Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 204 De-religionization
In September, the Mid-Autumn Festival is approaching, and the new capital city is filled with a festive atmosphere.

On both sides of the main street in the north of the city, rows of shops and warehouses extend all the way to the end of the street. Crowds of ordinary Chinese people walk through and stop in front of different shops to buy food, fruits or offerings to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival.

At the end of the street, two brand new Chinese-style palace pavilions stand on the open spaces on the east and west sides.

The palace had just been completed, and the red paint on the ten main beams and pillars even had a bright red color.

The bustling streets quickly quieted down here. Thousands of Chinese people outside the palace consciously lined up in six rows, preparing to enter the palace to worship.

The two palaces were not new palaces built for Li Mingyuan, but shrines dedicated to Taiyi, the God of Heaven, and the fallen soldiers.

At the beginning of the uprising in Peru, Li Mingyuan had to declare an uprising in the name of God in order to boost the morale of the remnant Taiping troops. However, after officially establishing his foundation in Rio Grande do Sul, the religious God Worshipping Society was no longer suitable for the future development of the National Defense Force. In order to reduce the adverse effects that the God Worshipping Society might bring in the future, Li Mingyuan began to carry out de-religiousization actions at the same time as the founding of the country.

The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was a variation of Western Christianity introduced by Hong Xiuquan. The God worshipped by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was a Western God, and the first step of Li Mingyuan's religious reform was to change the identity of God. He defined God as Haotian God, the supreme god worshipped by the ancestors of the Chinese nation in the pre-Qin period. Haotian God was named Taiyi, and had been the supreme god worshipped by the Han people before the demise of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Later, with the introduction of Buddhism and the influence of other religions, Haotian God Taiyi gradually faded out of the sight of ordinary Han people, and was replaced by the Taoist system of gods headed by the Jade Emperor.

Taiyi was the supreme god that existed in China during the Qin and Han dynasties. The name of Haotian God was roughly equivalent to the name and status of the God worshipped by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Using Haotian God to replace the Western God as the supreme god of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was psychologically acceptable to the more traditional Han people.

After redefining the identity of God, Li Mingyuan began to implement the second step: reorganizing the God Worshipping Society.

The reorganization of the God Worshipping Society began with the reform of its doctrine. Li Mingyuan summoned hundreds of scholars with meritorious service in the government and deleted the outdated content in the God Worshipping Society's doctrine that was biased towards Western religious customs. He added later nationalist content such as patriotism and national self-reliance advocated by Li Mingyuan, and changed the new doctrine into a propaganda book full of national beliefs and national self-reliance. The original content about religious beliefs in the doctrine was also changed to weak religious content that advocated primitive religious worship and opposed idolatry.

Compared with general religious doctrines, the revised Taiping Heavenly Kingdom doctrine has lost its role of religious fanaticism. Instead, it has become a propaganda book for establishing the national spirit of self-reliance and independence and good personal education. It has completed the transformation from a religious book to a book for reshaping national beliefs, and is more in line with the current national conditions of Rio Grande do Sul.

After the reform of religious doctrines and customs and rituals, the name of the God Worshipping Society was changed to Taiyi Sect.

Taiyiism is the state religion of Rio Grande do Sul, and Taoism, Buddhism, and Christianity are legal religions. The government encourages citizens to believe in Taiyiism, and at the same time does not interfere with the freedom of citizens to believe in Taoism, Buddhism, and Christianity. However, some religions that incite believers to fanaticism and refuse to integrate into Chinese civilization are strictly prohibited. If any Chinese believe in fanatical religions and abandon their traditional cultural beliefs, the government will revoke their Rio Grande do Sul citizenship and forcibly expel them from the country.

During the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom period, the right to interpret the doctrines of the God Worshipping Society was in the hands of Hong Xiuquan, Yang Xiuqing and other high-ranking officials of the Heavenly Kingdom. Yang Xiuqing, Hong Xiuquan and other five kings of the Jintian Uprising died one after another. After the demise of the Heavenly Kingdom, Li Mingyuan launched an uprising of Chinese workers in Peru, and the right to interpret the religion of the God Worshipping Society fell into Li's hands again.

Li Mingyuan was the only person who could verify the fulfillment of God's prophecy. After the Chinese established their nation in Rio Grande do Sul, ordinary Chinese workers who came all the way from Peru worshipped Li Mingyuan as a god. Therefore, when more logical and relaxed religious doctrines appeared and the God Worshipping Society was renamed Taiyi Sect, most of the citizens accepted the improved religion after hearing the explanations of the preachers in the settlements. A small number of sincere believers of the God Worshipping Society, under their fanatical belief in Li Mingyuan, also chose to believe what Li Mingyuan said and turned to believe in the newly improved Taiyi Sect.

The religious reform in Rio Grande do not cause much waves and was soon implemented in the country. At the same time, the construction of temples dedicated to the God of Heaven and the memorial service for fallen soldiers were also implemented.

Due to religious considerations, the construction of the temple began in February 1869, two months after the Reformation. The construction of the Hall of Heroes, where the tablets of the fallen soldiers were placed, was later than the temple, and the groundbreaking ceremony did not begin until March . From an economic perspective, it was not difficult to build the Hall of Heroes. More than a thousand Chinese workers could complete the construction of the shrine within half a year. However, the construction of the shrine was easy, but how to place the list of worshippers in the shrine was a big problem.

Li Mingyuan was the successor of Li Shixian, the Prince of Attendant of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. The reason why he was able to call on Chinese workers to revolt was largely due to his status as the prince of attendant.

The identity of the prince of Shi Wang brought Li Mingyuan the most needed appeal in the early days of the uprising. However, after the country was stabilized, the identity of the prince of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom also brought him considerable trouble.

First, the nominal rulers of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom were Hong Xiuquan and his successors. Although Hong Xiuquan died of illness, nine of his ten sons died, and only the youngest son was living in the countryside without any news. However, some ambitious people might act in the name of Hong Xiuquan's descendants, and even interfere in the internal affairs of Rio Grande do Sul to cause trouble for Li Mingyuan.

Li Mingyuan was a person who liked to plan ahead. Even if Hong Xiuquan's youngest son was lucky enough to survive and, under the instigation of some people with ulterior motives, wanted to seize power in Rio Grande do Sul, Li Mingyuan believed in the loyalty of his subordinates and ordinary Chinese people and would not obey the orders of Hong Xiuquan's son.

However, even if the descendants of Hong Xiuquan could not shake Li Mingyuan's rule over Rio Grande dominica, Li Mingyuan did not want to see the destruction of the already stable domestic order.

Enshrining Hong Xiuquan in the Hall of Heroes is tantamount to tacitly acknowledging his status as the leader of the Heavenly Kingdom. Some smart people might develop inappropriate ambitions as a result. So after hesitating for a long time, Li Mingyuan took the initiative to raise this issue. After discussing with senior generals of the army such as Liu Pu and Chen Guozhu, they decided not to enshrine Hong Xiuquan's tablet in the Hall of Heroes, but only to enshrine the generals and soldiers who died in the battles with the Qing army and other enemy forces.

Li Shixian is Li Mingyuan's nominal father. In the eyes of Liu Pu and others, Li Mingyuan is the monarch of Rio Grande do Sul, and Li Shixian is the founder of the national cause of Rio Grande do Sul. When the Principality of Rio Grande do Sul was established, Li Shixian should be given an honorific title, and Li Mingyuan's ancestors for more than three generations should be posthumously honored.

Chen Guozhu, Li Sandou and other guards who stayed behind to serve the king once vaguely raised this matter to Li Mingyuan, but Li Mingyuan did not agree. When the Hall of Heroes was built, Hong Xiuquan was excluded from the list of worshippers. Chen Guozhu and others once again put Li Shixian in the first position to be worshipped.

On the one hand, he disagreed with giving Li Shixian a title of emperor because he was worried that the commotion in Rio Grande do Sul would be too great and arouse the vigilance of the Qing government. On the other hand, Li Mingyuan planned to vindicate Li Shixian, Li Xiucheng and other Taiping Heavenly Kingdom generals in a glorious manner after conquering Argentina.

The delay in conferring the title of honor on Li Shixian was due to practical considerations. Making Li Shixian the first sacrificed soldier to be enshrined in the Hall of Heroes not only highlights the legitimacy of Li Mingyuan as the successor to the King of Servant, but also achieves the purpose of promoting the martial spirit of the Chinese. Even without the suggestion of Chen Guozhu and others, Li Mingyuan also planned to put Li Shixian first in the sacrifice. Chen Guozhu and others took the initiative to propose it, and Li Mingyuan agreed to it.

After determining the first person to be worshipped in the Hall of Heroes, Li Xiucheng, Chen Yucheng, Shi Dakai, Luo Dagang, Su Sanniang and other senior generals of the Heavenly Kingdom were also arranged in order according to the opinions of everyone.

Li Xiucheng and Chen Yucheng were the two most important young generals in the later period of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Considering that Li Xiucheng was Li Shixian's cousin, Li Mingyuan ranked Li Xiucheng's tablet second only to Li Shixian. Shi Dakai, Xiao Chaogui, Chen Yucheng, Luo Dagang, Su Sanniang and others were ranked later in order.

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(End of this chapter)