Wanli Xinming

Chapter 228 Chips
After presenting a Bible to Wang Yi to repair, the four members of the mission left the prefectural yamen, feeling a little discouraged.Ines looked at the beautifully printed "Da Ming Religious Management Regulations" in his hand, and said to Luo Mingjian: "Father Michel, please translate this law as soon as possible. Now we have not much information, but from this booklet , the Chinese at least surpassed Europe in the completeness of the law and the attainment of printing."

"From what we have seen and heard in the past two days, I am very worried that the results of the Trento Conference will be subverted because of this booklet."

Fan Li'an and other three priests listened, and their faces changed color.Matteo Ricci exclaimed: "Ines, the Conference of Trento is 'the result of the inspiration of the Holy Spirit' and it is indestructible."

What Ines called the "Conference of Trento" was the main axis of the Roman Catholic Reformation.Because of the corruption of the Catholic Church in the Middle Ages, the Protestant denominations represented by Martin Luther launched the "Protestant Movement", which eventually led to the division of the Catholic Church.

Martin Luther wrote "12 Theses" in the 1517th year of Zhengde (95), opposing the sale of indulgences by the Holy See, which opened the prelude to the religious reformation.He emphasized justification by faith in theology, declared that people can directly read the Bible to obtain divine revelation, and opposed the authority of the Pope with the authority of the Bible.

In the 13th year of Jiajing (1534), King Henry VIII of England urged the Congress to pass the "Supreme Act" concerning religious reform, declaring that the king was the head of the Church of England and had the power to appoint various priesthoods and determine the teachings of the church. He refused to accept this The lawmaker was sentenced to death for treason.Marked by Britain’s announcement that the power of the king is superior to the pope, the idea of ​​“righteousness by faith” that fundamentally subverts the Church of Rome has flourished, and the rule of the Church of Rome in Europe has been hit hard.

In order to deal with the threat of Protestantism to the entire Roman Church, the call for the Reformation Conference was raised within the Catholic Church, from the lower priests to the upper church and even the university, and the Catholic fanatic—Charles V of Spain also ran for it.

In the 24th year of Jiajing (1545), Pope Paul III finally agreed under pressure to hold the first Trento Conference, announcing the beginning of a wave of European Catholic forces opposing the Reformation.

The Trento Conference was held three times and took nearly 18 years.Pope Pius IV, who was sick in bed at the end of the meeting, responded to the conclusion of the meeting by saying: "All this is the result of the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God." This is exactly what Matteo Ricci has just quoted.

The Conference of Trento, known as the "Anti-Reformation Movement," responded to calls for reform within the Catholic Church, and decided to abolish the deacon of the church who had abused his power; it reiterated that believers must pay tithes.The sale of indulgences was abolished; the authoritative version of the Bible was determined, and the liturgy of the Mass was established.It also stipulates that all traditional teachings of the Roman Church have the same status as the "Bible".Most importantly, the conference made it clear that all Christians must recognize the sanctity of the Pope.

Ines listened to Matteo Ricci's words from Pius IV, and it is not easy to directly refute.He patted the pamphlet lightly and said, "Father, the kings of Europe have been jealous of tithes for hundreds of years. If someone inspires them, they will follow suit."

"As for myself, I believe that the educational system and knowledge of the Church is the cornerstone of the entire European civilization. But not all kings who are in debt do not necessarily think like me."

Matteo Ricci quickly realized that facing a large amount of real money, the kings of Europe and those princes who had secret exchanges with Protestantism might not be able to avoid tithing because of their beliefs.

Fan Lian also interjected at this time: "Mr. Ines' concern is very reasonable. From what we have seen and heard in the past few days, we are likely to be in a developed civilization that surpasses Europe. I think the situation here is It must be in the hands of the Pope and His Majesty, if China begins to spread its ideas and institutions outward - gentlemen, as we spread our civilization to the colonies, can the Europas resist its might?"

After the four returned to the embassy station, they reported the results of the communication with Wang Yixiu just now, and everyone in the embassy felt heavy in their hearts.One of the proprietors of a Malacca trading company who came with the mission said: "Several priests and Mr. Ines. When you went to the government office, Mr. Sorantova and I walked around the street. My God , the materials here are extremely rich, and there are all kinds of commodities! It is said that Songjiang is the largest cotton spinning center in the Ming Dynasty. The first-class cotton cloth with a width of seven palm feet and a length of 57 palm feet is called "horse" in Ming Dynasty - how much can one riyal buy? ? Guess what!"

"You were all wrong! One rial can buy ten 'horses'! A year ago, the price was five for one rial, and in one year the price has dropped by half! Guys, in Lisbon, one Rial can't even buy two!"

"Do you know why? Hydro-spinning is already being used on a large scale in this area! A female worker - take care, a female worker! She can take care of thirty cotton spindles at the same time! If we could get this spinning technology, the cotton in Lisbon would be in Out of stock in Europe!"

At this time, another attache from the Goa Governor's Palace also spoke: "Everyone, I have one more thing to report. Today, Felipe and I also discovered an amazing invention. Minguo has a newest communication technology that can be used overnight. The information is transmitted from here to the capital! It is said that that kind of thing is called 'Guang Bao'. The people of the Ming Dynasty who told me about this matter told me that they had arranged this light newspaper in Songjiang last year. Please think about it, this The commercial value of things!"

"I don't know if you have noticed that the road in front of their government office uses a new building material. I found out that this thing is a kind of gray powder, which is extremely strong when exposed to water, and its hardness exceeds rock."

With a lot of talk, the members of the mission began to exchange what they had seen and heard in Daming these days.In the end, they reached an agreement that the civilization of Ming might be more developed than that of Europe. Even though Europe has its own unique features, Ming has a vast territory and little demand for Portugal, Goa, and Malacca colonial systems—meaning that they did not What a bargaining chip.

Fan Li'an listened, and although his brows were furrowed, his will was not broken.After the discussion rested for a while, he clapped his hands to calm everyone down, and mobilized: "Gentlemen and priests. I want to draw your attention to the fact that we are not only on the mission of evangelism, we also represent Europe. Now it seems that Europe It's not the only civilized human being, China is far more civilized than we ever knew."

"There are now three main religions in this country, namely Islam from the Western Regions, Buddhism from India, and indigenous Taoism, as well as a semi-religion - it has no gods, but the Chinese call it 'Confucianism', Confucianism I came across it in Japan, and it is the cornerstone of the entire East Asian civilization."

"At present, it seems that these three religions are in peace with each other under the effective management of the central government of the Ming Dynasty. This is the best news for us missionaries. The purpose of our mission is to preach to the royal family and use the emperor. Spread the Gospel throughout the Ming Empire. If all goes well, we will bring this great civilization under the command of His Majesty the Pope in the future."

"It now seems that this last one is an impossible task. There are no missionaries in our mission who can show miracles. Of course, we all know that they are only sophisticated magicians. If their secrets are revealed, Our mission will be a complete failure."

"However, relying solely on teachings, it is difficult to impress the emperor to support Christianity. Judging from the Chinese people we contact now, they are extremely calm and pragmatic people, and even lack a lot of sense of humor because of this. But these people have been able to scale on a large scale. This shows that they may have surpassed us in terms of machinery manufacturing. In addition to the spinning machine and loom mentioned by this gentleman just now, we have nothing to exchange with the Ming Kingdom— Except for real gold and silver."

"Gentlemen, I order you to start thinking now. We have something that Ming does not have, which can be used as bargaining chips. I can now predict that, from the information I have, the emperor of Ming is an extremely realistic person. If we say it with a mouth, that defeat will be the only outcome."

　Good night everyone.Written after drinking, maybe the foreword doesn't fit the description.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)