"That's right. The old party still wants to make Donggong a puppet for the world."
Shen Yiguan replied at this time.
After hearing this, Luo Wanhua said: "On the one hand, I hope that everyone in the world will follow the public opinion, and on the other hand, I hope that one person can change the way the country is governed."
Luo Wanhua shook his head as he spoke.
Shen Shixing smiled slightly and said: "Now the Holy Will is to recover Luzon as soon as possible, develop Luzon, and further enrich the country and benefit the people. This is a decision that the monarch and his ministers have already reached unanimously. No evil or monster can stop this decision."
"This time, the Fan bandits who invaded Huangshan Town included a large number of Japanese pirates in addition to the Western Barbarians. Therefore, His Majesty ordered the Ministry of Rites to instruct the Japanese officials to sign a pledge to ensure peace in the world and not to sell Japanese slaves to the Western Barbarians. If the contract is violated, compensation and land cession will be required, which is equivalent to only allowing the people of the Ming Dynasty to keep slaves in Japan, thereby achieving the purpose of civilizing the Japanese."
Luo Wanhua started talking at this time and said: "For this reason, the Ministry of Rites has made a decision to send Li Tingji, a member of the Host and Guest Department of the Ministry of Rites, to the Japanese country to be responsible for negotiating this matter."
Shen Shixing nodded after hearing this: "That's good."
Qi Jiguang then followed: "Arrangements have also begun to evacuate overseas Chinese. More than seventy large ships have been mobilized. Such a large scale is not only to ensure that all merchants and civilians are evacuated as much as possible, but also to demonstrate to the Folangji people that they will finally Fortunately, our Ming army took the initiative to withdraw from Luzon when it officially came to start the war, otherwise the many large ships that followed would not be here to pick up people, but to kill people."
"I hope so."
Shen Shixing replied with a smile.
"Disaster!"
"According to what was learned during the interrogation of these bandits, these Western barbarians originally had the intention to conquer the world. However, because they could not conquer Huang Ming by force, they instead preached in the Middle-earth continent and occupied other weak barbarian territories overseas. They directly conquer the land, and their mission is to make everyone in the world respect their religion. This is different from us. We are the orthodox religions in the world and can survive, but they all need to be unified under our emperor."
"Therefore, it may be difficult to get them to give up their mission and advance eastward. No one is willing to spit out what they put into their mouths."
Li Chengliang also expressed his views.
"Speaking of their missionary work, I have always been thinking that the Ministry of Rites might ask the court to strictly control the missionaries."
"First, we must ensure that the people from Europe and the West who come for cultural exchanges have no desire to conquer, at least not openly, but are only engaged in cultural exchanges;"
"Second, if people from the West want to settle in the country and exchange knowledge elsewhere, they must report to the government and get permission to prevent instigating people's livelihood, or even spying on the geography of the country for conquest;"
"Third, all articles and notes written must be inspected by the government before they can be published and taken out of China;"
“Fourth, those who apply to come to China for the first time can only live in fixed places arranged by the government, such as the Capital Joint Hall;”
“Fifth, when all Thai and Western people conduct cultural exchanges in one place, they need to be arranged by the government to live in one area and be closely supervised by special personnel. This is to avoid conflicts between them and the scholars and people due to different customs, and to prevent them from being too free when leaving. If he wants to leave China and return to his country, he will naturally have to ask the imperial court for permission to leave."
At this time, Luo Wanhua came up with new ideas because he thought that the missionary mission to the Western Yi was for conquest.
At this time, Yin Zhengmao, Minister of War, asked: "Why not directly prohibit non-tribute envoys from coming to court?"
"It would be inappropriate to ban it directly."
"When governing a country, we cannot rest on our laurels. Since ancient times, powerful dynasties have never been willing to communicate with other barbarians to correct their own mistakes."
"Although most of the people from the West have evil intentions, a lot of the knowledge they brought has the effect of supplementing the local knowledge. I have been in contact with them in Jiangnan, and many of them do have unique knowledge and insights."
Wang Xijue replied at this time and said: "So, it is right for the eldest uncle to strictly control his entry. This will also let the Western Yi know the etiquette."
Qi Jiguang also followed: "This invasion of Huangshan, the Privy Council concluded after the war and found that if our king's division had not had many ships and soldiers, it might not have been able to defeat these Western barbarians!"
"Because their firearms are not inferior to ours, and their warships are bigger and faster than ours. The Battle of Tuen Mun also revealed that the Xiyi's strength cannot be underestimated, especially in terms of shipbuilding and firearms skills, so we should keep There should be communication.”
"His Majesty also said that the cabinet should carefully analyze the reason why today's firearms and warships are mostly influenced by the Western barbarians before they can be improved, but the development of firearms and warships in this dynasty has gradually fallen behind, and even the large ships are not as good as those in the early days of the country. It can be seen that your Majesty also I support communicating with people like Xiyi."
Shen Shixing spoke at this time.
All the ministers in power nodded after hearing this.
Soon after, Luo Wanhua, the Minister of Rites, wrote an inscription asking the court to strictly control the missionaries.
Zhu Yijun approved it, and ordered the cabinet to handle it accordingly, and let the ministers recommend missionaries who had made outstanding contributions, which was equivalent to strict control but also giving some sweetness and promoting exchanges.
Zhu Yijun knew the dangers of seclusion, so he had no objection to this. He even planned to send cultural figures from his own country to actively communicate in the future.
Not long after Zhu Yijun allowed the ruling officials to strictly control missionaries, he caused an uproar both inside and outside the government.
There was a lot of discussion among the people.
"If the imperial court does this, it would be better to ban people from the West and the West from coming to our country!"
"It's okay for us learned men to learn about the knowledge of Yi Di in private homes, but how can the imperial court clearly allow their exchange in the name of strict control!"
"Doesn't this mean that they can apply to give lectures in academies or county schools?"
"Does this mean that the children of poor families from humble backgrounds can also learn about Western learning and learn some of the dregs of the West?"
"What a naked painting!"
"Children from humble families should only learn the teachings of Confucius, Mencius, Cheng and Zhu, and learn the teachings of saints. How could they be exposed to these external learnings prematurely before they reach the middle level, before they can predict the five moral ethics and before they accept the correct way of destroying people's desire to preserve the natural principles? To deceive those who are deviant and rebellious!"
After Gu Xiancheng learned about this, he expressed his views to the idle eunuch Zhang Jing and others who invited him again to listen to music and enjoy new operas.
After Zhang Jing lived in Nanjing, he always loved to spend money to organize gatherings of literati, or to invite literati to do happy things. In addition to letting these literati eat and drink well, he would also make them well-fed and well-fed. From time to time, or from time to time, wise men express their political opinions.
Now that Gu Xiancheng's family fortune and prestige have declined greatly, he loves to go to Zhang Jing's appointments even more.
Because now eunuchs like Zhang Jing still treat him as a person and call him Mr. Donglin.
Disciples of the gentry have never been shy about getting along with eunuchs, especially when they were in decline. Historically, members of the Donglin Party got along very well with eunuchs such as Wang An.
What's more, Gu Xiancheng doesn't have many scholars who are willing to associate with him now.
After Gu Xiancheng said this, Zhang Jing asked: "What Mr. Donglin understands, can the court not understand?"
"To put it bluntly, the new party now wants to enlighten the people's wisdom. It has strictly monitored the actions of the Thai and Western Confucian scholars, but it has given them more legal permission for their cultural exchanges. It may even instigate a few Thai and Western Confucian scholars to help them. In the future, the imperial court will directly conquer Europe in the west, send troops directly to the hometown of the Folangji people, and develop foreign profits there."
"I think many prominent families may not be willing to let these Thai and Western Confucian scholars be supervised by the government. Then there will be a bloody storm."
Gu Xiancheng said with a smile.
Zhang Jing nodded after hearing this, and then asked: "According to Mr. Dong Lin's opinion, the imperial court sent a large ship to Luzon to bring the merchants back to the country. Will the merchants come back?"
"People who are ordered by wealthy families to go to those places to manage business are naturally unwilling to do so. I'm afraid they will actively prevent ordinary merchants from coming back. The court will probably have to light a lamp in the blind - it's a waste of time."
Gu Xiancheng said.
After Zhu Yijun ordered Qi Jiguang to send a fleet to withdraw the Han merchants and civilians in Luzon, and prepare to declare war on Luzon, the Ming court indeed prepared a huge fleet of more than 70 ships, with Chen Lin as the admiral, and sailed to Luzon in a mighty manner. Come.
Along the way, because Zhu Yijun and his ruling ministers have been coveting Luzon for more than a year, they sent Jin Yiwei to sail between Dongpeng and Manila in the way of smugglers to summarize the climate conditions in this area. Therefore, the fleet I chose the right time and arrived in Manila very smoothly.
However, before the fleet organized by the Ming court arrived in Manila, a wealthy coastal smuggling family had already informed the Spanish Governor Luis in Manila that the Ming Dynasty was going to regain Luzon.
During this period, Louis said to the infantry major Aguna and Archbishop Ray Deli in Manila: "The Ming Dynasty in the north wants to seize our Philippines. Although we have asked your Majesty to send more troops, I am still very worried now. , they will collude with the Chinese people outside Manila to make us passive!"
"We should kill all the Chinese here first!"
"In this way, we can use Chinese money to buy and train local natives as new troops, giving us more troops to fight against the Chinese."
Aguna said.
Lei Shili said: "But there are too many Chinese. There are tens of thousands of Chinese outside Manila. Many Chinese have firearms and swords. If we really want to kill them, they will not know how to resist, so we can't be too direct."
"And I have already thought of a way. I would first collect their weapons in the name of strengthening public security, and lower the tax rate for those who are willing to hand over their weapons to induce them to voluntarily hand over their weapons. Those who are unwilling to hand over their weapons can be arrested and killed first. Then kill the ones who disarmed them!"
"In addition, I will first persuade baptized Chinese believers and famous Chinese to persuade other Chinese to collect weapons and promise them benefits."
Lewis nodded after hearing this: "This is a good idea."
then.
Soon, the Governor-General of the Philippines in Francois issued an order in the name of strengthening public security and preventing spies from mixing in, requiring all Chinese in the Philippines to surrender all weapons, and said that those who surrendered weapons would be given money, and those who did not surrender would be fined if the weapons were found after a search. Arrest and confinement.
at the same time.
Lei Shili also persuaded Huang Kang, the great comprador and Christian in the Philippines, and other baptized Chinese to persuade the Chinese elders to call on the Chinese to surrender their weapons.
"As you know, our religion preaches love, so we ask Chinese people to hand in their weapons for the purpose of promoting love, and to help them know how to deal with the world with love instead of using weapons."
"Knife weapons should only be owned by the Governor's Mansion and used to defend against pirates."
After Lei Shili persuaded him like this, Huang Kang and others also believed it.
The main reason is that Lei Shili is different from Lewis. He is a missionary and takes the initiative to study the Four Books and Five Classics, which makes Huang Kang and others less defensive and respects wealthy businessmen such as Huang Kang.
Therefore, Huang Kang was also willing to believe Lei Shili, and was afraid that the Chinese himself would really anger the authorities in Manila and affect his own interests, so he agreed and took the initiative to persuade the Chinese to surrender their weapons.
"Executive officer Huang, the weapons have been handed in. How can we defend ourselves? We are in China and the court prohibits us from carrying bows, arrows, swords and guns. How come we can't use bows, arrows, swords and guns when we go out to sea and get here?"
An unbaptized Chinese still had doubts about the governor's order from the Spanish authorities and suspected that its motives were bad, so he asked Huang Kang when he came to persuade him.
Huang Kangze said: "The Governor's Mansion will ensure your safety, because you are all law-abiding and paid taxes. Please believe me, I can vouch for the Governor's Mansion, because I have asked Archbishop Lei Shili, Governor's Mansion, This is indeed done for everyone’s safety. If you don’t trust the Governor’s Mansion, do you still believe that you can ensure your own safety?”
"Lao Huang's words are pertinent!"
"We have to believe in the Governor's Mansion. We have paid them so much tax, and they will naturally be willing to protect us."
"Unless they don't want to charge so much tax and let us be bullied by the natives."
At this time, Li Hai, another wealthy Chinese businessman who was baptized, also started talking.
"The ancestors said that if you are not of my race, your heart will be different!"
"We are different from them, we can't believe it!"
"Besides, our ancestors have said that a common man is innocent of the crime of harboring a jade. If we didn't have the firearms and swords to defend ourselves today, we would be nothing more than a common man! Even if we have a lot of money, we are afraid that it will become someone else's pocket!"
"So we can't hand it over!"
Some Chinese still raised objections.
This made Huang Kang frown.
Li Hai laughed at this moment and said: "We are businessmen, what are we divided into Chinese and Yi? Wherever we do business, we pay taxes to that country. It can be said that our goods are to be sold to the world, not to any particular country!"
"So, what's the difference?"
"It is the duty of soldiers to defend the country and protect the borders, and to fight and kill!"
"We just have to do our duty and operate honestly. If we really keep our weapons, it will make people uneasy and not think that you are a pure businessman."
Huang Kangdao: "It is for this reason that we must trust the Governor's Mansion. For this reason, I, Huang, would like to express that if anyone is willing to hand over their weapons, I will give each household an additional 30% of the original price of the weapons as compensation, so as not to use them." Everyone has been greatly wronged.”
"Master Huang is kind-hearted, let's listen to Master Huang."
"Yes, I believe Mr. Huang is always right."
Many Chinese who were baptized or who had a right-wing comprador background in the Ming Dynasty followed suit.
As a result, many businessmen and civilians surrendered their weapons, and unwilling Chinese were also forced to surrender their weapons.
(End of chapter)
