The sunlight filtered in through the curtains, casting a golden glow on the wooden floor, and Johannschreck quietly opened his eyes, but he didn't get up immediately, he just quietly enjoyed the silence of the morning. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

He is fifty-one years old this year, and according to the Chinese's imaginary age calculation, he should be fifty-two years old, which is a relatively large age in which part of the world. He was a Jesuit, which is a privilege for a Catholic priest. To become a Jesuit, a devout believer must apply and pass the basic quality test to become a probationary friar. After two years of apprenticeship, he must also spend three to five years studying literature and philosophy, during which time he must constantly take simple but solemn vows. After that, he will serve two to three years in a specific papal position, and then enter a four-year stage of theological study before he can officially make the "Three Absolutes" vow at the end of his studies and become the most official member of the Society of Jesus.

Although the process is painful and difficult, Deng Yuhan is the best of it. He met Galileo after studying medicine at the University of Altdorf near Nuremberg and then at the University of Padua in Italy. In 1611, because of his knowledge in medicine, astronomy, botany, etc., he was accepted as the seventh member of the Academy of Lynxes, founded by the aristocrat Federicocesi, a move just a few days after Galileo. Therefore, even in the Jesuit Society, which was known for its academic development, he was one of the best members.

The sun gradually passed, shining on his face, and his eyebrows gradually cleared. This is a typical Germanic man, with a high nose, blond hair, white and even somewhat pale skin, rough skin pores, and a tall stature and a tough skeleton, all indicating that he did not belong to this land.

I do not belong to this land, but what land does not belong to God? Emperors and kings ruled over the nobility and commoners, but their spirits always belonged to God. Even a great and powerful ruler like King Solomon would have to bow his proud head before God.

If you believe in God, you can gain eternal life at the Last Judgment, and if you don't believe in God, the end is already written in the Bible:

And I will cut off the children of Israel from the land which I have given them, and I will forsake the house which I have set apart for my name, and I will make the children of Israel laugh and laugh at all the peoples.

Deng Yuhan didn't get up, but silently recalled his thoughts about this mysterious land in the East in his mind. It was an incredibly fertile land, and Marco Polo's boast of its prosperity and richness when he returned to Italy had left many people in disbelief, and those who believed it were motivated to find the China of the East.

And eight years after he came to this land, he still can't believe how rich and powerful this country is.

From east to west, the country enjoyed a territory of 11,750 li, and from south to north, the empire occupied 10,904 li of land, plains, mountains, hills, islands, peninsulas, deserts, forests, oases, all the places where humans could set foot were governed by the officials of the empire, and the people of the empire lived.

All the kingdoms of Europa palelate in comparison to this vast and powerful empire, and the capital of the glorious Holy Roman Empire is nothing more than a small country town compared to the prosperous cities of Jiangnan, and the beautiful and powerful France, England in the British Isles, Spain and Portugal in the discovery of the New World are no more than small vassal states, and even the wealth of His Majesty the Pope cannot be compared with the moderately wealthy merchants of this country.

The civil servants and wealthy merchants here built beautiful and ingenious gardens, their dwellings were fine and rich, their eating utensils were carved from gold, silver, jade, and ivory, their writing instruments were elaborately crafted from the hair of various animals, every paper and every block of ink was useful, and their well-trained servants were able to distinguish the subtle differences between these stationery utensils and serve their masters without making any mistakes. Although their imperial court had decreed a ban on maritime trade, the empire's maritime trade was now thriving, and every large port on the southeast coast was full of ships carrying cotton, raw silk, porcelain, tea, medicinal herbs, and copper coins from the Ming Dynasty to Japan and Southeast Asia, and then to the Ming Dynasty with various spices, timber, saffron, sandalwood, and gold and silver. The Portuguese and Spaniards killed millions of Indians in the Americas, destroyed many historic empires, and robbed tens of thousands of tons of gold and silver, but they had to use the gold and silver to buy various specialties of the Ming Dynasty. In this sense, the Ming hired the Spaniards and the Portuguese to rob the Americas for gold and silver, and enjoyed the unlimited wealth of other lands without much effort, without a single death, without firing a shot.

It was an extremely wealthy country, and everyone in the southeast seemed to be well nourished, they were well-dressed, almost everyone was literate, ruddy-faced, and well-mannered, and did not show much hostility even in the face of missionaries from foreign lands, which Deng Yuhan had never hoped for.

The country was rich and powerful, unmatched even by the Ottoman ****** empire. What is even more strange is that the people here do not have a unified religion, and many of them, especially the court officials, almost all believe in Confucianism, but Confucianism has no gods. Their patriarch, Confucius, was reluctant to talk about ghosts and spirits, so his younger disciples also stayed away from the subject, just as if they didn't know about it.

They also have their own religions, such as Taoism, but their influence is not very large, and their doctrines are chaotic and there are many factions, so they do not pose much of a threat at all. They also embraced Buddhism from India, a religion that had declined in India, so developed in China that there were Buddhist monasteries almost everywhere in the Jiangnan region, and the entire country is said to have hundreds of thousands of full-time clergy, which is equivalent to the population of many small countries.

In general, Catholicism, which has the one true God, has unlimited prospects for development in this land, even if it is only to convert one-tenth of the Ming people, there are also 10 million or 20 million believers!

This must be a land given by God, who have not yet come into contact with the great and true Catholicism and do not understand that there is only one true God in this world, so that although they have created a glorious civilization, they cannot escape the judgment of God. And that's the only purpose of coming to China.

Thinking like this, Deng Yuhan's chest swelled with emotion, this is a sacred sense of mission, this sense of mission is like a luscious top wine, which makes him fascinated and does not hesitate to dedicate everything he has.

"Lord, thank you for giving me life, for sending me to this rich and beautiful country, and for giving me the opportunity to convert these lost lambs to your path. I will carry out your will, and let your kingdom come, and let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. ”

As a Jesuit, he did not need to perform rigid prayer rituals or fasting rituals that were detrimental to his health, but rather a man who "meditated in action", determined to "find" God in his work and in the whole world, and therefore had the flexibility of his clergy.

But Deng Yuhan prefers to take every opportunity to pray, believing that he is walking in a foreign land, a land that has not yet been shrouded in the glory of the Lord, so he must always pray and deepen his faith to resist the attacks of the devil hidden in the shadows.

After praying, Deng Yuhan slowly got up, he put on a cyan robe that Chinese scholars often wear, and a blue Lingyun scarf was tied on his head, which was no different from a Chinese scholar. This way of dressing was advocated by Matteo Ricci, a pioneer of the mission, who believed that wearing Hanfu, speaking Chinese, and reading Chinese classics would make it easier for Chinese to accept themselves and spread the glory of the Lord.

Although his ideas were ridiculed by many Portuguese clergy, he proved to be right, and he was regarded as one of their own by the Ming scholars, and they respectfully called him "the son of Western Confucianism", a title that was extremely difficult to obtain even for a native scholar, so it is conceivable that Matteo Ricci succeeded.

Deng Yuhan felt the comfortable texture and smooth touch of the cheongsam on his body, and he was in a very good mood, although he had been in China for eight or nine years, and the long time had exhausted his surprise, but this comfortable life still made him very satisfied, and even the longing for his hometown was slightly alleviated.

Oh, hometown, speaking of hometown, Deng Yuhan's mood was a little heavy again. Homesickness can only be alleviated, so how can it be solved? According to the words of the Chinese, although **** is good, he is not a long-term hometown, but he still hopes to return to his hometown one day.

He was born in Constance of the Holy Roman Empire, a small city with a long history that was a frontier fortress back in the days of the Roman Empire.

It was a small town on the banks of the Rhine, it was not big, it was not very beautiful, except for the gentle flow of the Rhine and the endless Germanic forest, there seemed to be not much to say, but it was this lackluster scenery that made him cry when he dreamed back at midnight, and he couldn't help himself.

Oh, that wide, rushing, vast Rhine, you are like a blue ribbon, the most beautiful and delicate ribbon, the finest ribbon that fits only the evening dresses of the queen and the duchess, you flow past the side of Constance, with my childhood, my past, my nostalgia, all the way to the other side. And that endless Germanic forest, you never seem to find its end, which seems to have existed in this world since the day God created the world, and as if it will always exist, and you can never finish it, nor can you exhaust it. From a distance, he looks like a green blanket, embracing Constance tenderly and with infinite love.

Oh Constance, my hometown, the great imperial free city, I miss you, I miss the rough texture of your linen, no matter how good, comfortable, and soft the silk of Jiangnan is, it still can't compare with you, I still miss your cold winter blizzard and the temperature that can freeze people's ears, even if you are unruly and can't rest in peace, I still miss you, I miss you, like I am attached to God.

Deng Yuhan slowly opened his eyes, and the determined and knowledgeable Jesuit found that he had burst into tears because of homesickness.

Hometown, oh, hometown!