In the simple Governor's Mansion, Tian Erniu was handling official duties. He now held multiple positions, including fleet commander, governor of Hong Kong, and at the same time, he was also responsible for the affairs of Golden Continent. It can be said that he was very busy.
"There's a big outbreak of smallpox here in Huangjinzhou~"
"This is a troublesome thing. If the Aztec Kingdom and the Inca Empire were destroyed by smallpox, our Ming Dynasty would not be able to obtain a large amount of gold and silver every year."
"Well, I must write to the young master and let him make the decision."
Tian Erniu couldn't help but frowned when he read the letter from Huanghuangzhou. He didn't know why, but this smallpox broke out among the descendants of the Yin Shang in Huanghuangzhou, and more and more people died.
The more there are, the wider the spread area is, and the trend is unstoppable.
In contrast, although people in the Ming Dynasty were also afraid of smallpox, the mortality rate after getting smallpox was much lower than that of descendants of the Yin and Shang Dynasties. Only one or two out of ten people in the Ming Dynasty would die if they got smallpox. If treated in time, they might not die.
However, when the descendants of the Yin Shang contracted smallpox, the mortality rate was horribly high, and they were almost certain to die. This made Tian Erniu feel very strange, as if the smallpox virus liked the descendants of the Yin Shang in Huanghuangzhou.
At the same time, Tian Erniu was also very worried, because he had more than twenty concubines in Golden Continent, almost all of whom were descendants of the Yin and Shang dynasties, and he also had dozens of children, all of whom were descendants of the Yin and Shang dynasties.
Thinking of this, Tian Erniu also quickly picked up a pen and started writing a letter to Liu Jin who was far away in the Ming Dynasty. Now there are special ships traveling between Europe and the Golden Continent. He can take the letter back to the Golden Continent first, and then ask someone to bring it back to the Ming Dynasty.
.
Of course, due to the effective elimination of pirates, the route has become safer. A small number of merchant ships have also arrived in Europe from South Africa, and they can also be asked to bring letters back to the Ming Dynasty.
"The monkeys actually competed with the Ottoman pirates in the Mediterranean~"
"It is still not appropriate to get involved in the grievances in the Mediterranean. Just occupy a colony on the southern shore of the Strait of Gibraltar. There is no need to get involved in the grievances in the Mediterranean."
Soon, Tian Erniu continued to read letters. Recently, he also received letters from the Mediterranean. The thirty-five battleships led by Zhao Houhou were almost unbridled in the Mediterranean, and they also colluded with the pirates of the Ottoman Empire.
Up.
He took out his pen and ink and quickly wrote a letter to Zhao Houhou. He came to Europe not to fight pirates for the Europeans, but to fight for Ming's interests in Europe.
"The Spanish attack on France failed, but the French King Louis XII still expressed the intention of peace talks. Well, he must be afraid that I will join the attack on France."
"The Spanish have a lot of plans, hoping that I can send troops to Paris, and they also protest that our policy in Hong Kong has violated the agreement on Spain's exclusive trade rights."
"Bullshit, the agreement on exclusive trade rights is about to expire. Our Ming Dynasty will never sign such an agreement with you again."
"Well, I'm tired of staying in Europe. Let's negotiate peace as soon as possible. I can also go back to Golden Continent, and then back to the Ming Dynasty. I haven't returned to the Ming Dynasty for several years."
While dealing with one thing after another, Tian Erniu also quickly planned what to do next.
"Your Majesty the Governor, we have prepared the recruitment of fifty officers. I need you to go over for an interview."
At this time, Pablo knocked on the door of Tian Erniu's office.
"Okay~"
Tian Erniu nodded slightly and put down the documents in his hands.
Soon, Tian Erniu came to a room where someone was already waiting.
"Let's get started~"
Tian Erniu sat on the main seat and said.
"Yes~"
Pablo nodded quickly, then came outside and shouted: "William, the first interviewer!"
Soon, a man with a big beard and long hair, dressed in rags and looking dirty came in.
"Your Excellency, Sirs~"
William took off his hat and bowed to Tian Erniu and others.
"Are you William?"
Tian Erniu looked at William and asked in English. Tian Erniu has also been learning English recently and can do some simple conversations.
"Yes, I didn't expect the Governor to speak English~"
William replied with some surprise.
"I just learned it, and my teaching was not very good~"
Tian Erniu smiled and then motioned for him to sit down.
"Can you speak some simple Chinese?"
"Uh, no~"
"Can't you say a word?"
"No~"
"Have you ever gone to school? Can you write in English?"
"No~"
"Do you know what types of taxes we have and what their proportions are?"
"I know, we have to call it agricultural tax and land tax, which are 10% and 5% respectively."
"Why do you want to be an official? Do you think you can be a good official~"
"..."
"Mr. William, I'm afraid you are not suitable for the position of official. Maybe you can give it a try again after you learn some simple Ming dialect."
After a simple interview, Tian Erniu dismissed this William. It has been almost a month. This William has not learned a word of Ming Dynasty, which shows that he is not smart enough, or he does not like Ming Dynasty at all.
After hearing what Tian Erniu said, William left disappointed.
"Next, Tom!"
When Tom heard his name, he walked in with some trepidation and saluted very politely.
"Can you speak some Ming Dynasty language?"
"I only know a little bit, hello, eating, getting off work, drinking tea..."
Tom spoke in a somewhat lame accent, which was the most Ming dialect he had heard in these days. Tian Erniu couldn't help but nod slightly, he said quite a lot.
"Very good, you are not bad. You can become an official of the Governor's Office of Hong Kong, but you still need to learn more Ming dialect. In addition, as an official of the Ming Empire, your hair must look like ours, it must be short, and your beard must be shaved.
In addition, you must wear clean and tidy clothes and bathe frequently.”
After an interview, Tian Erniu gave Tom a decent job.
"Okay, thank you, sir, thank you, sir~"
When Tom heard this, he couldn't help but almost cheered, because according to the order issued by the Governor's Mansion, if you become an official of the Governor's Mansion of Hong Kong, you can get a monthly salary of three taels of silver, and you can also receive a monthly salary.
One hundred catties of grain, five catties of salt, one catty of tea, one piece of cloth and many other things.
This was a decent treatment, and more importantly, it meant that they would turn over in the future and no longer be ordinary people. As for Tian Erniu's request, he naturally agreed to it, and they will be from now on.
Since he was working for the Governor of the Ming Dynasty, he naturally wanted to learn more from the people of the Ming Dynasty.
Interviews are ongoing.
"My Lord Governor, there is someone outside who claims to be Samuel, Bishop of Cornwall Cathedral, requesting an audience."
Someone came to Tian Erniu to report.
"Samuel, Bishop of Cornwall Cathedral?"
When Tian Erniu heard this, he immediately pondered slightly.
Religious issues were not a problem at all in the Ming Dynasty, but here in the Western world, they are an extremely important issue.
"Well, take him to the living room."
After thinking about it, Tian Erniu said the same, and then made arrangements with the people around him, asking them to continue the interview, while he went to meet the Bishop of Cornwall Cathedral, Samuel.
In the living room, Bishop Samuel of Cornwall Cathedral is sitting on a chair, admiring everything here with great interest. It is completely different from the European layout style, which comes from the distant and rich East. There is a fragrance on the table next to it.
He couldn't help but drink a few more sips of tea.
"The Ming Dynasty is very good in all aspects, but it just doesn't believe in God. This is not acceptable."
"This may be an opportunity, a good opportunity, to spread the light of God to the Ming Dynasty."
Bishop Samuel had already learned some information about the Ming Empire in detail before he came. He knew how huge and wealthy the Ming Empire was. It was an unprecedentedly huge empire, and it was also an empire that was extremely wealthy.
It is said that the fiscal revenue of the Ming Empire exceeded 100 million taels of silver last year, which is several times more than all the countries in Europe combined. It is said that the capital city of the Ming Empire has a population of several million people, which is more than the population of a country.
More.
Such a huge and rich Ming Empire, all kinds of information about the Ming Empire has already spread in European countries, making the whole Europe marvel at the powerful and rich Ming Empire.
After learning about the Ming Empire in detail, he soon discovered that people in the Ming Empire were generally not religious. There were no believers in the Lord in the Ming Empire. This made him seem to have seen an opportunity, a person who spread the glory of the Lord to the Ming Dynasty.
Chance.
For this reason, he has also been learning the Ming dialect and characters during this period of time. He is even preparing to translate the Bible into Chinese characters after he has learned it well, and then spread it to the Ming Dynasty.
Of course, this is all a matter for the future. This time I came to Tian Erniu mainly to discuss the church’s spread and taxation in Hong Kong.
According to the laws issued by the Governor's Office of Hong Kong, people here in Hong Kong only need to pay agricultural tax and land tax to the Governor's Office. If they do business, they also need to pay commercial tax. In addition, they do not need to pay anything else.
tax.
This is extremely bad news for the church, because the Governor's Office has not stated whether the church can continue to collect taxes from the people, and many people have stopped paying tithes to the church.
In addition, Falmouth, as the core place of Hong Kong, does not have a church now, which is definitely not possible. This time he came here to confirm with Tian Erniu whether the church still has the power to tax, and the other is to hope
The Governor's Palace can fund the construction of a cathedral in Falmouth to spread the glory of the Lord.
If possible, he also hoped that the Governor's Office could write a letter to the Emperor of Ming Dynasty to allow Catholicism to spread in Ming Dynasty.