Chapter 113 - The Abbot

“A sound method,” Wen Desi agreed. “But I fear Lu Ruohua may have ulterior motives. What if he exploits this hatred to forge his own loyal cadre of priests?”

“Then we must have Bai Duolu and the others keep a close watch on him, and we must also mix in some sand,” He Ying suggested. “I believe we can select a few individuals who are particularly loyal to us from the school, have them enter the monastery, and groom them to be the first generation of grassroots clergy.”

“That is the ideal, of course. Selecting native students to enter the monastery is certainly possible, but they are young, their ideas malleable. A few months of brainwashing may not be enough.”

“Then let us send someone in to control the monastery.”

“For the abbot, is not Bai Duolu a suitable candidate?”

“He must keep an eye on Lu Ruohua; he cannot spare himself,” Wen Desi shook his head. “And he is a believer. Though his faith does not seem particularly firm, he does have faith…”

He did not finish his sentence, but the meaning was clear. The church that Wen Desi was preparing to establish was a peculiar entity, one that could easily be labeled a “heresy.”

He Ying pondered, “What if we recruit someone and send them in?”

“Good. We shall select someone later. Then we will agree to establish the monastery. However, the location must be in Bairen, not in Daolu Village. Furthermore, for each person entering the monastery, a report must be submitted, with a clear resume, for your approval,” Wen Desi instructed.

A recruitment notice for a religious professional was posted on the BBS, and sure enough, an applicant emerged. His surname was Wu, his given name Shimang. He was in his thirties, slightly overweight, with a perpetually smiling face and a quiet demeanor.

Wen Desi picked up his file and perused it:

Personal Identification of Transmigrator Wu Shimang by the Transmigration Political Security Bureau (Top Secret):

“Born on X month X day, XXXX. Joined the transmigration cause in X month, XXXX. Han nationality. Political inclination: No obvious inclination, politically follows the mainstream. Personality—relatively introverted, can adapt to circumstances, not picky about the environment, but will try to improve it as much as possible. Merciless to the enemy. High moral character, no bad habits, clear social relations. Expertise: Human resources training (expert), combat (average), first aid (basic). Performance—proactive and progressive, with an urgent desire to serve the organization—”

Wen Desi studied the file: HR recruitment and training supervisor—eloquent, can spin a yarn; knows some fighting skills—no problem for business trips to the countryside, can protect himself; knows first aid and bandaging—a useful skill, with some training, he can also cooperate with sending doctors to the countryside.

“Quite suitable,” Wen Desi said. “But as the abbot, you will have to learn a great deal of basic doctrine, and you will also have to preach. Do you think you can manage it?”

“My learning ability is very strong. As for preaching, it’s a piece of cake. I often do training. Even if the organization wants me to do pyramid schemes, it’s not a problem.”

“Well, but this position is for a clergyman, and it may involve baptism and taking vows…”

Wu Shimang smiled. “Chief Wen, you’re not really that devout, are you?”

Wen Desi smiled slightly. This man’s comprehension was impressive.

“Formalism is still necessary,” he said. After all, most Chinese people still hoped to see religious professionals maintain an image of austerity and asceticism.

“What are the benefits?”

Wen Desi said, “The church now only has Bai Shilu…”

“Hehe, good, good.” Wu Shimang beamed with joy. He immediately began to speak:

“Chief Wen, is our monastery for men or women—”

“There are both male and female monasteries. There is also the task of raising young children, so there will be no shortage of things to do,” Wen Desi said. “You’ll be busy.”

“Sister MM, ah.” The man’s expression was already beginning to look wrong.

“It’s Sister Granny,” Wen Desi corrected him, and then explained the relevant work to him.

“…The key is brainwashing, you understand?”

“I understand, I understand.” Wu Shimang nodded repeatedly. He put forward his own view: “Chief Wen, I don’t think we should give the Chinese version of the Bible to Father Lu. In my opinion, it’s best if the believers can’t see the original text of the Bible.”

“Hmm,” Wen Desi was quite interested in his view. “Why?”

“With a Chinese version of the Bible, wouldn’t ordinary believers also grasp the doctrines?” Wu Shimang said the idea he had been considering for a long time. “If our official doctrines are different from what the Bible says, wouldn’t that give some people ready-made ammunition?”

“Go on,” Wen Desi’s interest was piqued.

“Well, I’m not very familiar with religious history, but I remember that one of the important things Martin Luther did during the Reformation was to translate the Latin version into German—he certainly didn’t do it for fun. He clearly used making the scriptures accessible to the common people as a weapon.”

“To go a step further, with the scriptures, will it cause disputes over the interpretation of the doctrines? This is not uncommon. A word, a sentence, how should it be explained? What if the believers fight over some details? We don’t want to brainwash them so well that a group of fanatics starts fighting among themselves first. That would be putting the cart before the horse.”

Wen Desi was secretly surprised. He had originally thought that this Brother Wu was just an opportunist who was willing to be a religious professional in order to get into the upper echelons. He didn’t expect him to have such ideas!

“Finally, the matter of Hong Xiuquan cannot be ignored. Back then, Hong Xiuquan started the God Worshipping Society with a Christian propaganda pamphlet. Now with the full Bible, if any ambitious person uses it to start another God Worshipping Society, things will be troublesome.”

“What is your plan?”

“Recall the Chinese Bibles,” Wu Shimang said. “Stipulate that only clergy above a certain level can possess them. Take back the right to interpret the doctrines.” Seeing that Wen Desi was listening intently, he took a sip of water and continued to elaborate:

“Ordinary believers don’t need the Bible. We can compile a few pamphlets like ‘Scripture Collections’ and ‘Catechisms,’ which contain some basic doctrines and prayers for various occasions. As for the stories in the Bible, we can select some suitable ones and publish a ‘Story Collection’.” He paused. “Only publish the ‘Quotations,’ not the ‘Selected Works of Mao’.”

“We have the final right of interpretation,” Wen Desi summarized.

Wu Shimang nodded repeatedly, “That’s the idea. Without the original Bible, any meaning loses its basis. The church can declare any unstable seedlings as ‘heretics’ at any time.” He thought for a moment. “We’d better set up a tribunal with the final right to interpret the doctrines. No one can question it. Finally, we must seize all the power to appoint bishops.”

“Hmm,” Wen Desi was noncommittal. “Not bad. You go and get the transfer order first, and then we’ll discuss it again when Bai Duolu comes back.”

After he left, Wen Desi was very clear that what Wu Shimang said was in their ultimate interests. However, they had not yet reached the point of a real showdown with the church. For now, it was better to continue to maintain a low-key cooperation. Let these missionaries lay a solid foundation for brainwashing first.

Wu Shimang took up his post. His external position was the abbot of the Bairen Monastery, and his internal position was the same as Bai Duolu’s, Deputy Director of the Office of Religious Affairs. As the deputy director, Wu Shimang asked Wen Desi to send a telegram to Bai Duolu, telling him to take good care of the Chinese Bibles and strictly prohibit their outflow. So Bai Duolu quietly sent the full box of books back to Bairen to be stored by Wu Shimang. Of course, on the surface, he said he was afraid the books would get damp.

Wu Shimang was very enthusiastic. He first went to the Lin’gao Construction Company, showed his newly obtained letter of appointment, and after his persistent pestering, Mei Lin finally agreed to start the construction of the church. However, he stated in advance that he could only provide building materials and some professional workers, and there was a shortage of laborers. Wu Shimang readily agreed, saying that the church would solve the problem of laborers itself.

While busy with infrastructure work, Wu Shimang also got a lot of religious books from the Grand Library and began to study them—otherwise, when Lu Ruohua came back, he, the “abbot,” would be exposed for not knowing anything. Moreover, in the future, he would have to come up with plans for the revision and establishment of the doctrines.

“Help me find some pictures,” Wu Shimang found the human search engine, Luo Duo.

“What pictures?”

“Christian pictures, propaganda posters, and the like,” Wu Shimang thought for a moment. “It’s best to have localized ones.”

“Localized—” Luo Duo thought for a moment. “Are the characters all in Chinese style?”

“Yes, that’s the kind. Western style is also acceptable, but it’s best if the features are not too obvious. Don’t use ones with golden hair. The baby Jesus doesn’t need to be localized. A white, chubby foreign baby will definitely be likable.”

Luo Duo did a search and found quite a few. Wu Shimang chose some of the better-looking ones and then found a transmigrator who could draw to redraw them, creating many paintings.

Two young native personnel were also sent from the General Administration of Political Security. They were two of the orphans rescued from Guangdong. They were relatively introverted. After undergoing thorough brainwashing, they received their mission. They were to participate in the catechumenate study as soon as Lu Ruohua returned, then be baptized and enter the monastery.

However, Lu Ruohua never came back. Although his achievements were remarkable, he also knew that this newborn flock could not be said to have any faith yet. So he was busy every day, touring the villages to preach and strengthen their faith. One day, he had just returned from a village and saw a strange Australian in the team headquarters, sitting and resting. The new village chief, Liu Si, was serving him attentively.

Lu Ruohua could clearly distinguish who were Australians, who were their native subordinates, and who were the local natives—the mental state and physical appearance of the three were very different.

The person who came, although wearing a local blue cloth shirt, a bamboo hat, and straw sandals, and carrying a rattan basket on his back, was tall and strong, with fair skin, and full of vigor and vitality in his every move. He was a typical Australian.

“May the Lord bless you,” Lu Ruohua made the sign of the cross. “Are you here to see Ms. Du?”

“Yes, Father,” the visitor was very polite. “I’m here to deliver medicine.”

The visitor was none other than Liu San. After receiving Du Wen’s letter, Liu San was busy tending to his own medicinal garden. He also prepared some commonly used medicinal powders according to the needs mentioned in Dong Weiwei’s telegram. So, he set off a few days later. By the time he arrived, the entire Thirteen Villages area was already a scene of peace. He was dressed as a herb collector in Ming Dynasty clothes, without any guards, and was quite at ease. Liu San came to the team headquarters but found no one there. Du Wen and Dong Weiwei were not there. There was only a Liu Si. When he heard that his name was Liu San, he insisted on calling him big brother. In fact, Liu San was only 26 years old, younger than Liu Si.

When Lu Ruohua heard that he was a doctor, he became very interested. At that time, all missionaries who came to Asia and Africa had mastered one or two skills: some were in astronomy, some in technology, some in medicine, and some in art. They used these special skills to penetrate into the local society.

Medicine was one of the most effective skills, but only in China did the missionaries’ medical skills seem to be unpopular. Lu Ruohua knew that the Chinese had their own medical theories and herbalism, which were completely different from those in Europe. He wanted to take this opportunity to learn more—he was most interested in acupuncture. When Dong Weiwei gave acupuncture to the locals, Lu Ruohua watched for a long time, always wanting to know what theory acupuncture was based on to cure illnesses.

When Liu San heard him ask about acupuncture, he thought this foreigner knew his stuff. In another time and space, the most popular thing about Chinese medicine in the West was also acupuncture. He began to talk about the theory of yin and yang, meridians, and the five elements. In fact, as a modern master of Chinese pharmacology, Liu San was quite skeptical of this traditional, almost shamanistic theory. But acupuncture was purely empirical medicine, and there was still no scientific theoretical basis for it.

Unexpectedly, although Lu Ruohua only half-understood this theory, his face showed a look of fascination. Liu San thought to himself, I don’t even understand this stuff myself, could this foreign monk understand it?

“Acupuncture, is it to pierce a certain part of the human body with a needle to guide ‘pneuma’ directly into these places to generate more ‘vital spirit’?”

Liu San was dumbfounded, not knowing what he was talking about. In fact, what Lu Ruohua was talking about was the standard theory of traditional European medicine, namely Galen’s theory of “pneuma.” He had to ask Lu Ruohua what “pneuma” was.

“The great physician Galen said: The human body has three spirits, which are the elements of life. The one in the liver is the ‘natural spirit,’ which is the center of nutrition and metabolism; the one in the brain is the ‘animal spirit,’ which is the center of sensation and activity; and the one in the heart is the ‘vital spirit,’ which is the center of regulating body heat.” Lu Ruohua was obviously very familiar with these theories and spoke with eloquence. “Pneuma comes from the ‘world pneuma’ in the air through breathing…”

Liu San didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. It turned out that Western medicine also had such shamanistic sayings. He had only known about the four humors theory before and already thought it was very mystical. He didn’t expect there to be this even more mysterious “pneuma theory,” which was comparable to the yin-yang and five elements of Chinese medicine.

He had originally wanted to suggest to the Ministry of Health that they could recruit some European doctors through the church or merchants in Macau to absorb local experience. Now it seemed that this was unnecessary. Lu Ruohua was obviously an intellectual in Europe. If intellectuals all trusted this kind of medical tune, it would be better to stay away from Western medicine in 1629.