Late Ming Dynasty: Oops, I am surrounded by the Donglin Party

It is no wonder that Zheng Zhilong was excited. As a devout Christian, Zheng Zhilong rarely met people in the Ming Dynasty who had heard of the name of the Lord.

Not to mention, the man in front of him is the Grand Marshal of the Army, second only to the emperor and above all others.

For Zheng Zhilong, this not only increased his sense of identity, but was also a big surprise.

"What's the big deal? I not only know Jesus, I also know Jesus' father, Jehovah.

You also know that Europeans are now carrying out religious reforms. The religious wars have been going on for about twenty years, right?" Zhang Shikang said casually.

This surprised Zheng Zhilong even more, and his mouth opened into an O shape.

"Is the Marshal also the Lord's child?"

Zheng Zhilong was rich and powerful, but as one of the few Christians in the Ming Dynasty, he had always been worried about how to develop his followers.

There are quite a few people in the Ming Dynasty, but for some reason, the missionary work has never been smooth.

Zheng Zhilong even paid out of his own pocket to build a church in Quanzhou Prefecture, and provided free meals to anyone who was willing to come and listen to the Lord's teachings.

There were indeed quite a few people coming, but almost all of them came to eat free meals.

Zheng Zhilong had also thought about spreading the glory of the Lord through the high-ranking officials of the court. Before this, he knew that the highest-ranking believer of the Lord in the Ming Dynasty was Xu Baolu, the second-in-command of the court.

However, he was still in a hostile state with the Ming Dynasty at that time, and he never had the chance to contact them.

After he reconciled with the court and accepted the amnesty, Xu Baolu had already gone to meet the Lord.

Now that he saw that the Grand Marshal of the dynasty might also be a follower of the Lord, Zheng Zhilong immediately thought that if the Grand Marshal could help, the glory of the Lord would surely shine upon this land.

This will undoubtedly greatly increase the Lord's favor towards him as a devout believer.

"I am my father's son and also a son of the Ming Dynasty." Zhang Shikang said speechlessly.

However, seeing that the eagerness on Zheng Zhilong's face was quickly disappearing, he added:

"In fact, I am quite interested in old man Jesus."

The kindness on Zheng Zhilong's face immediately returned a lot.

"I never thought that His Excellency the Grand Marshal would have such an idea. I am so delighted!"

Zheng Zhilong immediately forgot his previous displeasure. He also roughly guessed the reason why Zhang Shikang had embarrassed him, but compared with the great cause of missionary work, this was no longer worth mentioning.

I have a ghost, Zhang Shikang thought to himself.

"Europeans are indeed experiencing the Reformation and war, but victory will definitely belong to the great Catholics, and heretics should be sent to the Inquisition to be burned at the stake!" Zheng Zhilong vowed.

Sorry to hit you, but in the end the Protestant Alliance won, Zhang Shikang had a smile on his face.

"I came here to discuss cooperation with you." Zhang Shikang decided to get back to the topic.

"Okay, okay, I heard from Lao Si that he promised to build twenty silk ships for the Marshal, including sailors and soldiers. I have accepted this.

How does the Marshal view faith?"

Zheng Zhilong originally had some reservations about providing the court with an order for twenty silk ships. After all, the sailors and gunners, including the cannons and muskets on the twenty ships, were the mainstay of the Zheng family.

But when he heard that Zhang Shikang was so interested in the Lord, in order to attract Zhang Shikang to join the Lord, his resentment had long disappeared.

Isn't it just the equipment and soldiers of twenty silk ships? If it can help the soul of the current great marshal return to the arms of the Lord, everything will be worth it.

Is Zheng Zhilong short of money now? The answer is obviously no. Although he is very eager for the title, it is just an honor.

Compared to reputation, faith is a higher level of self-pursuit and identification.

After all, this was an era still full of feudal superstition.

Even with the development of the Internet in later generations, religious beliefs are still prevalent all over the world, let alone now.

After accumulating material wealth to a certain level, one should pursue spiritual attainments.

If he could be blessed by God, even if his soul returned to heaven a hundred years later, he, Nicholas, would still be a well-known figure in heaven.

If one wants to gain the favor of God, missionary work is of course the most basic work, spreading the light of the Lord to wherever he goes.

"I want to order dozens more auxiliary warships. I heard that you can't fight a naval battle with only main battleships. You should understand this.

As for faith, it is a mysterious thing. Sometimes I believe in it, sometimes I don’t, but Jesus must be a good God.”

Zhang Shikang took the opportunity to put forward his new demands and deliberately pretended to know nothing about naval warfare.

This was to make Zheng Zhilong lower his guard. After all, a weak leader, even if he had a fleet, would be completely ineffective and would not threaten the interests of the Zheng family.

At the same time, Zhang Shikang also knew that Zheng Zhilong probably wanted to convert him to Catholicism, so he deliberately gave an ambiguous answer, even leaning a little towards Catholicism.

He is very good at this. It is similar to saying that a wife is not as good as a concubine, a concubine is not as good as stealing, and stealing is not as good as not being able to steal at all.

If Zhang Shikang came up and said directly that he wanted to convert to Jesus Christ, then today's needs would certainly be met, but it would be difficult to make further requests afterwards.

On the contrary, you should just leave it hanging and let out the long line to catch the big fish.

"What the Marshal said is absolutely right. The fleet only has main battleships, which can be easily restrained by enemy ships. As for the dozens of auxiliary ships, I will arrange for them to be sent to the shipyard later.

The construction period may not be completed until the middle of next year, but... I am afraid that the corresponding sailors, gunners and ship workers may not be able to be equipped for the Marshal.

The situation in Southeast Asia is unstable now, and the sailors and gunners are a bit stretched.

The Lord is certainly a good God. Where the Lord's light shines, people can live and work in peace and contentment. Even if they are poor, they can be spiritually rich."

Zheng Zhilong thought about it and accepted Zhang Shikang's order.

“The construction period is easy to say, just do it as soon as possible.

As for sailors, gunners and boatmen, I will think of a way. Perhaps I can recruit some fishermen from the coast of Ming Dynasty. They are all rowers and I think they can be used.

However, I would like to order another batch of grain. Starting from next month, can you deliver 200,000 shi of grain to the capital every month through sea trade? The price is negotiable and all payment will be made in cash.

Yes, Jesus is a good god, but I haven’t seen him yet.”

Zhang Shikang took the opportunity to raise new demands, and Zheng Zhilong began to frown.

Previously, in order to show goodwill to the imperial court, he first donated 200,000 shi of grain for free, and then took an order for 1.3 million shi of military grain.

After more than half a year of hard work, he moved around in businesses all over Southeast Asia and finally managed to collect 1.3 million shi of grain for the court last month.

Due to low productivity, grain was a very scarce strategic material in those days, both in the Ming Dynasty and overseas.

The key point is that although he made a little profit from the 1.3 million shi of grain he had previously transported to the court, it was actually not much.

Food is a heavy commodity that weighs down ships, and often requires more caravans to transport it. However, these caravans could have earned higher profits by transporting other goods.

After all this, Zheng Zhilong still suffered a loss.

Now they are asked to pay another 200,000 shi every month, and Zheng Zhilong couldn't help but feel troubled.

"You also know that the Ming Dynasty has recently experienced a great turmoil, and the court has a lot of work to do. Especially in the north, there has been drought and locust plagues for many years, and the demand for food is very high.

Alas, Lord of Christ, when will you be able to care for the people in the north of the Ming Dynasty!

They need the Bible, too!"

Zhang Shikang put more bait, still the fragrant kind.

Zheng Zhilong gritted his teeth.

"No problem, as long as the Marshal can help me, the people of the Ming Dynasty will return to the arms of the Lord.

Even if I have to plunder all the food in Southeast Asia, I will never let the people of our Ming Dynasty go without food."

……