Others may not know some of the Franciscans' ideas, but now the Chongzhen Emperor does.

Compared to the Jesuit missionaries, the Franciscan missionaries were not only more radical in their missionary views, but also extremely strict in their demands on the faithful.

There are countless rules and precepts.

To be precise, the Franciscan missionaries belonged to the "dervishes" of the entire Catholic system.

Such a church group is not attractive to the Chinese.

Correspondingly, the Franciscan missionaries were truly disciplined and knowledgeable.

For Emperor Chongzhen, instead of letting the missionaries of the Jesuit family come to China, it is better to bring in an opponent for them.

In this way, they themselves can continue to eat dogs and fights, and at the same time, Emperor Chongzhen can also get some truly talented Western missionaries to play their role.

Emperor Chongzhen did not say these words explicitly, but when Li Guoyan, Sun Chengzong, Xu Guangqi and others heard this, they suddenly understood and knew that the emperor's intentions were originally here.

Xu Guangqi, who was a Jesuit Catholic himself, didn't bother to think about the meaning of the emperor's words, and immediately bowed and said:

"Your Majesty! Since the Ministry of Rites has been ordered to revise the Ming calendar, the ministers have received it by themselves, and presided over it with Li Zhizao and Li Tianjing, compiling and revising it day and night, and have repeatedly verified the celestial phenomena measured by the Qin Tianjian!

"In the past two years, the almanac originally scheduled has been compiled and revised by the Calendar Bureau of the Ministry of Rites, and the new Western astronomical law has been obtained in 31 new laws, 118 volumes.

"It's just that Li Zhizao is old, his energy has declined, and he has been riddled with diseases since this year, and he is afraid that he will not be in the near future, so he can't bear to urge!

And Long Huamin, Tang Ruowang and other Jesuits who were familiar with the Western calendar, first did the matter, and then left Beijing one after another, and unfortunately died in the northwest!

"His successors, if Condenius and the others, are also leaving immediately, and today Your Majesty mentioned this matter, the ministers are terrified, and this is the responsibility of the ministers!

"I beg your majesty to wait for two more years, and the minister should personally lead the Historical Bureau to participate in the school in Western France, verify the celestial phenomena, or delete the complicated and simplified, or add and correct it, so that within two years there will be a credible perpetual calendar!"

Compiling the almanac and revising the calendar was a major policy proposed by Xu Guangqi to Emperor Chongzhen after his recovery.

At the same time, this matter is also one of Xu Guangqi's unfulfilled life aspirations, and he takes this matter very seriously.

Originally, in the process of revising the calendar, it was attacked and bombed by many Korean Chinese officials.

If it weren't for the strong support of Emperor Chongzhen, the Ministry of Rites might have been revoked long ago because of repeated impeachments.

At this time, he saw Emperor Chongzhen talking about this matter, and for this matter, he personally invited the newly arrived Franciscan elder Pimenta to join him and participate in it, which made him really feel a sense of crisis.

Of course, this is not that Emperor Chongzhen is dissatisfied with the people gathered by Xu Guangqi.

In the original history, the compilation of the Chongzhen Almanac lasted for five years, and after the book was written, the new calendar was delayed because of various criticisms and controversies in the court.

These are the rights and wrongs, and the current Emperor Chongzhen knows it.

Historically, a large number of Jesuit missionaries such as Long Huamin and Tang Ruowang were all summoned by Xu Guangqi to his subordinates, and all of them were concentrated in the Qintianjian and Almanac Bureau of the Ministry of Rites to work together, and it took a full five years.

In this life, the people who were originally pulled by Xu Guangqi to compile the Chongzhen almanac are now only Li Zhizao, Li Tianjing, Wei Kuangguo, Jinnige and a few others, among which the main force was taken to the northwest by Long Huamin and Tang Ruowang, and died there.

At the same time, although Li Zhizao, who is already seventy-five years old, has not died of illness, his time is numbered, and the person in charge of the current situation is Li Zhizao's disciple and assistant Li Tianjing.

Under such circumstances, it is very good that the Ministry of Rites has been able to achieve such results basically in accordance with the progress of history.

At that moment, Emperor Chongzhen heard Xu Guangqi say this, and knew that he attached too much importance to this matter and misunderstood his own meaning, so he smiled, looked at him and said:

"Since ancient times, the matter of the calendar has never been trivial! In my opinion, it is still necessary to be safe and accurate!

"If you can give me a 10,000-year-old calendar, how can I be in a hurry for a year and a half?! Even if you give Qing and other people in the bureau ten years, it is nothing in my heart! ”

After saying this, Emperor Chongzhen saw that Xu Guangqi was going to say something more, so he waved his hand, and then said to him:

"As for this Franciscan missionary Pimenta, don't worry about it! If he is competent, let him help in the bureau, and if he is not competent, but I will make him go back and forth from where! Aiqing doesn't need to say much! ”

Speaking of this, Emperor Chongzhen saw that everyone was standing, and knew that this was the reason why he stepped down from the throne, so he turned around and returned to the throne, and invited a few old and important ministers to speak.

Regarding these things that Xu Guangqi said, Li Guojian or Sun Chengzong didn't care much.

Sun Chengzong, the Minister of Military Aircraft, saw that Xu Guangqi was silent, and Emperor Chongzhen had no intention of being tired or returning to the palace for the time being, so he immediately followed the topic of northern Myanmar and said:

"Your Majesty! His Majesty set up a Burmese and Chinese town guard and garrisoned immigrants in order to truly recover the land north of Awa, and the minister has no objection!

"It's just that I don't know if Your Majesty has any arrangements in mind for the selection of the Burmese and Chinese town guards? The minister thinks that since ancient times, the affairs of the frontier land have been to win souls!

"Back then, my Ming Dynasty mobilized tens of thousands of troops to fight bloody battles for many years before taking back Jiaozhi, but more than ten years later, because of the improper use of people by the imperial court, the natives of Annan were in rebellion, and they had to withdraw the army and the people and return north! From now on, the land of Jiaozhi has been gained and lost!

"In the opinion of the ministers, in today's Burma, its remoteness and barbarism are especially greater than those of the past! Your Majesty should learn the lesson of gaining and losing, and be cautious about the selection of envoys to Burma and China! ”

After listening to Sun Chengzong's words, Emperor Chongzhen nodded and said to the three elders: "I don't have anyone in my heart yet, if you have one, you can talk about it one by one!" ”

Li Guoyan, Sun Chengzong, and Xu Guangqi looked at each other, and they were all thinking in their hearts for a while.

Xu Guangqi did not have any qualifications in the army, but because of his relationship as the chief examiner of Enke in the first year of Chongzhen, he had a large number of Jinshi protégés.

It's just that these disciples of his Jinshi are all Confucian disciples who have read the Four Books and Five Classics, and they are respectful to him, the teacher who is a Jesuit Catholic, but they really can't get closer, they can't get close, and they basically have no private contacts.

Even Song Yingxing, who respected Xu Guangqi like a god after reading the "Complete Book of Agricultural Administration", also respected his own teacher because of Xu Guangqi's status as a Catholic.

Of course, it is also for this reason that this time in the spring of Chongzhen's fourth year, Emperor Chongzhen once again appointed Xu Guangqi to serve as the chief examiner of the examination.

Because among the civil officials and ministers of the imperial court, on this issue, the person who can most reassure Emperor Chongzhen is really him.

At least he, a Catholic who has converted to God, will not form a huge network of relationships by relying on the relationship between teachers and students, as the original Donglin Party did.

As for Li Guoyan, he also has no resources in the army, and his cabinet chief assistant is very different from those powerful ministers or ministers who became the first assistant before the Ming Dynasty, neither by the court, nor by prestige, but completely by the support of Emperor Chongzhen to take the position of the first assistant, and sit firmly in this position.

At the same time, because of the establishment of the Military Aircraft Department and the Minister of Military Aircraft, the power of his cabinet chief assistant has been greatly weakened, and he is completely unable to interfere in military affairs.

If Emperor Chongzhen didn't take the initiative to ask for his opinion, he wouldn't even have a chance to interject.

This time Emperor Chongzhen asked, but unfortunately there was no candidate, at this time, seeing that the other two ministers were still thinking, and he was the first assistant could not help but answer the emperor's question, so he said:

"Your Majesty! There is no suitable person in the minister's mind! However, the area under the jurisdiction of the town guard government in central Myanmar is located in the southwest border, and its situation is particularly complex and changeable compared to the northeast and northwest.

"In the opinion of the ministers, because of the fact that the officers and soldiers on the horse and the people are in charge of the people, they cannot be appointed unless they are civil and military all-rounders; Because of its remoteness, wilderness, and alien races, non-Chinese races cannot be appointed; And because the mountains are high and the forests are dense, there are many miasma, and people who are not from the southwest cannot be appointed!

"This is a minister's simple opinion, and please ask Your Majesty to be aware of the holy judgment!"