The sky is sunny, tomorrow is the Mid-Autumn Festival, and there are many people buying goods on both sides of the street. Li Jing paid attention to the clothes on the pedestrians, the Manchu Qing Dynasty entered the customs, implemented the policy of shaving hair and easy clothing, and prohibited the wearing of Hanfu, but due to the strong resistance of the Han people and the lack of materials, the Hanfu style of the Ming Dynasty was still retained in the Kangxi and Yongzheng periods, and it was not until after Qianlong that the Hanfu was gradually replaced by the Manfu.

Li Jing has no concept of these, and it doesn't feel much different from the costumes on the pigtail scene.

Unconsciously walked to a temple, and when I looked at it, it turned out to be a Catholic church, and I couldn't help but be stunned.

After the 31st year of the Kangxi reign issued the 'Decree of Tolerance and Amnesty' to allow missionaries to preach freely in China, a large number of foreign missionaries poured into all parts of the country, and in the 33rd year of the Kangxi reign, Catholicism was introduced to Yichang, and the church was chosen near the Baiyi Nunnery, where incense was vigorous.

The church is a two-hall courtyard, and the house architecture has a combination of Chinese and Western meanings, which is somewhat nondescript compared to the nearby houses. But the meaning expressed is very clear, that is, to integrate into China and develop believers with the characteristics of the Qing Dynasty.

The gate was open, and the courtyard was deserted, except for an old man in a shabby white shirt sweeping the fallen leaves. The old man dragged his long braids, his face was dazed, obviously not related to the fanatical believers, Li Jing guessed that the old man should be working here to eat.

Li Jing has been thinking about how to rebel these days, and when he sees this church, he can't help but think of many stories about missionaries who came to China to build spears and cannons, and wonders if he can fool a few highly skilled Western missionaries to help him rebel. As everyone knows, since the outbreak of the decades-long ceremonial dispute in the middle and late Kangxi period, the Qing court hated the Holy See, and Yongzheng issued a 'ban on religion' at the beginning of his reign, completely expelling the Western missionaries in the Qing Dynasty. Only a small number of committed missionaries went into hiding and went underground. Catholic churches built by Western missionaries were also converted into public use. By the outbreak of the 'Great Religious Case' in the 49th year of Qianlong, these Western missionaries who had hidden or were later led to the interior by believers were completely cleaned up. If the Qing Dynasty wanted to see the foreigners in vain, they could only go to Beijing and Guangzhou.

Li Jing's idea of finding a few foreigners is tantamount to looking for a needle in a haystack. As he staggered, a man of about forty years of age, dressed in a black robe, walked out of the church.

The man was in a hurry, and when he saw Li Jing looking into the courtyard, there was obviously a trace of panic on his face, and when he saw that Li Jing was only fifteen or sixteen years old, and he was dressed in a ragged shirt, he let out a long breath.

Walking to the door, the man smiled at Li Jing and said, "What are you looking at here?" ”

Li Jing replied without thinking: "Look at foreigners! ”

The man's face changed again when he heard this, and he took two steps back, "Who are you?" This is a charity hall, and there are no foreigners. ”

Li Jing didn't expect the man's reaction to be so big, he couldn't help but be taken aback, and when he heard the man say this, the doubts in his heart became bigger and bigger, and he raised his eyes to look at the plaque at the gate, which clearly said 'Catholic Church'.

He pointed to the door plaque and asked the man, "Isn't that plaque with the words 'Catholic Church' written on it, how did it become a charity church?" ”

The man looked up to the sky and said, "Oh, this is just a decoration, and a new plaque will be made in two days." ”

Li Jing saw the vigilant look on the man's face, and thought to himself, could it be that the old boy of Qianlong banned foreign religion?

So he tentatively walked up to the man, drew a cross on his chest, and whispered: "I assure you, in the name of the Father and the Son, that I am a monk baptized by a priest. ”

In fact, Li Jing's understanding of Catholicism is completely stuck in zombie movies, crosses and holy water to exorcise ghosts.

He had a basic understanding of Catholicism because a girlfriend he had talked to in college before he was a soldier was a Christian. Although the girlfriend looked very shabby back then, and later dumped him, at the very least, he could pat his chest and say to his comrades that he also had a pure first love.

A complicated look flashed on the man's face, and he suddenly grabbed Li Jing's hand, looked around, and saw that the pedestrians on the road didn't pay attention to this side, and whispered, "Come in with me." ”

Li Jing was stunned for a moment, but he didn't break free of the man's hand, and followed the man into the courtyard, through the front lobby, to the back yard, the man took Li Jing into a room and closed the door casually.

"You don't think you're old, you must be a Catholic with your parents."

After entering the house, the man's expression relaxed, and his tone became calm.

Li Jing was stunned again, "No, I'm a foreign devil, oh, no, no, it's me who was guided by a foreigner priest." ”

As soon as he finished speaking, Li Jing found that the man was looking at him with complicated eyes, and his eyes were full of distrust.

Li Jing's cognition of the history of the Qing Dynasty only stayed at the point of amateur indignation, where did he know what was the dispute between Chinese and Western etiquette, what Yongzheng ban was ongoing, he thought that foreigners were walking all over China, so he couldn't understand the meaning in the man's eyes at all.

"Little brother, have you really seen Father Yang?"

Seeing that the man still didn't believe it, Li Jing skimmed and said, so he used his English level of less than two levels to fool around: "My name is Lijing, what is your name?"

Ye Tiande was taken aback, he didn't expect that the kid in front of him could speak foreign language, although he didn't know which country's language this kid spoke, but the tone of this kid's speech was indeed very similar to the tone of a friend who could speak foreign language, plus the situation where Li Jing drew a cross on his chest earlier, he couldn't help but believe it.

"What do you mean by this foreign language?"

Li Jing saw that the man seemed to believe his words, and said in his heart that Lao Tzu could also be regarded as two complete English sentences, otherwise it would be difficult to break into the Western powers.

He coughed lightly, "My priest is an English missionary, and what he just said is in English, which means, 'My name is Li Jing, what's your name?'" ’。 ”

The man nodded suspiciously, "That's what it means, my name is Ye Tiande, and we will be a family in the future." ”

Li Jing saw that Ye Tiande finally regarded him as his own, so he couldn't wait to say: "Yes, we will be a family in the future, let's call the foreign priest here to come out and get to know him." ”

A look of shame appeared on Ye Tiande's face, "Since the Yongzheng period, the imperial court issued a 'ban on religion' to expel our foreign priests from Yichang Mansion, and there have been no foreign priests. ”

"What? Prohibition of Christianity? Li Jing looked at Ye Tiande blankly.

Ye Tiande looked back at Li Jing suspiciously, and saw that this young man's expression did not seem to be fake, so he told the Kangxi Dynasty and the Yongzheng Dynasty about the prohibition of Catholicism. Then he added: "Since the confiscation of this church, my father has bought it and declared that it is a charity church, but in fact, he will secretly organize believers to come here to receive the guidance of the Lord. ”

After listening to this, Li Jing finally understood why he changed his face when he first saw Ye Tiande, and insisted on calling this place a charity church, because the Catholic Church had become a legendary cult

Knowing that there were no foreign priests here, Li Jing suddenly felt uninterested, and was ready to find a reason to say goodbye and leave.

Suddenly, I heard Ye Tiande say again: "Little brother, I feel very happy to know you." I was supposed to gather the other monks and get to know each other. It's just that I'm going to rush to Chengdu, Sichuan, to see Father Li Ande. You won't be able to come back until after winter. ”

"Father Li Ande, is he a foreigner?" Although he didn't understand Christ and didn't believe in Jesus, he knew that a priest was not something that anyone could do, and that was to be certified by the Pope of Rome.

"Fr. Leander is not a foreigner, but he has sailed to the land where God once stayed. He knows a lot of skills and is a bishop of our Catholic believers in the Sichuan and Chu area. When I go to see him this time, I will tentatively mention the matter of asking him to send someone to help us pick up Father Yang in Yichang Mansion. ”

Li Jing was overjoyed when he heard this, "When you go to see Father Li Ande, tell him that we need a scientific and technological priest here. ”

He originally wanted to say that he needed to know how to make guns and cannons, but he was afraid that he would scare Ye Tiande by saying it, so he changed his words again.

Ye Tiande looked at Li Jing in a daze, and found that he couldn't understand the newly recognized little brother, and he almost couldn't understand a word of what this little brother said, but he felt full of mystery. The heart said, is this the result of the self-preaching of the father of the gods?

Ye Tiande promised Li Jing that if Father Li Ande helped him bring Father Yang to Yichang, he would try his best to ask Li Ande to arrange a priest with science and technology.

After finishing speaking, he asked Li Jing for the address of his house, and promised to find him when he returned to Yichang from Sichuan. The two talked about Christ for a while, and Li Jing's little knowledge in his stomach was about to run out, and he was afraid that if he continued to talk about it, he would leak the bottom, so he made up a reason to say goodbye and leave.

Out of the Catholic church, Li Jing was not in a hurry to go home, but continued to browse the scenery of the ancient street along the street. After walking a little further, the silhouette of the white hermitage appeared in front of his eyes.

The incense of the Baiyi Nunnery is very vigorous, some on foot, some in the carriage, some in the sedan chair, they all shuttle inside and outside the Baiyi Nunnery.

There are still many stalls at the door of the Baiyi Nunnery: there are fortune-telling gentlemen, wearing white robes, and giving people fortune-telling with words like a river; There are also small people selling snacks and fruits, wearing dark gray short-cut horse coats, shouting and selling. There are also those who rob the business in the nunnery and sell paper money, incense and candles; There are also some migrant workers who are dressed in tattered clothes and hold a stick in their arms, and they seem to be ancient costumes of migrant workers who have entered the city.

Li Jing looked at it indiscriminately, secretly smashing his tongue in his heart, and couldn't help but sigh that the Chinese have a tradition of relying on mountains to eat mountains and temples to eat temples since ancient times.

"What are you looking at?"

A clear voice suddenly floated from behind Li Jing, and Li Jing turned around to see a young man about fourteen or fifteen years old with white skin, staring at him with big eyes.

This young man has an extraordinary temperament, is also very gorgeously dressed, wears a piece of Hehuang jade around his waist, wears a popular melon skin hat in the Qing Dynasty, and nails an oval turquoise jade in the middle of the brim, which looks very valuable. The young man was followed by four burly men, all dressed in black and short.

Seeing the young man so pompous and dressed, he thought he was a rich boy, if it was the previous Li Jing, he would look very nervous when he saw this young man, and he might not even be able to say a word. But the current Li Jing, an old fritter who has been a special forces soldier for four years, dares to make a joke when he sees the teacher, not to mention this young man who can pinch out water with a face.

He rolled the young man's eyes, and said nonchalantly: "Listening to your kid's accent, it's not like a local, what are you doing in our Yichang Mansion?" ”