readx; The two learned missionaries were stumped by a tricky question from Zhu Youzhen, and they couldn't help but blush. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

Zhu Youzhen smiled secretly in his heart, in fact, this is a typical "two laws contradictory" proposition. This philosophical concept was put forward by the German philosopher Immanuel Kant in the eighteenth century, and the Christians of the previous life could not answer this question at all, so they prevaricated with answers such as "God does not do such frivolous things". But it was still the seventeenth century, Kant didn't know where it was, and it was the first time that Maldini and John Tong were faced with such a sharp question, of course, only with a big eye and a small eye.

Seeing that the two of them were extremely embarrassed, Zhu Youzhen felt that he had achieved his goal, so he slowed down and smiled: "Two, this king will never believe in Christianity, and you don't have to bother talking." But if you say that you can't move your own king, you don't necessarily mean that you can't move others. If you want to preach in Shaanxi, I can help. Of course, you also have to meet the king's demands. ”

Maldini and John Tang were originally depressed, but when they heard this, they were overjoyed and said: "As long as His Highness is willing to help, we can agree to any request!" ”

So Zhu Youzhen told his own conditions. First, he allowed the two to preach in Shaanxi, but only in the city of Xi'an. He also promised to pay for the two to build a Catholic church, but due to the shortage of manpower and the coordination with the Xi'an government, it is difficult to say when it will be completed. And he only allowed the two to preach, as for whether the people believe it or not, that's their business, and Zhu Youzhen will definitely not help.

In exchange, first of all, Zhu Youzhen wanted to establish a middle school in Qinwangzhuang, and Maldini and John Tang had to take turns to teach at the school, teaching mathematics, astronomy, geography, history, navigation, and other courses, and it was strictly forbidden to carry private goods when teaching: preaching.

Furthermore, Zhu Youzhen hoped that Maldini would contact the Portuguese in Macao as soon as possible to convey Chu's desire to establish trade relations with the Portuguese.

Maldini was overjoyed when he heard this, and immediately agreed, and said excitedly: "It just so happens that there is a Portuguese duke named Joao who came to Macao with me on the same ship, and we are very good friends. He also wanted to learn about the mysterious Orient and restore Portugal to its former glory. And he's also very young, and I think His Highness has a lot in common with him, and you certainly have a lot of common language. ”

Zhu Youjian listened to this and thought that most European countries do not have emperors, except for the king, they are the largest dukes, and in terms of rank, they are the same level as their own princes. Moreover, the feudal aristocracy in the West is not rich and powerless like the princes of the Ming Dynasty, but each has its own territory and army, to put it bluntly, it is a local emperor, and it is a political and military force that cannot be underestimated.

Now that Spain and the Netherlands have invaded the treasure island of Taiwan, Zhu Youzhen, whose naval strength Zhu Youzhen has seen, is not an opponent at all in the Ming Dynasty. As the saying goes, two fists are hard to beat with four hands, and a good man can't stand a lot of people, if these two robber countries also invade the Ming Dynasty from the sea, plus the Houjin and the Japanese Kou, then it's strange if you don't finish playing.

Therefore, Zhu Youzhen has long considered co-opting some Western countries and using their strength to deal with Spain and the Netherlands. After the recovery of Taiwan, the Ming Dynasty should not always hold the shelf of the "Celestial Empire", but still have to establish normal diplomatic relations and trade with Western countries. At the same time, it is also necessary to catch up and vigorously develop the navy. With a strong navy, there is no fear of covetousness from the Western powers.

In Zhu Youzhen's conception, Britain is a suitable choice. They had a powerful navy, had defeated the Spanish Armada and were now hostile to the Dutch, so it could be said that "the enemy of our enemy is our friend". In addition, he met Charlie, the crown prince of the United Kingdom, and with their friendship of sharing adversity, it was not a problem to reach cooperation.

But Britain is now in the midst of civil strife, and Charlie may not be able to ascend to the throne of king smoothly as in his previous life. Moreover, the British now focused their operations and colonization on India, and the closest stronghold to China was in Surat, India; The Netherlands and Spain, on the other hand, not only do they both have a base in Taiwan, but the Netherlands is headquartered in Batavia (Jakarta) and Spain is even closer to Manila, Luzon. In the event of war, even if the Ming Dynasty and Britain formed an alliance, the Netherlands and Spain could still quickly move north to threaten China's Liangguang and Fujian regions, while Britain was far from quenching their thirst.

Since he couldn't count on Britain entirely, Zhu Youzhen naturally set his sights on Portugal. The Portuguese have been operating in Macau for decades, and they also have a stronghold in Malacca City in the Straits of Malacca, which is geographically advantageous to the British. And the relationship between Portugal and the Ming Dynasty is okay, except for the Ming Dynasty to lease Macao to Portugal, the Portuguese did not have much ambition to invade China, on the contrary, they also sold China a lot of advanced firearms, the Franc cannon and the Hongyi cannon were purchased from the Portuguese. Now from Maldini's mouth, Zhu Youzhen knows that the Portuguese aristocracy is trying to rebel against Spanish rule, and he wants to pull Portugal into the camp of the Ming Dynasty.

But these measures can only be implemented by the imperial court, in other words, Zhu Youzhen can only be the emperor. But he is still only a vassal king, which dooms him to do it secretly even if he has an idea. Now that Maldini has a bridge and can get to know the Duke of Portugal, he certainly does not want to miss this opportunity.

Through Maldini's introduction, Zhu Youzhen also briefly learned that this Duke of João is really promising, and it turns out that he is the great-grandson of King Manuel I in the heyday of Portugal. However, since Portugal was annexed by the Spanish Habsburgs by blood relations, the Spanish royal family was very wary of the original aristocracy in Portugal, and the descendants of the king were the first to bear the brunt.

Originally, the João family lived in Lisbon, which is also the political and economic center of Portugal. However, in order to weaken their influence, the Spanish royal family forcibly moved them to Bragança, the northernmost part of Portugal, and made them Duke of Bragança. is called a duke, but in fact, the territory under his jurisdiction is not much different from a county in the Ming Dynasty, so the Joao family hates the Spanish royal family to the core.

And this young Joao, who has had great ambitions since he was a child, is committed to restoring Portugal and recreating the glory of Portugal in the Age of Discovery. As a result, he became a seafarer at the age of 10, and he developed a strong physique and a wealth of experience. Now in his early twenties, he has an extraordinary appeal among the Portuguese. Of course, he also became a thorn in the side of King Philip IV of Spain and was assassinated many times. In order to avoid disaster, João simply traveled to Macao this time.

Zhu Youjian immediately said: "Mr. Maldini, please immediately arrange a secret meeting between this king and the Duke of Joao, there are indeed many topics to talk about between us!" ”