So, what can be drawn from these historical lessons?

First of all, the most important factor is definitely being able to play. Europe is different from the East, there is no upper limit to killing people in this place, and Xiaobo can only be regarded as an ordinary tyrant in this place. In China, there are few benevolent people who can achieve things, but they are generally relatively normal people. Even if it is the Sima family, they are a little more normal to the common people than the Cao family.

But on the European side, from the French against the Puritans, to the Teutonic Knights exterminating the Prussians, to Bohemia...... It's commonplace to solve problems by killing all people. In this kind of environment, if you can't fight, it's really useless. The other side has enough patience and determination to spend generations to kill people. In this case, no matter how popular the doctrine is, it is completely useless if it cannot be beaten.

The good thing for now, though, is that the Hussites don't have much to worry about. Although there are few people, when they fight the Shinra, they can often achieve incredible results. In some battles, the disadvantage was so great that Jaska himself wanted to surrender, but the other side did not accept it, so he could only fight, but in the end he won inexplicably. Thanks to this, this most serious problem can be put aside for the time being, and the next consideration is much simpler.

"The corruption of the church is inevitable, and it may be the nature of mortals." Guo Kang concluded: "And the sages of all ages, from the priests of ancient times to the saint Francis just mentioned, have actually had the same idea: that is, to keep the clergy away from secular power, away from the roots of corruption. The clergy studied the scriptures and prayed, while the laity were responsible for running the country and keeping society functioning. This is the so-called separation of church and state, and it seems to be the most ideal state that European philosophers have always pursued. ”

"But I think they're all wrong. This line of thinking is completely reversed. ”

"Huh?" Captain Jeska had just finished talking about the deeds of the saint, and he was still a little emotional, but when he suddenly heard him say this, he didn't react for a while.

"Have you ever thought that the thinking of the sages, in some places, is actually contradictory?" Guo Kang continued to ask.

"Where do you mean that?" Captain Jaska hurriedly asked.

"As I said earlier, the ideal of the saint Francis. On the one hand, he wanted to reduce the distinction between clergy and lay people and make everyone more equal. On the other hand, it is necessary for the priests to stay away from the world and live a life of asceticism. Aren't these two contradictory? Guo Kang asked rhetorically.

Captain Jeska thought for a moment, but couldn't answer for a moment, and quickly looked back at the two monks. But they obviously didn't prepare for this question, and after thinking about it, they could only say: "It should be that he hopes that everyone can live this kind of spiritual life, but most people don't have the ability to do it, and there is no way to force it, so they can only ask some priests to do it first." ”

"If that's the case, you should take everyone with you and don't give up just because they can't do it." Guo Kang said: "Even if you can't complete all the requirements, you can educate the laity so that they can partially achieve the goal." On the contrary, it would be wrong to follow the path of reciting only the scriptures for oneself and ignoring other parishioners. Because education is the most important part. ”

"That's right." The monks thought for a moment and agreed: "The same is true of our experience, printing and education, indeed, our most powerful weapons. ”

"Then, it is impossible to study the scriptures only by yourself; Educating the laity is not something that can be done by one person. So, there must be enough organization, and with organization, there will be managers, there will be distribution of power. Guo Kang continued: "In this way, whether you like it or not, there will definitely be a difference in power and status. This is actually the conclusion that the case of Francis tells us. That's right, right? ”

This time, everyone nodded.

"Look, it's going back here." Guo Kang spread his hands and said to Captain Jeska: "In order to better promote the true faith and allow more people to live a pure life, we need to organize and devote ourselves to the world. In this way, the closer you are to the world, the farther you are from the world. Isn't there another problem here? ”

"There are also people there who feel that we should pay attention to the organization and the management of the world." "But as you can see, it's really difficult to keep our religious organization from corrupting in this situation. In fact, I myself have some doubts that our role model and appeal are far inferior to those of St. Francis, and can we really do what he can't accomplish? ”

"If it's still the same as him, it's definitely inferior to him." Guo Kang said bluntly: "That's why I suggest a different approach." ”

"I think a lot of the congregations are too eager for quick success. They always couldn't wait to devote themselves to their cultivation, as if by doing so, they would be able to save everyone at once, just like Brother Tian. But the reality is that it's not that simple. So these people have not been able to succeed either. He shook his head: "At this time, many people have become pessimistic again, making bottomless concessions in all aspects, leading to the complete corruption of the rules." ”

"We mortals should be self-aware, and not always think that we are great and capable of doing a good job. This is also a sin of arrogance. And once the pride is punctured, it often falls into inferiority. Privately, I often think that this is not the right way to go. ”

"I think we should get our mentality right. Since Heavenly Father has brought us into this world, we need to understand the grand order He created and to respect and follow these basic rules. The soul of a mortal person also originates from the Father, so although we cannot indulge ourselves, we cannot deny all human nature because of this. Otherwise, it would be much the same as those heretics who are extremely pessimistic about the human soul and even deny the glory of the Father. ”

"So what exactly should we do?" The monks were clearly interested.

"People have to do what people should do." Guo Kang said: "Since we are in the mortal world, we should use the rules of the mortal world to realize our ideals. Heavenly Father loves people who can help him, and he does not directly destroy the corrupt priests, nor does he use oracles to directly urge us to do something, which means that these problems should also be solved by mortals themselves. ”

And the same is true of the real problem. The church itself is a mortal organization that disseminates knowledge, and many of its problems arise not only in terms of doctrine and thought, but also in terms of organization to a large extent. If this aspect can be improved, then many follow-up problems can be solved naturally. ”

"A lot of the problems we have now are coming out of church splits." Captain Jeska said with emotion: "It seems that it does have a great impact." ”

"After the fall of Rome, the impact on Europe was not only political and military. Organizational regression will also delay education and ideology. Guo Kang said: "I said it is hard to hear, the current situation in Europe, if you want to unify your thinking and make everyone work for good, it is even theoretically impossible." ”

"The whole Mediterranean world, what is the situation now, everyone understands very well. After Rome withdrew from most of the region, these places regressed considerably and returned to feudalism. Neither the king nor the sultan, even if they had armies and powers, could only administer the loose state in a very limited way. ”

"The Church is not as powerful as theirs, and it can only survive in the cracks of power. As a result, the two sides cannot cooperate for a win-win situation, but can only drag each other back. The Church believed that the barbarian kings were uneducated and liked to toss around, and the kings and nobles hated the Church's finger-pointing. Both sides believe that the other is interfering with their own power, and what is worse is that they are also deliberately doing each other's mischief. There are so many examples of this in the last thousand years that I don't want to list them. ”

"Then why is it that the idea of withdrawing from the world is also in the wrong direction?" One monk asked, "Isn't it possible to avoid this problem by simply giving up earthly power and not competing with the rulers?" ”

"Because we can't get out of the world." Guo Kang put it bluntly: "The idea sounds wonderful, but it ignores a fundamental question: How are people organized? ”

"We Romans fought every day, so we often studied the issue of military management. We found that there are very few people that a leader can directly manage. We often promote veterans who are good at fighting to be leaders at the grassroots level, but even if they are very good at fighting, they often only have to lead a five-person squad. A little better, that is, with ten people. No matter how much it is, even if this veteran has excellent ability, he often can't take care of it. So until now, the most basic organization is still the size of Shiwu; The most junior sergeant is still the commander of ten. ”

And in this kind of organization, many of the most basic authorities are based on violence or force. I see that when some of the Centurions train their recruits, they go and fight everyone one by one and beat everyone up. In this way, even those recruits who like to cause trouble will be much more honest. It is a lot easier to train later. Guo Kang talked about his experience:

"Before, I also hired some experienced officers to help me train the new recruits. They told me that it was easiest to train the Romans from the Legion estates, and that it would be enough to emphasize the discipline that required special attention in the army. But those Rus' people must be beaten, otherwise they are really disobedient, even if these people are actually willing to join the army, but they just can't adapt to the discipline in the army for a while. ”

"I felt that this treatment of the recruits was too violent, and it might cause dissatisfaction among everyone, so I asked a nobleman I knew if he had any tricks. As a result, he thought we were beating too lightly......"

"How does this work? The Rus owe a beating? Zhu Wenkui said suspiciously.

"I think this kind of character is actually a response at the organizational level." Guo Kang said, "Among the other creations of the Father, this rule of violence is more common. Many animals choose their leaders based on who is the strongest. ”

"The most basic rules of human beings are also based on direct violence. In a simple and primitive organization, people who are stronger in body, stronger in will, and stronger in combat will naturally become leaders. And even the higher-level rules need violence as the most basic support. ”

"So, the lower the level of organization, the more primitive the culture of the society, the more dependent it must be on violence. Those Rus' people are all from the wilderness, and if you want to change the direction of their thinking, let them get used to a higher level of organization, and violent means are indispensable. ”

"That's understandable." Zhu Wenkui agreed: "This process of improving the level of the organization should be education. ”

"yes." Guo Kang said: "After the indoctrination reaches a certain level and the organization is complex to a certain extent, it will naturally move away from pure violence and rely on 'civilization'." So, it seems, it's not so violent. ”

"Because when there are more people, there must be multiple layers of management. But in this way, the leaders at the top will not be able to reach all the managed. You manage a team of 10 and you can beat up the recruits one by one. But managing a legion, it's impossible to do that. ”

"In those years, Caligula, the head of Rome, went mad and ran to whip the sea, claiming that he had conquered the sea. But even then, he couldn't go from house to house and beat up all the citizens to get them to obey - he was crazy, but he wasn't stupid enough to do that. ”

"And when violence doesn't work, other ways are needed to get people to buy into the management of the organization. Otherwise, the organization will surely fall into chaos and collapse due to lack of cohesion. In reality, the common method adopted by all civilizations is faith. ”

"I read the historical records of the Church, saying that the heads of ancient Rome and the kings of Persia liked to compare themselves to gods." The monk thought for a moment and said, "It seems that they are trying to gain control of the faith in this arrogant way, in order to simply control the power of the state. ”

"Yes." Guo Kang nodded: "Everyone uses different beliefs, some are close to the right path, and some are so ridiculous that people at that time couldn't stand it. But, in any case, their thinking is the same. ”

"The more complex the human organization and the more personnel, the more distant the top-level managers are for ordinary people; The image of the supreme power, the more abstract it is. To a certain extent, there may be only one concept left. He argued: "Therefore, if we are to establish an idealized, universal and universal, then its supreme power must also be the purest and most primordial concept." In other words, this power comes from the Father Himself—you see, doesn't that come back to doctrine. ”

"I see, no wonder you said before that Rome in its full form is one with the Father." The monk seemed to understand it, and said happily: "At first I thought it was a bit heretical, but now I see that it is truly in line with the faith." ”

"So, the one who best fits the concept of ideal leaders is not the kings, but the heavenly brothers?" Captain Jaska pondered.

"So to speak. In Seris, there has been a similar discourse for a long time. Guo Kang nodded: "The scholars over there believe that the great sage Confucius surpassed the wise man Chang Hong in wisdom and the warrior Meng Ben in bravery. Although he had never been the ruler of a country, he also possessed this supreme divinity, the so-called 'imperial virtue'. ”

"But after all, he had never been king, he had no land of his own and his own people, so everyone called him 'King Su', that is, the king without a throne. This statement is also suitable for describing Brother Tian, it can be seen that the Heavenly Father has already arranged everything, and even this kind of attempt, Confucius has been arranged in advance to help with it. ”

"That's right...... I seem to get it. It dawned on everyone.

"Last time I heard a legend that Brother Tian's eldest brother was Zhuge Kongming. But according to his meaning, Confucius is also equal to Brother Tian, and it is a lot earlier, and it seems that he is also a brother? Tang Sai'er asked Zhu Wenkui in a low voice: "Are there so many people in his family?" ”

"Don't talk nonsense." Zhu Wenkui hurriedly stopped her.

(End of chapter)