"My lord," the attendant came from the road in front of him, and reported: "A group of monks from Taixi came from the official road in Zhangjiakou, and we interrogated them, saying that they were going to Lizhuang to serve the lord." ”

Zhang Han said: "Since this is such a coincidence, bring them over for questioning." ”

The guards and cavalry scattered on the avenue, guarding against possible assassins among the pedestrians, but Zhang Han himself didn't care, he found a tea shed, the weather gradually warmed up, and there were more and more people setting up tea stalls on both sides of the road, and the owner of the tea stall saw Zhang Han sitting down, and hurriedly brewed a bowl of tea with a copper kettle and sent it.

Jiang Yi came over to taste the tea, Zhang Han waved his hand and said: "He is not a fairy, I know that I have been here today, this boss has been setting up a tea stall here for thirty years, I went out of the fort to play when I was a child, how many times have I drunk tea here." ”

The owner of the tea stall was greatly moved when he heard this, and said with a smile on his face: "When Mr. Zhang was young, he still loved to eat my tea and dim sum here, and he loved fried twist flowers the most. ”

Zhang Han smiled when he heard this, lowered his head and drank tea, others have changed, but his memory has not changed, and sure enough, this tea still has the same taste as when he was a child...... Just as unpleasant.

After a while, a group of a dozen or so Tessians were brought over.

These people did not have mules and horses, nor had they ridden in a car, and the guards had already interrogated them, and these people either walked or hitchhiked all the way, and the road from Jingshi was not very far, and they walked for seven or eight days to arrive.

Of course, these people also want to preach all the way, but the effect is certainly not very good.

Shanxi to Xuanfu is an inland place, the people are not widely informed, the information is relatively closed, the local officials do not know much about the Taixi people, and there are many military forts along the way, these people have been imprisoned as spies for a long time, fortunately, Tang Ruowang opened the road in Beijing according to the rules, otherwise it would be a big trouble.

When they arrived at Xinpingbao, Tang Ruowang and the others felt tired and a little disappointed, they felt that this place was not suitable for missionary work, and at the same time, they also felt that Li Zhuang was not necessarily as developed and advanced as Kong Minxing and others said.

When he happened to meet Zhang Han on the way, Tang Ruowang said to everyone: "If that Master Zhang is different from what we have heard before, we can only turn around on the spot, but we can also save some roads." ”

Frederick said: "We have come thousands of miles to China, and we can't give up because of a small setback. ”

John Tong smiled when he heard this, like him and the missionaries of his predecessors, he had this spirit when he was young, otherwise he would not have been able to accomplish anything.

Many of the missionaries were actually from wealthy middle-class families, most of course poor, and a few missionaries were from aristocratic backgrounds, and they joined the Jesús because of their missionary ideals.

Although Catholicism in this era has lost the prestige of the divine power greater than the royal power in the Middle Ages, it is still quite appealing and cohesive as a religion, traveling all over the world, even as far as South America and Africa, preaching the glory of the Lord and leading the lost lambs.

A group of missionaries were led to Zhang Han, and everyone wanted to bow down according to the etiquette of the Ming Dynasty.

"No need to be polite, please take a seat." Zhang Han sat on a stool and looked at the priests with interest.

During the Ming and Qing dynasties, a large number of priests entered China, some of whom were real ascetics, who not only preached, but also established charitable churches, raised abandoned infants, established hospitals, treated the poor, established schools, and accepted poor children to enroll, which was an indelible benefit of these priests. However, during the Qing Dynasty, China's national strength weakened, and some clergy also acted as a prestige in China, plundered China's wealth, antiques, and enslaved the Chinese like slaves, and made believers above the ordinary people in order to develop the congregation, causing local conflicts.

At this time, the Ming Dynasty was still strong, at least far stronger than the European countries in Asia, Portugal or Spain, as well as the tentative attacks of the Dutch countries were defeated, the southern governor of the Ming Dynasty could solve the ill-intentioned invaders, after several small-scale wars, the Europeans had to admit that the Ming Dynasty was also a strong and civilized country, many missionaries wrote articles in praise of China, and the attitude of these missionaries was very respectful.

Tang Ruowang and the others thanked them and sat down, so that they could look at the giant businessman and the senior military attache of the Ming Dynasty in front of them.

Zhang Han did not wear a military attache robe, he was the same as his subordinates, wearing a hat like Fan Yangli, the brim was very large, which could block the fire door and arquebus for the arquebusmen in rainy days, and now although almost the whole army has changed the flintlock pistol, but the flintlock pistol also needs to be covered, wearing a big hat in peacetime, wearing an iron helmet in wartime, and a gray knee-length gray robe on his body, two rows of copper buckles on his chest, a belt around his waist, a wide hem, trousers are breeches, and leather boots are worn on his feet.

Unlike ordinary soldiers, Zhang Han does not have a rank chest mark, which is the only difference.

Tang Ruowang found that Zhang Han was very tall, which was very common among the Ming people in the north, and he immediately noticed that Zhang Han was young, estimated to be only in his early twenties, there were many Ming nobles in the highest position at this age, and there were many senior military attachés at the level of princes and marquis or governors of this age, but they were hereditary nobles, although they had titles but were not in charge, Zhang Han in front of him was not only a high-ranking official, but also a giant businessman, and Tang Ruowang knew that everything was worked hard by this young man himself, Previously, when he heard about Zhang Han's deeds, he didn't pay much attention to Zhang Han's age, and then Tang Ruowang was shocked to realize that the young man in front of him was a little unusual.

In terms of temperament, the eyes are straight and the gaze is bright, but it is not oppressive, nor does it have the pretense of majesty of the Ming officials, on the contrary, Zhang Han's smile is very easy-going, and the tone of his voice when he just speaks is also very light, which invisibly relieves the tension of the missionaries.

"Please ask your honorific surnames and names."

Zhang Han asked his name first, and when he heard Tang Ruowang's name, he couldn't help but raise his eyebrows.

This missionary is very legendary, Wanli came to China, traveled all over the north and south of the river, during the Ming and Qing dynasties, he experienced Li Zicheng and the Eight Banners entered Beijing successively, and recorded the situation when the Eight Banners entered the city in his own notes, and then in the Shunzhi years because of the revision of the calendar and Chinese officials disputed, and was later imprisoned, Kangxi because the Rabbit Emperor liked the astronomical calendar was trusted, and embarked on the peak of his life, it is indeed a legendary figure.

Zhang Han hadn't heard of the rest, but his attitude was the same as that of John Tang.

After asking his name, Zhang Han said: "When you come to my Li Zhuang, do you want to preach, or do you want to do something?" ”

John Tang pondered for a moment and said calmly: "Now they have no place to live, the main thing is to find something to do, so that they can get income in order to gain a long-term foothold in Daming, and they will also do missionary work by the way, and then when the Nanjing church is restored, maybe they will return to the south to continue their mission." ”

"It's okay to preach, you have to follow the rules, it's okay to do things here, I need people very much." Zhang Han said: "The salary is eight taels per month. ”

Tang Ruowang didn't expect things to go so smoothly, the monthly payment of eight taels of silver is relatively high, you must know that although Europe in this era has had the dividends of the Great Voyage, the income of various countries is still generally not high, at this time the income of the British government is about two million to three million pounds a year, converted into 10 million taels of silver, and the income of the Ming treasury during the Apocalypse is about the same, of course, the Ming Dynasty still has 20 million stone of grain a year into the warehouse, as well as a large number of silk, silk, cloth and other physical taxes, there are also taxes such as human taxes, When it comes to national strength, Britain is still far behind, but at this time Britain is already a very efficient capitalist country, and the use of fiscal revenue has thrown the Ming court ten streets away, but Britain's national income is not rich, the so-called gentleman's annual income is generally at least 50 pounds to 100 pounds, and the annual income of small and medium-sized landlords with hundreds of acres of land in the Ming Dynasty is about the same, ordinary workers and farmers, including clergy and other classes, the annual income is a few pounds to more than a dozen pounds, If these missionaries in front of Zhang Han were not in China, England or the Duchy of Prussia, their income would only be a few dozen taels of silver a year.

"Thank you, Lord Zhang." John Tang said happily: "With this income, they can pass on the gospel of the Lord more conveniently." ”

A group of priests all showed happy expressions on their faces, they knew that the Chinese use silver ingots or broken silver, and there are also a small amount of copper money, the main currency is the silver standard, not the gold standard, and there are no gold coins or silver coins, but China's gold-silver price ratio is very low, and silver can be exchanged for gold, and when returning to Europe, the gold coins will greatly appreciate, and they can make a fortune virtually.

Of course, when they thought so, the clergy were still condemned in their hearts......

"By the way...... "John Tang said cautiously, "Do they have the obligation to go to the battlefield?" We've heard on our way that there's a fierce war going on against the barbarians of the north......"

"You are hired civilians, and of course you are not obligated to go to war." Zhang Han said: "For example, I am going to go to the battlefield now, to a military fortress on the northern border, but I will not ask you to go with me, if anyone volunteers to go, I will only accept personnel who can use artillery." ”

When Tang Ruowang's face showed a reassuring expression, Zhang Han suddenly said: "If any of you is a good gunner, good at calculating ballistics, and can be an instructor and actual artillery on the battlefield, then he can receive twenty taels of silver a month on the battlefield." ”

A group of missionaries, including John Tong, opened their mouths for a moment.

……

"This is the first mound due north."

Coming out of Xinping Fort, riding a horse about five miles ahead, on the turquoise sea-like grassland, a small black dot appeared in front of everyone's eyes, and a short distance forward, a complete dungeon appeared in front of everyone's eyes.

This dungeon fort is more than four zhang high, the shape is covered bucket type, this is also the standard shape of the Ming army's border town fire road pier, in Xuanfu and Datong place, this kind of dungeon is everywhere, generally three miles or five miles one, the critical place is even one mile, there are garrison soldiers and horses, easy to defend and difficult to attack, in the Ming Dynasty military strong period, the border army is stationed in it, can effectively limit the depth of the Mongolian cavalry, so that the northern captives can not guarantee their own logistics supply for a long time, from the first to I to answer several times to break through the side wall, straight into the city of Beijing, However, they were not able to form an effective base behind themselves, and the territory of the steppe was connected, and the border army was centered on this kind of side wall, and the defense system of piers, platforms, forts, stations, guards, and towns was still very effective.