In Shun Tian Prefecture of the Great Ming. After the imperial court concluded, Matteo Ricci returned to his residence. The former ominous dwelling of the Dong Yue Temple had been completely converted into a Catholic church. His missionary work in Shun Tian had not been particularly smooth; he wished to spread the faith of Christ among the populace, but the common people treated such matters as mere entertainment. Moreover, in a world where gods and spirits were tangible, while the power of Christ could indeed manifest, it was never as convenient or swift as the local temples dedicated to various deities.
"Your God Christ isn't very effective either. My brother said that after believing in your teachings, he had to become a faithful follower, and a casual belief wasn't enough. He also wasn't very responsive. Who would believe in such a deity?"
"Your brother must have misunderstood. It's not about casual belief. How can you believe in a divine being casually? If your heart isn't sincere, how can gods and Buddhas bless you?"
"Bishop Li, you're mistaken. There are so many local deities by the roadside. Your God Christ is so reserved. Our local earth gods are not picky eaters. What do they do? You go to their temple, or simply write their name by the roadside and offer incense. They immediately descend to bless you. No questions asked! Their speed is top-notch, arriving like a gust of wind!"
The foreman of the laborers gave a thumbs-up, praising the efficiency of a certain local deity.
"There are high officials in the capital who believe in your teachings. That's because they have the time to study your God Christ's scriptures. We are illiterate commoners. You ask us to study the scriptures of God Christ? I'm sorry, your twisted characters are incomprehensible!"
Matteo Ricci was evangelizing to these laborers at the docks and was met with sharp retorts and various jeers. They implied that although he was favored by high officials, his God Christ seemed a bit too proud to stoop to their level, and how could such a deity attract followers?
You ask people to believe in you with all their heart, and not to have divided loyalties. But the local deities don't care about that. They want the incense that you discard. They bless those you don't, and they dare to do what you dare not!
This, is the way of local deities!
Matteo Ricci shook his head repeatedly. It was said that monks from afar chanted scriptures better, but upon arriving in the Ming Dynasty, he found that wasn't always the case. Previously, the incense offerings for local deities were only prosperous on the southern coast, where various dharma schools were numerous and divided into many factions. Therefore, as long as one maintained good relations with the local dharma schools, the missionary activities of Christianity would not be obstructed.
But it was different in Shun Tian now.
Due to the issuance of the Fengshen Grand Edict, various minor deities, local gods, and monsters from all over the land, whether they had been recruited, surrendered, or sought a way out, had all gathered near Shun Tian to temporarily reside, awaiting assignment. Those who accumulated faith and condensed incense offerings were often favored and promoted earlier. The court, seeing that one had incense offerings, would assume that one had not committed too many wrongdoings, and the political review would be more lenient.
This led to the current situation.
Minor deities, lonely souls, folk gods, and all sorts of monsters, would do anything to help an old lady cross the road a hundred times a day, while simultaneously launching a large-scale sweep of nearby evil spirits and monsters. All this was for the sake of a few strands of incense. Their bottom lines were dropping daily. Initially, some deities, like God Christ, felt that as local gods, they should at least maintain some dignity and be reserved. But they soon discovered that people were distributing bundles of long incense sticks on the streets, along with free eggs.
If they didn't lower their standards, they wouldn't even be able to earn this little bit of incense.
It was a cutthroat competition.
"In this day and age, employment competition is fierce. If you don't lower your standards and maintain a lofty demeanor, no one will believe in you. Everyone is busy. They will offer you incense if they can, and you should handle what you can for them as quickly as possible. If you are fast and efficient, everyone will add incense to your temple, and your faith will skyrocket. It won't take long for it to reach the Forbidden City, and you'll be on your way to becoming a celestial being."
The foreman, fanning himself with a tattered palm-leaf fan, adopted the posture of a beggar's Zhuge Liang, dissecting the current competitive landscape of the gods and explaining it to Matteo Ricci in detail.
Matteo Ricci pondered for a moment.
He felt the matter was rather troublesome.
Casual believers did not receive much blessing. This rule was not set by himself but by God Christ. It required a certain amount of faith, good deeds, and followers to reach a certain level of promotion. These were all governed by regulations. He himself could be shameless; giving away eggs, what difficulty was there in that? But God Christ did not permit it. He was like a skilled cook unable to prepare a meal without ingredients.
"Bishop Li, over here, over here!"
Matteo Ricci stood at the dock. Despite being a favored figure before the current Emperor, he appeared somewhat dejected as he stood there. His graying beard twitched. Turning his head, he heard someone calling him. Looking over, he saw a boatman wearing a bamboo hat. The boatman approached. As Matteo Ricci was about to ask what was happening, as he didn't seem to recognize this person, the boatman suddenly put an arm around his shoulder and led him aside with laughter and conversation.
"Bishop Li, here is a letter for you to peruse."
The boatman wearing the bamboo hat slipped a rolled-up paper into Matteo Ricci's sleeve and then departed amidst laughter, as if he were a close friend of Matteo Ricci's for many years. Matteo Ricci felt suspicious. He went to a secluded spot and unrolled the paper. His expression first turned to shock, then to great joy, and finally to utter terror. He quickly rolled up the paper and hurried towards the Forbidden City.
Upon reaching the Forbidden City, Matteo Ricci was lifted by a cloud into the celestial realm above the sky. He then met with the Third Grand Secretary in the new Grand Secretariat. Entering further, he saw the Wanli Emperor and Celestial Master Zhang.
Upon meeting, the Wanli Emperor got straight to the point: "Bishop Li, do you have a fellow priest in Japan named Francisco? Is that correct?"
"Yes. Francisco was an old friend of this subject. He crossed the sea with me from the West. However, several years ago, he continued eastward to Japan. Later, the ruler of Japan launched a massacre of those who believed in Christ, and I lost contact with him. I never expected to hear news of him now."
The Wanli Emperor nodded slightly, his brows furrowed. "Hmm, the reason I summoned you this time is to verify his handwriting. There is an important matter that concerns him. Tian Yi, read him the details."
With that, Tian Yi, the old eunuch by the Wanli Emperor's side, explained the entire situation to Matteo Ricci in detail. Matteo Ricci was naturally greatly astonished.
Francisco had not only escaped the earlier massacre but had also successfully brought the Tokugawa family, one of Japan's five regents, onto the Christian warship. This was a significant achievement!
However, the Wanli Emperor interrupted Matteo Ricci's daydream and stated directly: "Tokugawa Ieyasu is someone I've heard of from reports from Korea. He is a person who prioritizes profit above all else. What he believes in now must be beneficial and harmless to him. Christianity was just massacred once in Japan by Toyotomi Hideyoshi. I have already had the Embroidered Uniform Guard investigate the reasons for this."
The Great Ming had Embroidered Uniform Guard spies in Japan, and they had been continuously dispatched since the twentieth year of Wanli's reign. This was not a particularly secret matter. Although everyone knew there were spies, the Japanese military had never been able to locate them. In fact, many Embroidered Uniform Guards disguised themselves as sea merchants or monks, and some sea merchants themselves were part-time informants for the Embroidered Uniform Guard. They infiltrated Japanese society, and in markets and temples, they could often gather much information.
"The suppression of Buddhism was an event during the time of Oda Nobunaga. It was because Japanese Buddhism had become somewhat rampant and corrupt during the Sengoku period, threatening his rule. Therefore, when Christianity entered Japan many years ago, he adopted a permissive attitude, using Christianity to suppress Buddhism."
"But it is regrettable that you did not learn from the problems of Japanese Buddhism. Japanese Buddhism itself was once absorbed by Shintoism, and even its doctrines changed, entering an era of decline. You, however, believed that Christ should replace Buddhism and Shintoism. As a result, they united against you. And your frenzied missionary activities, after Toyotomi Hideyoshi became the Kampaku of Japan, he discovered that your followers had grown to hundreds of thousands..."
"Furthermore, you captured some Japanese people and handed them over to the Franks, sending them to Luzon as slaves. Some of you knew about this but turned a blind eye. Why was that Frankish merchant ship seized, and why did the subsequent massacre occur? It seems it was not solely due to the cruelty of the Japanese. Bishop Li, your colleagues also bear indelible responsibility."
Facing the Wanli Emperor's questioning, Matteo Ricci simply shook his head. "Although this subject has been in the East for over ten years, most of my energy has been devoted to translating books. Regarding the situation in Japan, this subject only knows some things from other missionaries and is not particularly clear about the specifics."
"Your Majesty should have investigated this subject. Everything I say is true and without deception."
As Matteo Ricci spoke, he was also very nervous, fearing that he might suddenly be accused of some strange crime.
The Wanli Emperor immediately smiled and appeased him, "Don't be so afraid. I am not holding you accountable. After that Frankish merchant ship was seized by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, not only did they not lower their stance, but they boasted about the Frankish methods of colonization worldwide, and also said that your missionaries always served as the vanguard of conquest."
Matteo Ricci's face turned pale with fright, and he quickly knelt and kowtowed, "This subject has absolutely no such intentions. Your Majesty, please see clearly!"
This was no longer a hint but an explicit statement. While speaking of Toyotomi Hideyoshi killing missionaries, he was actually warning them that if they acted like that in the Great Ming, there would be no good outcome.
If their actions threatened the rule of the Ming Emperor, the consequences would certainly be far more tragic than threatening the rule of the Japanese Kampaku!
"It is enough that Your Excellency understands this in your heart. Find a time to bring all your fellow Christians to Shun Tian. I will grant you full use of the land of the Dong Yue Temple, and you may build several more residences for them to live in."
Matteo Ricci wiped the sweat from his forehead and quickly replied, "This subject thanks Your Majesty on behalf of all the fellow disciples of Christ for your forgiveness."
While speaking of forgiveness, he knew in his heart that this was a form of soft confinement. It was to prevent missionaries from causing trouble. Shun Tian was not afraid of them causing chaos, not only because Celestial Master Zhang was present, but more importantly, the local deities were already so numerous that there was no room for more.
If the missionaries were gathered here, it would be much more controllable than if they were running around in places like Haojing'ao. At least here, they wouldn't even be able to taste the broth of incense offerings.
At this moment, the Wanli Emperor glanced at the Celestial Master. The Celestial Master, understanding his intent, continued to advise Matteo Ricci:
"Any sect, once it develops too frenziedly, becoming too large and bloated, will be purged. I will not shy away from this. In the history of our Middle Kingdom, such events have occurred many times."
"Bishop Li is well-read and understands both China and the West. You should be aware of the events of the Three Wu and One Zong persecutions of Buddhism."
"Buddhism has been passed down in our Middle Kingdom for fifteen hundred years. Since the White Horse brought it from the East, in essence, it has endured much hardship. Even though Buddhism is so powerful, it has still experienced such tragic pasts. Christ is the law of a new era. It is not impossible to spread it to the East now, but it is truly necessary to be more restrained."
Matteo Ricci quickly bowed, "What the Celestial Master says is absolutely correct! Matteo Ricci also thinks so. Frenzied evangelism violates the good deeds of Christ and is not permissible!"
The Celestial Master nodded, "Past events are not forgotten, and they serve as lessons for future events."
The Wanli Emperor coughed lightly, and the Celestial Master immediately understood. The Wanli Emperor continued:
"The Qin people did not have time to mourn themselves, and thus later generations mourn them; if later generations mourn them but do not learn from them, they will also cause later generations to mourn them again."
"Bishop Li, have you read the 'Ode to Afang Palace'?"
Matteo Ricci had just stood up to bow to the Celestial Master when he was startled by the Wanli Emperor's question and immediately knelt down again.
This was not a question to be asked lightly!
You are the Son of Heaven, and I am merely a missionary. To compare me to the fallen Qin state, I do not have the standing to bear such a metaphor!
"Ah, didn't I just say, Bishop Li, don't be afraid? This Qin state is not only the Qin of our Middle Kingdom but also the Qin of your Western lands. Our Middle Kingdom once called a country to the west 'Da Qin,' and I believe it has some connection to your mother country?"
"But regardless of which Qin it was, although the reasons for its downfall may differ, its destruction is an indelible historical fact."
The Wanli Emperor did not care about the fate of Rome. He was merely warning Matteo Ricci. Recently, Matteo Ricci had taken over the Dong Yue Temple to build a church and was promoting Christ everywhere, even leading many court officials to receive "baptisms." This had made the Wanli Emperor feel vigilant.
Coupled with the fact that the truth behind Toyotomi Hideyoshi's killing of missionaries had been clarified, the Wanli Emperor could not help but have thoughts similar to Toyotomi Hideyoshi's. His first reaction was to kill them all. However, upon further reflection, it would be more harmful than beneficial. Wasn't that Francisco now taking revenge on Toyotomi Hideyoshi? Having one more friend meant one more path. Even turning against someone required artistry. Smiling at you yesterday and then giving you a knife and getting the first kill today, no one could tolerate that.
Tian Yi stood by without a word, merely acting according to the Wanli Emperor's gaze. He handed the scroll to Matteo Ricci, who was still trembling, wiping sweat from his brow and tidying his beard. The latter dared not delay and quickly examined it carefully. After a while, he responded with certainty:
"Reporting to Your Majesty, this is indeed Francisco's handwriting. There is absolutely no falsehood."
The Wanli Emperor and Celestial Master Zhang exchanged glances, then looked at the Three Grand Secretaries. They began to converse:
"It seems that with the outbreak of internal strife in Japan, and with many daimyo such as the Kobayakawa family preparing to cross the sea to seek refuge with our Celestial Dynasty to make a comeback, this matter holds significant strategic importance in dividing Japan's national strength."
"Your Majesty, your subject believes we should accept. The other party is also a Japanese daimyo. They have a certain understanding of Japan's geographical environment, Toyotomi Hideyoshi's disposition, and even the subsequent arrangements of Emperor Jinmu. The intelligence gathered by the Embroidered Uniform Guard is ultimately superficial. Some crucial information can only be known by those within their ranks."
The Three Grand Secretaries unanimously agreed that these individuals should be accepted as refugees.