[In the previous chapter, I forgot Xie Ming's official position, and I have made adjustments and updates]

Bishop Miguel did not expect the meeting to begin in this way, and the first request of the Australian was for him to countersign the divorce agreement of His Excellency the Governor.

While the Church does have some power to interpret the marriage of the nobility, the breakdown of the relationship is by no means a justifiable reason for the dissolution of the marriage, even if the Duke of Alonso's claim that he has recently discovered that he is a blood relative of the fourth level with Lady Teresa is more plausible than that, and in fact it is the most common way of operating in the nobility divorce. After all, among the aristocracy, marriage is just a contract of exchange and preservation of property (the etymology of Wedding - the ritual of the exchange and union of property between men and women), and there are people who believe in love? However, Miguel didn't care about it now, after all, the various experiences of the past few days were too unbelievable, and compared to the thunder that fell from the sky, it was just a private matter of the governor's family.

"If you heard me correctly, do you want me to stay in Manila?" Hearing Xie Ming's request, Miguel was a little overwhelmed, which was beyond his expectations, he originally thought that after today, he should pack his bags and get out of the house as soon as possible, as for whether to go to New Spain or Goa, although he has not yet thought about it, but the heretics may not let him stay in Manila for too long, but the sudden change even made him indifferent to the magic drink brought by Xie Ming.

Manila was about to be conquered by the infidels, and even the mildest of ways would have dealt a major blow to the cause of the Holy Religion in the East, but the other side had retained itself.

"I have investigated that during your tenure of office, you did not cause harm to the Chinese, but on the contrary improved their situation to a certain extent, so the Senate thinks that it is desirable to cooperate with your church to some extent." Xie Ming slowed down his speech, emphasizing in particular that his presence was in the hope that the bishop would not misunderstand him, and that this cooperation was obviously based on a greater human factor.

"You mean that the Ao-Song government allows the Church to keep the Lord's cause in the territory?" The bishop was a little confused, and to be honest, he wasn't ready to leave.

The so-called Lord's cause is the land and property of the Church in the Philippines, which is not an insignificant wealth, most of which comes from donations from the nobility and the faithful, but also includes the income from the Church's investments, which include the proceeds of trade and the taxes of the port, but also usury to the indigenous peasants, which is also a way of annexing the land, and Miguel is not sure about the attitude of the Australians to the way in which some of these properties are acquired.

Xie Ming ignored the bishop's small calculations, and said to himself: "The Great Song Dynasty pursues freedom of religious belief, of course, the premise is that the church must have a legal place of worship. ”

In the following time, he spent some time explaining the religious policy of the Australian Song Dynasty to the bishop, and he also gave a positive example of the Jesuit in Sanya, which seemed to understand a lot. As for the measures taken by the Senate to restrict religion, he will not take the initiative to disclose to Miguel, and the purpose of using the identity of the other bishop to speed up the integration of the original colonial settlements in various places in the process of unifying the Philippines will not be mentioned in front of the other party, after all, if it is not for the bonus of faith, it is difficult for ordinary people to persist in the 'wild' land and explore, and these people are actually very good helpers as long as they solve some ideological problems.

However, you need to be careful when speaking to a smart person like the bishop, because this is undoubtedly increasing the other party's bargaining chips, and it is best to win over him by agreeing to his liking after consulting with the department or deciding to change the way.

"Freedom of religion?" The bishop savored the meaning of the words.

Xie Ming handed him a book, "But we want you to stay not as a bishop, but as an engineer." ”

"Engineer?" He took the book and only glanced at it before he was stunned, and when he heard this, Xie Ming could clearly sense the bishop's inner turmoil.

In the book is the future planning drawings of the entire Haidong Road, Miguel turned a page is the city of Minli, now the Wangcheng has become an inconspicuous corner of the plan, the size of the city has expanded more than 20 times compared with the original, and such as the houses, streets and even the details of various buildings are all presented in the atlas, and they are all beautifully remarked with Spanish notes.

The Australians were actually planning to put night lights on the whole city. As soon as he glanced at the design instructions for the gas lamps and the mood of the street under the stars, he immediately understood the crazy idea.

In the beautiful picture, the sailless and oar-free cargo ships passing and fro on the Bashi River, the thriving market and the vehicles connected by rails take on the duties of traffic and transportation, it seems that every street is crowded with shops, and the stone road is lined with decorative palm trees, although there is no trace of the cross in the picture, Miguel understands that such a city is undoubtedly the true city of angels.

Can such a city really be built by manpower? Seeing that Chief Xie didn't look like he was lying and coaxing, Miguel's heartbeat couldn't help but speed up a little.

"Well, would you like to join us?"

Sanya's experience tells the patriarchs that attracting the church's architectural talent is good for the rapid improvement of infrastructure, after all, not all places are as convenient as Brunei's can use all kinds of modern construction methods, and there are no more machinery that can be transported over long distances. More importantly, without a basic education, workers from the bottom could not be expected to adapt quickly to modern engineering materials and construction methods, so after seeing the construction site of the Convent of San Juan de la Tretran, Xie Ming solemnly recommended the Archbishop of Manila to the Senate - without the other party's knowledge.

It seems that this choice is not wrong, at this time Miguel was looking at the contents of the atlas obtrusively, and after a long time he raised his head, his eyes were a little lost, and then he swallowed his saliva, and Xie Ming saw that the old man's throat moved obviously......

Half an hour later, Mr. Miguel took his first job, Chief Engineer of the Bridge of Cocoon.

…………

"Mr. Alcaraz, all you need is your signature for this document." Half a day later, Xie Ming met again with the former interim governor and administrative governor of Manila at Franco's mansion, and after Miguel agreed to cooperate, only the relationship with this one was left to deal with.

In Alcaraz's mind, the Orientals were not the kind of people who paid much attention to transactional documents, and their books were often abstract, even the logbooks of Chinese captains, and the so-called "needle diagrams" compiled with extremely inaccurate times and directions were simply rubbish, so that they stood in stark contrast to the conscientious and industrious work of the Chinese peddlers.

In fact, in the silk market transactions in Bashi Hebei, Chinese merchants have always valued verbal promises from business partners, and even large contracts are often just handprints, and they seem to be less willing to spend too much precious time on seemingly meaningless things such as signing cumbersome documents, and he has seen several Chinese contracts, which are concise and efficient but extremely unrigorous.

"You can already occupy Manila, is it necessary to do this?" Some of the auditors do not understand the approach of the Australians, don't they claim to be a branch of the Chinese?

Xie Ming smiled: "Your Excellency Alonso thinks this is necessary. ”

"That...... Governor? Old Alcaraz licked his lips, as if he wasn't too interested in this one.

Seeing that Alcaraz was about to speak and stopped, Xie Ming probably had his own judgment, and it seemed that this civilian-born auditor acted cautiously, but it did not mean that he did not have his own position, and it was obvious that this person was a little unimpressed with some of Alonso's practices since taking office.

"Well, let's put the Duke aside and talk about something more meaningful."

"Something more meaningful?"

"Of course, things between us are naturally more meaningful, and in fact Your Excellency's retention will also be a condition for the peaceful reorganization of Manila, as your conquerors have often done in the past." Xie Ming unhurriedly told Alcaraz a piece of news.

Having the enemy serve as hard labor to pay for ransom and crimes was the most common punishment for the Spaniards, and Li Dan had experienced this kind of punishment, which was so familiar to the auditors of Manila and the members of the Royal Prosecutor's Court that the old man's face turned pale immediately after hearing Xie Ming's words.

According to tradition, although the royal prosecutor's office is under the sign of the royal family, the auditors are usually not very good at appointing nobles, which is probably a method devised by His Majesty the King to check and balance the rulers of distant frontiers. But the situation was different in times of crisis, and Alonso was afraid that in Alonso's mind, the colonial officials who came from civilian backgrounds were as unpleasant as the tax eunuchs around the emperor in the minds of the Ming literati, so when the Australians asked Alcaraz to remain as one of the conditions for the peaceful reorganization of Manila, Alonso did not hesitate to agree to this request, which did not hurt him.

"This matter is also approved by the Duke." Xie Ming told the auditor.

Realizing this, Alcaraz felt like he had been betrayed, "No, I protest! He has no right to make such a decision. ”

"Don't be in a hurry to protest yet, maybe we and the Duke are not all the way? Let's talk about your treatment. ”

"What do you mean? Treatment? ”

"As far as I know, your salary for your position here is 10 piasters per month, and we intend to double this salary, and we will never interfere with the business you originally kept, in exchange for your three years of service as a consultant to the Great Song Dynasty, I wonder what you think?"

In the face of this sudden plot reversal, Alcaraz still couldn't come to his senses, the monthly salary of 20 Piastes was obviously not the treatment that labor should have, so he was not actually betrayed? No, no one knew Alonso better than him, and as an auditor who had repeatedly clashed directly with the Doge in his affairs, he knew that he was a man of great sensitivity at heart, a man of aristocratic arrogance and fickleness.

And he had already heard about the Duke's divorce, and if he were not an Australian, he was afraid that His Excellency the Duke would have led his men to 'correct the law on the spot' with the merchant and his wife the moment he knew about it, so he did not believe that Alonso would intercede for himself out of affection.

Alcaraz did not understand his position in the hearts of Australians, and for many years in Manila, if the archives in the city hall were as Zhu Dazhao told his students that day, then Alcaraz was undoubtedly the most like Xiao He among the colonists, and all the trade, taxes, and contributions over the years were all in his mind, and even if he had not been in the rear, it was still unknown whether Governor Silva would have been able to organize an expeditionary fleet under the attack of the Dutch.

Thus, rather than sorting through the voluminous numbers and words, many questions were a daily task for the auditor, and any questions that the Counselling Division had could be explained in two or three words to Alcaraz. This will greatly facilitate the Senate's rule over the new frontier, not to mention that Alcaraz himself is an extremely valuable internal talent, and he can be of many uses.

"Why me?" Alcaraz finally asked the question.

"Because of your talents, and because of who you are." Xie Ming's smile was warm, and his answer was equally sincere.

In the case of Alonso, perhaps he was able to succeed as governor only because of a prominent status - the son of Don Luis the conqueror, a nobleman from Murcia, knight of Alcantara, although His Excellency the Doge rarely had the opportunity to ride a horse, the name of knight has become a symbol, a ticket to be able to enter the arena of the vast empire, and this ticket Alcaraz is barely available today, But unlike the Duke of Alonso, Mr. Comptroller spent almost two decades doing so.

And now, Alcaraz is middle-aged, and although he has relied on his ability to get to where he is today, this may be his final destination. When he grows old, he may cross the ocean with some possessions, and if he is lucky, he will have the opportunity to spend the rest of his life in Iberia, but that's all, neither glory nor fame will be with him, and this is the invisible natural chasm.

But now an opportunity was in front of him, and the Australian made him understand that there were rulers who didn't care about status at all. Heroes don't ask where they come from, as long as they pay, they can get what they deserve, and even better, all of this can be endorsed by a war reparations recognized by the Empire, which is signed by several people with the highest power in Manila, including Alonso, and he will only play a role that is wronged for a responsibility that has nothing to do with him.

In three years, even with his cautious character, he felt that he could give it a try, at least the Australian would never be so patient to lobby in person if he had other thoughts, and he knew that the status of the veteran in front of him was not low.

After seriously considering the advice of the senators, Alcaraz signed his name to the Manila Peaceful Reorganization Agreement.

"Very well, see you in three days." Xie Ming finally said.

[References]

1、《Southeast Asia in the Age of Commerce 1450-1680》Anthony Reid

2, "Sea Language" Huang Zhen

3. "Nanyang Yearbook"

4. Maritime Trade between China and Manila in the Late Sixteenth and Early Seventeenth Centuries, by Li Jinming

5. "Macao-Manila Trade in the First Half of the 17th Century" by Zhao Wenhong and Wu Yingquan

6. "Zhucheng Weekly Consultation" is strict and simple

7、《The Rise of Ayudhya》Charnvit Kasetsiri

8、《The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Manila Official Website》

9、《Chinaese in Southeast Asia》Victor Purcell

10. "A Brief Discussion on the Conflict between China and the European Powers on Southeast Asian Affairs in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries" He Aiguo

11. The Influence of Chinese Immigrants on Southeast Asian Languages and Daily Life in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries by Zheng Fuhong

12、《Statistics for Ship Arrivalsand Departures 1565-1815（by Year and by Decade）》

13、《Alphabetized List of Galleonsand Other Ships(with voyagedates)》

14、《Summary In form ation of Galleon Arrivalsand Departures 1565 through 1815》

15、《The Manila Galleon》Jason Schoonover

16、《History of the Mutsunokuni》Scipione Amati

17、《Recit de l'entree solemnelle et remarquable faite a Rome,par Dom Philippe Francois Faxicura》Abraham Savgrain

18, "The Historical Changes of Manila's Chinatown" Shen Lixin

19、《 The Philippine Islands 1493–1898》Volume

20、《Under New Spain 1565–1761》