Bi Fangji finally met his old friend Pang Tianshou and complained to him endlessly.
Pang Tianshou, a young eunuch in the palace who was wearing a scarlet robe, was holding a tea cup and did not answer his old friend's complaints about the emperor's new policies in Macau. The emperor's authority was growing day by day and was at its peak.
Pang Tianshou was deeply touched. If we say that two years ago, he, a great eunuch, had soldiers, money and artillery, a good relationship with the church, and a high status in the Hongguang Dynasty. When he first joined Emperor Shaotian, he was naturally deeply relied on, but
It's different now.
When the emperor first started his army, he only had a few housekeepers and a group of wild men. He brought hundreds of Macao mercenaries plus a battalion of Dongchang and Yongwei troops. They had guns and cannons and they were strong.
But now, the emperor has a royal camp of 200,000 people and controls half of the country. He has pinned the Tatars to the ground and beat them. He, an old eunuch, has long since lost his troops and power.
The emperor said that the twelve prisons, four departments and eight bureaus should be abolished and the three prisons should be changed. So let’s change it. Who dares to object?
The emperor said that eunuchs must not pass the fourth rank, they are not allowed to command the army, they are not allowed to supervise the army, and they are not allowed to interfere in politics. Who dares to object?
Pang Tianshou was still angry, but he also knew that today was different from the past. He also knew that he had to keep a low profile now and conduct his life with his tail between his legs. Since the emperor abolished the twelve eunuchs, four divisions and eight bureaus, many crazy people have been angry with the eunuchs.
They were shouting about beatings and killings, hoping to take revenge on Wei Zhongxian and other officials for the oppression they had inflicted on the scholars when they were eunuchs.
"As for this matter, our family actually thinks it is a good thing."
Bi Fangjiao looked sad and said, "How can this be a good thing? I feel like the emperor will burn the bridge when he crosses the river."
"You can't say that." Pang Tianshou was a little panicked and quickly asked him to whisper. "This is called regulation. Everything must be logical and orderly. Before the Portuguese settled in Macau, they did so by bribing local officials. It was unclear whether it was in vain. After
The development of Macau in recent years is indeed not bad, but it is just a small island. There are some things that the court did not know before, but now the emperor knows about it, so we must change it."
Bi Fangji was unwilling to accept this fact, and neither was Macau.
"Have you read the newspapers recently? The direction of the wind is not good. If you hesitate any longer, when the wind blows up, you will no longer have a foothold. You have already lost Japan's trade rights, you have also lost Malacca, and even
In India, Ceylon and other places also lost many colonial strongholds,
Even the Spaniards in Luzon don't trade with you, and the Dutch continue to plunder your merchant ships. If you lose Oriental Macao again, can you bear such a big loss?"
Bi Fangji responded, "It is precisely because we do not want to lose Macau that we hope His Majesty the Emperor can reconsider our cooperative relationship."
Pang Tianshou shook his head. Recently, several major newspapers in Beijing have begun to publish some things about Macau, starting from the arrival of the Portuguese in the Ming Dynasty, several wars between Ming and Macau, to how they entered Macau, and how they obtained the right of residence there step by step.
.
Even their autonomy status, etc.
Macau is indeed just a small peninsula. Over the years, there have not been many Portuguese in Macau, only a few hundred people. Now, including the Portuguese who were evacuated from Japan, there are only eight or nine hundred people.
The Jin Yiwei sneaked into Macau before and reported that there were about 874 Portuguese people in Macau at this time, as well as about 400 mixed-race people and more than 500 Chinese believers.
In addition, there are now about 50,000 Chinese on the island, most of whom have recently arrived due to the turmoil in the current situation. Three years ago, there were only more than 10,000 Chinese on the island.
In addition, there are less than 10,000 black slaves and Nanyang slaves on the island.
The entire island has a population of about 50,000. Most Chinese on the island are engaged in trade-related matters, and most of them work for the Portuguese, but they are still under the administration of Xiangshan County.
The Portuguese Municipal Assembly in Macau includes the governor who was only officially sent in recent years, as well as judges, who mainly manage the Portuguese and slaves.
Macau has been just a trade transit point for many years. Its prosperity is actually the same as Zhangzhou Yuegang and Xiamen. It is due to the imperial policy that led to the scarcity of open ports, which allowed them to develop.
The more trade ports the imperial court liberalizes, the greater the impact will be on Macau. Especially now that Portugal is weak and besieged by several sea gangsters, life will be even more difficult.
They want to continue to survive and develop according to the previous model, and even make a fortune quietly.
But the emperor of tomorrow is not willing.
For the previous Ming Dynasty, Macau was the only two trading ports at the end of the Ming Dynasty, so it was naturally very important, but now, its status is no longer high.
"I helped you collect the content about Macau from these newspapers. Take a look." Pang Tianshou took out a folder and thoughtfully cut and pasted the content about Macau from major newspapers.
Bi Fangji naturally knew this, so he still took it and looked through it.
After cutting and pasting together, it will have more impact.
There is even a sense of oppression that a storm is about to come.
There is an excerpt from the inscription given to the emperor by the governor of Guangdong, which describes how the Portuguese in Macau bribed local officials, evaded customs duties, and even set up private governors, private courts, privately supported armies, privately built castles and forts, and illegally built fortresses in Guangdong.
church, illegal preaching,
Slave trading, and even the evil practice of buying and selling Chinese slaves.
The Guangdong Inspector was a supervisory censor sent by the imperial court to Guangdong. He was an imperial envoy. His reports were extraordinary.
The contents of many other newspaper clippings are also shocking. Most of them are about illegal things done by the Portuguese in Macau, such as underground gambling dens, privately minting foreign money, and even illegal detention and interrogation of Ming Dynasty people on the island, etc.
If this fire continues to burn like this, the Portuguese in Macau will become lost to everyone. Then everyone in the government and the public will regard them as enemies, and they will not be able to survive.
"Bishop Bi, we are old acquaintances and friends. I would like to give you some advice."
"It's not as good as it used to be,"
"But the current situation is getting better and better. You Portuguese people have made great mistakes in decision-making in recent years, both at home and overseas. We can't control other places, but in Ming Dynasty, you should keep up with the current situation, Your Majesty
The conditions I have put forward for you are actually very face-saving for you, and are based on your previous friendship."
"Why do you have to think about colonial autonomy? On such a small island, you only have a few hundred people. If you want to fight against the Ming Dynasty with a population of hundreds of millions, isn't this a mantis trying to do something? Why not just do business and trade with peace of mind and concentrate on making money, isn't it?
Better yet, aren’t you coming all the way here just for money?
Don't lose your qualifications to trade in Ming Dynasty for the sake of a tiny place like Macau, let alone make His Majesty angry and let the fleet destroy them in the end.
Withdraw the governor, cancel the city council, cancel the courts, hand over the mercenaries and forts, let the imperial camp garrison them, and let the imperial court send officials to set up government offices. From now on, the imperial court will manage them there, and you can do business with peace of mind.
As long as you abide by the laws and regulations, you can formally apply for a residence permit.
If you declare it once a year, you will be able to live in peace of mind without violating any laws or disciplines.
With Daming providing protection and taking charge of management, how much easier will it be for you?
You can do business with peace of mind, pay taxes in accordance with the law, and your life and property are safe.
Even if the ports are opened, you are not limited to living in Macau. You can also live in Guangzhou, Ningbo, Hangzhou, or even Fengtian. You only need to get a residence permit. How great?"
"You see, the Dutch are better than you now, right? The Spanish are also better than you, but the Dutch occupied such a large island in Taiwan before, but now? Didn't they surrender unconditionally, but they didn't lose either, and they still
When we return to Taiwan, we will have more than a dozen trade ports opened.
Before Spain arrived in Manila, due to the Dutch siege, no ships could go there in the past two years, and business was miserable. But now that we have negotiated trade with the Ming Dynasty, how many orders have we received?"
"There is one more thing I have to remind you, old friend. His Majesty allowed you to come to Ming Dynasty to preach, but there are conditions. You must follow the rules of Ming Dynasty. However, in the past two years of your mission, there are still many irregularities.
, it needs to be changed.”
Bi Fangji remained silent.
Pang Tianshou reminded him that if the emperor really wanted to deal with Macau, it would only be a matter of words. He did not even need to send an actual imperial camp to attack. As long as he issued a decree, all the Chinese on Macau Island would leave, otherwise they would be regarded as rioters. This
They cannot bear the consequences.
How long can the Portuguese and their slaves survive without the Chinese?
The imperial court sealed the island, but they could not survive for half a year.
"There is an old saying in our dynasty that those who know the current affairs are heroes. To put it more bluntly, don't toast or eat as a penalty. That's all."
Pang Tianshou stood up to leave, but Bi Fangji quickly stopped him.
"Actually we are in Macau..."
"Bishop Bi, you don't have to tell me this. It's useless if you do. I've said it plainly enough. If you still insist on it, you'll have to bear the consequences."
"I still have to discuss this with the governor and others."
"There is no need to discuss it. Let's handle it according to the order. It needs to be done quickly. You'd better write to His Majesty now. Otherwise, if the fire continues like this, it will be too late for you to repent."
Bi Fangji's eyes were dull and lifeless. He was silent for a while, and finally gritted his teeth and said, "Okay."
Pang Tianshou returned home satisfied, the job was well done.
After returning to the palace, please see the emperor for his return.
After listening to his report, Zhu Yihai nodded with satisfaction. The situation forced the Portuguese to obey nature, which was the best result.
Otherwise, we can only use force, but there is no pressure to use force. After all, Macau is just a peninsula, not an island. We have built a border gate long ago, closed it with a lock, and the peninsula plus several other small islands will become
Dead Island.
However, Macau has developed quite well over the years, and Zhu Yihai is not willing to abolish it.
The next day, the Prime Minister's Office.
Zhu Yihai talked with the ministers about Macau for half an hour, and decided to station a battalion on land and water in Macau and send a guerrilla commander to garrison it.
In terms of administration, Xiangshan County sent a county magistrate to open a government office in Macao. In some large counties in the Ming Dynasty, there was a tradition of sending county magistrates to oversee the administration. Because Haojing'ao was small, there was no need to set up a county.
Set up customs in Macao, subordinate to Guangzhou Customs.
Previously, the Ming Dynasty had granted the Portuguese in Macau a barbarian status, allowing them to manage the Portuguese just like the local officials in the mainland. However, Zhu Yihai now canceled the barbarian establishment, banned their parliaments, courts, etc., and did not allow them to govern themselves. They were all managed by the Ming Dynasty, and the laws of the Ming Dynasty were adopted.
.
There are even special regulations that although Portuguese and other foreigners can apply for temporary residence permits and long-term residence in China, they are not allowed to own land or house ownership in China. They can only rent, and they are not allowed to build houses privately. The existing castles and real estate in Macau will be taken back.
It was owned by the government and then leased to the Portuguese.
Macau used to have a rated tax of 26,000 taels at first, but later it was reduced to 22,000 taels. After losing the Japanese trade, they even only paid 9,000 taels. Now the rated taxes have been cancelled, and standard tariffs are levied uniformly.
The last point is that regardless of whether Portugal or foreign merchants trade in ports such as Macau, Tuen Mun, and Guangzhou, the ship must first dock at Daxi Mountain (Dahao Island) for registration, undergo inspection, and must unload and hand over the gun and obtain a license.
Later, pilots from the Ming Dynasty led them to the port dock. When leaving the port, they went to Daxi Mountain Camp to retrieve weapons such as guns and cannons and left.
Macau allows foreign businessmen from all countries to enter and reside in Hong Kong, but they are not allowed to possess weapons privately.
The governor-general of Guangdong and Guangxi, the governor of Guangdong, the inspector of Guangdong, the sub-inspector of Luodao in Guangzhou, the prefect of Guangzhou, the magistrate of Xiangshan, the Guangzhou Shipping Department, the governor of Guangdong, and the general of Humen are all responsible for the management of Macao.
In addition, those who believe in Western sects, regardless of Chinese or foreign, must pay an additional tithe tax, and churches must also pay a tithe tax.
If a foreigner obtains a residence permit in Ming Dynasty, abandons foreign religion, changes his clothes, and accepts Chinese culture, he will be exempted from the tithe tax.
Macau will also implement the Baojia household registration system and the Baojia regiment training system. Portuguese and other foreigners will also be required to serve during wartime.
