Nanming: I can build wonders

Chapter 355 The Frenchman's Amazement (Subscribe)

"My God, this is God's kingdom, why is it so rich here, and why are the people here so polite and elegant."

Bai Jin sighed.

Bai Jin is his Chinese name, and his original name was Joachim Bouvet, a French missionary.

He received a comprehensive education including theology, linguistics, philosophy and natural sciences, with a particular interest in mathematics and physics.

Historically, he was a figure who made outstanding contributions to modern Chinese and Western cultural exchanges.

Then, he saw that the official roads of Yingtian Mansion in Ming Dynasty were wide and neat, like spider webs, spreading in the shade of trees, there were as many carriages as flowing water, and they were very orderly, and people walking on the sidewalks had smiles on their faces .

Unlike them in Europe, the streets are full of filth, and the nobles and citizens don't like to take a bath, especially on rainy days, the whole city stinks.

Therefore, he felt that France was really incomparable in front of Daming.

"Oh my god, do the commoners here also live in brick houses like castles? You know, our commoners can only live in huts, and the beautiful brick castles only belong to the nobles."

Another French missionary, Hong Ruohan, also said in surprise.

"There is no difference between the nobles and the common people here. The common people here also have their own houses and gorgeous clothes, and they can also receive education. If they are sick, they can still get medical treatment. There are many hospitals run by the government, and the doctors are hired by the government. Yes, because of government subsidies, civilians can get medical treatment without paying a high price, and even contagious and fatal diseases have to be registered. My God, they can be cured without bloodletting! Here It seems that the official government does not only serve the nobles, they have sufficient taxes to ensure the lives of the common people."

"People here love reading very much. Every family has books. I often see people reading with books. There are even special newspaper readers who read newspapers to ordinary people. What's more, they read a variety of books, including Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. It can take root here, and even our teachings are discussed here. God, if this is where we are, except for the church, other kinds of teaching books are not recognized. How can the church here treat the culture like this? Tolerance, but they don't seem to have a religion they must follow!"

"Their emperor was not crowned by the church. I dared to ask, saying that the emperor was given by God's will. That is to say, their emperor is their god even if they are secular rulers?" Carriel said in amazement .

This time as an envoy to Ming Dynasty, France sent the famous Carrière diplomat, who was the most trusted diplomat of Louis XIV.

"I finally arrived at Yingtianfu. The prosperous towns along the Yangtze River make me feel that any city is far more prosperous than our Paris. Therefore, I am even more looking forward to how prosperous their capital will be. After I saw it, even though I was mentally prepared, I was still shocked by its prosperity, maybe this is the city of God!"

"I seem to have come to heaven. Yingtian City seems to be covered with brocades. I am dazzled by the dazzling array of goods. The common people are all smiling. They seem to be ignorant of the horror of death and the hardship of poverty. Hunger seems to have nothing to do with them. Insulate forever!"

"The aristocrats here seem to have infinite wisdom. For example, their Prime Minister Chen has long been aware of our various knowledge, and he understands geometry and geography better than me. Finally, I saw their emperor, my God, their emperor. He is so young, yet so wise and knowledgeable, because he actually knows the history of our France and reminds us to be wary of England. Not enough aristocrats in our own country are aware of the threat of England!"

"Also, I was lucky enough to see their guards, which are really the most invincible army in the world I have ever seen. There are also a lot of artillery, mainly their Royal Manufacturing Bureau. I heard that tens of thousands of craftsmen are involved in the manufacture, and many artillery equipment enter the army every day. Even if I raise the tax rate to [-]% in France, I can’t support such a huge Army and Artisan!

"The prosperity of the Ming Dynasty is beyond our imagination. It is no wonder that they can manage such a vast territory. This undoubtedly proves that their ruling system is advanced! Perhaps, if we want to become such an empire, France must learn from them. , their Chinese characters seem to be more conducive to expression, and easier to open up people's wisdom. I think that if we want France to become such a powerful super empire, the first thing we need to do is to popularize Chinese characters and learn their culture. I have to say, here is really A country favored by God!"

Along the way, Bai Jin began to imitate Marco Polo and write his own travel diary, including what he saw and heard in Daming.

Moreover, like Marco Polo, he spared no effort to praise Daming.

Even in modern times, China was backward, and many literati who felt inferior because of seeing the power of the West believed that their country was backward because of their different characters, and actively advocated the abandonment of Chinese characters. Confidence with culture has been shaken.

Hong Ruohan naturally felt the same way. He had already started buying books such as Four Books and Five Classics, Tang Poetry and Song Ci, "Da Ming Law" and "Emperor Ming Ancestral Instructions". Secretly, as a rich missionary, he naturally hired an interpreter. If he wants to understand Chinese culture, he can understand a little bit.

When Bai Jin and Hong Ruohan came to Daming this time, they were indeed greatly impacted.

Because in this era, the scholar-officials in the new Ming Dynasty were not as conservative as those in the later Qing Dynasty, but they were more active and open than Westerners in understanding foreign cultures.

Even, many scholars and bureaucrats of the Ming Dynasty took the initiative to call some Western missionaries with knowledge and morality as Western Confucians.

The scholar-bureaucrats of the new Ming Dynasty also formed their own new ideas through this kind of active cultural exchange to form active thinking.

On the contrary, Westerners in this era did not take the initiative to absorb foreign cultures, because they are still relatively barbaric. They colonize and plunder foreign countries directly. In terms of cultural exchanges, they also forcibly assimilate other cultures. People with other cultures are directly eliminated physically, otherwise there will not be many religious wars.

But in the current Ming Dynasty, since the emergence of Xinxue in the Zhengde Dynasty, the dominance of Confucianism in the ideological world has been shaken, and there have been many literati who do not conform to mainstream thinking, such as Wang Fuzhi and Yan Yuan, who believe in true Confucianism. Turn around and devote yourself to the knowledge of learning from things.

Advocates of Neo-Confucianism were not able to suppress other academic thoughts like the Western churches. In addition, Emperor Zhu Kezang liked the new science that explored the essential laws of things and transformed the practical application of society-science.

Therefore, Daming’s current thoughts are very diverse and open, so that affected by this, there are all kinds of scholar-bureaucrats. Although there are conservative ones, there are also many open-minded ones who actively study other cultures and intend to create new knowledge.

This also makes the current big country more open and civilized than Western countries.

Therefore, the two missionaries from France, Bai Jin and Hong Ruohan, couldn't help but feel ashamed.

(End of this chapter)