Chapter 843: The Sinners

"Working overtime every night—the gas bill is appalling." Dean Wu was fairly satisfied with the Jesuit priests' work, but harbored some complaints about them laboring through the nights as well. The pious priests refused to abandon their daytime work of preaching and spreading the faith, insisting on reserving the artistic labor for nighttime hours. This caused Dean Wu some distress—the Fuel Department refused to offer discounts on gas fees to religious venues under the Religious Affairs Office system and would not charge at the "internal allocation price," insisting instead on billing at "general commercial" rates.

And the Lingao Church system received virtually no fiscal appropriation support—more than ninety percent of expenses had to be self-raised by the Lingao Church. Of course, Dean Wu had the backing of the Jesuits, that great money source, providing everything from manpower to finances. Otherwise, he truly did not know how he would maintain church operations. The church's properties were limited, and the believers they had developed were mostly poor people and Li tribespeople. Though "fanatical" in their piety, they could not produce much money for offerings.

"Have to make Propaganda and the Architecture Department fork out some blood," he muttered to himself. "And Hu Qingbai's place too. Have Father Jin give sculpture and art classes, charging fees on the side..."

The entrance of Gonzalez and Trini immediately caught his attention. He naturally knew about the recent arrival of the Dutch East India Company representatives—not only did he know, he had also seen photographs and brief introductions of the three principal representatives. So the moment these two entered, he recognized them.

Spaniards and Italians were both Catholics, so from the moment the Magdeburg submitted its crew list and accepted quarantine, the Political Security Bureau and Colonial Trade Department had issued notices reminding the various Catholic churches in Lingao that Gonzalez and Trini might enter the church, instructing all departments to prepare reception and propaganda work.

Wu Shimang had presided over church work for several years and had dealt with Europeans most frequently, understanding their religious sentiments exceedingly well. Spaniards were especially noted for their fervent religious feelings, so after just a few words upon entering, this old Spanish soldier—a rogue at heart—became so emotionally moved he nearly had tears in his eyes. Mr. Trini, being Italian, was not particularly zealous in religious matters, but during the several years in Batavia, he had enjoyed absolutely no religious freedom, being compelled to participate in Protestant ceremonies every day and feeling profoundly repelled. This made him fervent about his originally lukewarm Catholic faith.

Wu Shimang had worked in marketing in the old timeline and had served as a human resources trainer, originally possessing a full repertoire of smooth-talking skills. In this timeline, he had long been immersed among religious people, encountering missionaries most frequently. His talent for persuasion had advanced even further, and in no time at all he made these two Europeans feel incomparably warm in their hearts.

As for Father Jin Lige and his disciples who were working, being able to see two fellow believers from European lands thousands of miles away naturally pleased them greatly as well. Both parties soon struck up lively conversation. The three spoke happily in Italian, which they all understood. Wu Shimang stood aside with a charming smile—though he could not understand a single word, he did not mind in the least. He carried a voice recorder with him. Soon the content of their conversation would be delivered to the Political Security Bureau, where Senators who understood Italian would be asked to translate.

The two visited the church, praising its scale and structure considerably. Trini paid particular attention to the details. As an Italian draftsman, he himself was proficient or at least passable in multiple crafts—this was a common characteristic of Italian artists since the Renaissance. A painter was often also sculptor, metalworker, architect, or even engineer. Da Vinci was merely the most accomplished among them.

Trini examined the murals and sculptures under construction on the walls, revealing a somewhat contemptuous smile. In this professional artist's view, Father Jin Lige and his disciples' skill was still lacking. Jesuit missionaries going to China and Japan learned astronomy, mathematics, physics, and art for missionary purposes before departing for East Asia, but their professional standards were generally not particularly high.

Though out of courtesy he refrained from commenting on this, he shifted his gaze from the walls to other areas and soon noticed the stained glass windows being installed on both sides of the chapel under construction. The patterns were not of religious subjects but depicted large landscapes—somewhat similar to the simplified line-style paintings Trini had seen on medieval tapestries: boundless fields rolling with golden waves of wheat; numerous red houses standing with enormous chimneys; densely planted orchards on green hillsides with white flocks of sheep grazing below; boats returning with full loads upon the azure sea...

These patterns were simple yet vivid, quite different from traditional church decorative glass windows. Trini observed carefully, attempting to divine the meaning expressed within. Obviously, these glass mosaic paintings were expressing a vision of beautiful and abundant life...

Under the glow of gas lamps, climbing on scaffolding and carefully installing glass pieces into iron frames was a group of women and half-grown children. They wore uniform undyed plain cloth short tunics. Each worked silently and carefully, installing and fixing glass pieces to the frames.

"Who are they?" Trini asked, somewhat surprised. Obviously these people were neither monks nor nuns. But some aura of asceticism emanated from them.

"Some poor sinners." Father Jin Lige made the sign of the cross. "May God save their souls."

These people were "bandit dependents"—"sinners"—under the Monastery's management. Beginning with the Thirteen Villages bandit suppression campaign, bandits with less severe offenses were released home after a period of education and hard labor upon capture. Those meeting qualifications were accepted for recruitment or enlistment. But the families of those extremely evil bandits killed in the suppression had to receive "special disposition." Young and middle-aged men were sent to labor camps and organized into specialized labor teams. Women and minors were transferred to the Lingao Monastery for "re-education" and "reformation" while performing simple work. The purpose was brainwashing—weakening the hatred mentality so they could become useful members of society in the future, rather than "destabilizing factors."

Although "reformation" work was housed in the monastery, it was actually jointly managed by several departments, with the Political Security Bureau serving as the guiding department. After a set period, the Security Bureau would evaluate and score the "sinners." Those considered adequately "reformed," meeting the IVB level—"unreliable, but usable"—would be released and relocated to new locations for resettlement. Those considered to have shown "insignificant educational effects" would be transferred to labor camps for "disposal."

The priests did not oppose this work—in Europe, monasteries taking in and supervising "sinners" was not uncommon. Moreover, the priests believed that the Australian secular government being willing to entrust this work to the Church represented reliance on and trust in the Church, so they approached "reformation work" with considerable enthusiasm.

As for Dean Wu, he naturally did not oppose it even more—for him it meant free labor. The "sinners" worked in dedicated shoe and garment factories opened by the Light Industry Department, which paid the Church a per-head fee to cover their food and clothing expenses. The remainder naturally subsidized church construction. So Dean Wu was quite satisfied with this system.

During the pacification operations in northern Qiong, there had been a constant stream of "sinners" being sent over. Initially, the personnel accepted were limited to "bandit dependents," but the category later expanded to include families of all "hostile elements" that had been eliminated. Thus Dean Wu always maintained a considerable number of "sinners" on hand.

Mr. Trini, however, was quite moved. He too made the sign of the cross, murmuring prayers. At this point, Gonzalez spoke: "Father, I wish to confess."

When the two departed, they donated ten Spanish reales to the church.

"Only ten Spanish silver coins!" Wu Shimang smiled broadly as he saw them off, but inwardly felt rather contemptuous—he had originally thought that with Gonzalez's demeanor, he would produce at least fifty silver coins. Just now Father Jin Lige had even heard their confessions—these two had been under the Dutch for a long time, compelled to perform Protestant religious ceremonies and failing to observe fasting according to Catholic rules, leaving them feeling most uneasy. So they had made a thorough confession. As for the contents of the confession, he would not know until tomorrow noon—the Senator who understood Italian would not listen to the recording until the following morning. If any secrets could be extracted, he, the great general of the Religious Affairs Office, would claim first credit...

Wu Shimang was profoundly dissatisfied with current religious work—he even felt he had chosen the wrong promotion path back then. He had originally intended to transform the Catholic Church into the "State Church" of the future Transmigrator Empire. To this end, he had long ago drafted numerous specific plans and schemes, including how future dioceses would be divided, how church property would be managed, and more. Dean Wu had even selected the address for the future "Holy City." Even the Crusader Army had a blueprint. In his conception, the future State Church would be an essential force guaranteeing the Transmigrator Empire for thousands of generations. The Church's monastic knight orders and Crusader Army would serve as the Senate's "shield and sword." Of course, he could not be so lacking in vision as to forget armed nuns too... In short, his ambitions were vast.

But the Senate kept an extremely tight hold on the religious system, having absolutely no intention of establishing a State Religion. Nor did they permit him to act freely—they had even created a "Neo-Daoism" to muddy the waters. This left Wu Shimang deeply disappointed. Regarding religious expertise, he was obviously no match for Daoqianzi, who was well-versed in Daoist classics and had developed a systematic approach to reforming the texts. In what he considered his strongest areas—organization, management, and operation—the Senate imposed many restrictions. After much reflection, Wu Shimang concluded that if he did not intend to abandon the religious system, the best approach was still large-scale expansion of believers—especially in Li areas and "New Zones." The Senate believed that missionary work helped stabilize rule over unstable areas. At the same time, the better the missionary results, the more resources he could obtain from the Jesuits.

(End of Chapter)