Xiao Ruxun had always been cautious about religion. In his opinion, any religion that had a great influence in human society was a tool supported by the ruling class for the purpose of controlling people's minds.
It was just that religion's ability to win people's hearts was very strong, and science could not always pierce through the ideas of religion. So when science was not enough to change people's reverence for God, religion would be very terrible.
When the political power of the rulers declined, the religious authority naturally expanded. When the political power could no longer suppress the religious authority, the Inquisition appeared. Christianity dominated Europe for nearly two thousand years, and China did not escape this fate. Confucianism eventually developed into Confucianism, which could suppress the political power, and it was even overtly so.
It was the same in history. The Daming Dynasty, which was under the control of Confucianism, was very unhappy with the invasion of Christianity. The first generation of missionaries, headed by Ricci, was very cautious about this. They carefully used various ways to make the missionary behavior more moderate, so that the Confucian scholars could accept it and barely survive.
After Ricci's group of people died, the Daming Dynasty was also gone.
In the beginning, the two sides could barely get along. In order to win over people's hearts, Kangxi also accepted some missionaries to serve in the palace and reluctantly allowed small-scale missionary activities. But when the Pope of Rome was out of his mind and decided not to allow believers to believe in two systems at the same time, the conflict completely broke out.
In the end, Confucianism used its extremely powerful and profound power to completely expel Christianity from China.
Legalism and Confucianism were very exclusive, and the tyranny of Confucianism after Dong Zhongshu's transformation had absorbed the hegemonic ideas of Legalism and created a hundred schools of thought. Confucianism could not even accommodate local ideas. Buddhism and Taoism, which existed side by side in the Tang Dynasty, were forced to become true religions, let alone foreign Christianity. Therefore, Ricci and the others could not even take a step forward.
Religion could bewitch illiterate people, but it was really not tempting to those arrogant Confucian scholars. Moreover, Christianity had no power in China, unlike in Europe, where becoming a Christian could still bring certain benefits.
Chinese people study Confucianism in order to become officials, not because of some faith. If you believe in Christ, you can become an official. Look, in less than a month, Christianity will become a prairie fire in China.
But now, putting aside his personal preferences, what benefits could the Vatican give to Xiao Ruxun that could move him to allow missionaries to preach in Myanmar? What good would that do him? Would the spread of Christian missionaries affect his strategy?
He only wanted to use a group of missionaries who were proficient in science to help him develop science. But now that he could open the sea route from China to Europe, it meant that he didn't need to rely on those missionaries. He could also go to Europe and recruit some skilled workers to help him build the industrial system he needed.
Making up for some of China's disadvantages in some aspects and once again forming a state of suppression on Europe, that would be enough. As for Christianity, it was a complete waste.
To put it bluntly, the top leaders of those religions never believed in religion. They only believed in their own power. The reason why they preached religion was to better control the most devout believers at the bottom and help them achieve their own personal goals. They whitewashed their personal goals as religious decrees and fooled the public.
Let them intervene in the ideological world of China to help deal with the Confucians?
Sorry, I might as well use a knife to chop all those bastards to death. Some of the Confucian ideas could still be applied to China. Xiao Ruxun had never thought of uprooting the Confucians in China.
If they really wanted to talk about benefits face to face, Xiao Ruxun wanted to expel all of Spain's forces in the South China Sea and monopolize the South China Sea and Southeast Asia. Would the Vatican agree to help?
The relationship between the Spanish Hapsburg Dynasty and the Roman Curia was pretty good. The one who had a bad relationship with the Roman Curia was England, not Spain. The relationship between France and Spain was also bad. Even if it was a cooperation, Xiao Ruxun would look for England and France to cooperate against Spain, and not the Roman Curia.
What's more, Spain was constantly fighting with the United Kingdom, France, and the Netherlands. They were exhausted from the war and did not have extra power to support the Philippines' troops in a war with China. If Xiao Ruxun insisted on fighting with Spain at this time, with his 30,000 troops and more than 300 warships, as well as the navy that was fighting the pirates at sea, he might be able to defeat the Philippine Governor-General and seize the Philippines.
However, it was indeed not the time. Development was the mainstream. It was not the time to officially start a war with Spain. His strength was not strong enough, and his wings were not full enough.
The Vatican would never be able to make a comeback. It was enough for them to stay in this era.
Xiao Ruxun did not tell Chen Longzheng these thoughts. He told Chen Longzheng not to have in-depth conversations with those people. He just needed to invite them to Myanmar, and he would deal with them personally.
Xiao Ruxun could not directly refuse these people from the Vatican. After all, they had a lot of influence in Europe. He wanted to open up the European market and prestige that belonged to China in Europe, so he could not ruin his relationship with the Vatican.
Give them hope and make them desire. In this way, they would even take the initiative to cooperate with Xiao Ruxun to open up the European market, open up the connection, and let Xiao Ruxun absorb the scientific essence since the European Renaissance to make up for Daming's own shortcomings. They would focus on developing their own strength. When they were strong enough, they would kick these people away. The Europeans, who had enjoyed the benefits of doing business with China, would never support the Vatican to expel the Chinese.
Not to mention the other things, the Genoese bankers would risk their lives with the Vatican. Did they still think they were superior? The Vatican had been robbed by the army once, and they still dared to be superior?
The reason why the Vatican was so eager to preach in China was also because they wanted to save face.
When the people of the European Religious Reform Union realized the role of the Chinese, they would also want to draw the Chinese to go against the Catholic Union.
Chen Longzheng politely invited the people from the Vatican to go to Myanmar with him. Then, he met with the French who came to visit him in private. He avoided Ricci and quietly asked the French to follow them to Myanmar.
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