Fang Yuan was very satisfied with the results of this tank inspection, and immediately decided to reward the tank workshop with 30,000 taels of silver, while Tang Ruowang himself rewarded 5,000 taels of silver.

John Tang resolutely refused the reward of silver, and said tentatively, "Regent, can you promise me another reward?!" ”

Fang Yuan saw that he had something to say, so he nodded and said, "Mr. Tang, say it!" What reward do you want? ”

John Tang straightened out his Christian clothes, looked at Fang Yuan and said, "Regent, our Jesuit missionaries have come to Daming for the purpose of spreading Jesus Christianity in Daming, so that more people can hear the gospel of Christ Jesus. ”

"But because of the previous Nanjing case, our Jesuits were severely banned by the Ming court. Although His Majesty has now granted us permission to re-proselytize, the number of missionary churches has been severely limited, and churches can only be built in major cities. It is not yet possible to proselytize at will, and it must be approved by the local government. Can the regent be accommodating and allow us Jesuits to preach freely in Daming and build churches?! ”

According to the Ming Dynasty, the Jesus Church is forcing people to join the church, and it also prohibits the people from worshiping the heavens, ancestors, and Confucius. According to Fang Yuan's understanding, this was actually the first collision between Christianity and Confucianism.

Of course, because the national power of the Ming Dynasty was stronger than that of the West, this first collision ended with the victory of Confucianism and the mass expulsion of Christian missionaries.

More than 200 years later, Christianity and Confucianism collided for the second time, when the national strength of the Western countries was far greater than that of the Manchu Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, so this time it ended in a fiasco of Confucianism. Confucianism for thousands of years has been criticized by the masses, and it will never be recovered.

This kind of religious and cultural struggle has existed in the Western Arab world since ancient times, and it has also triggered several crusades for the purpose of proselytizing. In Fang Yuan's view, fighting for territory and interests is understandable. But to fight for religion is to be brain-dead.

Whether it is religion or culture, no one is born strong, the economic foundation determines the superstructure, and the strength of the national strength determines the strength of culture. The infiltration of Western Christianity into the Ming Dynasty was precisely the stage when Western civilization was catching up with and surpassing China in terms of national strength.

These missionaries from Western countries came to Daming a hundred years ago, and after being severely suppressed because of the Nanjing Teaching Case, these missionaries changed their methods and took on the names of military experts and artillery experts. Because the Ming court needed these experts who could bring advanced artillery, these missionaries took root in the Ming Dynasty in disguise and survived.

Fang Yuan's attitude towards foreign monks such as Tang Ruowang is consistent, and he must use them as well as prevent them. It is inseparable from them to promote science, astronomy and geography in the Ming Dynasty and open up the world vision of the Ming officials, but it is also necessary to strictly prevent the spread of Christianity in the Ming Dynasty and cause irreversible consequences.

In Fang Yuan's opinion, this request made by Tang Ruowang was something that needed to be vigilant, and he said with a faint smile, "Mr. Tang, you Christianity and Allah, the crusade launched for the sake of religion, I have heard about it for a long time, hehe!" I'm a heretic in your eyes, am I? ”

John Tang hurriedly shook his hand and said, "No, no, our Christianity is freedom of religion, and we will never be reluctant to believe in Jesus Christ or not. Only their Allah will regard non-believers as infidels and exterminate them all! ”

He said that Christianity was an innocent and kind white lotus, and Fang Yuan did not bother to calculate with him, nor did he want to involve the religious struggle between Christianity and Allah, and said with a slight smile, "Since Christianity has freedom of religious belief, it is the best, whether to believe in a religion or not, what religion to believe, is everyone's right, and outsiders must not forcibly interfere." For example, I am an atheist, but I am not averse to any religion, and I do not ask others to be atheists. ”

John Tong asked, "Since the regent is an atheist, what does the regent think will be after death?" Go to heaven, hell, reincarnate, or nothingness? ”

Fang Yuan was secretly amused when he saw him as a lobbyist, but in Fang Yuan's understanding, the root of religion was indeed due to people's fear of death, and it was also a kind of spiritual sustenance.

Fang Yuan couldn't help but smile and said, "I'm an atheist, of course I think that after death, it's nothingness. ”

John Tang asked rhetorically, "The regent has made great achievements in the world, and he is willing to die with nothing and return to dust?" We Christians believe that the regent is about to end the war of the Ming Dynasty and save all the people from fire and water, and after death, he should go to heaven to get eternal life. ”

Fang Yuan had to admit that this lobbyist's theory was still a bit sultry, especially for someone like Fang Yuan, who controlled huge power, and laughed loudly, "Mr. Tang, you are a Westerner, and you don't know us Chinese, especially our Chinese emperor." Our Chinese's method of balancing the emperor is not to go to heaven or hell after death, but whether it will be remembered for thousands of years in the history after death! ”

"So I'm not afraid of nothingness after death, and I don't want to go to heaven after death, or be reincarnated, as long as I die, my name will go down in history and be praised from generation to generation, that's enough."

Seeing that he couldn't convince him, John Tang could only admit defeat and sigh, "Yes, Regent, I am taught, taught!" ”

Fang Yuan said lightly, "Mr. Tang wants to continue to open the church, yes!" One chief minister, I promise you to open up to two churches. The number of churches is secondary, and the most important thing is religious freedom! Religious freedom! Religious freedom! Important things, I said three times. ”

"Daming is inclusive and can tolerate any religion and culture, whether it is Christianity, Buddhism, Allah, or Taoism, and can freely preach in Daming. However, the Ming Dynasty is a complete separation of political power and religion, and the power of any religion can only be limited to missionary work, and if there is an ambition to covet the regime, it will inevitably be punished as a conspiracy. If there is another situation like the Nanjing case, where the missionaries force others to believe in Christianity and do evil, I will also severely punish them! ”

While Fang Yuan agreed with John Tong and other Christian missionaries to open more churches, he also gave him a stern warning. The Ming Dynasty will never let religion override the political power like Western countries. If you don't preach honestly and move other thoughts, you will be treasoning.

Rebellion, then it is not a simple expulsion that can be done, it must be done with clear laws!

Tang Ruowang was frightened when he heard this, but Fang Yuan was finally relieved, he could allow them to preach freely, and each political secretary could build two churches, which was much more relaxed than the previous religious policy of the Ming court.

Fang Yuan continued, "Compared with spreading your Western Christianity, I would prefer you to open a private Western-style school in Daming to spread Western theories of mathematics, chemistry, physics, astronomy and geography. Every year, the imperial court and the government will set aside special official positions to hire talents from Western-style schools who have real talents. ”

Fang Yuan was willing to reuse these missionaries, and by spreading the theories of Western imperial examinations, astronomy and geography in the Ming Dynasty, he could get the treatment of officialdom, and have a material standard of living that was much higher than that in the West.

Fang Yuan wanted to promote modern scientific theories in Daming, but he suffered from the fact that there were very few people in Daming who were proficient in these modern scientific theories, and everything had to be built from scratch. Fang Yuan's role as the regent is a great opportunity, and one person's promotion, no matter how you look at it, it will be half the effort. What's more, he is also half a bucket of water for these mathematics, physics and chemistry, and the knowledge of textbooks has long been forgotten.

What he hopes is to introduce these foreign monks who have a certain foundation in mathematics, chemistry and physics, and through their promotion, they can continue to cultivate scientific talents for the Ming Dynasty. When the number of talents accumulates to a certain amount, it can change from quantity to quality and promote the industrialization process of the Ming Dynasty.

After appeasing Tang Ruowang, Fang Yuan looked sideways at Liu Yiliang who was on the side, and said slowly, "Commander Liu, this is the tank of your tank battalion!" ”