In the blink of an eye, it was already the fifteenth day of the first lunar month in the thirteenth year of Kangxi.
On the busy Jiangnan Grand Canal, a fleet of several colorful official ships was meandering northward, stirring up white waves on the canal waterways in Suzhou Prefecture. Flags symbolizing Catholicism and Western countries and dragon flags symbolizing the Qing Dynasty were fluttering in the spring breeze.
There are large fertile rice fields on both sides of the South Canal. Spring sowing has not yet begun, but among the rice fields there are already some Jiangnan farmers wearing bamboo hats driving buffaloes to plow the fields. They were only busy with the farm work at hand, and no one took a second look at the official ships with colorful flags on the canal.
However, at this time, there were still some young squires in long coats and melon-pipe hats standing on the embankment of the canal, looking blankly at the official ships passing through the canal.
As early as 2000, this canal, which connects several of China's wealthiest state capitals, would have such colorfully painted official ships passing through from time to time. However, those official ships all had the red flag of "entering the court under the order", and the people on board were all celebrities who were "captured" to be heroes. After the New Year, the target of "entering the imperial court under the imperial decree" was increased again. Each county had to send several of the largest landowners to participate in some kind of consultative meeting... It probably means the Hongmen Banquet, right? Anyway, there is no good meeting and no good banquet.
They, the little country squires who were not qualified to eat at the Hongmen Banquet, could only stand by the canal and look south to Master Wang... In October and November last year, villages all over the south of the Yangtze River were immersed in the idea that the Qing Dynasty was about to end. In an atmosphere of joy!
There was so much good news at that time! Later it was said that Kang Mazi was beheaded!
Later, it was said that the Qing heavenly troops were defeated miserably in Jiangxi and Hubei. They killed nearly 100,000 people and Kang Mazi was even captured!
After a while, it was said that Wu Sangui and Prince Zhu San were going to hold a "hemp killing conference" in Jiugong Mountain, Hubei. In short, it’s all good news!
As a result, in December, the outrageous news came that Kang Mazi had been beheaded and survived! Is this true or false? Even if you can’t behead him, this “pure demon” turns out to be a real demon!
However, there are still unwilling gentry and common people who will wait for Master Wang at the canal whenever they have free time - it is now the 13th year of Kangxi, not the year of Daoguang or Xianfeng. It is only more than 20 years since the Qing Dynasty conquered the south of the Yangtze River. Moreover, thirteen or four years ago, the Northern Expeditionary Army surnamed Zheng once came to Nanjing.
People who experienced the loose rule of the late Ming Dynasty, saw the Northern Expedition of Zheng Guo, and survived the slaughter of the Qing army are still alive... They are still missing their motherland and thinking that one day they can restore the Chinese clothes. .
And the day of recovery seems not far away!
But when will this day come?
Today, the ships passing through the canal are still flying strange flags, not the warships of the Ming Dynasty's Northern Expedition...
Hey, why are there a few "curly-haired foreigners" on these ships wearing strange clothes and standing on the deck waving. What does this mean?
"Hi, hello, I am a guest of the Qing Emperor, representing the King of France..."
On the deck of the leading official ship, a cheerful "curly-haired barbarian" was waving hello to the small Suzhou landowners who were waiting for the king on the shore. He also introduced himself in fluent Chinese. This man was coming to China on behalf of Louis XIV. Fried Wilhelm Leibniz, who studied magic.
He is one of the few "Chinese fans" in this huge foreign delegation.
Yes, there are many "Chinese fans" in Europe in this era. The French King Louis XIV was the number one "China fan". He liked Chinese porcelain, Chinese silk, and Chinese perfume.
And this Louis XIV is the "big brother" in the current European fashion circle. This European fashion circle can even be said to have started with Louis XIV.
Under the influence of Louis XIV, Leibniz, who spent a long time in the French courts in Paris and Versailles, naturally became a "famous fan". So when Louis XIV was looking for a scholar who knew everything about the university to visit China, Leibniz found a way to get this position and became the deputy head of the French mission to China.
In addition to Louis XIV, the "fashionable Chinese fan", although several profiteers of the East India Company in Europe did many anti-China things on the coast of China and Southeast Asia, they also pretended to be Chinese fans when they arrived in Europe - they wanted to China is described as black coal, but Chinese porcelain, Chinese silk, Chinese perfume, Chinese sugar, and Chinese tea are still sold at such high prices?
The above products, except for sugar, are not necessities, they are all used to improve the taste of life. Therefore, among these businessmen, China is a quite civilized, quite wealthy, and quite tasteful place. valley
Of course, this can only be said in Europe. When it comes to China, you have to brag about Europe's advanced technology, strong ships, powerful guns, and invincible firearms. How else can you sell arms?
These guys are "two-faced".
And if there is Chinese powder, of course there will be Chinese black!
The Huahei in Europe were originally some Catholic missionaries. They were actually the people who knew China best. Many of them had experienced the disaster of the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty. Naturally, they would not leave a good impression.
In addition, Catholics, including Orthodox Christians and various Protestants, all have a strange feeling of "saving the world". They always feel that God has given them a mission to "save" ignorant mankind who do not believe in the Lord.
Moreover, ignorant human beings who do not believe in the Lord are soulless "non-human beings", so they can be killed for fun.
So they will always try their best to blackmail China...otherwise, why would they spread the gospel of the Lord to the Chinese people?
When Leibniz took a breath on the deck and returned to the cabin to prepare for lunch, he found that several Dutch, English, Italians, Portuguese, and Spanish people in the joint mission were gathering together. Let’s read the report together!
Everyone looked surprised, as if they had seen some unbelievable news.
"Father Philip, what happened?" Leibniz asked in fluent Latin.
The man he called Father Philip was an elderly man with a somewhat dry appearance, always a very serious face, and a bit unsmiling. He looked intimidating - this was not an ordinary person, but a priest with a lot of "magic power" . He is the Vice-Chancellor of the Inquisition of the Roman Church and the Chief Exorcist of the Holy See.
This time, he was assigned by the Holy See to come to China to investigate mysterious magic incidents... If possible, the Holy See also hoped that he could help the Qing Emperor defeat black magic and thus contribute to the spread of the gospel of God in China. Create conditions for widespread dissemination.
Because this mission was caused by "black magic", and there are still intricate relationships between France, the Netherlands, England, Spain, England, Portugal and other countries participating in the joint mission - they may be Enemies may be allies, and they may be competitors or partners in Southeast Asia and along the coast of China.
At the same time, they have more or less common interests in Nanyang and the coast of China.
So after a series of secret or public consultations, the heads of France, the Netherlands, England, Spain, England, Portugal, and the Holy See decided to form a joint mission to take concerted action in China.
Moreover, because the Portuguese colony of Macau was "illegally occupied" by Zhu Heji, and Zhu Heji repeatedly rejected the "free trade requests" of the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, the joint mission did not visit Guangzhou first, but instead visited Ningbo under the Qing Dynasty. became their first stop.
Shortly after they arrived in Ningbo, the Qing emperor announced that they were going to Nanjing to have an audience, and also invited them to observe the opening ceremony of the Qing Dynasty's first council...
This was a bit beyond their expectations!
What country did they arrive in?
Fortunately, the person who came to Ningbo to greet them was a slave named "Figo" from the Portuguese leader of Zhenghuang Banner. In addition to bringing imperial edicts and invitations, he also brought a document said to be the program of the council, called "Mingyi" "To be interviewed".
Because this "Record of Visits to the Ming Yi" was written in classical Chinese, Leibniz could not understand it yet, so he could only ask the accompanying chief translator Ji Dabao to translate it into Latin.
Now that part of it had just been translated, Father Philip took a copy in his hands.
"Mr. Deputy Ambassador," Father Philip said, "the first part of the Qing Council's declaration has been translated. Let me read it to you... We believe that people are born selfish. In the world, the public What is beneficial is often left unattended; what is harmful to the public is often left untouched..."
