Ever since the Nanyang incident and Cardinal Alexander left Myanmar, Ricci had become much quieter.
He no longer dragged Xiao Ruxun to preach as he did before. Instead, he quietly stayed behind and translated some Western books for him according to Xiao Ruxun's request.
Ricci hoped that this could move Xiao Ruxun, let him see that he was still very useful, gain his trust, and then restart his preaching plan.
However, before he could complete his efforts, Xiao Ruxun left for the Central Plains. Later, he came back for a short time, and then mobilized the whole of Myanmar to gather 100,000 troops to fight.
Ricci's forehead was full of cold sweat.
Was Xiao Ruxun going to rebel against his emperor?
Was he going to rebel? Was he going to rebel?
Ricci felt that it was impossible to use an independent territory to fight against the entire powerful central government. Xiao Ruxun's death was destined. He would die, Myanmar would be destroyed, and there would be no meaning for him to continue to stay.
However, before he made up his mind to leave Myanmar, the news of Xiao Ruxun's success came back.
He had successfully defeated the central government, entered the capital, and even established a new government to rule the huge China!
This was simply an incredible miracle.
He was in shock for a long time. When he recovered from the shock and regained his senses, a decree brought him a huge surprise.
The emperor of the Daqin, Xiao Ruxun, summoned the Thai missionary, Ricci, and asked him to go to Beijing to meet with the emperor.
The flame of hope was reignited in Ricci's heart.
This open-minded general, who had a strong interest in science, who was even willing to hire the Portuguese to produce guns and cannons for him, and who was willing to invest a lot of manpower and material resources to improve people's lives, was now the emperor.
Would China be as open as Myanmar?
If so, it would be a great stimulus for the whole of Europe.
Ricci arrived in Beijing with great excitement and met Xiao Ruxun, whom he had not seen for a long time.
Xiao Ruxun did not talk about old times with him, but directly told him how he wanted him to learn Chinese characters.
Without any hesitation, Matteo Ricci immediately explained how he learned Chinese characters and how he taught the other missionaries, which was to use the alphabets of their hometown as the phonetic symbols of Chinese characters.
There was no doubt that Matteo Ricci was a genius in learning. In the past, Da Ming and Xu Guangqi did not make good use of Matteo Ricci, leaving behind endless regrets in history. This time, Xiao Ruxun would not let go of this opportunity. He wanted to make use of Matteo Ricci to accomplish something he had always wanted to do.
Ricci's learning ability and memory ability had always been talked about. Xiao Ruxun herself would not let go of such a talent if she did not make use of him to contribute to the educational reform.
From Ricci's point of view, if he could be of use when Xiao Ruxun needed him, then one day he would be able to gain the trust of Xiao Ruxun and obtain the qualification to preach.
Xiao Ruxun was now the emperor. In China, the emperor could do anything.
At least from Ricci's experience over the years, the authority of the emperor of China was far greater than that of the monarchs of European countries.
The monarchs of those countries could not even be mentioned in front of the emperor of China. The emperor of China was called the Son of Heaven, who exercised power on behalf of Heaven. He was the son of Heaven. On the other hand, the monarchs of Europe were the followers of God.
The nobles in Europe had their own territories, and the monarchs could not casually tell them what to do. Although there were also nobles in China, the land in China belonged to the emperor. They could only receive the corresponding salary, but they could not control the land and the people on it.
This was unimaginable in Europe, but it actually existed in China.
From this point alone, Ricci could be sure that the power of the emperor of China was far greater than that of the monarchs of Europe.
Of course, this was the truth.
Therefore, if he could get the trust and permission of Xiao Ruxun, he could spread his religion in any land in China and achieve his ideals.
Therefore, he had to try his best to please Xiao Ruxun.
In front of the officials of the Ministry of Education, Ricci explained the pronunciation of some letters in his hometown in detail, and then explained some of his pronunciations of the Mandarin of this era.
After Zhu Yuanzhang established Nanjing as the capital, Nanjing Mandarin became the official language used throughout the country. The Mandarin of this era sounded similar to the modern dialects of Jiangsu and Zhejiang and Min Nan, and it influenced China until the end of the Qing Dynasty.
Later, the Yongzheng Emperor determined that Beijing Mandarin was the official pronunciation of the country. Beijing Mandarin was a fusion of Beijing Mandarin and Nanjing Mandarin with some transliteration of Manchu. On this basis, modern Mandarin was formed. But throughout the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Nanjing Mandarin had a very important position.
Xiao Ruxun didn't need to change the pronunciation of the national Mandarin at this time, so she asked Ricci to submit her plan to the officials of the Ministry of Education for review, and let the officials mark it based on their understanding of Nanjing Mandarin and the pronunciation of the Latin characters.
Everyone did it, and some of the more cultured people in the court were consulted, and they were invited to participate. Then, they came up with their own plans to discuss and determine the most formal pronunciation plan.
Ricci played an irreplaceable role in this.
After this plan was finalized, a group of children would be pulled to do a teaching experiment, and then the relevant talents would be trained to gradually promote the new literacy plan to the whole country.
They would be taught to recognize the pronunciation of Latin characters, remember this pronunciation, and then learn Chinese characters and Nanjing Mandarin according to the pronunciation. In this way, children would be exposed to Nanjing Mandarin from an early age. While eliminating illiteracy, they could also achieve a true sense of unification of the national pronunciation.
This plan caused a lot of controversy in the court. Some people thought it was very interesting and could be tried. Some people thought that this needed to be done in the long-term, and some people were against it. They thought that using the Western characters as phonetic symbols for our Chinese characters was tarnishing the things passed down by our ancestors.
They did not dare to argue about political issues, but when it came to this kind of cultural dissemination, some people began to move.
For this reason, Xiao Ruxun specially held a court meeting, in which he expressed his views.
"We can't say that the Western things are necessarily bad, and our things are necessarily good. In fact, we do have many places that are not as good as the Western. Even the places that we haven't set foot in, the Western people have begun to set foot in.
In the pre-Qin period, we did not have a strong cavalry, so it was very difficult to deal with the Xiongnu. Later, Zhao Wuling Wang used the Hu people's riding and archery to enhance the combat effectiveness of the Central Plains army and defeated the Xiongnu. This is also learning from the barbarians. Zhao Wuling Wang has such courage, can we not?
Let's not talk about the past, just the muskets and Francis guns that we are using now, they are all made by the Francis people. The Francis people's warships are large and strong, and can carry more artillery. We also have our own, but obviously not as good as them. But so what?
Now, our muskets and Francis guns are no longer inferior to the Western people. The Western people also marveled at the excellence of the new flintlock muskets. The new warships can carry fifty to sixty artillery. In the battle of Nanyang, the Francis navy was destroyed, and Luzon was occupied.
Whether it is from the Western people or not, as long as there are benefits, we will learn it. After learning it, it will become our own, and continue to develop. Sooner or later, we will do better than the Western people, so what's wrong with that?
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