Chapter 1 The Situation

Shuntian Prefecture, Great Ming Dynasty. Matteo Ricci returned to his residence after finishing court. The haunted house of the Dongyue Temple had now been completely rebuilt into a Catholic church. His missionary work in Shuntian was not going smoothly. He wanted to spread the Christian faith among the people, but they only wanted to be entertained. Moreover, in a world truly filled with gods and ghosts, although the power of Christ could be effective, it was not as convenient and quick as the local folk temples.

"Your God isn't working out. My brother said that if he believes in your teachings, he has to become a loyal follower. He can't just believe casually, and He doesn't show any miracles. Who can believe that?"

"Your brother must be mistaken. It's not about believing casually. How can you believe in a god casually? If your heart isn't sincere, how can the gods and Buddhas bless you?"

"Bishop Ricci, you're wrong. There are so many folk gods by the roadside. Your God is too reserved. Our local gods aren't picky. What are they? You go to their temple, or just write their name on the roadside, and offer incense. They'll immediately come down to bless you. No questions asked! The speed is top-notch, they arrive in a gust of wind!"

The foreman gave a thumbs up, praising the efficiency of a certain folk god.

"There are high officials in the capital who believe in your teachings because they have time to study your God's works. We are all illiterate commoners. You want us to study God's works? Sorry, we can't understand your squiggly writing!"

Ricci preached to the laborers at the dock, only to be rebutted by these rough men, accompanied by various jeers, implying that although he was a high official, his God was a bit too aloof, and how could he attract believers like that?

He wanted people to sincerely believe in him and not allow any doubts. The folk gods didn't care about that. They wanted the incense that he didn't want, they blessed the people he didn't bless, they could do the things he couldn't do, and they dared to do the things he wouldn't dare to do!

That was the folk god!

Ricci repeatedly shook his head. It was said that foreign monks were better at chanting scriptures, but he realized that this wasn't the case when he came to the Ming Dynasty. In the past, the folk gods' incense was only strong in the South China Sea, where there were many sects of Dharma, each dividing up many forces. Therefore, as long as he had a good relationship with a local sect of Dharma, the Christian missionary activities would not be hindered.

But now it wasn't working in Shuntian.

Due to the issuance of the Fengshen Decree, all kinds of grassroots gods, wandering spirits, folk gods, and monsters from all over the country were being recruited, surrendering, or seeking a way out. They all gathered near Shuntian to temporarily reside, waiting for the superiors to arrange work for them. Therefore, those who accumulated faith and gathered incense were often more likely to be valued and promoted in advance. The imperial court felt that if you had incense, it meant you hadn't done too many bad things, and the political review would be much more lenient.

This was what caused the current situation.

Grassroots gods, wandering souls, folk deities, and all kinds of monsters wished they could help old grandmothers cross the road a hundred times a day, while also carrying out a major sweep of nearby evil spirits, all in order to compete for a few strands of incense. Their bottom line was decreasing day by day. In the beginning, some gods were like the Catholic God, feeling that as folk gods, they should at least be gods, and be a little reserved, but they soon discovered that someone was handing out long incense sticks in bundles on the road, while also giving away eggs.

If they didn't lower their faces, they wouldn't even be able to earn this little incense.

It was a dog-eat-dog world.

"These days, the job market is fiercely competitive. If you don't lower your face and maintain a high and aloof posture, no one will believe in you. Everyone is very busy. If they can offer you incense, they will definitely offer it to you. If you can do things for everyone, you should handle them as quickly as possible. If you handle things quickly and efficiently, everyone will go to your temple to add incense, and the faith will increase rapidly. It won't take many days before it spreads to the Forbidden City, and it will be just around the corner for you to soar to prominence and become a celestial god."

The foreman waved his broken palm-leaf fan, looking like a beggar version of Zhuge Kongming, analyzing the current situation of the gods' competition one by one and explaining it to Ricci.

Ricci pondered for a moment.

He felt that this matter was a bit troublesome.

Casual believers didn't receive many blessings. This rule wasn't set by him, but by God. How much faith was needed, how much good deeds were needed, how many believers were needed, and then what level he could be promoted to were all stipulated. He could be shameless and give away eggs, but God didn't allow it, and he was like a clever woman who couldn't cook without rice.

"Bishop Ricci, here, here!"

Ricci stood at the dock. Although he was a favorite of the current emperor, he looked a little downcast as he stood there helplessly. His gray beard trembled. He turned his head and heard someone calling him. When he looked over, he saw a boatman wearing a bamboo hat. The latter came forward. Ricci was about to ask what was going on, as he didn't seem to know this person, but the man put his arm around his shoulder and cheerfully led him to the side.

"Bishop Ricci, here is a letter for you to look over."

The boatman wearing a bamboo hat stuffed a scroll into Ricci's sleeve, and then left in a burst of laughter, as if he was a longtime friend of Ricci. Ricci was suspicious. He went to a secluded place and opened the scroll. His expression changed from surprise to joy, and then to extreme horror. He put away the scroll and hurried towards the Forbidden City.

When Ricci arrived at the Forbidden City, he was carried by a cloud into the Dharma Realm in the sky. He met the Third Grand Secretary at the new cabinet, and then entered to see the Wanli Emperor and Zhang Tianshi.

As soon as they met, the Wanli Emperor got straight to the point: "Bishop Ricci, do you have a fellow priest in Japan named Bafanji?"

"Yes. Bafanji is an old friend of mine. We crossed the sea together from the West to here, but he continued east to Japan a few years ago. Later, the ruler of Japan launched a massacre against Christians, and I lost contact with him. I didn't expect to hear from him again now."

The Wanli Emperor nodded slightly, his brow furrowed: "Well, the reason I asked you to come this time is to identify his handwriting. There is an important matter involving him. Tell him the details, Tian Yi."

After speaking, the old eunuch Tian Yi beside the Wanli Emperor explained the ins and outs of the matter to Ricci in detail. Ricci was naturally shocked.

Bafanji not only escaped the great massacre at the time, but also successfully pulled Tokugawa, one of the five elders of Japan, onto the Christian warship. This achievement was enormous!

But the Wanli Emperor interrupted Ricci's dream, and said bluntly: "I have heard of Tokugawa Ieyasu in the war reports from Korea. He is a man who puts interests first. The things he believes in now must be beneficial to him and harmless. Christianity was massacred in Japan once by Toyotomi Hideyoshi. I have already had the Jinyiwei inquire about the reason."

The Ming Dynasty had Jinyiwei spies in Japan, and they had been sent there continuously since the 20th year of Wanli. This was not a particularly secret matter. Although everyone knew there were spies, the Japanese military had never been able to find where the spies were. In fact, many Jinyiwei were disguised as sea merchants or monks, and even some sea merchants were part-time Jinyiwei informants. They mixed into Japanese society, and could often find out many things in markets and temples.

"The suppression of Buddhism was during the Oda Nobunaga period, because Japanese Buddhism had become rampant and corrupt during the Warring States period, threatening his rule. So when Christianity entered Japan many years ago, he adopted a laissez-faire attitude, using Christianity to suppress Buddhism."

"But unfortunately, you didn't learn from the problems of Japanese Buddhism. Japanese Buddhism was annexed by Shintoism for a time, and even the teachings changed, and it had already entered a period of decline. You thought that Christianity should replace Buddhism and Shintoism, but instead, they united. After Toyotomi Hideyoshi became the regent of Japan, he discovered that your believers had grown to hundreds of thousands..."

"Moreover, some of you captured some Japanese people and sent them to the Frankish people to be slaves in Luzon. Some of you knew about this, but turned a blind eye. Why was that Frankish merchant ship detained, and why did the massacre happen afterwards? It seems that it wasn't just because the Japanese were cruel. Bishop Ricci, your colleagues also made indelible contributions."

Facing the Wanli Emperor's questioning, Ricci simply shook his head: "Although I have been in the East for more than ten years, most of my energy has been spent on translating books. As for the situation in Japan, I only know some things from other missionaries, and I am not particularly clear about the substance."

"Your Majesty should have investigated me. Everything I said is true, and there is no deception."

Ricci said, but he was also very nervous, afraid of being suddenly given some strange charge.

The Wanli Emperor laughed and comforted him: "Don't be so afraid. I'm not interrogating you. After Toyotomi Hideyoshi detained that Frankish merchant ship, he not only didn't lower his posture, but instead boasted about the Frankish people's colonial methods around the world, and also said that your missionaries always acted as pioneers of conquest."

Ricci turned pale with fright and knelt down and kowtowed: "I have no such thoughts at all. Your Majesty, please investigate!"

This was no longer an insinuation but an explicit statement. He was talking about Toyotomi Hideyoshi killing missionaries, but in fact, he was warning himself and others that if they did this in the Ming Dynasty, they would definitely not have a good ending.

If they threatened the Ming Dynasty Emperor's rule, the outcome would definitely be more miserable than threatening the Japanese Regent's rule!

"It's good that you are clear about it. Find a day to bring all your Christian colleagues to Shuntian. I will fully approve the use of the land at Dongyue Temple for you, and you can build more residences for them to live in."

Ricci wiped the sweat from his forehead and quickly replied: "I thank Your Majesty for your forgiveness on behalf of all my Christian colleagues."

He said forgiveness, but in his heart, he knew that this was house arrest, to prevent the missionaries from stirring up trouble. Shuntian was not afraid of them causing trouble, not only because Zhang Tianshi was here, but also because there were too many folk gods here to fit in.

If the missionaries were all gathered here, it would be much more controllable than running around in places like Macau. At least here, they wouldn't even be able to drink the soup of incense.

At this time, the Wanli Emperor glanced at the Tianshi, who understood and continued to advise Ricci:

"No matter what sect it is, once it develops too crazily, becoming huge and bloated, it will be purged. I will not avoid anything. In the history of my Middle Earth, this has happened many times."

"Bishop Ricci is well-read and knows both Chinese and Western cultures. He should know about the Three Wu and One Zong persecution of Buddhism."

"Buddhism has been passed down in my Middle Earth for 1,500 years. Since the White Horse came from the East, it has experienced many storms. Buddhism is so powerful, yet it has had such a tragic past. Christianity is a new world law, and it is not impossible to spread it to the East, but it is really better to restrain yourself."

Ricci quickly bowed: "What the Tianshi said is absolutely right! Ricci also thinks so. Crazy evangelism, which violates Christian good deeds, is not allowed!"

The Tianshi nodded: "Learn from the past to guide the future."

The Wanli Emperor coughed lightly, and the Tianshi immediately understood. The Wanli Emperor continued:

"The people of Qin did not have time to grieve for themselves, and later generations grieved for them; later generations grieved for them but did not learn from them, which made later generations grieve for later generations again."

"Bishop Ricci, have you ever read the Rhapsody on the Epang Palace?"

Ricci had just stood up and bowed to the Tianshi, but he was so frightened by this sentence from the Wanli Emperor that he knelt down again.

This question should not be asked!

You are the Emperor, and I am just a missionary. Comparing me to the destroyed Qin Dynasty, I don't have the status to bear this comparison!

"Eh, didn't I say, Bishop Ricci, don't be afraid? This Qin is not only the Qin of my Middle Earth, but also the Qin of your Western regions. In the past, my Middle Earth called a country in the west Da Qin, which I think is also related to Bishop Ricci's motherland?"

"But no matter which Qin it is, the reasons for its downfall may be different, but the destruction is already an indelible historical fact engraved in history."

The Wanli Emperor didn't care about the life and death of Rome. He was just warning Ricci, because recently Ricci had taken over the Dongyue Temple to build a church, and was promoting Christianity everywhere, and even many courtiers had received that so-called "baptism," which made the Wanli Emperor feel alert.

In addition, after the truth about Toyotomi Hideyoshi killing those missionaries was investigated, the Wanli Emperor couldn't help but have similar thoughts to Toyotomi Hideyoshi. His first reaction was to kill them all, but after thinking about it, this would be more harmful than good. Isn't that Bafanji now retaliating against Toyotomi Hideyoshi? Having one more friend is better than having one more enemy. Turning your face also requires artistry. Smiling at you yesterday, and then giving you a knife today to take first blood, no one can stand that.

Tian Yi on the side didn't say a word, but just acted according to the Wanli Emperor's eyes, handing the scroll to Ricci, who was still trembling, wiping his sweat, and tidying up his beard. The latter did not dare to neglect it, and quickly carefully identified it, and soon replied decisively:

"Reporting to Your Majesty, this is indeed Bafanji's handwriting, there is no falsehood."

The Wanli Emperor and Zhang Tianshi looked at each other, and then looked at the Third Grand Secretary. The three began to talk:

"In this way, Japan is experiencing internal strife, and many daimyo, including the Kobayakawa family, want to cross the sea and come to rely on my Celestial Dynasty, in order to make a comeback. This matter has a significant strategic meaning for separating Japan's national strength."

"Your Majesty, I believe that we should accept them. The other party is also a Japanese daimyo, and they have more or less knowledge of Japan's geographical environment, Toyotomi Hideyoshi's temperament, and even the upcoming arrangements of the Shinmu Emperor. The information obtained by the Jinyiwei is ultimately superficial. Some important information can only be known by people within them."

The Third Grand Secretaries all agreed that this group of people should be accepted.