Chapter 159: The Issue of Proselytizing

“Yes, Your Excellency.” Rand remained respectful, but the mission head knew very well that this fellow was merely “a Catholic.” Only the devil knew how much loyalty he had to the Church. The Jesuits’ intelligence network was extremely well-informed. Rodrigues knew that this man had been eyeing Macau’s foundry, secretly selling its cannons, matchlocks, and gunpowder to the ladrões (the European term for Chinese pirates). Many people in Macau were in this business, but he was the only one who could get things directly from the foundry to sell. It was a mystery how he had managed to persuade the foundry’s supervisor.

“Listen, Mr. Rand,” the mission head said in a formal tone, “I want you to return to the Countess Scarborough. Aragones is currently in need of a military deputy and will value you as he did before.”

“And what is my mission?”

“Aragones probably intends to continue his rendezvous with Liu Xiang to challenge Zheng Yiguan. The Society of Jesus does not wish to see Nicholas (Zheng Zhilong’s Christian name) defeated in this dispute,” the mission head said. “We cannot directly help him—”

The relationship between the Portuguese and Zheng Zhilong was deep, not only involving commercial interests but also missionary needs. Zheng Zhilong had been baptized in Macau in his early years. After Toyotomi Hideyoshi issued the first edict to expel the Jesuits, the Society of Jesus often used Zheng Zhilong’s ships on the Japan route to smuggle various religious books into Japan. This made the Jesuits in Macau extremely reluctant to see the Spanish win this struggle.

“I understand,” Rand said with a cunning smile.

The mission head fell silent. He knew that beneath this man’s seemingly respectful intelligence lay an arrogance he could not comprehend, as if he himself were as omniscient as God, though he tried hard to hide it.

This scoundrel, he thought. If God allows me to live to see that day, I will hand him over to the Inquisitors in the Philippines and let those fanatical Dominican friars deal with him.

But for now, he feigned nonchalance. “Alright, you must remember, you cannot let him defeat Nicholas. As for other things, let Aragones do whatever he wants. Except—” He paused to think. “The Australians on Hainan Island—”

“You mean those strange Chinese on Hainan Island.”

“Yes, call them what you will. You understand my meaning.” He thought for a moment. “If Aragones is smart enough, he won’t provoke them again. Otherwise, you can lend them a hand. I think they would be happy to receive your help.”

“Yes, Your Excellency.”

“Go find Father Comenge. He will give you another fifty silver pesos. You may proceed with your mission.”

“Your Excellency, if I am to board Aragones’s ship, I will have to pay off my hotel bills here, and the money I owe the tavern. I am an old soldier, penniless. Undertaking a risky mission costs a lot of money.”

“Father Comenge gave you one hundred silver pesos last time.”

“I have already spent that money. You know I have no savings here. I have incurred a lot of debt just to live.”

Rodrigues pondered for a moment, then, as if very reluctantly, walked to a Chinese lacquer cabinet with three locks, took out a money bag, and weighed it in his hand.

“Take it. Here are two hundred silver pesos.”

He bowed to the mission head and stuffed the money bag into his pocket.

“Alright, you may go now.” The mission head made the sign of the cross over him solemnly. “When you serve God, you need not worry about anything. You know: the Society of Jesus has the power to absolve the most grievous sins.”

Rand bowed deeply, kissed his ring, and withdrew.

Hearing the sound of the door behind the curtain closing, the mission head let out a soft sigh.

He looked in no particular direction and said, “Ambroise, please show Manager Wen and his party in.”

Rand went down a staircase that only internal personnel used and came to the courtyard. He patted the money bag at his waist with some satisfaction. It seems serving the Jesuits is indeed a wise choice. They are very generous people.

As he was thinking, he saw a priest leading several people over. A thought stirred in Rand’s mind. He quickened his pace and slipped into the shadows of the eaves.

When he saw the short hair and blue training uniforms of the group, he smiled slightly. He only came out after they had entered the house.

“Well, well,” Rand said thoughtfully. “You Australians!”

“Greetings, Manager Wen.” Rodrigues stood up and welcomed these strangely dressed figures. He had long heard that these people wore strange clothes, but seeing them up close, their attire was simple, the fabric not particularly fine, and the style had some similarities to European clothing. As for their extremely short hair, it actually gave him a good impression.

Wen Desi bowed slightly. The priest before him wore an exquisite black cassock, with slightly curly black hair and a kind, charming smile.

Rodrigues’s Chinese was very good by the standards of the time, though he inevitably had an accent. The difference in time and nationality made communication quite difficult. Wen Desi proposed that they switch to a language that both sides could understand and speak accurately.

“Let’s speak Latin,” he said, and called over Diana Mendoza. This Master of English Language and Literature also knew Latin.

This was the first time Miss Mendoza had seen a real priest in this era. She was so excited she forgot herself and immediately knelt down to kiss his ring. This both surprised and pleased Rodrigues. So there are quite a few of the Lord’s followers among the Australians. And this beautiful devotee was clearly not Chinese—her appearance reminded him of the women of his homeland, just as charming and lively.

With a good start, the subsequent talks naturally became “friendly and constructive.” Rodrigues was extremely interested in the origins of the transmigrators, especially the Australia they mentioned. This was an age of great geographical discovery, and it was the trend of the times. Europeans were extremely interested in such news. Every geographical discovery meant a new opportunity to gain wealth, land, and power. Wen Desi, of course, would not reveal where this so-called Australia was. With the greedy nature of the Europeans, if they knew there was such a good place in the world, they would immediately flock to it. In fact, Australia had already been discovered at this time. In 1606, the Spanish navigator Torres’s ship had sailed through the strait between Australia and New Guinea. In the same year, the Dutchman Willem Janszoon’s Duyfken had touched upon Australia, which was then named “New Holland.” However, these discoveries did not have any major impact. The discoverers considered New Holland to be desolate, barren, and of no value. It was not until 1770, when the British navigator Captain Cook discovered the fertile east coast, that the colonization of Australia truly began. Naturally, in this time and space, the transmigrators had designated Australia as their future direct territory.

Wen Desi not only spoke vaguely but also moved the specific location of Australia to the center of the vast Pacific Ocean. If you’re interested, go and search for it in circles there.

As for their country’s history, it was naturally the same story from the “Captured Personnel Manual.”

Unexpectedly, this fabrication piqued the mission head’s great interest. He kept asking questions, causing Diana Mendoza to have to stop frequently to think before translating into English. Wen Desi could understand English. It turned out this fellow thought Australia was the lost continent of Atlantis.

Then he raised another question: Where did the church in Australia come from? Who was the leader of the church? Where did the scriptures come from? Did the Australian church know of the existence of the Holy See? Since the Australian church’s Bible was translated into Chinese, who was the translator? This series of questions almost made Wen Desi roll his eyes. This mission head’s thirst for knowledge is truly旺盛 (wàngshèng, vigorous).

Fortunately, that fellow Bai Duolu hadn’t lost his senses and started spouting nonsense. Otherwise, after he’d run his mouth, I wouldn’t be able to make things up, Wen Desi thought. He still knew what was important. When talking to the priest, he claimed to be of humble status and knew little about the affairs of his country, playing dumb to every question.

Wen Desi was not well-prepared to invent a religious system for the transmigrators, but he did not want to give the Jesuits the impression that they were enthusiastic about the Catholic Church. Although many people, including himself, hoped to use Catholicism to develop a brand new religious system to replace the religious beliefs in their future territories, since they were going to cooperate, they had to set a high price. Want to proselytize? Sure, but you have to pay a sufficient price.

Having set the tone, Wen Desi said that the church had always existed in Australia. As for when it arrived and where the scriptures came from, even the local church itself was unclear. As for more details about the church, he himself was not very clear, as he was not a believer.

His casual description clearly disappointed the mission head. Rodrigues had originally thought that this country that had appeared out of nowhere might be a lost Christian kingdom like that of Prester John, but he hadn’t expected the rulers to be non-Christians. Looking at the seven or eight visitors, besides Bai Duolu and this Latin woman, there were probably no other believers among them.

The subsequent conversation mainly concerned the presence of the transmigrators in Hainan. Wen Desi was not secretive about the transmigrators’ intentions in this regard, but he downplayed their strategic goals. The purpose of occupying Lingao was to use the local geographical environment to trade with the Ming dynasty. He also specifically pointed out that the Transmigration group had goods that were very popular with the Ming people, enough to exchange for a large amount of silver and other goods. Some goods might also be liked by Southeast Asians and Europeans, but they lacked enough ships and sailors, so they hoped to find foreign agents in Macau.

Wen Desi was very careful to conceal the transmigrators’ intention to get involved in the foreign trade routes. He knew that this was extremely sensitive to middlemen like the Portuguese. But providing profitable goods was something the Portuguese were happy to do, just as Chinese merchants provided them with raw silk, silk fabrics, and porcelain that could be sold for high prices in Japan and Manila. He was not sure to what extent the Jesuits were related to the commercial interests of the Portuguese, but there was undoubtedly a collusion of common interests between the two.

Rodrigues thought that the appearance of the Australians gave his missionary work a brand new opportunity. Although Australia was not the Christian country he had imagined, from the attitude of these people, they not only had a considerable understanding of the Church but were also tolerant and appreciative of it. If these Australians could gain control of Hainan Island, the Lord’s flock on this great eastern island would greatly increase. And if the Jesuits could persuade their leaders to be baptized, perhaps someone here would become the St. Stephen of Hainan Island [Note: King of Hungary, after whose baptism Hungary became a Christian country].

Hainan Island was not an unfamiliar place to Rodrigues, who was in Macau. As early as 1560, Father Gago had ventured into Hainan Island. In 1563, three Jesuits not only entered Hainan Island but even penetrated into the forbidden area of the government—the Li region. In 1584, when the Franciscans of the Spanish Philippines were on their way to their mission in Vietnam, they were shipwrecked on Hainan Island and arrested by the local government. They were later released and returned to Manila.

The greatest advantage for missionary work in Hainan was Wang Honghui. It was through the planning and guidance of Wang Honghui, then the Minister of Rites in Nanjing and a native of Ding’an, Qiongzhou, that Matteo Ricci was able to enter Beijing in 1598. Although on the surface, Wang Honghui had introduced the missionaries to Beijing to revise the calendar, the deeper reason was that this quasi-Catholic hoped to use this opportunity to help Ricci carry out his missionary work. Shortly thereafter, his son converted to Catholicism and took the name Paul. This gave the Church the first opportunity to gain the support of powerful local figures for missionary work in Hainan. He knew that Paul had come to Macau several times recently, expressing his hope to send priests to Ding’an County to proselytize. If they could also gain such strong missionary support in Lingao County in the northwest of Hainan Island, it would be a huge breakthrough for missionary work in the East. Rodrigues was overjoyed at this prospect.

His thoughts were completely anticipated by Wen Desi. Rodrigues did indeed express his hope to proselytize. Wen Desi, following his plan, said that he could not make such a decision on his own.

“According to our system, such a major matter must be decided by a vote of the Five Hundred.”

“Is it a parliament of gentlemen?”

“Precisely.” Among these five hundred, there are some with communist ideals, but most of them want to be masters of men, Wen Desi thought.

“You have five hundred gentlemen in Lingao!” Rodrigues exclaimed. “Portugal doesn’t have that many gentlemen in the whole of Macau!”

Wen Desi smiled humbly in response.

“Since this is a limitation of your political system, I am willing to wait for the result. However, before you reach the correct conclusion, would you allow me to send a servant of the Lord back with you? I assure you that he will not engage in any missionary activities without official permission.”

Wen Desi hesitated for a moment. He thought that a missionary who didn’t speak the language wouldn’t cause much trouble. They could just keep a close eye on him. Anyway, you make an offer, I make an offer. Let’s have an equal exchange.