When it came to religion, Xiao Ruxun's attitude was very clear.
He would never allow a religion like Christianity or Catholicism to appear in China that could compete with the state. No organization or individual could use religion to compete with the imperial power.
Since ancient times, this attitude had always been present. Every dynasty had attached great importance to this matter, so the local religions in China had never been able to rise to the level of competing with the state, ensuring that China was not restricted by religion and could develop freely.
From Xiao Ruxun's point of view, religious organizations were competing with the state for tax revenue and taxpaying people. They used a fabricated god that did not exist as an excuse to obtain the offerings of believers. Some religions wanted more, while others wanted less, but they were all used to satisfy the selfish desires of a large group of upper-class religious personnel.
The god they preached was so perfect, so omnipotent, but when it encountered suffering believers, why did it not help?
According to the stories they made up, the devil was more reliable. The devil abided by the contract and helped you do things, just for a little sacrifice. The sacrifice might be a little more, but the devil really did the work. God took the offerings and did not do anything. He only knew how to say "God bless you" and then disappeared. What a joke.
Bless your face!
There were also some religions that directly promoted reincarnation, preaching suffering in this life and happiness in the next. It really made people speechless.
When it came to these organizations that competed with the state for tax revenue and taxpaying people, Xiao Ruxun had nothing else to say. It was a little inconvenient to wipe them out all at once, so he would naturally eliminate them. All kinds of methods were used, and they would be completely eliminated.
When it came to the missionaries who had been trying to preach in China, Xiao Ruxun had more methods.
Not to mention Ricci, who was too busy writing textbooks to spare any time, the others were either arranged to the relevant departments because they had a skill or a lot of knowledge, or they were refused entry.
The missionaries who were allowed to enter the country were basically working with a group of officials. They had no chance to contact the common people at all, so they did not know whether they were here to work for the emperor of China or to preach.
These were not important. Xiao Ruxun did not need their theological knowledge. What Xiao Ruxun needed was their other technical skills and knowledge of mathematics, geography, and astronomy.
These missionaries had received a complete education. After understanding some of the astronomy, geography, and mathematics they had mastered, Xiao Ruxun basically knew to what extent the Western theory had reached.
Preaching was impossible. If they obediently became nourishment for the development of Daqin, then they could still live in Daqin for a while. Although they would still have to leave when the time was up, at least they had lived in Daqin, and then they could go back to their hometown and brag.
Anyway, the Vatican was now very careful with the emperor of China. They did not dare to provoke him, nor did they dare to demand anything. They could only send some missionaries to contact him, hoping that the missionaries headed by Ricci could move him.
Many people in the Vatican had made a lot of money from trading with China. If their relationship with China was strained, they would follow in the footsteps of the Spanish and be hated by the emperor of China. The Vatican was really unwilling to do so, even though the Spanish were their biggest supporters.
The emperor of China had too much power. He could basically cover the sky with one hand. If they did not get his permission, the consequences would be unimaginable.
According to Ricci's letter, there was no strong religion in China, and no one could compete with the emperor. The emperor was heaven and the most powerful person. All the people of China thought that it was enough for them to have the emperor, and other religions were trouble. They were very disgusted.
This surprised the Holy See quite a bit.
There was actually such a country.
It also made them covet it even more.
There was such a large population, but there was no major religion. If it could become their state religion, the Vatican could simply ignore the religious reform movement in Europe.
However, there was no hope for them to open up the situation.
Xiao Ruxun would never let them see the so-called hope.
Xiao Ruxun's biggest job was to do a good job in the northern expedition next year. He would personally lead the army and personally command the war to establish his supreme martial arts.
Many ministers objected to Xiao Ruxun's decision to lead the army on the northern expedition. They felt that the emperor should not lead the army on the northern expedition. The northern grassland was very dangerous. The Daqin needed Xiao Ruxun as the emperor. The emperor should not lead the army on the expedition.
Xiao Ruxun shook his head directly.
He said that before he became the emperor, he always led the army on the expedition. In the early days, he had personally killed the enemy. If he was afraid of this, he was not worthy to be the emperor of the Daqin. It was inevitable that the emperor would lead the army on the expedition. It would not change. Therefore, he was making military and political preparations.
At the beginning of the fifth year of Longwu, Xiao Ruxun transferred Xu Guangqi back to the capital and allowed him to enter the cabinet through his contributions in managing the locust plague in Guanzhong, Shanxi, Shandong, and Tianjin, becoming the fourth minister of the Great Qin Empire.
In the past few years, Xu Guangqi went to various places in the north of Daqin. He vigorously promoted the strategy of raising ducks to control locusts and building water conservancy in various areas. He cut off the pain of locusts in various places. So far, he had established a quite effective locust control strategy.
Farmers raised ducks to control the locusts. After the ducks were grown, the army would buy the ducks to supplement the soldiers' meat. At the same time, the local government would also buy the ducks according to their discretion. If there were any leftovers, they would mobilize everyone to sell the ducks to all parts of the country.
The government would provide them with routes.
However, the ducks were delicious and the grown ducks were very popular with the local army. They could be digested by the army, especially the ducks in Guanzhong. There was not enough for the soldiers of the Guanzhong Army and the Northwest Army. They had to be bought from Shanxi.
The profits generated from this made the people rich. The government was also able to stabilize the lives of the people. The situation gradually stabilized and taxes were collected more smoothly.
There was a situation where the people were harmonious. When the government had money, they would build water conservancy projects. After solving the water conservancy problems, the locust plague gradually decreased.
This formed a virtuous cycle and gradually strangled the locust plague in its budding state.
In the whole of the fifth year of Longwu, there were no locust plagues in the north. Some sparsely populated areas still had small scale locust plagues, but they were not serious.
With such successful experience and contributions, Xu Guangqi was promoted by Xiao Ruxun to be a cabinet minister, and successfully entered the cabinet. His locust control work was taken over by Chen Longzheng, and he became the overall manager. Chen Longzheng took over the baton, and continued to run around the locust areas, and even went to the Jiangnan locust disaster area for inspection.
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