Su Hao chatted with Shen Yaozhong for a few more words, then thanked him, and took Matteo Ricci out of the gate of the Criminal Department and returned to his residence. Shen Yaozhong didn't know the details of Matteo Ricci, and was worried that he would be unfavorable to Su Hao after he left the Criminal Department, so he specially sent two jailers to follow them. Shen Yaozhong specifically told the jailers to escort Matteo Ricci to Su Hao's mansion all the way and hand him over to Su Hao's personal soldiers before they could give up.

In fact, Shen Yaozhong's caution was completely superfluous. Matteo Ricci was a missionary, not a spy, and his philosophy of survival was to be submissive, looking for every opportunity to impress others and spread his teachings. He remembered what Shen Yaozhong said to him, in his opinion, Shen Yaozhong had sentenced him to be Su Hao's slave, so he could only follow Su Hao obediently, and he didn't dare to act rashly.

"Mr. Matteo Ricci, how did you get to China?" Walking on the road, Su Hao chatted with Matteo Ricci casually.

"Back to Master Su, I came to China from India, first to Macau, and then to Zhaoqing, Guangdong." Matteo Ricci answered Su Hao's question honestly.

"Did you come to China to preach?" Su Hao asked again.

"No, no, no, although I am a priest, I don't have to be a missionary. I just admire China, so I want to stay here and serve God until I die. Matteo Ricci confessed. During his years in China, Matteo Ricci also came into contact with many Ming officials, and he knew that many officials were very disgusted with missionary affairs, so he never dared to openly declare that he had come to China to preach, but only said that he was a clergyman who loved China.

Su Hao is a man with two lifetimes, and of course he knows the purpose of Western missionaries coming to China, but he is not in a hurry to expose Matteo Ricci's lie, on the contrary, he wants to use this lie to restrain Matteo Ricci.

"Well, very well, as long as you don't preach, then you won't break the laws of my Ming Dynasty. After that, you will follow me and put your talents in mathematics to good use, and I promise you that you will be able to live a better life than the Pope. Su Hao said.

Matteo Ricci said, "Thank you, Master Su...... By the way, I also had some items that I brought with me from Italy, but unfortunately they were confiscated by the officials. If Lord Su can get these items out for me, I am willing to give them all to Lord Su. ”

"What's there?" Su Hao asked with interest.

"There are statues of the Virgin, prisms, chiming bells, maps, astrolabes, etc., all of which are things that cannot be seen in the Ming Dynasty." Matteo Ricci said.

Su Hao smiled slightly, these things that Matteo Ricci said were quite rare in the eyes of others, and they were nothing in Su Hao's eyes. He said: "I'll go to the criminal department for you to ask for these things, but after you ask for them, you should keep them for yourself, I don't need these things." ”

"Master Su, these things are very magical, when I have the opportunity, I can demonstrate to you the experiment of refracting sunlight with a prism......" Matteo Ricci continued to ** Su Hao.

Su Hao smiled: "Isn't it just refracting white light into red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple seven-colored light?" This kind of prism you are talking about, I want as much as I want. By the way, did you bring the Galilean telescope with you? ”

"Galileo telescope...... I'm sorry, Su-sama, I haven't heard of this thing. Matteo Ricci said.

"So, the telescope hasn't been invented yet?" Su Hao was surprised, he couldn't remember when the West invented the telescope, listening to Ricci's meaning, it seemed that this thing had not yet come out.

"Master Su, do you also know geometry?" Matteo Ricci remembered a new question.

Su Hao said: "Let's understand a little bit, for example, the sum of the inner angles of the triangle is equal to 180 degrees, the top angles are equal, and the three middle lines of the triangle intersect at one point...... Is that so? ”

Matteo Ricci was shocked: "Master Su, I admire you so much, you are the only Ming official you know who knows geometry, can you tell me, where did you learn geometry?" ”

"Let's talk about this later." Su Hao said, "I'll take you to find a place to live first, and then I will introduce a few friends to meet you, and they will be very interested in your knowledge." ”

"Obey the will of Lord Su." Matteo Ricci replied.

Su Hao didn't think that he should be polite to Matteo Ricci, after all, this is also the person who left his name in history. But when he thought about it, it seemed that the relationship was very good now, and these missionaries were very active, and if they were given too many good faces, they would kick their noses and face if they couldn't keep them, and it would not end well at that time.

Su Hao's house in the capital was given to him by Dong Tianzhang and Yang Laizhen back then, and it was located in a place called Huaihua Hutong. When he returned to the capital this time, he took the command organ of the survey camp with him, so it was naturally inconvenient for these people to live in his own home, so he bought a few houses next to it, which were not only office space, but also residences for Li Zhen, Xu Guangzu, Zhou Ruyuan and others. This time, he happened to take Matteo Ricci to those mansions and asked Xiong Minfan, the captain of the pro-army, to arrange a room for Matteo Ricci.

"Is this a Yiren?" Xiong Minfan looked at Matteo Ricci's high nose and was surprised. There weren't many foreigners in China that year, so at first glance it was quite rare.

"His name is Matteo Ricci, and he can speak our Chinese, so you should treat him as one of our talents." Su Hao commanded, and after speaking, he added in a low voice: "Don't be too polite to him, and don't let him preach to everyone." If he dares to preach in the camp, you will beat him. ”

"I see!" Xiong Minfan replied loudly.

After settling down Matteo Ricci, Su Hao asked people to go to the Su factory in Liangxiang to send a letter to Xu Guangqi, Luo Yuqing and others, telling them the news of Matteo Ricci's arrival. Su Hao himself did not have much interest in the knowledge of Matteo Ricci, and he brought Ricci back, mainly because he wanted Matteo Ricci to teach Xu Guangqi and others the Western science and technology he had mastered. Su Hao himself has done some popular science work in the past, but the knowledge he taught Xu Guangqi and others is one scale and one claw in the west, and it is not systematic. He hoped that Ricci would be able to introduce Western science and technology more comprehensively.

Xu Guangqi, Luo Yuqing and others rushed over non-stop after receiving Su Hao's notice. Su Hao introduced Matteo Ricci to Xu Guangqi and others, and after everyone talked together for a long time, Xu Guangqi and others had a heartfelt respect for Matteo Ricci.

"Change, this Matteo Ricci, where did you find it, his knowledge is very good." Xu Guangqi said to Su Hao.

"Yes, to put it into words, you used to say that all your knowledge came from the Franc Machine missionary, isn't that someone like Matteo Ricci?" Luo Yuqing also said.

Su Hao nodded and said: "That's right, what I learned came from a Francois missionary, I know that missionary, more knowledgeable than this Matteo Ricci, but it's a pity that I only got along with him for a few days, and I haven't been able to learn all his knowledge." This Matteo Ricci was arrested by the Criminal Department for his mission, and I asked him to come out of the Criminal Department in the hope that he would be able to systematically pass on his knowledge to you. ”

"Great, how long can Ricci stay with us?" Xu Guangqi asked, "He said that he has more than a dozen volumes of "Geometric Originals" and wants to translate them into our Ming language, and I think this matter is worth doing." ”

Su Hao said: "Now he is my person, he has to stay as long as I want him to stay." If he dares to run, the criminal department will arrest him again. If you want to learn anything from him, let him teach him, and he will not dare to say a word. ”

"This ...... I'm afraid it's a little disrespectful. Xu Guangqi said sneeringly, "After all, he is also a well-educated person, wouldn't it be insulting for us to do this?" ”

"Yes, yes, since we want to be a teacher, we should use it as a teacher." Luo Yuqing also agreed.

Su Hao smiled: "You guys are really a bunch of nerds. Maybe I'll just give him a higher salary, but I can't give him a personal **, otherwise he won't honestly teach us science lessons, but run out to teach him. ”

"If that's the case, let's change it." Xu, Luo and others no longer insisted.

Since then, Matteo Ricci has become a professional teacher hired by Su Hao. Su Hao vacated several large rooms for the purpose of teaching Western scientific knowledge to Matteo Ricci, and at the same time released news that officials, scholars, and technicians from the Ministry of Industry, the Hanlin Academy and other departments interested in Western natural sciences came to study.

Matteo Ricci was not resistant to Su Hao's arrangement, and in his opinion, it was also a way to use his talents. What's more, as a teacher here in Su Hao, the salary is very considerable, in addition to not being able to run around, all the expenses such as food and clothing are configured according to the high standards of Daming, and there are several servants who provide him with living services. In Ricci's view, such treatment is indeed something that even the Pope cannot enjoy.

The appearance of Matteo Ricci gave Su Hao a revelation. He had always wanted to use Western missionaries to bring Western scientific and technological civilization to China, but he had never been able to put this idea into practice due to his busy schedule. Now that the matter of the survey camp has come to an end, he has stayed in the capital and has nothing to do, just enough time to realize this plan.

With this thought, Su Hao returned to the Criminal Department, found Shen Yaozhong, and made a request to him: to recruit Western missionaries throughout the country and bring them all back to the capital.

"What? Arresting missionaries across the country? Shen Yaozhong was frightened by Su Hao's request, "Su Yandu, this is not something to be said casually, if these Franc machine missionaries don't break the law, let's arrest people casually, it will be a loss of my Ming system." ”

"Who said it was arrested, I just said that it was a snare...... It was to invite them to the capital. Su Hao said.

Shen Yaozhong is not stupid, he said: "If you invite someone, then you should let Honglu Temple handle this matter, how can it be handed over to our Criminal Department?" ”

Su Hao said with a smile: "Isn't it because Honglu Temple has too few people to spare time?" Besides, if we go and some of the missionaries refuse...... Well, if we refuse, then we'll have to use some special means. This matter is very important, and I ask Shen Langzhong to help. ”

Shen Yaozhong smiled bitterly and said: "Su Yandu, it's not that the lower officials refuse to help, it's really too important for this matter, and the lower officials don't have this power." ”

"Well, who has the power?" Su Hao asked.

Shen Yaozhong thought for a while and said, "If you can ask the saint to make a holy decree, it would be the best." If it's inconvenient, you can ask Wang Shoufu to make a will. In short, this matter is not something that the criminal department can decide, and even we Shangshu dare not agree to this request without authorization. ”

Su Hao nodded: "Holy decree? Well, you have a point, this matter really has to be decided by the Holy Lord. (To be continued.) )