In the Guogong Mansion, Emperor Yongli was staring blankly at a middle-aged prisoner. This middle eunuch is called Chen Xing, who is the apprentice of Pang Tianshou, the former celebrant supervisor, and the young eunuch of the imperial horse supervisor when Chongzhen. Like his master Pang Tianshou, Chen Xing was also a Catholic, and was baptized by the missionary John Tong at the same time as his master Pang Tianshou. After being baptized, Pang Tianshou's name was Yajilou, and Chen Xing's name was Peter.

When Li Zicheng attacked Beijing in the year of Jiashen, Pang Tianshou and Chen Xing went to the southern capital to reorganize their troops at the behest of Chongzhen and escaped a catastrophe. After the martyrdom of Emperor Chongzhen, the Ming Dynasty officials of the southern capital supported Emperor Hongguang, and Hongguang ordered Pang Tianshou to go to Fujian to conquer Rui in order to raise the military salaries of the four towns in Jiangbei.

After Emperor Longwu ascended the throne in Fuzhou, Pang Tianshou and his apprentice Chen Xing contacted Bi Fangji, a missionary from Fujian at that time, to go to Macao together, hoping to seek help from the Portuguese in Macao to resist the Qing Dynasty. After arriving in Macau, Pang Tianshou and his apprentices made full use of their Catholic status, successfully lobbied the Portuguese to organize a mercenary army of 300 musketeers and six cannons. However, as soon as this mercenary army was formed, the news of the martyrdom of Emperor Longwu came from Fuzhou, and then Zhu Youlang, the king of Gui, was declared a prisoner in Zhaoqing, Guangdong. When Emperor Yongli was driven to Guilin by the Qing army, it was Pang Tianshou and his apprentices who led this Portuguese mercenary to undertake the arduous task of defending the city. After several brutal battles, relying on the ferocious firearms of the Portuguese, they finally temporarily repelled the Qing army sent by Li Chengdong to pursue Yongli.

With the efforts of Pang Tianshou, the Empress Dowager Ma and the Concubine Xiao were baptized and renamed Mary and Liener respectively. The queen Wang also believed in Catholicism under the persuasion of her mother-in-law, and changed her name to Yana, and the prince of the East Palace was also baptized into the Church, and changed her name to Constantine, as a result, under the leadership of the queen mother, the queen, and the prince, most of the palace maids and internal supervisors in the Yongli Palace became Catholics, and bowed to the statue of the Virgin Mary in the court day and night, hoping that the Holy Mother could bless the Ming Dynasty to defeat the invading Manchu Qing.

His mother, wife, and son all became Catholics, and Yongli became a Catholic, but the primary reason for his baptism was to receive the help of the Pope. He ordered Pang Tianshou to write three letters on his behalf to Pope Innocent X, the President of the Society of Jesus, and the Republic of Venice, asking Chen Xing to go to Macao to ask the Polish missionary Bumig to convey it, begging the Pope to send reinforcements to China. As a result, not long after the letter was sent, Pang Tianshou was disappointed by Yongli's cowardice and incompetence, and threw himself into the strong Sun Kewang, hoping that Sun Kewang could take on the heavy responsibility of resisting the Manchus and restoring China. Chen Xing did not choose to join Sun Kewang like his master, but chose to remain loyal to Emperor Yongli, and later followed Xing Zai from Anlong to Kunming. Pang Tianshou committed suicide on the way, and his body was buried by Chen Xing.

After the Qing army entered the southwest, Yongli once again turned his attention to the Pope thousands of miles away, and he ordered Chen Xing to go to Macao in disguise, asking the Portuguese in Macao to help him deliver the letter to the Pope again, and at the same time organize a large number of mercenaries to help the Ming Dynasty fight against the Qing army. However, unlike the last time he went to Macau and was warmly welcomed by the Portuguese, this time Chen Xing received a cold reception, and felt their malice towards the Ming Dynasty from the grape population many times. Chen Xing was puzzled in every way, and did not understand why the grape people who believed in God had changed their attitude towards the Ming court, and finally figured out what was going on after many inquiries. It turned out that the Taiping army in Guangdong had taken hostile actions against Macao, and coerced and blackmailed Westerners in Macao through various means, so that all Westerners in Macao were hostile to the Ming Dynasty.

In order to dispel the hostility of the Portuguese to the Ming Dynasty and enlist their help, Chen Xing told the governor of Macau, Bugallo, that he was willing to go to Guangzhou to persuade the Taiping army in Guangdong to stop being hostile to Macao, and the two sides cooperated sincerely.

Chen Xing felt that he had no face to go to Macao again, and he could not stay in Guangdong, so he had to return to Kunming via Annan. After coming back, I learned that the nearest soldier and horse of the Qing army in Yunnan was only 100 miles away from Kunming.

"Emperor, what the slave said is true, and the Francois people in Macau are not willing to support me Daming, unless the emperor can remove that Zhou Shixiang."

"This Zhou Shixiang, what do I have to do with him, just after he was promoted to the Duke of the Kingdom, he offended all my allies!"

The more Zhu Youlang listened, the more angry he became, but he couldn't do anything except get angry, could he really give Zhou Shixiang with a holy decree?

Chen Xing also knew that it was impossible for the emperor to do anything to Zhou Shixiang at the moment, so he sighed and asked: "Emperor, now is not the time to pursue Guangdong, when the slave maid entered the palace, I heard that the emperor was preparing to retreat to western Yunnan?" ”

Yongli was stunned and denied it: "This is what Ma Jixiang meant, I didn't agree." ”

"Then why are the palace people packing up?" Chen Xing was a little surprised.

"How do I know what they're doing?"

Yongli's face was a little ugly, and he snorted slightly. Seeing this, Chen Xing knew that he shouldn't ask, so he kowtowed and didn't dare to say anything more. Seeing him like this, Yongli's face softened slightly, when Pang Tianshou took refuge in Sun Kewang and persecuted himself as the emperor, Chen Xing secretly protected him and interceded for him. He has just come back from Macao, although it was not done, but it is not his fault, thousands of miles away, there is no merit and hard work, and he can't be too cold to be the emperor.

"The road in Macao is broken, and there is no news from the Pope, so it seems that God has not come to bless me."

Yongli smiled bitterly, and suddenly felt that his idea of asking for help from the Pope was very ridiculous, could it be that the Pope thousands of miles away would really send reinforcements because of himself, a religious emperor who had only been baptized for a few years?

Seeing that Chen Xing was still kneeling there, Yongli asked him to get up and go down to rest, but there were internal supervisors who led Mu Tianbo, Fu Gang, Lei Yuelong, and Liu Qing to ask to see him. Guogong and university scholars ask to see, and Yongli naturally can't be seen.

When Mu Tianbo and the four of them entered the Qianguo Mansion, they found that the palace was in turmoil, and many palace maids and eunuchs were packing up their clothes, and they were panicking about the end of the world. Although the four of them knew that the people in the palace were packing up their things and preparing to retreat to western Yunnan, they really saw this apocalyptic scene, and their hearts were still very blocked. The four of them followed the inner prison all the way, and they were speechless all the way, but they all had the apocalyptic atmosphere of the dynasty in their hearts.

After seeing the emperor, Mu Tianbo first said that the imperial court and the holy driver could not retreat to western Yunnan, and then Liu Qing stepped forward and said: "Your Majesty, now Yunnan is surrounded by Qing troops on all sides. Even if His Majesty can gallop away, but he can be trapped in western Yunnan, and the guards and horses are all lost, how can there be a day of recovery? There are still my Ming towns in Sichuan, and the scholars of the Inspector of Literature and Literature are also there, and the king of Jianchang has been rich for many years, and the grain and grass are accumulated. Therefore, the minister thought that the holy drive should be a fake road Xiangling, go straight to Jiading, raise a sharp must, that is, or the army is rampant in Jiayang, warships, merchant ships can brush thousands of ships at a moment, down the river Chongqing, straight to Kuiguan, Kuidong thirteen families heard that the saint arrived, and they would be greeted on the river. Take this Welling, under the smashing of the void of Jingxiang, such as a hand, so that I have the opportunity to flourish, not so, I am afraid that the saint will be difficult to drive! (To be continued.) )