"The demon said he was Italian, and now he is in the prison of the Criminal Department." Shen Yaozhong replied.

"Italians?" Su Hao couldn't help but blurt out, "You wouldn't say his name was Matteo Ricci, would you?" ”

As soon as Su Hao spoke, Shen Yaozhong was taken aback: "That's right, his name is Matteo Ricci, Su Hao is really knowledgeable...... By the way, Su Yan wouldn't know this demon, right? ”

Matteo Ricci ...... Su Hao didn't know whether to cry or laugh, a Western missionary who was so famous in later life was actually arrested and put in the prison of the criminal department on the charge of demons, and the Chinese version of the world map compiled by him appeared in front of him, which is really a big joke made by history.

It was a time when Western missionaries were all over the world to promote Western doctrine. In Africa, India and other places, there are a large number of local residents who believe in religion, and Western missionaries have a high status in the local area. But in the Ming Dynasty, perhaps because of the strong soft power of China's native culture, it was difficult for Western religions to open up the market. Before Matteo Ricci, Western missionaries were mainly missionaries in Guangdong, and they were repeatedly expelled by the government.

Matteo Ricci arrived in China in 1583, first building a missionary base in Zhaoqing, Guangdong, and then actively planning to expand his missionary base to Yanjing, the political center of the Ming Dynasty. In the past few years, he has arrived in Shaoguan, Nanchang, Nanjing and other places, and although he has developed some followers, he still has not been able to escape the fate of being expelled from the government. This time, he was caught by the Nanjing Criminal Department and sent to Yanjing because he made some slanderous remarks against Buddhism while preaching in Nanjing.

"Shen Langzhong, let me inquire, how does the Criminal Department deal with foreigners who preach in China?" Su Hao asked cautiously, he naturally couldn't watch Ricci have his head cut off by the Criminal Department, but how to rescue this unlucky missionary, he had to ask the relevant laws and regulations first.

Shen Yaozhong said: "There is no explicit prohibition in the Ming Law for such a thing as preaching. As long as he does not deceive the public, he will not be punished in general. Besides, after all, he is a Fanbang person, and my Daming criminal law has always been open to Fanbang people. ”

"Oh......" Su Hao's heart was steady, "Then what does the Criminal Department plan to do with this Matteo Ricci?" ”

Shen Yaozhong said: "The file transferred by the Nanjing Criminal Department said that when he was preaching in Nanjing, he had some disrespectful remarks about the Buddha and should be punished. We originally planned to sentence him to thirty lashes, confiscate the monsters, and expel the Ming Dynasty. But ......"

"But what?" Su Hao asked.

Shen Yaozhong said with a smile: "However, when I listen to Su Tongdu's meaning, it seems that I once knew this Matteo Ricci, but I don't know if this Ricci is an enemy or a friend ...... Su Tuo."

The meaning of these words is very obvious, if Matteo Ricci is Su Hao's friend, then all kinds of expected punishments can be waived; On the contrary, if Matteo Ricci had offended Su Hao, then the Criminal Department would take this opportunity to vent his anger for Su Hao. A small missionary is just a grain of mustard in the eyes of the Criminal Department, and his life or death can completely depend on Su Hao's likes and dislikes.

"It's a friend, it's a friend!" Su Hao hurriedly gave Matteo Ricci a surname, no matter what views he held on Western religions, Matteo Ricci was a scientist after all, and he deserved respect. In real history, Matteo Ricci once collaborated with Xu Guangqi to translate the first six chapters of Geometry Originals, which played an important role in the popularization of geometry in China.

Hearing Su Hao say that Matteo Ricci was his friend, Shen Yaozhong immediately turned his head and shouted outside: "Scribe Zhang!" ”

"The villain is here!" The old scribe came in in response, stood solemnly with his hands down, and waited for Shen Yaozhong's orders.

"Go to the prison and ...... that demon Well, that missionary, Matteo Ricci, brought it up and brought it here. By the way, he is the old man of Su Yidu, you must not be rude. Shen Yaozhong said that since Su Hao said that Matteo Ricci was his friend, it was inconvenient for Shen Yaozhong to call him a demon anymore.

"Yes!" The old scribe agreed, and trotted all the way to pick up the people.

After the old scribe left, Su Hao began to explain his relationship with Matteo Ricci to Shen Yaozhong, he said: "Actually, Su has never met this Matteo Ricci, but I have heard people talk about his deeds. This person is a Western missionary, and their teachings are different from the teachings of our Ming Dynasty, and some religious prejudice is inevitable. However, this man has some knowledge and is a usable person. Su's subtle attainments on the map also have some origin with this Matteo Ricci's mentorship. ”

Shen Yaozhong was not interested in Matteo Ricci's mentorship, all he cared about was how to use this matter to curry favor with Su Hao. He pretended to be enlightened and said, "Oh, I see. It is no wonder that Xia Guan saw that the map drawn by Matteo Ricci was quite similar to the map of Su Yandu. By the way, where is this map, and why did you draw my Ming so small? ”

"This is the map of the world, this piece is our Daming, in fact, our Daming does not occupy a very large proportion in the whole world. You see, this is the place of the Franco, which can also be called Europe. This is the Americas, discovered by Columbus the Franco. This piece is the ocean outside our East China Sea, called the Pacific Ocean, with an area almost 20 times the territory of our Ming Dynasty, and was first discovered by Francophile Magellan. Magellan led a fleet of ships across the Pacific Ocean first, starving to death more than half of the crew......"

Su Hao pointed to the world map and talked eloquently to Shen Yaozhong. This knowledge was very new to the people of the Ming Dynasty, and Shen Yaozhong listened to it with relish, and let out a few exaggerated exclamations from time to time.

After a while, there was a noise outside the door. Then, the curtain was raised, and two jailers walked in, escorting a European in his early 40s. Needless to say, this person is Matteo Ricci.

Because Shen Yaozhong confessed that Matteo Ricci was Su Hao's friend, the jailer specially changed into clean clothes for him before escorting Matteo Ricci over, washed his face and combed his hair, which made Matteo Ricci not look so embarrassed. However, the marks of the beating on his face cannot be erased at once, but I don't know if it was the jailer who abused him, or if he was cleaned up by the prison bully when he was in prison.

"Matteo Ricci knocks on the two adults." As soon as Ricci entered the door, he saw two officials sitting in the room, and quickly knelt down. He spent several years in the Ming Dynasty and was fluent in Chinese and familiar with all kinds of etiquette. Missionaries have the ability to integrate quickly into the local community, which is the basis for their missionary success.

"This ......" Shen Yaozhong looked at Su Hao hesitantly, waiting for Su Hao to speak. Whether to let Ricci kneel like this, or give him a seat and give him courtesy, it depends on Su Hao's attitude.

Su Hao quickly stood up, he walked up to Ricci, held his hands together, and then pointed to a seat next to him and said to Ricci: "sieda_prego_qiu (please sit)!" ”

Hearing the long-lost Italian, Ricci's eyes lit up, and when he looked at Su Hao, a large string of foreign words came out of his mouth. Su Hao couldn't laugh or cry, in fact, he didn't know Italian, but he had received a few Italian scholars and learned a few common words from their mouths, where did he have the ability to communicate with Matteo Ricci.

Seeing the embarrassment on Su Hao's face, Matteo Ricci immediately reacted, it turned out that the senior official in front of him could only say a few words, and he mistook the other party for an Italian. He quickly apologized, "Oh, I'm sorry, sir. However, the Italian you just spoke is very standard, and I did not expect to meet an Italian-speaking official in the center of the Ming Dynasty. ”

"It's nothing, please sit down." Su Hao changed to Chinese and said to Matteo Ricci.

Ricci turned his head to look at the two jailers behind him, apparently hesitant to sit down. Shen Yaozhong already knew Su Hao's attitude, and immediately glared at the two jailers, and shouted: "Why don't you invite Mr. Matteo Ricci to sit down, do you want Su Hao to come and greet him in person?" ”

The two jailers hurriedly helped Matteo Ricci to sit down on the chair, and the old scribe quickly made the tea and brought it to the coffee table beside Matteo Ricci.

"Stand down, all of you." Su Hao waved his hand to the old scribe and the two jailers, what he wanted to talk to Ricci about was really not suitable for too many people to listen.

"Two adults, I don't know why you treat the grass people so politely." Ricci felt a little flattered. He had some research on the uniforms of Ming Dynasty officials, and knew that the two in front of him were very big officials. The petty officials he had seen before were very unkind to him, and such two big officials appeared out of thin air, but they were very respectful to him, which couldn't help but make him wonder.

Su Hao said: "Mr. Matteo Ricci, I heard that you are a very good mathematician, and you have very advanced attainments in geometry, is it true?" ”

Hearing Su Hao ask about his knowledge, Matteo Ricci was sensitive to the fact that this was the reason why he was respected. At this time, if he didn't climb the pole, he would not be a preacher who was good at seeing the wind and steering the rudder.

"My lord, where did you learn about my knowledge of geometry? Indeed, when I was studying philosophy and theology at the Faculty of Rome, my teacher, Father Clavius, was a great mathematician, and I brought with me his compilation of the Geometry Originals, which I intended to translate for the great Ming emperor. Ricci said.

It was only at this time that Su Hao was sure that the Matteo Ricci in front of him was indeed the famous one in history, not a liar with the same name and surname. He turned his head to Shen Yaozhong and said, "Shen Langzhong, this Mr. Matteo Ricci is a learned person, and his knowledge is very useful to us, you see...... Is it possible to consider acquitting him and letting me take him away? ”

"Since Su Yan has confirmed that his identity is correct, what questions does the lower official have? I am afraid that the previous incident was mostly a misunderstanding, so I immediately arranged for someone to cancel the case. As for this Mr. Matteo Ricci, what to do with it depends on what Master Su means. However, if he wants to preach in the capital......" Shen Yaozhong said this, dragging his tongue for a long time, waiting for Su Hao to comprehend it himself.

Su Hao understood what Shen Yaozhong meant, took over his words and said, "I will tell him about the mission." I want to use him, mainly because I like his talent in mathematics, and in other aspects, it is better to limit it. ”

"That's great." Shen Yaozhong was relieved. Matteo Ricci's case was not a big case in the first place, whether to let it go or not, it was all in his words. But if Ricci is released, and he is talking nonsense everywhere in the capital, it will be a little unfavorable to Shen Yaozhong, so he needs to confirm with Su Hao in particular.

In Su Hao's regard, he himself has no good feelings about Western religions, so naturally he will not support Matteo Ricci to continue his mission. As he himself said, the purpose of his rescue of Ricci was just to let Ricci spread mathematical knowledge, and he would not let Ricci touch other extraneous things.

"Okay, Matteo Ricci, you have been acquitted, you will follow this Lord Su in the future, whatever Lord Su says, you have to do something, there must be no mistakes, understand?" Shen Yaozhong turned his head to Matteo Ricci and instructed him.

From the conversation just now, Shen Yaozhong has seen the relationship between Su Hao and Matteo Ricci, it is obvious that Matteo Ricci is not Su Hao's friend, but just a talent that Su Hao fancies. He told Matteo Ricci like this, just to make Matteo Ricci obey Su Hao's words, if Ricci dared not listen to Su Hao, Shen Yaozhong would not refuse to arrest him back again, and have a good taste of the prison of the Ministry of Punishment.

"Thank you, sir, thank you, Su-sama." Matteo Ricci understood Shen Yaozhong's words, he quickly stood up and bowed to Shen Yaozhong and Su Hao respectively to thank him. (To be continued.) )