"How did I hear that Colt is a firearms company that specializes in handcuffs?" Qi Xuansu withdrew his gaze from these tin figures.

"Multi-line development and business expansion." Strawney said, "Speaking of firecrackers, Colt Corporation has recently launched a new steam stepping gun, the steam pack has been doubled, greatly reducing the load, and giving away an enchanted bayonet, I wonder if you are interested?"

"Not interested." Qi Xuansu shook his head.

The Eastern Fire Gun and the Western Fire Gun are two schools, the former focuses on making a fuss about projectiles, which is essentially a talisman, and the latter focuses on the fire guns themselves, and even gradually cancels the concept of projectiles.

Qi Xuansu still prefers the Oriental Fire Gun.

The world is always developing, the East is developing, the West is also developing, it is impossible for thousands of years to pass, and it is still in the agricultural period.

In all fairness, it is an objective fact that the West is taking a little bigger.

During the Great Wei Dynasty, when Confucianism was still in power, Westerners had already appeared frequently in the Eastern world, becoming more and more aggressive, and many scholars and doctors converted to the Holy Court, and the style of Western learning gradually flourished, and even bought firearms from Westerners.

In the past 200 years, although Daomen has vigorously developed creation projects, it has also learned from the West, resulting in many Western-style habits.

There is nothing to be ashamed of this, the holy master of Confucianism said that there must be my teacher in the threesome, choose the good ones and follow them, and change the bad ones.

The carriage slowly stopped, and a beautiful single-family mansion appeared in front of me.

With its black iron fences, green meadows, beautiful fountains, and a small two-story building with a distinctly baroque twist, it is full of luxury and hedonism, with an emphasis on sculpture and painting.

Qi Xuansu walked out of the carriage with a cane: "Is this all you guys so flamboyant here?"

Strawney laughed, "If the floating islands can be clearly announced to the public, what is this? I have heard that the Oriental people are always frugal, and even if they have endless wealth, they have to pretend to be poor on the surface as a way to show their moral nobility."

Qi Xuansu was noncommittal about this: "I have three virtues, I say kindness, I say thrift, and I don't dare to be the first in the world. That's right."

"Political correctness." Strawney smiled, "I know that everywhere there is a corresponding infallibility that brooks no questioning, and we all know that power is only accountable to the source of power."

Qi Xuansu said, "The power of Taoist priests comes from the appointment of the upper echelons, so they are often only responsible to the top. What about you? Doesn't your power come from the so-called elect?"

Strawney corrected, "Strictly speaking, citizens, or rather, freemen. All citizens are equal, and all citizens are rich and decent. As soon as a citizen is no longer rich, for example, in debt, or bankrupt, he will slip down from this class. Those who were exiled, those who were expelled, those who were undocumented, those who were vagranted, those who were minorities, and slaves were not citizens. Only citizens have the sacred right to vote."

Qi Xuansu asked again, "What about female citizens?"

"Unfortunately, not yet." Strawney shrugged, "Lately, a lot of ladies and ladies have been preaching the idea of women's right to vote, and they are shouting loudly, and they are walking through the streets, which many gentlemen do not recognize, and one lady has even been killed because of it. But I think it's a matter of time before women will have the power to vote, but only when the tin men can replace men. What about the Eastern World?"

Qi Xuansu said, "Dongfang is better, but it's not much better. In Daomen, men and women are equal, and even women will have some preferential treatment, but the price of this preferential treatment is that women cannot touch the supreme power, at least there has never been an example of a woman serving as a great leader, maybe I will witness history in the future in a few decades, maybe not. As for the Daxuan Imperial Court, women do not have the right to be officials, just like you do not have the right to vote here. This reminds me of a saying that what you can't get on the battlefield, you can't get at the negotiating table. Only by showing enough value can you gain the corresponding power. If there is no equality of power and responsibility, then it will cause confusion."

Qi Xuansu and Strawney walked into Strawney's mansion together.

His butler had come out to greet the two.

Qi Xuansu naturally handed over his luggage to the butler, took off his top hat, put down his cane, and took off his coat, leaving only his shirt and vest.

Strawney took out a bottle of wine himself: "Dear Ducky, what do you have in order?"

Qi Xuansu thought for a moment, "I really want to go to Xiacheng and see the so-called underground cities and underwater cities."

"I'm afraid I'm going to disappoint you." Strawney filled a glass of wine, "This is not what a gentleman should do."

Qi Xuansu was not surprised: "Since the lower city is not good, what about the upper city?"

"That's fine," Strawney said, "in two days' time, there's going to be a charity dinner in Uptown, and I can bring you along."

Qi Xuansu asked, "Charity dinner? What do you do?"

"This is a fundraiser to protect the deer herd on the East Coast," Strawney said in an exaggerated tone, and the priests will be in attendance."

Qi Xuansu did not intend to hide his sarcasm: "Orientals use poverty to show morality, and this is how Westerners show morality?"

Strawney laughed, "Exactly, they can ignore the poison gas and slaves under their feet, but insist on squeezing out a few tears for the deer, I would like to call it hypocrisy. If they are so moral, then how can I stand here and speak with Your Excellency? I should report your identity to the church."

Immediately afterward, Strawney changed his words: "In fact, about half of this donation will go into the church's accounts, and the other half will be remitted to the southern continent to support the Goddess missionaries there."

His Excellency was a typical Westerner, his golden hair was neatly combed into the back, his hair was oiled, meticulous and organized, his eye sockets were deep-set, his eyes were blue, and his nose was hooked.

The gown on his body was extraordinarily rich, made of Pyromon material from the country of Lune, and with the decoration of workmanship and gold thread, it cost fifty-two gold crowns. His pocket watch, cane, ring, glasses, top hat, and leather shoes add up to hundreds of gold crowns—a small half of the fortune of many so-called middle-class families.

Such an elite person should have unconditionally supported the Holy Court, but he hated the Holy Court to the core, and even did not hesitate to throw himself into the arms of the Daomen.

In fact, the Holy See did not feel sorry for him, although the Holy See did not talk much about the spirit of the rule of law, but the execution of his father really could not be regarded as an unjust, false and wrongful case. He fell into the middle of the road and fell into the dust. Suffering did not sharpen his mind and spirit, let alone make him repent, but the huge gap bred the seeds of hatred, and finally led him to the extreme.

Human nature is always the same.

Qi Xuansu had no intention of dwelling on this matter, and instead said, "There are still two days left before the charity dinner you said, I don't have much time, and I don't want to wait for two days, do you have any good suggestions?"

"My suggestion is to attend a sermon," said Strawney, "because the clergy are the real rulers of the city, just as the clergy rule the East, and it never hurts to have good relations with them, you say?"

Qi Xuansu thought for a moment and nodded, "Yes."

In the afternoon, Qi Xuansu and Strawney took a horse-drawn carriage to St. Paul's Cathedral in Richmond.

At the back of the cathedral is the iconic architectural statue of St. York.

The head bishop of the Holy Court is probably equivalent to the five-grade Taoist priest of the Daomen, and there are also archbishops and metropolitan bishops on it, corresponding to the four-grade sacrificial wine Taoist priests and the three-grade Youyi Taoist priests of the Daomen. Further up, there are the "cardinals" corresponding to the "Golden Gate", the ordinary real person corresponds to the cardinal deacon, the reference real person corresponds to the cardinal priest, the Pingzhang Grand True person corresponds to the cardinal, the deputy head of the Patriarchate corresponds to the patriarch, and the Great Palm Church corresponds to the Pope.

The Steam Evangelical Patriarch sits in the Cathedral of St. Francis, while the Cathedral of St. Paul is presided over by a cardinal.

However, the cardinal does not usually appear in churches, let alone preach to the faithful himself, and is usually on the floating islands of the upper town, like other big men, high above the steamy city.

In general, there is only the Lord

The church or archbishop is in charge of the preaching, and the believers who participate in the preaching are not ordinary believers, most of them are powerful characters in the city.

Qi Xuansu stepped out of the carriage, straightened the handkerchief and watch chain on his chest, pushed off his monocle, and walked into the hall decorated with stained glass with his cane.

The light in the church suddenly dimmed, giving rise to a solemn feeling.

Rows of seats, a huge organ, and a statue of a goddess made of stained glass stand with her sword in her hands, behind her not a traditional emblem, but a gear that symbolizes steam.

Strawney and Qi Xuansu found their place in the back row, took off their hats, and listened to the sermon.

Qi Xuansu didn't turn a deaf ear, he was actually happy to know the source of the Holy Court's power. After all, the three major pursuits of men are strength, power, and women.

At the top of the list is power, the power that can change everything. For example, the Three Tribulation Immortals.

It's just that such a power is too scarce and almost non-existent, so it has to retreat to the next best, chase power, have the Daomen, and with the power of tens of millions of people, it can still change the world.

Only a person who is unable to pursue both power and power will spend all his energy on women.

Qi Xuansu knew one thing from a very early age, he didn't expect to pursue power in his life, with his qualifications, it would be difficult to achieve heaven and man, let alone immortals. Even if he has the "Heart of the Immortal Stone", a broken road, he does not dare to ask for unparalleled force, then he can only retreat to the second best and go further and further on the road of power.

However, Qi Xuansu was soon disappointed, these sermons did not have any substance, they were simply saying some correct nonsense.

Soon, the sermon ended, and Strawney led Qi Xuansu to the dedication box.

Strawney put in a bill with a denomination of ten gold crowns, and Qi Xuansu put in five gold crowns.

It's not an eagle, it's a gold crown, it's a gold coin.

This brought a smile to the face of the archbishop in charge of the sermon.

Then Strawney introduced Qi Xuansu to the archbishop in charge of the sermon.