God and mystery

Chapter 406 The Rolled Up Incense Market
Shuntian Mansion in Ming Dynasty.Matteo Ricci returned to his residence after the end of the dynasty. The haunted house in Dongyue Temple has now been completely converted into a Catholic church. His missionary process in Shuncheon was not very smooth. He wanted to spread the message of Christ among the people. Faith, but ordinary people are happy with these things, not to mention that in a world where there are real gods and ghosts, although the magic power of Christ can also be fulfilled, it is not as convenient and quick as coming from temples of people's gods everywhere.

"It's not good for you, God. My brother said that he believes in your teachings, but he still needs to be a faithful believer. It's not enough to believe in it casually, and it doesn't show much. Who can believe it?"

"Your brother must have made a mistake. You didn't believe it casually. How can you believe in a god if you believe in it? How can a god or Buddha bless you if you are not sincere?"

"Bishop Li, what you said is wrong. There are too many folk gods on the side of the road. You are a reserved god. The local gods here are not picky eaters. What are they? Go to his temple, or just go to his temple. Write his name on the side of the road, and put incense on it. I will come down immediately to bless you. There is no second word! That speed is so fast, a gust of wind will come!"

The leader of the migrant workers gave a thumbs up, boasting about the speed of a certain folk god.

"There are high-ranking officials in the capital who believe in your teachings. That is because they have time to study your God's works. We are all illiterate white men. You let us study God's works? Sorry, your twisted words look I do not know!"

Matteo Ricci preached to these migrant workers at the pier, and was met with retaliation by the gangsters. At the same time, accompanied by all kinds of ridicule, he said that although you have become a high-ranking official, God is a bit embarrassing. What about believers?

You said you want people to believe in you sincerely, and you are not allowed to have two hearts. People's gods don't care about this, they want incense you don't want, they protect people you don't bless, they can do things you can't do, you don't They dare to mess with things that dare to mess up!
This is the god of the people!

Matteo Ricci shook his head again and again, saying that foreign monks are good at reciting scriptures, but it was not so true until the Ming Dynasty. There are many powers divided between them, so as long as they have a good relationship with the local legal religion, the missionary activities of Christianity will not be hindered.

But not in Suncheon now.

Due to the issuance of the Great Order of Conferring the Gods, all grass-headed gods, folk gods, and monsters from all over the world, those who recruited for security, those who surrendered, and those who sought a way out, all gathered in the vicinity of Suncheon to live temporarily, waiting for the higher-ups to give Arranging work, so those who accumulate beliefs and incense are often more likely to be favored and promoted in advance. When the court sees that you have incense, it will feel that you have not done too many evil things, and the political review will be much more relaxed.

This has created the current situation.

Grass head gods, lonely ghosts, folk gods, monsters from all walks of life, wishing to help the old lady cross the road a hundred times a day, and at the same time sweep up the evil spirits nearby in order to fight for two or three incense sticks, their bottom line is getting lower day by day In the beginning, there were gods, just like God. I felt that I was at least a god as a god of the people, so I had to be more reserved, but soon I found that someone was distributing long incense sticks and eggs on the road.

If you don't lower your face, you won't be able to earn this little incense.

Roll dead.

"The competition for employment is fierce these days. If you say that you don't look down and put on a high air, no one will believe you. Everyone is very busy. If you can give you incense, you will definitely give it to you. You can do it for everyone Things should be dealt with as soon as possible. You deal with it quickly and with high efficiency. The big guys go to add incense to your temple. Doesn’t this belief spread? It doesn’t take many days to spread to the Forbidden City, and become a god of heaven Just around the corner."

The leader of the migrant workers waved a broken cattail fan, and with the posture of a beggar version of Zhuge Kongming, he analyzed the current competition situation of the gods one by one and then explained it to Ricci.

Ricci thought for a while.

I find this a little troublesome.

Superficial believers can’t get too many blessings. The rules are not set by themselves, but by God. There are rules and regulations for how much faith, how much good deeds, how many believers, and then what level you can be promoted to. , I can be shameless, isn't it just sending eggs, what's so rare about it, but God doesn't allow it, and I am also a clever woman who can't cook without rice.

"Bishop Li, here, here!"

Matteo Ricci was standing on the pier. He was clearly a popular person in front of today's man, but he looked a bit downcast when he stood here with his hands tied. His gray beard was shaking. When he turned his head, he heard someone calling himself, look When I passed by, I found that it was a boatman wearing a bamboo hat. The latter came forward. Just as Matteo Ricci was about to ask what was going on, he didn't seem to know this person, but he was hugged by this person, talking and laughing. go aside.

"Bishop Li, here is a letter, please read it."

The boatman wearing a bamboo hat stuffed a roll of paper into Ricci's sleeve, and then left with a burst of laughter, as if he was a friend who had known Ricci for many years. Ricci felt suspicious and went to a secluded place to open Unwrapping the paper, he was shocked at first, then overjoyed, and then terrified. He put the paper away and hurriedly trotted towards the Forbidden City.

When Matteo Ricci came to the Forbidden City and was entrusted by a cloud into the Dharma Realm in the sky, he saw the old Sange in the new cabinet, and then entered it to see Emperor Wanli and Zhang Tianshi.

As soon as they met, Emperor Wanli went straight to the point: "Bishop Li, you have a fellow priest in Japan named Ba Fanji, don't you?"

"Yes. Ba Fanji is an old friend of the minister. He crossed the sea together from the west, but he continued to travel east to Japan a few years ago. Later, the monarch of Japan launched a massacre against those who believed in Christianity. I also I lost contact with him, and I never thought I could still hear from him now."

Wanli Huang Dian nodded slightly, frowning: "Well, I asked you to come this time to read his handwriting. There are important matters involving him. For the specific situation, Tian Yi, please read it to him."

After speaking, Tian Yi, the old eunuch next to Emperor Wanli, explained the ins and outs of the matter to Ricci in detail, and Ricci was naturally taken aback.

Ba Fanji not only escaped the original massacre, but also successfully pulled the Tokugawa family of the five Japanese bigwigs onto the Christian warship.This result can be described as huge!
But Emperor Wanli interrupted Matteo Ricci's dream, and said bluntly: "Tokugawa Ieyasu, I heard in the Korean war report, is a person who puts interests first. What he believes in now must be beneficial to him. Harmless, Christianity was massacred only once by Hirai Hideyoshi, and I have asked Jin Yiwei to find out the reason for it."

The Ming Dynasty had Jinyiwei secret works in Japan, and they have been dispatched continuously since the 20th year of Wanli. This is not a particularly secretive thing. Although everyone knows that there are secret works, the Japanese military has never been able to find out where the secret works are. In fact, there are many Jinyiwei pretending to be sea merchants or monks, and even some sea merchants themselves are part-time Jinyiwei eyeliners. They mix into Japanese society, and they can often inquire about many things in markets and temples.

"The suppression of Buddhism was a matter of Oda Nobunaga's time, because Japanese Buddhism had become rampant and corrupt during the Warring States period, threatening his dominance. Therefore, when Christianity entered Japan many years ago, he adopted a laissez-faire attitude and used Christianity to to suppress Buddhism."

"But it's a pity that you didn't learn from Japanese Buddhism. Japanese Buddhism itself has been absorbed by Shintoism for a while, and even the teachings have changed. It has come to an era of decline, but you think that Christ should replace Buddhism and Shintoism. In the end, they united, and your crazy missionary behavior found that your believers had grown to hundreds of thousands after Hirai Hideyoshi became Japan's Guanbai."

"Moreover, some Japanese were captured by the Frangji people and sent to Luzon as slaves. Some of you knew about this but turned a blind eye to it. Why was the Frangji merchant ship detained, and why did it happen later? It seems that the massacre was not only caused by the brutality of the Japanese, Bishop Li, your colleagues also have an indelible contribution."

Faced with Emperor Wanli's questioning, Matteo Ricci simply shook his head: "Although I have been in the East for more than ten years, most of my energy is in translating books. Regarding the situation in Japan, I just learned from other countries. The missionaries know a little bit, but the essence is not very clear."

"Your Majesty should have investigated your servants. Everything you said is true and there is no deceit."

Matteo Ricci was very nervous as he spoke, fearing that he would be charged with some strange crime suddenly.

Emperor Wanli smiled immediately, and comforted him: "Don't be so afraid, I'm not asking you for a crime. After the Franji merchant ship was seized by Hirai Hideyoshi, instead of lowering its stance, it boasted that Franji is famous all over the world. colonial means, and that you missionaries are always the heralds of conquest."

Matteo Ricci turned pale with fright, and quickly knelt down and kowtowed: "Your Majesty has absolutely no such intentions, Your Majesty is clearly aware!"

This is no longer a hint but an explicit statement. He is talking about Toyotomi Hideyoshi killing missionaries, but he is actually warning himself and others that if they do this in the Ming Dynasty, there will be absolutely no good results.

Threatening the rule of the emperor of the Ming Dynasty will definitely end up being much more miserable than threatening the rule of Guan Bai in Japan!
"It's enough for Aiqing to be clear in her heart. Find a time to bring all your disciples of Christ to Shuntian. I have given you full authority to use the Dongyue Temple land. You can build more residences for them to live in. "

Matteo Ricci wiped the sweat from his brow, and quickly replied: "On behalf of all fellow Christians, thank you for your majesty's forgiveness."

He said forgiveness on his lips, but he knew in his heart that this was house arrest.To prevent the missionaries from messing around, and Shuntian is not afraid of their messing around, not only because of Zhang Tianshi here, but also an important point, that is, there are too many folk gods here now.

If the missionaries are all gathered here, it will be more controllable than running around in those places in Haojingao. At least here, they can't even drink the incense soup.

At this time, Emperor Wanli glanced at the Celestial Master. The Celestial Master understood, and continued to suggest to Matteo Ricci:

"Regardless of any sect, once it develops too crazy, huge and bloated, it will be liquidated. I don't shy away from anything. In the history of my middle-earth, such things have happened many times."

"Bishop Li has read a lot of books and has a thorough understanding of both Chinese and Western cultures. He should know about the three martial arts and one sect to destroy Buddhism."

"Buddhism has been passed down in my middle land for 500 years. Since Baima came to the east, it has experienced many winds and rains. Buddhism is so powerful, and it has such a miserable past. Christ is the law of the new age, and now it wants to be passed on in the East. Soil, it’s not impossible, it’s really better to be restrained.”

Matteo Ricci hurriedly bowed: "What the heavenly master said is absolutely true! Matteo Ricci also thought the same way. Crazy preaching, contrary to the good deeds of Christ, can't be done!"

The Heavenly Master nodded: "Never forget the past, the teacher of the future."

Emperor Wanli coughed lightly, Tianshi immediately understood, and Emperor Wanli continued:
"The people of Qin have no time to mourn for themselves, but later generations mourned; what later generations mourned without learning from it, also made future generations mourn for future generations again."

"Bishop Li, has he ever read A Fang Gong Fu?"

Matteo Ricci just stood up and bowed to the celestial master, but was frightened by Emperor Wanli's words and knelt down tremblingly.

It's not a good question to ask!

You are the Son of Heaven, and I am just a missionary. If you compare me to the perishing Qin State, I don’t have the status to bear such a comparison!
"Hey, didn't I just say it, don't you be afraid, Bishop Li? This Qin country is not only the Qin of my middle land, but also the Qin of the west. My middle land used to call the country in the west the Great Qin. Does the home country of the protagonist have anything to do with it?"

"But no matter which Qin it is, the reasons for its defeat may be different, but its demise is already an indelible historical fact engraved in history."

Emperor Wanli didn't care about the life and death of Rome, he was just beating Matteo Ricci, because Matteo Ricci recently bought Dongyue Temple to build a church, preached Christ everywhere, and even many courtiers were "baptized" by that. This alerted Emperor Wanli.

In addition, after the fact that Toyotomi Hideyoshi once killed those missionaries was investigated, Emperor Wanli inevitably had a similar idea to Toyotomi Hideyoshi. His first reaction was to kill them all, but after thinking about it, it would be harmful but not beneficial , isn't that Ba Fanji taking revenge on Toyotomi Hideyoshi now?One more friend and more ways to turn one's face must also be artistic. Yesterday I smiled at you, but today I came up to give you a knife and blood. No one can bear it.

Bian Shangtian Yi didn't say a word, just followed the eyes of Emperor Wanli, and handed the scroll to Matteo Ricci, who was still trembling and tidying his beard while wiping his sweat. After a while, he responded decisively:
"Your Majesty, this is indeed Ba Fanji's handwriting, and there is absolutely no falsehood."

Emperor Wanli and Zhang Tianshi glanced at each other, then looked at Elder Sange again, and they started talking:

"From this point of view, civil strife broke out in Japan, and many daimyos, including the Kobayakawa family, wanted to cross the sea and come to seek refuge with our Celestial Dynasty in order to make a comeback. This matter has great strategic significance for separating Japan's national power."

"Your Majesty, I think it should be accepted. The other party is also a Japanese daimyo. He has a more or less understanding of Japan's geographical environment, Toyotomi Hideyoshi's temperament, and even the next arrangement of Emperor Jimmu. Jin Yiwei inquired After all, intelligence is superficial, and some important information can only be known by those inside them."

The Sange elders agreed that this group of people should be accepted.

(End of this chapter)