Aztec Civilization: Destiny to Conquer America!

The two men exchanged a round of formal courtesies, and through these simple details of movement, they more or less determined each other’s attitude. Very soon, the gate of the noble residence closed again, and a Church bishop and a Court Marquis thus entered the room where their meeting was to be held.

"Lord Nuno, this redwood-backed chair feels so smooth to the touch, and it carries such a special color and fragrance. I have never seen anything like it... Could it be timber newly brought back from the sea?"

"Yes, Your Excellency the bishop. This is redwood that the Royal Family’s fleet brought back from the Southern Continent this spring. The quantity is not large, and all of it was presented to Lord Joao. This redwood has a color like wine, very suitable for making court furniture. The Royal Family’s Craftsmen forged a complete set of tables and chairs for Lord Joao, and His Majesty rewarded two of the chairs to me."

"Oh, may the Lord protect us! King Joao truly places great trust in you. And your loyalty and piety are indeed a model for the Court Nobles!..."

Bishop Diogo sat on the redwood-backed chair, nodding with a smile. Looking at the likewise smiling face of Nuno Chief, he slightly lowered his voice and asked.

"This Southern Continent you speak of—which Southern Continent is it? Could it be that newly discovered Southern Continent deep in the Atlantic Ocean?"

"Yes! Your Excellency the bishop, it is precisely that ’New Continent’. The Royal Family’s fleet discovered much precious redwood there, as well as many birds with brilliantly colored Feathers. Look, this wine-red Feathered noble hat is woven from the feathers of birds from the New Continent... Haha! If you like it, I will give this hat to you!..."

"Oh? This holy color, like the blood of the Divine Son, is very rare indeed and truly delightful! Lord Nuno, then I will not stand on ceremony... In future, if there are such novel goods coming from the sea, the Sousa Family is willing to purchase them from you at a high price..."

Bishop Diogo nodded with a smile, took the luxurious Pearl-and-Feather hat, and placed it on the table beside him. At that moment, he brushed his hand over the Sousa Family Emblem on his garment, clearly speaking to Nuno Chief in the capacity of a noble.

"The Almighty is witness! The Sousa Family has always been your friend—so it was in the past, so it is now, and so it shall be in the future!..."

Hearing this statement, which carried the sense of a promise, Nuno Chief’s eyebrows twitched and his gaze flickered slightly. He did not answer directly, but instead smiled and expressed his thanks.

"Praise be to the Almighty! Honored Your Excellency the bishop, this is not only my gift, but also a gift from the Royal Family! Lord Joao has always placed great trust in you, entrusting you with responsibility over the Lisbon Cathedral, and he often praises your piety in my presence... This time, those more than ten Missionary priests going to the New Continent were all selected so swiftly thanks to you!"

"Indeed! Nuno Chief, spreading the glory of the Almighty is precisely the duty of our Church! In this New Continent mission, both the Franciscan Order and the Augustinian Order expressed strong desire to participate... Yet it was still the Franciscan Order that moved first and secured the slots for priests on this voyage. Their style of poverty and simplicity, of ascetic preaching, is more suited than that of the Augustinian Order—who excel at doctrine and teaching—to opening up the Wilderness of the New Continent and carrying the Almighty’s gospel among those benighted Barbarian Tribes!..."

When the matter of evangelization in the New Continent was mentioned, Bishop Diogo’s spirits clearly rose. Preaching to Barbarian Tribes, expanding the Church’s influence, and establishing new overseas dioceses was not only a sacred merit that could be entered into the registers of the saints; it also represented very real interests of the Church. After all, all Citizens of Christ were bound to pay the "tithe". And in those newly opened dioceses, the Church’s leading authority was often immense; it could even establish powerful Church Armed Forces, possessing greater say than the Enfeoffed Nobles!

"Indeed! The Franciscan Monks are truly the most ascetic and devout! The Kingdom’s missions on the Gold Coast, the Ivory Coast, and in Congo all relied on the fearlessness and sacrifice of these begging monks... And Father Faria, who arrived in the New Continent with the first group last year, is also of the Franciscan Order. It is said Father Faria has done very well, having already converted over a hundred Barbarians from the East!..."

In front of Bishop Diogo, Nuno Chief maintained a gentle smile, praising the achievements of the Franciscan Monks. These Begging Sect Missionaries, capable of enduring hardship and preaching laboriously in overseas colonies, truly were indispensable agents of spiritual taming for Europe’s external colonization. For the Mexica Alliance and the Nava Faith, and indeed for all the indigenous peoples of America and Africa, they were the most dangerous, most beguiling, and also the most enduring enemies!

In the year 1495 after the descent of the Divine Son Jesus, within the Catholic Church of the Catholic World, all kinds of orders had already emerged, each revering different "doctrines of the Almighty". Among them, the Franciscan Order was the largest Begging Order, spread throughout the entire Catholic World and having the greatest number of commoner monks. They emphasized preaching in poverty and adherence to the most traditional spirit of the Gospel, and they were also the main force behind the colonial expansion of Spain and Portugal.

The Dominican Order was responsible for the lectures at the Scholastic University and was the representative academic order, inclined to recruit sons of the Nnobility and affluent families. They excelled in doctrinal debate and likewise took charge of the trial of heresies, forming the backbone of the Inquisition and excelling at discovering and handling "heretics and heathen".

The Benedictine Order was the oldest hermitic order, mainly concentrated in prosperous Italy, emphasizing Monastery life, prayer, and labor. By this time, however, they already controlled far too much Church land and had begun to decay markedly, making it difficult to uphold their traditional rule. The Cistercian Order was a branch of the Benedictine Order that had split off some four hundred years earlier, wielding especially great influence in France. They advocated simplicity and labor and, likewise, over centuries of succession, had taken control of vast tracts of land. At present, the Cistercian Order had at least seven hundred Monasteries and played a very important role in the Manor economy of France.