Chapter 201 - The Missionary Question
"Yes, Your Eminence." Lando's tone remained perfectly respectful. But the Superior knew all too well that beneath this man's deferential facade lay an arrogance he could not fathom—as though Lando himself possessed the omniscience of God, however carefully he tried to conceal it.
This scoundrel, he thought. If God permits me to live long enough, I shall consign him to the Inquisitors in the Philippines and let those fanatical Dominican friars deal with him.
For now, however, he assumed an air of nonchalance. "Very well. Remember this: you must not allow Nicolás to triumph. Whatever else Aragonés wishes to do, let him. Except—" He paused, considering. "The Australians over in Qiongzhou Prefecture—"
"You mean those strange Chinese on Hainan Island."
"Yes, call them what you will. You understand my meaning." He deliberated further. "If Aragonés is sensible, he won't provoke them again. But should he do so, you may lend them your assistance—I imagine they would welcome it."
"Yes, Your Eminence."
"Go see Father Komage. He will give you fifty silver pesos, and then you may proceed."
"Your Eminence, if I am to board Aragonés's ship, I will need to settle my hotel accounts here, to say nothing of my tab at the tavern. I am an old soldier, penniless as they come, and a dangerous mission requires considerable funds."
"Father Komage gave you one hundred silver pesos last time."
"That money is already spent. You know I have no savings here—merely surviving has put me in debt."
Geranzani pondered for a moment, then walked reluctantly toward a Chinese lacquer cabinet inlaid with mother-of-pearl and secured with three locks. From within, he produced a money pouch and weighed it in his hand.
"Take it. This is two hundred silver pesos."
Lando bowed to the Superior and tucked the pouch into his pocket.
"Very well, you may go." The Superior made the sign of the cross over him solemnly. "When serving God, you need not scruple about anything. You know: the Society of Jesus has the authority to absolve even the gravest of sins."
Lando bowed deeply, kissed his ring, and withdrew.
When the sound of the door closing behind the curtain reached his ears, the Superior let out a soft sigh.
Without looking in any direction, he ordered: "Ambroise, please show Manager Wen and his party in."
Lando descended a staircase known only to those within the organization and emerged into the courtyard. Quite pleased with himself, he patted the money pouch at his waist—serving the Jesuits really was a wise choice. Such generous patrons.
Just as this thought formed, he noticed a priest leading several people toward him. His interest stirred. He quickened his pace and slipped into the shadows beneath the corridor eaves.
When he glimpsed their close-cropped hair and the blue training uniforms they wore, a faint smile crossed his face. He waited until they had entered the building before emerging.
"Well, well," Lando murmured thoughtfully. "You Australians!"
"Welcome, Manager Wen." Geranzani rose to greet these oddly dressed figures. He had long heard they wore strange clothing, but examining them up close, their attire proved simple, the fabric unremarkable, though the style bore a passing resemblance to European fashion. As for their extremely short-cropped hair, he actually found it rather agreeable.
Wen Desi gave a slight bow. The priest before him wore an elegant black cassock, had black and slightly curly hair, and bore a warm, charming smile.
Geranzani's Chinese was quite good by the standards of the time, though an accent was unavoidable. The combined differences of era and nationality made communication rather laborious. Wen Desi proposed switching to a language both parties could understand with precision.
"Let us speak Latin." With that, he called Diana Mendoza over—this Master's graduate in English Language and Literature also knew Latin.
Miss Mendoza, meeting a genuine priest for the first time in this timeline, became so excited she forgot herself and immediately knelt to kiss his ring. This surprised and delighted Geranzani—evidently there were quite a few of the Lord's faithful among the Australians. Moreover, this beautiful congregant was clearly not Chinese—her appearance reminded him of the women from his homeland, equally charming and vivacious.
With such an auspicious start, the ensuing discussion naturally became "friendly and constructive." Geranzani was extremely interested in the transmigrators' origins, particularly this Australia they mentioned. This was an age of geographical discovery, and Europeans were fascinated by such news—every new discovery meant fresh opportunities for wealth, land, and power. Wen Desi, of course, refused to reveal where this so-called Australia actually was: knowing European greed, once they learned such a fine place existed, they would swarm there at once. In fact, Australia had already been discovered by this time—in 1606, Spanish navigator Torres had sailed through the strait between Australia and New Guinea; that same year, the Dutchman Willem Janszoon aboard the Duyfken had touched Australian shores, earning it the name "New Holland." However, these discoveries had produced no significant impact—the discoverers considered New Holland barren and worthless. It was not until 1770, when British navigator Captain Cook discovered the fertile east coast, that Australian colonization truly began. Naturally, in this timeline, the transmigrators had claimed Australia as their exclusive future territory.
Wen Desi not only spoke vaguely but even performed a geographical sleight of hand, relocating Australia to the vast center of the Pacific Ocean—if the Jesuits were interested, they could sail around in circles searching for it.
As for their national history, it was simply the story from the Captive's Handbook.
Unexpectedly, this fabrication aroused the Superior's intense interest. He pressed question after question, forcing Diana Mendoza to frequently pause and think before translating into English—Wen Desi could understand English well enough. As it turned out, the man had taken Australia for the lost continent of Atlantis.
Then came more questions: Where had Australia's church come from? Who was its leader? Where had its scriptures originated? Was the Australian church aware of the Curia's existence? Since the Australian Bible had been translated into Chinese, who had done the translation? This barrage of inquiries nearly made Wen Desi roll his eyes—the Superior's thirst for knowledge was truly insatiable.
Fortunately, Bai Duoluo had not completely lost his bearings and talked nonsense, Wen Desi thought. Otherwise, after his rambling, I would have had no way to spin my tale. Bai Duoluo at least knew what was important: when speaking with the priest, he had claimed humble status with little knowledge of national affairs, deflecting every question with professions of ignorance.
Wen Desi had not prepared much for fabricating the transmigrators' religious system, but he did not want to leave the Jesuits with the impression that they were enthusiastic about the Catholic Church—though many people, himself included, hoped to use Catholicism to develop an entirely new religious system to replace the beliefs in their future territories. Since cooperation might follow, he should set his price high—you want to conduct missionary work? Fine, but you shall pay an adequate price.
Having decided on his approach, Wen Desi said the church had always existed in Australia, but as for when it had arrived and the origins of its scriptures, even the local church itself could not say. As for more details about the church, he himself did not really understand them either, since he was not a believer.
His casual description clearly disappointed the Superior. Geranzani had originally thought this country that had appeared out of nowhere might be a lost Christian nation like the legendary kingdom of Prester John. He had not expected that those in power were not Christians at all. Looking at the seven or eight visitors, apart from Bai Duoluo and the Latina woman before him, there probably were not many believers among them.
The subsequent conversation focused mainly on the transmigrators' presence in Hainan. Wen Desi did not conceal their intentions on this matter, only making their strategic objectives sound smaller—their purpose in occupying Linggao was to use the location's geography for trade with the Ming Dynasty. He specifically pointed out that the transmigrator collective had goods the Ming people loved, sufficient to exchange for large quantities of silver and other commodities. Some products might also appeal to Southeast Asians and Europeans, but they lacked sufficient ships and sailors, so they hoped to find foreign agents in Macau.
Wen Desi was careful to conceal the transmigrators' ambitions regarding foreign trade routes. He knew this was an extremely sensitive matter for middlemen like the Portuguese. However, providing profitable goods was something the Portuguese would welcome, just as Chinese merchants supplied them with raw silk, silk fabrics, and porcelain that could be sold at high prices in both Japan and Manila. He was not certain to what extent the Jesuits were tied to Portuguese commercial interests, but undoubtedly some entanglement existed between them.
Geranzani thought the Australians' appearance had given his missionary work an entirely new opportunity. Though Australia was not the Christian nation he had imagined, judging from these people's attitude, they not only had considerable knowledge of the Church but were tolerant and approving of it. If these Australians could gain power over Hainan Island, the Lord's flock on this eastern island would greatly increase. Better yet, if the Jesuits could persuade their leaders to be baptized, perhaps someone here would become Hainan's Saint Stephen—King of Hungary, who after baptism made his realm a Christian nation.
Hainan Island was no unfamiliar place to Geranzani in Macau: as early as 1560, Father Gogo had ventured onto the island. In 1563, three Jesuit priests had not only entered Hainan but even penetrated into the government's forbidden territory—the Li minority regions. In 1584, Franciscans from Spanish Philippines, en route to their mission in Vietnam, had shipwrecked on Hainan's coast, been arrested by local authorities, and were later released and returned to Manila.
The greatest advantage for Hainan missions was Wang Honghui. It was this native of Ding'an in Qiongzhou, serving as Minister of Rites in Nanjing, who had planned and guided Matteo Ricci's entry into Beijing in 1598. Though on the surface Wang Honghui had brought missionaries into Beijing to help revise the calendar, the deeper reason was that this quasi-Catholic hoped to use the opportunity to help Ricci conduct missionary activities. His son had subsequently converted to Catholicism, taking the Christian name Paul. This meant the Church had for the first time obtained the support of influential local figures for missionary work in Hainan. Geranzani knew that Paul had visited Macau several times recently, requesting that priests be dispatched to Ding'an County for missionary work. If they could also obtain such powerful missionary support in Linggao County on Hainan's northwest coast, this would be nothing less than a major breakthrough in Eastern missionary activities. The prospect elated Geranzani.
His thoughts were entirely as Wen Desi had anticipated: Geranzani indeed expressed his hope for missionary work. Wen Desi, following his mental script, said this was not something he could decide on his own.
"According to our system, such important matters must be decided by a vote of the Five Hundred."
"A parliament of gentlemen, then?"
"Precisely." Wen Desi thought that while there were certainly some among the five hundred who had come with Communist ideals, most of them still just wanted to be lords over others.
"You have five hundred gentlemen in Linggao!" Geranzani exclaimed. "Portugal does not have that many gentlemen in all of Macau!"
Wen Desi smiled modestly in response.
"Since your polity constrains such decisions, I am willing to await the result. However, before you reach the correct conclusion, might you permit me to send a servant of God back with you? I assure you, he will not engage in missionary work until he receives formal permission."
Wen Desi hesitated briefly, thinking that a missionary who did not know the language could not cause much of a stir—they could simply assign someone to keep an eye on him. Besides, you make your offer and I will make mine. Let us have an equal exchange.
(End of Chapter)