It was the first day of February in the thirteenth year of Emperor Kangxi's reign in the Qing Dynasty.
Nanjing Outer City, inside Qilin Gate.
This is said to be within the city, but in fact it doesn't look like a prosperous metropolis at all. After passing through a city gate that looked like it was about to collapse, even Fried Wilhelm Leibniz, the biggest "Chinese fan" in the Western Joint Delegation to China, felt disappointed.
The city of the majestic southern capital of the Chinese Empire is so desolate... The city wall also looks extremely shabby. It is just an earthen wall that has been in disrepair and is about to collapse. And there is no sign of any idea at all. If the enemy wants to attack, he will definitely be able to succeed easily.
In fact, on the way from Ningbo. Members of the Western Mission have discovered that the country's national defense is very empty, and its coastal defense is almost non-existent. On the land, the country is almost defenseless. Occasionally, I see a few soldiers, and they all look listless. The weapons in their hands are tattered and broken, and they are almost like decorations.
Moreover, after the Western missions abandoned their ships and landed in Zhenjiang Prefecture, they had to ride a very short horse, which was impossible to use in combat.
It's no wonder that the Spaniards dreamed of conquering it with 5,000 to 20,000 people... If the rest of the country is as empty as the road from Ningbo, the troops there will be the same. It's useless. So no matter how many reasons it has, no matter how many special products it has, no matter how much population and money it has, it is meaningless.
Because this country will eventually belong to others!
Since neither France nor the Holy Roman Empire can obtain China's navy, Leibniz was already worried about the future and fate of this country after seeing the nearly collapsed walls of Nanjing.
Moreover, he also discovered that after entering the almost collapsed city gate, John Masik of the Dutch East India Company and Charlie Gough, the envoy of the British East India Company, walked side by side and were still using Dutch They were talking in low tones...perhaps they were discussing how to invade and carve up China?
There is also the Spanish envoy, Philippine Justice Manuel Santos, who is also together with Father Philip, the representative of the Holy See. Both of them are Spaniards and are talking quietly in Spanish at the moment!
The envoy from the Kingdom of Portugal was walking with Figo, a Portuguese from the Qing Dynasty with a pigtail, and he was also talking quickly and quickly in Portuguese... and he probably didn't have anything nice to say.
Now probably only the Gryffindor priest sent by the Anglican Church and himself are really interested in the Chinese "natural theological magic".
While Leibniz was worrying about the people of the Chinese Dynasty in his heart, the huge team of envoys was suddenly stopped by a group of decent-looking cavalrymen in yellow jackets.
Leading this group of cavalry in yellow jackets were two foreign officials wearing robes and coats - Westerners who served the Qing emperor.
One of them is Rodoni, the former Portuguese Governor of Macau. He is now the Portuguese Counselor of Zhenghuang Banner in Manchuria. In theory, he is a Manchurian.
Another foreign official is Nan Huairen. He is now a Manchurian and a slave of Manchuria with a yellow flag. This time he was ordered to escort a group of Weiyuan general cannons and sub-mother cannons to Nanjing. Along with him came a group of slaves from the Han army with yellow flags. They were all former colleagues of the Qintian prison, and were now responsible for casting the cannons together. The purpose of Kangxi's transfer to Nanjing was to train artillery.
In the previous battles of Jianyangshui and Sanjiangkou Town, the Qing army exposed the problem of insufficient artillery training.
They have a lot of guns and the quality is not bad, but they are inaccurate and their rate of fire is very slow.
In addition, Emperor Kangxi also discovered that the army lacked medium-sized direct-aiming artillery with high mobility...that is, artillery similar to Western cannons with 3- to 6-pound bullet weights.
Therefore, Kangxi's army had no way to effectively block and fire Wu Jun's "armored hammer-throwing artillery".
Moreover, the Qing army also lacked long-range muskets, and it was also unable to keep away enemies carrying grenades.
Therefore, Emperor Kangxi hoped that Nan Huairen, Luo Dongni and others would not only help him train artillery, but also help the Qing Dynasty negotiate with Western missions to buy dozens of 6-pound naval guns, and then send half of them to the Qing Dynasty. The other half of the Yangtze River Navy commanded by Hai, Shi Lang, and Fu Honglie were converted into field artillery and issued to the new Eight Banners Army that was being formed and trained.
Now, Nan Huairen and Luo Dongni followed Kangxi's order and went to Qilin Gate, the most desolate place in the east of Nanjing's outer city, to welcome the visiting Western missions.
Although Nan Huairen and Luo Dongni are both Manchurians, they are not happy that they have become slaves. On the contrary, they both look a little sad now.
I don’t know if it’s because the Qing Dynasty is about to end, or because the two slaves are still worried about not being trusted by their master?
"Brother Ferdinand, long time no see...almost sixteen years, how are you?" Father Philip knew Nan Huairen, so he rode his pony to say hello enthusiastically.
Both of them are Spanish, Philip is from Barcelona, and Nan Huairen is from the Spanish Netherlands (later Belgium). The two studied together in Rome in their early years.
Father Philip is more interested in exorcism and law, and is determined to become a judge and exorcist, using his legal knowledge and magic to defend the interests of the Holy See.
Nan Huairen determined to become a missionary, so after completing the necessary studies, he arrived in Macau in 1658. After studying Chinese at St. Paul's Seminary for two years, he went north to Beijing and became Tang Ruowang's assistant. In the following ten years, he gradually became Emperor Kangxi's Western learning teacher and his most trusted "foreign slave".
But now, Nan Huairen clearly felt Kangxi's alienation. Kangxi is now hanging out with a group of Chinese Taoist priests. It is said that he also cracked the spells of Zhu San Taisun and Zhuge Demon Taoist together with them, and created some kind of "Tian Lei Zhengfa"!
As soon as you hear it, you know it’s black magic!
But this is not what worries Nan Huairen the most. What worries Nan Huairen the most is that Emperor Kangxi probably made a deal with the devil, so he could be beheaded and not die!
Now, Nan Huairen got a task that stunned him - to lead the Western delegation to the Great Sacrificial Altar Rocket Test Range to watch the launch of a sky-exploring rocket.
Explore the sky? What does "heaven" mean? Is it the sky, or is it God?
If it's "Sky", then just check it out.
If it is "God"...
Nan Huairen was almost worried to death when he thought about this!
But no matter how worried he was, he still completed the errands sent by Emperor Kangxi.
"Philip," Nan Huairen also recognized his good friend, so he forced a smile, "I heard that you have become the deputy justice and chief exorcist. Congratulations."
"Those are all gifts from God... By the way, are you taking us to see the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty?"
"Yes," Nan Huairen thought for a while and decided to truthfully tell the deputy justice his inner worries, "Philip...the Qing Emperor is at the rocket test range not far away."
"Rocket?" Father Philip repeated these two Chinese characters - because Nan Huairen didn't know how to translate "rocket", and it was definitely wrong to translate "fire arrows"!
"It's probably that thick and that high..." Nan Huairen gestured with his hands, "The outer shell is made of copper. I don't know what's inside, but it can fly very high and far when it's lit on fire. , and they will also make scary sounds, and some will cause violent explosions!"
"Is it a dark magic weapon?" Father Philip asked.
"That's right!" Luo Dongni, who came with Nan Huairen, couldn't help but interrupt, "This is a magic weapon! The emperor started looking for a way to break magic very early, and finally found that only magic can defeat magic, so he used dragon Hushan and Maoshan invited several Taoist priests who knew magic to help him come up with some magic weapons. But his enemies obviously have more powerful magic..."
"Is this true?" Father Philip couldn't believe it.
"It's most likely true!" Nan Huairen said worriedly, "Phillip, I think it's time for you to show off your skills! It's getting late now, please come with me... Let's go see the big picture together." The Qing Emperor’s magic rocket!”
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