Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 405: Capturing the Criminal and Releasing His Confinement
Some of those who did not kneel did not know what it meant, and some simply did not want to kneel.

In the eyes of those who are unwilling to kneel, only "Deus" is worthy of their worship and prayer. However, in the territory of the Ming Dynasty, what they think and what they think is not very important.

"Kneel down and listen to the imperial edict!" Yang Huan shouted loudly.

"Kneel and listen to the imperial decree!" the Jinyiwei present also shouted. The chorus of shouts sent tremors through the organs of the Westerners. This was especially true for the priests and merchants who had gathered at Chengtian Gate to join in the commotion. Some could even hear the faint sound of whips lashing at flesh.

Two more people couldn't help but kneel down, but there were still people standing on the field.

No further words were needed. The closest lieutenants ignored their superiors' gazes and rushed directly into the arena, pushing those still standing to the ground. Their unyielding defiance only resulted in even greater force being applied to them. Maintaining the emperor's supreme majesty was the Jinyiwei's bounden duty, even if their presence was merely "the emperor's voice."

"Ah!" The last and most erect young missionary was kicked in the left and right popliteal fossa at the same time. His body's instinct forced him to kneel.

The young missionary tried to stand up, but a much stronger captain stepped on his back. He continued to struggle, but his resistance was no longer even symbolic. He began to shout and scream, trying to incite the others to join him in the fight against the Jinyiwei.

But the others were still clear-headed. None of those who had kneeled down stood up. Only those who had tried to resist from the beginning were still twisting their bodies.

Yang Huan glanced at Li Yongzhen and found that his face had completely darkened. He was obviously very impatient.

"Remove that man's jaw! Stuff something in there to make him shut up." Yang Huan ordered loudly.

"Yes." The two Jinyi captains who kicked the missionary down took action immediately after hearing the order.

The Jinyiwei on the left was an expert bone setter. He squatted down, grasped the missionary's jaw joint, and with just a little force, twisted it twice, the missionary's jaw was dislocated. His tongue continued to tremble, but the breath that came out of his throat could no longer be called "speech."

The captain on the right didn't run around looking for anything. He simply pulled out the knife from his waist. He cut a large piece of cloth from the missionary's clothes, kneaded it, and stuffed it into the missionary's mouth. The captain used so much force that he almost stuffed the cloth into his throat.

The captain's sword-drawing action frightened Harald Brandt, the Spanish arms dealer kneeling beside the missionary. The moment the blade was unsheathed, he thought the emperor's guards were about to behead him on the spot to protect the emperor's majesty.

Harald Brandt hurriedly moved aside, afraid of the blood splattering on himself, and only stopped when he bumped into another merchant. As for resistance, the word did not even enter his mind.

Harald Brandt knew very well that violent confrontation would be tantamount to suicide.

Even without mentioning that the Jinyiwei were all strong and armed, they still had an absolute advantage in terms of numbers. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to guard the place day and night, even when they went to the toilet.

To prevent the young missionary from twisting his body, a powerful foot was placed firmly on his back while his jaw was removed and his clothes were cut. Even after all this was done, the foot did not withdraw.

Suppression! Merciless suppression. But in the eyes of the oppressors, this was still considered gentle, at least no one was killed.

"This is what happens to the barbarians who resist the king's rule. Just kill their fighting spirit." Yang Huan said to Li Yongzhen with a smile.

"What a bunch of idiots who only care about food and not punishment." Li Yongzhen looked down at the still-squirming missionaries and said coldly, "Some of them have been chopped off, yet they're still so unruly."

Li Yongzhen's words caused an uproar in the front row near him.

Blocking information was fundamental to the Pacification Division's mission. During the period of confinement, Yang Huan not only prohibited intercommunication among the various cells, but also prohibited his subordinates from providing any information to the suspects. Therefore, most Westerners still don't understand what exactly happened. They only know that these burly, ferocious soldiers stormed the garrison without warning and divided them up among the cells. Only those who had shared cells with Johann Adam Schall von Bell, thanks to the paid connivance of the Imperial Uniform Guards, knew some details.

"Silence!" Yang Huan shouted, and the field soon became quiet.

Li Yongzhen coughed twice, assumed a solemn demeanor, and slowly spoke, "Yang Huan, the Pacification Secretary, and all European subjects, listen to my command."

Yang Huan was startled. He hadn't expected the emperor to issue an order directly to him. He quickly knelt down, kowtowed, and said loudly, "I respectfully listen to the emperor's order!"

"Liaodong Governor Xiong Tingbi and Liaodong Inspector Yang Lian submitted a report regarding the case of the heretical Christian sect Mendoza, who incited and stirred up trouble in the camp and shook the morale of the troops on the battlefield. I was horrified by what I had read, and therefore ordered the Pacification Office and the Censorate to jointly handle this case."

"The case has now been thoroughly investigated by the Censorate. The facts are known, and the culprit has been identified."

"We now grant the request of Minister of Rites Xu Guangqi and Imperial Observatory Prison Officer Johann Adam Schall von Bell. We order Yang Huan, the Pacification Officer, to escort the suspect to the Ministry of Justice for identification and execution according to law at a later date."

"From this day forward, the restrictions on the residences will be lifted. After the restrictions are lifted, all European subjects who wish to learn the ways of the king and correct their roots, or to seek trade and exchange goods, may remain in the Celestial Empire. However, they must take this as a warning and act in a responsible manner. Those who wish to leave the Celestial Empire and return to their native lands may apply to the Ministry of Rites for a written permit, and then the courier service will escort them back to Xiangshan Bay within a reasonable time."

"Cough!" Li Yongzhen coughed, dragged out the last two words, and said: "I hereby order!" He recited such a long sentence word for word.

"I obey your command." Yang Huan kowtowed immediately. However, the foreigners were slow to respond. They either couldn't understand the mixed vernacular and classical Chinese instructions, or they understood but were still in shock.

But Li Yongzhen was not in a hurry. He didn't even say a word to remind him, and just continued to kneel without accepting the order.

After a long time, the first voice of receiving the decree was heard from the crowd. "I accept the decree!" It was Guo Jujing's voice.

As soon as one voice appeared, another followed. Whether those who understood or those who didn't, they all imitated Guo Jujing's speech. The venue soon became noisy again.

Li Yongzhen nodded in satisfaction, not bothering to sort out who had replied and who hadn't. As long as the majority of people accepted the request, his job was done.

"Everyone, get up." Li Yongzhen had just finished speaking when the large foot that was stepping on the young missionary's back moved away. The missionary, without the strong restraint, immediately tried to support himself and bounce up from the ground, but his arms were completely powerless, and the sudden force from his legs caused him to stumble forward and fall flat on his face. It turned out that when Li Yongzhen was announcing the decree, the two Jinyiwei on his left and right were annoyed by his constant moving around, so they pinched his joints and dislocated his arms. This was still a mercy act; if it had been in the imperial prison, these two would have found him annoying and would have tortured him severely. They wanted him to learn how to write the word "rules."

"Li Shaojian, who are you arresting?" Yang Huan stood up and patted the dust on his lapel.

Li Yongzhen pulled out a list from his pocket, handed it to Yang Huan, and said, "Arrest according to this list."

"Yes." Yang Huan nodded, took the list, and quickly looked through it. Then he looked up and locked onto the first target near the front row: "Long Huamin!"

The whole audience was in an uproar. The foreigners had never expected that the first person His Majesty the Emperor named to be arrested was actually the leader of the Jesuit missionaries in China, President Long Huamin.

As soon as Yang Huan finished speaking, the Jinyi captains who were in charge of guarding Long Huamin immediately took action. They quickly passed through the wall of people, but just as they were about to reach Long Huamin, they were blocked by two young priests standing beside him.

"Move aside!" the captain shouted, frightening the young priests. However, they did not budge, but instead stubbornly demanded, "What crime has the president committed? What grounds do you have to arrest him?"

The captains ignored the two men and turned to look at their superiors.

Yang Huan didn't move. He stood there and asked loudly, "What are your names?"

"Martin Ignacio!"

"Mars!" The two exchanged glances and bravely announced their names. However, Yang Huan didn't understand. "Name the people, not your bird numbers!" Yang Huan lowered his head and found two names by following the pronunciation of "Ma."

When Martin Ignacio and Mar Simmel saw Commander Yang Huan lowering his head to look at the list, they couldn't help but feel scared.

After hearing no answer for a long time, Yang Huan raised his head and asked, "Is it Ma Rucai or Ma Zhixuan?"

The two of them were really panicked, looked at each other again, and nodded silently.

"He's quite the hero!" Yang Huan's lips curled up in admiration. But the chuckle was short-lived, so short it was almost fleeting. "These two are on the list too. Since they've popped up, let's take them all!"

Seeing the order from their superiors, the Jinyi captains who were waiting for orders immediately took action. First, one of them kicked Ma Rucai and Ma Zhixuan, causing them to stagger. Then, they grabbed their shoulders with their backhands and pushed their bodies and heads to the ground.

The Jinyi captains acted so decisively and swiftly that before the two horses could react, they were pinned down and unable to move by this skillful grasp.

"Ah!" The two horses began to howl in pain, and the crowd in the field began to stir.

"Four flags, draw your swords!" Yang Huan shouted. The Jinyiwei officers surrounding Li Yongzhen drew their swords from their waistbands. The other Jinyiwei, without receiving the order, remained in their previous positions, but the alertness in their eyes grew even stronger.

"There are only nine people on the list! Arrest them, and the rest will be free." Yang Huan shouted, "Swords and knives are ruthless, don't move around now and get yourself into trouble!"

This trick was very effective. After subtracting the three men, the so-called nine, only six remained. As long as Yang Huan couldn't call on them, the others could be left alone. Under the threat of the blade, the commotion quickly subsided. The crowd, like lost lambs, silently waited for the butcher to call their names.

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After the arrest operation, the Jinyiwei dispersed quickly like the wind. However, this gust of wind was not as gentle and pleasant as a spring breeze, but rather like a hurricane at sea in July or August, not only turning the entire house into a mess, but also stirring panic among the people.

At this time, someone was needed to clean up the mess and stabilize people's hearts. However, Long Huamin, the most capable leader, had been arrested, leaving the missionaries leaderless. They gathered in small groups, chattering and asking questions. Soon, those who had been in the same room with Johann Adam Schall von Bell were surrounded by their companions as "hot cakes" because they "knew everything".

On the merchant side, the chief representative, ship owner Dinis João, stopped the slave trader Władysław Amato, who was about to approach the priests to explain their confusion, and said to him, "Don't worry about them. Let's hold a meeting among ourselves first."

Władysław Amato was stunned for a moment, then nodded solemnly. "Okay."

After saying this, Dinesh Joao looked at the other business representatives and received affirmative responses from them all.

Soon, the merchant representatives left behind the priests and mercenaries and arrived at the wing shared by Diniš João and Władysław Amato. The room was a typical one-room, two-room structure. The two rooms on the left and right were where the beds were placed, while the main room contained a large table and five wooden stools.

This wing, like the others, had been turned upside down by the Imperial Guards during the search. However, to the merchants' surprise, despite the mess, not much valuables seemed to have been lost. Even the gleaming gold coins and silver bars lay scattered in the open chests. Clearly, it had been searched, but not stolen.

Dinesh Joao ignored the silver bars in the box and instead straightened the south-facing stool and sat down. After spending so much time in Beijing, the delegates' order of attendance had been adjusted to reflect the Ming dynasty's traditions.

After the other business representatives had taken their seats, Dinesh Joao spoke straight to the point: "Everyone. I think we should find another place to live."

"You mean moving out?" asked mine owner Ryan Hobbs.

"Yes," Dinesh Joao explained, looking around at the merchant representatives. "Although we all believe in and serve God, the priests seem a little too fanatical. If we lived with them, we never knew we'd be in trouble again. We've been locked up for over ten days, and even going to the restroom is monitored. If it weren't for the emperor's wisdom and justice, we'd probably have to stay in jail for a while."

"It's more than just a stint in jail. It's sedition," plantation owner Rogers Heydrich sneered. "Some people might even be hanged."

(End of this chapter)