Condenius, the head of the Jesuit missionaries in China, spoke impassionedly about his wishes, and Emperor Chongzhen, although he felt that he was talking about it and being ridiculously arrogant, nevertheless expressed his appreciation for his so-called ambition. （）

In the end, perhaps, the problem of religion can only be solved by means of religion.

When Buddhism and Taoism have lost their enterprising spirit and militancy, the introduction of Jesuit Catholicism to the west is a last resort.

Compared with the Great Food Religion that Mu Suman believed, the Jesuits had no foundation in the Ming Dynasty, especially in the northwest, and when they were not needed, as long as a ban from the imperial court could make them unable to continue and turn over.

Therefore, Emperor Chongzhen agreed to his requests, not only agreeing to the request that Long Huamin and others be buried in the Jingshi Catholic Church and erect a monument to record their life deeds, but also agreed to Condinius' request to take these newly recruited priests and aspirants to the northwest to fight against Mu Suman as soon as possible.

It's just that the musket ammunition he wanted, but he could only pay the Wubei Yuan on the side of the Jingshi first, and then after the people arrived in the northwest, they could get it from Yuan Chonghuan, the governor of the three sides.

For the arrangement of Emperor Chongzhen and the Armed Forces, Condenius could only choose to accept it, and the funds raised from Batavia, Haojingao, Rebaza, and these Westerners who did business in the Ming Dynasty were also spent at once.

In this way, on August 11, Condenius entrusted the affairs of the Jesuits in Beijing to the Jesuit Jinnige who had come to Daming with him from Hao Jingao this time, and then received a certificate issued by the Imperial Court and left Beijing to the west to rescue the missionaries who were trapped in Lanzhou.

And among the Taixiyi who went with him, except for two priests, the others were all hired Hongmaofan.

The Dutch missionary Van der Lie recruited the Yi people for the Dagukou shipyard in Tianjin, but many of the bastards who were indiscriminately filling half bottles of water were hired by the Jesuit security corps in Condinius.

At the same time, the believers and parishioners whom Matteo Ricci had influenced for many years in Beijing were also allowed by Emperor Chongzhen to go to the northwest to dedicate themselves to God as long as they wished.

Many of their relatives and friends followed Long Huamin and others to the northwest, but now they all died in a series of so-called religious disasters such as the Taozhou Religious Disaster.

Since there has been a terrible martyrdom in the northwest, how can the Jesuit Catholics be left alone and not rescued?

After Emperor Chongzhen's point of view was known, Candenius was even more impressed by him, and he quickly supported it.

Xu Guangqi, who is also a Catholic and a Jesuit, although he saw the huge risks involved, could not say anything more about the emperor's arrangement.

Xu Guangqi, who is also the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, also knows that his identity is a little embarrassing, and now he never takes the initiative to speak out on the issue of Jesuit missions in China.

Because today's Xu Guangqi already knows the true attitude of Emperor Chongzhen towards the Jesuits, and knows that if there is a slight carelessness, I am afraid that the entire Catholic Church will be banned in the territory of the Ming Dynasty.

As an old minister who has been up and down in the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty for many years, and has experienced the reign of Emperor Wanli, Emperor Taichang, and Emperor Tianqi, Xu Guangqi is very clear that although His Majesty the Emperor today has an open and open-minded attitude towards everything that comes to the world, he is more resolute than any previous Ming Emperor on the issue of distinguishing between Huayi, defending Yixia, and respecting Huayi.

For today's Jesuit missionaries, His Majesty the Emperor is just pure use, and once they lose their use, I am afraid that they will be abandoned immediately.

If you just abandon it and don't use it, it's okay, but judging from what happened to Long Huamin and others, when it really comes, these people in the bureau may not be able to retreat.

Just when Condinius, a Jesuit from the Netherlands, took hundreds of people who had been cobbled together and embarked on the road to the northwest, Emperor Chongzhen called Sun Chengzong, the minister of military machinery, Nan Juyi, the secretary of the Ministry of War, Bi Maokang, the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, Sun Yuanhua, the director of the Military Academy, and Sun Heding, Sun Hedou, Liu Han and others who served in the Military Academy, to the imperial study of the Qianqing Palace.

Emperor Chongzhen solemnly showed the front-loading flintlock rifled gun brought by Condenius this time to these people, and carefully explained to them the huge difference between a smoothbore gun and a rifled gun.

Now this Emperor Chongzhen is certainly not a firearms expert in later generations, but as a time-traveler from later generations, he still knows the importance of rifling.

Although the rifled gun brought by Condenius from Batavia this time belongs to the most basic straight rifled gun, compared with the spiral rifled rifled gun, it is far worse, but for the gunsmith of the Ming Dynasty, the emergence of rifled guns is a huge threshold.

Crossing this threshold, from now on, it is equivalent to entering a new realm, or even a new era, which is equivalent to catching up with the Western firearms manufacturing process at this time, at least no longer lagging behind them.

Speaking of which, in Europe of this era, spiral-rifled rifled guns have already appeared.

However, the spiral rifling process, which was more complicated than the manufacturing process of straight rifling, only appeared in a few parts of the German states in Europe at this time.

If it is counted from the Chongzhen period, it will not be until more than 100 years later that there will be spiral rifled guns with mature manufacturing technology and large-scale equipment for the army in Europe.

Of course, the current Emperor Chongzhen has long known the importance of rifling for muskets, but for him, it is useless to know it yourself, you have to be able to explain the principle to these people around you.

But there has never been a physical object as a reference, and although Emperor Chongzhen himself knows the importance of rifling, he is difficult to speak.

After all, he is not an expert in firearms, and he does not know much rifling technology, and he does not know what to do to engrave rifling on the inside of the barrel.

Including the manufacturing process of the flintlock pistol, it was also because Rodriguez, a gunsmith from Ho Jing O, gave him a front-loading flintlock musket as a gift, so he was able to use this real object to ask the military department to immediately organize people to imitate it.

This is why there is now a Chongzhen front-loading flintlock smoothbore gun that has been equipped with the army in large quantities.

Otherwise, I am afraid that it will really be like in history, waiting until several years later, it will be made by Bi Maokang, a Ming firearms expert, by his own exploration.

This time, with Condinius, a Dutch missionary, as a gift to the Ming Jingshi straight rifled gun, Emperor Chongzhen of course ordered the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Industry to copy as soon as possible.

After Emperor Chongzhen told Sun Chengzong, Nan Juyi, Bi Maokang, Sun Yuanhua and others some of his thoughts, he finally said to them:

"With rifling in the barrel of the musket, the range and accuracy will be greatly increased! What this means, I think Qing and the others know better than me!

"I heard that rifling has a difference between linear and spiral, spiral rifling, I have never seen it, you can organize people to explore trial production and imitation!

"However, this straight rifled gun is a ready-made prototype gun, and it must be put on the agenda of imitation immediately! Just imitate it according to this, take a straight line Yin line, it is engraved, it is hinged, it is casting, you come to ponder!

"As for the size of its caliber and the size of the projectile, you can refer to the current front-loading flintlock pistol produced by the Armament Institute, which is convenient for future ammunition supply and distribution!

"I will order the Ministry of Internal Affairs to allocate funds to the Armament Institute today, and the Ministry of Industry will cooperate with the Armament Institute to set up another third gun factory in Baiye City, and transfer the Tongzhou Gun Factory and the Baiye City Gun Factory capable craftsmen to imitate it, once the imitation is successful, I will come to Baiye City for trial!"

After saying these words, Emperor Chongzhen personally handed over two of the linear rifled guns to Bi Maokang, the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, and Sun Yuanhua, the director of the Military Department.

The reason why Emperor Chongzhen ordered to imitate the linear rifled gun, instead of stepping directly into the spiral rifled gun in one step, was because he knew that the manufacturing process of the spiral rifled gun was complicated, the cost was high, and the cycle was long, and it was not realistic to equip the army in large quantities in the era of handicraft industrial production.

At the same time, the spiral rifled guns are basically cylindrical pointed bullets, which are expensive to manufacture and slow to reload.

Similarly, in the case of front-loading flintlock guns, the ammunition loading speed of smoothbore guns is generally a little faster than that of rifled guns, and in rifled guns, straight rifled guns are much faster than spiral rifled guns.

Therefore, under the same caliber and multiplier conditions, the front-loading flintlock musket, in this era in terms of range and accuracy, the spiral rifled gun must be the first.

But when it comes to the speed of reloading, in the era of front-loading guns, smoothbore guns are always the first.

The straight rifled gun is in the middle of the two, and is much stronger than the front-loading flintlock smoothbore gun in terms of range and accuracy, and the speed of ammunition loading is much stronger than that of the spiral rifled gun.

It is precisely because of this that although the spiral rifled gun appeared very early, it has not been equipped with Western armies in large quantities, and it was not until the advent of the era of the rear loading pin gun that the spiral rifled gun ushered in its golden age.