Nanjing, Fengtian Temple of the Forbidden City.

"Your Majesty, this Spain is tens of thousands of miles away from China, and it takes a year to travel back and forth, and the West is known as the empire of the world in the West, and its territory is extremely vast. His monarch is also in full swing, and he is deeply involved in the disputes of the European powers, and I am afraid that he does not have the energy or the ability to react so quickly to the changes in the East, that is, the place where the Chinese Divine Continent is located. The matter of uniting the East and Korea was mostly the work of the Philippine Governor of Spain, Yamen......"

It was John Tang who spoke, he had just been sent to Taixue Deputy Division. The Qin Heavenly Prison under his charge has now been merged into the newly opened Taixue. And he himself is also one of the popular candidates for the Seven Bachelors of Taixue - the Seven Bachelors are not so easy to produce, and they also have to take exams! And it's much more difficult than taking the exam!

It is not only necessary to focus on mathematics, but also to test the principles in the "Sub-Treatise on Gewu", which cannot be passed by rote memorization (too many students can memorize by rote), but also have to understand one or two of them, write a thesis, and defend it.

Therefore, it will take another two or three years for the first batch of Seven Scholars to be produced, and the Confucians will have time to study the "Zi Treatise on Gewu" and "New Arithmetic"! It's so difficult, it's still self-studying, and I don't know if it will make those elderly Confucians cry?

Therefore, at present, Taixue only has officials, no scholars, and no students, which is almost a shell to appease the scholars in the southeast. And "Zi On Gewu" and "New Arithmetic" are, to a certain extent, also used to appease the southeast scholars - they all go to study hard, and learn and excel!

John Tang's Western learning skills are much better than ordinary Confucianism, but in the past two days, he has also been stumped by several exercises in "New Arithmetic", and when he was praying for God to give him a little wisdom, he was summoned by Zhu Cihong to the Fengtian Temple to discuss the issue of the "Western Qing Alliance".

When he heard the news of the "Western Qing Alliance", John Tang was taken aback, even more than when he saw the "Zi Treatise on Gewu" and "New Arithmetic" - he really did not expect that Confucius's achievements in philosophy far surpassed Aristotle! And there is a lot of algebra and geometry in "New Arithmetic", and I don't know where Emperor Zhu learned it?

However, the birth of the Zi Treatise on Gewu and the New Arithmetic is nothing compared to the alliance between Spain and the Qing state—at least for the Jesuit cause in China, the "Western Qing Alliance" can be said to be a major crisis.

Spain is one of the most important pillars of the Holy See!

If Spain and the Ming were hostile or even at war, then the Holy See would most likely be involved in the conflict, and the Jesuits would have to obey the Pope unconditionally. Once the Holy See sided with Spain against the Ming Dynasty, then the Jesuits would become enemies of the Ming Empire!

Therefore, John Tong had to try to reconcile the contradictions between the two sides and avoid a full-scale confrontation and the outbreak of war.

Zhu Cihong asked: "Then will Philip IV approve the Western Qing League concluded by the Philippine governor?" ”

In fact, there is no "Western Qing Alliance", where is it so easy for the two great powers to form an alliance? Without the consent of King Philip IV of Spain, the Governor of the Philippines would not dare to form this alliance!

The envoys sent to Beijing by Chakon only made a request for a merchant house in Korea and a representative in Beijing, and also expressed their willingness to provide advanced firearms and military advisers to the Qing State.

Between Spain and the Qing Kingdom, it is still in the stage of making friends, and it is still too early to form an alliance!

"No way!" "According to Spanish law, the governor of the colony is the king's plenipotentiary in the colony, and in accordance with the king's instructions and the instructions of the Indian and other courts, he has the right to appoint officials and church leaders in the region and to participate in the trial of major judicial cases," Tong said. This does not include diplomatic powers such as forming alliances and declaring war! ”

Zhu Cihong nodded: "I see...... I hope it's a misunderstanding, but if there are too many of them, it will inevitably lead to a state of full-blown hostility between the two countries! Therefore, I would like to send a plenipotentiary delegation to Europe, to visit the Netherlands, England, France, Spain, Portugal, etc., and to Rome to visit the Pope and the Jesuit Patriarch, and to reach an agreement on the spread of the Roman Catholic Church in the Ming Dynasty and its vassals.

I want to be given the right of the Roman Catholic Church to protect the church on the so-called East Asian continent! ”

The so-called "right to protect the Church" is a right and obligation granted by the Holy See to the secular government to protect the spread of Catholicism in non-Christian countries, and is a preferential privilege in the cause of Catholic missionary work.

The secular regime, which has this privilege, gains control over the Catholic Church in the area it "protects", and one of the most important powers is to recommend bishops to the Pope, who can only appoint priests recommended by the secular government, although the power to appoint bishops is nominally vested in the Pope. In addition, missionaries arriving in an area "protected" by a secular regime should also be registered and approved by that secular regime.

In other words, once Zhu Cihong has the right to protect the church, he can dominate the public religious forces on the East Asian continent!

"Your Majesty," Tang Ruowang looked at Emperor Zhu in surprise, "but you are not a disciple!" If you are willing to be baptized as a believer in the Lord, you can certainly become the protector of the East Asian Catholic Church......"

"Father Tang," Zhu Cihong interrupted John Tang, "you are not right, although I have not been baptized, I am a believer in heaven!" According to Father Matteo Ricci, the God of Christianity is the heaven or heavenly principle that we Chinese...... Both are the source of all things in the universe! And Father Long Huamin's later explanation of calling God God is completely wrong! As a protector of the Church, I do not agree with Long Huamin's erroneous interpretation! ”

Tang Ruowang was speechless, because Zhu Cihong was right! Matteo Ricci knows more about Chinese culture than Long Huamin, and of course knows that the Chinese heaven and heavenly principles and the Western God actually mean the same thing. God's statement is wrong, God's literal interpretation is the emperor of heaven, where does God mean the emperor? Long Huamin explained that he was either looking for something to establish his prestige, or he was unwilling to let Christianity and science be connected—equating God with Heavenly Reason might damage the prestige of the Church. Because the basis of science is the unity of heaven and man, this is equivalent to saying that people can communicate directly with heaven without going through priests or joining religions!

Zhu Cihong added: "In addition, Pope Innocent X did not consult me when he issued an encyclical prohibiting Chinese believers from participating in ancestor worship and worship of Confucius, so it violated my substantive right to protect the religion, which is invalid and wrong!" ”

"But you're not a protector yet......"

"I have the right to protect the religion!" Zhu Cihong said, "Because the King of Portugal has granted the right to protect the religion in the territory of the Ming Kingdom to the Portuguese Governor of Macao, and the Portuguese Governor of Macao is also my vassal, so I have the right to protect the Church!" Now I hope that the Pope of Rome will officially recognize my patronage! ”

This......

I don't think I'm wrong!

Macau is now one servant and two masters, and owes allegiance to Portugal and the Ming Dynasty at the same time. And the sovereignty of the land of Macao is indisputable and belongs to the Ming Dynasty! Therefore, the Governor of Macao can now only be called the Portuguese Governor of Macau - the governor is the Portuguese, not the land of Macao.

Because the Portuguese in Macao claimed to be a vassal to the Ming Dynasty, they were allowed to live in Macao and pay tribute!

Although Macau was still a Portuguese colony, the Governor of Macau was appointed by the King of Portugal and was subject to the Governor of India in Goa. But de jure, the Governor of Macao was also a vassal of the Ming Emperor.

Since he was a vassal minister, the governor of Macao had to obey the emperor's will. Moreover, in the past few years, the Portuguese Governor's Office in Macau (known as the Macau Council in the Ming Dynasty) has been deferential and loyal, contributing a lot to the founding of the Ming Dynasty and the introduction of Western culture and technology.

From this point of view, Zhu Cihong really has the right to protect the religion in East Asia!