After Long Huamin finished saluting, he maintained a kneeling posture on one knee and said these words to Emperor Chongzhen, who was sitting on the dragon chair in Wenhua Palace.

In the twenty-ninth year of Wanli, that is, in 1601 AD, the Wanli Emperor once issued an edict to allow the Italian Matteo Ricci and other Jesuit missionaries to stay in Beijing for a long time.

Later, around the 38th year of Wanli, that is, around 1610 AD, Matteo Ricci died of illness in Beijing, and at this time, the Wanli Emperor issued an edict to allow Matteo Ricci to be buried in Beijing.

This was the beginning of the settlement of Western missionaries in Kyoto.

Matteo Ricci has been in China for many years and has a deep understanding of Chinese culture, so his missionary strategy is to focus on the upper class, but also change some of the teachings of Catholicism, such as allowing Chinese believers and believers to continue to worship their ancestors and retain their own customs.

Therefore, Matteo Ricci's missionary career in China should be said to have achieved some success, which can be regarded as opening up the situation, and figures such as Xu Guangqi and Li Zhizao have converted to Catholicism because of their association with Matteo Ricci.

If Matteo Ricci had not died, or if Ricci's successors had adhered to their missionary strategy after Ricci's death, it is difficult to say what would have become of China in the future.

But fortunately, as soon as these Jesuits opened up the situation in China, Matteo Ricci fell ill and died, and when Matteo Ricci died, the successor he personally designated, that is, Long Huamin, the successor president of the Catholic Jesuits in China, had a completely different missionary thinking from Matteo Ricci.

This Long Huamin, a fanatical Jesuit missionary, was resolutely opposed to Matteo Ricci's practice of allowing Catholics in China to worship their ancestors, worship Confucius, and preserve their own customs.

Therefore, after he presided over the missionary activities of the Catholic Jesuit Society in China, he soon abolished the practice of Matteo Ricci, which is the so-called "Matteo Ricci rule", and from then on resolutely forbade Chinese believers to continue to worship God, worship their ancestors, and respect Confucius.

As a result, the missionary situation opened by Matteo Ricci in China immediately changed, not only with the three religions of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism, but also with the customs and habits of the vast majority of Chinese.

Although there were many more Jesuits who came to China to preach than Matteo Ricci, the effect of the mission was minimal, and the number of followers who had developed during Matteo Ricci's time gradually lost and shrunk day by day.

Now this Emperor Chongzhen knows about this situation, so speaking of which, he still has a little bit of a good impression of this self-righteous missionary Long Huamin.

Because the real danger to Chinese culture is not people like Long Huamin, but Matteo Ricci's missionary method of following the local customs.

Long Huamin's method is a typical painting of the ground as a prison, and he closes himself off, which will have no effect on the secularized land of China.

And the result brought by people like Long Huamin is exactly what Emperor Chongzhen is happy to see now.

After listening to Long Huamin's words, Emperor Chongzhen smiled at him, stretched out his hand, rushed up his palm, raised it slightly, signaled him to bow flat, stand up and speak.

After Long Huamin finished saying that, Li Guowei, the first assistant to the cabinet, and Jiang Yueguang, the deputy envoy of the Li Fan Yuan who was standing on Li Guowei's side, all looked at Long Huamin with solemn expressions.

They are traditional Confucian scholars, scholars, scholars, and doctors, and they absolutely do not want to see this foreign Yijiao spread wantonly in the Ming Dynasty.

In the past, when the court was debating the policy of opening the sea and trade, many civil officials blamed the introduction of Yijiao on the introduction of Yijiao and the policy of opening the sea by opposing the spread of Yijiao.

Although Emperor Chongzhen dismissed them one by one and sent them to prison, he actually quite agreed with their concerns about the spread of Yijiao.

And the controversy at that time had long spread throughout the court and among scholars.

Therefore, at this time, when Long Huamin, the leader of the Jesuits in China, said this, Li Guowei and Jiang Yueguang were nervous, lest the young emperor in front of them could not withstand the "flickering" and was bewitched by this red-haired devil to open up the spread of Yijiao in China.

However, to their surprise, Emperor Chongzhen only smiled at what Long Huamin said, and did not pick up the stubble, but looked at Xu Guangqi first.

"Xu Aiqing is a cabinet minister and a secretary of the Ministry of Rites, what does Xu Aiqing think of Long Huamin's thoughts?"

Xu Guangqi is not a fool, he is a scholar from Confucianism, but he converted to Catholicism from the West, and he is an outlier between the government and the opposition Shilin.

Now the emperor is asking this, obviously because of his sensitive identity, knowing that if he doesn't answer correctly, he will be burned.

"Your Majesty, I think that among the missionaries who came to China from the West, there are many talented people, whose astronomy, calendar, geography, arithmetic, and even the study of all kinds of crafts can be used by me in China.

As for the Catholic teachings preached, the ministers think that the benevolent see the benevolent, the wise see the wise, and there are many who listen and believe, and those who reject and rebuke are all the borderlands, and cannot be generalized.

"From a minister's point of view, it may be compatible and mutually beneficial to the three teachings of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism in China. This is a little bit of the minister's opinion, as for the rest, please also ask Your Majesty to make a judgment. ”

As soon as Xu Guangqi finished saying this, Li Guoyi, the first assistant of the cabinet, felt that he couldn't bear it anymore and had to speak.

"Xu Ge's words are wrong, my Chinese lineage has lasted up and down for thousands of years, so those who rely on it have culture. And the fact that China does not agree with the transformation of foreign barbarians is also because China has a culture that is different from that of foreign barbarians.

"And the most important thing in my Chinese culture is nothing more important than respecting heaven and ancestors, nothing more than the three outlines and five constants, and nothing more than loyalty, filial piety, benevolence and righteousness.

"Speaking of respecting the sky, my China has its own Haotian God, speaking of the ancestors, my China is the Yan Huang noble, if you talk about the three outlines and five constants, loyalty, filial piety, benevolence and righteousness, my China has its own Zhou Gong Confucius and Mencius Taoism.

"In addition to messing with my people's hearts and destroying my Taoism, what kind of benefits does Yijiao have for my China?! Please think deeply and act cautiously! ”

At this time, Jiang Yueguang, the deputy envoy of the Li Fan Academy, also stood up and said: "What Lord Shoufu said, every sentence is the truth, and the so-called Yidi has a king, it is not as good as the death of Zhuxia." Please think deeply, discern and act prudently! ”

Now that Emperor Chongzhen is dizzy, he will not encourage the spread of Yijiao in China, so seeing that Li Guoyao and Jiang Yueguang are a little anxious, he said to the two of them: "Two Aiqing, don't be impatient!" ”

After saying this, looking at Long Huamin, John Tang and Condinius standing in the hall, Emperor Chongzhen said:

"You missionaries come from the Taixi countries, cross the ocean, and come to my China, but I don't know what you think of my China?"

In Long Huamin's eyes, of course, the Chinese are all pagans who do not believe in God, but he can't say this!

Therefore, when he organized the language, John Tang, who was quite sleek in life, said: "China has a vast land, a splendid culture, and a complete system, and it is naturally not inferior to my Holy Roman Empire!" And China's imperial examination system, compared with the gate valve system of the Taixi countries, is especially surpassed! ”

Hearing Tang Ruowang say this, the faces of Li Guowei and the others softened a little.

However, at this time, Emperor Chongzhen said: "I am very curious, how do the Taixi countries call me the Great Ming Dynasty?" ”

This time, Condinius, a Dutch missionary standing behind John Tong, said aloud: "Chine! We Europeans call China chine!"

Chine, which is the Flemish language that is, the Dutch name for China, is actually China in English later, that is, the Shina in the mouth of the Japanese later.

This appellation, at first, was not malicious, and originally meant nothing more than porcelain, but later it became a term for the Eastern and Western powers to discriminate against and humiliate China.

And the meaning of China itself, porcelain, is indeed not a particularly beautiful word.

This Dutch missionary also lived in the East for many years, and there were many Chinese in Batavia, so he could speak some Chinese.

"Your Majesty, we Europeans call your country with porcelain from your country! You just asked us how we Europeans perceive your country. That's a great question!

"In the eyes of us Europeans today, your country is like a gorgeous and fragile piece of Oriental porcelain! Your country, though large, is weak and is no match for the fortified guns of our European countries!

"Having said this, I sincerely hope that, Your Majesty the Great Emperor, please restrain your general Nicholas Zheng, whose hostility towards the Dutch Grand Commander may provoke a war between your country and our Dutch East India Company!"

Nicholas is the Catholic name of Zheng Zhilong, who converted to Catholicism in his early years when he joined the Portuguese in Macau.

However, Zheng Zhilong's so-called conversion is of the same nature as the vast majority of Chinese in this era, that is, opportunistic and advantageous, and there is no sincerity.