"The monster said that he is Italian and is currently being held in the prison of the Ministry of Punishment." Shen Yaozhong replied.
"Italian?" Su Hao couldn't help blurting out, "You wouldn't say his name is Matteo Ricci, would you?"
As soon as Su Hao spoke, Shen Yaozhong was shocked: "Yes, his name is Matteo Ricci. Su Qian is so knowledgeable... By the way, Su Qian doesn't even know this person." A monster, right?"
Matteo Ricci... Su Hao didn't know whether to cry or laugh. A Western missionary who was so famous in later generations was actually imprisoned in the prison of the Ministry of Punishment for being a monster. And the Chinese version of the world map he compiled was terrible. Appearing in front of me, this is really a big joke played by history.
At that time, Western missionaries were selling Western teachings all over the world. In Africa, India and other places, there were a large number of local residents who believed in religion, and Western missionaries had a high status there. But in the Ming Dynasty, perhaps because of the local Chinese The soft power of culture is strong, and it is difficult for Western religions to open up the market. Western missionaries before Matteo Ricci mainly preached in Guangdong, and were repeatedly expelled by the government.
Matteo Ricci arrived in China in 1583. He first built a missionary base in Zhaoqing, Guangdong, and then actively planned to develop northward and expand the missionary base to Beijing, the political center of the Ming Dynasty. In the past few years, , he successively arrived in Shaoguan, Nanchang, Nanjing and other places. Although he developed some believers, he still could not escape the fate of being expelled by the government. This time, he was expelled because he made some remarks that defamed Buddhism while preaching in Nanjing. The Nanjing Criminal Department caught him and sent him to Beijing Jing.
"Dr. Shen, let me ask, how does the Ministry of Punishment usually deal with foreigners who preach in China?" Su Hao asked cautiously. Naturally, he couldn't watch Matteo Ricci being beheaded by the Ministry of Punishment, but how to rescue this unlucky man? As a missionary, he must first ask about the relevant legal provisions.
Shen Yaozhong said: "Preaching is not expressly prohibited in the laws of the Ming Dynasty. As long as he does not confuse people with evil words, he will generally not be punished. Besides, he is a foreigner after all, and the Ming Dynasty's criminal law has always been very strict for foreigners. Keep an open mind."
"Oh..." Su Hao felt reassured, "Then what are the Punishment Department's plans to do with Matteo Ricci?"
Shen Yaozhong said: "The files forwarded by the Nanjing Criminal Department said that when he was preaching in Nanjing, he made some disrespectful remarks about the Buddha and should be punished. We originally planned to sentence him to thirty whippings, confiscate the monsters, and expel him from the Ming Dynasty. However, …”
"But what?" Su Hao asked.
Shen Yaozhong smiled and said: "However, what Su Qiandu said just now seems that I have known this Matteo Ricci before. I don't know whether this Ricci and Su Qian are enemies or friends..."
The meaning of this sentence is very obvious. If Matteo Ricci is Su Hao's friend, then all expected punishments can be avoided; on the contrary, if Matteo Ricci has offended Su Hao, then the Ministry of Punishment will take this opportunity to To vent his anger for Su Hao. A small missionary is nothing more than a piece of grass in the eyes of the Ministry of Punishments. His life or death can depend entirely on Su Hao's likes and dislikes.
"He is a friend, he is a friend!" Su Hao quickly identified Matteo Ricci. Regardless of his views on Western religions, Matteo Ricci was a scientist after all and deserved respect. In real history, Matteo Ricci He once collaborated with Xu Guangqi and translated the first six chapters of "Elements of Geometry", which played an important role in popularizing geometry in China.
Hearing Su Hao say that Matteo Ricci was his friend, Shen Yaozhong immediately turned his head and shouted outside: "Shu Li!"
"The villain is here!" The old scribe came in and stood with his hands down, waiting for Shen Yaozhong's instructions.
"Go to the prison, take out that demon... er, that missionary Matteo Ricci, and bring him here. By the way, he is Su Qiandu's old friend, you must not be rude." Shen Yaozhong said, since Su Hao said that Matteo Ricci was his friend, so Shen Yaozhong would no longer call him a monster.
"Yes!" the old scribe agreed, and trotted off to pick up the man.
After the old scribe left, Su Hao began to explain his relationship with Matteo Ricci to Shen Yaozhong. He said: "Actually, Su and Matteo Ricci have never met. They only heard about his deeds. . This person is a Western missionary. Their teachings are different from our Ming Dynasty’s teachings. Some religious prejudices are inevitable. However, this person has some knowledge and is a useful person. Su’s meager achievements on the map have nothing to do with this person. Matteo Ricci’s apprenticeship also has some connections.”
Shen Yaozhong was not interested in Matteo Ricci's apprenticeship. What he cared about was how to use this matter to please Su Hao. He pretended to be suddenly enlightened and said: "Oh, I see. No wonder the official saw this The map drawn by Matteo Ricci is quite similar to the map of Su Qiandu. By the way, where is this map from? Why is the Ming Dynasty drawn so small?"
"This is a world map, and this area is our Ming Dynasty. In fact, our Ming Dynasty does not account for a large proportion in the entire world. Look, this is the place of France, which can also be called Europe. This is America was discovered by the Frenchman Columbus. This is the ocean outside the East China Sea, called the Pacific Ocean. Its area is almost 20 times the size of our Ming Dynasty. It was first discovered by the Frenchman Magellan. Magellan led a fleet The first to cross the Pacific, more than half of the crew starved to death on the way..."
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. Shen Yaozhong listened with great interest and made several exaggerated sighs from time to time.
After a while, there were some noises outside the door. Then, the door curtain was raised, and two jailers escorted a European in his early 40s in. Needless to say, this man was Matteo Ricci.
Because Shen Yaozhong had confessed that Matteo Ricci was a friend of Su Hao, before escorting Matteo Ricci over, the jailer specially changed him into clean clothes, washed his face, and combed his hair. It made Matteo Ricci look less embarrassed. However, the traces of being beaten on his face could not be erased at once. I just don’t know whether it was the jailer who tortured him or whether he was beaten by the prison bully while he was in the prison. Cleaned up a bit.
"Matteo Ricci, a common man, is here to greet you two adults." As soon as Ricci entered the door and saw two officials sitting in the room, he quickly knelt down. This gentleman stayed in the Ming Dynasty for several years and spoke Chinese fluently. They are also very familiar with this etiquette. Missionaries all have the ability to quickly integrate into the local society, which is also the basis for their success in missionary work.
"This..." Shen Yaozhong looked at Su Hao hesitantly, waiting for Su Hao to speak. Whether he should let Matteo Ricci kneel like this, or give him his seat and show him courtesy, it all depends on Su Hao's attitude. .
Su Hao quickly stood up. He walked to Matteo Ricci, held each other's hands, then pointed to a seat next to him and said to Ricci: "Privatea_prego_qiu (please sit down)!"
Hearing the long-lost Italian, Matteo Ricci's eyes lit up, he looked at Su Hao, and a long list of foreign words came out from his mouth. Su Hao couldn't laugh or cry. In fact, he didn't understand Italian, but he had only received a few people before. Italian scholars only learned a few common expressions from their mouths, but how could they have the ability to communicate with Matteo Ricci?
Seeing the embarrassment on Su Hao's face, Matteo Ricci immediately realized. It turned out that the high-ranking official in front of him only knew a few words, and he had mistaken him for an Italian. He quickly apologized: "Oh, I'm sorry, Sir, however, the Italian you just spoke was very standard. I never thought that I could meet an official who could speak Italian in the center of the Ming Dynasty."
"Nothing, please sit down." Su Hao said to Matteo Ricci in Chinese.
Matteo Ricci turned his head and looked at the two jailers behind him, obviously hesitating whether he was qualified 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 Lima soon?" When Mr. Dou sits down, do you still need Su Qian to greet you personally?"
The two jailers quickly helped Matteo Ricci sit down on the chair. The old scribe quickly made the tea and brought it over to the coffee table next to Matteo Ricci.
"You all, please step aside." Su Hao waved his hands to the old scribe and the two jailers. The content he wanted to talk to Matteo Ricci was really not suitable for too many people to listen to.
"Two adults, I don't know why you are so polite to the common people." Matteo Ricci felt a little flattered. He had done some research on the clothes of officials in the Ming Dynasty, and knew that the two people in front of him were very important officials. He had seen it before The minor officials who arrived were all very rude to him, but two high-ranking officials appeared out of nowhere and treated him with great courtesy, which made him suspicious.
Su Hao said: "Mr. Matteo Ricci, I heard that you are a very good mathematician and that you have very profound attainments in geometry. Is this true?"
Hearing Su Hao ask about his knowledge, Matteo Ricci sensitively realized that this was the reason why he was respected. If he didn't follow the trend at this time, he would not be a missionary who was good at adapting to the situation.
"My lord, where did you learn about my knowledge of geometry? Indeed, when I was studying philosophy and theology at the Roman Academy, my teacher, Father Clavius, was a great mathematician. Here comes the "Elements of Geometry" that he compiled and compiled, intending to translate it and dedicate it to the great Ming Dynasty emperor." Matteo Ricci said.
Until this time, Su Hao was sure that the Matteo Ricci in front of him was indeed the famous one in history, and not a liar with the same name. He turned to Shen Yaozhong and said: "Mr. Shen, This Mr. Ricci is a learned man, and his knowledge is very useful to us. You see...can you consider acquitting him and letting me take him away?"
"Since Su Qian has confirmed that his identity is correct, what doubts does the official have? I'm afraid that what happened before was probably a misunderstanding. I will immediately arrange for someone to clear the case. As for Mr. Ricci, how to deal with it is all up to him. It depends on Mr. Su's intention. However, if he wants to preach in the capital..." When Shen Yaozhong said this, he drew a long tone and waited for Su Hao to understand it himself.
Su Hao understood what Shen Yaozhong meant and took over his words and said: "I will tell him about the missionary matters. I want to use him mainly because of his talent in mathematics. In other aspects, there are still restrictions. It’s better to get up.”
"That's great." Shen Yaozhong was relieved. Matteo Ricci's case was not a big one in the first place. Whether he would let it go or not was all up to him. But if Matteo Ricci was let out, he would be in trouble. If nonsense is spread everywhere in the capital, it will be disadvantageous for Shen Yaozhong, so he needs to confirm with Su Hao.
As for Su Hao, he himself had no good opinion of Western religions, so he would naturally not support Matteo Ricci in continuing to preach. As he himself said, his purpose of rescuing Matteo Ricci was just to let Ricci spread mathematical knowledge. He would not let Matteo Ricci touch any extraneous matters.
"Okay, Matteo Ricci, you have been acquitted. From now on, you will follow Mr. Su. Whatever Mr. Su says, you have to do it. There must be no mistakes. Do you understand?" Shen Yaozhong turned his head to Li. Ma Dou, ordered him.
From the conversation just now, Shen Yaozhong has seen the relationship between Su Hao and Matteo Ricci. Obviously, Matteo Ricci is not Su Hao's friend, but just a talent that Su Hao likes. .He warned Matteo Ricci in this way to make Ricci obey Su Hao's advice. If Matteo Ricci dared not to listen to Su Hao's words, Shen Yaozhong would not refuse to take him back and have a taste of what it was like to be in the prison of the Ministry of Punishment.
"Thank you, Sir. Thank you, Sir Su." Matteo Ricci understood what Shen Yaozhong said. He quickly stood up and bowed to thank Shen Yaozhong and Su Hao respectively.