The late Ming Dynasty in the living room

Chapter 108 The useless god deserves to be beaten

There were actually many Spanish and Portuguese missionaries at this time in the Ming Dynasty.

We can see in the letters published in later generations that they complained to the Holy See more than once: the people here are not suitable to be the Lamb of the Lord because their beliefs are "ungodly."

In fact, they are not only ungrateful to the Lord, but even the gods of Taoism, the state religion, are often pulled out of the temples, beaten and burned by them.

Why?

Because they are useless!
This is what the Ming Dynasty's fairy market looks like: useless gods deserve to be beaten, but only useful gods deserve the piety of the people.

For example, now Teacher Pan can bring them food, rain, and the Milky Way, so the admiration (and fear) of Teacher Pan among the 5000 people here is definitely from the bottom of their hearts.

Those big-nosed missionaries traveled across the ocean and came to the Ming Dynasty, where they worked hard for decades and developed very few believers.

Teacher Pan can gain thousands, tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands of followers in just half an hour. (Although Teacher Pan doesn't want them)
The surging Tianhe River flows all the way down amid the worship of everyone, reaching Baiheba Village downstream of Hongjia Village, Gaojia Village (the village where Fang Yu went back), Tanxi Village, Zhaojia Village...

The commotion by the river was so loud that the villagers in the village had already come out in large numbers and gathered densely by the river.

They were first stunned by the big river hanging upside down in the sky, and then the water of the Tianhe River that arrived made them ecstatic.

The river was like a noble king. Wherever it went, all the villagers and the guards from the Beijing camp knelt on the ground.

The call of worship also sounded from one village after another by the river: "Thank you, my boss, for saving my life, and thank you, Madam Pan, for giving me river water!"

Of course, where did this boss come from, and whose life he saved... They couldn't figure it out. They only knew that others were shouting like this, so they just followed suit!
As for the guards in the Beijing camp, many of them are actually sons of nobles. (Jinyi Wei Ji)

They followed Empress Zhang from the prosperous capital to this remote rural area, and they were very reluctant in their hearts.

Although Empress Zhang repeatedly warned them along the way that they must be "careful in their words and deeds and never act recklessly" after arriving in Laishui County, they always disagreed.

It's just that they never expected that there would actually be gods in this remote Laishui County...

Emperor Chongzhen and the others were not very afraid, but Empress Pan did not dare to offend him.

So these days, they have been living peacefully outside the county (Min Wenggong arranged them in a temporary camp outside the west gate). Even the most arrogant and domineering ones have never caused any trouble in Laishui County.

They are all well-informed guys. They know that Madam Pan’s eyes are watching from the sky!
They heard that today's river protection work was personally requested by Fang Shenzi, so they started preparing since yesterday.

Originally, these people went up to Qianhu and down to Xiaoqi (the guard system in Beijing camp was still maintained). They usually had no rules and regulations, but today they stood upright by the river from the morning to now.

Don't dare to slack off at all, and don't dare to complain at all.

They had witnessed all the miracles today, but in fact, their legs and feet were already extremely weak.

Now that the task was completed, they could no longer bear it, and they knelt down to worship Pan Niangniang together with the villagers.

The river flowed very fast, and it passed by the guards of the Beijing camp who were lined up... well, kneeling for ten miles. In just a few minutes, it had crossed the boundary of Laishui County and arrived at Dingxing County.

County Magistrate Shi led a group of government officials to guard the riverside from early in the morning, staring in the direction of Laishui County.

They just waited and waited.When the time passed the scheduled noon, there was still no movement there.

As a result, many villagers carrying wooden barrels along the river became restless. They did not dare to complain, but in their hearts they had already greeted the eighteenth generation of County Magistrate Shi's ancestors many times.

At the same time, they also lamented in their hearts: How great it would be if Master Min could be transferred to Dingxing County as the county magistrate!
Originally, Laishui County and Dingxing County had been suffering from drought for many years, and no one thought that Laishui County was any better than Dingxing County.

As for the county officials in the two places, they are as black as crows in the world!

Until Laishui County Magistrate Min Wen Gong succeeded in praying for rain...

These days, from the emperor down to the local officials, praying for rain has been regarded as an important government matter, and the chief officials of various states and counties in Baoding Prefecture are no exception.

Min Wenggong prayed for rain seven times in three months, but Magistrate Shi was even more impressive. In April alone, he had already prayed for rain five times.

However, praying for rain focuses on results rather than diligence.

Lord Min succeeded in praying for rain, and it was a downpour.

But Mr. Shi ran very diligently to the City God's Temple, but he didn't even get a drizzle of rain.

The ancients didn't understand the principle of rain. They only knew that if the Dragon King didn't rain, it must be because the person asking for rain was not sincere enough, or... the local officials were greedy and lacking in virtue behind their backs, which made the Dragon King unhappy.

For this reason, County Magistrate Shi had to endure the gossip outside these days, and he was under great pressure in his heart.

In contrast, Min Wen Gong's official reputation is getting better and better in Dingxing County (and even in Baoding Prefecture as a whole).

People in Dingxing County thought that they had wronged Min Wen Gong by comparing him to County Magistrate Shi.

According to the "descriptions" of those merchants who took the goods, Min Wenggong was "upright as an official, with a breeze on his sleeves, and caring about the people." In order to pray for the people, he stayed away from his wives and concubines for three months, did not eat meat and fish, and knelt in front of the City God's Temple. For three whole days and three nights.

His sincerity finally moved the Dragon King.

The Dragon King not only brought heavy rain to Laishui County, but also showed up in person to meet Magistrate Min!

I heard that when it rained that day, many people saw with their own eyes a golden dragon rolling among the dark clouds, and the place where the golden dragon appeared was directly over the Laishui County government office...

In short, because of the heavy rain caused by Teacher Pan, Min Wen Gong is now very proud, but County Magistrate Shi has been blamed for many things for no reason.

Of course, Magistrate Shi is not alone!

The chief officials of Gucheng County, Heyang County, and Xincheng County adjacent to Laishui County also suffered the same pain as Magistrate Shi.

The only strange thing is that Fang Shenzi went to Laishui County, so there were no gods in other counties!

Magistrate Shi stared in the direction of Laishui County with his old eyes, and from time to time stared at the nearly dry river. He was as anxious as the villagers who were stopped.

If it can be done as the official document says, the water in the Juma River will be full later, and there will be no need to beg that bullshit Dragon King in the future, right?
(End of this chapter)