Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 579 Destroy the Wubao and attack the evil temple

After displaying these products, everyone had a brief lunch. Guo Kang took them to a small church nearby.

This is actually a shack. There is no decoration in the room, except for a simple cross and a religious scroll hanging behind it. On the scroll, a bearded old man with a halo on his head is driving a cow and working in the fields. Next to it is a frame with "Heavenly Father" written in Chinese characters; in the room next to the field, a man with a face A kind woman is spinning next to a loom, and there is also a box next to it that says "Our Lady". Next to the Holy Mother, there is a table, and "Brother Tian" is lying on the table, holding a ruler in his hand and reading a book. Outside the farmland, the "God Ancestor" was wearing armor and patrolling the field ridges.

This kind of religious painting is specially customized by the church, printed in batches, made into scrolls, and distributed to various grassroots churches. The purpose is to replace the more expensive handmade icon paintings and murals, so that rural churches without much spare money can also There are enough pictures for decoration and promotion.

Unlike other churches, the Roman Church has always attached great importance to unity and normativeness since Patriarch Zhang began the rectification work. The relationship between each local church and the central government is much stronger than that of other churches.

Every autumn, the superiors will send out a team of judges to assess the situation of each grassroots church, reward those priests and priests with outstanding achievements, and investigate and deal with those who are corrupt. Priests regularly go to the diocese's seminary to supplement their professional knowledge and receive various educations such as theology, philosophy, oratory, etc., to improve their quality. Some priests engaged in professional work will also be sent to government offices, workshops, universities and other places for further studies to learn knowledge about water conservancy, agriculture, handicrafts, etc., so that they can serve the church and the diocese where they are located.

In this environment, the church also has certain requirements for various religious supplies. Due to the large number of branches and the fact that each grassroots church has to use ritual vessels and pictures that meet the requirements, the demand for these religious supplies is also very high. In order to produce religious paintings, the church has invested heavily in the printing field all year round, hiring a group of craftsmen to study how to print large and complex patterns. It is necessary not only to increase the speed as much as possible, but also to ensure the quality of the printed products. After decades of development, this large-color printing technology has matured a lot. This kind of painting looks big, but in fact, the cost of production is not high.

Theoretically speaking, this thing is actually a kind of "Renaissance". Because the Italian church sponsored art, it was also for religious purposes. Some people also believe that all human artistic activities, such as dance, music, painting, etc., emerged with the emergence of primitive religion, and they all serve religious purposes.

Places that are particularly good at singing and dancing, such as India, are often places with a strong religious atmosphere. Because religion is the biggest driving force for the entire society to devote itself to art, and this driving force does not distinguish between upper and lower classes. With such a solid foundation, it is easy to form an atmosphere and produce excellent works. The Persians next door are also famous for being good at singing and dancing. The situation is actually similar - after all, Persians are essentially highland Indians, and there is not much difference between them.

This is certainly true in the Mediterranean world as well. Churches in various places have also discovered very early that in religious places and religious ceremonies, majestic music, towering architectural spaces, and grand religious paintings can play an important role in rendering the atmosphere, and are very effective in comforting and uniting believers.

To this end, there was an upsurge in the construction of churches and monasteries throughout England. Dozens of religious buildings were erected to begin the multi-threaded parallel atonement for King William. However, these stone buildings generally cost a lot of money and did not last long. After a while, a few will collapse.

Of course, technological progress does exist. At present, there is another important direction, which is how to use it.

This situation is not limited to Britain and France, but is true throughout Europe. Some churches have been painstakingly repaired for many years, and then fell apart shortly after being used. As a result, the construction period of the church is particularly long because repairs are always being made. The "ancient" churches seen in later generations are often the product of repeated reconstruction after collapse, so that the oldest churches were repurposed old Roman objects.

Of course, for William himself as an example, these churches are of little use...

In painting, it is still relatively late to achieve breakthroughs, but in architecture, the progress is even more obvious. After all, even three or four hundred years ago, in many places in Europe, we couldn't even build churches.

For this reason, William decided to go on a diet to lose weight. His way of losing weight was to eat no food at all-except alcohol. After a long drinking spree, William tried to get on the horse again. As a result, his huge belly hit the saddle and was seriously injured. He lost his balance and fell. He soon died of his injuries. .

After William's death, his sons fought against each other for dominance, and no one cared about their father's body. Later, some old ministers and monks restrained William and tried to bury him. However, the coffin they made was not big enough, so everyone had to force William's body into it. In the process of trying, the severely decomposed body literally exploded.

After completing his conquests, William indulged in pleasure. At that time, the barbarians did not have any other entertainment activities that were attractive enough, so they just ate and drank wildly every day. By the end, he was so fat that he couldn't even mount his horse.

Looking back from later generations, the oldest buildings that can be found that are still in use really only existed during the Renaissance. The architectural level of this era can also be seen. Of course, in three to four hundred years, such great progress has been made and so many qualified craftsmen have been trained in the architectural depression. It can be seen that the church's investment in these technologies is still very useful.

After William the Conqueror occupied England, he massacred the local Anglo-Saxons and almost wiped them out. Even for Europeans at the time, this kind of killing was so horrific that it made William himself feel uneasy. In order to prevent himself from going to hell after death, William specially invited a priest to pray for him. But he himself suspected that his crime was too great and it would be useless to just rely on these people to chant scriptures, so he creatively conceived a new idea - to build more churches and let them pray together, wouldn't the efficiency of atonement be higher? .

Anyway, judging from the results, these prayers didn’t seem to make Heavenly Father like him very much…

Just relying on churches to passively attract people is fine within the country, but if you want to spread education to barbarians, the efficiency is too low. However, the Church of Worshiping God discovered very early on that it had a great advantage in publicity. Because compared to other churches, the God-worshiping clergy are more organized and have stronger professional skills.

In the early years, the Purple Horde Khanate liked to pull cheap cavalry from the grasslands. When Queen Mother Helena was in power, it was recorded that the recruitment officer took an iron pot and coaxed 200 herdsmen from the Kipchak grassland with their own mounts and bows and arrows.

At that time, the Golden Horde had basically collapsed, and those Mongolian and Turkic tribes generally had not seen much of the world. The recruiters of the Purple Horde Khanate were specially selected, and many of them were eloquent Greek lobbyists. Facing the large and small tribes there, he claimed that his lord was also a Mongolian Khan and the orthodox successor of the Golden Horde. He said good things to the local tribes and always said "Anda" to everyone he met. He was very generous, gave various gifts to the leader, and promised to take everyone to the west to grab things together. Therefore, many grassland tribes are willing to serve as soldiers for them. However, after the Civil War, the military core of the Purple Horde Khanate has always been the soldiers of the military government. They don't pay much attention to these herdsmen. They just treat them as cheap cannon fodder. Before the war, they scatter them to harass the enemy and destroy their rear areas as much as possible. Under the supervision of the army, they fight with the mercenaries and mercenaries who are also cheap cannon fodder in the enemy's hands. The bandits fought hard.

At that time, a low-quality iron pot cost about seven to eight thousand copper coins. In total, the average herdsman was only worth fifty copper coins, which can be said to be very cheap. Most people also have a very low priority in getting the loot, and many people simply don't live to loot the loot. Therefore, even if there is a loss, the Great Khan and the nobles will not feel sad at all.

However, due to the long-term pull on people, some tribes themselves began to be unable to bear it. Over time, even "Anda" has almost become a derogatory term. Once you hear it, you will know that it is another old Greek liar who is trying to trick people.

Later, when Patriarch Yin was a bishop in Hebei, he began to openly oppose this behavior. In order to convince everyone, with the support of Patriarch Zhang at the time, he dressed as a traveling missionary, took two followers, and secretly traveled to Alemany and Poland for a period of time. After returning, he wrote a long report recommending that this mode of war be stopped.

Patriarch Yin had very high cultural attainments. He also openly introduced Eastern philosophy and theological works and called on priests to study them, so much so that most Greek theologians jokingly called him "Taoist Yin." His report was also well written and even became a template at the time. In the report, he believed that the grassland herdsmen's combat efficiency was low and the destruction they carried out was aimless.

Due to the lack of command and no strategic view of the overall situation, these people ran around like bandits after arriving at the front line. In the end, they often destroyed a lot of things that should not be destroyed; they were often afraid of the enemy's defensive power and feared that they would suffer losses, so they did not dare to attack key targets that should be destroyed. Because of the inconsistent leadership and lack of command training, they would not even call regular troops to deal with these troubles.

In the past, the activities of the Purple Horde Khanate in the west and northwest were mainly defensive. The direction of expansion is around Crimea in the east and Greece in the south. But this situation certainly cannot be maintained for a long time. Sooner or later, we will launch a counterattack and occupy a larger area to serve as a barrier. Otherwise, this depth will definitely not be enough.

As a result, these prairie cavalry were not enough to complete the mission.

Moreover, if the strategy shifts to the offensive, these undisciplined people can no longer be allowed to act as they please. They set fire to and loot everywhere. In fact, they destroyed the materials that could be used by the army in advance. Enemies often do not have the ability to secure a wall and clear a field, or in other words, they rely on the army to secure a wall and clear a field. Letting these people plunder everywhere is tantamount to helping the enemy complete their mission.

If local supplies are sufficient, the imperial army can reduce its baggage and move faster. As for the barbarian army, there is no marching speed in the first place, so it doesn't matter. Allowing this situation is tantamount to pushing your own advantage into a position that is as bad as that of your enemy, and you have to face an enemy who is more experienced in fighting bad battles. This is definitely not good for the war.

As for the post-war period, it was even more troublesome. From the perspective of the court, the goal of the war was not national hegemony or dynasties competing for territory, but to recover lost territory and revive Rome. Destroying barbarian armies and barbarian countries is only a phased goal, not the ultimate goal. If the damage is too serious, even if it is recovered, the value will be lost a lot, and it will also make people question the justice of the Roman army. From this aspect, it is also very worth the loss.

Instead, Patriarch Yin believes that a more precise and organized approach should be used.

He proposed that before the war, manpower should be sent to investigate various situations in the enemy-controlled areas. These tasks have existed in the past, but they were all military-based, and the information brought by businessmen was often about materials and prices. Now, one must go deeper and investigate their true state of faith and organization.

Theoretically, everyone in the enemy-controlled areas is a Roman Catholic believer; all local churches, churches and clergy are subordinate to the Roman Catholic Church. But Europe had been divided for a long time, and the decrees of the Bishop of Rome could not reach such a place. Local clergy often lack systematic training and church organizations are corrupt. Neither grassroots clergy nor ordinary believers have reached this theoretical state.

The customs of the lower class of society are not consistent with the high-sounding propaganda of the nobles. Their needs cannot be met by the upper management for a long time. And if the barbarian rulers and the church could not provide these services, but Rome could, then they would naturally turn to Rome. When the people turn their hearts to benevolent government, just like water flowing downhill, the enemy's foundation can be hollowed out without spending much money and troops.

Under the guidance of this idea, Patriarch Yin persuaded the court and the church to select a group of capable priests to visit various barbarian countries in an explicit or covert capacity to conduct investigations.

After the investigation was completed, the church declared that some barbarian nobles and Roman Catholic priests had been bewitched by the devil. Their palaces, churches, and monasteries have become the devil's lair. To this end, the church organized a group of magistrates and led armed squads into areas occupied by the enemy.

The management of the barbarian lords was quite negligent, and the king and the great nobles had almost no idea of ​​the situation at the grassroots level. The missionaries and magistrates sent by the Purple Horde Khanate contacted the grassroots priests and villages who were dissatisfied with the lords everywhere, leading them to resist the bandits and mercenaries, and even tried the evil nobles, burned to death the tax collectors who were extremely angry, and destroyed the monasteries that were dedicated to plundering money. Patriarch Yin collectively referred to these tasks as "breaking down fortresses and conquering evil temples" and considered them to be as important as war, or even more important.

These efforts were slow, because the locals were often frightened by the nobles. And because of their previous actions, the Purple Tent Army had a bad reputation at that time. Sometimes, it took several years for the residents of a village to get out of their state of fear, start to trust these outsiders, and then gather together to support them and rebel again.

However, the effect is indeed obvious. Since the printing technology of the Purple Horde Khanate was much more advanced, various brochures explaining the scriptures and intuitive and cheap religious paintings also flowed into the barbarian areas along with these missionaries. In the end, even some regular Catholic cathedrals began to purchase goods directly from here for cheap. The results of decades of hard work finally met his expectations.

(End of this chapter)