After detaining the fleeing cardinal, Archbishop Rodriguez did something very, very strange.
War is a heavy burden for most countries, and because of this, few countries have established their own standing armies so far. As we all know, in March of this year, Roland just experienced a large-scale naval battle, and it has only been a few months since the naval battle ended.
Although it is not uncommon to be involved in wars all year round if you meet an ambitious monarch, if you do that, the huge military expenditure will first be passed on to the people.
Of course, Queen Roland does not want to add to the burden on the people who have just improved a bit, so this time the military expenses for fighting Xiul can only be obtained from the royal family or other places. If you really want to say it, the queen is indeed able to spend a sum of money to support this war now. The decisive battle at sea that just ended a while ago severely damaged the vitality of Yager and its own commercial city, so they had to sign a contract to support the war. A treaty based on the will of Roland and Root.
Through those treaties, the Roland Empire put a huge sum of money into the treasury just for war reparations.
—In a sense, for the victor, war is a commercial activity with high risks but equally lucrative profits.
But these rewards from the Armageddon were to be used to further build the navy, develop the textile industry, and promote imperial commerce and agriculture, not to be wasted on bloody wars with the heretics.
In view of this, the military expenditure of the Roland Empire this time naturally has another source...
Since the queen summoned the army this time and entered the Papal State to recover the holy city, it was to protect the servants of God. Since the military activities were carried out for the church, it is only natural that the corresponding military expenses should be borne by the church—at this time, the wealth that Roland had just obtained from Yager and the free commercial city was suddenly forgotten.
"brazen!"
Hearing the series of requests made by Archbishop Rodri, the cardinals jumped up like cats whose tails had been stepped on.
"I don't think it's a big deal,"
Archbishop Rodri replied calmly.
His cheeks were thin, so the lines of his facial bones were distinct and sharp, and his lips were straight and severe. For the cardinals of the Rhone City Church, this was actually not an unfamiliar face.
Basically, the cardinals all know Archbishop Rodri.
For one thing, the Roland Empire is one of the largest archdiocese under the church. Archbishop Rodri's real teaching title is "Gelt Archbishop". church affairs. The head of each archdiocese is generally held concurrently by a cardinal. This is also the case for Archbishop Rodrik. Once he leaves the Roland Empire and returns to the Pope, his status will automatically resume as a cardinal—at the same time, when the Pope dies, he will Also has the qualifications to run for Pope.
Secondly, Archbishop Rodrik spent quite some time in the Holy City. His late mentor was once the head of the Church's Inquisition. In addition to Roland's University, he also studied at St. John's Theological Seminary in the Holy City. He graduated with exceptional honors and is a theological genius who has attracted much attention. If he hadn't returned to Roland with his mentor, he would most likely be the leading bishop of the College of Cardinals now.
When Archbishop Rodri left the holy city, many of the cardinals present breathed a sigh of relief.
After several years, these people re-felt the sense of oppression that was once thought to be the youngest pope, and this sense of oppression was stronger and more difficult than before—I don’t know if it was their illusion, but today’s Archbishop Rodrigo shattered some principles thoroughly.
Hell, Archbishop Rodriguez wasn't so unscrupulous and brazen!
"In the history of the church, there have been three expeditions to the Holy Land so far. Since 1137, the church has agreed to use taxes and tribute as the payment for the expeditionary army. I think there is no difference between these two times. Roland sent troops to recover the city of Rhone, and the same It is the will of the church to fight against heretics, so the church should provide the military salary." Archbishop Rodri's bony fingers were intertwined, and the brass cross hanging in front of the black cassock cast a cold color in the firelight.
What he said was well-founded, and at first glance it seemed reasonable.
——If everyone is not clear, Roland sent troops because the Pope is close to Roland, and Queen Roland's kingship is closely related to "God's Blessing".
"Of course, considering that tax collection will take some time and repelling the heretics is imminent, Her Majesty the Queen is willing to let the royal family pay for the military expenses first." Archbishop Rodri turned a blind eye to the faces of the cardinals swallowing flies, and only stated the facts Tone continued, "However, in order to avoid unnecessary troubles and misunderstandings, Your Majesty and I hope that you will jointly draft a document on taxation of clergy."
Archbishop Rodri paused for a moment, his blade-like cold eyes glanced over the faces of every cardinal.
"—In view of the unfortunate death of the Holy Father, the post of Pope is temporarily vacant."
He said "unfortunately killed" in a low and slow manner, and the expressions of all the people present changed a little.
"please."
Archbishop Rodri gestured, and the jewel buttons on the cuffs of the black cassock reflected a flickering light with the movement of his wrist.
After a moment of silence, the cardinals exchanged glances with each other.
Finally someone said:
"We can agree to these," the man's eyes flickered, "correspondingly, we also have a request."
……………
"So, they want to stay in the Arcana region, and they won't go back until the war is over and the Holy City is recovered?" After reading Archbishop Rodri's letter, the Queen couldn't help but sneered, "It seems that our These cardinals are far more concerned about their own safety than they are about God."
"I wish you could learn from them."
Mrs. Carey replied that they were all sitting in a moving carriage, and the light was constantly changing through the half-opened windows.
"As far as this matter is concerned, I want to support Mr. Dalton. You should stay in Gelt City instead of another personal expedition. I thought the sea of heaven was enough for you to understand that swords have no eyes?"
"Good Kelly," cried the Queen in capitulation, "you know I must come."
Mrs. Kelly was speechless.
Just like what the queen said, in the decisive battle in the sea of heaven, it is imperative for the queen to step on the warship herself, and it is also necessary for her to lead the army this time. On the one hand, it is the duty of the monarch of this era to lead the army. On the other hand, as Orsis predicted, the queen with the name of "God's Blessing" had no choice but to go out in person after the fall of the holy city.
"This is a double-edged sword." The Queen's attitude was very peaceful. "Since I borrowed the majesty of God to forge my own authority, then maintaining it has become what I have to do. In five years, ten years In 2010, I do have the strength to ignore its other side of the sword, but at least for now, I still can't, I still have to play the role of a chosen one. Moreover, I don't want me to leave the army Too far away, which is not a good thing."
"You are always right."
Mrs. Kelly complained softly.
Her objection was justifiable, after all, in the decisive battle of the Sea of Heaven, the Queen personally participated in the battle, showing remarkable skills and achieving admirable results. But it was not without cost. The queen also suffered some injuries, although they were very light, but healed up quickly. Under the queen's intentional cover-up, few people even found out.
But this obviously left a lot of psychological shadow on Mrs. Kelly.
"Well, my dear Kelly," said the Queen, "and, don't I not want you to come with me?"
"What are you talking about?" Mrs. Kelly gave her a reproachful look. "As your head maid, this is my duty."
"That's my duty, too."
The queen smiled, lowered her head, and began to write a reply to Archbishop Rodri.
Roland was not unprepared for the need to send troops to the Papal State—to put it mildly, almost all countries close to the Papal State were already mentally prepared when the Xiulers took action. Just like the Root Empire was able to quickly intercept Dong Ule's reinforcements, the Roland Empire actually did something in advance, but before that, it was more of a spectator state.
Everyone is fully aware that they are waiting for the moment when the church, this ancient and huge empire, will collapse.
Essence is like a hyena.
The old religious empire was only a sign of its fall, and the hyenas couldn't wait to surround it, waiting to eat its corpse.
Sometimes, the queen really felt that the world itself was cruel and bloody.
But like the old religious empire, even if it is eaten, there is nothing to mourn.
"I don't know if I should advise you not to work on the car."
Mrs Kelly said.
It is true that the queen's carriage was specially designed to be spacious enough to hold an impromptu small meeting of several people, and even brought a small table. However, it is always easy to get tired when dealing with official business during the itinerary, and the Queen is... alas, when she can rest early as Mrs. Kelly wishes.
However, there are so many things that the queen needs to deal with every day. Marching would have wasted a lot of time that originally belonged to the queen's work in a day.
"Rodri has done more things in the Papal State than expected." The queen skillfully avoided Mrs. Kelly's admonition and said instead.
Archbishop Rodrik was ordered to arrive in the Papal State before the naval battle.
The queen did not give too many instructions and restrictions on his specific actions. For the sake of concealment, he did not bring the main force of the Templar Knights with him, and the target of his action can be said to be unexpected even by the cardinal who was most familiar with him before.
In 1557, after Michel was burned on the stake by St. Telefus II for "Blood Circulation and Rediscussion Doctrine", Michel's friend Willenart and supporters of Rediscussion Doctrine secretly established Started a secret organization. This secret organization was supposed to be in danger at the beginning of 1558 because of the arrest of Willenath, but at that time Archbishop Rodri rescued Willenath one step ahead of time, and created the secret organization that was later named "Bezarda faction". The organization provided the necessary financial and personnel support.
As the middle of this year, St. Trefus II's "Returning to Cleansing Movement" became more and more extreme and radical, and those who opposed to interpreting the scriptures with his interpretation gradually joined the "Bezarda faction" secretly.
Before the naval battle, Archbishop Rodri left the Roland Empire after dealing with the wartime monopoly of East Berkeley merchants. After secretly arriving in the Papal State, he quickly accepted the entire "Bezarda faction" organization. After being taken over by an experienced intelligence leader and knowledgeable theologian like Archbishop Rodri, the Bezarda faction quickly perfected its propositions and quickly became more organized.
Since then, some things that happened in the Pope's country have the shadow of Archbishop Rodri behind them.
He promoted the dissemination of Michel's works in the Holy City, the heart of the Papal State, and when King John VI of Jager openly sued St. Trefus II for persecuting believers, he wrote an alias to defend Michel. And accuse John VI of the book: "In Defense of Michel".
In this book, Archbishop Rodri sharply pointed out many problems in the Michel case with the rigorous logic of a judicial trial. From the crimes committed by Michel to the laws under which St. Telefus II and the Inquisition were judged, he made a sharp and irrefutable explanation one by one. Finally, he presents the most unacceptable point of view for St. Trefus II—a view that is now recognized as "Bezardaism"—that "the Church has no right to punish differences of thought. .”
When "In the Defense of Michel" was circulated, it was recognized by many educated people under the influence of the ideological confusion caused by the prosecution of the Pope by King John VI of Jager with the secret assistance of Prince Arthur.
This directly questioned and affected St. Telefus II's papal authority. For this reason, he had to adopt more radical measures to promote the "purification movement". In order to win people's recognition and restore their reputation in the shortest possible time, the "Cleansing Movement" launched this time had to directly touch the interests of the clergy—to investigate bribery and corruption.
From this point of view, the intensification of the conflict between St. Trefus II and the College of Cardinals was promoted by Archbishop Rodri.
Archbishop Rodriguez could be regarded as one of the masterminds behind the death of St. Trefus II.
The only thing that was a bit unexpected was that St. Trefus II died earlier than expected, which made the actions of the Roland Empire a bit hasty. Fortunately, after Archbishop Rodrik received the news of the fall of the holy city, he immediately intercepted and detained most of the cardinals, stabilizing the general situation.
Considering the disparity in military power between the two sides, Archbishop Rodrik did not rush to confront the Xiuler army head-on, but chose to guard several major military fortresses. At the same time, in the name of the College of Cardinals, temporarily execute the power of the Holy See, so that people will not panic too much.
Fortunately, after the Xiulers captured the holy city, they stopped advancing and had no intention of continuing to attack the city. The remaining scattered troops seemed to be gradually gathering.
It may seem a bit strange, but it is not difficult to understand.
For pagans and believers, the most important city of the Papal States is the holy city. Once the spiritual banner of the Holy City is won, at this stage, Siul can almost claim to have won the entire Papal State. Next, if they want to gain more benefits, they only need to stick to the holy city. Countries like Roland that need to resist the heretics will naturally come to recover the holy city. In addition, the time when the Xiul army attacked the Papal State was a little earlier than when Roland and Jager were still standing between the official outbreak, almost throughout the entire combat season, and now the soldiers are already very tired, no matter what to do next To attack, or to demand a ransom and back off, needs a place to fix things.
Thinking, the queen finished writing the letter to Archbishop Rodri.
Just as she was about to affix the seal, there was the sound of a horse's hooves, next to the queen's driving.
Then, the half-open window was knocked rhythmically.
The queen turned to look.
Dalton rode his horse and walked beside the car, leaned over and knocked on the Queen's car window. His fingers are long and slender, with well-defined joints, calluses on the joints holding the gun and the tiger's mouth, as if there is a smell of gunpowder that will never dissipate, but the ups and downs of the wrist bones are beautiful, and the muscles of the forearm that are exposed at the cuff are smooth and beautiful.
Seeing the queen turn her head, Dalton handed her something over the gilded window frame.
The burgundy petals are very deep in color, gorgeous and thick like silk, the lining leaves are dark green, the branches are long and slender, and the thorns on them have been carefully removed.
It was a rose.
At the end of autumn and early winter, the last rose.