The sound of horses' hooves rattled through the streets of Rome, and the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty seemed quite orderly at the moment, not raising their guns to shoot at these civilians with numb expressions, nor trying to dismount to feel the European style of the Middle Ages.

In the eyes of the Ming officers and soldiers at this moment, this is a poor and backward country.

The commoners of the Papal States also looked at these people from the Ming Dynasty with curiosity, and they were surprised by the extravagance of their clothing and the dignity of their appearance, in their opinion, these should be nobles from the East.

The bishop of the Papal States, Tuojes, entertained Xia Yan and asked Xia Yan about the purpose of his trip.

Xia Yan said that he wanted to visit and learn about it himself, so he initially asked Bishop Tojes to read to him the canon, the outline of the constitution, and the laws and regulations of the country.

In Xia Yan's view, the outline of the constitution stipulates the relationship between the monarch and the minister and the attribution of state power, while the guild codes such as the Daming Huidian stipulate the administrative implementation regulations, and the laws and criminal regulations are judicial, which are the indispensable basis for the rule of a country.

But the Papal States could not provide Xia Yan with this, because the Papal States did not have a sound state system, and the civilian class, the monk class, and the military class formed the country, and the pope as the head of state was more likely to have religious significance and was not standardized for administrative management.

Xia Yan was disappointed, and he decided to go to Florence.

But Tojes didn't let Xia Yan go, he thought that Xia Yan was coming to make a pilgrimage on behalf of the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, but now he had to be sure that Xia Yan was not a believer, and the emperor from the Ming Empire did not come to ask for a crown.

However, Todjes himself had already sent someone to inform the pope that an emperor from Eastern China was coming to accept his coronation.

In order not to disappoint the Pope, he had to find another way.

Tojes also thought of a way, which was to make Xia Yan a believer, so he needed to keep Xia Yan, instill doctrine in Xia Yan, make Xia Yan a believer, and at the same time let Xia Yan agree that after he returned, he would make the Ming Emperor a believer, and then come to accept the coronation in person.

Xia Yan did not reject religious propaganda, this is the tradition of many scholars and doctors in the Ming Dynasty, Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism can accept it, and he also knew from Emperor Zhu Houzhao that religion is particularly important to Xiyi, so he also felt that it was understandable, so he stayed for the time being and listened to this Tuojiesi to propagate his teachings.

Xia Yan also discussed it with Tojes very seriously, and also thought that these teachings that Xiyi believed in were also to persuade people to do good, and they were not evil religions, which were contrary to secular human ethics.

But Xia Yan as a mature politician, acceptance does not mean that he surrenders, he has always been clear about what his purpose here is, he does not want to bring new ideas to the Ming religious culture, he wants to bring tangible political benefits to the Ming Dynasty, and see which of these Western ideas can be used by the Ming Dynasty.

……

Pope Leo X rushed to Rome as soon as he learned that there was a delegation from the East, representing the Emperor of the Ming Empire from the East, to discuss the coronation.

"I really don't know which missionary did the work of making the emperor of the East accept his coronation."

Pope Leo X was keen to see his teachings spread in the East, and he was willing to see an emperor from the East accept his papal rule.

Because this is equivalent to the monarch of the empire recognizing his own status and the status of his own religion.

When Pope Leo X saw Xia Yan, he quickly asked Xia Yan about the coronation of the Ming Emperor.

Tojes was no longer in time to explain the misunderstanding.

When Xia Yan knew that these people wanted the Ming Emperor to accept the coronation and recognize the status of Catholicism above the country, he was very angry, which he could not accept.

As an official of the Ming Dynasty, Xia Yan could accept the spread and belief of any religion, but he could not accept that the pope of religion tried to override the monarchy.

Therefore, after Xia Yan returned to the fleet, he immediately ordered the fleet to bombard the city of Rome, and at the same time, ordered the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty to attack the city of Rome.

Where was the Roman army in the Middle Ages the opponent of the Ming officers and soldiers, and the medieval knights were only shot or blown up in front of the Ming soldiers armed with firing pistols and grenades.

Therefore, soon, Xia Yan took the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty to occupy the Papal State, that is, the city of Rome.

When Xia Yan reappeared, he had already brought a team of Ming officers and soldiers.

At this time, Leo I didn't understand why this delegation from the Eastern Empire would suddenly use force, of course, he had to admit that this Eastern mission was very powerful, and he had never seen such a powerful gun.

Leo I didn't know how to describe this group of people from the Eastern Empire.

Xia Yan only ordered: "Pull down this traitor who is trying to override the monarch's power and cut it down to this official!" ”

The Ming officers and soldiers came over from Xia Yan's order and pulled Leo I out of the group of papal personnel.

Leo I kept struggling and shouting, but due to the language barrier between them, the Ming officers and soldiers couldn't understand what Leo I was saying, and Leo I didn't know what he was about to do, and he didn't even understand how he suddenly offended this group of people from the East.

Click!

Leo I was beheaded by the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty, and blood splattered directly on the stone steps.

The papal staff throughout the Papal States could not help but be surprised.

In the midst of this, Bishop Todjes could not help but shout: "You demons from the East! Why are you attacking our city and killing our Pope? ”

Xia Yan had already learned the language here from Pires, and naturally understood what these people meant, so he hurriedly shouted: "This official killed him because your pope tried in vain to override my Ming Emperor, this official can recognize your rule in Rome, and you can also recognize your right to religious freedom, but if you want my Ming Emperor to even vainly try my Ming Emperor to obey the pope, that is arrogance!" ”

"The king of my Ming Dynasty is chosen by the people of the Ming Dynasty, and he has the royal power stipulated in the outline of the Constitution, and no one shall be above the monarchy! Not even with this idea! Therefore, Leo I must die, and you, Torges, are the masterminds, and the officer has decided to sentence you to life imprisonment, take him down, and serve in shackles! ”

After Xia Yan finished speaking, the Ming officers and soldiers walked in again and took this Tojes down.

The rest of the papal seekers didn't know what to do, and they were all scared.

Seeing this, Xia Yan said again: "However, you can rest assured, this official is not here to kill at will on behalf of the Son of Heaven, as long as you do not try to rule my Ming Dynasty and override my Emperor Ming Emperor, this official allows you to believe in any religion, and will not tear down your churches and burn your classics!" It will even recognize your place here! ”

"But, from now on, you Pope of Rome must be appointed by my Emperor Ming in order to be considered a legitimate representative of God's will, understand? You cardinals have the power to elect the pope, and the official acknowledges that you can still have this power, but the pope you elect must be approved by my Emperor Ming again! The power of the Pope must be under the authority of my great monarch! ”

"You can refuse! But the price of refusal is that you will be buried for your pope! ”

As Xia Yan spoke, he ordered the Ming officers and soldiers to raise their muskets and point them at all the papal personnel in front of him.

At this time, several cardinals saw that the Oriental official in front of them had no intention of destroying their religion, and even allowed themselves to establish another pope, which was equivalent to still recognizing their papal status, and considering that their lives were in the hands of this Oriental official, they finally agreed to Xia Yan's request.

Therefore, Xia Yan and these cardinals drafted a papal succession bill, saying that the papal state of Rome would obey the rule of the Ming Emperor, and that the papal succession to the throne in the future must be approved by the Ming Emperor and countersigned by the highest Ming official in the West.

As a civil official, a man who had first been educated in Confucianism and then accepted the idea that the monarchy was the choice of the people and that it should not be offended against the will of the people made him believe that the monarch of the Ming Dynasty could not be betrayed by anyone, and that no one could even attempt to override the monarch.

In Xia Yan's view, once the inheritance of the Ming monarch is illegal, or even coveted, and even someone wants to override the monarchy, it is a betrayal of the people of the Ming Dynasty and an act of messing up the world.

Therefore, Xia Yan is extremely intolerant of any force that wants to manipulate the emperor of the Ming Dynasty and wants to be above the monarchy, he must tell these people in Xiyi with the most severe means not to want to be the master of the Ming monarch, because that means that you want to be the master of all the people of the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, Xia Yan suddenly attacked Rome and cut down Leo I.

Xia Yan's behavior gave the Papal States a great shock, and they never thought that people from the East would be so disgusted by letting the emperor live under the pope, albeit only nominally.

But they know that this is a powerful Eastern empire, an empire that is above religion and even allows the spread of various religions, an empire that they cannot understand, and they cannot afford to mess with.

However, these papacies were glad that the officials of the Ming Empire did not oppose their religious beliefs, and they did not even want to demolish his pope, so these papacies were afraid of letting other Western countries know that the pope could be subservient to the monarch, so they chose to conceal the fact that Leo I was killed by the Ming Dynasty, and only deduced that the pope died violently, and at the same time chose a pope as quickly as possible.

And Xia Yan did not want to embarrass these papal personnel, saying that the pope could act as the pope, and only after the emperor's will was officially issued would he officially recognize the legitimacy of the pope, and said that if any force tried to eliminate the pope appointed by the Ming Dynasty in the future, the Ming would help the pope fight against this force.

This made the papal personnel in the Papal States very happy, but what they didn't know was that the Ming Dynasty maintained the status of the pope in order to make the darkness of the European Middle Ages last longer.