Republic of Florence.

Xia Yan used the Ming Dynasty's strong ships and cannons to force the Papal State to reach a compromise with the Ming Dynasty, and was willing to admit that his Papal State was ruled by the Ming Dynasty, and also obtained convenient conditions from the Papal State to the internal region of Italy.

The Papal State was forced to send people to help the Ming armed mission contact other principalities except the Papal State, and demanded that these principalities accept the visit of the Ming armed mission.

In this way, the Ming armed missions brought by Xia Yan no longer needed to use military means to patrol these priests in the Italian Peninsula.

The Pope's Succession Act, which strictly prohibited Rome from being captured by the Ming Dynasty and being killed by Pope Leo I, and even the Pope's Succession Act, which was forced to reach a compromise with the Ming Dynasty, was also blocked by the Holy See, in order to avoid other principalities despising the authority of their Holy See.

In addition, due to geographical factors and the reason why the Ming Dynasty came too suddenly.

Therefore, these Italian principalities now know that not many of the Ming missions did in Rome before.

In fact, even if these Italian principalities and even the entire Western countries knew about this, these people would not gather hundreds of thousands of troops to avenge their pope.

Because, in the original history of Western Europe, the armies of France, the Holy Roman Empire and other countries occupied Rome and even imprisoned the Pope. Everyone believed in the same religion but did not surrender to the Pope.

Therefore, what the Ming Dynasty is doing now has little impact on other Western countries. After all, the Ming Dynasty did not intend to ban Catholicism, and the only influence was the Pope, which affected its prestige in other principalities and republics.

Therefore, the Papal State tried hard to hide the rough behavior of the Ming Dynasty and even beautified that the envoy of the Ming Dynasty came to exchange culture and was the envoy of civilization.

Xia Yan's original intention is to conduct business and cultural exchanges, rather than to occupy Europe or force the entire Europe to surrender.

When Xia Yan arrived at the city of Florence, Lorenzo II, the lord of the Republic of Florence, had come out to greet him in person.

But this time, he was more cautious than the people of the Pope, and only allowed Xia Yan, Pires and one hundred Ming Dynasty Jinyiwei to enter the city of Florence, while the two thousand cavalry, five thousand infantry and three hundred gunners who were with Xia Yan were only allowed to be stationed outside the city of Florence.

Xia Yan agreed to Lorenzo II's request.

After all, his purpose was not to capture the city.

Lorenzo II did not choose to take revenge because his uncle, Pope Leo I, was executed by Xia Yan. After all, his total strength in Florence was only 10,000, and Xia Yan brought more than 20,000 officers and soldiers to the West. He did not dare to provoke the Ming delegation, this lion from the East.

Lorenzo II and Pope Leo I were both members of the Medici family, who were famous for supporting artists and building churches.

Therefore, when Xia Yan attended a banquet held by Lorenzo II, the noble lord from the Medici family, he met Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo and Raphael who escaped back to Florence on the day of the capture of Rome.

Leonardo da Vinci and others also showed a strong interest in the arrival of the Ming Dynasty mission. After all, everyone does not have the same skin color, and they also speak different languages, and even their clothes are different.

"Mr. Xia Yan, what religion is the Ming Dynasty and does it believe in Jesus?"

At this time, Leonardo daringly asked, and other Florentine artists and nobles also came over, obviously very interested in this.

"The Ming Dynasty was separated from religion and politics. There was only one court in the Ming Dynasty, but there were many religions, mainly Buddhism and Taoism. The people of our country can have the freedom of religious belief. Even the emperor would not interfere that he believed in Buddhism or Taoism. Even if he believed in you, it would be okay!"

Xia Yan replied.

But Xia Yan's words shocked Da Vinci and others. After all, in this era in Europe, the existence of pagans would never be tolerated.

"Oh my God, there is such a country. The people of the East actually have the freedom of faith. Then won't they fight and kill each other because of their different beliefs?" Michelangelo also asked.

"No, monks and Taoists will not fight, nor will they kill each other, because with the law, no one can break the law!

The right to freedom of faith is stipulated in the constitutional outline. As long as His Majesty the Emperor does not define a certain religion as a cult, the people have the right to choose religious beliefs at will, and it is okay not to believe in religion!"

Xia Yan said this, causing Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and others to exclaim again.

"This is impossible! How can there be such a free country in the world! How can believers of different beliefs form a country, and how can they live in peace!"

The Florentine nobles were already shouting excitedly, and he was doubting the authenticity of what Xia Yan said.

"I have already said that the people have the right to choose their freedom to believe. As long as they are not judged as a cult religion by His Majesty, they can choose to believe. This is stipulated in the constitutional outline, and the people should also have the right to be respected, their property is protected by the state, and their freedom of speech and belief. Is this strange?"

Xia Yan continued.

"The right to freedom, life is respected, property is protected, freedom of speech and belief!"

Leonardo da Vinci couldn't help but murmur and thought to himself: "There is such a country in the East? Is there such a country in such a free country?"

"Mr. Xia Yan, as far as I know, you just captured Rome and cut off the Pope, so I want to ask, what is your purpose in doing this?"

At this time, Raphael, who had been silent, asked.

"Because your pope attempts to overtake my Ming Emperor, my Ming Emperor is the holy lord advocated by the people of my Ming Dynasty. He wants to overtake my Ming Emperor, just to enslave my Ming people on behalf of God. This is contrary to the will of heaven and against the will of man!

Therefore, according to the laws of our Ming Dynasty, such ambitionist who attempts to enslave the people of our Ming Dynasty needs to be executed immediately, otherwise such an ambitious man would make the whole world uneasy and even split into pieces! Even make people degenerate and corrupt!

But executing him does not mean that we do not respect your faith, so we did not ask the Pope to stop preaching, and even helped them reselect a priest who can truly be called a good moral character and become the Pope!"

After Xia Yan said this, the Florentines present were excited.

"What we say makes sense! Why don't we have a country like the East? I really want to be a citizen of such a country!"

Michelangelo exclaimed.

"The people in the East are so happy! According to this Ming official, there should never be any killing in the Ming Dynasty. After all, they can tolerate pagans, and they should not have moral corruption and attempts to enslave them, and they are even more unlikely to become nobles and clergy. After all, they cannot tolerate such people. Even the Pope will be cut off if they violate their laws!"

Later, Luther, who was committed to the Catholic Reformation, also said with a look of longing.

"Mr. Xia Yan, what if there are any nobles in your country who violate the law and the will of the people?" Raphael asked courageously despite the nobles of the Medici family present.

"I will be punished by the law. There is a well-known rule in my Ming Dynasty that the prince violated the law and the common people. Just a few years ago, there was a royal noble. His official title in our Ming Dynasty was King Anhua. However, because he violated the law and the will of the people in the world, he intended to challenge the monarchy and became the emperor. He eventually failed and was sentenced to the most severe punishment in our empire!"

As soon as Xia Yan finished speaking, the Florentines present started to make noise again.

"Royal nobles! How is this possible!"

"I can't believe it, I can't believe that the royal nobles will be punished with the most severe punishment for violating the will of civilians? Oh my God, does such a country really exist?!"

"This is heaven! Where is the world! Those who are morally corrupt will be punished and civilians will be respected! Are you really from the East? Not from heaven, from God? Are you not humans, or God?"

Some Florentine artists envied such a country and couldn't believe their doubts, while the nobles shook their heads repeatedly. They even asked Xia Yan a little angrily, asking if Xia Yan was a pagan from the East, deliberately bewitching their congregations and attempting to destroy their Catholicism.

"You are not God, you are the devil, you come with ulterior motives, you want our church members to leave the church, you should go to the cross!"

A noble member of the Medici family was already excited and shouted loudly.

"We are not God, nor are we devils. We are also humans, like you, and we are humans. We are created by God. You are called God here and Nuwa there. But this is not a contradiction. No matter what you believe in, we are all humans. I have not let you leave the church. For example, the man named Pires next to me is also a believer of your Catholicism, but he is now a citizen of my Ming Dynasty! I have never asked what he believes in."

Xia Yan pointed at Pires.

Pires nodded, "Everyone, there is indeed such a kingdom in the East. That country is called Ming. You will know that we cannot conquer them with force, and they have never thought of using force to make us give up our faith in God. They even protect our faith. The air in that kingdom is free!"

As Pires, a Westerner, testified, Florence present became even more excited.
Chapter completed!