When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

Chapter 1058 War begins with greed, but will not end with fear.

Horn looked with great interest at the citizens in front of him, who were dressed in silk robes with tassels.

To be honest, the rise of the urban class in Thousand River Valley is relatively recent, at most thirty to fifty years, or one or two generations.

Comparatively speaking, a distinct civic culture has not yet developed.

Their clothing is often not much different from that of farmers, except that the fabric and tailoring are better.

But Bradak is different; it has the unique culture and clothing customs of Leia, a long-established and wealthy city.

He tied a lock of hair with silk, curled it with a tin can filled with charcoal, applied a thick layer of lead powder to his face, and wore wooden Elian fake ears.

This attire, in front of Horn, who had truly seen the wealthy merchants and nobles of the empire, made him feel like a theatrical character who was "pretending but not quite right."

He couldn't help but want to laugh, but he could only try his best to hold it in.

No, you can't laugh yet.

As an envoy sent by the Five Cities Alliance of Dawn Island, Bradak stood before Horn, both cautious and eloquent.

He hunched slightly, one hand behind his back and the other on his chest, delivering his speech while glancing around to observe the expressions of the others.

In this office, Horn sat at the head of the table, flanked by Jeanne and Carrie.

On either side were Sisi and Alfonso, the Permanent Secretary of the Evangelical Fellowship.

After all, Evangelist Busak is currently still doing business and diplomacy in Norn, and most affairs are being handled by Alfonso, a scholar who graduated from the Faculty of Administration at King's University Riverside.

This is Senius's student, who has already joined the Worship of the Father.

Bradak, a graduate of Longbow University, was naturally somewhat envious at this moment.

However, he did not lose his composure because of this; instead, he spoke even more enthusiastically.

He could clearly see that the several important figures were still quite mild-mannered, smiling and nodding.

Despite holding the highest authority, Saint Sun Horn had a serious expression, revealing no emotion whatsoever, and seemed to harbor some underlying dissatisfaction.

It's worth noting that he was a renowned debater and orator back in his hometown of Changgongbao.

I don't know why, but even though my speech was so moving, why...

Could it be because he accidentally mingled with the Kingdom of Fran yesterday?

"Alright, I understand what you mean." After receiving the signal from Horn, Sisi spoke first, "What is the Five Cities Alliance's view on this war?"

"This is not a war, it's just that we stand up to expel the greedy bishops and then invite the new pope to send new bishops."

As he spoke, Bradak kept glancing at Horn, who was sitting at the head of the table.

“This is war.” Sisi bluntly exposed her true intentions. Since they were going to settle accounts, the clearer the better. “And your goal in this war is to rid yourself of the Regent of Leia’s exorbitant city taxes, isn’t it?”

Bradak fell silent; he couldn't deny it.

After the Second War of Windmills ended and the Holy Throne City was lost, the entire Kingdom of Leia was in turmoil.

Leia, which once rivaled Fran, has fallen into total financial bankruptcy after three consecutive wars: the Civil War, the War of the Thousand Rivers, and the War of the Windmills.

In particular, certain short and long positions in some countries took advantage of the administrative chaos in the Kingdom of Leia to reap huge profits and drain Leia dry.

As for Duke Omes, who was the regent, this was the first time he had been troubled by money.

The fact that the Thorn Garden family always takes money to subsidize Leia's huge financial deficit has caused resentment among many local nobles.

But who can Duke Omes turn to for justice?
The windmill field is gone, the kingdom is imprisoned, and over 70,000 of their own treasury funds were deducted to cover the public fund deficit.

Being a king is actually poorer than being a duke!

One of Leia's greatest sources of wealth, the maritime trade of Windmill Land and the local city's tax revenue, were taken away.

Unfortunately, Windmill Land is a major creditor of the Kingdom of Leia. Now that the debt has been transferred to the hands of the Francans, they can no longer play the trick of "killing the creditor if the debt cannot be repaid".

With deficits in all directions, the Regent had no choice but to target the few remaining cities within his territory. These free cities were often originally protected by the church or high-ranking nobles.

The powerful nobles are temporarily untouchable, but the cities that were originally under the jurisdiction of the church may not be so.

The Holy See has fallen, the Temple Knights are almost all dead, and the bishops are completely under Duke Omes's control.

To preserve their wealth and status, the bishops had no choice but to levy taxes with all their might to supply Leia's terrible loopholes—

They not only had to support Leia's own army, but also the Franzian army stationed in Leia.

Despite the extremely high taxes and the unprecedentedly weak church, some cities still chose to rebel.

Except for one on the border of Xianshidian, the other four were all on Dawn Island, so they simply formed a five-city alliance on Dawn Island.

However, according to citizens like Bradak, the current difficulty they face is that they have money but no power or legal backing.

Either the bishops of the French Church or the bishops of the Holy Alliance are invited to take over the city.

Given the reputation of the French bishops as the "Penabler Legion," the Five Cities Alliance preferred to invite the more incorruptible Holy Alliance to take charge.

"Is the Holy Alliance unwilling to support her fellow believers?" Bradak's words couldn't help but carry a hint of resentment and disbelief.

According to the Holy Alliance's narrative, it is only natural for them to come and help them.

Judging from this, they are actually unwilling to send troops?
"If you want the Holy Alliance to send bishops, the Holy Alliance can certainly do so."

After Sisi finished playing the bad cop, Alfonso followed suit and started playing the good cop. He smiled and said to Bradak, "Not only that, we can also exempt you from city taxes for the next three years."

The taxes collected by your city hall or city council are entirely at your disposal.

"Really?" Bradak's eyes were brighter than the fluorescent light from last night.

“Of course.” Alfonso elegantly picked up his coffee and took a sip. “We can also provide you with a batch of cheap grains and a certain amount of spices and sugar quotas.”

In addition, there will be weapons and armor, and Holy Alliance officers will be sent to help you train your soldiers..."

“Weapons, armor, and training soldiers?” Bradak repeated the keywords Alfonso had mentioned.

Those two words stung his muscles so much they spasmed.

"Of course, you don't think that the Holy Alliance's arrival will stop Leia from retaking your cities, do you?"

"No, you can't possibly?" Bradak's naiveté made the others present want to laugh, but he still argued, "Didn't you defeat them?"

“Let’s make this assumption,” Horn coughed, speaking for the first time, “What do you think would happen if the Holy Alliance sent high-ranking monks to take over the five cities?”

"Duke Omes yielded in fear of the Holy Alliance's glorious power."

“Wrong.” Horn shook his head helplessly. “He will gather a large army and launch a fierce attack on you.”

"Why?!"

Bored, Sisi propped her face up with her fist, squeezing out a layer of tender, white, curved flesh at her cheekbone.

"From a geopolitical perspective, neither Fran, the Holy Alliance, nor Norn will take action against Leia for the time being."

Fran gained Windmill Land, and the Holy Union gained the New Five Counties and Shattered Stones. We all need to digest what we've gained.

Furthermore, the Holy Alliance's support for you could easily be misinterpreted as the Holy Alliance preparing to attack Leia.

Do you think Charles VIII would let a sure thing slip away? He would recklessly launch another war.

At that time, it will be a war between the Holy Alliance, Fran, Leia, and Norn.

Even if you seek help from Fran, the outcome will be the same; they won't take that risk.

Wars begin with greed, but they don't end with fear. Can you bear that responsibility?

　PS sneak attack!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)