"The Lord speaks of mercy to the world, and He will teach us to be good......" Father Garcia, dressed as a coal miner, preaches in a dimly lit country hut. He was wearing a dirty miner's suit, as if he had just finished work before he could clean it. However, his spirits were extremely excited, and his nose was slightly red from nervousness and excitement.

It was an East Coast rustic cottage, and seventeen or eighteen people poured into twenty square meters of bedrooms, looking at Father Garcia with reverent and loving eyes, as if they were martyrs. But their faces were also a little pale at the moment, which was caused by fear. Recently, those night watchmen have been moving around frequently, and many colleagues in the mainland have been arrested and imprisoned. Some of them defected to the government, some of them were secretly executed, and the atmosphere of White Terror began to permeate the country.

Everyone was in a state of panic, on the one hand, they wanted to continue to hold on to their faith, and they did not want to go to Father Oleg, who was willing to be a lackey of the government, to pray; On the other hand, they are also tormented by this dangerous and exciting underground behavior to the point of madness, recently a believer in Orange Township ran to report to the government because of a nervous breakdown, resulting in Father Sanchez being arrested by the night watch, and then there is no news, according to a faint bit of information that Father Sanchez seems to have been buried alive by the night watch.

"Father, how is my fellow countryman Haman? Is he having a good time in Asunción? During the break, a young miner asked softly. He was accompanied by his wife and children, who seemed to be the owner of the room.

"Haman?" Father Garcia thought back a little about the name that seemed familiar, and after a half-ring he finally remembered it. The young man fled Asunción with the help of the Jesuits in pursuit of a free faith and life, but was discovered by the gendarmerie of the East Coast when he had smuggled across the border. He was bitten on the lower leg by a wolfdog. Not long after he ran out, he was arrested by the gendarmes of the people on the east coast. It was later revealed by an insider sympathetic to the Jesuits within the gendarmerie. The young man confessed to several of his aides after being tortured, and they were all secretly arrested and shot without trial.

Such a harsh situation has forced everyone here to be careful, but they have no intention of giving up their faith. Father Oleg, a government lackey, only speaks a few law-abiding and caring nonsense every day, and I heard that his appointment is not legitimate. In fact, Bishop Pedro, including Bishop Pedro, who was appointed by the East Bankers, was appointed only by a government agency called the Office of Religious Affairs, and had nothing to do with the Holy See. How could this convince these devout believers?

Although the standard of living on the East Coast far exceeded that of the Old World, the confinement and control of religion were also deeply entrenched. In each village, the village chief, militia chief, accountant (and tax officer), patrol police and other grassroots managers are almost all from military backgrounds. Heavily influenced by the upper echelons of officers on the East Coast, many of them turned their backs on their beliefs; Or at least they are not strong in their faith, because they often go to the self-appointed clergy on the East Coast to carry out various religious activities.

Under the management of these people, the religious atmosphere on the East Coast can be imagined, not to mention the impact of the Eastern religions that have been connived at and funded by the government. The same is true of the beliefs of ordinary people, and if there is no good religious atmosphere around them, and there are many temptations (such as converting to money), these people will sooner or later fall into the arms of infidels. And those people only care about what they eat today, how much money they will earn tomorrow, and so on, and have no spiritual pursuits—if sending their children to East Coast schools in exchange for rewards doesn't count. Therefore. They rarely respond to the Lord's call, or simply turn a deaf ear. There are even those who have fallen completely and covet the bounty of the people of the East Coast. and choose to betray the people of the Lord.

All this made the devout believers in front of them extremely angry and sad, but it also strengthened their determination to escape from this hell. Although life was affluent, the law and order were excellent, there was no exploitation and abuse by the aristocracy, no unjust wars, meritocracy regardless of blood, and the government gave everyone a fair opportunity to learn that was hard to come by in Europe, they still felt the strong oppression here. Yes, freedom is suppressed here! A small village has a few officials from the East Bank, not to mention towns and towns full of police, spies, gendarmes and armies.

The coarse Livonians, Cossacks, Tatars, and Ming people in the army were loyal dogs of the Eastern government, and these pagans of the Eastern religion brutally suppressed every cultist they considered to be cultists, without mercy. This shattered the last illusions of many, and some of them fled to the neighboring missions of São Paulo, Paraná and the Negro River valley with Jesuit funding in pursuit of faith and personal freedom. Of course, this process is also extremely dangerous and bloody, and the East Bank government declares these people to be "non-nationals", and if the organizers are caught, they will be shot, and those who are coerced will be sentenced to hard labor.

"Hamann is very happy in Asunción." Father Garcia said gently, with a faint smile on his face that looked unusually holy in the candlelight. "Haman was recruited as a retinue by a noble nobleman, and was paid 4 riyals a day. He had even been recognized by his benevolent, upright, noble and graceful master for his good work, and had made a special promise that Haman and his descendants would serve his family for generations to come, which was a great honor. ”

"Yes...... But the people on the East Coast say that those nobles are vampires. They do not give the people at the bottom the opportunity to get an education, nor do they give ordinary people who have the ability but no background a chance to get ahead, and the children and grandchildren of slaves are only slaves for generations. They can't complain, they can't even question, they're all gray animals......" A childish voice suddenly sounded in the crowd, and people turned their heads to find that it was a sixteen or seventeen-year-old boy.

"Shut up, Giovanni!" Father Garcia's face fell, and he rebuked unhappily, "You went to the school of the East Coast people too often!" You don't have to go to that machine tool vocational school anymore, and when you go back, write down everything you've learned these days and hand it over to me. From tomorrow you will keep me at home, ready to wait for the time to return to Asunción, your mind is full of those dangerous thoughts, and you are not far from depravity. ”

The young man's face was a little pale, and he muttered for a long time before he said, "If I suddenly don't go to school, I will be questioned by the village chief, I can't explain it." Also, I really like to learn about machine tools...... "When I said the last thing, the boy's eyes were already full of tears.

Father Garcia's face became even more ugly. Just as he was about to continue to rebuke the young Giovanni with great righteousness, suddenly, the dog outside the door barked heartbreakingly, and seemed so harsh in the quiet of the night. Moreover, in this burst of dog barking, there seems to be a faint mixture of chaotic footsteps.

"Not good! Gendarmerie! Father Garcia was shocked and angry, and his face was dead.

Hearing only a "bang", the wooden door that was not strong was violently smashed open by several big men from outside the door, and a large group of soldiers with bright bayonets rushed in, shouting loudly for them to squat on the ground with their heads in their hands. As soon as several strong men wanted to resist, one of them was shot and killed by an officer who rushed into the house, and the other two were also stabbed in the chest and lower abdomen with several bayonets, and fell to the ground weakly.

Outside the door, Mao Desheng, who was riding on a high war horse, looked at the hut surrounded by the soldiers, frowned and said, "What did you ask me to lead the team here in the middle of the night?" This kind of small-scale arrest is your gendarmerie's specialty, why do we have the army do this dirty work? ”

"Didn't I just get the information and hurry over, I haven't had time to go to the township to mobilize the gendarmerie, and there are too many people here." Bao Chenan, who is the head of the newly formed gendarmerie in China, stroked his meticulous hair and said helplessly. As a matter of fact, although the gendarmerie force, which has transitioned from the former discipline police, has terrified all kinds of hostile elements in many places, its strength is not very large, and the total number of people in the whole country is only a few hundred, and there may be more than 10 or 20 people in a specific township. As a result, they often need the cooperation of local garrisons and patrol police when they are dispatched to arrest prisoners.

While the two were chatting, a group of dead-faced, lifeless prisoners slowly walked out under the threat of the soldiers' bayonets. With the exception of a woman and two small children, the rest of the men had their hands tied, and although they were firm in their faith, they still looked a little frightened by this time. Some wept quietly, others closed their lips and said nothing, and some glared angrily at the soldiers around them.

Bao Chenan walked up and down in front of these people with his hands behind his back, and the military boots made of cooked cowhide rustled on the ground, which also made these people's hearts endure constant suffering.

"Good news, bad news." Bao Chenan suddenly stopped his steps, turned to face them and said, "The good news is that the policy has changed, you don't have to be executed, the price is to be exiled to Gushan Port and Jinshan Port." The bad news is that the person who leads is not among the pardons. ”

As he spoke, he reloaded his 1633 flintlock pistol, and when he finished speaking, he jerked the hammer behind him, then pressed the barrel of the gun to Father Garcia's temple, and said softly, "Farewell, Father Garcia, your student Sanchez greets you." ”

"Don't ...... Please don't kill me. Father Garcia's body was limp on the ground like mud, and his tears and snot were everywhere, but he still seized the opportunity to say to Bao Chen'an: "I am still useful. I can help you trap the Spaniards who helped them escape, and I can also provide the ...... of the moles lurking in your gendarmerie" (to be continued......