The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 475 Dutch Missionaries

Carlbe Dezo was not wearing a hat and had two buttons of his blue tailcoat undone. Even though he was standing on the deck in the breeze, he still felt hot and uncomfortable.

His thoughts flew back to ten months ago, when the westerlies blew across the Atlantic Ocean, the waves beat against the embankment of Domburg (Note 1), the rolling waves made a rustling sound, and the seagulls foraging on the beach were occasionally startled away by the horn of the three-masted sailing ship.

His father handed Carlbe a parchment-wrapped package containing a battered, cowhide-bound volume of the New Testament. Carlbe knew the ill-fated book's origins well. He had heard from his grandfather since childhood that it belonged to his great-great-grandfather, a Dutch soldier named Carlbe Mateus, known as "Six Moons." Some seventy years earlier, during the Eighty Years' War against Spain, a rebellion against the Spanish king's persecution of Calvinists, Carlbe had fought on the Jerez de los Caballeros front. A bullet shattered his left leg, causing the wound to swell to the size of a coconut. However, his great-great-grandfather prayed earnestly over the volume, and God restored this devout soldier to health.

Forty years ago, Karlbe's grandfather was in a war with the British. His team was attacked by British longbowmen. It was this book of poems that blocked the British's deadly longbows. In that battle, the Dutch suffered more than 2100 casualties, and only Karlbe's grandfather survived by chance...
"My child, you must remember that statues may collapse and churches may lean, but for over a hundred years, the Karlbe family has been able to maintain its honor thanks to this Book of Psalms. David's Psalms is the Bible of the Bible. No matter where you are, no matter what kind of barbarians you encounter, you must persist in praying and reciting aloud, because only with a pious heart will God walk with you!"

Karlbe clearly remembered that when he boarded the merchant ship Athena, seagulls flew over the deck of the three-masted ship, and his father stood on the Domburg dock and reminded him again and again.

Calbe de La Rochefoucauld listened carefully to his father's teachings and returned to the cabin. As he was getting farther and farther away from Europe, he began to feel uneasy about carrying the "Collection of Poems" to the great Eastern country (called Baoqi by the employees of the East India Company).

This Protestant missionary went to China not only to preach, but more importantly to represent the Netherlands and make peace with the State of Qi, hoping that the other party would recognize the legitimate interests of the Dutch East India Company in Taiwan and other places.

The reason for sending the merchant ship Athena to the Far East was mainly to avoid irritating the emotions of the Orientals.

Four years ago, the Europeans had a gentlemanly contest with the Qi fleet in the Tsushima Strait. The naval combat strength displayed by the Orientals shocked everyone.

After the news of the disastrous defeat in the Battle of Tsushima reached Europe, Britain, the Netherlands and Denmark were forming an anti-Habsburg alliance and were fighting an endless battle with the Holy Roman Empire. Although European countries wanted to punish the provocative actions in the Far East, the major powers were mired in the war and were out of reach. Among the European countries, except for Tsarist Russia, which explicitly sent troops, other countries only allowed their East India companies to take action independently.

After the failure of the first anti-Qi alliance of the four-nation East India Company, the Netherlands was the first to send their delegation, hoping to start a dialogue with this rising military power in the Far East and peacefully resolve the Dutch East India Company's interests in Taiwan, Macau and other places.

The 26-year-old Dutch priest Carl Bede was one of the representatives of this peace mission.

Karlbe's faith in God was unquestionable, and centuries-old family legends reinforced his conviction of the arduous mission he had undertaken. Before the Athena even entered the Bohai Sea (China Sea), Captain Lacy ordered all Christian artifacts on board to be placed in wooden barrels. He then sent sailors to seal the barrels with nails and hand them over to the ruthless Qi customs officials.

Only when the peace talks were over and the Athena set sail would the barrel be allowed to be retrieved. Qi officials carefully inspected every corner of the cargo ship. It was said that anyone who hid any prohibited items in this land would be severely punished.

The Dutch sailors on the Athena complained that when they arrived in the northeastern Far East, they would not only have to hand over the Bible and the cross, but also have their hair shaved into pigtails (this was a rumor spread by Europeans about the Far East, confusing the Great Qi with the Qing Dynasty).

After the fully armed sailors boarded the deck of the Athena, all Europeans voluntarily handed over their crosses and various prohibited items. Only Carbe hid the book of poetry that saved his family's honor in a crack on the deck, stacked two barrels of wine on top, hoping to get away with it. Carbe was worried that if this ill-fated book fell into the hands of barbarians, it might actually meet God.

A naval officer with a finely shaved beard and a serious face came to the cargo hold and shouted orders to Captain Lacey. The translator translated the difficult Chinese into Dutch, and Karlbe vaguely heard these words.

"I am the bravest officer of the Qi navy. You may call me Meng Jinbao. According to the laws of the Great Qi, no heresy is permitted within the territory of the Great Qi. Anyone who violates this provision will be severely punished. Even though you are envoys, you must obey this law. Otherwise, the emperor will throw you into the mines to dig coal."

"Now, have all your people leave the hold and go up on deck. We will send someone to search thoroughly!"

The sun on the deck was scorching, burning the soles of all the Dutchmen's feet like a branding iron. A group of Qi soldiers armed with muskets and crossbows surrounded them, watching them intently.

The missionaries who were carrying contraband were uneasy, with beads of sweat on their foreheads. After the Battle of Tsushima, the captured Europeans had strange Chinese characters branded on their foreheads, and this matter later became a hot topic in Europe.

"Now, any moment now my Psalms will be discovered by these barbarians, and I will be branded, bringing shame upon my family."

Note:
1. Domburg, a city in the southwest of the Netherlands.

(End of this chapter)