When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

Chapter 1140 The Romantic Values ​​of the Holy Alliance
This is a real headache.

Horn put down the newspaper, a strange expression on his face that was hard to describe, a mixture of helplessness and amusement.

"This Harkin is something else; he managed to win over this high-class beauty, this little mushroom."

"Is that the point?" Catherine asked, holding her coffee. "Isn't the point the Krabby Patty King and the Hot Springs cannery?"

Although the four members of the Parak group were the ones who proposed the project, it was actually Catherine who brought it together.

The Krabby Patty is actually an important part of the Holy Alliance's strategy in Norn, and this Krabby Patty Lord, Spongi, is one of the few Norn Lords who is friendly to the Holy Alliance.

The reason for the friendship with the Holy Alliance is not only because it was not robbed by Moriat's Cyclist back then, but also because of her youngest daughter, Theodora.

Theodora was the youngest daughter of the first wife of the Great Khan Spongi, and was considered the prince's darling.

Later, when the Great Khan was hunting, he accidentally shot Theodora, which caused Theodora's illness and back pain.

This made the king feel even more guilty and doting on his youngest daughter.

Later, the Holy Alliance cured Theodora's illness, which gave the Great Lord a natural affinity for the Holy Alliance.

Furthermore, they repeatedly disregarded the opposition of their allies and sided with the Holy Alliance, placing numerous orders with them.

The agricultural revolution within his territory was not initiated by him, but rather initiated after he passively received it.

"Where is the Great King now?"

“He will stay near Vicente Pass and say that he will never set foot in the Holy Alliance unless they give him an explanation.”

The four people at the cafeteria table were all distressed, and the Great King's anger was actually understandable.

Leaving aside the grudges and wars between dwarves and Norn, the union of a dwarf and a noblewoman is already quite rare.

To be precise, excluding those noblewomen from fallen noble families, there are zero cases of noblewomen from still prosperous families marrying dwarves.

not a single one.

The king was so angry not only because his beloved daughter had been stolen, but also because her husband was likely a dwarf.

Even ordinary people? Even ordinary people who are just as short would be fine.

This must be a huge blow to the reputation of the Krabby Patty family.

In the context of the Holy Alliance, this Great Lord's friendship is actually quite important.

Because he is the window through which the Holy Alliance connects to the Kingdom of Norn.

Geographical books of the empire often describe the Kingdom of Norn as a place of constant warfare and sparse population.

However, as Bussack traveled and investigated in Norn, Horn discovered that this claim was actually quite wrong.

Indeed, the Kingdom of Norn is stereotypically plagued by constant warfare.

However, their constant warfare was not on the same scale as Leia's constant warfare.

The great battle of Leia involved hundreds of thousands of soldiers, auxiliary troops, and laborers, lasting for five or six years and displacing hundreds of thousands, even millions, of people.

The Norn Kingdom is too loosely organized. A major battle may seem to involve many people, but it is often just a small-scale, short-term battle involving only a few thousand people.

After a battle, more than a dozen kings were involved, and the number of casualties was in the hundreds.

If you ask why, it might just be for a small village on the border, a small pond, or even a large beehive.

As for the so-called vast land with sparse population, it has a kind of beauty that combines statistics and journalism.

The three kingdoms are side by side, and the areas of Leia and Fran seem to be about the same, so Norn seems to be about the same size as them.

But the truth is, the three major territories of the Norn Kingdom, north and south, are larger than the combined territories of Bilja and Fran.

The term "sparsely populated" is calculated by dividing the population by the land area.

However, there are also problems. First, both the Southern Norn and the Northern Norn have vast nominal territories to occupy.

The southern Norn are surrounded by the South Sea Mountains, while the northern Norn have vast grasslands. The Norn people only have a few castles and settlements along key roads.

The map has expanded its territory.

The actual area inhabited by Norn is much smaller than the map shows.

In addition, sparse populations are full of statistical charm, because they only count the taxable population on the lord's land.

But the truth is that the Norn is a semi-tribal, semi-feudal state, and there are still a large number of Norn tribes in the vast Norn lands.

The savage group that Alexei previously referred to was the Norn Commune tribe, which had not yet been feudalized.

Of course, with the development of civilization, these Norn tribes formed land communes and local clans.

Currently, a large number of Norn Highlords are also constantly annexing the lands of these Norn tribes.

As the saying goes, if you're heading in the wrong direction, the more you go, the more wrong you become.

The three kingdoms were dominated by nobles, so the more centralized the power, the more unsatisfactory the lives of the people became.

France introduced emerging industrial and commercial forces such as the new nobility and merchants, which increased productivity, expanded the pie, increased the denominator, and made the numerator of high taxes seem insignificant.

The Norn are the opposite; if the denominator is insufficient, then the numerator is reduced, so the Norn people's standard of living is not bad.

Why do the Leia people have the lowest standard of living?
Because its cuisine is just right, it cannot attract industrial and commercial aristocrats, nor can it decentralize power like Norn.

It effectively eliminated both major drawbacks at once; otherwise, why would Horn have said that Leia was the weakest link?

Horn has managed to open up a portion of the market in Fran, while Bussack is still expanding the market in Norn.

In fact, the Norn people have considerable purchasing power; they just don't have a unified market.

Moreover, the Holy Alliance needs to obtain many of its raw materials, including iron ore and paint, and even its processes, from Norn.

Fran and Leia can't produce everything; they sometimes have to import from Norn. Petit put down his fork, took a sip of water to clean his mouth in case food scraps landed on Horn's face and body, before speaking: "Your Majesty, you may order Halkin to break up with Theodora."

“Why?” Catherine, who had been drinking coffee, immediately looked up and retorted, “Can’t the Holy Alliance even protect the freedom of its own believers? Isn’t that a violation of the Holy Alliance’s principles?”

“Your Highness, is it worth it to affect the livelihoods of tens of thousands of people because of the affairs of these two people?” Petit asked fearlessly.

Catherine squinted at Petit for a moment, then suddenly turned to Sissi: "Sissi, what do you think?"

Sisi remained calm and composed, slowly taking a sip of her coffee and smiling at the two of them.

One minute later.

"Actually, you're out of options, so all you can do is smile and face it, right?"

"...Your Majesty understands me so well."

Horn chuckled: "What do you think of Halkin?"

“He’s a smart and reliable dwarf, and he’s done a great job in both the Commerce Department and the Industry Department.” Sisi hesitated for half a second before saying what she had originally intended to say, “I was originally planning to promote him to Permanent Undersecretary…”

The permanent secretaries of the various courts of the Holy Alliance can basically be seen as the successors of the cardinals, and the power of nomination is held only by the cardinals of the court.

Sisi meant that she wanted to give Halkin the status of a prospective cardinal.

This makes sense, since Harkin joined during the reign of Jeanne d'Or, and he had also fought in the Battle of the Bridge.

He barely qualifies as a second-generation veteran player.

Whether from the Holy Alliance's political standpoint or Horn's own heart, it's best not to break up this marriage.

However, if it gets entangled in the feud between dwarves and humans, as well as racial discrimination and religious issues, it will probably be difficult to deal with.

Many people share Catherine's views, and many others share Petit's views.

However, the problem is that this is very likely to cause discrimination against different races, especially between those who are already extraordinary and those who are later extraordinary, as well as between beastmen.

Horn's rhetoric on the issue of discrimination against people of different races and those of extraordinary abilities is loud, but the implicit discrimination against both is ubiquitous.

This is indeed a problem that will take several generations to resolve, and he doesn't want to detonate this bomb yet.

Therefore, this matter must be steered away from the issue of racial discrimination and towards other issues.

“My idea is to take a two-pronged approach.” Horn wiped his mouth with a napkin. “First, have Carrie give him a grand welcome.”

Carrie has the blood of the former King Norn, and Grand Duke Antoine had a good relationship with the former Lord of Crab Castle; otherwise, Carrie's raiding cavalry wouldn't have bypassed Crab Castle on its own.

Carrie is a cardinal of the Holy Alliance, and also a saintess and purification chief. This level is enough to show the sincerity of our Holy Alliance.

If he truly wants to cooperate, he will accept this sincerity.

"What if he's not genuinely cooperating?" Sisi asked, frowning.

Horn shrugged: "The Krabby Patty King is a nice guy, spends money like water, has a wide circle of friends, but is incompetent."

The Krabby Patty's current prosperity is managed by Theodora's brother, Bob the eldest son of Scone.

According to Cheka's investigation, he is the one in charge of the Krabby Patty business, and he will not allow his father to interfere with this collaboration.

Sibangqi was also afraid that his son would cut off his allowance; this was just a tantrum. As long as we gave him enough face, he wouldn't really refuse.

"What about the second method?"

“Then the Court of Truth will have to step in. They need to guide public opinion and turn racial discrimination into romanticism.” Horn snapped his fingers. “Simply put, the Holy Alliance people hate nobles more than they hate other races.”

If we were to manipulate public opinion in the newspapers and distort the issue of heterosexuality into a story of "a noblewoman falling in love with a poor boy who becomes a high-ranking monk, only to be suppressed by her aristocratic father and forced to break up," it would be disastrous.

Then, add some dramas, plays, and novels to flood social media; events brimming with romanticism and drama are very eye-catching.

We need to transform this from a social issue into a domestic matter for the Krabby Patty owner, and not involve it in the current project.

Equality is a major issue in the Holy Alliance, and the love story between the poor dwarf and the noble, wealthy human is quite contrasting.

For the believers of the Holy Alliance, they are a perfect fit to be like Harkin.

I couldn't overcome the class divide before, so you wouldn't let my daughter marry me.

Now that I've crossed the class barrier, and you still won't let me, then what's the point of my crossing?

Having both come from poor backgrounds, they would definitely support Harkin.

This kind of love that transcends everything, coupled with the father's interference in their relationship, is incredibly melodramatic.

It can even help export the values ​​of the Holy Alliance, so why not?

"Since this is a family matter, it's naturally left for them to handle themselves. What business is it of ours?"

The three of them were taken aback, then immediately understood.

The meaning of "Saint Sun" is very clear—to cut ties and shift blame.

The Holy Alliance has provided you with protection, Halkin. If you have the guts, go and keep Theodora in the Holy Alliance.

Anyway, the Holy Alliance itself won't interfere.

As the saying goes, even an upright official finds it difficult to settle family disputes. As long as this matter is separated from the economic development of Shenglian, no one will be willing to get involved casually.

With the sound of chairs being pushed and pulled, Horn stood up: "Alright, let's leave it at that for now."

I'll go inspect the expo site first, then I'll have Madeleine come to my office later.

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

(End of this chapter)