Gonçalo Teixeira Correia (c. 1583 – 12 February 1632) was a Portuguese artillery captain who led a mission across the Ming Empire to fight its Manchu invaders and train its army in the use of Western cannon.
After he was killed defending Dengzhou (now Penglai) in Shandong from mutinous troops under Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming, he was eulogized and honored by the Chinese, whose War Ministry granted him the posthumous rank of Assistant Regional Commander.
[2] Under the Ming, international maritime trade apart from the tribute system was notionally prohibited by the Hongwu Emperor's Ancestral Injunctions[11] but bribery and disinterest had made enforcement lax for many decades.
[16] Paul Xu—a Jesuit convert who rose to very high office in large part due to the superiority of Western geometry, with its applications in astronomy, astrology, and accurate use of artillery—warmly encouraged the use of Portuguese guns to counter the ongoing Manchu invasions of northern China.
[18] Shen Que, a Buddhist adept who rose to prominence in the Ministry of Rites, had succeeded in having the Jesuit mission in Nanjing expelled[19] and its property confiscated in 1616 and Lu Zhaolong, a native of the Guangdong county on the mainland opposite Macao,[20] published memorials heatedly arguing against permitting the "South-Sea barbarians" any access to China whatsoever.
[16] After the fall of Guangning (now Beizhen in Liaoning), Ignatius Sun's extremely thorough memorials on the superiority of Western cannon and fortification attracted attention at the highest levels of the War Ministry.
[30] In fact, Correia and Rodrigues helped to disguise the Jesuits André Palmeiro (January 1569 – 14 April 1635) and Domingos Mendes (c. 1579–1652) as part of the company[28] until late March when it was at Nanxiong[31] in northern Guangdong, well away from the imperial border guards.
Based on the battle at Zhuozhou, Correia claimed in a memorial to the throne that the Manchus continued to pose a threat to China[35] but "300 Portuguese and a few loyal Chinese would be enough to scare off the Tartars and even to punish them in their lands".
[35] Paul Xu, recently appointed Vice-Minister of War, published memorial on 2 March 1630 claiming that European weaponry consisted of better-quality metal and gunpowder, forged and sighted more accurately than their Chinese equivalents.
As Vice-Minister of Rites, Xu offered a formal proposal on 5 June that Rodrigues be sent back to Macao to hire an infantry detachment,[34] purchase cannon, and recruit gunners,[17] totaling 200 men in all.
[39] Lu Zhaolong's in particular suggested that the Portuguese would use their military aid as a bargaining chip in negotiations concerning Macao, where officials had already pushed to maintain greater food stores, reduce their annual land tax, rebuild walls and towers, relax trade restrictions, dismiss the local county's assistant regional commander, and receive permission to settle on Pearl River shore opposite Guangzhou.
[37] More importantly, the major Guangzhou merchants, fearing the possibility that closer ties to Portugal might end their monopoly on its trade, raised a subscription and reïmbursed the throne for its expenses in hiring and returning the mercenaries.
[41] On 19 January 1632, poor treatment of Manchurian conscripts by Shandong's local officials and a failure to deliver their wages from Beijing on time led to their commanders Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming revolting against Governor Sun,[46] who futilely attempted to negotiate with them for a peaceful resolution.
[4] Although Sun was arrested and executed for his behavior during the mutiny,[47] Correia was the subject of A Record of Gonçalo the Dutiful (公沙効忠紀, Gōngshā Xiàozhōng Jǐ), a Chinese paean to his bravery at Dongzhou written by João Rodrigues in the year after his death.