"Now that the City Ship Division allows them to live, if they just want to be stable, they don't have to become the people of the Ming Dynasty, just live in the City Ship Division." Yun Xi said.

"Your Majesty, the minister said the same thing to the merchant, but those two businessmen are very willing to become the people of the Ming Dynasty, and it is useless for the minister to persuade him repeatedly." Zhang Yanfang said. When a bureaucrat encounters something unplanned, its instinctive first instinct is to push things outward. Zhang Yanfang, as the only chief official of the yamen who had contact with foreign businessmen in the Ming Dynasty, could not push it, so he could only try to eliminate the matter. However, he was unable to resolve the matter and had to report it to the emperor.

Therefore, Yun Xi knew very well that Zhang Yanfang must have finished speaking, but the two businessmen still insisted on becoming the people of Daming, and insisted that it was because he felt that Daming was very stable that he had to do this, so he had no choice.

Yun Xi was suddenly a little curious: "What is this businessman called?" Where did it come from? What to buy and sell now? Is it a big businessman or a small businessman? ”

"Your Majesty, one of them named Bassoon, claimed to be from Siam, and the main trade was to buy silk from the Ming Dynasty and transport it to Siam, and also to bring some strange things from Siam to sell. This person's capital is not small, with tens of thousands of tariffs every year, and his family is rich. ”

Another person named himself, claiming to be from Sinhala (Ceylon or Sri Lanka), took the Chinese name Sudongli, and bought silk porcelain from the Ming Dynasty and shipped it back to his country, transporting some rare things to the Ming Dynasty for sale. However, this person's capital is much smaller, and the annual tariff is only a thousand yuan. ”

"Your Majesty," Zhang Yanfang suddenly thought of something, and said: "Although these two foreign businessmen have large and small capital, they both came here to do business at the beginning of the establishment of the Bao'an City Bosi. Therefore, the shops of the two of them are in the best location, which can be seen from the Yamen of the City Division. ”

"Oh, you can see it from the Yamen of the City Boss? From where? Yun Xi said, "I'll take a look." "Although I can only see the appearance, Yunxi wants to take a look at it too.

Zhang Yanfang immediately stood up and said to Yun Xi: "Your Majesty, please come with your ministers." Then he walked towards a house to the east.

After a while, he walked to a window, Zhang Yanfang pointed to the window and said, "Your Majesty, you can only see two shops from this window, the one on the north side is from the Siamese merchant Bassoon, and the south one is from the Sinhalese merchant Su Dongli. ”

Yun Xi walked to the window and looked out, and said as he looked at it: "The position of your city boss was well chosen, and it is much better than the position of the Shanghai City Ship Division, you can ......" But halfway through speaking, he suddenly stopped his voice.

Zhang Yanfang was standing aside waiting to listen to Yunxi's evaluation, when he suddenly lost his voice and hurriedly looked up. Then he saw Yun Hee's gloomy face, which had already turned.

Before he could ask, 'Your Majesty, what's the matter?' Yun Xi took a step away from the window, pointed to a tall building with four minarets and a circular top outside the window and said, "Here, how can there be a worship temple?" ”

"Your Majesty, this was built by the Celestial Sect from the West. These Celestial believers from the West prayed five times a day, which they called the liturgy of worship. The fact that this mosque was built in an open space in the middle of the city did not affect the number of shops, nor did it cause any inconvenience to the other shops, so the minister felt that it was okay and allowed them to build it. Zhang Yanfang said a little strangely.

'There are people in the Ming Dynasty who believe in the Heavenly Sect, why is Your Majesty so dissatisfied when he sees this worship temple? Hey, it seems that there is something in the newspaper a few days ago that has something to do with the people of Semu? What exactly is written on it? Could it be ......' he thought to himself.

Zhang Yanfang didn't think of it yet, so he heard Yun Xi say again: "A few days ago, I remember that I once issued more than ten holy decrees, there are about the people of Semu, you Zhang Yanfang are now in front of the Bao'an City Bo Si, don't you read the Di newspaper?" ”

When Zhang Yanfang heard that the emperor actually called him by his name, he immediately felt very bad: under normal circumstances, Yun Xi calls his cronies and ministers with 'Qing' after his surname, and those who are not particularly close to him are all added 'Aiqing' after his surname, and now he actually calls him by his name, which shows that His Majesty is very unhappy.

Zhang Yanfang hurriedly tried to recall the newspaper he had read, but Yun Xi immediately said, "You immediately send someone to demolish this worship temple!" Immediately, I will hear the demolition of him in an hour. ”

"Also, in the future, no one is allowed to build sectarian temples other than Buddhist temples and Taoist temples in the city, and any religious missions other than Buddhism and Taoism are not allowed in the Ming Dynasty, and violators will be expelled from the city immediately and will never be accepted again."

"At the same time, immediately build a Buddhist temple and a Taoist temple in the city, and invite senior monks from Guangdong to preside over it."

"Wang Xi, write down my message: Zhang Yanfang, the envoy of the Maritime Affairs Institute and the secretary of Bao'an City, promoted Zhang Yanfang, and the director of Bao'an City was ineffective, and he was demoted to the president of the Maritime Affairs Academy, and acted as the envoy of the Maritime Affairs Academy."

"As for why I did this, you can see it from the newspaper of the previous day; If you still don't understand, you don't have to figure it out, just do what I want! ”

Zhang Yanfang knelt down and said, "The minister accepts the order." ”

Yang Ren stood aside, very surprised. The others are okay, but demoting Zhang Yanfang to an official class, although it has not changed his real errand, it is also a very heavy punishment. Officialdom often sees this as a sign that this person has lost the emperor's trust and is only irreplaceable because he is very capable. If it is in the capital, I am afraid that tomorrow there will be many twists and turns to impeach Zhang Yanfang in front of Yun Xi.

But he witnessed this with his own eyes on the side, and just now His Majesty still trusted Zhang Yanfang very much, and suddenly his face changed, because of a worship temple.

He glanced up at the house of worship and thought to himself, 'Your Majesty is so jealous of the Heavenly Sect. Be mindful of future needs. ’

When Yang Ren thought about it, Zhang Yanfang had already stood up again and ran out to arrange for people to dismantle the worship temple. After a while, shouts could be heard from this window, and it sounded like many people were preventing the people of the city from demolishing the mosque.

But their blocking didn't have much effect. Although Zhang Yanfang has a peaceful temperament, it does not mean that he has no temper. He was inexplicably reprimanded by the emperor just now and demoted, the reason was all because of this worship temple, and now he also wants to vent, and he is very determined to promote the demolition of the worship temple.

Immediately, the sound of "clanging" sounded outside the window, and occasionally there were shouts and fights in some unintelligible language. Yang Ren was suddenly very shocked: "These people from the West actually fought with the police of Daming City for a worship temple!" They don't want to do business here anymore! ’

The sound of the fight continued for a long time before it subsided, and when it subsided, the sound of "clanging" came from outside the window.

Yun Xi was impatient at this time and continued to stand and wait here, returned to the room where he had just discussed, and talked to Yang Ren about the matter.

But they didn't speak long before they heard a "boom" from outside, so loud that they could hear it very clearly even if they were sitting here.

After a while, Zhang Yanfang returned to this room and bowed to Yun Xi and said, "Your Majesty, the minister has used gunpowder to blow up the walls and pillars of the worship temple, and the entire worship temple has collapsed on the ground. The minister is asking hired handymen and police to clear the rubble and rubble, which will be difficult to clear at this time, and I am afraid it will take a long time. ”

Hearing Zhang Yanfang's words, Yun Xi and Yang Ren were both stunned for a moment: they didn't expect Zhang Yanfang to use gunpowder to blow up the worship temple!

Yun Xi immediately smiled and said: "Haha, Zhang Qing, I asked you to demolish the temple, not to let you completely demolish it immediately, but it is not too late to demolish it completely after a few days, you actually used gunpowder to blow it up directly." Haha, haha. He burst out laughing.

Yun Xi laughed for a long time before he relieved himself and said, "If it's blown up, it's blown up, it's nothing." However, when cleaning up the rubble, be careful not to leave any residue and dump all the residue into the sea. ”

"Yes, Your Majesty." Zhang Yanfang agreed.

"What happened to the fighting I heard just now?" Yun Xi asked again.

"Your Majesty, it is really unimaginable that these businessmen who believe in the Heavenly Sect are so lawless. Because the Ming Dynasty wanted to demolish their worship temple, they took out their hidden weapons to fight against the police of the city! This is simply a rebellion! ”

"Your Majesty knew that the ministers had been magistrates in the past, so they subconsciously used the means of magistrates to quell the civil unrest, and first discussed with them whether they could retreat; After they said that they would not retreat unless the city division gave up demolishing the temple, the minister immediately ordered the rebellion to be quelled, and took out the only twenty muskets of the police of the city of Bao'an. The minister could think of blowing up the mosque with gunpowder, and it was only because he took out these muskets that he thought of it. ”

Although these merchants who believed in the Heavenly Sect had some weapons in their possession, they did not have many weapons, and they were quickly suppressed by the police. One policeman in Bao'an City was killed and nine wounded; In total, more than 30 of the rebellious merchants were killed, more than 60 were wounded, and seven ordinary merchants passing by were accidentally injured. Now the wounded policemen and the businessmen who were accidentally injured by passing by have been sent to the infirmary here for treatment, and the more seriously injured of those caught have also been sent for treatment, and the remaining less seriously injured and more than 80 uninjured captives are being held in their shops. ”

"According to the regulations of the city department set by Your Majesty and the ministers, the wealth of these merchants has been confiscated by the ministers, but what should be done with these rebellious merchants, please show your Majesty." Zhang Yanfang said.

At the beginning, the regulations were that merchants who came to the city to do business did not abide by several rules, and all their wealth was confiscated and expelled from the city. However, the constitution did not contain what to do with their rebellion. To be honest, no one expected that there would be a merchant who would dare to rebel, and it was not the Pu family who was appointed as the secretary of the city.

"All rebellious merchants, men and women, who have attained the age of sixteen, shall be beheaded on charges of treason; Those who have not yet reached the age of 16 are assigned to the Lehu. Yun Xi thought for a moment and said.

"Yes, Your Majesty." Zhang Yanfang felt that although the emperor's disposition was a bit heavy, it was still reasonable, so he did not raise any objections. Yang Ren also felt that it was very appropriate on the side.

However, Yun Xi, who proposed such a disposition, felt that something was not quite right. The crime of rebellion should be directed against his own people, and these rebels are not the people of the Ming Dynasty, so he feels that it is not appropriate to use the crime of rebellion.

But he couldn't find a better charge for a while, so let's take it as a crime. Anyway, the people and officials of the Ming Dynasty will not feel that there is anything wrong.

"The rebel merchants who have been seriously wounded need not be cured, and I do not have to let them be beheaded in public; However, those businessmen who were injured by mistake must be treated. Not only did they have to treat them, but the city and the yamen had to compensate them with some money. Yun Xi said again.

"Compensate for the money!" Zhang Yanfang said in surprise. There has been no such precedent for the government to compensate merchants.

"It's to compensate them for their money." Yun Xi said affirmatively: "This is an innocent person who was injured by mistake, why don't you need compensation?" If two people fight, if they accidentally hurt others, they have to pay for it. ”

"But I don't have to give much. Check their customs duties and pay them money according to the average number of days of duties. The name can also not be called compensation, you can just make a name, but you must lose money. "Yun Xi felt that it was right to compensate these innocent passers-by for 'lost work expenses'. As for the 'mental damage fee', well, forget it.

"And the meritorious and injured policemen this time, you will also be rewarded in accordance with the regulations." Yun Xi said.

"Yes, Your Majesty." Zhang Yanfang replied.

After the matter was disposed of, Yun Xi remembered the topic that triggered this matter: the foreign merchants wanted to emigrate, and immediately asked: "Among these rebellious merchants, are there any of the two merchants who want to become the people of the Ming Dynasty this time?" "Although both Siam and Sinhala are predominantly Buddhist, there are a few Celestial Christians in Baobuqi.

"Nope." Zhang Yanfang said: "Your Majesty, these two foreign businessmen who want to become the people of the Ming Dynasty both believe in Buddhism. ”

Yun Xi nodded. He thought for a while and said, "Since this is the case, I have set a requirement for the people of the outer fan to become the people of the Ming Dynasty. ”

"If you want to become a farmer or a worker, there are no superfluous requirements, as long as you come to Daming, you can speak Chinese, and you are willing to act in accordance with the etiquette of Daming, and pay taxes and serve labor in accordance with the laws of Daming."

"If you want to become a merchant, you must meet several conditions: first, you must have been doing business in Daming's market for more than three years; second, for three consecutive years, pay more than 1,000 tariffs for the Ming Dynasty; Third, the average family income per person is more than 5,000 yuan, including children. ”

"If you meet the above three requirements, you can allow them to become merchants and ordinary people of Daming."

"But there is one point of veto, all merchants who believe in the Crucifixion and the Celestial Religion are not allowed to be naturalized under any circumstances! Remember, they are not allowed to become naturalized under any circumstances! ”

"In addition, foreign businessmen who have just become naturalized must immediately choose a place as their place of household registration, and they are not allowed to leave the state capital where their household registration is located at will within a generation, and they are not allowed to move around with a merchant's household registration certificate."

It was only natural that there should be no restrictions on peasant households and workers, and that no country in this era was too large to be overly populated, but was open to all those who were willing to pay taxes and serve in labor and skilled craftsmen.

As for the restrictions on merchants, this is actually a characteristic of the Eastern countries. The Eastern countries have long believed that commercial activities are harmful to the state, discriminating against merchants, except for a few royal merchants, who are not allowed to exist, let alone accept them as their own nationals, and only the Tang Dynasty has no restrictions on them. However, the Tang Dynasty was originally the only dynasty in Chinese history that was still friendly to the outside world during the heyday of the country's struggle against barbarians, and cannot be used as an example.

Although Yun Xi felt that business activities were still necessary, he didn't think that there was any point in accepting merchants from Fanguo, so he put forward such high requirements for the naturalization of businessmen.

Both Zhang Yanfang and Yang Ren felt that Yun Xi's request was inappropriate. However, they did not feel that the requirements were too high, but that the merchants were of no significance to the country except to pay taxes, and that they should not accept foreign merchants as the people of the Ming Dynasty at all.

So Yang Ren immediately said: "Your Majesty, why do you want to accept foreign merchants to become the people of the Ming Dynasty?" ”

"Yang Qing, it is not harmful for the country to accept a few foreign businessmen a little, and it can also show my mind of the Ming Dynasty. Of course, I will not be accepted by all foreign merchants like the Tang Dynasty, and the restrictions I just mentioned will remain forever and will not be abolished. ”

"These standards don't have to be hidden, although it is inconvenient for the Yamen of the City Department to admit them publicly, but they can release news. In this way, those who don't have enough requirements in the future will not come to you to ask to become a citizen of the Ming Dynasty. ”

Since Yun Xi said so, they would not refute it again, Zhang Yanfang bowed down and agreed: "Yes, Your Majesty." At the same time, he estimated in his heart: 'Ba Song, who came from Siam, has a wealthy family, and it is estimated that he can meet these requirements and can accept him as a citizen of the Ming Dynasty; Su Dongli, who came from Sinhala, probably couldn't meet the requirements and had to refuse him. However, the Luster ......'

"Your Majesty, the minister has been in the Yamen of the City Bosi for several years, and he also knows that not all people believe in the Cross Religion and the Heavenly Fang Sect, and the minister has not even seen anyone who believes in the Cross Religion in the City Bo Division. But how exactly should we distinguish between non-believers? Your Majesty, have you heard others talk about the cure for over-discernment? Zhang Yanfang asked. Since His Majesty has such strict restrictions on this, he does not dare to treat it as a trivial matter. But he found that he didn't have a good way to distinguish between a believer and a non-believer, except for the very obvious signs, so he asked.

"It's actually very easy. For the Crucidians, look at them on Friday, ah, that's, well, I used to know the teachings of the Crucifixion, and they thought that God created the world in seven days, so they used a cycle of seven days, from Monday to 'week seven'. One of them does not eat meat on Friday. So it's enough to see if they don't eat meat every seven days. ”

"It's easier to distinguish the other, just give them a piece of pork and see if they eat it." Yun Xi said.

"Yes, Your Majesty." Zhang Yanfang agreed. But he thought to himself, 'Do you have to observe them like this in order to discern them?' It's a bit of a hassle. Or in the future, all the requests for these colored people to become the people of the Ming Dynasty were rejected. ’