I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 935 Church Reform (asking for monthly pass at the end of the month)
The archbishops in the room were stunned.

For such a big matter as replacing the cardinal, the Vatican made a hasty decision without even notifying these Spanish archbishops to return to Rome for discussion.

When Gangbos saw the surprise and reluctance on their faces, he suddenly felt a strong sense of satisfaction in his heart.

He had followed King Carlos III to reform the church, and was troubled by these archbishops using all kinds of overt and covert means. This time he can finally avenge himself!

When the French Crown Prince told him that he could make the church bow to the Spanish government, he didn't believe it at all.

However, the Vatican actually replaced three cardinals.

What Gombos didn't know was that it was actually the Vatican that came to Joseph for help this time.

Thousands of Roman citizens surrounded St. Peter's Basilica. Although they did not take any radical actions, they sent representatives to the Pope several times to ask for the election of a parliament and the realization of secular autonomy.

The entire Vatican was like a frightened bird amid the protesters' shouting day and night, fearing that these people would not be able to hold back and rush in one day.

After Austria withdrew from northern Italy, the only country that could help the Vatican quell the rebellion was France.

Joseph readily promised to let the Holy See pay to "hire" the army of the Republic of Milan to quell the rebellion, on the condition that the Holy See "reorganize" the Spanish Church.

The Pope and dozens of archbishops discussed for only half an hour before deciding to "sacrifice" three Spanish colleagues in exchange for peace in Rome.

According to Joseph's request, in addition to replacing three Spanish cardinals "suspected of corruption", the Vatican also wants to split up several of the largest dioceses in Spain.

However, this "rectification measure" may cause a great shock, so it cannot be officially launched until Gangbos completes the first step of weakening the power of the church.

Joseph had very far-reaching considerations for devoting so much energy to helping Spain solve the church's problems.

The first thing was to help Carlos IV “squeeze” a large sum of military funds from the church.

You know, once war breaks out in Portugal, for every gold coin invested by Spain, Britain will have to follow suit with a gold coin, or even more.

Because Spain was fighting on its own doorstep, while Britain had to transport soldiers and supplies to Portugal across more than 1200 kilometers.

Secondly, only by suppressing the power of the church could Spain end its decline that had lasted for a century and a half.

Joseph did not expect his ally Spain to send troops to help him fight the war, but at least the economic situation should be similar and he could become a qualified market.

In addition, Spain's fleet still ranks third in Europe and can exert a certain restraint on Britain, especially in America, where the two countries have an irreconcilable conflict.

On the other hand, Spain's natural resources, geographical conditions and population size meant that it would be impossible for it to develop a national strength that could threaten France in the industrial age.

France will naturally lend a helping hand to such a "harmless" little brother.

Gombos looked at the archbishops again and said in a deep voice, "Before the military funds 'funded' by the dioceses are all received, the Vatican's investigation into corruption will continue for some time."

This was a blatant threat from him - if the money was not paid in full, there was no guarantee that some of you here would be fired for "suspected corruption".

Although the faces of the archbishops were gloomy, they all lowered their heads and dared not speak.

Yes, they are deeply rooted in Spain and have great influence. They have countless ways to give the king a headache, and in extreme cases they can even incite their believers to riot.

However, this time Joseph directly dug up their "roots".

No matter how powerful you are, if you lose your status as an archbishop, you will immediately turn from a dragon into a worm.

What's more, if the Vatican sends a new archbishop to your diocese, they will definitely eliminate the power of the previous one first. After several archbishops left in grief, Gombos immediately picked up a glass of wine, raised it to the north, and said sincerely: "To the true friend of Spain, the great 'Son of God', thank you for your support."

How could he not be excited?
In his document box was another decree signed by Charles IV.

It stipulated that in the future, the monopoly taxes on tobacco, ironware, gunpowder, etc. in each parish would be collected by the Spanish government.

At the same time, the church's land income was also included in the "Royal Trinity Tax".

All future appointments and dismissals of clergy in each diocese must be signed by His Majesty the King before they can take effect.

If he had just asked the church to pay a large sum of money, which had caused the church serious damage, then this decree would completely cut off the church's ability to generate income.

Needless to say, various monopoly taxes were nationalized. The most important thing was that the king began to levy taxes on church land income - the Trinity tax was about 30%.

All of this combined could help the Spanish government generate millions of escudos in additional revenue each year!
Of course, as a veteran church reformer, Gangpos also knew that this would inevitably provoke fierce resistance from the church.

However, the French Crown Prince had already prepared "weapons" for him.

That is, the dioceses of Spain will be split into 16.

The most powerful Toledo Diocese was directly divided into three.

The newly emerged dioceses are directly taxed according to the new reform model. The newly appointed archbishops are all His Majesty the King’s confidants and naturally will not object.

Which diocese dares not to cooperate? The next split quota will fall on you, and your direct jurisdiction will be reduced to one-third of the previous one.

Campos could already foresee that with the help of the French Crown Prince, the church problems that successive Spanish kings had never been able to solve would be basically resolved by this time next year at the latest.

In fact, Joseph wanted to use Spain as a pilot to test his ideas about church reform.

If the implementation goes smoothly, France can just follow the same prescription in the future.

If there are any pitfalls, Spain can help France step into them in advance so that they can make adjustments calmly.

……

West bank of the Rhine.

Worms, the largest city in the Palatinate region.

On a flat lawn on the outskirts of the city, 22 young men were running desperately after a black and white leather ball.

A circle of five-story wooden steps was built around the lawn, with four to five hundred spectators sitting there, watching the game elegantly.

From time to time, servants would bring drinks and snacks and ask them attentively if they needed any.

In fact, at least 10% of the Worms nobles and wealthy businessmen who came to watch the game did not even know the rules of football, but this did not prevent them from spending up to florins to watch the game.

In fact, the black market ticket price has been driven up to 35 florins.

Just because, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of France will be present at today's game.

(End of this chapter)