Chapter 1329: 1234: Miracle

Chapter 1329: Chapter 1234: Miracle

Napoleon listened to the Indians’ flawed French and followed them as they crossed the stream between two small hills.

He turned his head and saw the view ahead open up, revealing a small town situated right in the middle of a wide plain.

In truth, the so-called town was merely enclosed by a random circle of wooden fences, inside which lay numerous scattered small wooden houses and even plenty of thatched sheds.

However, Napoleon immediately spotted a towering clock tower with a cross on top, which was clearly a church.

On his way here, he had heard that almost all North American natives converted to Catholicism after arriving in Saint Louis Louisiana.

This wasn’t uncommon; Spanish missionaries had previously attracted many believers, just not as successfully as Father Vigne.

Napoleon gestured toward the church and asked Rocar with some sarcasm, “Do you really believe in the existence of Jesus, or is it because attending church means the priests will provide you with technology and weapons…”

Napoleon was never a devout believer; he always saw the Church as just a tool.

Unexpectedly, the Indian patrol team members pulled on their reins, glaring at him with hostility, as if ready to draw their guns.

“I believe in the one true Jesus, the almighty Holy Father!” Carol said in a deep voice, “We’ve all witnessed miracles!

“If you question our faith, it will be taken as an insult.”

Napoleon didn’t expect such a strong reaction. He quickly waved his hands and said, “No, you’ve misunderstood. I’ve always regarded you as the most devout Christians.”

He set aside his pride to explain to these natives for quite a while before Rocar and the others finally calmed down.

Napoleon curiously asked again, “The ‘miracles’ you mentioned earlier, are you referring to something like a mass?”

“No, those are the true miracles shown by Jesus.” As Carol spoke, there seemed to be a holy light in his eyes, “Every Cherokee, Creek, Iroquois, by receiving the Lord’s blessing, can live peacefully in this world, away from the Devil.

“In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.”

Other Indians immediately made the sign of the cross, “Amen.”

Napoleon was a bit bewildered, feeling that these natives were ten times more devout than Europeans.

He became even more curious: “Can you tell me, what kind of miracle is that?”

“Of course. Everyone has a duty to spread the Gospel of Jesus.” Carol rolled up his sleeve to reveal a scar on his upper arm, “Look, it’s this.”

Napoleon blinked, “What is this?”

He was exiled fairly early, before the French Health Bureau completed the cowpox vaccination technique. Although he later read about it in the newspapers, he had never seen it in person.

Carol naturally said, “It’s a gift from Jesus. It protects people from Beelzebub’s curse.”

Beelzebub is the devil in Catholic lore known for spreading disease.

Napoleon cautiously asked, “Does it work?”

“Of course!” Carol was quite displeased with this white man’s skepticism, and his voice turned colder, “Smallpox can no longer harm those who’ve received the blessing.

“The Cherokee Tribe hasn’t seen smallpox in a long time. In fact, even the occurrences of cholera and fever outbreaks have greatly reduced.”

Indeed, cowpox would not prevent diseases like cholera, but under Father Vigne and other missionaries’ guidance, they stopped drinking randomly from the wild and learned some basic epidemic prevention measures, such as isolating the sick and burying the waste from patients.

These measures significantly lowered the disease outbreak rate in Indian Tribes. And all of these were attributed to “miracles.”

Hearing “smallpox,” Napoleon immediately recalled, pointing at the scar on Carol’s arm, “Is it cowpox vaccination?”

Carol clearly hadn’t heard this term before and patiently asked, “Have you not received the blessing? Aren’t you a believer?”

“Oh, no, I certainly am.”

“Then that’s settled. You can go to the Abo Cathedral in the first three days of every month to pray. If the Assistant Priest sees you as devout enough, you might receive the blessing from Jesus.”

Napoleon, being a clever man, immediately understood upon hearing this.

So this was how Father Vigne spread the faith, no wonder the Indians were so devout.

In fact, once the cowpox vaccination technique matured, Father Vigne immediately sought to introduce it to North America—after all, smallpox was the number one killer of Indians, with death rates reaching as high as 60% during large outbreaks, severely limiting the population of Indian Tribes.

Joseph, after receiving his application, recalled that the previous year he had mentioned many Indians had only superficially converted to the “revised” Catholicism, simply going through the motions without attending mass or bothering to pray.

Yet the “Indian Gospel” was meant to be a core tool for uniting the various Indian Tribes, which did not meet Joseph’s requirements.

Thus, Joseph thought of binding the cowpox vaccination with miracles.

The result was astonishing.

After the most recent smallpox epidemic in North America, Indians who had received the “blessing of Jesus” barely noticed the outbreak unless they saw the large number of relatives dying from it in the neighboring tribes to the West and North.

Their mortality was practically zero!

This curse that had plagued all Indians for centuries was suddenly conquered; what could this be but a miracle?!

Both the Creek Tribe and the Cherokee Tribe instantly plunged into Catholic fervor.

There was a constant stream of believers at the church every day, masses were packed, and religious festivals were celebrated grandly.

Father Vigne and other missionaries became the most respected “prophets” among the Indians, their words carrying more weight than the clan leaders of the tribes.

News spread, and even the distant Comanche, Navajo, and other Indian Tribes near the Rocky Mountains did not hesitate to trek thousands of kilometers to the vicinity of the Mississippi River to convert to Catholicism.

Of course, to enter the towns of the French Colony, they had to first pledge to obey the laws of Saint Louis Louisiana.

Given the choice between life and death, no one opted to refuse.

In this way, nearly all the tribes east of the Rockies automatically joined the Saint Louis Louisiana system, or at least announced their full cooperation with the colonial government.

While talking with Carol, Napoleon had already walked into the enclosure outside Geosai Town.

Several vendors selling pumpkins or beef loudly advertised their goods in Indian Language along the rammed earth street.

In front of the small wooden houses nearby, Indian women busy drying meat whispered to each other, their gazes darting to the group of white men who had just walked over.

Having learned that Napoleon had come to recruit soldiers, Carol personally led him toward the clan leader’s house, saying, “It’s up ahead, the largest house is it.”

Just as he finished speaking, a round ball wrapped in cowhide came flying swiftly from the dusty distance, hitting Napoleon’s shoulder directly.