Michelangelo is almost sixty years old, which is not too young in the East and the West, so he doesn't have much hair, his beard is messy, his face is full of wrinkles, and he is a little embarrassed.

And when he faced Wang Yue, he still looked very cramped and uneasy...... He only learned from the mouths of some Xiyi that in the East, the king was revered as the Son of Heaven, that is, the god of the earth. And the Lord Shoufu in front of him is the spokesman of the Son of Heaven, similar to the Pope!

He is no stranger to Pope Michelangelo, who has worked for the Pope for more than ten years and created a lot of works, which was the time when his energy and talent were at their highest, and it was also his best years...... It's just that the memories are not very good, and even very bad.

The papal see, which is impoverished and extravagant, is corrupt and greedy, full of fraud, and the nobility that controls the place deceives the citizens at will, and exploits them wantonly...... The whole of Europe is filled with a depressing taste of despair.

So the Florentine people chose to revolt, and he was one of the leaders of the revolt, believing that the revolt was right, but that the enemy they had to face was terrible.

Michelangelo was cowardly and ran away from ...... He still can't understand why he sent a ghost to the far east.

I didn't believe that he could meet the high-level and powerful people of this country so quickly.

He was very young, elegantly mannered, plainly dressed, and what was particularly surprising was that he could speak some Latin, while he could not speak a word of Chinese in comparison.

It's a shameful thing.

"I've got a glimpse of my husband's experience." Wang Yue smiled and spoke, and Michelangelo was clever and immediately listened carefully.

"I don't think your failures are hard to understand...... On the contrary, I think it is almost inevitable. IMHO, the West has never achieved real unity, including the so-called Roman Empire, all a hasty combination of feudal princely states? On the scale of maturity? It is only about the same as our Western Zhou Dynasty, and the gap between the two sides is more than a thousand years. ”

"Sir? Every nation and civilization? All have different stages of development. I don't mean to belittle you, I just want to say? It seems that a wise and wise man should not waste his energy on something that is doomed to fail. Coming to the East? It's a great choice. ”

Wang Yue really didn't treat him in vain in the Siyi Pavilion? He knew a lot of Western languages, and Michelangelo could understand them even without an interpreter.

This one paused, but still shook his head and said, "Your Excellency? Although you're right? But I can't agree that I'm a coward...... And I think even if it's doomed, I have to try. ”

Michelangelo plucked up the courage to say it, how did he know that instead of being angry, Wang Yue laughed?" Knowing that it cannot be done, this is also a state advocated by the sages of the East. Rushing to criticize others? It's a very bad act, and I apologize for my words. ”

"No!"

Michelangelo hurriedly said, "Your Excellency? I, I'd love to hear what you think about the West? I think we need the wisdom of the East? Perhaps this is the best way to solve our problems. ”

Michelangelo put on a posture of humble study? He even stood up and saluted Wang Yue repeatedly.

Wang Yue smiled on his face, "I'd better change the way...... I can talk about our civilization in the East, about 4,000 years ago, our ancestors faced the threat of floods, they dug waterways, dredged rivers, it took several generations to completely solve the floods, and from then on, we entered a new dynastic era. ”

"We've had the Great Flood too!" Michelangelo became excited, "In our classics, it is said that a big ship was built, a couple was settled, and all kinds of animals were loaded, pigs, cows, sheep, chickens, male and female, and waited for the flood to recede, and they returned to the land, lived and multiplied......"

Wang Yue smiled: "This is the difference between us...... In dealing with existential crises, we believe in our own strength, and our ancestors who solved the problems will be regarded as heroes by us, enshrined in the ancestral hall, and enjoy the worship of future generations. We will draw courage from the wisdom of our ancestors to face the difficulties ahead. As for the gods, they can only give us a little comfort, but they can't really solve the problem. On the contrary, the gods themselves are a problem, even a disaster! ”

Michelangelo listened carefully to Wang Yue's words, kept chewing, and thought carefully. Gradually, his eyes lit up, and his whole body became excited.

It turned out that this was the answer they had been looking for...... The gods themselves are a problem, a disaster!

How bold, and how full of wisdom.

At this moment, Wang Yue, in Michelangelo's eyes, is simply possessed by divine light and has become a god!

In the agricultural era, the Western world was far inferior to the East in terms of both the level of production and the degree of organization...... They simply could not give birth to a unified dynasty. And the long-term war of secession has given theocracy an opportunity to breed and multiply.

This is not surprising, just like during the period of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the world fell apart, wars continued, and the people were struggling to make a living...... At this time, in the Southern Dynasty alone, there were 480 temples, not to mention the north, and the more Hu people were, the more they liked Buddhism.

Like what Hou Zhao and Yao Qin are, they are simply emptying the treasury to worship the Buddha, in order to build temples and support monks, they can do any ridiculous things.

Obviously, this situation is only an outlier in the history of the East...... No monarch who aspires to the world will not condone Buddhism.

In the whole world, the Son of Heaven is the only one.

Everything else must be prostrate at the feet of the imperial power.

In the West, the abnormal state of the East is the normal state of the West...... There are feudal nobles and lords below, and there are religions above, double control, and they control people to death.

In the midst of suffocation, there was an accident.

The epidemic of the Black Death hit Western society hard, and those who boasted of being representatives of the gods did not have the slightest idea in the face of the plague...... On the contrary, their mortality rate is much higher than that of the general population.

The positive one doesn't work, so let's shake the pot!

They hunted witches everywhere, killed heretics, chopped knives and axes, and even came directly to the open barbecue.

This will certainly not work, it will only make the world worse...... A large group of scholars began to rethink life, to think about the boundaries between man and God, to think about how to survive...... Michelangelo is one of them, and one of the outstanding ones.

Wang Yue's words opened the door to a new world for him, and the governance of the Ming Dynasty was even more refreshing to him...... It's really hard to imagine that such a huge country, without war and division, everything is running effectively.

The people live and work in peace and contentment, the officials are faithful to their duties, the cities are clean and tidy, and the markets are rich and prosperous...... Everything was like heaven.

It is not an exaggeration to say that Daming is heaven.

Because there is no belief in the gods here, it is the wise monarch and the wise officials who rule everything.

Men and women, young and old, as well as people from overseas, can live in peace and happiness here...... Maybe what Wang Yue said was really right, the gods themselves were the problem.

Only by abandoning them can we have a better future.

"Your Excellency, Honorable Shoufu, it is a pity that we in the West will not be able to shake off the shackles of religion in another two hundred years, let alone reach the height of civilization in the East...... We will always be a bunch of barbarians, ignorant and backward, ugly and dirty......," Michelangelo complained frantically, his head bowed deeply and ashamed.

Wang Yue smiled, to be honest, he didn't believe in any judgment of being born high or low, but he believed in struggle...... Take the present as an example, not only Michelangelo, almost any Xiyi, to the Ming Dynasty, only kneeling down and surrendering, they reflect on the inferior nature of the nation, strive to criticize themselves, yearn for the East, and the strength is definitely better than that of future generations.

But without Wang Yue's intervention, after a few hundred years, how arrogant would the descendants of these people become?

Thinking of this, Wang Yue shook his head, he didn't want to waste his energy on useless places. Hurry up and make Daming strong, which is the foundation of everything.

Michelangelo's arrival gave Wang Yue a glimpse of a very good shortcut.

"Do you believe that fate can change?"

Michelangelo was stunned for a moment, and said helplessly: "I used to believe it." ”

That's right, those priests have always preached that everything is arranged by God, and that it is enough for people to try to do their own things well and glorify God, and if they want to change their fate, that does not exist...... That's why there are so many tragic protagonists in Western literature.

"In our place, we believe that people will win the day, and we believe that reading books will change fate...... Maybe we can talk about it, so that more scholars can come to the East, and we are willing to provide convenience. ”

Michelangelo's eyes blinked, and he suddenly said, "Your Excellency, don't you have any taboos?"

Wang Yue laughed loudly, "Of course there is, we have strict laws that no one can violate, and other than that, we respect all ideas." ”

Michelangelo smiled delightfully and said to himself: "When I was in Rome, I knew a priest who was writing a book, a great book, and he thought that the sun was the center...... But I know that when this book is published, it will be his death! ”