Chapter 251: Maintaining Monarchy
The clatter of horse hooves made a crisp sound on the streets of Rome. The officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty seemed quite orderly at the moment. They did not raise their guns to shoot at these civilians with numb expressions, nor did they try to dismount and experience this medieval Europe. style.
In the eyes of the Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers at this moment, this is a poor and backward country.
The civilians of the Papal State also looked at these people from the Ming Dynasty with curiosity. They were surprised by the luxury of these people's clothes and their dignified appearance. In their opinion, these people should be nobles from the East.
Bishop Tuojies of the Papal State entertained Xia Yan warmly and asked Xia Yan about the purpose of his trip.
Xia Yan said that he wanted to visit and understand it in person. Therefore, he initially asked Bishop Toges to read to him the code of conduct, the outline of the constitution, and the laws and punishment regulations of the country.
In Xia Yan's view, the outline of the Constitution stipulates the relationship between monarch and ministers and the ownership of state power, while the Hui Dian, such as the Ming Dynasty Hui Dian, stipulates administrative implementation regulations, while the laws and punishment regulations are judicial. These are all It is an indispensable basis for the rule of a country. Reading the existing official documents of this country can naturally understand the cultural and ideological conditions of this place, and at the same time, compare it with the Ming Dynasty.
But the Papal State cannot provide Xia Yan with these, because the Papal State does not have a sound national system. The civilian class, the monk class, and the military class make up this country, and the pope as the head of state often has religious significance. Administrative management is not standardized.
Xia Yan was very disappointed and decided to go to Florence.
But Tojis didn't let Xia Yan go. He originally thought that Xia Yan came to make a pilgrimage on behalf of the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, but now he had to be convinced that Xia Yan was not a believer, and the emperor from the Ming Empire did not come to seek coronation.
However, Toges himself had already sent someone to inform the Pope that an emperor from Eastern China was coming to accept his coronation.
In order not to disappoint the Pope, he had to find another way.
Tojis also thought of a way, which was to make Xia Yan a believer. Therefore, he needed to keep Xia Yan, instill the teachings into Xia Yan, make Xia Yan a believer, and at the same time make Xia Yan agree to let the Ming Emperor Become a believer and come and be crowned yourself.
Xia Yan did not reject religious propaganda. This was the tradition of many scholar-bureaucrats in the Ming Dynasty. It was acceptable to both Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism. Moreover, he also knew from Emperor Zhu Houzhao that religion was particularly important to the Western Yi people, so he thought it was understandable. So he stayed for the time being and listened to Toges preaching the doctrine to him.
Xia Yan actually had a serious discussion with Tojis, and he also believed that the teachings believed by the Westerners also encouraged people to do good, and were not considered evil teachings that were contrary to secular human ethics.
But as a mature politician, Xia Yan's acceptance does not mean that he surrenders. He always knows the purpose of coming here. He does not want to bring new ideas to the Ming Dynasty's religious culture. He wants to bring new ideas to the Ming Dynasty's religious culture. Ming Dynasty brought tangible political benefits, and let's see which of these Western ideas can be used by Ming Dynasty.
……
When Pope Leo X learned that there was a mission from the East, representing the emperor of the Ming Empire from the East, he immediately came to Rome to discuss the coronation.
“I really don’t know which missionary’s credit is responsible for making the emperor of the East accept his coronation.”
Pope Leo X was very willing to see the spread of his teachings in the East, and he was also very willing to see an emperor from the East accept the rule of his pope.
Because this is equivalent to the monarch of the empire recognizing his own status and the status of his own religion.
When Pope Leo X saw Xia Yan, he quickly asked Xia Yan about the Ming Emperor's coronation.
Todjes is now unable to explain the misunderstanding in time.
When Xia Yan knew that these people wanted the Ming Emperor to accept the coronation and recognize the status of Catholicism above the country, he was very angry. This was something he could not accept.
As an official of the Ming Dynasty, Xia Yan could accept the spread and belief of any religion, but he could not accept the religious pope's attempt to override the monarchy.
Therefore, after Xia Yan returned to the fleet, he immediately ordered the fleet to bombard the city of Rome. At the same time, he ordered the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty to attack the city of Rome.
The Roman army in the Middle Ages was no match for the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty. The medieval knights could only be shot or bombed in front of the Ming Dynasty soldiers armed with percussion guns and grenades.
Therefore, Xia Yan soon led the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty to occupy the Papal State, that is, the city of Rome.
When Xia Yan appeared again, he had brought a group of Ming officers and soldiers.
At this time, Leo X did not understand why this mission from the Eastern Empire suddenly resorted to force. Of course, he had to admit that this Eastern mission was very powerful. He had never seen such a powerful force. of guns.
Leo X didn't know how to describe this group of people from the Eastern Empire. Xia Yan only ordered: "Bring this traitor who tries to override the monarch's power to me and kill him!"
Officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty came over from Xia Yan's order and pulled Leo X out from a group of Vatican personnel.
Leo X kept struggling and shouting, but due to the language barrier, the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty could not understand what Leo X was saying, and Leo X did not know how he was about to be dealt with. He didn't even understand how he suddenly offended this group of people from the East.
Click!
Leo X was beheaded by soldiers of the Ming Dynasty, and his blood spattered directly on the stone steps.
All members of the Holy See in the Papal State could not help but be shocked.
Among them, Bishop Toges couldn't help shouting: "You devils from the east! Why do you want to attack our city and kill our Pope!"
Xia Yan had already learned the language here from Pires, and naturally understood what these people meant, and hurriedly shouted: "I will kill him because your Pope actually tried to override me, the Ming Emperor. I can Recognizing your rule in Rome, you can also recognize your right to religious freedom, but if you want me, the Ming Emperor, to even try to obey the Pope, that is trespassing!”
"I, the king of the Ming Dynasty, was chosen by the people of the Ming Dynasty. He has the monarch's power stipulated in the constitution. No one can override the monarch's power! He can't even have this idea! Therefore, he, Leo X, must die, and you, Toje Si, you are the mastermind, and I have decided to sentence you to life imprisonment. Take him down and serve in chains!”
After Xia Yan finished speaking, the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty came in again and took Tojis away.
The other members of the Holy See didn't know what to do and were all frightened.
Seeing this, Xia Yan said again: "But don't worry, I patrol the West on behalf of the emperor, and I'm not here to kill people at will. As long as you don't try to rule our Ming Dynasty or override my Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, I allow you to believe in any religion." , they will not demolish your churches and burn your books! They will even recognize your status here!”
"But, from now on, you, the Roman Pope, must be appointed by me, the Ming Emperor, to legally represent the will of God. Do you understand? You cardinals have the power to elect the pope. I admit that you can still have this power. , but the pope you elect must be approved by the Ming Emperor again! The power of the pope must be under the authority of the Ming Dynasty!”
"You can refuse! However, the price of refusal is that you will be buried for your pope!"
As Xia Yan spoke, he ordered the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty to raise their muskets and point them at all the Holy See personnel in front of them.
At this time, several cardinals saw that the Eastern official in front of them had no intention of annihilating their religion, and even allowed themselves to establish another pope. This was equivalent to still recognizing their status as pope. In addition, considering that their lives depended on this person, Dongfang officials finally agreed to Xia Yan's request.
Therefore, Xia Yan drafted the Papal Succession Act with these cardinals, stating that the Papal State was subject to the rule of the Ming Emperor. In the future, the Pope's succession to the throne must be subject to the consent of the Ming Emperor and the countersignature of the Ming Dynasty's highest official in the West.
As a civil servant, he was first educated in Confucian Neo-Confucianism, and then accepted the idea that monarchy is the choice of the people and cannot be violated against the will of the people. This made him believe that the monarch of the Ming Dynasty could not be betrayed by anyone, or even be betrayed by anyone. Anyone who attempts to lord it over the monarch.
In Xia Yan's view, once the succession of the monarch of the Ming Dynasty is illegal, or even coveted by others, or even someone wants to override the monarchy, it is a betrayal of the people of the Ming Dynasty and an act of causing chaos in the world.
Therefore, Xia Yan could not tolerate any force that wanted to control the Ming emperor and override the monarchy. He had to use the most severe means to tell these Western people not to be the masters of the Ming emperor, because that would mean I want you to be the masters of all the people of Ming Dynasty.
Therefore, Xia Yan suddenly attacked Rome and beheaded Leo X.
Xia Yan's behavior shocked the Papal States greatly. They never thought that people from the East would be so disgusted with having the emperor under the pope, even though he was under the pope in name only.
But they know that this is a powerful Eastern Empire, an empire that is above religion and even allows the spread of various religions. This is an empire that they cannot understand and they cannot afford to offend.
However, these members of the Holy See were fortunate that the officials of the Ming Empire did not oppose their religious beliefs and did not even intend to destroy the Pope. Therefore, these members of the Holy See were afraid of letting other Western countries know that the Pope could submit to the monarch, so they chose In order to conceal the fact that Leo X was killed by the Ming Dynasty, he only speculated that the pope died suddenly, and at the same time elected a pope as quickly as possible.
Xia Yan did not want to embarrass these members of the Holy See, saying that this pope could act as pope, and would only officially recognize the legitimacy of this pope after the emperor's decree was officially issued, and said that in the future, any force would attempt to eliminate the pope appointed by the Ming Dynasty. The Pope and Ming Dynasty will help the Pope fight against this force.
This made the members of the Holy See in the Papal States very happy, but what they didn't know was that Ming Dynasty maintained the status of the Pope in order to make the darkness of the European Middle Ages last longer.
(End of chapter)