Father John and Priest Nader were also worried about the mission, after all, they knew that there was a problem with their missionary methods, but they couldn't think of a good way, and now they heard Zhou Zhong say that there was a better way to help them preach, which made both of them very happy, and Father John leaned forward and said excitedly: "Master Zhou, please speak!" ”

I saw that Zhou Zhong did not speak immediately, but took a sip of tea for a long time, which seemed to be hanging people's appetites, but in fact, he was planning in his heart how to hook Father John.

"Father John, you and Priest Nader have also been in Daming for a year, and it is estimated that we are very familiar with the customs and customs of Daming, speaking of which, there are two main religions in our Central Plains, one is our native Taoism, and the other is Buddhism from Tianzhu, but whether it is Taoism or Buddhism, it has spread in the Central Plains for hundreds of thousands of years, and it can be said that it has already laid a firm foundation in the hearts of the people. It's definitely a big deal! ”

Hearing Zhou Chong's analysis, Father John and Father John also nodded again and again, after nearly a year of understanding, the belief situation in Daming and other places really want to Zhou Zhong said this, Taoism and Buddhism have long been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, with a large number of believers, and even among the princes and nobles of the Ming Dynasty, there are also supporters of these two religions.

"It is difficult for you to spread religion in Daming, but it is not without a little opportunity, now for you, the most important thing is to gain a firm foothold in Daming, and if you want to gain a foothold, you must do two things. The first is to build a church that belongs to you. The second is to have a certain number of believers. ”

I saw Zhou Zhong continue to analyze. But at this time, Priest Nader couldn't help but speak: "Dear son, I also agree with these two things you said, but it is not realistic for us, the first thing is to build a church, but our doctrine stipulates that we priests cannot own property, so the cost of building a church is generally donated by the faithful, but we don't have any believers at all now, so these two things for us are basically one thing." In this way, if we want to gain a firm foothold in Daming, we must have a certain number of disciples, but if we want to have disciples, we cannot meet the two conditions of gaining a firm foothold, so we fall into a dead circle, this problem is probably not solved by anyone except the Almighty God! ”

Priest Nader analyzed Zhou Chong's words from his own situation, and it was very reasonable, but after hearing this, Zhou Zhong smiled lightly: "Priest Nader." There is an ancient saying in our Central Plains called to follow the local customs, and there is also an ancient saying called adapting measures to local conditions. If you Catholicism wants to preach in the Central Plains, you must make changes according to the situation in our Central Plains, and Buddhism is your example, now you can look at our Buddhism in the Central Plains, as well as the Buddhism born and raised in Tianzhu, which has undergone tremendous changes in doctrine and other aspects, but it is precisely because of this that Buddhism can develop so vigorously in the Central Plains, and even overwhelm the local Taoism, so far it has more believers than the total population of Europe, don't you feel impressed? ”

Zhou Chong did not say a big thing, Europe in this period has just come out of the shadow of the Black Death, the population has decreased sharply, although Zhou Chong does not know the specific number of the Dao, but it is definitely much smaller than the population of the Ming Dynasty, Buddhism is the most important religion of the Ming Dynasty, the influence is absolutely beyond imagination, and even more than half of the population of the Ming Dynasty are Buddhists It is not too much, so he said that the number of Ming Buddhists is more than the total population of Europe, even if it is a bit exaggerated, but it is not far from the truth.

Sure enough, hearing Zhou Chong say that the Buddhists of the Ming Dynasty were about the same as the total population of Europe, which made the eyes of Father John and Priest Nader show a fanatical color, and Father John couldn't wait to ask: "Zhou Gongzi, I want to ask, what is the total population of the Ming Dynasty, we have always wanted to find out this question, but few people know the Tao?" ”

Zhou Chong smiled when he heard it, how many people are in the Ming Dynasty, let alone ordinary people, I am afraid that even the Zhengde Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, as well as several cabinet scholars, are not clear, after all, the Ming Dynasty does not have a census of later generations, at most it can only be estimated according to the population reported by the state capitals below, but because of various considerations in various states and the existence of a large number of hidden households without household registration, the number of people reported by the various state capitals is not only untrue, but even has a huge difference with the real data, and it is impossible to count at all. However, according to the data that Zhou Zhong learned from later generations and his own estimates, the total population of the Ming Dynasty during this period was definitely more than 100 million!

However, since he wanted to fool Father John and the others, Zhou Zhong naturally wanted to make this data bigger, so he pondered for a while after hearing this, as if he was really calculating the number of people in his heart, and finally said: "Father John, at the beginning of the founding of the country, our Ming Dynasty generally counted the population of the whole country, and the population of the statistics at that time was about fifty or sixty million, but because of the war for many years at that time, we had just driven away the vicious Mongols, and the imperial court did not rule many parts of the country effectively, and many of the population were not inventoried. Therefore, the real number must be much higher than the statistics of the imperial court, it is estimated that the population at least at that time should be more than 100 million, and now after nearly two hundred years of development, it is estimated that the total population of the country should be more than 200 million! ”

What Zhou Chong said was true or false, many numbers were guessed by him, and no one could prove that he was lying anyway. When Father John and Priest Nader heard Zhou Zhong say that the population of Daming was more than 200 million, they were all exclaimed, the total population of their entire Europe is probably less than half of the population of Daming, if they can really develop a diocese in Daming, I am afraid that the Pope will personally award them!

Thinking of this, Father John and Priest Nader discussed a few words in a whisper, and finally Father John spoke: "Zhou Gongzi's previous suggestion is indeed very pertinent, and I also think that we should make some changes according to the situation of Daming, but after all, we are outsiders, and we are not particularly familiar with the situation of Daming. ”

Seeing that Father John finally took the initiative to ask for help from him, the corners of Zhou Chong's mouth couldn't help but show a faint smile, only to see him cough lightly, and said with a smile: "Originally, I was not very interested in this aspect of religion, but as a friend of the two, I also have a little suggestion, our Central Plains has an old saying called 'words are better than deeds', the reason why you have not been able to open the situation of preaching, the key is that it is useless to just rely on words, the most important thing is to let others see the benefits of your Catholicism!" ”

"But...... But how do we 'teach by example'? Father John complained in his heart that there were so many old sayings in the Central Plains, but at the same time, he had to ask with a smile.

"This matter is also simple, our Chamber of Commerce is in a period of rapid development during this time, in addition to the fleet, I plan to expand the scale of some industries on land of our Chamber of Commerce, such as our shipyard, which has been expanding the scale to recruit people, but our Ming Dynasty implemented a sea ban many years ago, resulting in a serious shortage of shipbuilders now, so I am ready to recruit a group of European shipbuilders through you!"

Hearing Zhou Chong suddenly talk about shipbuilding, which had nothing to do with their mission, Father John was stunned at first, and just wanted to say something, but saw Zhou Chongyi wave his hand and motioned for them to listen to him.

"Ships are the foundation of maritime transportation, our Ming shipbuilding technology and European shipbuilding technology have their own strengths, so I want to combine the shipbuilding skills of the two sides to build a bigger, faster, safer sea ship, if you can recruit these craftsmen, then our chamber of commerce is naturally willing to provide the best treatment, and can even help them build a church, which will be managed by Father John and the two of you, so that your church has members who often go to worship, and you can also set an example for the people around the Ming Dynasty, Under this subtle understanding, I believe that there will be people who will be willing to follow the glory of the Lord with you in the future! ”

After Zhou Zhong said the above words, he kept smiling and looking at each other, missionary and church building are all pretenses, his real purpose is to recruit a group of craftsmen in shipbuilding or other industries through Father John, and even if possible, it is better to recruit some artillery craftsmen, so that the chamber of commerce can cast its own artillery.

Smuggling is a very dangerous business, and when encountering other smuggling ships at sea, it is likely that there will be a firefight, so the shipwrights on board are not only responsible for the operation of the ship, but also the most important force of the fleet. Of course, it is not enough to have people, there must be weapons on the ship, of course, those ordinary swords are not a problem, but the general armed merchant ship must also have other large weapons, the most ideal of which is of course artillery, but the Ming Dynasty has a very strict control over firearms, so there are very few smuggling fleets that can be equipped with artillery, most of them are old cannons eliminated from thousands of households along the coast, as for the craftsmen who cast artillery, the entire Shuangyu Port can not find one.

After listening to Zhou Chong's description of the beautiful scene, Father John and Priest Nader also showed a heart-warming expression, if it is really like Zhou Chong said, they can build a church here in Shuangyu Port, and then some European believers often come to the church to worship, and after a long time, they will definitely be able to attract some Ming people to believe, and then they will also take the first successful step on the road of Ming mission, and may even go down in history because of this! (To be continued......)