Ming Dynasty, New Rome, and Infinite Divine Machine

"You mean the mirage?"

"Yes. Or, I should add some qualifications - on such a scale, there seems to be only one. I think it must be the mischief of the previously defected Mirage Princess that caused such a big incident. After I capture her, I will definitely discipline her strictly. Please rest assured, Lord Tian."

Chapter 1213 Not His Ghost

In the distance, the battle in Chiba was still going on—anti-aircraft guns and searchlights were all firing densely into the sky. The dragon in the clouds was still throwing lightning to the ground.

This scene looked quite familiar. After all, Chiba was also near Edo, and it was also like this when it was burned by incendiary bombs.

But for some reason, Qianye's defense seemed extremely solid. Even after being surrounded by the Dragon Army for a day and a night, there was no sign of being breached.

"But it will be solved soon." Shang Luo held the knife in one hand and walked into the temple in front of him, "We'll talk about it later. If the chaos here is due to the poor circulation of the earth veins, then I should be able to solve the problem by putting this sword back."

The place in front of us is Torigoe Shrine. Although it is in ruins, you can still see that it used to be - it seems not very lively. This is one of the family temples and ancestral temples of the Tokugawa family, dedicated to.

"Hmm???" Shang Luo walked into the first hall, looked up at the throne of the Lord of God in the hall, and slapped his thigh fiercely:

"How could I have forgotten this!"

"What's wrong?" Phaethon, who was following behind, hurried in. "Can't the facilities here hold ceremonies? Let me see. They are complete. Look, the altar is there, and the shrine is also there. Look, this shrine is... Wait, is it Yamato Takenoko? And Tokugawa Ieyasu is next to him? Wait, you can't worship this, right?"

"Of course! I thought this was a Bodhisattva, so I would just bow to the Bodhisattva. But I forgot that here in Japan, gods and Buddhas are combined! They like to mix Buddhism and local gods together for worship - how could I possibly worship a Japanese god! Isn't this going against the will of heaven?"

"How can there be such a person!" Phaethon was furious. "Does this make sense?! What on earth are they worshipping? They say they are worshipping Bodhisattva, but why is the deity here their own land god? What the hell is going on!"

“Isn’t your Pantheon like this too?”

"That's different. Our system makes sense - Rome defines itself as Troy, and we believe that Troy and Greece belong to the same pantheon, just with different expressions. But what is this place? Are Buddhist gods the same as their local gods? Only they can perform rituals in a place like this, so wouldn't it be a mess if we came in to worship them?!"

"I've been tricked." Shangluo patted his forehead. "I'll look at the map. When I take over this place, I will make them separate all of these. Let the Buddha be the Buddha, and let these local gods and gods go back home to worship. Mixing them together is really like stuffing green peppers with meat."

"what to do."

"Wait, I need to confirm if there is an orthodox Buddhist temple here."

it is necessary.

Offering sacrifices to ghosts other than their own is against Zhou rituals. Shangluo was holding the Emperor's Sword at this time, so he could not offer sacrifices to these local ghosts and gods no matter what. Buddha could be an exception.

“Why is Buddha an exception?” Apollonia asked.

"Because they converted the barbarians to Buddhism," Shangluo replied. "The theoretical basis of the integration of the three religions is here. Buddha also needs a reason to be worshipped, so you can see that the royal family also supported the pagoda of the Da Baoen Temple - and Buddha is not a god in principle, but an enlightened being. Under the condition of self-centeredness, the court can accommodate Buddhism in principle. So it is not a violation of Zhou Li for me to use Buddhist temples to start the war ceremony - from the perspective of Zhou Li, it is not considered worshiping gods."

This is also why in Journey to the West, everyone can accept the Buddha Tathagata coming to the scene. Because he is the Buddha of the West, sitting under the Jade Emperor, and is a guest and subordinate of the Heavenly Palace. This kind of relationship is acceptable.

But Shangluo would never worship the local land god. He didn't cut down mountains or destroy temples because he was in a hurry.

"Let me take a look, wait a minute." Shangluo walked out the door looking at the map and went to the second hall at the back.

Inside the hall, there is a statue of a deity. The deity is barefoot and has a tortoise and snake as its teaching material. On the left and right are boys holding swords. The deity is wearing a golden armor and looks like a Vajra.

"Eh???" Phaethon was stunned for a moment, "Isn't this the Great Emperor Zhenwu?"

"This is the Bodhisattva Wonderful Vision."

"Miaojian Bodhisattva is the Great Emperor Zhenwu?"

"The three religions merge into one." Shangluo replied, "The shape of Miaojian Bodhisattva is indeed very similar to that of Zhenwu Emperor - maybe this statue was built by someone invited from China, and it was built based on Zhenwu Emperor. Because Miaojian Bodhisattva is the God of the North Star, Zhenwu Emperor is also the God of the North Star, so they were built to be the same."

"Will this work?"

"That's definitely not possible! The statue of Zhenwu Emperor is not placed in the main hall? This is too presumptuous!" He turned around and called to the imperial censors, "Everyone, do you think this complies with Zhou Li? They actually let Zhenwu Emperor show the back door to his ancestor Tokugawa Ieyasu."

"Of course not! That's too presumptuous!" Everyone shook their heads, "This is enough to cut down the mountains and destroy the temples."

"Tsk." Shang Luo shook his head. "Anyway, I'll have someone move this statue of the Great Emperor Zhenwu away first."

"So, what do we do now?" Phaethon asked, "If we can't perform the ritual here, where do we go?"

"Wait a minute. It's not hard to find a place that complies with Zhou Li. There are also proper Buddhist temples here." Shang Luo's eyes wandered over the map. Based on the closest keywords, his eyes quickly locked onto a place -

Chiba.

[Ah! Shangluo, I found it! Inside Chiba City, there is a 'Hokutosan Myoken Palace', a proper esoteric Buddhist temple. What is enshrined there is...]

"God of the North Star?"

[Yes. But that temple is in Chiba City. ]

"Ah!" Phaethon understood. "I finally understand! So this formation is completed in this way!"

"How to say?"

"This is a huge national alchemy formation. The seven earth god temples here form the formation, which echoes with the North Dipper God in the sky, enhancing the power of the North Dipper. Then he established a sympathetic connection with the seven temples here by worshipping the real North Dipper Temple. This is wireless power transmission!"

"Can that be explained?"

"From the perspective of alchemy, that's how it can be explained. The power of the earth veins is too complex to be used directly - because 'offering sacrifices to ghosts that are not theirs' is not in accordance with Zhou Li, just like you can't use the facilities here now. So Xu Fu used the 'National Array' to refine the complex divine power here into the 'Power of the North Star'."

"So this is what the power of chaos means. That really can't be used. It's not politically correct."

"So, Xu Fu was able to guide the various household gods, ancestral gods, earth gods, and ghost gods here to the true divinity of the God of the North Star through layers of masks, and then receive them through the temple of the God of the North Star. This completed the purification and utilization of the earth veins. If Xu Fu is an alchemist, he is simply a genius! Such a large-scale practice is a miracle that even the Palace of Muses would be amazed by! The great magic of the Pantheon and the Universal Church is no more than this."

Chapter 1214 Beichen Faith

"So that's how it is! That's easy to handle." After sorting out the sympathetic chain of the formation, what Xu Fu did became easy to understand.

From a Roman perspective, Xu Fuli used the stars as a carrier to construct a sympathetic array, thereby completing the extraction, refining and utilization of the earth veins at a macro level.

"The stars are really convenient." Shangluo looked up at the sky. The key to this magic lies in the stars, because he encountered such a thing a few minutes ago -

He had no reason to defeat the gods and ghosts of other countries. After all, it had nothing to do with him. Confucius said that "offering sacrifices to ghosts that are not yours" is an impolite act. Because ghosts and gods have strong national attributes, their meaning is "orthodoxy". People outside the nation cannot benefit from defeating ghosts and gods, because orthodoxy between different nations is not shared, unless it is for "flattery".

But in other words, if they worship the same set of ghosts and gods, or the same set of ancestral gods, then to some extent they can be regarded as the same ethnic group.

What can be offered as sacrifices and what cannot be offered as sacrifices, what kind of rituals and etiquette to use when offering sacrifices, these are indeed the main areas of study for Confucianism.

Confucian means gentle and moist. Zheng Xuan, a Confucian scholar in the Eastern Han Dynasty, believed that this was the meaning of the word "Confucian". The profession of Confucianism has been related to sacrifice since its birth. So for a court composed of Confucian scholars, the Great Rites Debate during the Jiajing period was a natural duty, because the Great Rites Debate was about whether to enshrine the biological father of Emperor Jiajing as the emperor.

【I read in history books that the core focus of the Great Ceremony Debate was that the number of people that could be enshrined in the Imperial Ancestral Temple was limited. If *silent*'s father was enshrined in, then Emperor Yongle would have to be moved out according to the chronological order. But if it was really moved, the lineage of the Prince of Yan would become a rootless duckweed, so Emperor Yongle's Taizong was changed to Chengzu, and the unfortunate Emperor Renzong was moved out. It wasn't his turn in the first place.】

"So etiquette is ultimately for the living. After all, the dead cannot speak. How to deal with this issue is related to whether the emotions and interests of the living can be properly settled. Xu Fu faced such a direct problem here - so although he talked about Confucianism, he still knew a lot about Confucian business."

Xu Fu's plan was very simple, but also very effective. He understood that ghosts and gods were the most direct source of belief, because people wanted to know where they came from, and it was natural to worship their ancestors. But Xu Fu was of a different generation from these Japanese, and like Shangluo, he could not gain power by defeating the Japanese ghosts and gods.

But instead, he directed these powers to the sky - although ghosts and gods are different, everyone lives under the same starry sky. As long as ghosts and gods are regarded as incarnations or subordinates of star gods in some way, the mixed wishes from the local area can be used to strengthen the stars that everyone can see.

"This is the role of the Pantheon." Phaethon said in a deep voice, "and this is why it is said that Xu Fu is creating a miracle - Shangluo, do you know that this is also one of the sources of Rome's power to some extent."

"Really? Which part?"

"Rule. This is an important source of power for Rome to rule half of the world - that is, Orthodoxy. You know, under the mysterious feudal system of Rome, people's wishes are extremely important, because what people think and yearn for will leave a projection in the spiritual world. If they are not unified, then the kingdom of elves will overlap with the kingdom of humans like the Celts in the British Isles. Therefore, Rome washed away the beliefs of the barbarians through the 'Orthodox' church and unified them under the five patriarchs."

"So how did you make use of this?"

"Well, theoretically, I can't say. This force is very strong, but also very fragile, just like the golden branch you saw earlier. A towering building is built on a shaky foundation—you want to know?"

Shangluo nodded.

"Wait, even though the confidentiality level has been reached, we still need to seek Victoria's opinion."

"Go ahead," Victoria replied, "I think this will be helpful to Shangluo's current operations. So, go ahead and say it."

"Then I'll tell you -" Phaethon took a deep breath, and the secret was about to be revealed to Shangluo through the power of words:

"The most central and crucial part of this entire layout is the Pantheon."

"Pantheon? You mean the system?"

"No, I mean the actual building called the Pantheon, the Pantheon in Rome, the one with the dome. This plan has two steps: the first step is that in 325 AD, the Council of Nicaea convened by Emperor Constantine I chose to use the Orthodox liturgy to reorganize Rome's own universal church. Here, it is not to honor the religion of Jesus of Nazareth as the state religion, but to use his liturgy to reorganize Rome's faith. This means that the reorganized universal church is still under the emperor.

"In the second step of the plan, in 609 AD, Emperor Phocas gave the old Pantheon to the Universal Church as the Great Temple, integrating it with the Empire. Do you know why it was the Pantheon? Not only because it is the old Pantheon - you may have noticed that there is a hole in the dome of the Pantheon."

"Ah, I know, it's leaking over there when it rains, right?"

[It can’t be said that it leaks. It was designed to be semi-open. There is a different view when it rains. But the key point is the hole. ]

"Yes." Phaethon nodded. "That hole is in the zenith - you can directly observe the center of the sky, which is the celestial pole. The so-called celestial pole is the image formed by the stars revolving around the Big Dipper. The celestial pole does not move, and the stars revolve around it, with the four assistants following it, and the four seasons flow. Therefore, the symbol representing the celestial pole is the cross. The celestial pole is the North Star, and the cross is the two yin and yang giving birth to the four images. Therefore, the god of the celestial pole is the Zhenwu Emperor. Emperor Chengzu is the incarnation of the Zhenwu Emperor, so he is the incarnation of God."

"???" Shangluo blinked violently, "So we both worship the same thing?"

"It can be." Phaethon emphasized, "This is the most critical point - within the range of can be, can not be, how to make the accidental become inevitable, this is the role of the array. The civilizations in the northern hemisphere all observe the same starry sky, so we can use the Pantheon in a different skin to govern the Orthodox system, and use one celestial pole to replace another celestial pole, because the celestial pole is equal to the celestial pole. This is one of the most massive Roman hoaxes. We deceived all the technological barbarians. They thought they were worshiping God, but in fact they were worshiping the city of Rome through the celestial pole symbol."

Chapter 1215 The Secret of Rome

[And Xu Fu did exactly the same thing here.] Apollonia said solemnly, [Although the scale is small, the process is exactly the same as everything Rome has worked so hard to do.]

"So that's how it is." Shang Luo rubbed his temple. "So this is the importance of Rome in the Roman Empire? One of the six Romes, because of the existence of the Pantheon?"

"Yes." Phaethon nodded and said, "That seemingly inconspicuous stone temple is actually as important as the Palace of Muses, the Oracle, and the Senate. It is not just a stone house. However, unlike the mysterious side, these mechanisms of the city of Rome are hidden under masks and fog. Faith reaches the center of the empire through transit, so it is quite secretive - you can't let others know about this. This is a holy lie. It will be gone if it is revealed."

"I hope this information is useful to you." Victoria replied, "Ah, if these technological barbarians knew that the Pope they worshipped was actually a minister kneeling at the feet of the Roman emperor, and everything they worshipped was a branch of the Tianji faith, I'm afraid there would be a big trouble. But it seems that Xu Fu's plan here is a little different?"

[It seems so.] Apollonia flipped through the information. [In the belief system here, because the locals are completely inferior, and in terms of civilization, they are obviously "created things" rather than the "Tang Dynasty" that created all this, so these local ghost and god beliefs are openly regarded as the incarnation of the real body. The term here seems to be "Gonen". That is, the real body is a temporary incarnation in order to preach here. For example, the title they gave to the founding ancestor Tokugawa Ieyasu is "Tosho Daigongen".]

"I see." Phaethon nodded. "Then Xu Fu's trick is not really a holy lie. This is what the Pantheon used to do - bringing the gods of the Pantheon directly to the lands conquered by Rome, and treating the local gods as the incarnations of the Pantheon members."

"How come they are exactly the same?" Shangluo realized at this time why the Romans always thought the same as Xu Fu.

"It's also normal because this method really works."

"Then why not use it later?"

"Because the barbarians really entered the Roman Empire - in the 3rd century, a large number of barbarians began to enter the empire to hold important positions. Their own beliefs really shook the dominant position of the Pantheon, and they also had an impact on the distribution within the Pantheon. So the emperor at that time sought to reform the Pantheon and the universal church once and for all, so that the new system could cover the existing Pantheon."

"Well, then, the Chiba that Xu Fu is building now is actually... Wait, could it be..."

[Yes, for us, it is a mini version of Constantinople. What you see in front of you is a mini version of the Pantheon. The Tianji beliefs blend and converge here, and then transmit to the facilities in Constantinople that have established sympathetic links. The path we use is the cross, because the North Star is everywhere. And Xu Fu also chose the North Star, the 'North Star Miaojian Zunxing Wang', the Zhenwu Emperor. Sure enough, the old alchemists are more sophisticated. ]

"I'm beginning to admire this old man," Victoria exclaimed, "How did he accomplish all these things by himself? Although it's a smaller one, it's very complete in every aspect. In order to gather strength, he even has the 'Chiba Industrial City' to show the strength."

"After all, he has 2000 years, so he can take his time and do a fine job. Now it seems that this job is indeed very fine." Shangluo thought for a while, "So Victoria, how do we solve this problem?"

"What a cruel question!" Vidlia said in frustration. "Asking me that is like asking me how to make stubbing my toe hurt more. Let Phaethon answer it."

"Simple," Phaethon replied. "The key to the problem lies not in the sending end, but in the receiving end."

"Destroying this place won't work?"

"Yes. Because the land is forged in the earth veins, this formation is too complicated and is composed of seven temples. If it is other gods, we can hold seven rituals to resolve it. Because it is a ghost, there is no room for ghosts in our rituals - so how do you usually deal with ghosts? I mean to eliminate them completely."

"We need to cut down mountains and destroy temples."

"That's too troublesome. Although we can solve it by cutting down mountains and destroying temples, it will require seven expeditions. So instead of starting from the sending end, it's better to dismantle the receiving end." Phaethon pointed at the knife in Shangluo's hand:

"You have already got the key to all of this, the sword of Taira no Masakado that symbolizes the control of the earth veins. All you have to do is to enshrine it in the North Star Temple in Chiba."

"Why does this sound familiar?" Shang Luo touched his forehead. "Why does this sound like a rehearsal for detonating Rome - asking me to take something from the Pantheon and go to the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople to detonate it? The 'celestial pole' of Constantinople is the Hagia Sophia, right?"

"Ah!" Victoria wailed in pain, "I shouldn't have said that! Now that you've said that, Shangluo, I feel like destruction is just around the corner!"

"Hey, think about it, this is a good thing. If it was destined to be destroyed, this would be a controlled explosion, right?" Shangluo pointed around, "The earth veins here are completely disordered. Xu Fu used these disordered earth veins to cause such great damage. Think about it, if Rome had made such a mistake during its destruction, the situation would not be as minor as it is now. It would be a huge, unstoppable natural disaster."

"Eh?" Victoria came back to her senses after hearing what he said. "That makes sense, Shangluo! Please be sure to explore this method. After all, with the collapse of the Roman Empire, all the holy lies will eventually fall from behind the curtain. We can't continue to deceive them after the fall of the Roman Empire. Instead of waiting for everything to explode, it's better for you to carry out a controlled destruction. The switch you are holding in your hand actually has something similar in the Roman Empire."

"Then I won't ask anymore?"

"A wise choice. You just need to know that there is such a switch." Victoria replied, "Anyway, when the time comes, I'll ask you to execute all the holy liars and break down all the walls. Xu Fu is really thoughtful. He actually arranged a full set of procedures here. The degree of realism is really high. Except for the smaller scale, the procedures are exactly the same. I almost feel that he made this place into a teaching aid, specially to teach you."

Chapter 1216 New Plan

"Shangluo, have you started the action?" Zhu Xianxun was holding the phone in the cabin.

"Yes, we have finalized the plan. I have organized a strike team and are ready to enter Qianye City to manually shut down Xu Fu's formation."

"What about the Dragon Palace?"

"We decided to change our strategy and switch sides. The Ryugu army has headed towards Koyasan, bombing the entire mountain area with thunderbolts, carpet-killing the Tengu there. As long as every fallen leaf from every tree is bombed with thunderbolts, the Tengu will have nowhere to hide. On the Qianye side, the elite squad of the Jinyiwei will be used to break through. Those anti-aircraft artillery positions can stop the Dragon Army, but they can't stop the Tengu."

This was the result of Shangluo and Ao Zang's communication. Although the Dragon Palace could use the mirage to launch an attack, the mirage used for defense would also be consumed when attacked by scorching firearms. The incendiary bombs that hit the clouds could quickly inactivate the mirage, causing the Dragon Palace's losses to become astronomical.

Furthermore, in order to protect the city that will become the property of the Dragon Palace in the future, the Dragon Army must protect itself while blocking shells for Chiba City. This means that regardless of whether it hits the target or not, the Dragon Army must use Mirage to catch every shell fired from the opposite side. This is the order of the Dragon King himself.

But as long as the two sides switched battlefields, they would find that the lightning of the Dragon Palace could just be used to suppress the Tengu in the mountain. And the Qigong practitioners, who had their own powerful fighting power, were not afraid of the firepower of mortals at all. Even the dense firepower that could knock down a dragon could be easily dodged. Even from the beginning, perhaps no one could discover the whereabouts of the celestial being.