In the chapel in the middle of Uozuni-cho, the back hall.

It is a room decorated with a mixture of East and West, with a tatami mat woven with rushes, a low table and a few futons on it; There is also a European-style bookcase, which is tightly brushed with white paint, with a silver candlestick on the table, and a small jar of ink with a quill in front of the ink, which seems to be the daily office of Shiro Amakusa.

There was a strong Catholic atmosphere in the room: on the wall behind the bookcase hung an oil painting of the half-naked Madonna holding the infant Christ; The wooden door leading to the backyard is topped by a half-foot-high cross with the crucifixion of Christ; On the wall next to the tatami mats, the painting seems to depict Moses leading the crowd out of Egypt.

Chu Fan and Shiro sat opposite each other on the tatami, and Yang Dijiao sat horizontally - he had been in the Wa Kingdom for many years and was proficient in the Japanese language, so he was the best choice for translation.

"So, your sect is currently facing extinction?"

After listening to Shiro's experience in the past half a year, Chu Fan asked in a deep voice.

"Hay!" Shiro, who had already changed back into a religious robe, nodded his head heavily, "Tokugawa Iemitsu is a demon!" A demon even more evil than his grandfather! …… From the time Tokugawa Ieyasu booby-trapped Harunobu Arima, the shogunate was eyeing the Kishitan daimyos...... When he arrived at Tokugawa Iemitsu, he even bribed, induced, and even coerced by force, causing many daimyo and castle lords in the southwest to betray God...... Nagato, Zhou Fang, Iwami, these Chinese daimyo betrayed early, (crab note: Japan called Honshu Island China in ancient times) Now Kyushu Island is still sticking to the belief in the Heavenly Father, and there are only five castle lords left in the two domains of Hizen and Chikugo, and they only dare to believe in secret, and they have to worship the so-called Amaterasu evil god on the surface. ”

"Satsuma, Osumi, Hinata, and Higo are no longer God-worshipping castle lords?" Chu Fan was most concerned about the feudal states near Kagoshima, and asked along with his words.

"Nope!" Shiro replied with a furrowed brow, as if with a bitter olive in his mouth. "Originally, the Shimazu family, the most powerful of the three feudatories, had always been the most loyal believers of God, but when it came to the hands of the damned Shimazu Iehisa, he was bewitched by the Dutch, and in order to show his heart to Tokugawa Iemitsu, he announced his renunciation five years ago...... In fact, he secretly converted to the cult of the Dutch, and deceived the poor lambs of the Lord in his territory...... The envoy we sent to Satsuma was instead sent to Kagoshima Honmaru as a heretic. Burned alive! At this point, Shiro reverently drew a cross on his chest and prayed in a low voice, "O all-powerful Lord, please send down your heavenly fire and burn this Satan who is pretending to be your believer...... And those who betrayed you! Those who sold their souls to the god Amaterasu, to the god Shakya! Finally, there is the biggest Satan in Edo! …… O Lord! Show off your powers! We will follow your guidance without hesitation! ”

Hearing this prayer, Chu Fan couldn't help but secretly roll his eyes - he was an atheist and would never believe in any gods or Buddhas, whether Western or Eastern; In his opinion. Religion is nothing more than a tool for power.

Of course, for the people at the bottom, religion has an irreplaceable role - it can give people who are suffering a lot hope and motivation to live under the paralysis of the ethereal gods and Buddhas; It can also make people be bound by moral standards such as kindness, sincerity, and beauty, so as to play a certain role in purifying the whole society, and is the highest degree of embodiment of the good side of human nature.

But when it comes to the superstructure, the nature of religion is completely changed - when it is at its most powerful, it can override political power, such as medieval Europe, the ******-religious Arab Empire, and China's Tibet; Religious chiefs are either rulers of the country. Either it can interfere with the change of state power; And anyone who violates the doctrine will be ruthlessly erased as a heretic.

This is unimaginable for Chu Fan, who is more inclined to the consistent attitude of the Chinese rulers towards religion: exploitation-division-balance!

Now is the perfect time to use religion for political goals – hundreds of thousands of Catholics on the island of Kyushu are struggling under the shogunate's butcher's knife. And a cultist like Shiro with pure faith is the best warrior.

Now the question is, how to integrate these warriors and let them fight for God under the banner of the Cross?

The way Chu Fan thought of was - coercion!

Right! It's the upcoming Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong!

In short, it is the locust policy or the three-light policy - scattered like locusts, robbing everything of food and clothing! All the houses and fields were burned down! All men, women, and children are gone!

It was with this strategy that the Shaanxi Liukou sucked the Ming Dynasty dry -- going from place to place and destroying one place, not only could the Ming Dynasty no longer collect taxes, but also had to spend money to help the victims. made the already extremely empty treasury of the Ming Dynasty even more stretched; The Liukou grew bigger and bigger like a snowball, and finally destroyed the Zhu Ming Dynasty.

Compared with the Shaanxi Liukou, Shiro has one more magic weapon, and that is the power of religion - he now has a core armament, the so-called holy war battalion. If we can continue to grow through coercion, and let those believers who have strong beliefs continue to replenish it, it will soon form a terrifying force.

And the situation in Japan is even worse than that of the Ming Dynasty. In the final analysis, Japan was still essentially a feudal country - the daimyo in various regions were nominally subservient to the shogunate, but the personnel and financial power in the territory were tightly held in the hands of the daimyos, and the shogunate could not intervene at all; This will make Shiro's holy war battalion face more of a relatively independent daimyo in the future, rather than facing a large number of officers and soldiers from various provinces like the Shaanxi Liukou.

Even more favorable, Japan's topography, whether it is Kyushu, Shikoku or Honshu, is full of mountains and hills, which makes it easier for the mujahideen to hide and escape.

The only drawback is the limitation of the islands, and how to overcome the strait between the three islands is a big problem when flowing.

But this is exactly what Chu Fan wants to see: toss and toss, he doesn't want Shiro to dominate Japan - ******** Japan? Doesn't that make you feel uncomfortable?

This is the strategy that Chu Fan thought of when he saw the small church in Yuguan Town on the hot air balloon - as long as he can say that he can move Shiro, he can make the southern Kyushu and even the entire Kyushu Island where the gold mine is located become a barren land in a short period of time, at that time, does the Fuliao army still have to worry about the safety of the gold mine?

However, it will be very difficult to talk about the extremely devout head of the Chechi Dan, who is very evil after all, this method is too evil and far from Catholic teachings.

Glancing at Shiro Amakusa, who was full of holiness and bowed his head in silent prayer, Chu Fan couldn't help frowning.

How do you impress him? (To be continued.) )