Chapter 200: The New Taoism's Gamble

The so-called “special anti-diarrhea medicine” was a packet of opium preparation—not raw opium or prepared opium for smoking, but a powder processed by the Runshitang Chinese Medicine Factory, its efficacy already greatly reduced. Zhang Yingchen knew that this substance was extremely potent and could be used as a poison while treating illness. Moreover, opium had narcotic and hallucinogenic effects—he didn’t want to be mistaken for a “demon Taoist who poisons and enslaves souls” while traveling, which would most likely get him beaten to death on the spot.

But at this moment, he was more worried about the three suspicious beggars who had suddenly appeared outside. Someone was watching him. What was their purpose? To eliminate him as an “obstacle,” or for some other reason?

Zhang Yingchen couldn’t help but feel a little unnerved. Leaving this place now would certainly be safe, but his plan to gather population here would be ruined.

Although he had a pistol, other people were not American savages who would treat firearms as divine artifacts. When the time came, if the masses were incited to swarm him, he wouldn’t even have time to escape. To be honest, Zhang Yingchen didn’t have much faith in the wisdom of the masses of this era. No matter how many people he had cured or saved, once the crowd was stirred up, he would still be unable to escape the accusation of being a demon. Those who had received his kindness might even oppose him more vigorously.

“The masses are a collection of people who are easily incited, easily deceived, and unwilling to take responsibility for their own words and actions.” Because of such remarks, he was constantly criticized by the Spartacus Group’s publication, “Red Flag.” Of course, Patriarch Zhang didn’t care.

From the looks of it, the other party didn’t seem to have any intention of “physical elimination” for the time being. They were just spying on his movements. He was safe for now.

It seemed that the next step was to quickly latch onto the local gentry. As long as he had the support of the local gentry, he would be much safer. Zhang Yingchen was very confident about this—once the epidemic broke out, the gentry would naturally come to seek his medical skills in an endless stream.

In an office at the Yunji Temple, the headquarters of the New Taoism, Daoist Priest Dai, dressed in a neat, military-style Taoist robe, opened a newly delivered telegram. After reading it, an “as expected” expression appeared on his face.

Patriarch Zhang was a man full of fantastic ideas and had a fervent love for complex schemes. Dai E had known this since he began to cooperate with him on this system. Now, he was indeed about to play another huge game of chess.

This game was certainly good, but the pieces they could control were too few. Compared to the well-equipped and wealthy Lingao Catholic Diocese, the New Taoism was like an underdeveloped child, constantly struggling for every bit of resource. Dai E sometimes felt that if he didn’t dislike Christianity, from a career perspective, the Lingao Diocese seemed to have a better future. Just in terms of winning converts, the church in Dongmen City was much more impressive than the Yunji Temple, which was in a state of suspension, with bricks and wood scattered everywhere.

Daoist Priest Dai glanced at the hand-drawn rendering hanging on the wall. It was drawn by an Elder majoring in design. From the rendering, the Yunji Temple was magnificent and grand. Just from its appearance, the temple had little connection with traditional Chinese architecture. Unfortunately, due to financial reasons, the reconstruction of the Yunji Temple had stopped after the first phase.

“I wonder when it will be completed,” Daoist Priest Dai sighed, then filed the secret telegram away and locked it. He coughed and strolled out of the office.

In the courtyard, there were several ancient trees left from the Song Dynasty. Under their dense shade, Chen Sigen was instructing a dozen or so Taoist students in practicing Tai Chi. The old Tongsheng (lowest-level scholars) generally had poor physique. In addition to improving their nutrition, semi-compulsory physical exercise was also an effective means.

Fearing he would disturb the practice, Dai E did not greet him and walked around him. He was going to the Ministry of Health to see Liu San. Patriarch Zhang’s actions on the mainland depended on a sufficient supply of medicine, especially those drugs that gave him the reputation of a “divine doctor,” which almost entirely relied on the supply from the pharmaceutical factory.

“Liu San has been a great help, but unfortunately we have nothing good to repay him with,” Daoist Priest Dai thought as he walked. “We’ll have to wait until after Operation Engine is over.”

Now, all of the New Taoism’s chips were once again bet on Operation Engine. Among the various departments under the Executive Committee, apart from the industrial, agricultural, and civil affairs departments, the New Taoism was the most enthusiastic about this operation.

“It is not advisable to bet all our chips on Sun Yuanhua and that bunch of missionary charlatans.”

This was a phrase that Zhang Yingchen, who had participated in Operation Engine, often said.

Although Dai E felt that this was purely due to Zhang Yingchen’s competitive spirit as a rival of the church, as a deputy, he did not intend to comment on it.

Since Zhang Yingchen had volunteered to go to the mainland to “cultivate a field without weeds,” all the religious affairs in Hainan were managed by Dai E. According to the plan they had previously agreed upon, the activities in Hainan would still be carried out under the name of assisting the Li and Miao Affairs Office, expanding the influence of the New Taoism in the Li areas, and trying to limit the activities of the Jesuits to the northern part of Hainan Island—at the very least, to slow down the expansion of Catholicism.

“This is also for Old Wu’s own good. A diocese controlled by the Three-Self Monastery is ultimately different from one controlled by the Jesuits. Don’t forget, the Jesuits’ nickname ‘the Pope’s personal army’ is no less ‘famous’ than the Dominicans’ ‘hounds of God.’”

Dai E didn’t need to confirm how much sincerity was in Zhang Yingchen’s righteous words. Patriarch Zhang, intentionally or unintentionally, would often “remind” the Elders of the “non-our-kind” “root problem” of the Lingao Diocese, which greatly annoyed Director Wu, who couldn’t express his anger—after all, Zhang Yingchen had not openly attacked the Lingao Diocese in any way.

Of course, it was not enough for the New Taoism to only proselytize in the Li areas. Although Zhang Yingchen had opened up the situation in the Li areas with his own medical skills, the special medicines approved by the Senate, and the cooperation of the Li and Miao Affairs Office, the lack of clergy was still a difficult problem for the New Taoism. The age-appropriate Taoist students brought out from the Li areas had to be transferred to Fangcaodi for training due to language and cultural issues. Zhang Yingchen had gone to the Education Department several times to fight for it but only managed to get half a day of religious classes per week—and he didn’t know if the Elders in the Education Department had instilled too many unnecessary and advanced ideologies into the Taoist students.

To train them himself, he had neither the teachers nor the space. The current material conditions of the Yunji Temple were not yet able to undertake the important task of a school. Thus, before setting off for Hangzhou, Zhang Yingchen had to hold his nose and start with the planchette-writing halls run by the failed Tongsheng in the Qiongzhou area.

Taking advantage of the expansion of the pacification war in the Qiongzhou area, the two of them, under the pretext of “creating a spiritual civilization,” encouraged Liu Xiang and other county office directors to shut down more than a dozen planchette-writing halls in Qiongshan, Chengmai, and other places. The dozen or so old Tongsheng who ran the halls and their families were all thrown into the labor camp in Ma Niao.

They targeted the planchette-writing halls instead of raiding the Taoist temples. There were quite a few Taoist temples in northern and southern Qiong, some with considerable scale and property, which Daoist Priest Zhang had originally had his eye on. But this time he let them all go. This was the result of his discussion with Dai E. Firstly, directly attacking religious places would inevitably leave a bad name, and this kind of naked annexation would not have a very good evaluation in future history books. In contrast, the planchette-writing halls, which were basically superstitious activity places run by down-and-out scholars, could be banned without any pressure. Even the most demanding native Confucian scholars would have to admit that this was a good thing for “rectifying the teachings and purifying the customs”—if these Confucian scholars still wanted to make a living under the rule of the Australians.

The Jesuits stationed at the Ma Niao church showed great interest in the newly arrived Tongsheng “lambs.” The Jesuits’ experience on the mainland showed that the conversion of the intellectual class could easily achieve a diffusion effect in missionary work. Although these lambs who had not yet returned to the Lord’s embrace were only the lowest-ranking Tongsheng, in a barbaric place like Hainan Island by Ming standards, they were also a rare species.

Unfortunately, Dai E, who had anticipated this, did not give his European colleagues a chance to get their hands on them. He followed the escort troops into the prisoner-of-war camp. Although the leaders of the New Taoism had no intention of provoking a direct conflict with the church at their home base, they did not like people meddling in their domain.

“What if they have gone astray? When Xue Daoguang mistakenly followed the barbarian religion, didn’t he return to the great Way after meeting the true master Zhang Ziyang?” Dai E said with a solemn expression, while distributing promotional pamphlets of the New Taoism to the Tongsheng students who had their heads shaved in the prisoner-of-war camp.

Facts proved that the speed at which people convert to religion in desperate situations is always astonishing. The trembling old Tongsheng who had fallen into the Australian prisoner-of-war camp all converted to Dai E’s sect within a week—as evidenced by the dozen or so semi-literate initiation documents in the Religious Affairs Office archives.

Although not long after, Dai E, who held daily free science and literacy classes at the Yunji Temple, and a few idle members of the Feiyun Society, were greatly troubled by the extremely low academic level of these thirty- and forty-year-old old Tongsheng, at least the literate old Tongsheng were better than the Li youths who couldn’t even speak proper Chinese. At least at this stage, the old Tongsheng could be sent out to preach after a few months of high-intensity training.

The only drawback was that their fanatical spirit was really insufficient. Compared to the Li Taoist students, the Tongsheng lacked a willingness to “dedicate” themselves, and in the places where they were going to preach, this spirit was essential. For now, they had to make do.

“As for where to send them specifically, wait for my telegram. Before my telegram arrives, you must seize the time to brainwash them and increase their nutrition,” Zhang Yingchen instructed him in a secret talk with Dai E before his departure. “At this stage, your work focus in Lingao is not to expand missionary work.”

The Senate would not waste resources on religious civilization construction. In the end, “Patriarch” Zhang had to find his own way—which was to contribute to the Senate’s Operation Engine. At the very least, he had to prove that the Taoist Council, in addition to its unquestionable loyalty to the Senate, also had an equally unquestionable value.