The war between the Ming and the Mongols has now escalated into a world war. The Great War was fought by the Confederate camp led by Great Mongolia, the Mamluk Sultanate, the Delhi Sultanate, the Marin Sultanate, and the Roman Empire (Eastern Rome). And hostile to this Central Powers camp was the Rome-Jiangdu axis.

Why the Axis? The seemingly reactionary word "axis" was not actually proposed by Chen Dexing, but by Pope Celesius of Rome.

"Axis!" Inside the Lateran Palace, in the Grand Dining Room, Pope Sirisius II explained in increasingly fluent Chinese, "Isn't there an axle in the middle of the wheel?" The wheel revolves around the axis. Today's Christian world and the Tiandao world also have two such axes, one is the Roman Ecumenical Church and the other is the Tiandao Palace in Beijing. Rome and Beijing are two axes, each surrounded by a world. So the alliance between Rome and Peking, an alliance of the two worlds, will be enough to crush the evil alliance of the Mongols, the Mamluk Sultanate, the Delhi Sultanate, the Marin Sultanate, and the Eastern Roman Empire! ”

Sirisius II was talking about the Tao, but Liang Chongru was well aware that the real intention of the other party was to consolidate the dominance of the Ecumenical Church in Christendom through the formation of the Rome-Beijing axis. The Roman Catholic Church will be able to represent all Christian nations! This would be tantamount to putting the Ecumenical Church above the nations.

But this is not bad for Daming. Liang Chongru gently turned the wine glass in his hand and thought, "There are too many indigenous countries in Europa, I'm afraid there are hundreds...... So much so that they almost can't even remember it. How could the Ming Empire interact with them one by one? Let the Ecumenical Church represent them. It's just that Beijing Tiandao Palace is not qualified to represent the Ming Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty is not the master of the Tiandao Sect. ”

"Your Majesty. I think you've already read the Latin translation of Chen Li, right? ”

Liang Chongru took a sip of wine and said lightly: "It is very clear in the chapter of "Chen Li" on monarchs and ministers. The people of the Heavenly Dao Sect should be loyal to the monarch and patriotism, and the power of the envoys of the Heavenly Dao and the major sects to preside over the appointment is vested in the emperor and the monarch of the country where the sect is located. ”

Although Chen Dexing is a "prophet" and "Christ" of Tiandaoism. But he never intended to create a theocratic state. Moreover, in China, where secular civilization is highly developed, it is impossible to establish a theocratic state. Therefore, he stipulated in the "Chen Li" that Tiandao is subordinate to the state and the monarch, and that the monarch's power is derived from the divine authority of Tiandaoism.

Of course, the possibility of the Ming Dynasty becoming a theocratic state is not impossible. Because Chen Li can be amended - Chen Li is not actually a scripture, but a constitution. Of course, the constitution can be amended, but it cannot be amended arbitrarily, and it needs to go through a rigorous procedure. This is clearly stipulated in the general chapter of "Chen Li", which requires the approval of two-thirds of the members of the Council, more than half of the Heavenly Dao envoys who attend the meetings of the Heavenly Dao Mission, and the emperor himself. in order to pass the "Chen Li Amendment". It was very difficult to revise Chen Li, but it was not impossible.

Pope Sirisius II was slightly embarrassed, and of course the two religious axes were engaged in order to suppress the Holy Roman Emperor Alphons I, who had just established a court in Swabia. If it is the Ming Emperor who represents the East, then it seems that it is more appropriate to ally with the Holy Roman Emperor, right? If the Holy Roman Emperor had allied himself with the Emperor of the East on behalf of Europa, the authority of the Emperor would have been higher than that of the Pope - although Sirisius II had always claimed to strengthen the Holy Roman Empire, it was impossible and impossible for him to return secular power to the Emperor and the monarchs of various countries.

The Pope glanced at the red-robed cardinals in the large dining room. Even if the Pope himself were willing to surrender secular power, the cardinals would not have agreed. The whole Ecumenical Church will not agree. Today's church is a behemoth with its own independent thinking. Even Christ Himself could hardly oppose the will of the church, right?

Driving this somewhat blasphemous thought out of his mind, Sirisius II smiled slightly, nodded, and said, "Your Excellency, Ambassador." You are rightly reminded that it is not a bi-religious axis, but only a Rome-Beijing axis. He pointed to the young Cardinal Doria. The mission of the Bishop of Doria is ready and ready to go. Ambassadors from Venice, Genoa, and the Holy Roman Empire will also depart with the delegation. ”

"Your Highness Doria." Liang Chongru nodded at the young Genoese, "We'll leave tomorrow." Go to Macau first, then take the Nan Ming Chau to the East. ”

Bishop Doria nodded politely, "Your Excellency, will we pass through the Mingzhou Continent on this trip?" ”

"No," Liang Chongru shook his head, revealing a worried expression, "There has been a plague on the Mingzhou Continent recently, and it is not suitable for foreign missions to pass through. So you will go straight south, bypassing the African continent and into the Little West. ”

"Bypassing Africa?" Bishop Doria looked interested, "This is a new route, right?" ”

"Well, it's been carved out, but it's not yet passable for merchant ships." Liang Chongru smiled and nodded. Opening up a route is not as simple as sending a boat to take a random trip. A trip is nothing more than an expedition, and to establish a route, you must have a series of ports along the way that can be replenished.

The Daming Atlantic Fleet and the South Ocean Fleet each spent nearly a year establishing supply depots on the east and west sides of Africa. On the west coast of Africa, the Atlantic Fleet successively occupied the Hercynian Islands (Canary Islands), the Middle Islands (Cape Verde), the Belgian Island (Bioko Island), and the Anyi Island (Sao Tome Island), and set up Peninsula Port (Freetown), Blackstone Port (Pointe-Noire), and Antarctic Bay (Cape Town) on the west coast of Africa. Thousands of Moorish slaves and Aztec soldiers were also transported to the islands and supply ports to build infrastructure, clear land, grow corn and sweet potatoes, and raise livestock to supply future ships passing through. The South Sea Fleet, on the other hand, established five supply ports on the east coast of the African continent and on the island of Madagascar, and also transported some slaves captured on the island of Java to serve as laborers in those supply ports. A total of twelve supply ports were barely completed, and the route around Africa was completed.

However, the establishment of shipping routes does not mean that trade can be carried out immediately, because at this time, the small Western Ocean (Indian Ocean) is not very peaceful, and the Nanyang Fleet of the Ming Empire is competing with the sea power of the Tianfang Sect. The Maldives Islands are still in the hands of the Sultan of the Celestial Sect, and there is no Ming Concession on Ceylon, let alone many trading posts established on the Tianzhu subcontinent. Therefore, it is still a bit dangerous for merchant ships to take large and small Western routes.

At present, the trade between India and Europa is still in the hands of Celestial merchants and Italian trading republics such as Genoa and Venice.

But Archbishop Doria also knew that with the invasion of India by the Ming Empire, the day would come when Ming merchants would fully control the trade routes between the East and the West!

……

"Master Yongxin, Master Nine Lights, let's check again to see if there is anything missing."

At this moment, on the Macao Peninsula, in a small building facing the sea with mountains in the background, the great navigator and explorer Wen Tianxiang is buried in a pile of parchment rolls with two monks. These parchments are Latin and Greek manuscripts collected through the Republics of Venice and Genoa.

"Are all the cheats of the Loose Sect?" Wen Tianxiang asked.

The Loose School is a very powerful sect in ancient Europa, and there have been several masters, such as Aristotle, Theophrastus, Stratus, Andronico and so on. However, 600 years ago, due to the decree of the Eastern Roman Emperor Justis, the doctrine of the Loose School was forbidden to spread. However, in the libraries of Constantinople and in the homes of many nobles, there are still books of the Wanderers. After the Fourth Crusade more than sixty years ago, Constantinople fell to the ground, and a large number of Loose texts spread to Venice and Genoa.

In addition, the texts of the Celestial Sect were absorbed and translated into Arabic by the scholars of the Celestial Sect - the Celestial Sect itself was founded on the basis of Christianity, and it is not surprising that the Arabian Peninsula and Egypt and Asia Minor were the territory of the Eastern Roman Empire before the rise of the Celestial Religion. Moreover, the Celestial Religion has not always been conservative and backward, before the Mongols set foot in Baghdad, the Celestial Religion world was much more free and civilized than the Christian Europa. Caliph Harun in the Abbasid Dynasty. Under the advocacy and patronage of Rashid and Ma'mun, an organized and large-scale movement was formed to collect, translate, and study ancient Greek philosophical and scientific works, centered on the capital Baghdad. These ancient Greek philosophical and scientific works, translated into Arabic, are in the library of the University of Granada. After Granada was breached, no one wanted these books, so they were all shipped to Macao and given to Wen Tianxiang, as well as Monk Yongxin and Monk Jiudeng.

All three of them were scholars who were enthusiastic about the protection of indigenous civilizations, and collected not only books from the indigenous people of Europa, but also many Mayan books, which were loaded on a sailboat and prepared to be transported back to China for study.

"All are there, all are there," replied the great monk Yongxin as he packed the rolls of parchment, "Latin, Greek, and Arabic, and all of them are Instrumentalism, Physics, Metaphysics, Ethics, Politics, On the Soul, On Justice, On Philosophy, and on Financial Management." There are also Plato's "Republic", "Apology", "Banquet", "Fedor", "The Statesman", "The Wise Man", "The Laws", and a few other things that I don't know. and Euclid's Geometry. and a few books of Socrates, which I don't know......"

The great monk Yongxin and the master of the Nine Lights have been learning Latin and Arabic with Matteo during this time, and the two monks already know that the "10,000-character flag" will soon fly in Tianzhu, so they do not want to go to Tianzhu to preach the Dharma, but want to spread Buddhism in Europa and Egypt. Prepare to learn Latin and Arabic, and then translate Buddhism into Latin and Arabic so that the monks of Europa and Egypt can understand it. And in the process, the two of them were able to take a look at the Latin and Arabic editions of ancient Greek writings. Therefore, I can help Wen Tianxiang sort out these priceless parchment rolls. (To be continued......)