Chapter 330: Various Factions (Part 3)

“The rigid demand for land in Lingao will be very high in the future,” Wu Shimang patiently advised the priest. “Land will be very scarce.”

“Land scarcity?” Lu Ruohua shook his head. “Dean Wu, there is a lot of wasteland here in Lingao.”

“It will be scarce in the future. Don’t you want to leave more property for the church?”

Under Wu Shimang’s persistent persuasion, Lu Ruohua bought another piece of land next to the Bairen Convent.

“This foreigner just doesn’t understand the power of a commodity economy,” Wu Shimang thought, recalling the effort it took to persuade him. The land prices in Lingao would surely rise very high in the future. Whether it was sold or used to build houses, it would bring great benefits to the church. Wu Shimang was not at all enthusiastic about religious matters, but he was very dedicated to his work—since he had chosen religion as his profession in this time and space, the church’s property had to be well managed to reflect his value.

Wu Shimang returned to the convent. The nun sweeping the floor at the entrance hurried over to kiss his hand. Watching the old woman with dark, wrinkled skin kiss his ring, Dean Wu couldn’t help but fantasize about how nice it would be if she were a beautiful young nun. Unfortunately, the reality was that the dozen or so nuns in the convent were all of the grandmotherly generation.

“Father Bai has returned and is waiting for you in the office,” the nun reported respectfully.

“Oh, he’s back too.” Wu Shimang nodded. Bai Duolu had been following Lu Ruohua in Nanbao for the past few months, preaching to the Li people who came to trade. It was said that his results were not bad.

Wu Shimang walked through the main gate. The Bairen Convent was not large and had no imposing buildings. It was just a courtyard with a mix of Chinese and Western styles, with three sections. The first section was the convent’s office space. Due to the simple conditions, the convent did not have its own prayer room and shared one with the Bairen Church. The two sections behind were dormitories, classrooms, and workshops, housing the nuns and the “bandits’ families” who were forcibly taken in—most of these families were of ordinary small bandits, considered not very harmful. After a period of religious brainwashing and passing an assessment by the Political Security General Bureau, they could be arranged for a normal life. Those who failed were sent to labor camps.

He walked into his office. Bai Duolu was already waiting inside. Bai Duolu’s originally fair face had become dark, obviously from his travels in Nanbao. He looked very dejected—he had heard about the Maid Revolution in Nanbao. Unfortunately, with his status as a priest, it was not convenient for him to openly make a fuss about women, but he secretly yearned for it.

He wondered if he would get a share when the maids were distributed. Xiao Zishan wouldn’t really ignore him as a monk, would he? Bai Duolu thought about how to subtly remind the Director of the General Office not to forget about that benefit.

Fortunately, he had resolutely resisted Chief Wen’s request back then and only served the church in a secular capacity. Otherwise, the happiness of the second half of his life would have been completely ruined. Although his faith was not very firm, he could not yet adopt Wu Shimang’s attitude of completely using religion as a tool.

Watching this fake dean of the convent walk into the office with a radiant face, looking surprisingly well, Bai Duolu knew he must be doing very well in Bairen City. Every time he came back for a debriefing, the church and the convent had either expanded in scale or their facilities had been upgraded. It seemed that this former training manager was very capable—the church was gradually growing in his hands.

“Xiao Bai, how are you? You look good. The missionary work must be going well.” Wu Shimang sat down with a plop.

“You can call me Bai Duolu,” Bai Duolu said with some pain. “Also, you should say ‘spreading the gospel,’ not use a neutral term like ‘missionary work’.”

At Bai Duolu’s insistence, Wu Shimang had been secretly baptized—Bai Duolu was psychologically unable to accept someone who had not been baptized managing the church. After the baptism, Bai Duolu had also given him some lessons on religious common sense and recommended a few simple introductory books on doctrine for him to read, to prevent him from making a fool of himself when presiding over church work. It seemed that this gentleman had not made much progress in this area.

“Alright, the believers, um, no, the flock has increased a lot, right?”

“The effect is very significant,” Bai Duolu said simply. “Let’s not talk about this. Why did you rush me back before the general assembly? What’s the matter?”

“I was just thinking of my own people and wanted you to have a good rest. The conditions in Nanbao are not as good as here. Besides, it must be boring to be with that priest,” Wu Shimang said, picking up a thermos and pouring him a cup of tea. “Also, we need to discuss the future direction of our church.”

Bai Duolu thought that this man was really getting into his role as dean, seriously considering the future of the church. Bai Duolu knew that Chief Wen and the other bigwigs in the Executive Committee had no religious concepts and were naked pragmatists. In their hands, the church would inevitably be just a tool. Wu Shimang’s so-called “future direction of the church” was nothing more than discussing how to make the church a better tool for the Transmigration Group, so that he could also reap greater benefits from it.

Bai Duolu himself had no interest in a religious career. His profession was printing, and he knew a little about surveying and field exploration. He was currently also working part-time in the long-range survey team, doing some surveying while he was out preaching. Sometimes he also did social surveys for the Social Work Office. No matter what he did, he felt it was more interesting than following that priest around as an assistant preacher.

“How we develop still depends on the Executive Committee,” Bai Duolu said indifferently. “Isn’t this church itself established according to the will of the Executive Committee?”

“Xiao Bai,” Wu Shimang began, but seeing Bai Duolu’s unhappy expression, he quickly corrected himself. “Old Bai, your thinking is too outdated. The leaders have so many things to do, how can they be comprehensive and think of everything for us? In this kind of thing, we must take the initiative. After all, they are not in touch with the practical work and don’t understand the situation at the grassroots level as we do.” As he spoke, he stood up and paced around the office. “At this second general assembly, our church should come up with a comprehensive and proper development plan for the new leadership to review.”

“It’s possible, but what new tricks can we pull with religious activities?” Bai Duolu thought. It was nothing more than education and charity, which were the most commonly used methods. When Lu Ruohua went to Nanbao to preach, although he couldn’t do education, he also started with simple acts of charity.

“It’s not about playing tricks,” Wu Shimang shook his head. “Our church should strive to take on the important task of ideological work for the people. The brainwashing work for the natives is not enough, and there is no special organization doing it. It’s a blank spot.” This conclusion of his was of course well-founded. It would be a great mistake to think that Dean Wu had only been engaged in basic construction and occasionally fantasizing about nun sisters over the past year. He was not interested in studying doctrine, but in his spare time, he had read many books and papers on church history, gained a lot of insights, and often exchanged ideas with the believers, taking many notes on their ideological trends.

Wu Shimang believed that the spiritual life of the natives in Lingao was extremely empty, and they didn’t even have much of the religious life common in traditional societies. Due to economic constraints, although there were several temples in the county, most of them were in a semi-dead state. Few temples had resident monks or Taoist priests. Various folk superstitions were very popular, and part-time witches and wizards were common.

“The propaganda work for the natives is still not enough. Apart from a few general slogans, there is great attention to the natives within the system, but the attention to the natives outside the system is seriously insufficient. There is no systematic brainwashing work being done. We can’t see the problem now, but the problem in the future will be huge!” Wu Shimang said very seriously and earnestly.

“The church should seize this opportunity, take advantage of the vacancy in the local people’s beliefs and the prevalence of superstitions, and promptly advance into all aspects of their social life—not just do some small charitable activities and be done with it.”

Bai Duolu was greatly surprised. He had not expected this personnel recruitment and training manager to be so ambitious. It seemed he was positioning the church at the level of a “state church.” With Wu Shimang’s words, Bai Duolu also felt that the Transmigration Group was too lacking in the superstructure and too focused on climbing the technology tree and developing productivity.

“What do you want to do?” Bai Duolu couldn’t help but be attracted by his grand plan.

“I’m only telling you because you’re one of our own,” Wu Shimang said. “I want to start with weddings and funerals.”

Bai Duolu was puzzled for a few minutes before it dawned on him.

“That’s not very likely. The power of customs is very strong!” Bai Duolu knew that customs and habits were very stubborn and would hardly change without a major change in the social environment.

“Customs and habits will change, provided there is a powerful force to impact this society,” Wu Shimang said with confidence. “Now the Transmigration Group is impacting this traditional society. This is an excellent opportunity to change social life and customs!”

By starting with the customs of daily life, the people would gradually become accustomed to the existence of the church. So-called faith, among the masses, often manifested as superstition. According to the main theory of Malinowski’s “social functionalism,” superstition and religion are a way for society to release its own pressure and stabilize the social structure. If the pressure does not disappear, superstition cannot be eliminated, and new superstitions will only emerge one after another, unless society itself is eliminated.

The future empire would certainly not be a paradise on earth. Since social pressure would exist, providing the people with a so-called “spiritual opium” and guaranteeing their afterlife would be an effective way.

“Instead of letting superstitions, including those highly dangerous cults, occupy them, we should provide them with a faith,” Wu Shimang had obviously thought this through carefully. “We should extend the influence of the church to every level of society to ensure that the future empire maintains a high degree of unity in the ideological field of the people!”