"You're saying that the people of China have their own beliefs? And their beliefs are very strong. They've been passed down for thousands of years and are strongly supported by the government? "
Bishop Alexander was shocked by China's indigenous cultural tradition. As the higher-ups of the church, the bishops knew how the Catholic Church developed step by step into the giant it was today. If it wasn't for the stupid emperor of the Roman Empire and his unfilial descendants, how could the Catholic Church develop to where it was today?
And no matter what kind of government China changed, no matter who was in power, they insisted on supporting Confucianism as the country's official ideology. Anyone who went against this ideology was considered a heretic and would be attacked.
If the heretics within their own country would be attacked like this, not to mention those from the outside, even the destruction of humanity would be considered a light punishment.
For some reason, Bishop Alexander felt a strong sense of deja vu in this scene. It seemed like we've done this before, right?
Are we going to face the Catholic Church in China?
Bishop Alexander began to doubt his assumption.
That's right. How could such a large civilized country not have its own official ideology? Without an official ideology, the country would definitely be in chaos. They would argue endlessly. How could they still do their work? Would the royal family still want their ruling position? Would the government still want its stability?
Therefore, after a hundred schools of thought contend, the strongest and most treacherous school of thought that catered to the ruling class would inevitably become the country's official ideology. Along with the great political unification of the country, there would be a great unification of thought. This was the case for the Roman Empire and the Great Han Empire.
Therefore, the Catholic Church had to face this strong ideology that had been passed down for thousands of years. Not only did it have a long history, but even the emperor of China supported it. The Catholic Church's best tactic of getting permission from the government before preaching seemed to be useless. After all, Xiao Ruxun was only in charge of a piece of land in Myanmar. He couldn't interfere with the wider inland of China.
But no matter what, one couldn't reach a thousand miles without taking one step at a time. If they couldn't even take the first step, how could they talk about expansion? First, they had to start preaching from Myanmar, which was the easiest place to start. They had to figure out a set of effective preaching strategies for the people of China. Then, they would focus on the people at the grassroots level and grasp the right to speak at the grassroots level.
This was because, according to Bishop Alexander's experience, after obtaining official permission, if one wanted to establish a foothold and survive in a place, they had to become the second organization among the commoners other than the officials that could be trusted.
No matter where they were, the people at the bottom of society were unable to read and write well. The literacy rate was extremely low, and the illiteracy rate was extremely high. These people were the easiest to fool and incite. They often became diehard supporters of the Church, and helped the Church overthrow the governments of many small countries.
The reason why the Vatican was able to become such a powerful force in Europe was because they had won over a large number of fools. Indeed, they did not have much money or power, but they had public opinion and numbers. If the government did something that did not go against the Vatican's wishes, the Vatican would immediately fan the flames and lead these fools to sacrifice themselves for the Lord of God.
They did not have much status, but they were a source of tax revenue. The Vatican could easily achieve many things by controlling the minds of these people. Therefore, the less educated the people were, the weaker their resistance to religion, and the easier it was for them to be brainwashed. The missionaries had gained a firm foothold because they had figured out this logic.
China was highly civilized, and there were many literate commoners. These people had a high resistance to Catholicism, and it was definitely not easy for them to preach.
However, in Xiao Ruxun's Myanmar, the number of these people was so small that it was almost negligible. Therefore, as the starting point and base, the Vatican would be able to gain a firm foothold in the East as long as they controlled more than a million Chinese people in Myanmar.
Bishop Alexander's previous worries were swept away, and he smiled proudly.
The fleet that Xiao Ruxun sent to pick up the people arrived in the Philippines 13 days later. The representative was Chen Longzheng, who had rich experience in diplomatic missions. He brought a hundred large ships to pick up the people, and it would not be a problem to carry more than 7,000 people in one go.
The Spanish government cooperated fully. Under the push of Bishop Alexander and Ricci, the Philippine Governor-General's Office even sent a ship of expensive spices to Xiao Ruxun as an apology.
Chen Longzheng had thought that this would be an easy task. He would be able to go back and busy himself with the Genoese and French people after he was done with it. However, he did not expect that there would be so many small interludes, very annoying and infuriating small interludes.
After all, not every immigrant was willing to return to their homeland.
The farmers from Zhejiang, Fujian, and Guangdong who had lost their land were very willing to go back. Even if they could not return to their hometown, they could go to Myanmar and get a piece of land to farm. It was much better than working so hard in the Philippines. Therefore, these people were very eager to follow Xiao Ruxun back. It was not a problem for them to do so.
However, there were also some people who had vested interests in the Spanish rule in the Philippines. Those big businessmen had power, money, and power in the local area. They had their own private armed forces and relied on their relationship with the Spanish to bully their fellow countrymen. They were afraid that others did not know that they had power and power. How would these people dare to return to the Daming's territory?
Here, they were free and unfettered. As long as they gave money, everything could be settled. However, in a place like Myanmar, where the laws were very strict, they did not dare to act rashly. They were afraid that if they angered Xiao Ruxun, they would be beaten to a pulp.
More importantly, they had bullied so many compatriots. If they went back and were reported and retaliated, they would not be able to keep their property and the lives of their families. By then, they would be at the mercy of others and would not even have a place to cry. How could they accept that?
With such evil intentions, they volunteered to stay in Myanmar and not go to Myanmar. At the same time, they did not allow their servants and hired workers to leave. This time, it was like poking a hornet's nest.
Servants and servants were still fine, as they were all from the same family. However, those hired from outside would not care about you. They would leave whenever they wanted to, and no one could stop them. Even the processing fees could not stop them from wanting to return to their home country.
These big families also understood that the reason why they could talk and laugh with the Spaniards on an equal footing was that they had a large number of human resources. A large number of China immigrants were under their hands, which was what they relied on.
The Spaniards needed to make friends with them in order to get the human and material resources of the China people. But if the China people left and only a few of them were left, how could they continue to live?
It was necessary to keep some of the people who had to stay.
They coaxed and swindled a group of people to stay here because the agreement between the Spaniards and Xiao Ruxun was for them to leave voluntarily. If they did not leave voluntarily, there was no way to interfere. Naturally, Xiao Ruxun would not want to take all of them away.
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