Since the end of the Ming Dynasty, some Western missionaries have successively come to the East, setting off a wave of Western learning and eastern learning. During this period, many blonde foreigners were active in Beijing and made great contributions to east-west exchanges. Looking back at this history, there is a missionary who spanned the Ming and Qing dynasties, which is particularly eye-catching, he is the famous John Tang.
John Tang
I believe that many people will be very familiar with John Tang's name when they hear it. In 1619, the seventeen-year-old John Tang came to Macau, just in time for the Ming Dynasty to send officials to negotiate with the Portuguese to buy firearms, as a result, John Tang took the opportunity to follow the errand team all the way north and became the "firearms consultant" of the Ming Dynasty, which was reused.
Tang John, who remained in the Ming Dynasty government, mainly observed astronomy and revised the calendar, and also led people to study and cast artillery according to Chongzhen's will. At the critical time when the Ming Dynasty was fighting against the Qing army, and Tang Ruowang and others did gain something after some efforts, and successfully delivered twenty cannons, which was a great achievement.
However, after the defeat of the Ming Dynasty was decided and Li Zicheng's Dashun regime was defeated, Dorgon assisted the young Shunzhi Emperor Fu Linding Dingjing in Beijing. In this way, John Tang began to serve as an official in the Qing Dynasty again, and received heavy use from Dorgon and the Shunzhi Emperor successively. By the time of the Kangxi Dynasty, John Tang was already an old man who had gone through the three generations of the Ming, Dashun and Qing Dynasties, and was also deeply admired by Xiaozhuang and Kangxi.
However, John Tang, who was plagued by illness in his later years, was once sentenced by the Qing Dynasty to lingchi, and if it were not for the relative enlightenment of Xiaozhuang and Kangxi, this foreign uncle would probably have been cut into "mutton slices". A review of the Records of the Ancestors of the Qing Dynasty revealed that on March 16, 1665, the fourth year of the Kangxi Dynasty, there was a particularly noteworthy case, when a judgment was presented at a meeting of the Qing court's ministers:
Tang Ruowang, The Emperor of The Qin Dynasty, Ke Du Ru Pre, Yang Hongliang, Li Zubai, Chunguan Zheng Song Kecheng, Qiu Guan Zheng Song Fa, Dong Guan Zheng Zhu Guangxian, and Zhongguan Zheng Liu Youtai were all executed. - "Records of the Ancestors of the Qing Dynasty"
In this judgment, the first to bear the brunt was the missionary John Tang, who was followed by the relevant personnel in the Qin Heavenly Prison. So, what crime did they commit that would be punished with a severe sentence?
Originally, in the fifteenth year of Shunzhi (1658), the son born to the Shunzhi Emperor and Concubine Dong died prematurely, and Tang Ruowang and others were responsible for arranging the burial date. Because Shunzhi was particularly fond of this son, he even had the intention of making him crown prince, but unfortunately he failed to do so. This premature prince was Prince HeshuoRong.
The feudal emperor paid great attention to feng shui, and Prince Heshuorong was the heart of Shunzhi. Therefore, the imperial court paid special attention to this funeral, which can be said to be extremely important. However, John Tang, who was proficient in astronomy, was mainly engaged in revising the calendar, and was not good at the art of Kanyu and deduction, so he decided according to the deduction of the "Hong Fan Five Elements".
However, after the death of the Shunzhi Emperor, Yang Guangsheng, who had long coveted the position of Qin Tianjian, began to criticize Tang Ruowang and others for improper deduction, pointing out that the "Zheng Five Elements" should be used. As soon as this case came out, the Qing court attached great importance to it and immediately ordered the Council of Ministers to try it. At that time, John Tang had suffered a stroke and could not speak, and his friend defended him. But in spite of this, this dying missionary was still formulated with the punishment of Ling Chi.
Fortunately, at that time, the auxiliary ministers, Xiaozhuang, and Kangxi were still quite enlightened, and felt that Tang Ruowang had served in the court for many years and was also conscientious, so he was extrajudicial and pardoned him. In this way, Tang John, who had forged artillery for Chongzhen and helped the Great Qing repair the calendar, was pulled back from the brink of death and escaped a disaster.