prosperous age

"I am not Spanish, I am Italian."

Throughout the afternoon, Matteo Ricci tirelessly emphasized this to his colleagues.

He came to the Ming Dynasty to spread the Catholic gospel, and he didn't want to ruin his mission because of the relationship between Spain and the Ming Dynasty.

Although Spain is one of the few powerful countries in Europe with a strong secular church, their missionary work has received much help from Spain.

But compared to his missionary work in the Ming Dynasty, what are those Spanish interests?
He finally entered the Ming Dynasty's officialdom, and although he was only a minor, insignificant official, he was still able to obtain a lot of information that the common people did not know.

This was a phenomenon in the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty: everyone regarded their colleagues as one of their own.

I will share anything that doesn't involve my personal life.

Why does the church send missionaries to spread its doctrines? It's to expand its influence.

Is there anything more influential than spreading religious doctrines in a powerful and populous country like the Ming Dynasty?

How many people were there in the Ming Dynasty?
Before he came here, he just thought there would be a lot.

However, after he actually entered the Ming Dynasty's officialdom and became a part of the bureaucratic system, he heard some news.

According to the latest household registration statistics, the population of the Ming Dynasty is as high as 1.1 million.

But the place where he started was incomparable.

Although the current population of Europe is unknown, the Church did conduct a simple survey in earlier years, estimating it to be around 6000 to 7000 million people.

Well, the entire population of Europe is only slightly more than half the population of the Ming Dynasty.

Europe lacks rigorous population statistics, but both secular and ecclesiastical populations have a general estimate.

For example, the United Kingdom has a population of about 320 million, France has 1100 million, Spain has 800 million, and Italy, the core of the Church's rule, and the Holy Roman Empire together have a population of more than 2000 million.

This is the distribution of the main population of Europe, while the populations of other smaller countries range from hundreds of thousands to millions.

Therefore, the Ming Dynasty was truly a blue ocean for missionaries.

A nation of hundreds of millions of potential believers would drive any missionary crazy.

Compared to the missionaries who remained in the Americas and struggled to spread their faith among indigenous tribes, spreading their faith in the Ming Dynasty was like being in paradise.

Although there are minor issues such as differences in lifestyle habits, he has gradually gotten used to and accepted them.

It must be said that the capital of the Ming Dynasty was completely incomparable to the most prosperous cities in Europe, such as Paris, Milan, and Naples.

That's too outdated.

Matteo Ricci only considered emphasizing his Italian identity to those around him, and didn't even think about passing on the message to the Spanish in Luzon.

Of course, this was also related to the fact that he came to the capital of the Ming Dynasty alone, without any trustworthy compatriots around him.

If he entrusts a Ming person to deliver a message for him, he is unsure whether the other party will immediately report it to the authorities and have him arrested.

"Oh, Italians, well, to me you all look pretty much the same, it's really hard to tell you apart."

Inside the Siyi Pavilion, his colleagues chatted and laughed with Matteo Ricci.

European delegations have visited the Ming Dynasty several times. In the eyes of the Ming people, Europeans all look pretty much the same: short stature, dark skin, distinct facial features, and colorful hair.

It's obvious at a glance that they're not Ming people.

Being short in stature seems to be the biggest perception the Ming Dynasty had of its surrounding vassal states and foreign peoples.

China has historically been characterized by taller people in the north and shorter people in the south. The average height of people in the north is close to 1.7 meters, while that in the south is about 1.65 meters.

Perhaps due to their balanced nutrition, the gentry were generally taller than the average height in the north.

Therefore, in officialdom, Matteo Ricci, whose height was only equivalent to that of people from southern China in the Ming Dynasty, was considered a dwarf compared to his colleagues who were all 1.7 meters tall.

Matteo Ricci himself stated the same thing in his journal.

Matteo Ricci's height would be considered very tall even by European standards, but in the Ming Dynasty, his stature was quite ordinary.

Meanwhile, the average height of Europeans at the same time was about 1.6 meters for Southern Europeans and only about the same as that of Southern Europeans during the Ming Dynasty.

In Europe, only nobles could grow to a height of 1.7 meters.

After tireless efforts, Matteo Ricci finally managed to stop the people around him from looking at him with strange eyes, which made him feel very accomplished.

He is currently trying to become a citizen of the Ming Dynasty so that he can stay in the Ming Dynasty for a long time to spread his teachings.

However, in his view, the conditions for people from vassal states to obtain citizenship in the Ming Dynasty were far too harsh.

You either have to be rich or talented. He is talented, but he has spent most of his skill points on religion.

In fact, he did not realize that some of the knowledge taught by the church was actually the starting point for scientific development, including mathematics, geography, and some basic physics and chemistry knowledge.

However, Matteo Ricci also knew that what truly prevented him from becoming a citizen of the Ming Dynasty, besides the household registration certificate, was his own personal issues.

Compared to the Ming people, their strange smell always led to them being ostracized by their colleagues.

When he interacted with his colleagues, they would usually stand two steps away and talk to him.

To be honest, Matteo Ricci was quite envious of the fact that Ming people almost never had any strange smells on them, except for eunuchs.

Meanwhile, Manila was no longer as peaceful as it had been before.

Although the Governor of Manila has not yet made up his mind to eliminate the Chinese in and out of the city, and has only imprisoned them, more than two months have passed, and the Chinese have clashed with the guards many times over incidents of going out to buy daily necessities.

The local indigenous people were also somewhat dissatisfied, since many of them were still working in workshops and shops run by Chinese.

The imprisonment of Chinese people prevented them from working.

In addition, the laborers at the docks also lost a lot of work because the Ming merchant ships had suddenly stopped arriving.

In just over two months, the entire city of Manila, both inside and out, has transformed into a scene of desolation and decay.

Meanwhile, the northern city of Turtle Island seemed to have become aware of the situation in Manila, especially after the Ming merchants left, the frequency of Ming army patrols on the border increased significantly.

Correspondingly, the Spanish army had to increase the frequency of patrols.

Although no conflict has broken out between the two sides so far, behind the surface of peace, tensions are actually running high.

"Your Excellency, the treasure ship is fully loaded with cargo, and we hope to set sail back to Mexico as soon as possible."

Inside the Governor's Palace, the commander of the treasure fleet spoke to the Governor of Manila.

Although the situation here has become tense recently due to some reasons, Manila still has enough Ming Dynasty goods in stock.

After unloading the goods they brought and loading the finest items from the Ming Dynasty onto the ship, they wanted to leave as soon as possible.

However, the governor's office rejected the idea of ​​these three large sailing ships, along with the two escort galleons, to set sail.

"There's still time, it won't delay your schedule."

Our relationship with the Ming Dynasty is currently unclear, and I need you to take this letter back to Mexico and deliver it to the Governor-General's Office.

The Governor of Manila explained to the fleet commander, "I don't want you to come back next year to find that the masters here have changed."

"Well, while I understand your concerns, they have been unwilling to discuss things with us, and I don't know how long this situation will continue."

If we are delayed too long, it will affect our return trip.

The fleet commander emphasized that after releasing the Ming merchants, Manila City hoped to make contact with Ming officials in Turtle City as soon as possible to ease the current hostility.

However, in the Ming Dynasty, dispatched officials were not authorized to make arbitrary decisions on the spot, so while Turtle City did not reject Manila City's proposal, it also did not make any promises.

They are waiting for a reply from the capital.

In this respect, although the Ming Dynasty has begun to expand outwards, it is clearly still in the early stages and has not yet delegated power.

In many cases, it really does cause a lot of delays.

After nearly two centuries of expansion, the Spanish king had delegated power to lower levels.

While domestic power remained firmly in the hands of the king, overseas power had been transferred to the Mexican Viceroyalty.

The administration of other Spanish colonies was also free to report to the Viceroyalty of Mexico and take any actions they deemed appropriate.

Just as Portugal transferred the administration of its overseas colonies to the Governor-General of Goa.

They had realized that due to the distance, it was difficult for the homeland to manage emergencies that occurred in the colonies in a timely manner.

Although transportation between these colonies and the Governor-General of Goa, or the Governor-General of Mexico, remained difficult, it was still much faster than waiting for orders from the mainland.

To this day, all government orders in the Ming Dynasty still originate from the capital.

Beijing even issued a formal document to Nanjing, prohibiting Nanjing from interfering in overseas affairs.

This was undoubtedly written by Wei Guangde out of concern that interference from the Nanjing court would lead to confusion in foreign policy.

However, this also directly led to Nanjing's indifference to overseas affairs, causing the processing time for many foreign-related incidents to be at least half a month longer.

Well, because of the current system in the Ming Dynasty, the Spanish in Manila have been waiting for so long, but still haven't received a reply from the northern city of Turtle Island.

The longer it drags on, the greater their worries become.

Without a doubt, such a long period of time was enough for the Ming Dynasty to assemble a fleet capable of overwhelming the Philippines in one fell swoop.

Therefore, in the governor's eyes, those five Spanish warships represented Spain's last chance of victory.

If things truly reach a point of no return, they will still have a chance to board the large sailing ship and return to Mexico.

Of course, he wouldn't say that, but he hoped to leave the fleet behind to strengthen their naval power in the Philippines in order to deal with a possible attack from the Ming Dynasty.

"Based on the timeline, I can wait at most two more months, otherwise it will really delay my return flight."

The monsoon circulation isn't always present. Observations indicate that the northeast monsoon will gradually weaken in about a month, which will also affect our flight path.

The fleet commander said with a hint of helplessness.

Although he was the undisputed leader in the fleet, once ashore, according to Spanish regulations, he had to obey the local governor.

His fleet belonged to the Mexican fleet, and its commander-in-chief was the Governor-General of Mexico.

Just like the commander-in-chief of the Philippine fleet is the governor of Manila, a second-level fleet commander like him can only take orders from a higher-ranking commander.

“I understand. I will send a special envoy to Tortoise City again tomorrow.”

The governor nodded slightly and expressed his thoughts.

Without a clear understanding of the relationship with the Ming Dynasty, he truly didn't know how to handle the current situation.

If he makes an inappropriate decision and the kingdom loses the Philippines in the Far East, then he will bear a heavy responsibility.

Just then, a guard rushed in and reported, "Your Excellency, the Chinese in the city are causing trouble again. They are breaking through the fence and trying to get out."

"Didn't we say that they are allowed to send representatives out regularly to purchase daily necessities?"

The Governor-General of Manila said with dissatisfaction.

"But they said they had to work because they had no money left, and they couldn't buy supplies if they didn't earn money."

The guard replied helplessly.

Chinese people do have a habit of saving money; this is not a new phenomenon, but rather a habit that has been cultivated for a long time.

Perhaps it is also related to the numerous dynastic changes in Chinese history.

However, even with savings, they couldn't withstand the constant extortion by the Spanish guards.

Although the governor promised to send people to purchase supplies regularly, they would still be exploited during that time.

In reality, Chinese people certainly still have money, but they see no hope and are unwilling to give up their savings.

So, with someone taking the lead, these Chinese people united and have already stormed the Spanish soldiers' blockade line several times.

"I'll go take a look first; sometimes the people down there are going too far."

Before we understand the attitude of the Ming people, it's difficult for us to take action against them.

So far, in order to avoid angering the Ming Dynasty, the Spanish officials in Manila have been relatively restrained.

Even though they knew that their soldiers were extorting money from Chinese people, they pretended not to see it.

In fact, even in the Americas under their control, these kinds of things are commonplace and no one interferes.

In the Americas, when Spanish troops were short of money, they would often massacre entire villages of local indigenous tribes and plunder their property.

In the Philippines, the local indigenous tribes receive the same treatment.

Whenever the Spanish needed manpower, they would send troops to search for indigenous tribes throughout the south.

Those who obey will be let off.

Those who refuse to follow their orders will be eliminated.

The Spanish people today simply haven't fully grasped the difference between the Chinese and the Ming people, so they still have some reservations.

A few years ago, all the Chinese who were enslaved in Europe were freed, and officials from the Ming Dynasty even went to Europe to negotiate this matter.

The Governor-General of Manila actually didn't want to provoke such a powerful empire.

Seeing the governor leave, the fleet commander had no choice but to leave the governor's mansion as well.

So far, they were unaware that the Ming fleet had already landed on the American continent, even after they encountered Ming ships coming from the east.

However, the atmosphere inside the Mexican Viceroyal Palace was oppressive, as Viceroy Pedro de Toledo was listening to a report from his subordinates.

"Still haven't figured out which country that ship belongs to?"

Well, when the Ming Dynasty gunboat was returning to port, it was shelled by a patrol vessel of the Spanish Pacific Fleet, and they have been searching for the origin of this warship ever since.

The Americas, or what they call New Spain, are absolutely not to be touched by foreign powers.

Therefore, regardless of whether the ships were Portuguese, British, French, or from other countries, they were all opened fire upon sight.

"We have dispatched patrol boats to both the north and south, but so far we have not found anything."

"Your Excellency, I am more inclined to believe they are an exploration fleet from some country."

The staff officer analyzed. (End of Chapter)