Chapter Thirty-Eight: Armed Missionary Work

Schonbrunn Palace, Children’s Chamber.

“Mother, I am already five years old; I can sleep by myself now,” Franz said with a hint of helplessness as he looked at Lady Sophie.

“No, I believe you still need me. Besides, you cannot refuse a mother fulfilling her duties,” Lady Sophie insisted.

“Now, on that day when the snow was falling heavily, Captain Lin had walked less than half a mile when he saw a dilapidated church…” Franz sighed, reflecting on how, in every era, women seem to love chasing dramas.

Phnom Penh, Khmer Royal Palace.

Though King An Chan was long gone, his four daughters still remained within the palace walls.

They were the princesses of Khmer, and the palace was their home, yet now they were confined to the cold palace quarters.

This was because the other palaces had been occupied by Vietnamese General Zhang Mingjiang. As the Vietnamese military overseer in Khmer, he wielded absolute power.

The first thing Zhang Mingjiang did upon taking over the Phnom Penh palace was to seize the king’s concubines, then, in King An Chan’s name, impose heavier taxes and conscript young, beautiful women into the palace.

The Guan Jin family was not spared; more than a dozen of their women were summoned to the palace, many suffering unbearable humiliation and forced to take their own lives, fueling Guan Jin Pan’s deep hatred for Zhang Mingjiang.

As for the four Khmer princesses, Zhang Mingjiang dared not act recklessly—not out of fear of the Khmer people, but because of a eunuch sent by Emperor Minh Mệnh to supervise the troops—a eunuch surnamed Li.

This eunuch was ostensibly there to oversee military affairs, but in truth, his role was twofold: to curb Zhang Mingjiang’s power and to prevent him from interacting with King An Chan’s descendants, fearing he might emulate Cao Cao’s gambit of controlling the emperor to command the lords.

Sinology and Confucianism held an unshakable position across Southeast Asia. Emperor Minh Mệnh was well aware of this historical precedent; his actions were unsurprising.

However, Minh Mệnh’s approach inadvertently gave Guan Jin Pan some room to maneuver.

Eunuchs, having lost the rights of ordinary men, were often greedy, corrupt, or possessed peculiar tastes.

This eunuch Li had a fondness for poetry. Naturally, Guan Jin Pan catered to this by frequently bringing renowned figures from the Khmer literary world into the palace to compose verses with him.

Poetry without wine is incomplete. Guan Jin Pan dispatched agents far and wide to gather fine wines for eunuch Li.

Over time, Guan Jin Pan became a “confidant” in the eunuch’s eyes.

One day, Guan Jin Pan arrived with a rare Tang dynasty manuscript and a delicate jade wine cup to visit eunuch Li.

Eunuch Li was pleased but spoke with measured calm:

“Brother Guan Jin, you bring such heavy gifts to my humble abode. If there is something on your mind, just speak plainly.”

“Brother Li, the princesses have reached the age to begin their education. I wish to invite tutors for them.”

Eunuch Li breathed a sigh of relief; he had feared it might be something urgent, but it was just about hiring teachers.

Eunuch Li responded, “That is certainly possible. But who among the great scholars will be the princesses’ tutors? Might I meet them?”

Guan Jin Pan understood well that it was impossible to deny eunuch Li a meeting, especially since such matters would inevitably come to his attention.

“Master An, Master Pa, please come forward and meet Brother Li.”

An and Pa were common Khmer surnames; eunuch Li paid them little heed at first.

But when he saw Ambrose An and Pacini, he was genuinely startled.

“Yellow-haired devils!?”

Guan Jin Pan spoke up: “They are Westerners.”

“Oh, yes, foreigners. But do they truly possess genuine learning?” Eunuch Li, proud of his vast knowledge, intended to test these two Western scholars.

Guan Jin Pan, unwilling to let them roam free, bluntly said:

“A woman’s virtue lies in her lack of talent. These two foreigners mainly instruct in dance and music.”

These words instantly drained eunuch Li’s interest.

“I thought so—foreigners know nothing but song and dance.” He then said to a young eunuch nearby, “Give them a waist token and escort them.”

The young eunuch bowed and was about to leave but was called back by eunuch Li.

“Wait!”

His voice immediately tensed the atmosphere; Ambrose An had already reached for the pistol at his waist.

“Disgusting. Let them bathe and change clothes. Don’t bring that stench into the palace.”

Both Ambrose An and Guan Jin Pan exhaled in relief.

“Understood.”

…

Ambrose An finally met the “Princesses” he had longed to see, but they were nothing like he had imagined.

Their attire was extremely rustic, the fabric no better than that of the palace maids.

Especially their ages—they looked barely into their teens, the youngest no more than seven or eight.

Ambrose An silently cursed to himself, “I shouldn’t have listened to that brat.”

---

As Ambrose An scrutinized the princesses, the young girls curiously studied him in return.

After all, the princesses had lived their whole lives within the palace and had never seen a man, let alone a Westerner.

They stared at each other awkwardly.

Finally, Father Pacini broke the silence. As a professionally trained missionary, his communication skills were excellent.

The princesses’ first impression of Ambrose An was very favorable. Unlike the eunuchs they usually saw, he was quite different, and his noble appearance made him easy to approach.

---

Khmer, Kampot Bay.

The establishment of the port went smoothly. The locals were surprisingly indifferent, showing no will to resist these uninvited guests. Officials, once bribed, cooperated readily.

The Catholic missionaries began their campaign, infiltrating nearby villages by offering medical aid, distributing rice, and providing charity—common tactics to attract attention.

In colonial missions, special methods were required.

One village was frequently raided by bandits. The battle priests split into two groups: one armed and lying in ambush along the bandits’ known paths, the other guarding the village and watching for inside informants.

When the bandits were repelled by the priests defending the village, the ambush team would rush out and capture them all.

The priests tied the bandits up in the village square, allowing the villagers to recount the bandits’ crimes.

At this, villagers vented their grievances and avenged their wrongs, beating the bandits nearly to death before the priests intervened.

The priests demanded the bandits confess their sins—a scene all too familiar to the local Buddhists.

“Most likely, these foreign monks will spare these damned bandits,” the villagers thought.

The bandits thought the same, confident they would escape punishment and someday slaughter all the unruly villagers, since these foreign monks could not guard them forever.

Yet, to everyone’s surprise, after the bandits’ confession, the priests crucified them and baptized them through fire.

“May the Lord forgive your sins. Amen!”

Witnessing the priests’ power and methods, the villagers gradually converted.

The priests admired the effectiveness of Archbishop La Roche’s methods.

What they did not know was that these missionary strategies were orchestrated by a child.