When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

Chapter 1021 The Turmoil in the Green House (Two Chapters Combined)

Pope Horn is going to have a showdown with Pope Grandiva, a theological debate to see who wins.
The two popes intended to turn this debate into the Sixth Ecumenical Council to redefine the doctrine.
Sheri, carrying the Pope's will and the Ark of the Holy See, appears in the Holy Alliance as a judge?
One bombshell after another was dropped, leaving everyone in the room speechless for a moment.

After a while, the standing apprentice monks first whispered among themselves, and then they started talking in small groups.

Someone even sidled up to old Pierre and whispered, "Has Bishop Sheryl's papal will been opened?"

“According to the news from the Holy Alliance, not yet, the wax seals are all intact,” old Pierre explained. “However, Cherry already knows the contents of the Pope’s will, because he watched the Pope write it.”

"Then, then, then..."

"Perhaps His Majesty already knows, or perhaps he doesn't; I'm not sure." Old Pierre frowned. "If Cherrie appeared in the Holy Alliance because the Pope supports His Majesty Galar's succession, then why doesn't His Majesty just announce it directly?"
If Sheri appeared in the Holy Alliance by chance, and the will was unopened…

At this point, little Pierre suddenly stumbled and bumped into the back of his father's chair.

Old Pierre belatedly shut his mouth.

In fact, the second half of old Pierre's statement reflected the dark thoughts of most people present.

Even Gilles had this thought in his mind:

If Sheryl truly supported Horn, why bother with this grand council and debate?
The reason why Cecil was promoted was precisely because the Pope's will favored Grandiva, and the fact that Cecil had come to the Holy Alliance could not be concealed, which led to the Council of Ecumenical States.
He lost the debate, but since the former pope didn't support him anyway, the outcome was essentially unchanged.

Winning the debate, along with the political correctness of defining doctrine, essentially meant that Grandiva had obtained a worthless piece of paper.

The Pope's will is important in some ways, but not in others.

Wills are merely historical documents and have no practical significance.

Who cares what a dead person thinks?

The key lies in the opinions of the imperial monks and priests, who ultimately determined the difficult question of who would be the pope.

However, after the fall of the Holy See last year, the religious community of the Empire has generally fallen into a period of faith confusion.

A will is merely a new bargaining chip on the flange side of the scale; though small, it is enough to tip the scales off.

However, this bargaining chip was in Horn's hands, and he could decide when to release it.

If Horn can persuade the clergy at the council to add a new bargaining chip to his side, then the outcome is still uncertain.

Although this thought seems like a significant attack on Horn's personal character, considering his past acts of deception...

"Hard to say," Gilles muttered, lowering his head. Otherwise, he couldn't explain this strange behavior.

Now that you've obtained the Ark of the Covenant and the will, regardless of what's written in the will, why not just announce that you have the support of the former Pope?

Although this will draw criticism, it's better than letting Grandiva get it.

This is clearly handing a knife to the enemy. What are the cardinals of the Holy Alliance thinking?

"That's a good thing."

After the noise subsided and silence fell, Father Lemingston, a high-ranking member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sitting at the table, suddenly spoke.

Seeing that everyone was either silently pondering or speaking in hushed tones, he cleared his throat and stood up again.

"As I said before, the Lord's original intention was good, but it was misinterpreted and misimplemented by the bishops."

"In that case, just as we need to baptize again to signify new life, we also need to give up the right to interpret the scriptures."

“I think the purpose of the Sixth Ecumenical Council convened by the Holy Grandson was precisely this: to return the right of interpretation to all capable priests and monks.”

"Your Majesty the Holy Grandson is truly magnificent!"

Priest Lemingston was the first to raise his fist, but before it could land, another monk beside him spoke coldly:
“Isn’t Father Lemingston being too presumptuous? His Majesty Horn is acting too hastily.”

Guillaume recognized the monk; he was equally robust, with thick knuckles, but a head shorter than Lemingston.

Many of the monks of the Holy Way sect in Windmill Village are like this: they come from the lower ranks of the monks, are physically strong, and are quite cultured.

The reason is that the Holy Way advocates street practice rather than scholastic debate.

Therefore, the monks of the Shengdao sect often had to preach in the streets, then engage in street debates, then street fights, and then flee in the streets.

Every monk of the Holy Path Sect who rose through the ranks using this set of street practices had this fierce appearance.

For example, the Svenson monk who clashed with the Lemington monk made his name by defeating six rival monks with a red staff adorned with two flowers.

"Is it urgent? Many priests and monks are currently in a period of faith confusion because the high-ranking bishops have been swept away."

If we don't seize this opportunity and wait for the bishops in various places to react, we will once again fall into the quagmire of theocentrism and be unable to extricate ourselves.

“I’m saying the odds of winning are too low.” Swensen said with a dark face, turning his head to look at Lemingston. “You know, the current scholastic debates are like two dogs barking at each other in a mud pit; they won’t reach a conclusion.”

You quote a saying from a sage to refute my theoretical basis, I'll quote another saying from a sage and refute your theoretical basis again...

The theories of the Holy Path Sect are not yet solid enough; they are currently in a period of consolidation.

If it were conducted in the format of scholastic debate, the Holy Alliance would undoubtedly lose!

"Why?" A seated monk from the Holy Path Sect stood up. "In Windmill Land, our Holy Path Sect's missionaries utterly defeated the Divine Origin Sect!"

“The Holy Way is a faith for believers, but the Divine Benevolent faith is a faith for clergy.” Svensson turned to the monks on the other side and cursed, “Are the people at this Grand Council believers?”

"I also agree with Svensson's idea. We should write to His Majesty and ask him to postpone it further. It would be much better to postpone it until next year than to do it now."

"I disagree! I think..."

"What, you want to challenge me to a duel?"

Soon, the living room was filled with the sounds of several highly respected monks of the Holy Dao Sect arguing and cursing each other.

Picking at his ear, Giel frowned as he looked at the monks in front of him.

He couldn't understand why these priests, who were usually so friendly and fraternal, would lose their composure on this issue.
The argument in the living room was getting annoying, but then Gilles felt someone tap his arm.

Turning around, I saw little Pierre grinning and pointing behind him.

Using the excuse of getting coffee, Guyèle followed Pierre upstairs to the study.

The door opened, and Gier stepped inside, but stopped abruptly upon seeing who was sitting there.

"Lord Richelieu, you've returned from Fran?"

“Yes, I received the news about the Sixth Grand Council almost at the same time.” Armand, with a stubble on his face, pointed to the chair in front of him. “Sit down.”

Guillermo del Toro placed the teacup on the flowerpot stand, wiped the sweat from his palms, and sat down opposite Armand.

"How has the Worship of the Father Church been operating during the two months I was away?"

"Due to the war, many brotherhoods have broken away, and we have been trying to re-establish contact with them for some time now..."

"Have you made contact?"

"Only four or five out of ten can be contacted; the rest either pretend not to know them, make excuses, or simply disappear."

Armand actually had a general understanding of what Guillermo del Toro had said.

In the Leia region, almost every county seat has a liaison point for the Church of God.

As for densely populated and desirable areas like Windmill Land, every larger town has a contact point there.

These contact points are often not called the Church of the Father, but rather under the name of a mendicant religious order.

However, the members of the religious order are mostly members of the Father Worshippers.

According to reports and lists submitted recently, there are currently more than thirty such contact points. As for the population affected, the number ranges from 20,000 to 600,000.

The 20,000 are registered members of the Father Worshipping Society who may not be present at crucial moments, while the 600,000 cover the various fraternities under their command.

These fraternities were composed of laborers from towns and cities of all sizes or villagers from rural areas.

They often supported each other and fought against workshop owners or plantation owners in exchange for improved living conditions.

This model is not something that no one has tried before.

Because the knights' extraordinary power was too great, they were often wiped out before they could even coordinate their attacks.

The reason it's working now boils down to one thing—Horn delivered the seeds of divine favor and the clockwork gun.

After rational criticism was replaced with physical criticism, the landowners became much more obedient.

In addition, several civil wars in Leia, as well as the war with Horn, have depleted the power of the nobility.

They had no choice but to compromise.

However, this fraternity structure is quite loose, to an unbelievable degree.

Often, after achieving a small victory, the fraternity members would cheer and disband on their own.

This is also a problem that Guillermo del Toro has been struggling with.

It seems that in the eyes of farmers and laborers, the Worship of the Father is like a tool they use and then discard.

Not to mention that the Brotherhood sometimes betrayed the Fathers, which made Guillermo del Toro so angry that his heart ached.

“Life here on the Golden Plains is far too comfortable, unlike the barren borderlands,” Armand remarked.

Armand used a very apt metaphor for the Worship of the Fathers in the Leia region: a fish in the Sea of ​​Zealand called the "King Fish".

This type of kingfish is not large and has no scales.

But it can attract other small fish to attach themselves, pretending to be a colorful big fish to scare away enemies.

When a truly powerful enemy arrives, the other smaller fish will scatter, leaving the king fish alone to face the enemy.

This is the situation of the Father Worshippers in the Leia region.

This perfectly illustrates the proverb Horn wrote for Armand: "To grow big is not to grow strong, and to start something new is not to achieve greatness."

“You’ve done a great job lately, but you’ve also taken a lot of risks.” Armand walked around the table and kindly picked up the teacup that Guillermo had placed on the flowerpot stand. “Milk or sugar?”

"Milk bar."

Armand poured Guillermo del Toro a cup of coffee, but stayed by the door, peeking through the crack at the argument in the living room.

"Lord Richelieu, would you like to stop them?"

"Me?" Armand waved his hand. "There's no need for that, and it's unnecessary. There's a reason why they're arguing like this."

The Holy See fell, the Triple Crown was lost, but everyone continued eating and drinking as usual, seemingly without any impact.

But this is only because the empire is too large; it will take some time for ripples to develop into a raging storm.

In fact, people have gradually realized that Lemington was one, and Swensen was another.

They were all low-ranking monks who, despite spending their lives in the church and religious order, remained detached from worldly affairs.

In other words, they were not highly institutionalized, so they were all sensitive to changes.

The Holy See, which had suppressed thought, weighed heavily on progressive clergy, and monopolized all the right to interpret scripture, has vanished.

So far, there are no signs of reconstruction.

Many people in the theological community have not yet realized this.

When the golden dome of the cathedral in the Holy See collapsed, no more witchers from the Inquisition came knocking on their door when they made their so-called "heresy remarks."

A huge vacuum has appeared above the imperial theological community.

If the Church is right, why did the Pope despair to the point of suicide? Why did the Holy See fall while God remained indifferent?
The monks continued to live and think as before, keeping their heads down and refusing to look at that vacuum.

However, there were still brave individuals, such as Lemingston and Swensen, who dared to raise their heads and prepare to reform the original church.

It was called a reform, but it was also a backlash after three hundred years of the church suppressing thought.

On the sacred tree in the Garden of Eden, the forbidden fruit, which the church had once forbidden to pick, was now laid out openly before the priests, open for them to take.

Whoever can fill this enormous vacuum at this moment will become the mainstream of theology for the next few hundred years.

Everyone can see that from the first Battle of Windmill Land thirty or forty years ago, to the second Battle of Thousand Rivers Valley, and now to the second Battle of Windmill Land.

Next, the previously balanced imperial power structure completely collapsed, and the religious world collapsed along with it.

Whoever seizes the opportunity first will be the next living saint.

At this point in the explanation, Guillaume seemed to grasp the meaning: "So, Father Lemingston and the others..."

"Don't think that those who agree with His Majesty's actions are close to the Holy Alliance, nor that those who oppose the Sixth Grand Council are alienated from the Holy Alliance." Armand said with a faint smile, closing the door and shutting out the noise.

"Won't this cause a split within the Holy Path Sect?"

"Splitting is the fate of sects. Don't think that the Holy Alliance's successful experience can be applied to all places." Taking a sip of coffee, Armand's voice even carried a hint of laziness. "Revolution can't be formulaic; they have to figure out their own formula."

Our most urgent task is to first refute the theocratic doctrine.

Armand put down his teacup and noticed that Guillermo del Toro kept glancing towards the door, seemingly ignoring what he was saying. Armand simply smiled indifferently.

Do you care about them?

"Huh?" Giel finally realized, "These Holy Path monks are, after all, the leaders of the monks, so they must be very important."

“Do you know? I provide His Majesty Horn with three lists every year.” Armand pointed to the people outside the door. “Some of them are on the second list, and some are on the third list.”

And you, my friend, you're on the first list.

"I?"

"Hmm." Armand wasn't just making empty promises to Guillermo del Toro; it was simply the truth.

Coincidentally, the three Oleigh brothers were listed in the first, second, and third of the three lists of key talents to be cultivated.

"Why? I didn't make a greater contribution than them."

Armand didn't answer, but smiled mysteriously: "Starting tomorrow, you will relinquish all your duties in the Church of the Fathers and undergo military training with Todd, a fellow believer from the Holy Alliance..."

"what?"

"Hehe, I haven't finished yet. Afterwards, you will receive a batch of Holy Favor Seeds and Clockwork Guns. You will need to form a small team to specifically target the wicked estate managers and stewards..."

"me?"

"In early September, I will take you with me to Red Leaf Hill, along with Grand Justices Cuevalin and Hadius, to participate in this Grand Council. You will meet His Majesty Horn there..."

“Early September?” Giel repeated.

“Yes, early September,” Armand replied calmly. “You will see His Majesty Horn there.”

(End of this chapter)