Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 338 Confinement and Release

"Then why do you think this interpreter surnamed Men did this kind of thing?" Fang Congzhe continued to ask.

"How would I know?" Ye Xianggao's face wrinkled. "I've never heard the Jesuits say anything absurd to me. I always thought they were just a bunch of foreigners and foreign Confucianists who admired the rule of the Celestial Empire."

"Have you seen the man surnamed Men?" Fang Congzhe asked finally.

"Maybe I've seen him before," Ye Xianggao thought for a moment. "Before the Western soldiers supporting Liao went north, I visited their house in Zhengxifang. When they come to visit, I have to return the favor. But now I can't remember what Mendoza looks like."

"Okay." Fang Congzhe nodded. "Write a secret report based on the questions I just asked you and your answers. Send it to the study tomorrow and defend yourself to the emperor. As long as the emperor doesn't doubt it, it doesn't matter what others say. I will co-sign it with you."

"Zhonghan!" Ye Xianggao was moved.

"Don't look at me like that. I just don't want you to get involved." Fang Congzhe turned his head away.

Ye Xianggao looked at Fang Congzhe's profile in silence for a while, then asked, "Zhonghan, what about Xu Zixian?"

"He probably can't keep it," Fang Congzhe said. "He was the one who brought these foreigners to Beijing and sent them to Liaodong. The letter from the Ministry of Rites to Guangdong, the petition requesting Western barbarian troops to aid Liaodong, all these documents have his signature. And I heard he even converted to a religion and took a new name like 'Baocai' or 'Baolu'. These things are all evidence, and he can't deny it. And the house in Zhengxifang may still have private letters sent to them by Xu Zixian."

"Xu Zixian is extremely loyal and upright, it is impossible for him to write nonsense!" Ye Xianggao said with certainty.

"Even if there is no paradox in it, it is still evidence." Fang Congzhe turned around and looked at Ye Xianggao.

"Can you think of a solution?" Ye Xianggao said sincerely, "It's to protect a talented person for the country. The cabinet should also find a way to turn this around."

"I'll think about you." Fang Congzhe didn't look away this time. "Huifu and I already had our say on the incident in the 44th year of the Wanli reign. It's recorded in the diary. I can only remain silent at this moment. I can't possibly speak for him. And I urge you not to take it personally." Fang Congzhe emphasized his tone. "If this case gets serious, it will bring disaster to your family."

"This! Oh!" Ye Xianggao sighed.

"Let's get him a transfer outside the city," Fang Congzhe said. "Nanjing...or rather, forget about Nanjing. Let's go to the northwest. Stay away from it. Once the storm has died down, we can transfer him back."

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When Johann Adam Schall von Bell and Sun Yuanhua were brought to the Jesuit headquarters in Zhengxifang, the captains of the Northern Pacification Office were loading the last batch of letters to the Censorate onto carriages.

"Tang Guanzheng, we meet again." Yang Huan shifted his gaze from the seal to Tang Ruowang. "Who is this?" He glanced at Sun Yuanhua.

"This is a successful candidate in the imperial examination. We found Tang Guanzheng in his home," said the small flag officer who was escorting Tang Ruowang.

"Looking for it?" Tang Ruowang stared at the small flag: "You have been monitoring me all along!"

"So what? You're causing trouble at the Imperial Examination Hall. Your career as an official is probably over." Yang Huan was scolded along with the arrest order, and now he's in a bad mood. "And you. What's your name? Why did you take him in?"

"My surname is Sun, and my name is Yuanhua. I have a good relationship with Tang Guanzheng." Sun Yuanhua straightened his chest.

"Ha!" Yang Huan sneered. "Do you know what this case is?"

"I heard it from Tang Guanzheng." Sun Yuanhua said.

"Okay, very good." Yang Huan ordered: "Lock them up. Separately."

"Yes." The little flag replied.

After the two were taken away, Yang Huan said to the general flag officer who was following him, "General Flag Officer Gao, send someone to investigate Sun Yuanhua and find out who he associates with."

"Okay." Gao Zongqi accepted the order.

In order to facilitate supervision, all foreigners were concentrated in the second courtyard, while the front courtyard and the third courtyard became resting places for the captains of the Northern Pacification Office during their shifts.

The foreigners were imprisoned in groups. Among them, the mercenaries, known for their physical strength and obvious violent tendencies, were divided into three groups and locked in the three western wing rooms, under the watchful eye of an equal number of lieutenants. The priests and merchants were also divided into three groups and imprisoned in the eastern wing, but because they posed less of a threat, they were only guarded by a small number of personnel to prevent them from committing suicide.

As for the main rooms facing north and south, they are now the temporary residence of Captain Yang Huan and two general flags.

Xiaoqi brought Tang Ruowang to the northernmost room in the east wing. As soon as Tang Ruowang was thrown in, the people sitting around the round table in the main room exclaimed in unison: "Master Tang!"

"Bell!"

Johann Adam Schall von Bell glanced at everyone dejectedly without responding.

"Master Tang, what's going on?" The merchant representative, ship owner Dinesh Joao, and several other merchants came forward. The flag officer on duty in the room saw this scene, but instead of saying anything to stop it, he gave the flag officer who escorted the man in a look.

The little flag understood, closed the door and turned to leave.

"Dinesh Joao. I am now a prisoner like you." Johann Adam Schall von Bell replied in Chinese and glanced at the Imperial Guards again.

"Don't worry, I've bribed them." Dinesh Joao forced a smile and replied in Portuguese.

"!" Tang Ruowang's eyes widened. "How did you do that?"

"They're just giving us silver. Everyone likes gold and silver," Dinesh Joao said, gesturing towards the rather elegant refreshments on the table. "As long as we don't run or flee, or scream or shout, they won't embarrass us or stop us from speaking."

"That's right!" Tang Ruowang suddenly realized and slapped his forehead in frustration, leaving a clear red mark on it. "How could I forget the silver! If I had used the silver, maybe I could have seen Master Xu!"

Tang Ruowang had a good idea, but if he had actually offered to bribe the inspector at the entrance to the Imperial Examination Hall, he would have been tackled to the ground and then taken to the Censorate to face off against Mendoza. "These soldiers say we're implicated in a major crime. But they won't say anything else," Dinesh João anxiously inquired. "Do you know what the case is? Is it related to Lord Xu?"

"It's a rebellion," said Johann Adam Schall von Bell.

"What! Lord Xu rebelled?" Dinesh Joao and the others present were immediately shocked. They had heard many stories of businessmen being involved in mutinies and then being implicated.

"Keep your voice down! Stop yelling!" the flag officer called out to stop them. Even though they accepted the money and granted some convenience within the legal scope, the Jinyiwei's attitude towards the foreigners was not much better.

"Sorry, sorry." The slave trader Władysław Amato beside Dinesh João bowed for him.

"Heh." Tang Ruowang actually laughed. "It wasn't Lord Xu who betrayed us, it was one of our people who betrayed us."

"Don't scare us!" Dinesh Joao felt his throat suddenly dry. He reached for his canteen, but it was empty; only two drops escaped. He instinctively wanted to ask the flagon guarding them for a refill, but as he glanced over, he noticed the man's face suddenly became terrifying.

"Why would I scare you? This is what the captain named Yang told me himself." Johann Adam Schall von Bell looked worried.

"What the hell is going on?" Although the arms dealer Harald Brandt lowered his voice, one could still hear obvious urgency in his tone.

Counting the days, the gunsmiths he had hired from Europe at great expense would arrive in Ming Dynasty in two months at most. His biggest worry during this period was that he would spend the money, hire the people, but fail to complete the business.

"Father Mendoza was beheaded by General Xiong for preaching in the army." Even though Johann Adam Schall von Bell diligently studied Ming culture and institutions, he still didn't fully understand the difference between civil and military officials. He believed that Xiong Tingbi, commanding so many troops, must be a general, fundamentally different from officials like them who dealt with paperwork all day.

Now it was the priests' turn to get restless. "Didn't His Majesty allow us to preach in this land?"

The speaker was a young priest named Qi Weicai. Like Johann Adam Schall von Bell, he was one of the twenty-two missionaries brought to China by Alexander Trigault in the 46th year of the Wanli reign. Besides being a Jesuit missionary, Qi Weicai was also Schall von Bell's classmate in Rome.

"The charge wasn't proselytizing." Tang Ruowang recalled Yang Huan's words and said as accurately as he could: "It was insulting the emperor, colluding with the enemy, and attempting to incite unrest in the army."

"It's over! It's over!" Harald Brandt felt like he was going to faint. "My gold coins!"

"Instead of worrying about your gold coins, you might as well worry about your neck first. Rebellion will lead to the gallows." French plantation owner Rogers Heydrich hanged slaves who tried to rebel against him more than once.

"Why would the Church send a madman to the front lines?!" Mine owner Ryan Hobbs had been holding it in for a long time, but now he couldn't hold it in any longer. "He's just preaching, so what? Why is he insulting the emperor?"

"What are you talking about!" The room started to get noisy again, and the flag officer had to speak up again to stop it. "If you keep yelling, shut up!"

"Sorry." Dinesh Joao felt like his heart was about to explode, but he still forced himself to stand up and tried to bribe the flag again.

Dinesh Joao was about to take out two more small silver pieces, but panicked and ended up stuffing his entire purse into the small flag. "Sir, please forgive me and don't be angry with me." He had been diligently learning Chinese and could now speak simple sentences fluently.

Xiaoqi felt the heaviness of his purse, and his expression immediately softened. "Speak softly, this is for your own good." He even took the empty kettle. "Go. Fill it up."

"Yes." The little flag he was staring at took the order and went out. Then a new person came in and filled the vacant seat.

"Mr. Bell, you are very powerful. Is there any way to help us clear our suspicion?" Dinesh Joao asked. "No matter how much it costs!"

"If I had a way, do you think I would still be here?" Tang Ruowang's face fell like a deflated eggplant. "If they hadn't captured me and locked me up here, I wouldn't be able to see you."

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The next morning, before daybreak, a carriage carrying a lantern from the Imperial Household arrived at a blocked intersection in front of the Jesuit compound. The lieutenant at the intersection had just finished his shift and, though yawning, was still quite energetic. He spotted the gleaming lantern from afar.

As the carriage approached, the flag officer commanding the team had received the news and came over to meet them.

"Excuse me, which eunuch are you here to visit?" As he spoke, the flag officer's face was full of flattery.

"Just lead the way." A voice came from the carriage through the curtain.

"Yes." In fact, there was only one corner left and only a few steps to go, but the small flag officer still led the way eagerly.

After the carriage stopped, a eunuch who was accompanying the carriage quickly ran to the front of the carriage and crouched down. Then the coachman jumped out of the carriage, placed a piece of cloth on the eunuch's back, and then together with another eunuch, rolled up the carriage curtain and placed it on the hook of the carriage frame.

Wei Chao bent down, stepped on the eunuch's back, and got off the carriage steadily. He looked at the gatekeeper and ordered, "I am Wei Chao. Open the door."

In fact, without waiting for him to say anything, when the python with golden scales on his body appeared in front of the Jinyiwei, everyone had already guessed his identity.

While comprehensively overhauling the internal bureaucracy, the emperor also accepted the advice of the Imperial Household Department, reaffirming the Jiajing dynasty's clothing regulations and strictly controlling the prevalence of irregular attire within the palace. Based on ancestral rules, he established a specific attire for each level of palace personnel according to his established order. For example, only the top eunuchs in the palace—the Imperial Household Department's seal holders and pen holders, the Imperial Horse Department's seal holders and assistant scribes, and the Qianqing Gate's general manager—were allowed to wear a python. Even then, there were distinctions: only the two Imperial Household Department's seal holders could wear a sitting python, while everyone else wore a walking python.

Hanging the lanterns of the Imperial Household Department and wearing the dragon robes of the imperial guards, this narrowed the field to four people. Subtracting the two factory governors who were well-known to everyone in the Northern Pacification Office and the only young man in the Imperial Household Department, the answer was obvious.

"Yes!" The captain guarding the gate immediately turned around and knocked on the door.

He knocked quickly and urgently, and the door opened in a moment.

The flag officer on duty blinked his sleepy, bloodshot eyes and said impatiently, "Are you full? One knock is enough."

"The great ancestor is here!" the captain said in a low voice.

(End of this chapter)