The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 278 Science and Religion

Zheng Shishi has asked her Siamese maid to come in and deliver cakes and fruits three times.

Of course, she was not afraid that Mo Zibu liked men. This was not a problem at all in Siam, where transsexuals had already begun to appear.

She was mainly curious about what was so shady about this Taoist priest that was worthy of the king's favor.

The two chatted for more than three hours yesterday, and soon after getting up in the morning, they started talking again.

After Mo Zibu had a further in-depth discussion with Huang Jue, who pretended to be Tao Guiyi, he finally understood what alchemy was.

Before this, Mo Zibu's imagination of alchemy was a group of people tinkering with a big iron furnace, like the ancient Frankenstein who made elixirs like Laozi in TV shows.

Therefore, people completely thought that they were just a group of ancient chemists who just went astray.

But after truly understanding it, I found that this is not the case. Dandao should actually be called a discipline of self-cultivation.

The main purpose is to cultivate the innate positive energy in the body through various seemingly mysterious methods and then condense it into a pill.

To put it crudely, it means practicing qigong, practicing internal skills, and using various methods to nourish qi and practice alchemy in order to reach a certain state.

What Mo Zibu thought was alchemy was actually a very small branch, and was despised by the mainstream alchemy because of its dark history of making elixirs for emperors of all dynasties.

Well, after understanding the situation, Mo Zibu was really stunned for a long time.

He doesn't need this kind of mysterious qigong and philosophy now. What he wants now is someone who is interested in and has enough hands-on ability to study chemistry!

Fortunately, the Sun Tao sect, which founded the immortal path, still retained some of the ability to refine elixirs.

This is because the order of their alchemy practice is to build the foundation first, then obtain the medicine, and then form the elixir, and the fourth step is to refine oneself.

However, according to conventional alchemy practice, foundation building is a relatively late practice method. One must first refine oneself before opening the mysterious gate and building the foundation, and then one can obtain the medicine.

This resulted in very few people in the Sun Tao School being able to achieve great success. Even Qiu Zhaoao, the most outstanding disciple of the Sun Tao School, had never succeeded.

Therefore, in order to solve the difficulty of building a foundation directly, this group of people had to rely on external objects to improve their cultivation.

It is equivalent to a martial arts novel where I first swallow a Dahuan Dan, gain fifty years of skills, and then continue to practice, and naturally everything will be successful.

And this external object that needs help is the alchemy technique that is denounced as heterodox by the Taoist alchemy.

This is also the important basis for Huang Jue to think that Mo Zibu is a disciple of Master An, because Mo Zibu does not show any signs of cultivation, but he knows very advanced alchemy techniques.

Isn’t this exactly the way of cultivation of the Sun Tao School that Master An passed down to the founder Sun Jiaoluan?
Overall, although the conversation between the two was pleasant, it was also filled with many misunderstandings and awkward points.

But both of them understood one thing. Mo Zibu knew that Huang Jue's so-called three hundred alchemists was just an exaggeration.

Because the alchemy of the Sun Tao School is very expensive, it is not feasible for 300 people to practice on such a large scale.

But there are still thirty to fifty families. These thirty to fifty families are all wealthy families. Naturally, it is impossible for them to practice by themselves. They need the assistance of many Taoist children, far more than three hundred people.

Mo Zibu's goal was very clear. Those Taoist children who were knowledgeable, understood alchemy knowledge, and had a good foundation in mathematics because of their ease in reasoning in alchemy were his targets.

At the same time, Huang Jue also believed that Mo Zibu was the person he was looking for.

From today's perspective, these crude alchemy methods that Mo Zibu has released are already miracle cures for the world.

Then this person must have known the method of refining the elixir that leads to the great Dao. However, with his ability, he was unable and dared not to use it after the land sank in Jiashen and the Dao lineage was cut off.

Thinking of this, Huang Jue laughed and said, "It's really late for me to meet the king!
At first, Houguan Lin Yueting said there was a purple aura rising from the south sky and urged me to come and see it. I didn't believe it at first, but fortunately I came and saw it, and I found that the true master was there.

Mo Zibu also found out the reason why Huang Jue went south to Jiading. It turned out that his fifth-generation ancestor Huang Zongxi had an important disciple named Qiu Zhaoao.

Qiu Zhaoao was also very good friends with Tao Susi, the master of the Sun Tao School, and the two often exchanged their experiences in alchemy.

At the same time, Huang Zongxi remained committed to fighting against the Qing Dynasty for twenty years. After his failure, he lived in seclusion in Kuaiji, eastern Zhejiang, and repeatedly refused the Qing court's call.

Although he later couldn't bear it and let his descendants go out to become officials, he still left behind ancestral teachings, asking his descendants not to be keen on officialdom and to serve the Tartars less.

Therefore, among the descendants of the Huang family in eastern Zhejiang, there is a large group of people who are interested in mountains, rivers and Taoism, including Huang Jue and his father.

Especially Huang Jue, who was born to a maid, commonly known as a "maid-raised child", and had a low status in the Huang family. However, he relied on his talent and knowledge to gain the appreciation of his father and clan members.

Unfortunately, Huang's father himself did not want to take up an official position, so he also hoped that Huang Jue would not take up an official position. He had no place to use his talents, so he simply began to practice the Sun Tao School with the descendants of Qiu Zhaoao.

After that, he developed a great interest in alchemy and mathematics, and although he did not achieve fame, he was still a well-known scholar. In particular, his ancestor was Huang Zongxi, which made people think that Huang Jue followed his ancestor's teachings and refused to serve the Qing Dynasty, which further enhanced Huang Jue's reputation.

When Lin Qiaoyin left Mo Zibu, Mo Zibu asked him to find some intellectuals who were willing to come to Nanyang, preferably those who were proficient in mathematics and liked strange and erotic techniques.

Therefore, after returning to Fuzhou, Lin Qiaoyin took his friends to study in Kuaiji, Yuyao, Ningbo and other places in eastern Zhejiang. After getting to know Huang Jue, he immediately thought that this person was the candidate Mo Zibu needed most, so he strongly recommended him to go south.

"I would like to hire you as my Imperial Master, to stay in Jiading permanently and lay the foundation for the Southern Kingdom's Danhua School. I hope you will not refuse me for the sake of Taichong Gong. If you have any requests, please feel free to ask."

At the end of the conversation, Mo Zibu began to offer conditions, although he knew in his heart that Huang Jue was definitely not the chemical talent he was looking for.

Although this person has strong hands-on skills and has certain knowledge of chemistry, he is still a Qi-refining practitioner in the Dao of Alchemy, and is still far from the word science.

But under the current conditions, Mo Zibu himself cannot even produce a talent like Huang Jue.

Although Huang Jue is obsessed with alchemy, he is capable of achieving small-scale mass production of quinine and training dozens of gunpowder formulators for Mo Zibu to improve and increase the speed of gunpowder production. He is already the best choice at present.

"I am deeply grateful for your kindness, Your Majesty. I wish to travel to Southeast Asia just to see the splendor of my homeland.

Today I see the clothes and etiquette of the southern country still there, and when I offer sacrifices to my ancestors every day, I will let Taichong, who is in the netherworld, know about it, which can be considered as fulfilling my filial piety.

Now I have the pleasure of meeting the King again, and since we share the same ideals, I am willing to serve you."

Of course Huang Jue was willing. He was waiting for Mo Zibu to trust him and then reveal the method of refining the golden elixir.

"I have no other request, except that Your Majesty build a temple for the immortals to use in the future when alchemists come south."

"I will immediately order its construction. From now on, all expenses for opening the Immortal Temple will be covered by the imperial treasury. This king will also visit the temple frequently to discuss the art of elixir transformation with the Immortal Master."

Mo Zibu agreed immediately, and Huang Jue was overjoyed. He thought this was Mo Zibu's hint that he could give him what he had always dreamed of.

. . . .

In Hoi An, Luo Zhongan stood north of the Thu Bon River, which had been destroyed by the Northern Zheng army, and began to plan carefully.

The community pavilion that originally served as a symbol of the Mingxiang people is about to be rebuilt. At the same time, a larger palace complex will also be built at the site of the former foreign merchant guild in the north of the city.

Most of the Ming Xiang people who originally left Hoi An for Pattani will return here, and Hoi An will become more prosperous than before.

The reason for doing this is that Mo Zibu always felt uneasy living in Hue.

The hidden strength of the noble families of Jing and Han around Hue is too strong, although less than 20% of the high-ranking officials in the court are from the noble families of Jing and Han.

However, more than 40% of the low-level officials are their people. Although these people are currently very respectful, they are considered to be extremely supportive of Mo Zibu.

But they still won't sit on Mo Zibu's side and can't become Mo Zibu's confidants. Under the long-term erosion, there may be danger.

Therefore, Mo Zibu wanted to move the future political and economic center of northern Annan to Hoi An.

Even if he enters Beihe in the future, Mo Zibu is prepared to rely on a powerful fleet to protect his own safety, and regard the Mingxiang people in Hoi An as his reliable confidants.

In this way, the Red River Plain will be built simply as an industrial base in the future, and all the Bac Ha high gates there will be demolished and relocated, which can also weaken the atmosphere of Hanoi as the center of the kingdom.

You should know that before it was changed to Hanoi by Emperor Minh Mang, it was called Thang Long or Tokyo.

"Report to the King and tell him that the restoration plan for Hoi An has been completed. The biggest difficulty in restoring Hoi An Harbor lies in the Thu Bon River. If dredging is not done, Hoi An Harbor will no longer be usable."

The decline of Hoi An in history is also a symbol of the decline of the Minh Huong people. This is because they were unable to dredge the Thu Bon River, which caused the Thu Bon River to flood Hoi An during the rainy season, turning Hoi An into a real water city where people are submerged in water up to their calves.

But the situation was far from serious at this time, so Luo Zhongan, who was speaking with a smile, stunned the officials from the Ministry of Works who followed him.

They didn't know the scale of the project was so huge. They thought it would require at least 100,000 laborers and cost hundreds of thousands of taels of silver. What was there to laugh at?

"Your Excellency, although the Thu Bon River is blocked, the situation is not serious at the moment. It seems that there is no need for major dredging. The country has just been established, so we should give the people time to rest and recuperate."

Luo Zhongan shook his head. He knew what King Mo Zibu meant. He wanted to carry out a big project and then recruit civilians around Hue to find out the details.

It is possible that while the grace of amnesty and forgiveness of debts is still there, a relatively thorough land measurement and population registration activity should be carried out to uncover the hidden fields and household registrations of these wealthy families.

If nothing unexpected happens, the king will not stay in Hue for a long time. Without some tidying up, no one can live there peacefully.

(End of this chapter)