In the 17th century, there were about four circles of civilization in the world. One is Western Christianity, one is Western Tianfangism, one is Tianzhu Brahmanism, and one is Tianchao Huaxia.

Between the four civilizations, there is exchange, and of course, there is also confrontation......

And exchanges and confrontations between civilizations often exist at the same time. There is communication, and there can be no confrontation without waiting. Just because there is confrontation does not mean that there is no communication. No one has a tendon, that's definitely not going to work.

When communicating, be good at learning from each other's strengths. And when it comes to confrontation, ruthlessness is also indispensable.

In the past ten years, Zhu Cihong has been competing for the supreme leader of the Celestial Empire, and he has not had much effort to confront several other circles. Moreover, at that time, the Celestial Empire circle was still in the process of retreating, and it was not easy to confront other circles.

After Zhu Cihong defeated the Qing Dynasty and once again pushed the Ming Dynasty to the status of the Celestial Empire, the confrontation between the Celestial Empire, the Christian civilization circle, and the Tianfang Sect civilization circle inevitably began.

In Nanyang and Central Asia, the circle of civilization of the Celestial Empire, which had begun to expand again, began to invade the periphery of the circle of civilization of the Celestial Sect - the circle of the Celestial Sect had been invading the circle of the Celestial Empire since the Anshi Rebellion of the Tang Dynasty. And the Celestial Empire circle has been retreating step by step, and now it can finally fight back.

However, the situation in Nanyang and Central Asia is different, in Central Asia, the situation is relatively simple, that is, the confrontation between the Dzungar Department in the circle of the Celestial Empire and the Kazakh Khanate and the Bukhara Khanate in the circle of the Celestial Sect. The Rakshasa Kingdom in Christian circles is temporarily incapable of entering the game.

And on the South Seas side...... The four circles of the Celestial Empire, the Celestial Sect, Christianity, and Brahmanism exist at the same time!

Among them, the Christian circle is expanding strongly and is on the offensive. The Brahmanical circles are about to be out of the South Seas. The Celestial Sect and the Celestial Empire were originally on the defensive, and there were once signs of joining forces against Christianity. However, with the rise of the Ming Dynasty, the Celestial Empire circle, the Heavenly Sect circle, and the Christian circle will definitely fight in Nanyang!

In addition to the two "battlefields between civilizations" in Nanyang and Central Asia, Zhu Cihong opened up a "third battlefield" in North America to grab territory with Christian circles!

In other words, what is now facing the Celestial Empire is the competition between the three major civilizations, and there are also three main battlefields that confront each other.

Of course, while confrontation, there is no shortage of communication......

This situation is really a bit complicated, but fortunately, Emperor Zhu has always been good at facing complex situations, and he has never been a person with a tendon.

Otherwise, the circle of the Celestial Empire should be demolished by himself! Because within the circle, the struggle between the various factions and countries is also very fierce.

Because the circle of civilization cannot be a single thought, a voice, a leader at all - if that is the case, this civilization will come to an end, and it will not progress again.

This is because the progress of civilization depends on the collision and contention between different ideas, different opinions, and different voices.

The so-called circle of civilization is just a collection of relatively close ideas and cultures. For example, there are so many different denominations and different ideas in the Christian circle, and they have never been unified.

Even in the Tianfang Sect circle, the struggle between the different sects is still quite fierce.

The Celestial Circle is even more chaotic, because the Celestial Circle does not have only one religion, but at least four mainstream religions (schools) of Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, and Shinto exist at the same time.

In this great sect, there are two main lines, one is Confucianism and the other is Buddhism.

Huaxia, Korea, Annam, Japan, and the Ryukyus, which have both strands, are at the heart of this circle – and although many people hate Annam, Korea, and Japan, this does not change the civilization of these three countries in the 17th century.

In addition to the four core countries that have two main lines at the same time, there are also a group of countries and regions that have been encircled by Buddhism into the circle of civilization of the Celestial Empire, such as Siam, Burma, Chenla, Laos, Huangjiao Mongolia, and so on.

These countries and regions were not core members of the Celestial Empire civilization because they were less influenced by Confucianism. But after all, they are still members of the Celestial Empire's civilization circle...... Excluding them will weaken the ability of the Celestial Circle to resist the erosion of Celestial Religion and Christianity - this is tantamount to voluntarily abandoning the outer positions and directly exposing the core positions to the enemy!

However, relying solely on Tibetan Buddhism and Southern Buddhism (some people think that there is a big difference between Tibetan and Han Buddhism, but in fact, the difference between Chinese and Southern Buddhism is even greater) is not enough to consolidate the position of civilization.

So while defending civilization by military means, the Celestial Empire also needed to expand the influence of Confucianism!

And Confucianism, which has the "Zi Treatise on Things", has become quite combative!

This posthumous work of Confucius gives Confucianism the tools to find "heavenly principles" (God, God)! This allows Confucian scholars to fully explore and demonstrate the principles of Heaven—they do not need to be empirically proven, but can use speculation to explore and find the only "Lord", and at the same time can be used to question many theories of Christianity and Celestial Religion.

......

"Yan Shenggong, what books have you been reading lately?"

In a dragon boat on the East Lake, the Great Tomorrow was talking to Kong Yin, a great Confucian who accompanied him in the lake.

"Your Majesty," Kong Yin said righteously, "the minister is reading the Bible. New Testament. ”

"Oh, how? Does that make sense? Emperor Zhu asked with a smile.

Kong Yin said: "The minister doesn't understand it. ”

"That's a matter of translation, right?" Zhu Cihong said, "Let's go back and find the vernacular text translated by John Tong." ”

"No, no," Kong Yinzheng shook his head, "The minister is reading the Latin version of the Bible. New Testament", but still can't be understood......"

"You still know Latin?" Zhu Cihong was taken aback and looked at Kong Yinzheng, who seemed to be vulgar.

Kong Yinzheng said with a smile: "Taixue has already opened courses in Latin, Greek and Arabic, and the minister went to learn Latin, so he can read some." ”

The study of Latin, Greek, and Arabic is, of course, for the study of Western learning.

Many of the original or important manuscripts of Western learning were written in these three languages, and to see the originals, of course, you have to learn Latin, Greek, and Arabic.

The reason why the Taixue of the Ming Dynasty offered these three foreign language courses was because the scholars of Taixue found that many Western studies had something in common with the knowledge of the Zi Lun Gewu in the process of studying the Zi Lun Gewu. The study of Western studies can also promote the understanding of the "Treatise on Gewu...... I couldn't understand the truth, maybe find a few books in Latin, Greek, and Arabic and read it, and I will be able to understand it!

Therefore, after those university scholars in Taixue discovered this trick, they all began to learn foreign languages...... the truth in "Zi On Gewu", as long as you say one thoroughly, it is a great Confucian! Not only is there a rich Confucian fortune to take, but also a name can go down in history!

So now there are many great Confucians in the history of the Hongxing Dynasty...... There are several of them every year!

This Hongxing Dynasty not only has many filial sons, many loyal ministers, and even Confucianism is very special, can this country not prosper?

Kong Yinzheng, on the other hand, was a "double Confucian", who not only put forward the theory of "the brave have love for benevolence", but also put forward the "Gewu Methodology" to guide the study of Gewu.

What an amazing Confucian!

"Yan Shenggong," Zhu Cihong looked at the double Confucian in front of him, "I have an idea now, and I need a great Confucian like you to do it." ”

"Your Majesty, please command." Of course, Kong Yinzheng will not refuse.

"I need a Confucian classic that can combine the four books and the five classics with the principles of the Zi Treatise on Gewu, as a general treatise on Confucian scholarship." Zhu Cihong said, "And this "Confucian Classic" should be written in the vernacular, easy to understand, and give a concise explanation of the theory of heavenly principles.

And this explanation must also stand the test of dialectics with foreign teachers!

Yan Shenggong, can you find some people to do it together? ”

That's not a low requirement! And this "Confucian Classic" is also extremely important, so important that in the past ten years, Emperor Zhu did not dare to find someone to compile it.