Chapter 626

"No, isn't Young Master Xu a scholar-official? Don't they despise ghosts and gods the most?" Li Li Yashi asked in great surprise, as shocked as if he had seen a ghost, because all the scholar-officials he had contact with avoided talking about ghosts and gods. "The Master did not speak of strange phenomena, feats of strength, rebellions, or gods" was the greatest correctness for Confucian scholars and the standard they practiced throughout their lives.

Using the results of the Emperor Wanli Reform's great debate, it was that the theory of ghosts and gods was merely a tool for the ruling class to maintain stability from the top down.

"Scholar-officials, they themselves use whatever is useful. This is nothing. To operate in the West, one must adapt to the Western world." Marcus spread his hands and said solemnly, "Li Li Yashi, I am actually the Left Protector of the God of Wisdom walking on earth, just like the Grand Commander of the Order of the Knights of the Protectorate. The Great Ming Sect has two protectors."

"And the Left and Right Protectors are the most important military forces in Portugal. The Left Protector was formed by the original Freedom Island Navy, while the Right Protector is an army composed of civilians. The two protector armies have a total of sixty thousand people, totaling twenty infantry battalions."

"Wait a moment, let me catch my breath." Li Li Yashi struggled with his body and said dully, "Untie me first. I'll rest for a night, and tomorrow morning you can continue to tie me here."

Marcus looked left and right, seeing only his own people around, and then said, "Fine."

Li Li Yashi sat dully under the mast and said blankly, "No, this is a bit messy. The Left and Right Protector armies are already bizarre enough, why are they organized into infantry battalions?"

Only the Great Ming Capital Battalion and the Navy use the infantry battalion system. Even the guest troops widely present in the border regions do not adopt the infantry battalion system because it is simply too expensive. Even the wealthy Great Ming Emperor could not turn the Great Ming's military colonies and guard stations into infantry battalions.

And now, the Portuguese Protector Army is actually using the infantry battalion system!

Has Portugal become wealthy to this extent?

"It's just a facade." Marcus waved his hands and said, looking slightly embarrassed, "It cannot be compared to the Great Ming Capital Battalion or the Navy at all, because even the military pay is often obtained by plundering pirate ships. You know, pirate ships and merchant ships are sometimes hard to distinguish, and there's no need to distinguish them."

"Actually, the boundaries between countries in the West are not as clear as in the Great Ming, so the Left and Right Protector armies often fight as mercenaries for Philip II in exchange for Philip's rewards."

"Marcus, you are becoming more and more like those base Confucian scholars who are good at lying. If you're a pirate, just be a pirate. Why be so euphemistic?" Li Li Yashi teased Marcus. Being a pirate is being a pirate. Saying that the nature of the ships is hard to distinguish—actually, this is also the norm in the West. Merchant ships and warships are themselves pirate ships, and the Portuguese and Spanish navies are themselves pirates.

"The Great Ming Sect—uh, this name is exceptionally strange, but what I want to ask is, who is the god of this Great Ming Sect? It can't be created out of thin air. Can you tell me the story of the Great Ming Sect?" Li Li Yashi asked Marcus what the situation of this sect really was.

"This god is the Green Emperor Taihao Fuxi, who is like the Sun God and also like the God of Wisdom." As the Left Protector, Marcus naturally knew Fuxi's deeds like the back of his hand, such as being born from the giant footprints in the Thunder Marsh, looking up to observe the phenomena in the sky, looking down to observe the laws of the earth, observing the patterns of birds and beasts, and creating the Pre-Heaven Eight Trigrams.

"The Green Emperor Taihao who enlightened the wisdom of the early people is indeed appropriate." After thinking carefully, Li Li Yashi highly approved of this god. He had lived in the Great Ming for twelve years, read extensively, and had some understanding of Fuxi.

In the Great Ming, the creator god is Fuxi. Fuxi used the One to simulate the Huang Taiji, used the One to open the heavens, yin and yang moving and still, clear rising and turbid descending, heaven and earth positioning, the sun and moon moving, and all things growing and never ending.

Of course, there is also a widely circulated creator god, Pangu, but Pangu's origin is later than Fuxi's, only gradually forming the legend of Pangu opening the heavens at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty.

The creation of the Central Plains and the creation of the West are not quite the same. The creation of the Central Plains actually has more of the meaning of the "beginning of humanity," symbolizing the transformation of human beings from primitive tribes eating raw meat and drinking blood toward civilization.

"Then what about the doctrine? Is it the Daoist Canon?" Li Li Yashi asked about the general outline of this Great Ming Sect.

"The Theory of Contradiction," Marcus said very calmly.

"Don't you think the Theory of Contradiction and religion are incompatible, or even diametrically opposed?" Li Li Yashi said in great horror. What on earth is Xu Fan doing! He set the Theory of Contradiction as the doctrine of the House of the Wise. Is he crazy?! The Theory of Contradiction fundamentally negates religion!

It's simply nonsense.

"So, the Great Ming Sect is not a religion at all." Marcus took out a waist token and said, "This is a military tally. When mobilizing troops, you need to take the other half from the palace and fit it together perfectly to mobilize troops. With this thing, does Philip still need to fear that the God of War, the Marquis of Santa Cruz, will pose a threat to him?"

Marcus naturally knew that the Theory of Contradiction was a worldly study, but there was no help for it; Xu Fan couldn't find a more suitable general outline.

Li Zhi continued, "In the process of alleviating this contradiction, one cannot rely solely on top-down constraints. When rights tend toward equality, power becomes the key to determining victory or defeat."

Bad news: the Great Ming Sect is a Frankenstein's monster. Good news: it's all stitched together!

Li Li Yashi was about to go crazy.

"So, it actually just wears the skin of a religion, and in essence, it is a narrative constructed with Great Ming culture as the core to describe the Great Ming's way of thinking and logic of handling affairs?" Li Li Yashi was too surprised to speak. He thought for a long, long time before he figured out and defined what this Great Ming Sect actually was.

This is an output of Great Ming culture, but because religion is universally believed in the West, Xu Fan chose to adapt to local conditions and fight poison with poison. The core of this thing is actually composed of Great Ming culture, but expressed in the form of religion.

"Only you Westerners who have lived in the Great Ming for so many years are so surprised. I actually think it's quite good. At least Xu Fan didn't build churches and look for young boys and girls to serve the priests." When Marcus said this, he was gnashing his teeth.

These priests not only want money but also people! As a sword saint, protection is his duty. What did these children do wrong? He hated these priests and wished he could kill them quickly.

The House of the Wise, which originally served as a consulting service, was originally just a place to collect intelligence. Xu Fan didn't intend to develop it into a sect; it was Antonio who caused the trouble.

After Antonio became king, he immediately expelled the Cardinal Ranuccio Farnese from the Roman Curia, because this Ranuccio supported Philip in becoming the King of Portugal and had single-handedly planned the expulsion of Antonio, causing Portugal to lose its last heir so that Philip II could smoothly become the King of Portugal.

Antonio expelled the Cardinal and caused quite a lot of trouble. To clean up Antonio's mess, Xu Fan had to turn his House of the Wise into the appearance of a religion.

"Don't you think the Theory of Contradiction and the Huang Taiji Eight Trigrams are very, very compatible? Look at the contradictory unity and the combination of yin and yang—there is yin in yang, and yang in yin." Marcus held the Eight Trigrams token in his hand and said very firmly.

"But it's still inappropriate. The Theory of Contradiction talks about the succession of contradictions in the infinite principles of all things, insisting that matter is primary and spirit is secondary. The Theory of Contradiction fundamentally opposes religion." Li Li Yashi shook his head and said, not agreeing with the Theory of Contradiction becoming the doctrine of a religion.

A universal theory that insists on the primacy of material things and insists on practice as the standard when contradictions and conflicts arise between practice and theory is really not suitable as a doctrine.

Marcus held his forehead, then spread his hands and said helplessly, "I already said it was the trouble caused by His Highness Antonio. Minister of State Xu Fan had no choice but to create such a Great Ming Sect, fabricating a Holy See in the Far East to unite the scattered sand of Portugal. It was never a religion to begin with! Why are you as stubborn as those base Confucian scholars in the Great Ming, not knowing how to be flexible at all?!"

"Even the Holy See exists? And it's in the Great Ming?!" Li Li Yashi looked at Marcus, blinked, and whispered, "That Holy See wouldn't be the Great Ming imperial court, would it?"

"Congratulations, you guessed it." Marcus said very firmly.

The Holy See of the Great Ming Sect is the Great Ming imperial court. This is very reasonable.

Marcus smiled and said, "In a place where religion is universally believed, if you tell them to 'respect ghosts and gods but keep them at a distance,' they won't understand! Do you understand? You yourself have followed the customs of the place and have almost completely become a Great Ming person, yet you still say Xu Fan went too far?"

In that Western environment, this was the only way.

"Antonio is indeed not suitable to be king. He hasn't even learned the most basic compromise, only caring about his own pleasure without considering the terrible situation in Portugal." Li Li Yashi evaluated him this way. Solon, who had been beheaded and burned to ashes by the Great Ming Emperor, also believed that Antonio was not suitable to be king.

After Solon entered the capital, he was beheaded and displayed, and then the Shuntian Prefecture collected his remains and burned them into ashes, letting Li Li Yashi bring them back to the West.

In Western religion, burning has a special meaning; it is a treatment enjoyed only by heretics. The Great Ming is extremely clear about this. It was deliberately burned to ashes to tell Philip II that anyone who dares to sell opium in the Great Ming will meet this end, no matter who they are—crushed bones and scattered ashes.

This is a bottom line that cannot be provoked. Anti-drug efforts are a war that will not end until death.

"Who's to say otherwise? You don't know, His Highness has some other things that are truly frustrating." Marcus agreed with this very much.

Marcus was extremely loyal to Antonio. Influenced by Great Ming culture, blaming Chen Shan was something that could not be expressed in words.

Marcus did not support many of Antonio's decisions. For example, the "big cleaning" in Lisbon was quite effective, turning Lisbon from a cesspit into a city of flowers famous in the West. Antonio clapped his hands and thought that all cities in Portugal should be like this.

Fortunately, Xu Fan stopped Antonio; otherwise, he didn't know what kind of trouble would have been caused.

With many similar decisions, even Marcus believed that Antonio should just be a good king, and specific government affairs should be left to more professional officials to manage.

This management model, which is somewhat similar to a dual system, is very suitable for Portugal. Antonio did not want to be an autocratic dictator, and he didn't have that ability. His primary task was to ensure that Portugal would not fall into the hands of Philip II.

"Then how many believers does this sect have?" Li Li Yashi asked curiously.

"I don't know, many, many. Because believing in the Great Ming Sect doesn't require buying indulgences, and there are no requirements for worship, so many, many people believe in it—so many that the number of believers cannot be calculated." Marcus whispered, "And the Great Ming Sect is growing wildly throughout Spain. Philip, as the Protector of the Faith, chose to remain silent and let it spread."

Marcus felt that Li Li Yashi might not die, because Philip's attitude was very strange. He seemed to have a very strong resistance to the sect riding on his neck. Philip II not only did not suppress the rampant and wild growth of the Great Ming Sect, but even indulged it somewhat.

If Philip II were willing, he could completely use the excuse that Li Li Yashi was an envoy of the Great Ming Emperor to fob off the Holy See.

Since Ferdinand I, the emperors of the Holy Roman Empire no longer went to the Roman Curia to accept investiture. This Ferdinand I was the father of the Spanish King Philip II.

Because of religion, Philip II lost the inheritance of the Holy Roman Empire's throne, and Philip's attitude toward the Roman Curia can be imagined. Moreover, his favorite empress died because of the religious ritual of not bathing, which aggravated Philip II's dissatisfaction with the Curia.

"His Highness Philip chose silence?" Li Li Yashi said in surprise. Philip, who appeared as the Protector of the Faith, actually chose to indulge. This was something Li Li Yashi could not have imagined no matter what.

"Yes, it really fulfills His Majesty's words: religion is just a tool for the ruling class to rule." Marcus said sincerely.

This was a sentence Marcus learned in the Great Ming, and the ruling class's tool for ruling was once again verified.

"Do you know? Every time I go to the Great Ming capital to see His Majesty, I do so with the mentality of a pilgrimage. If the Great Ming Sect really has a god, then it can only be His Majesty. The Green Emperor Taihao is too distant; as a Westerner, I cannot understand him, but His Majesty's words are all golden rules and precious precepts." Marcus's expression was filled with reverence. For him, His Majesty was God, and Antonio was the monarch. The two did not conflict.

"After you arrive in the West, just ask the Grand Patriarch to give you the title of 'Left Envoy of Light.' Any envoy from the Great Ming Dynasty will have this title."

Marcus told Li Li Yashi the way to survive in the West. Western identity politics is very common. Adding another identity for Li Li Yashi is just "stacking armor."

Taihao, symbolizing the brightness of the sun, is itself a spreader of light, so as an envoy of the Great Ming Emperor, being an "Envoy of Light" is also very reasonable. Gao Zhu Qiyu, Xu Xu Jiugao, Liu Ji, and other Great Ming envoys to the West all held the title of "Envoy of Light," and their portraits were hung in the House of the Wise as one of the sages.

The Great Ming Sect is not a deformed thing created by Xu Fan for fun, but a ruling tool carefully crafted by him to unite the scattered sand of Portugal.

"Envoy of Light..." Li Li Yashi immediately accepted this title, which looked high-end, atmospheric, and high-class!

Even if he really died, it would be a huge profit. His portrait would be hung in the House of the Wise and sung about. Because of high morality, the Great Ming gave birth to values responsible to history, and these values, combined with the pursuit of longevity, ultimately formed the scholar-officials' pursuit of "immortality through fame."

"I still have to say, high morality is a disadvantage in expansion and..." Li Li Yashi suddenly stood up, looked around, and said in panic, "Captain, it seems like fog is rising?"

"Fog is rising?" Marcus originally wanted to continue talking to Li Li Yashi, but he looked as if he had seen a monster and also became terrified.

Because, fog was really rising.

In July, fog means that a super typhoon will soon arrive. According to the Great Ming's classification, a gale of over level seventeen is coming.

"May His Majesty bless me with safety!" Marcus pressed his Eight Trigrams military tally against his forehead and said very piously.

Marcus had already converted. What is God? He really wasn't familiar with him.

Because the Great Ming Emperor's five-masted ocean-crossing ships could really bless Marcus through various crises at sea.

The reason the five-masted ocean-crossing ship is called an ocean-crossing ship is that it really has a very strong ability to resist wind and waves.

Marcus began to urgently command the ships. To survive this great storm, it required rich experience and the efforts of all the sailors. Including Li Li Yashi, the full sails were immediately lowered to half sails. Facing the chilly gale, the hard sails capable of sailing in eight directions began to sail against the wind, moving rapidly toward the north in a zigzag trajectory.

Before having hard sails and being able to sail in eight directions, facing such a great storm, Marcus could only pray, but now, it was completely different.

"Human power can overcome heaven!"

Marcus shouted loudly to the people around him, "Everyone tie yourselves firmly to the ship, don't get thrown off! Every sailor guard the watertight compartments; once damaged, drop the hatch door immediately!"

"Everyone, His Majesty, bless us!"

The sea breeze began to turn sharp from being slightly chilly. The originally calm sea surface began to show giant waves higher than a room. The seawater rolled like boiling water, the gale roared, and the lightning across the southern horizon briefly illuminated the sky. From fog to storm, it took less than three quarters of an hour.

The ship was thrown high by the waves and then fell heavily into the sea. The bow drilled out of the seawater, stubbornly drilled out of the waves, and continued to sail forward slowly and firmly.

The boatswains are extremely dangerous at such times. They climbed to the top of the mast, tied their waists to the top of the mast, and the agile sailors climbed up and then slid down quickly along the ropes, passing on the boatswains' observations of the hydrology.

Two days later, amidst the mess, the fleet of twenty-two five-masted ocean-crossing ships successfully passed through the danger zone and saw the long-lost sun hanging high. Among the twenty-two ships, three had fallen behind and would probably disappear forever in the vast ocean.

All the sailors no longer demanded that Captain Marcus tie Li Li Yashi to the mast for sun exposure punishment, because the sailors were worried that because they had offended His Majesty's envoy, they would be unable to obtain His Majesty's protection.

And most importantly, this huge storm they encountered was unanimously believed by the sailors to be the Great Ming Emperor's divine wrath! Otherwise, why would such a terrifyingly huge storm suddenly erupt on a mature route! It must have been caused by His Majesty's fury!

This didn't have a shred of rationality.

"A blessing in disguise, I saw fear in the eyes of these sailors, hahaha!" Li Li Yashi stood with his hands on his hips, looking arrogant. He stretched out a hand and shouted loudly to the sailors, "Come on, continue to tie me to the mast! When the time comes and you invite His Majesty's divine wrath, let's see who can withstand it!"

Of course, Li Li Yashi used the Han language, not Latin or local slang.

So all the sailors couldn't understand what Li Li Yashi was saying, and instead became even more fearful, fearing being pointed at, because they felt Li Li Yashi was performing some mysterious Eastern prayer ritual and communicating with the Great Ming Emperor.

"Don't you find it boring? Doing this kind of thing by shouting in Han language." Marcus expressed doubt about Li Li Yashi's behavior. For the wise Li Li Yashi, this behavior was exceptionally childish.

Was his brain damaged from being tied up and exposed to the sun for a few days? Otherwise, how could he do such a boring thing?

"You'll know after you've been tied up for a few days!" Li Li Yashi said loudly, "This is really very interesting!"

"Suit yourself."

The ships that had passed the crisis continued to sail toward their destination, drawing lines of water on the sea surface. At this time, the front of the Five-City Military Commission in the Great Ming capital was extremely lively. In front of the gate of the Five-City Military Commission was a team of city-patrol captains. They stood straight, there to see them off.

There were also some commoners watching from the surroundings. Although they didn't know what had happened, once they saw three censors dressed in plain clothes standing in front of the gate, the commoners of the capital knew that the Hai Zongxian Hai was once again purging corruption.

Hence Hai Rui was the Hai Zongxian of the Censorate, in charge of purging corruption, and his subordinates were some honest officials identified by Hence Hai Rui as having integrity, specializing in purging corruption. The image of this group of people was very uniform; they never wore silk and satin, only plain clothes—that is, undyed official robes.

Wherever these plain-clothed censors appeared, commoners would watch, because another corrupt official was about to be in trouble.

The captains were serious, but their eyes carried some schadenfreude. Damn it, the city-patrol censor who acted like a tyrant and pointed fingers all day long had finally been caught by Hence Hai Rui!

The person about to be taken away by the plain-clothed censors was exactly the City-Patrol Censor Zhao Zhao Chengfan. This person was a Ming Jinshi of the second year of Emperor Wanli. After serving in the local government for six years, he returned to the capital to become a City-Patrol Censor.

Hearing that he was about to be taken away for investigation, Zhao Zhao Chengfan was originally walking with a dragon's gait and a tiger's stride, looking like a man who was upright and not afraid of shadows. When he walked to the gate and saw the three plain-clothed censors, Zhao Zhao Chengfan immediately stood in place, looking at the three plain-clothed censors without saying a word.

He couldn't walk anymore. He really didn't dare to move forward because in front of him was a bottomless abyss.

The captains looked like they were seeing off a superior, but they were actually just there to watch the fun. Seeing Zhao Zhao Chengfan standing in place and refusing to move forward, everyone showed a playful expression.

"Zhao Zhao Chengfan, we also crawled up from the local level, don't lose face!"

"Right, show some spirit!"

A group of people were not afraid of trouble, shouting loudly, telling Zhao Zhao Chengfan to show some spirit! No matter what, he had climbed step by step from the local level to the capital. Facing three censors in plain clothes, what was there to be afraid of!

"Zhao Zhao Chengfan, this is the arrest warrant issued by the Hai Zongxian of the Censorate. After you've read it, if there's no problem, come with us." One of the plain-clothed censors took a step forward and showed the arrest warrant issued by the Hai Zongxian of the Censorate.

By this step, the Censorate had actually fully grasped conclusive evidence. Zhao Zhao Chengfan had a problem, and a big one at that.

Because minor problems mostly followed the impeachment process and didn't require plain-clothed censors. Plain-clothed censors were very, very busy—busy to the point of being exhausted, busy to the point that becoming a plain-clothed censor was basically equivalent to saying goodbye to one's family.

Plain-clothed censors were honest officials, not cruel officials. Even the base Confucian scholars of the Great Ming couldn't define these censors as cruel officials, because they were all extremely incorruptible like Hence Hai Rui and were the true "pure stream among the pure stream." There were only seven such censors in total.

Seven people were enough. One Hence Hai Rui was scary enough, and now Hence Hai Rui had seven officials with integrity under him. Each of the seven people led a team, which was enough to make people terrified.

Zhao Zhao Chengfan didn't show spirit under the encouragement of the crowd; instead, he became visibly withered. He began to walk forward. Originally walking with a dragon's gait and a tiger's stride, his steps became more and more unsteady as he walked, slower and slower with each step, trembling as he moved forward, or rather, shuffling.

Two captains really couldn't stand it anymore, so they supported Zhao Zhao Chengfan and sent him to the plain-clothed censors.

"Our Censor Zhao seems unable to walk. Do you need help sending him to the Censorate?" The captains asked the plain-clothed censors about the destination while supporting Zhao Zhao Chengfan.

These two captains were really there to see him off! They supported Zhao Zhao Chengfan and sent him on his way.

"Send him to the Northern Depot. You two military gentlemen have worked hard." The plain-clothed censor said quite gently. The tone was gentle, but the words made Zhao Zhao Chengfan feel like he had fallen into an ice cellar. His feet went soft, and if it weren't for someone supporting him, Zhao Zhao Chengfan would have collapsed directly to the ground.

"You're too kind, it's not hard work, not hard work!" The two captains were flattered. Everyone said these plain-clothed censors were hard to get along with, but after this contact, they found them really easy to get along with, polite to everyone, and never putting on airs.

"When you were taking bribes, I didn't see you afraid! When you were taking silver, you were very tough. Move!" A captain cursed Zhao Zhao Chengfan fiercely and whispered, "You didn't give enough tribute during the New Year, and you treated people like animals! You dog!"

This captain had obviously been made difficult by Zhao Zhao Chengfan just because he didn't give enough tribute during the New Year. Now, the captain finally took revenge for being made difficult.

The two captains dragged Zhao Zhao Chengfan like a dead pig to the gate of the Northern Depot, and two Embroidered Uniform Guards walked out from behind them to take over the suspect.

The Embroidered Uniform Guards had been there all along. The reason they let the two captains help was to make things convenient and let the two captains vent the resentment in their hearts.

"Thank you, two military gentlemen." The plain-clothed censor said very gently again.

"You're too kind." A captain asked curiously, "What did this Zhao Zhao Chengfan do to be dragged to the Northern Depot? Ah, excuse me, the three censors must be inconvenienced, I'm just being talkative, I'm just being talkative."

"It's fine. I can't say what he did, but in a few days, a notice will be posted outside the Donghua Gate. If you two military gentlemen are curious, you'll know at a glance." The plain-clothed censor's smile was as refreshing as a spring breeze.

The reason the plain-clothed censors were so polite to the two captains was that the captains of the Five-City Military Commission in the Great Ming were all elite soldiers of the Capital Battalion who had destroyed the city of the Altan Khan's Ban Sheng. They were old and couldn't fight anymore, so they were placed in the Five-City Military Commission to patrol the city. They were all veteran soldiers who had fought for the country for more than ten years.

Looking at the calluses on their hands and their tanned faces, as well as the scars on their arms and faces, one could tell that the initial battles were not easy.

The plain-clothed censors were not polite to everyone. These two captains had risked their lives for the public interest of the Great Ming, which is why they were called "military gentlemen" by the plain-clothed censors.

What did Zhao Zhao Chengfan do? It was actually a small matter: he had provided a convenience within his power to Xu Xu Zhaode, the third son of Xu Yang Youren, who had assassinated Wang Wang Chonggu, by letting the gunpowder used for the ambush into the capital.

Just a small case punishable by death.