Hearing that it might be some kind of heresy, Theodora nodded.

Although it sounds like a serious accusation, it is a sworn enemy of religion, but in the current Rome, it is actually nothing.

The Poljinus dynasty had been trying to regain their Roman homeland in southern Asia Minor and Syria, and their strongest supporters were these heretical sects, large and small, including the Cults of God and the Celestial Cults.

Due to complex historical reasons, this place near the common shrine of monotheism has given rise to a large number of religious currents over a long period of time. From Hindu theology in the east to Platonism in the west, they all mingle and collide here.

For the church, to put it nicely, this is called a gathering of ideas; It's ugly, it's a mess, and any heresy can be made.

And the long-term melee situation, and the complex geographical environment, allow many small sects to find opportunities, hide in the corner, and survive. To this day, there are still many such sects in the mountains, oases and unknown towns there.

The religious environment there is not the same as that of the hinterland of Europe, where there is also a mood to identify purity and heresy. In order to survive, these small sects often choose to work together – including with pagan minor sects. Only in this way can we increase the probability of surviving in the face of the blows of mainstream sects.

In fact, even the most fervent crusaders from Europe adapted to the rules after two generations. On more than one occasion, the Crusader states and the local Arab emirs worked hand in hand to deal with the more powerful Ayyubids and Mamluks and prevent their own annexation.

Whether it was the Turkic riders and Arab infantry in the Crusaders, or the Frankish knights in the Jihad army, they were all commonplace. In the later part of the Fatimids, faced with the threat of annexation by the Zangi dynasty, they even paid the Kingdom of Jerusalem and hired crusaders to act as "Mamluks" to deal with those thorny enemies.

In this environment, the Purple Horde was popular with these small sects because of its flexible religious policies, and these people were arguably the strongest and most loyal supporters of the Khanate's court in the region.

After the death of Timur's uncle, the Roman power withdrew from western Persia, so the Black Sheep Dynasty entrenched in the Caucasus, co-opted some Turkmen tribes in eastern Asia Minor, and tried to control the territory of the Purple Horde on the Mediterranean coast under the banner of opposing Timur, and extended its power to the sea.

Hearing that the Turkmen were coming again, small local sects poured out of the mountains to defend the khanate, so that the defense force was immediately abundant. The Black Sheep Dynasty attacked several times, and found that it could not take advantage, so it turned south and went to fight the Zarayir Dynasty in the two river valleys. After that, the northern border was temporarily stabilized.

Rumor has it that with the death of Basil III, the Purple Horde, like Timur's forces, will shrink its line and withdraw its garrison in Syria. So, they also sent a huge mission, consisting of dozens of priests, sheikhs and imams, to the capital by boat, to spread propaganda, and even ran to the palace gates, where they cried loudly every day. Later, the Grand Patriarch King Grand Lama personally came out to meet them, persuaded them for a long time, and assured them that there was no plan to withdraw the troops, and the people left satisfied.

In these circumstances, the Purple Horde has a strange attitude towards all kinds of heresies. And not only the "Romanians" in the upper echelons of the Khanate, but even the Greeks in the capital are now accustomed to it.

In their early years, these Greeks were very concerned about religious issues. The emperors wanted to make peace with the Catholic Church, and even to promote the merger of the Church, but they would be strongly opposed by the people, and each time they failed.

However, since the arrival of the Purple Horde, the attitude of the Greeks towards Catholicism has softened a lot.

The first ancestors, Boyan Timur and Guo Gai and others, followed him to believe in the Heavenly Sect when they were mixing rice under Yueji Behan. Patriarch Zhang, the first ruler of the Khan's court, was also called Zhang Imam at that time. Later, after they became independent, in order to gain the support of the Greeks and Bulgarians, they also embraced God.

However, there was a difference between their thinking and the understanding of the Greeks.

The Greeks understood that when they joined the Orthodox Church of God-worshipping Church, they tacitly withdrew from the previous denominations. However, Guo Gai and others understand that the new addition to the God Worship Sect does not mean that the Tianfang Sect, Buddhism, Nestorianism, and Taoism that have been added before do not count.

Therefore, in order to express their piety, Boyan Timur and Guo Gai and others began to persistently add other religious elements as well. Now the works of that style in the Niangniang Temple have begun to appear at that time.

The Greeks resisted fiercely at first, but after a long time, they were basically numb.

After all, the Greeks always liked to be conciliatory and compromised. For example, if you say that the scope of the church's management is too narrow and must be merged with Catholicism and Nestorianism, you will not allow it. But if you advocate merging with the Celestial Sect, they will come to reconcile and be willing to merge Catholicism and Nestorianism.

Now, the Greeks, including the empress and others, are relatively tolerant of religious issues. This is probably the credit of the Purple Horde Court's perennial education.

Therefore, everyone did not pay much attention to Jeanne's strange thoughts. It's a big deal that she will open a "God Worship Steam Heavenly Brother Sect" in the future, and she can attract believers, even if she has her own ability. Anyway, there are Wang Da Lama and others, and the most outrageous sect is estimated to not be her turn.

Soon, the crowd recovered.

"Your plan sounds feasible, but it's too far away." Zhu Wenkui ignored his sister, who was eager to perform, and pointed out: "Can we carry it out in stages and come up with a preliminary product first?" ”

"I mainly hope that people will pay attention to it, so I will say it in particular." Guo Kang admitted: "But the preliminary product ...... I don't know if I can use it. ”

"I think I can help." Zhu Wenkui said: "I know a little bit about this. ”

"Our idea of controlling the grasslands actually has something in common with what you said. Because the main focus of contention on the grassland is the pastures, and this is also the basis for the nomads to strengthen their strength and establish their organizations. ”

"We can't control the entire grassland, but that doesn't mean we can't control some of it." He also came to the map and pointed to the edge of the grassland: "If we control these rich pastures at this junction, and maintain them through the Central Plains-style organization with the help of foreign imports, we can compress the living space of hostile nomadic forces, limit their power, and reduce the damage." ”

"This kind of thinking is actually quite old, and everyone actually wants to use it whenever they have the opportunity, but the main problem is how much material is imported and how much strength can be maintained." He thought for a moment and said.

"The more supplies there are, the more stable it will be as stable as the Han land; The stronger the force, the more effective it will be to prevent other surviving nomadic areas from interfering with these forward bases. If we look at it this way, all the organizational methods we have adopted and the various new technologies we have used in the past dynasties are actually to be able to use materials more efficiently and generate stronger power. ”

"And what if we put it into the steam?" "You told me last time that this kind of thing, made of iron and copper, requires a lot of fuel and specialized technicians," he imagined. These are all things that cannot be mass-produced in the barren land of Mobei, that is, the enemy will definitely not be able to gain an advantage in this regard. ”

"On the other hand, the power of the Steam Brother is very huge, we can use it as a weapon, it doesn't need to be as fine as cultivating the land, as long as it can hit people. You see, that should be less demanding, right? ”

"Before, you told me that you don't need any technology, just think about whether you can farm first, and now I think it makes sense." He exclaimed, "In this way, the mind is really open." ”

"That's right." Tuhuan also nodded again and again, and suggested to Guo Kang: "This heavenly brother, you don't need to build so many mechanisms like your shrine to operate automatically. There is no need for such complexity on the battlefield, these functions can be completely omitted, and the soldiers can directly control it manually, just ask to be able to contribute, it is enough. In this way, wouldn't it save some requirements? ”

"Yes." Zhu Wenkui agreed: "We can completely let the front-line soldiers beat the Mongols in the steam brothers." In this way, a stronger deterrent of force can be maintained with fewer soldiers. In fact, this can also reduce the dependence on material input, which is a matter of killing two birds with one stone. ”

"Also, if Brother Tian can pull a plow, why can't he pull a cart?" He noted: "We can use the Heavenly Brother to pull the baggage and transport the soldiers, not the livestock." ”

"I heard that in the past expeditions to Mobei, the main consumption was on the road, which was eaten by these livestock and logistics personnel. The steam brother doesn't eat food, we just need to make sure that the amount of fuel it consumes is lower than the amount of food consumed by livestock, and it will be practical enough. ”

"Guo Gongzi does have a vision, and we haven't seen such a big effect in the past." He said to Guo Kang: "What do you think, how about this simplification? Is it feasible? ”