1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 330 Religious Reform in Hanzhou

If you want to say which place in Hanzhou is the most difficult, the living environment is the worst, and the death rate is the highest, the two mines in Heishan and Kaiyuan must be the first.

As the veins continued to be excavated, the pits became deeper and more dangerous.Water seepage, mine pit collapse, ore falling, and battles between coolies, casualties occurred almost every day.

Naturally, the loss of coolies in the mine must be continuously replenished.The cavalry team under Hanzhou Minzheng has now expanded to more than 80 cavalry. They kept going deep into the inland to search and capture possible Hanzhou indigenous tribes.

In order to supplement the shortage of the Hanzhou navy and the sailors of the transport ship, all the pirate sailors and Portuguese sailors who were previously imprisoned in the mine have been requisitioned.The drastic reduction of mining coolies has caused the owners of the two mines to continuously ask for more coolies.

Instructing Timor Island's new township to expand outwards, in addition to seizing more land suitable for cultivation, there is another reason that cannot be put on the table, that is, to provide a large number of "consumables" for the mine to meet the growing demand of Hanzhou. Development of the smelting and steel industry.

In any social form, there will be classes, and there are very clear class divisions in mines with harsh environments.High above the ground are naturally the masters and instructing craftsmen in the mine, as well as the shift township soldiers who look after the coolies.As the makers and supervisors of all regulations in the mine, they can easily decide the life and death of all coolies.

As the second level in the mine, there are some coolie supervisors appointed by the mine owner.They will complete the ore mining with corresponding output and grade according to the daily arrangement of the guiding craftsmen.As for how to complete it, the management personnel of the mine will not ask.If it cannot be completed, these supervisors will definitely be punished.

As for the lowest level, there are many Hanzhou natives, Luzon natives, and Timor Island natives.By the way, there are two or three hundred Spaniards captured two years ago.

In fact, given the lack of manpower in Hanzhou, all "civilized people" with some skills and normal health will be taken in by various places and departments.However, the Hanzhou Commander's Mansion was very angry at the Spaniards who massacred the Ming people in the Philippines decades ago, and who still treated the Ming people harshly in recent years, and decided to let them work in the mines to death as atonement.

Those Spaniards found sadly that the self-proclaimed master of the civilized world, the people of God, would actually dig mines with some humble local aborigines and former slaves.In terms of work intensity and diet and rest, there is no preferential treatment.In this regard, they have fought against it, hunger strike, silence, and verbal protest.But after being continuously beaten and wantonly humiliated by the township soldiers stationed in shifts, they slowly succumbed and gradually accepted their current status quo.

At the beginning of this year, I saw that some Portuguese were taken out by Hanzhou to supplement the sailors on the ship.These Spaniards were also moved accordingly, licking their faces and asking the supervisors and managers of the mine, they were also willing to join Hanzhou's navy and army, and fight for Hanzhou, as long as they could leave this damn mine.

The Hanzhou military government hesitated for a while, and finally took out more than 100 former Spanish naval officers and sailors, scattered them and distributed them to seven or eight ships.As for wanting to join the Marine Corps to fight with them, it's better to save it. We in Hanzhou don't need Spaniards like them with suspicious combat effectiveness.

There were less than 200 Spaniards left in the mines of Montenegro, and as their mental and physical condition gradually deteriorated, death would be their final end.Tal Ismail, as the priest accompanying the Spanish expeditionary force two years ago, was captured by the Hanzhou people, and he did not receive the preferential treatment that a priest should have at all.Almighty God seems to have forgotten his faithful servant in this miserable world.

For the daily prayers, Father Tal Ismail has not done it for a long time.What he wants most is not the comfort of God, but a meal with enough weight, a bed where he can sleep at ease, and even a breath of fresh air freely.

Now, he stood anxiously in front of a young man who looked very distinguished, waiting for him to announce his fate.Perhaps it was to transfer him to another more miserable place to work, or perhaps it was to prepare him to be executed.

Qi Yuanshan looked at the skinny Spanish priest with disheveled hair, frowned slightly, and then turned his head to gesture to an Italian recruited from Batavia.

"Your name, Spaniard?" An official from the polling office named Macro asked sharply.

"Uh..." Father Tal Ismail looked dazed for a moment, and said in a low voice, "Ismail,... Tal Ismail."

"You were once a priest?"

"Oh yes."

"Are you still devout to God?"

"God? Oh, God bless us."

"I'll give you a chance to change... a few tenets of the Catholic Church." Macro said with some difficulty.Because, he is also a former Catholic, but now he is from Hanzhou, and he is also an intelligence investigator of Hanzhou.

"No, I firmly believe in my faith, and I am devout to the Lord!" Father Tal Ismail seemed to have gradually regained his consciousness, and seemed a little excited.

"Two options, help us modify some Catholic doctrines, and then use it to convince some obstinate believers. In this way, you can get a good diet and a comfortable living environment." Macro decided to give this priest a chance, A chance to live, "Or, go straight back to the mine and wait for your own tragic fate."

Father Tal Ismail's expression froze when he heard this, and he really wanted to say a word of refusal, but when he thought of the endless labor in the mine, the crude and insufficient meals, and the humid and hot resting place, I began to hesitate in my heart.

"Which Catholic creeds...need to be changed?" Father Tal Ismail asked bitterly.

Macro fixedly looked at the priest in front of him who was tortured by heavy physical labor and harsh environment. Now, because he could no longer bear this environment, he expressed to them in pain that he was willing to change the devout Catholic creed in his heart. Some sympathize with him.

"My lord, he is willing to do things for us." Macro turned his head and said to Qi Yuanshan.

"Then take him out of here." Qi Yuanshan nodded and said, "Find him a place to clean up, he won't look like a magic stick at all."

"God stick?" Hearing this word, Macro didn't understand its meaning. Could it be that in Hanzhou, all priests are called god sticks?
Yesterday, Qi Tian found Qi Yuanshan and asked him to "educate" the Spanish priest who was captured two years ago from the Montenegro mine, so that he could modify some Catholic creeds to conform to Hanzhou customs and political and legal norms. Incidentally, in the name of a Catholic priest, Wang Zheng's obsessive family morality was reinterpreted in a "meaningful" way.

Hanzhou has been established for more than three years. Except for the majority of the people who are Han immigrants from Ming Dynasty, there are also some "foreign" population. Japanese and women from Johor and Mataran are naturally easy to naturalize and tame .But there are also some Europeans recruited and plundered from Batavia and Luzon, which may be a little troublesome.

These Europeans all believe in Christianity. Although there is a distinction between Catholicism and Protestantism, the same God lives in their hearts after all.At the same time, most of these Europeans are relatively scarce technical talents in Hanzhou, who are distributed in industries such as smelting, steel, military industry, and shipbuilding, and even have a large number on naval ships.

Religion is essentially man's worship and obedience to things that transcend nature and man himself.Religion believes that there are gods in the world that transcend all things in the material world, and that gods have the same life characteristics as humans, such as consciousness and emotion, and can communicate with human life.For its believers, religion is by no means as simple as a bunch of teachings and theories, and it should not be simply understood as the consciousness that exists only in the human brain.

Tens of thousands of miles away from home, there must be a psychological sustenance in the heart, but there are no churches and priests (or pastors) in Hanzhou.Therefore, some devout believers will pray and mass at home to comfort their inner hesitation and helplessness.

As the ruling class of Hanzhou, what they believe in is naturally the idea that everything is under control.Moreover, any religion must choose political correctness, that is, it can assist and cater to the governance and enlightenment of the Hanzhou ruling class.

Religion has the ability to make religious believers act. If a religion promotes positive thoughts, it will undoubtedly make religious believers take actions that are beneficial to society. It can make people stop evil and cultivate good, punish evil and promote good.However, if a religion promotes ideas that are not conducive to the peaceful and stable development of society, then religious believers will do great harm to society.

Chinese civilization is considered to be a civilization lacking religious genes, and religion has never been the mainstream consciousness.In fact, in Chinese imperial art, religion is a means rather than an end. Confucius once said that "Shinto sets up teachings", which means that the common people believe as long as they want to, as long as they grasp the limits.

In the past dynasties of China, kingship has always been in the absolute supremacy, while religion is only a vassal of secular kingship.Because Chinese religion is not an existence separated from political power. It is often restricted and restricted by secular kingship. Even if religion wants to expand its influence and gain higher social recognition, it needs the support of kingship. , after obtaining the corresponding status, religion also needs to serve the secular kingship.

The ancient Chinese rulers were not only secular absolute rulers, but also representatives of natural divine power.In ancient China, the king was not only the ruler of the regime, he was called the emperor of the world; he was also an extension of divine power in the world, he was called the son of heaven. "Historical Records: The Book of the Five Emperors" said: "So Emperor Yao, the old man, ordered Shun to take charge of the emperor's government in order to observe the destiny." It is said that the emperor is in power and can observe the destiny.Zhou Tianzi is also known as "ordered by heaven", and there is also the view that "the ritual and music conquests come from the emperor".Under such a feudal autocratic monarchy, religious rights cannot surpass the monarchy.Even the two most famous religions in Chinese history-Buddhism and Taoism, have not been able to avoid the fate of being "beaten and pulled" by the secular kingship.

The history of the sinicization of Buddhism is a process of "running in" with Chinese culture and Chinese royal politics.Buddhism originated in India. After it was introduced to China, Indian Buddhism adhered to the principles of "cutting hair" and "doing nothing to marry and raise children", which conflicted with Chinese Confucian concepts such as "the body, hair and skin are subject to parents, and dare not damage them".On this basis, Chinese Buddhism carried out a series of reforms with the attitude of reform and integration.This is the process of "running in" Buddhism with Chinese culture and royal politics, and it is also the beginning of the moralization and secularization of Buddhism.

Therefore, when Buddhists disrespected the royal power in the past dynasties in China, they would end up with a compromise attitude of "actually helping the king".For example, when the Buddhist scriptures introduced to China from India were originally translated, any points that conflicted with Chinese political ideas would be deleted or not translated, or less translated, and even content that was consistent with Chinese political ideas would be added. Buddhism actively integrated the compromise attitude of the rulers, which led to the prosperity of Buddhist forces in China.

In the history of China, the status of religious culture has never existed beyond the royal power.The rumored Buddhism needs to cater to the rulers to change its teachings, and Taoism respects the rulers' preferences from beginning to end.The influence of religion is based on the approval of the ruler and the support of the kingship. Religion is not only a vassal of the kingship, but also serves the secular kingship.

Unlike Chinese religion, which is a vassal of the royal power, Western religious churches can even compete with the royal power, or even surpass the royal power.Because the doctrine of Christianity is a "universal principle", under such doctrine, Christianity has not recognized the secular kingship of the country since its inception.Later, with the development of the times, the authority of the Christian Pope gradually extended to the secular field through the legal recognition, until finally it became an existence beyond the secular kingship, and until later generations no longer emphasized sectarianism.

As a governance method to effectively control Hanzhou, all religions, especially foreign religions, must delete some of their creeds, which must meet the needs of Hanzhou’s governance, and more importantly, conform to Hanzhou’s public order and good customs.As for wanting to surpass or break away from the ruling power, that is even more unacceptable.

Western people in Hanzhou, not only your body belongs to our Hanzhou, but even a part of your mind must belong to our Hanzhou.

(End of this chapter)