Chapter 145 Attila and Genghis Khan

The money that originally belonged to Descartes the Younger belonged to the Inquisition after his maternal grandfather, Monsieur Descartes, entered the Inquisition.

The past year has been a hellish torment for Mr. Descartes.

Before entering the Inquisition, Descartes had been imprisoned in the Bastille.

It was built 270 years ago as a Bastille castle and was built to fight the British.

And this fortress has witnessed countless Yongxiong figures, among them, the most famous is Joan of Arc in France.

The fortress witnessed Joan of Arc being burned at the stake by the English-controlled Inquisition for heresy and witchcraft, as well as the French Inquisition.

No matter what was done, in the end, the woman Joan of Arc was burned alive, near the Bastille.

With the cessation of the Anglo-French war and the subsequent expansion of the city of Paris, the Bastille became an inner city structure and lost its military function.

The four-acre, eight-tower military facility is surrounded by deep ditches and drawbridges.

Its walls are very thick, and it is still the commanding height of Paris, which is easy to defend and difficult to attack.

Therefore, Qiao Yong deliberately spent 60,000 silver dollars to buy this piece of land, and divided it into four towers and gave it to the cardinal of the French diocese to hold important prisoners.

When Monsieur Descartes was imprisoned in the Bastille, he lived a very prosperous life, drinking fresh milk and bread every day, and seeing his beloved grandson Descartes Jr. and his granddaughter Emily every ten days.

Even on special occasions, he was able to continue discussing obscure mathematical problems with Descartes, who remained with him in the Bastille.

Mr. Descartes was a strong-willed man.

In the face of the various temptations of the Inquisition, he still maintained his integrity, insisted that the new discipline was a progressive discipline and the future of mankind, and insisted on refusing to bow to the Inquisition.

If it weren't for the fact that there were still two small ties outside the prison, Descartes and Emily, and that it was not a bad thing for Mr. Descartes to even think that he would be imprisoned for the rest of his life, and that he would encourage more people to puff up their chests and attack the barbaric and ignorant Inquisition.

In his opinion, the Inquisition is a cancer in this world, and if this cancer is not removed as soon as possible, there will be no soil for the new discipline to survive.

Qiao Yong still admires Mr. Descartes' discipline very much, and he can even see the shadows of the ancient sages of the Ming Dynasty from Mr. Descartes, perhaps this is a common place for mankind.

When a person's vision becomes more lofty, he turns a blind eye to the calamity in front of him.

It was in this Bastille that Monsieur de Cartes completed the first long-term reflection in his life, and through this long-term reflection once again laid the philosophical proposition he had deduced years earlier: I think, therefore I am!

At the same time, he believes that human beings must have a fixed reference when thinking about problems, otherwise it is biased and incomplete, he often said: when we dream, we think we are in a real world, but in fact this is just an illusion.

This trend of thought is similar to Zhuang Zhou's dream.

He likes to think in contrast, which constitutes a new insight in the philosophical system - dualism.

He believed that since there is God, there must be demons, there will be death and new life, and there must be good and bad...... This statement is actually very extreme, and it does not look at the world in a dialectical way.

In the same way, they have not learned to explain some gray areas in terms of the Confucian idea of moderation.

For this reason, there is a great opposition in his character.

He claimed to be a devout Roman Catholic, and that the purpose of "contemplation" was to preserve the Christian faith.

But in his own true manifestation, Descartes was accused of preaching secret deist and atheistic beliefs.

His close friend Blaise Pascal said, "I can't forgive Descartes; In all his philosophies, he wanted to be able to set aside God.

But he could not do without a touch from God in order to make the world move, and he would no longer need God. ”

Qiao Yong, Zhang Liang, the envoys of the Ming Empire, believe that according to the demarcation of Ming scholarship, Mr. Descartes is in the most important moment of his life - epiphany!

After the epiphany passed, it was the highlight moment of his becoming a saint.

Just like Mr. Wang Yangming of the Ming Dynasty was practicing qi in the military camp, and suddenly there was a long howl, and the sound shook for ten miles......

Monsieur Descartes thought that when he arrived in Rome, he would be burned at the stake, but unexpectedly, he was admitted to the Inquisition in Rome, and the Pope, who had ordered him to be taken to Rome for torture, died suddenly.

Then, on a sunny morning, he left his cell and met his grandson and his granddaughter, who had been waiting for him for a long time.

When he left, Mr. Descartes did not deliberately thank Pope Alexander VII.

He simply thought that Alexander VII, who had received the highest secular education, was definitely a man of great vision, and that he should not be thanked, but that the Pope should thank him - Descartes was still alive.

He thought that his head no longer belonged to him, but to all of France, and even to all of humanity......

Although the prison did not hurt him, his weak health did not allow him to leave Rome and return to Paris immediately, so he chose to live in sunny Rome, where he could recuperate for a while, and by the way, let people go to the Pope to recover the wealth that belonged to Descartes and Emily.

In two years, little Descartes has grown into a handsome teenager, and little Emily has grown a lot taller, but the most proud thing about Mr. Descartes is that little Descartes seems to have inherited his appearance, and after just entering his adolescence, little Descartes has some freckles on his face, which is very similar to his youth.

It's just that the color of their hair is different, Mr. Descartes' hair is black, while Descartes and Emily's hair is blonde.

The maid and the man-maid were left in Paris, France, so the only people who could take care of Mr. Descartes were Descartes and Emily.

After a long dark night, Mr. Descartes awoke from his slumber, and when he opened his eyes, he immediately thanked God for allowing him to live another day.

However, after Emily had waited to wash up, Mr. Descartes saw a hearty breakfast on the table.

In particular, the two roasted golden turtledoves made him even more happy.

But when the old gentleman put what he thought was turtledove meat into his mouth, Descartes said, "This is pigeon meat." ”

Mr. Descartes immediately burst out laughing, and pointed at little Descartes breathlessly, "Those pigeons in the square? ”

Little Descartes didn't laugh and said coldly: "The Pope doesn't need those pigeons." ”

"It's not the pope's fault, it's the previous pope who is at fault."

Little Descartes picked up a piece of pigeon meat with his fork and said, "I also eat the pigeons of the previous pope." ”

Mr. Descartes laughed and said, "That should make sense." ”

After breakfast, the two Gentlemen Descartes began to go for a walk, which was requested by the younger Monsieur Descartes, who thought that this would allow the grandfather to live longer.

When Mr. Descartes saw the book in Little Descartes' hand, he frowned and said, "Are you interested in the East?" ”

Little Descartes said, "Yes, grandfather, I have heard that there is a strong, rich, civilized country in the far east, and I would love to visit there." ”

Mr. Scarr nodded, "From the mouths of those merchants and missionaries, I also know some rumors about the East, and I have heard that there are many great people in the East.

If you like, I can make an appointment for you to meet Father John Tong, who has just returned to Rome from the Far East, and who has heard that he has been teaching for many years at the most famous university in the East, the Yushan Academy, and I think that from his mouth I should be able to get the most detailed and accurate information about the empire of the East. ”

"Really? I mean, can you take me with you when you go to see Father John Tong? ”

Mr. Descartes pinched his grandson's immature face and said with a smile: "We have made an appointment in the evening in two days, and when the time comes, there will be a large crowd of people, all of whom you call big men."

When the time comes, be sure to bring out your favorite tea leaves and serve them with little Emily's cookies. ”

While their grandparents were talking about John Tong, Alexander VII was also summoning Father John Tong at the Apostolic Palace.

Alexander VII, leaning on a high-backed chair, did not like this neat-looking over-the-top missionary, even though they were the most indispensable people in the Vatican, and he did not think favorably of John Tong, especially when he infinitely exaggerated the Eastern Empire.

"Your Majesty, the Lantian Empire covers an area that extends beyond all of Europe, they have occupied the richest land on that continent in Asia, their armies are incomparably strong, their courtiers are extremely shrewd, and their emperors are terrifyingly wise."

Alexander VII lazily looked at John Tong, who was standing below to make an impassioned speech, and did not stop him from continuing to speak, after all, there were many cardinal archbishops present.

It is not the Pope himself who really governs the Church, but the cardinals.

These cardinal archbishops had sunk into John Tong's introduction.

They could not imagine what an empire larger than the whole of Europe would look like, a country with a population of nearly 200 million, a country where even civilians could be fed and clothed.

"Your Majesty, I don't believe that there is such a country in the world, and if there were, their army should have come to Europe, after all, judging by Father John Tong's description, their army is strong, their fleet is strong, and their country is rich."

A cardinal did not wait for Father John Tong to finish his sentence, and then rudely interrupted John Tong's report.

Another old cardinal said, "They have been here twice. ”

The Swedish cardinal, who refuted John Tong, frowned and said, "Why don't I remember? ”

The old cardinal sighed: "It seems that you have forgotten" Attila ", and "Genghis Khan". “

The cardinal of the Diocese of Sweden immediately asked John Tong: "Is it them?" ”

Tang Ruowang shook his head and said: "Attila was called the "Xiongnu" in the Ming Dynasty, and was driven to Europe by the ancestors of the Ming Dynasty, and Genghis Khan was a dynasty before the Ming Dynasty and was terminated by the Ming Dynasty.

Your Majesty, the current Ming Dynasty is far more powerful than "Attila" and more ferocious than "Genghis Khan".

I have seen their army with my own eyes, a disciplined, well-equipped, invincible army, in which the strength of their army is beyond the strength of our European dynasties.

Your Majesty, if we do not call on Europe to end the war of internal strife and unify with the outside world, I think that those who call themselves Han Chinese will soon come to Europe. ”

The cardinal of the English diocese whispered: "They have come, but they have come, but they are messengers, merchants, the British sea warrior Earl Nelson, who has already fought with the soldiers of the Ming Kingdom, and ended in our crushing defeat.

At the same time, the Earl of Nelson also gave a detailed account of the war in which an elite regiment of the British Empire was killed on a small island......"

Chapter I

(End of chapter)