Usurpation of Mongolia: My father-in-law is Genghis Khan

Chapter 342 Rebellion Against the Heavenly Gang: The Great Yuan Dynasty ushered in the Age of Exploration, but Europe closed itself off from the world!
Three months later, in Rome, at the Basilica of St. John.

The church's deep space was filled with the glow of countless beeswax candles. The faint scent of honey mingled with the cool aroma of the church's stone and the smoke from the incense, creating a fragrance that could only be smelled in the most sublime moments—a scent belonging to heaven and power.

Pope Innocent IV stood ramrod straight, his pure white robes and golden triple crown exuding absolute authority. Before him, a middle-aged man in his thirties knelt on one knee, awaiting the recognition of divine authority.

King Innocent IV slowly raised his hand, and a cardinal dressed in scarlet vestments bowed and presented a dark blue velvet cushion upon which rested an intricately designed crown made of pure gold.

On the front of the crown is a large cross, surrounded by coats of arms symbolizing the two kingdoms.

Innocent proclaimed: "In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, by the authority granted by the Triune God..."

As he spoke, he picked up the heavy crown and placed it on the middle-aged man's head.

"I, Pope Innocent, servant of all the servants of God, here in this sacred place, bestow upon you, Alfonso, the crown of the Kingdom of Castile and the Kingdom of León!"

This was Innocent IV, who crowned Alfonso X, the only king of Castile and León.

The Kingdom of Castile and the Kingdom of León were unified under Ferdinand III the Saint, the father of Alfonso X.

This country can be roughly understood as most of what later became Spain.

Innocent IV was in a very good mood to be crowned in the Roman cathedral for such an important country in Europe.

In fact, Innocent IV had been in a rather good mood since the Mongols withdrew from Europe six years earlier.

Although Europe ceded territory and paid reparations, and even failed to ransom its prisoners, it finally reached a peace agreement with the Mongols.

But didn't Chagatai die? Didn't Guyuk die?

Upon learning this news, Innocent IV immediately activated the Papacy's propaganda machine, declaring that although Europe had suffered a minor setback in the decisive battle against the Great Mongol Empire, it had killed the Great Khan of the Mongols, Chagatai Khan. Overall, it was a great victory!

Europe was jubilant, and Innocent IV's authority rose rather than fell.

Innocent seized the opportunity to demand that the new King of England and the King of France come to Rome for their coronations.

Originally in Europe, although the Roman Catholic Church held great authority, and kings did indeed need to be crowned by the Roman Catholic Church upon their ascension to the throne.

However, only the Holy Roman Emperor and in certain special circumstances would a king travel the long distance to Rome to be crowned by the Pope. Normally, coronations would take place in the cathedral of one's own country by a bishop of the Roman Catholic Church, without the king traveling to Rome.

The Holy Roman Emperor had no choice; the title itself included "Rome," so how could he not be crowned in Rome?
Innocent IV's prestige increased after he facilitated the coronation of the Kings of England and France in Rome.

Three years ago, the death of Frederick II, Innocent IV's greatest rival in Europe and Rome, relieved Innocent IV of a great worry.

Just as good news arrived from the east, news came that there was internal strife in Mongolia, with bloodshed and carnage on the steppes. Innocent IV was even more delighted.

Although a year ago, news came again that the Mongols had finally ended their fighting, Zhao Shuo had become the Heavenly Khan, and the Mongols had been reunified.

However, in Innocent IV's view, Zhao Shuo was not a descendant of Genghis Khan, and Zhao Shuo's ascension to the throne was merely a temporary cover-up of the internal conflicts in Mongolia. The Great Mongol Empire was no longer capable of launching expeditions to Europe.

This year, Innocent IV achieved another major success.

Because he sent crusaders to help the Kingdom of Castile and León expel the remnants of the Church of Atheism that had taken hold on the Iberian Peninsula, the new king, Alfonso X, also agreed to be crowned in Rome!

The Kingdom of Castile had a tradition where royal power outweighed papal power, and it had been fighting against the remnants of the true god religion on the Iberian Peninsula, showing little respect for the Pope.

Without a doubt, Innocent IV’s power has now reached the pinnacle of any pope since the founding of the Roman Catholic Church!

How could he be in a bad mood?
Innocent IV was all smiles the next day, while having breakfast with the newly crowned King Alfonso X of Castile and León. He even told Alfonso X a few jokes that others wouldn't find funny.

Alfonso X had no choice but to force a smile even if he didn't find it funny. Innocent IV felt that he was not only approachable but also quite humorous, which made him feel even more relaxed.

However, at this moment—

Deng Deng Deng~~
With a series of hurried footsteps, a cardinal dressed in a scarlet robe rushed into the room.

"Great Christ's Agent, Eastern Urgent!"

"Hmm? What trouble has happened in the East again? Could it be that another fight has broken out?"

The smooth sailing of the past six years had lowered Innocent IV's guard, and he failed to notice the fear in the cardinal's eyes, accepting the urgent report with a smile.

However, after he glanced at the urgent report, his expression instantly darkened. Then, his brows furrowed, and the muscles in his face twitched involuntarily.

"Outrageous! Absolutely outrageous!"

Snapped!
King Innocent IV slammed the urgent report on the table, his eyes blazing with fury, veins bulging on his forehead, and roared, "Zhao Shuo is more venomous than the serpent in the Garden of Eden, more filthy and vile than the rat in the gutter! He is not some scourge of God, he is a follower of Satan, he is an apostle of the devil!"

"He will surely be punished by God, he will go to hell! His wife, his children, his descendants will suffer in the fires of hell, never to be freed! Never!"

There was no way around it; this urgent report from the East was simply too terrifying.

Western spies primarily reported three pieces of information about Pope Innocent IV.

The first piece of news is now confirmed: Zhao Shuo has granted the grassland people five years to recuperate. During these five years, Zhao Shuo will use funds from the national treasury to subsidize the Mongol noyans, and the Mongol noyans are not allowed to levy any taxes on the grassland warriors.

The second piece of news is that Kublai Khan, with the support of Zhao Shuo, went to the New World discovered by the people of the East to expand his territory.

The third piece of news was that Zhao Shuo claimed that upon ascending the throne as the Emperor of China, he received divine revelation and a heavenly book passed down from the Supreme God of Heaven. He then publicly revealed parts of the heavenly book's contents. This urgent report even included a translated version of the "heavenly book" from the compulsory education textbooks.

How could Innocent IV not be furious after reading these three messages?

Why did Zhao Shuo give the grassland warriors five years to recuperate? It seems that after five years, Zhao Shuo will once again raise a large army and attack Europe.

No, I'm afraid it won't be five years. Europe is too far from China, and news travels too slowly.

Roughly speaking, at the earliest four years from now, Europe will face Zhao Shuo, a terrifying enemy! An emperor of all mankind who is far more terrifying than Guyuk! What military achievements does Guyuk have to speak of?

By now, Innocent IV had a very good understanding of the situation in Mongolia, and Zhao Shuo was the most terrifying force in the Great Mongol Empire!

Although Zhao Shuo is old and may not necessarily lead the army in person, this situation must be taken into account!

Although European artisans had now successfully developed gunpowder thanks to the availability of physical samples, and although Europe was blessed with numerous stone fortresses—the Holy Roman Empire alone boasting over ten thousand—Innocent IV was still genuinely feeling a chill run down his spine.

Furthermore, why did Zhao Shuo allow Kublai Khan to launch an expedition to the New World? Didn't he want the Mongols to recuperate and rebuild their lives? Perhaps Zhao Shuo felt that they had the resources to conquer Europe, and that having more or less of Kublai Khan's army wouldn't make a difference.

What angered and terrified Innocent the most was the heavenly book issued by Zhao Shuo!
Innocent IV had little reason to be angry that the Earth was a sphere. That was the prevailing view among Europeans of his time.

However, they believed that the Earth was the center of God's creation, with hell at its core and heaven at its outermost layer, and that all the stars in the sky revolved around the Earth in accordance with the perfect laws designed by God.

However, Zhao Shuo's book on the heavens directly states that Earth is just one of the ordinary planets of the sun, revolving around it.

This perfectly explains the phenomenon of Mercury retrograde!
Innocent IV's papacy was elected, not inherited, and he was a man of profound learning. After a moment's thought, he realized this was far superior to the complex theories of "epicycles" and "deferents" promoted by the Papacy, and was very likely true!

That's fine, but a victory in astronomical theory isn't exactly a decisive victory.

The key point is that Zhao Shuo also has concrete evidence!

In his book, Zhao Shuo casually mentioned that just as Earth has a moon, Jupiter also has four moons orbiting it, which humans will be able to see as long as telescopes continue to develop.

Doesn't the church say that all the stars revolve around the Earth? So how do you explain Jupiter's moons?

This alone is enough to refute the Church's geocentric theory!
This is digging up the roots of Roman Catholicism!

It turns out that Zhao Shuo only reformed the Roman Catholic Church within his territory; there were still a large number of Roman Catholic believers within the Zhao Shuo Khanate.

Even if Zhao Shuo conquers Europe one day, the Roman Catholic Church will still be able to survive.

But what do we do now?
Once Zhao Shuo conquers Europe and allows people to gaze at the stars through telescopes, how can the Roman Catholic Church survive? It will likely be completely wiped off this land! People will only think that Zhao Shuo is the agent of the will of Heaven!
What if we can't see Jupiter's four moons?
If Zhao Shuo wasn't confident, would he really announce it to the world and wait to be proven wrong later? Even if you beat Innocent IV to death, he wouldn't believe it!
At that moment, Innocent felt like the sky was about to fall!
“Great Agent of Christ, why are you angry? It is all a test from God. God is all-knowing and all-powerful. Everything is His arrangement. We can only humbly obey,” Alfonso X advised cautiously.

"That's true... sigh!"

Innocent IV forced himself to calm down from his anger, sighed, waved his hand, and ordered the servants and the cardinal to leave.

Only he and Alfonso X remained in the room.

"Alfonso, take a look for yourself."

Innocent IV was in a terrible predicament and wanted to ask Alfonso X for his opinion.

Alfonso X is thirty-three years old this year. He is a learned and talented man whose poems are widely circulated in Europe, where he is known as a wise man.

After reading it, Alfonso pondered for a long time before carefully choosing his words: "According to our intelligence, Zhao Shuo has been encouraging seafaring and the discovery of new lands. Kublai Khan is only taking a small number of Mongol soldiers to the New World to expand his territory, which seems to be nothing to worry about."

“Zhao Shuo is already quite old. Can he withstand a long journey? I think that even if the Mongol Empire were to conquer Europe again, they would send the Crown Prince or the Grandson to lead the army. Even if Zhao Shuo were to lead the army himself, he might still be old and senile, and the situation might not be as serious as you think.”

King Innocent IV gritted his teeth slightly and said, "What do you think about the Heavenly Book? Does God have something he doesn't tell me, but tells Zhao Shuo, who slaughtered countless of His devout followers?"

Alfonso X said, "I firmly believe that Zhao Shuo did not receive divine revelation, but was tempted by the devil. Even if there is any divine revelation, it is only the devil's teachings."

"I even suspect that Zhao Shuo's telescope has already discovered four of Jupiter's moons. He keeps it a secret, using prophecy to enhance his divine status and make his throne more secure."

Upon hearing this, King Innocent IV relaxed slightly and said, "Then what do you think we should do?"

Alfonso X said, "Regarding the matter of the celestial book, we can proactively change the doctrine before the news spreads. After all, geocentrism is just the Church's view, and there is no explicit statement in the scriptures. We can simply shift the blame to the previous Pope."

"Furthermore, I think that although we have God's blessing and are very likely to defeat Zhao Shuo's future attacks, we must also consider the worst-case scenario."

“If Zhao Shuo can encourage seafaring and discover new continents, why can’t we? Since Zhao Shuo can discover new lands, our large ships have been sailing westward, and we should be able to discover new continents as well. At that time, even if Europe is lost, we can retreat to the new continent, slowly recover our strength, and try to rise again.”

"Yes! That's it! Maybe this is God's plan for us! This is the last chance God has left for us sinners!"

Alfonso X became increasingly convinced of the validity of his words, his eyes gleaming with excitement.

However, after listening, Innocent IV frowned and remained silent.

After a long silence, he shook his head slightly and said, "This is not appropriate. The geocentric model has long been popular in Europe. Now, with only a few years left in the war with the Mongols, rashly changing the doctrine and causing unrest among the people would probably be more harmful than beneficial."

"The idea of ​​discovering a new continent is even more inappropriate. Europe's most crucial task right now is to concentrate all its resources on dealing with Zhao Shuo's potential future invasion. If it were to divert some of its resources to discover a new continent, or even to migrate there, wouldn't Europe's defeat be inevitable?"

Alfonso X said, "So you mean..."

King Innocent IV said, “From today onwards, we shall prepare with all our might for Zhao Shuo’s renewed invasion. I will issue two decrees. The first decree is to impose a complete ban on the seas in order to prevent African pirates from plundering my European people again. Furthermore, only three cities shall be established on land for foreign trade.”

"The second decree is to follow Zhao Shuo's example and establish a religious inquisition. Anyone who spreads the contents of Zhao Shuo's so-called heavenly book will be considered apostate and, once confirmed, will be immediately burned at the stake!"

Alfonso X said anxiously, "This matter is of great importance. Shouldn't you reconsider?"

King Innocent IV stood up, flicked his sleeve, and said, "Alfonso, you don't need to persuade me anymore. My mind is made up!"

Finished!

Alfonso X's heart is now completely ice-cold.

He certainly understood that the Pope's seclusion of the continent was to prevent the spread of Zhao Shuo's Heavenly Book, but at the same time, it also cut off Europe's communication with the outside world on a large scale!
By rejecting the Age of Exploration, Europe has indeed concentrated all its resources, but it has also lost its last chance to turn the tide!

Europe is doomed!
(End of this chapter)