After Zhao Yan's fleet left the lion country, it soon arrived at the African coast, and then began to sail south along the east coast of Africa, and there were more Yuan monks on the ship, but Zhao Yan had one more person to speak.

The sun was shining on this day, someone on the boat caught a huge grouper, so Zhao Yan made a table of fish banquet for Yuan to taste, just looking at Yuan's body shape to know that he is a wine and meat monk, there is a record of him stealing fish and meat stories, and even it is said that Su Shi's invention of Dongpo meat is also related to Yuan, in fact, Yuan is not only taboo, but also a gourmet, which is like-minded with Zhao Yan.

"It's such a delicious grouper, I remember the last time I tasted this delicacy, it was when I traveled in Guangzhou, but I didn't expect that there was also this kind of fish in Africa thousands of miles away!" Li Yuan praised while tasting the fish feast in front of him, the grouper he caught belonged to a giant grouper, with a body length of two meters and a weight of hundreds of catties, Zhao Yan made so many dishes in front of them, and only used a small part, and this kind of fish is widely distributed, and it is also produced in the sea areas south of the Great Song Dynasty.

"Hehe, there are more delicious foods in the sea than on the land, after all, the area of the ocean alone is several times that of the land, plus life originally originated from the sea, there are more creatures in the sea, and there are naturally more delicious foods, but unfortunately we still know too little about the sea." Zhao Yan smiled at this time and said, even in the later generations, people do not fully understand the ocean, there are still many unsolved mysteries in the ocean, as soon as he thinks of this, Zhao Yan thought of the previous Buddha's tooth anomaly, but soon he was left behind, and he didn't think about the things he couldn't understand. This is one of his strengths.

Speaking of the sea, Liao Yuan also showed a very interested expression, and asked Zhao Yan some questions about the ocean at the moment, such as the fact that life originated from the ocean that Zhao Yan mentioned just now, and Zhao Yan also answered them one by one, these questions are actually too advanced. However, Zhao Yan has already shown too advanced thinking and knowledge, so it is not surprising that Yuan Yuan.

After chatting about the ocean, Zhao Yan tasted a bite of steamed grouper meat, the delicious and smooth fish meat seemed to melt in the mouth, which made people can't help but admire, and then asked Yuan: "Yuan, how is your Buddhist missionary work in Europe, as far as I know, the Catholic roots in Europe are very deep, and it is not easy to open up the situation there?" ”

I heard Zhao Yan ask about the missionary situation in Europe. Liao Yuan also showed a solemn expression, and after thinking for a moment before he spoke: "The missionary situation in Europe is indeed not very good, at the beginning, our Buddhism and Taoism, with the support of the prince, established a temple and a Taoist temple in Rome respectively, and actively preached to the people in the city, but it had no effect, and we found out later. The city of Rome has been ruled by Catholicism for thousands of years, and God has penetrated into every aspect of the city. It was a mistake for us to choose to preach here in the first place. ”

Liao Yuan paused when he said this, and then continued: "It is precisely because of this mistake that we Buddhism and the Taoists have consulted for a while, and decided to go out of Rome to preach in other places, and now there is finally progress, and several small temples have been built in other places. And there were some believers, and we found that the lives of ordinary people in Europe were very difficult, so when we were on mission, we would give out some food, cloth, and so on, although not in small quantities. But it is also a great help for them, which also attracts some followers to join. ”

Zhao Yan couldn't help but be stunned when he heard Yuan's words, because he thought that when the Catholic Church in the Central Plains in later generations preached, it also opened up the missionary situation with small favors and small favors, and after attracting enough congregations, coupled with the strong national strength of the West, it naturally attracted more people to join, and now the actions of Buddhism and Taoism when they preach in Europe are almost exactly the same as those of Catholicism in later generations, and it seems that these religions have similar thoughts when they preach.

Although Zhao Yan does not believe in Buddhism, he hopes to promote Buddhism in Europe, on the one hand, it is to eliminate the threat of Catholicism in Europe, on the other hand, these two religions also represent the expansion of the Central Plains civilization to the outside world, Taoism needless to say, although Buddhism is a foreign religion, but after so many years of development, Buddhism in the Central Plains has already integrated some ideas of Confucianism and Taoism, and Buddhism in Tianzhu is very different, so Buddhism in the Central Plains can actually represent the culture of the Central Plains.

"Your Highness, when it comes to missionary affairs in Europe, I definitely can't get around the local Catholicism, but I don't know much about Catholicism, but I have read some news before, I don't know how much Your Highness knows about Catholicism, can you explain it to the poor monks?" At this time, Liao Yuan suddenly spoke again, his main mission to Europe this time was also to preach, as the so-called knowing oneself and knowing one's opponent, winning all battles, so he wanted to ask Zhao Yan about Catholicism.

Although Zhao Yan has never been to Europe, he still has some understanding of Catholicism, of course, he may not be able to distinguish the difference between Catholicism and Christianity, but this does not prevent him from introducing to Yuan, anyway, for most people, Catholicism and Christianity can basically be regarded as one religion, just like Buddhism and Taoism are also divided into many schools.

At the moment, Zhao Yan talked about the origin of Catholicism, and then introduced the main structure of Catholicism, especially the organization of the Holy See, speaking of which, the reason why Catholicism can confront the secular imperial power is because of the core organization of the Holy See, and Buddhism and Taoism lack the leadership of a core organization, so even if they have more believers, it is only a plate of scattered sand, of course, this is also the reason why the Great Song Dynasty allowed them to exist.

"I see, but religion is religion, its role is to guide people to goodness, to give people spiritual sustenance, but Catholicism has such a great influence, but it is used by the Holy See as a weapon to fight for power and profit, has long deviated from the original intention of the establishment of religion, if they are really allowed to seize secular power, I am afraid that the local people will suffer." After listening to this, Liao Yuan couldn't help but sigh with emotion, he was indeed very far-sighted, and in the hundreds of miles that Catholicism ruled Europe in later generations, European civilization did not progress, but began to retreat, and it was not until it got rid of Catholic rule that Europe began to burst out with amazing vitality.

"By the way, if you want to learn about Catholicism, you will have a chance in a few days." At this time, Zhao Yan suddenly smiled mysteriously. (To be continued.) )