At this point, Bishop Alexander and the Governor had no other way, and when they heard that Matteo Ricci had a Chinese way, they immediately allowed Matteo Ricci to take the fastest boat to Macao, from Macau to Guangdong, to find his friends and ask the truth of the matter.

So, three hours after arriving in Manila, Philippines, Matteo Ricci boarded the ship again, and before he could wash away his fatigue, he once again served the church as a diplomatic envoy for the sake of peace in the South China Sea.

Therefore, although he was very tired, he went to Macau tirelessly, hoping to get concrete information in order to avoid a war that he did not think necessary and better not to take place, otherwise it would be difficult to explain whether or not their Catholic Order could continue to exist in the East.

Xiao Ruxun does sympathize with Dali, has a broad vision, and likes Western scientific knowledge, but Matteo Ricci also knows that this general also has a tough and impersonal side.

Once someone disobeys his orders, he will not hesitate to punish him very severely, or even kill him, to be honest, Matteo Ricci is a little afraid of this general, but there is no way, for his mission, Matteo Ricci is unwilling to leave him.

During his years of living in Chinese mainland, he met many scholars, but most of them were non-official scholars, that is, scholars who did not hold official positions, and he knew the Chinese system and knew that Chinese intellectuals obtained official positions through reading examinations.

When he first learned about this, he was extremely excited, because compared to the European system of hereditary official positions by blood, the Chinese system is nothing less than an ideal system.

He has great respect for these officials who have obtained official positions through their own knowledge, and believes that these officials are China's elites and representatives of China's elite politics, and he is proud to know them.

But they were all equally arrogant, and they were too busy to meet him, so Matteo Ricci retreated to associate with those who were very famous and well-connected in order to increase his fame and connections.

Qu Rukui was the first scholar to be baptized by Matteo Ricci and converted to Catholicism, and provided him with a lot of help, including reminding him to change his clothes, put on Confucian clothes, and reintegrate into Chinese society as a "Western Confucian", which gave him great help.

After leaving Guangdong to live in Burma, Matteo Ricci often thought of his own believer and friend, and this time he went to Macau, his goal was to contact this old friend and find out from his channels the Chinese government's views on the Philippines and the reason why the Chinese government sent a ship to the Philippines this time.

It is very easy to go to Macao, Macao is the autonomy of the Portuguese, and they are allowed to enter these foreigners, but it is a little difficult to enter Guangdong from Macao, which requires the permission of the government's documents, and the general foreigners do not want to leave Macao and enter Guangdong.

Matteo Ricci found that Chinese officials seem to like beating people very much, especially these foreigners, Xiao Ruxun is the same in Myanmar, Chinese break the law and hit the board ten times, foreigners who break the law have to hit the board twenty times, and it is not okay to spend money to atone for the crime, the officials are not allowed, you have to beat, you can escape, and from then on you will not want to enter China and do business again."

Matteo Ricci also protested against Xiao Ruxun's heavy punishment for them, and Xiao Ruxun said as a matter of course - this is necessary, don't beat you profiteers who don't know how to obey our laws.

Xiao Ruxun is quite polite, those literati officials in Guangdong are particularly rude, if these Portuguese break the law in Macao, the local government officials will even lead troops to drive to Macao, catch those Portuguese who break the law, bring them back to the yamen and draw them down, and then throw them back, after a long time, plus the old country was annexed by Spain, the Portuguese here are particularly cowardly.

Macau people have a tradition, even when the Qing government lost power and humiliated the country, even when China was generally despised by the Western world, Macau people despised those Portuguese, Portuguese rule in Macao is symbolic, Macau Chinese contempt for the Portuguese and adherence to tradition has never stopped, so some people say that the character of Macau people is closest to the character of the Chinese in the Ming Dynasty.

Anyway, Matteo Ricci had seen with his own eyes how those elite literati officials treated those Portuguese who committed crimes roughly, so he had always been very honest and cautious, for fear of being expelled, even if he had the right of residence in Guangdong, he was careful to arrive in Macao first, deliver documents to the county government of Xiangshan County to request entry, and then by the way, he asked someone to send a handwritten letter to Qu Rukui, asking about the Chinese emperor's dispatch of a ship to the Philippines.

After waiting for more than ten days, Matteo Ricci finally waited for the customs clearance documents of the Xiangshan County County Government, and when he arrived at the pass, Matteo Ricci saw Qu Rukui who was preparing to greet him, and only after asking did he know that Qu Rukui left for the Xiangshan County Government after receiving Matteo Ricci's handwritten letter, and talked with the county magistrate in person before exchanging for Matteo Ricci's customs clearance documents, otherwise, Matteo Ricci would have to wait for at least a month.

"Taisu, why did the emperor of your country send people to the Philippines...... What about traveling to Luzon? Now the whole of Luzon is very panicked, and they asked me to ask what is going on. ”

After Matteo Ricci saw Qu Rukui, he asked straight to the point, and Qu Rukui greeted Matteo Ricci into the carriage, and then explained to Matteo Ricci as he walked.

"I asked a few friends to ask Futai about this matter, and Futai told me that this matter is not in charge of Guangdong, but in Fujian, and Futai said that someone reported the news to the emperor, saying that Luzon Island, like the Japanese island, has a large number of gold and silver mountains and copper mountains, and if the Ming Dynasty occupies it, you can get a lot of money.

Before the Ming Dynasty fought a war with Japan, defeated Japan, occupied some gold and silver mountains, and got nearly 10 million taels of silver dividends, so the imperial court is now particularly interested in countries with gold and silver mountains, so they sent Fujian officials to take a look, and they didn't find it, and they came back, and later some people said that this is simply a non-existent thing, and there is no gold and silver mountains on Luzon Island, so now the imperial court is discussing this matter with Fujian. ”

Matteo Ricci breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that it would be much easier to do it if it wasn't the same as Xiao Ruxun's excuse, at least the Chinese government did not intend to use force against the Philippines.

"Taisu, I'm from Luzon, I've also lived on Luzon, there really is no gold and silver in the local area, I can guarantee this, I don't know where the news came from, but it's definitely a rumor!"

Matteo Ricci said categorically.