guangdong must retain enough officials to maintain a sense of existence, so he has to sit here. Guo Zhiqi's return made Lian Chengbi finally have a chance to breathe, and he was ready to leave for Zhaoqing immediately.

The Governor of Liangguang was originally established to suppress the uprising of the Yao people and the servants of Liangguang, so the government office was set up in Wuzhou, Guangxi, which could better take into account the overall situation of the two provinces. A hundred years later, the governor of Liangguang moved from Wuzhou to Zhaoqing, and then moved to Guangzhou for a time during the Chongzhen Dynasty, but soon moved back to Zhaoqing. After the Southern Ming Dynasty, the Qing court initially set up the yamen of the governor of Liangguang in Guangzhou, where Tong Yangjia and Li Shutai, who served before and after, and Li Chengdong and Du Yonghe, who were on the Ming court's side.

In this situation, it was not until the ninth year of Yongli that the Qing court moved the governor of Liangguang back to Zhaoqing, but now there is no chance. On the other hand, Lianchengbi still planned to return to Zhaoqing and try to exert greater influence on the Ming army and the rebel army in Zhaoqing Mansion and Luodingzhou and other places.

Among the civil official groups in western Guangdong, Zhang Xiaoqi and Zhou Tengfeng were responsible for the local civil affairs and Ming army in Gaozhou Mansion, Lianzhou Prefecture and Leizhou Prefecture, while Guangzhou and Zhaoqing had to rely on the cooperation of Guo Zhiqi and Lian Chengbi.

"Those Furlong machines are still sitting and watching the wind change, and they are unwilling to contribute, it is indeed the old man who sees things simply."

Without the ability to make a breakthrough in Macau, Guo Zhiqi will inevitably be a little depressed. However, soon, as he learned about the progress of Foshan from Lianchengbi, he was still a little relieved.

"If there is no Hongyi Cannon, there will be no Hongyi Cannon, this is something that cannot be forced. Before, he promised His Highness to provide military supplies, Foshan is in hand, and there are enough blacksmiths there, and with this batch of weapons, it can be justified. ”

In this regard, they have made two preparations. Turning to outsiders for help is not possible, and now at least there is a hole card in hand, and it is not impossible to win.

"We need to recruit some readers who are interested in learning Tessie's knowledge, and ask them to study these books together." Stroking the books brought back from Macao, Guo Zhiqi said so, but he couldn't help but have some inevitable worries about it: "I'm afraid that those scholars only think about being officials and have no interest in it." ”

Reading the books of the sages, what is the so-called, and now and in the future, you are almost worthy of it. This is Wen Tianxiang's point of view, but for the majority of Confucian students, the purpose of studying is to be an official, and the way to do it is the imperial examination, and the subjects examined in the imperial examination must be Confucian classics, which are all natural things, even Guo Zhiqi will not feel that there is anything wrong. Unless the content of the imperial examination is changed to Western studies, a large number of scientific and technological talents will inevitably emerge, but with such a crazy idea, Guo Zhiqi will never dare to give birth to it, let alone abolish the imperial examination, that is the way to death!

The world is bustling, all for profit; The world is crowded; It's all for the sake of profit. If you are not driven by profits, how can you rush to it. Guo Zhiqi has thought a lot on the way back, but there is never a systematic way. In this regard, it can only be said that it is practiced, nothing more.

"I hope that the old man can drive a group of scholars to learn Western studies, think about it in the past few years, Xu Zixian is right, although Chen Kai in Chaozhou did not have a clear banner, but it is also according to Xu Zixian's method, and now the manufacturing bureau in Chaozhou feels terrible to think about. Perhaps, it is time for the imperial court to learn from Fa Taixi, so that Yidi. ”

After going to Macau in person, Guo Zhiqi did not gain much on the surface, but it was undeniable that he broadened his horizons, which is actually the biggest gain. Talking about it here, Lian Chengbi is still a little puzzled, at least in his opinion, the Macao side is the Hongyi cannon or something more useful, and the others have not heard of anything.

In this regard, Guo Zhiqi simply told Liancheng what he had seen and heard one by one. The cannon casting of the Bugarao Cannon Foundry, the hydraulic machinery of Macau, and the knowledge he had learned from those books soon attracted Lian Chengbi's attention. By the time the two of them said so, it had been an unknown amount of time. It was only at this time that Lian Chengbi, who needed time to precipitate his knowledge, reported to Guo Zhiqi about the relevant matters that had happened in Guangzhou in recent days.

"Chen Qice's side, he already wore the same pants with Chen Kai four years ago, and the old man didn't expect him to be on our side, so this encounter is not unexpected. As for what kind of monument it is, the old man also saw it when he got off the boat, and it was nothing more than a trick to continue to maintain his influence among those natives of Guangzhou. That is also the right way to inspire the hearts of the world, we can't learn it, and we can't stop it, just let him do it. ”

In this way, Lian Chengbi also felt the same way, and also nodded his head. The two talked for a long time, and the temple of the five organs was already dissatisfied, so they looked at each other and smiled, and asked the next person to prepare for food. But just after the order was given, before he could speak again, Guo Zhiqi suddenly remembered a detail in the matter that Lian Chengbi had just mentioned.

"Rubai, you mean that Chen Kai gave Chen Qice a subsidy and put it on the surface?"

"Yes, a common man gave twenty pounds of grain. By the way, a few days ago, there were a few generals who also wanted this subsidy and had a big quarrel with Chen Kai. ”

Lian Chengbi already knew about this matter, and all he heard was the dissatisfaction of the generals of western Guangdong with Chen Kai, so he didn't take it seriously. Who knows, when it comes to this moment, Guo Zhiqi's face changed suddenly, and there was a burst of paleness, almost colorless.

"It's broken, this is Chen Kai's trap, let's be careless!"