Republic of Florence.

Xia Yan used the Ming Dynasty's strong ships and cannons to force the Papal States to reach a compromise with the Ming Dynasty, and was willing to admit that his Papal States were ruled by the Ming Dynasty, and also obtained convenient conditions from the Papal States to the interior of Italy.

The Papal States was forced to send people to help the Ming armed missions contact other principalities except the Pope, and asked them to accept the visits of the Ming armed missions.

In this way, the Ming armed mission brought by Xia Yan no longer needed to use military means to visit these principalities in the Italian peninsula.

The Papal See's strict prohibition of the fall of Rome by the Ming Dynasty and the beheading of Pope Leo I, and the Papal Succession Act, which was forced to reach a compromise with the Ming Dynasty, were also blocked by the Holy See to prevent other principalities from belittling the authority of their own Holy See.

In addition, due to geographical factors and the reason why the Ming Dynasty came too suddenly.

Therefore, now these Italian principalities do not know much about what the Ming mission did in Rome before.

In fact, even if these Italian principalities and even the entire Western countries knew about this, these people would not have gathered hundreds of thousands of troops to avenge their papacy.

Because, in the original history of Western Europe, the armies of France, the Holy Roman Empire and other countries occupied Rome and even imprisoned the pope, everyone believed in the same religion but did not submit to the pope.

Therefore, what the Ming Dynasty is doing now has little impact on other Western countries, after all, the Ming Dynasty has no intention of banning Catholicism, and the only thing that has a big impact is the Papal States, affecting his prestige in other principalities and republics.

Therefore, the Papal States tried hard to conceal the rude behavior of the Ming Dynasty, and even beautified it, saying that the envoys of the Ming Dynasty came to exchange cultures and civilizations.

Xia Yan's original intention was indeed to engage in commercial and cultural exchanges, not to occupy Europe or force the whole of Europe to submit.

When Xia Yan arrived in the city of Florence, Lorenzo II, the lord of the Florentine Republic, had personally come out to greet him.

But this time, he was more vigilant than the people in the Papal States, and only allowed Xia Yan and Pires and a hundred Ming brocade guards to enter the city of Florence, while Xia Yan's 2,000 cavalry, 5,000 infantry and 300 gunners were only allowed to be stationed outside the city of Florence.

Xia Yan agreed to Lorenzo II's request.

After all, his purpose was not to capture the city.

And Lorenzo II did not choose revenge because his uncle, Pope Leo I, was beheaded by Xia Yan, after all, his total strength in Florence was only 10,000, and Xia Yan brought more than 20,000 officers and soldiers to the West, and he did not dare to provoke the Ming Mission, this lion from the East.

Lorenzo II and Pope Leo I were members of the Medici family, known for their support for artists and churches.

Therefore, when Xia Yan attended the banquet hosted by Lorenzo II, a noble lord from the Medici family, he met Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo and Raphael, who escaped back to Florence on the day of the fall of Rome.

Leonardo da Vinci and others also showed a strong interest in the arrival of the Ming mission, after all, everyone is not the same color, they also speak different languages, and even their clothes are different.

"May I ask this Mr. Xia Yan, what is the religion of the Ming Dynasty, and does he believe in Jesus?"

Leonardo da Vinci dared to ask at this time, and other Florentine artists and aristocrats also came over, obviously very interested in this.

"The Ming Dynasty is a separation of religion and state, the Ming Dynasty has only one court, but there are many religions, the main ones are Buddhism and Taoism, the people of our country can have freedom of religious belief, even His Majesty the Emperor will not interfere with his belief in Buddhism or Taoism, even if he believes in you, it is okay!"

Xia Yan replied.

But Xia Yan's words gave Leonardo da Vinci and others a great shock, after all, in this era in Europe, the existence of infidels is absolutely intolerable.

"God, there is still such a country, and the people of the East actually have freedom of belief, so won't they fight and kill each other because of their different beliefs?" Michelangelo also asked.

"No, monks and Taoist priests will not fight, let alone kill each other, because there is a law, and no one can break the law!

The right to freedom of belief is stipulated in the outline of the Constitution, and as long as His Majesty the Emperor does not define a certain religion as a cult, the people have the right to choose their religious beliefs at will, and it is okay not to believe in religion! ”

When Xia Yan said this, Da Vinci, Michelangelo and others exclaimed again.

"It can't be! How can there be such a free country in the world! How could people of different faiths form a state, how could they live in peace! ”

The Florentine nobleman had already shouted excitedly, and he was doubting the truth of what Xia Yan said.

"This official has already said that the people have the right to choose their beliefs freely, and as long as they are not condemned as a cult religion by His Majesty the Emperor, they can choose to believe in it, which is stipulated in the outline of the Constitution, and the people should also have the right to respect their lives, protect their property by the state, and have the right to freedom of speech and belief, is this strange?"

Xia Yan continued.

"The right to freedom, respect for life, protection of property, freedom of speech and belief!"

Leonardo da Vinci couldn't help muttering, and said in his heart: "Is there really such a country in the East?" Is there such a free country? ”

"Mr. Xia Yan, as far as I know, you just captured Rome and cut down the Pope, so I want to ask, what is the purpose of your doing this?"

At this time, Raphael, who had been silent, asked.

"Because your pope is trying to be above my Ming Emperor, my Ming Emperor is the holy lord respected by my Ming people, and he wants to be above my Ming Emperor, that is, he wants to enslave my Ming people on behalf of God, which is against the will of God and against the will of man!

Therefore, according to the law of my Ming Dynasty, this kind of careerist who attempts to enslave my Ming people needs to be executed immediately, otherwise such a careerist will make the whole world unstable and even torn apart! Even depraved and corrupted!

But executing him doesn't mean that we don't respect your faith, so we didn't ask the Papal States to stop proselytizing, and we even helped them re-elect a priest who could truly be called morally good to become pope! ”

As soon as Xia Yan said this, the Florentines present became excited.

"That makes so much sense! Why don't we have a country like the East, I really want to be a citizen of such a country! ”

Michelangelo exclaimed.

"The people of the East are so happy! According to this Ming official, in their Ming Dynasty, there should never be killing, after all, they can tolerate infidels, they should not have moral corruption and people who attempt to enslave, and it is even more impossible to become nobles and clergy, after all, they cannot tolerate such people, even the pope will be cut down if he violates their decrees! ”

Later, Luther, who was committed to the Catholic Reformation, also said with a look of longing.

"Mr. Xia Yan, what should you do if there are nobles in your country who violate the law and go against the will of the people?" Raphael asked boldly, ignoring the presence and the nobles of the Medici family.

"Will also be punished by the law, in my Ming there is a well-known rule, that is, the prince is guilty of the same crime as the common people, just a few years ago, there was a royal nobleman, he was the king of Anhua in our Ming Dynasty, but he was against the law, against the will of the people of the world to pray for peace, and intended to challenge the monarchy, regardless of the will of the people and became the emperor, and finally failed and was sentenced to the harshest punishment of our empire!"

As soon as Xia Yan's words fell, the Florentines present made a loud noise again.

"Royalty! How is this possible! ”

"I can't believe it, I can't believe that royalty and nobles would be punished with the harshest punishment for going against the will of the commoners? Oh my God, does such a kingdom really exist?! ”

"It's heaven! Where is the world! The morally corrupt will be punished, and the common people will be respected! Are you really from the East? Not from heaven, from God? Are you not men, but gods? ”

Some Florentine artists were both envious of the existence of such a kingdom and could not believe their doubts, while the nobles shook their heads again and again, and they even asked Xia Yan angrily, asking if Xia Yan was a pagan from the East, deliberately seducing their followers in an attempt to destroy their Catholicism.

"You are not God, you are devils, you have come with ulterior motives, you want to get our congregation out of the church, you should go to the cross!"

A noble member of the Medici family was already agitated and roared loudly.

"We are not gods, we are not devils, we are also human beings like you, we are people created by God, you are called God here, we are called Nuwa there, but this is not contradictory, no matter what you believe, we are all human beings, and this official has not let you leave the church, for example, the person named Pires next to this official is also a believer in your Catholic Church, but he is also a citizen of my Ming Dynasty now! He never asked him what he believed. ”

Xia Yan pointed at Pires.

Pires also nodded: "Everyone, there is indeed such a country in the East, that country is called Daming, you will know that we can't conquer them by force, and they have never thought of using force to make us give up our faith in God, and even they protect our faith, and the air in that country is free!" ”

As soon as Pires, a Westerner, testified, Florence, who was present, became even more agitated.

"I saw his cross, he was a Franco, but he was dressed in Oriental clothes, but he seemed to be a believer! Oh my God! Such a kingdom really exists! It really exists! ”

Several Florentine artists who were looking forward to the Reformation and embraced humanism shed tears of emotion.