"It's open all night every day, and the gas bill is huge... Although Dean Wu is quite satisfied with the work of the Jesuit priests, he has some complaints about them having to work at night. The devout priests refuse to give up preaching during the day. For missionary work, art work must be done at night. [Read full text] This makes Dean Wu feel a little sad that the fuel department is unwilling to reduce or reduce gas bills for religious places under the religious office system, and is also unwilling to follow the "internal allocation price" Pricing must be based on "general commercial use".
However, the Lingao Church system receives almost no financial support: more than 90% of the funds must be raised by the Lingao Church itself. Of course, Dean Wu has the support of the Jesuits, a major benefactor, from human resources to financial resources. Otherwise, Dean Wu really doesn’t know how to maintain the operation of the church. The church's property is limited, and most of the believers on display are poor people and ordinary people. Although they can be called "fanatic" in their piety, they have little money to donate.
"No matter what, we have to get the publicity and construction departments to spend some money." He said to himself, "And Hu Qingbai, let Father Jin take sculpture classes and art classes, and collect some fees..."
Gonzalez and Trini's intrusion cheered him up. Of course he knew about the recent arrival of representatives of the Dutch East India Company. Not only do I know about it, but I have also seen photos and brief introductions of the three main representatives. So he recognized these two as soon as they came in.
Both Spaniards and Italians are Catholics, so from the moment the "Magdeburg" submitted its crew list and underwent quarantine, the General Administration of Political Security and the Ministry of Colonial Trade issued notices reminding all Catholic churches in Lingao that Gonza Reis and Trini may enter the church and ask all departments to do a good job in reception and publicity.
Wu Shimang presided over the church work for several years. He had the most contact with Europeans at that time and knew their religious sentiments very well. "Spaniards are characterized by strong religious sentiments." So without saying a few words when he came in, the Spanish veteran was so excited that he almost burst into tears. As an Italian, Mr. Trini is not very enthusiastic about religion. , but during the few years in Batavia, there was no religious freedom at all and he was forced to participate in Protestant ceremonies every day. He felt very disgusted and became enthusiastic about the Catholic faith that he originally didn't care about.
Wu Shimang worked in marketing and as a human resources trainer in the old time and space. He was already a good talker. In this time and space, he has been among religious people for a long time. The ones he met most were missionaries. The more he became better at deceiving people, Three strokes and five strokes made the two Europeans feel extremely warm in their hearts.
As for the masters and disciples of Jinlige who were working, they were certainly very happy to see two Catholics from Europe thousands of miles away from home. The two sides soon started talking. The three people talked happily in Italian that each other could understand. Wu Shimang stood aside with a charming smile. Although he didn't understand a word, he didn't care at all. Because he carries a voice recorder with him. After a while, the contents of the conversation between the three people will be handed over to the Political Security Bureau, where they will ask seniors who understand Italian to translate.
The two visited the church and admired the size and structure of the church. Trini paid special attention to the details. "As an Italian draftsman, he himself was proficient in a variety of crafts - this is a common sentiment among Italian artists since the Renaissance. Point. A painter is often also a sculptor, metal craftsman, architect or even engineer. But... Finch is just the best among them.
Trini looked at the murals and sculptures under construction on the wall, with a disapproving smile on his face. In his view, as a professional artist, the standards of Jinlige's masters and apprentices were still a bit behind. For the purpose of missionary work, the Jesuit missionaries who went to China and Japan all studied astronomy, mathematics, physics, art, etc. before going to East Asia, but their professional standards were generally not very good.
Although he did not comment on this out of politeness. He shifted his gaze from the wall to other places, and soon noticed the colored inlaid glass on both sides of the chapel under construction, but the patterns were not religious. , but the large-scale scenery is somewhat similar to the simple line style paintings on the medieval tapestries that Trini had seen: endless fields with rolling waves of golden wheat; many red houses "standing with huge Chimneys; dense orchards on the green hillside, white sheep at the foot of the mountain; fully loaded fishing boats returning on the blue sea...
These patterns are simple and bright, which are very different from traditional church decorative glass windows.
Trini watched carefully, trying to figure out the meaning. Obviously, these glass mosaics are expressing a beautiful and abundant life...
Under the light of the gas lamp, a group of women and half-grown children were climbing on the scaffolding and carefully inlaying glass on the iron glass frame. Wearing uniform undyed natural color short coats, they all silently and carefully installed and fixed the glass pieces to the frame.
"Who are they?" Trini asked, feeling a little surprised. Obviously these people were not monks or nuns. But there is a certain ascetic atmosphere about them.
"They are some poor sinners." Jin Lige made a sign of the cross, "May God save their souls. These people are the "bandits" controlled by the monastery.
"sinner". Starting from the bandit suppression in Thirteen Villages, bandits with minor crimes were generally captured, educated for a period of forced labor, and then released back home. Those who met the conditions were accepted for recruitment and enlistment in the army. The families of those heinous gangsters who were killed in the bandit suppression will enjoy "special treatment". Young and middle-aged men are sent to labor camps and incorporated into special labor teams, and women and underage children are transferred to Lingao Seminary. , carry out "re-education" and "reform" while doing some simple labor. The purpose is to brainwash and weaken the concept of hatred. In order to become a useful person in society in the future, rather than an "unstable factor".
Although the "probation" work is placed in the monastery, it is actually managed jointly by several departments. The guiding department is the General Administration of Political Security. After a period of time, the General Security Bureau will evaluate and score the "sinners". Those who are deemed to have been "reformed" well enough to reach Level B: those who are "unreliable and exploitable" will be released and moved to a new location. Resettlement, those who are deemed to have “1 educational effects that are not significant” will be transferred to labor camps for “processing”.
The clergy had no objection to this work—it was not uncommon in Europe for monasteries to house and guard “sinners.” Moreover, the clergy believe that the Australian secular government is willing to hand over this work to the church because of its reliance and trust in the church, so they are very enthusiastic about the "conversion work".
As for Dean Wu, of course he has no objection. For him, this is free labor.
"Sinners" worked in specialized shoe and clothing factories run by the Ministry of Light Industry, and paid a per capita fee to the church for their food and clothing. The rest, of course, is to sponsor church construction. Therefore, Dean Wu is very satisfied with this system.
In the security war in Qiongbei, a steady stream of "sinners" are being sent. The people initially accepted were limited to the family members of all the "hostile elements" who were eliminated as the "bandit" population later expanded. Therefore, Dean Wu always maintains a considerable number of "sinners" here.
Mr. Trini was so moved that he also made the sign of the cross. Mutter the scriptures silently.
At this time, Gonzalez said: "Father, I want to repent."
When they left, they donated ten Spanish reals to the church.
"Only ten Spanish silver coins!" Wu Shimang watched them go away with a smile on his face, but in his heart he was very contemptuous. He originally thought that Gonzalez would give at least fifty silver coins with his demeanor. Just now Jinlige had made a confession for them. These two people had been under the hands of the Dutch for a long time. They were forced to perform Protestant religious rituals and did not fast according to the Catholic regulations. They felt very uneasy, so they made a solid apology. Regret. As for the content of the remorse, he would not know until noon tomorrow that the elders who understood Italian would listen to the recording tomorrow morning. If any secrets could be leaked, he, a general in charge of religious affairs, would be able to do it...
Wu Shimang is very dissatisfied with his current religious work and even feels that he chose the wrong promotion route. His original plan was to transform the Catholic Church into a "national church" that would cross the empire in the future. For this reason, he had already formulated many specific plans and plans, including how to divide future parishes, how to manage church property, etc. Dean Wu also selected the address of the future "Holy City". Even the Skitarii have a blueprint. In his vision, the future national church would be an important force ensuring that the empire would last through the ages. The church's monk knights and skitarii will be the "shield and sword" of the Senate. Of course, he couldn't help but think of armed nuns...,
All in all, ambitious.
But the Senate was very tight on religion and had no intention of engaging in state religion. He was also not allowed to let go and do anything—he even came up with a "New Taoism" to muddy the waters. This made Wu Shimang very disappointed. When it comes to religious level, he is obviously not an opponent of Dao Quanzi who is proficient in Taoist classics and has ideas for reforming systematic classics. In terms of organizational management and operation, which he considers to be the most advanced, the Senate has many restrictions. Wu Shimang thought about it a lot. If he didn't plan to change jobs from the religious system, the best way would be to expand believers on a large scale, especially in Li District and "New District". The Senate believed that missionary work would help stabilize the rule of unstable areas. At the same time, the better the missionary effect, the more resources he can obtain from the Jesuits. a.
