"Your Highness, I don't think we should allow these despicable priests to enter our family territory and build shrines to confuse the ignorant people. These people who claim to be the representatives and worshippers of the gods are actually just a bunch of vultures and greedy jackals chasing after wealth. Wherever there is wealth, they will swarm there and use the name of the gods to plunder the wealth of the believers. They have even joined forces to resist the rule of the lords. So, I think we should not let the temple emissaries from Morent City build shrines in our family territory, lest they become too big. "
The one who strongly opposed was Viscount Hickard, the governor of Makinohara Province, who had received a notice to participate in the conference on whether the shrines should be allowed to preach in the north. He was originally a trainee teacher at the imperial capital's Maupassant Academy. Later, due to the chaos of war, he fled to Syrovas Island and became the secretary of White Bird Town. After Leurist recovered Syrovas Island, he naturally joined the Norton family and rose to the position of governor with his excellent administrative ability.
Everyone knew that when the Chrison Empire was at its peak, the emperors of the Chrison royal family had never given any temple any face. When Chrison IV was in power, messengers from various shrines went to see him, hoping to be allowed to divide an area in the imperial capital to build shrines. In the end, they were flatly refused by Chrison IV.
Chrison IV's answer was that the empire was founded by his ancestors with the sword in his hand, and it had nothing to do with the gods. He had only heard that warriors would pray to the gods they believed in before the war, but he had never heard that the gods' protection would only come after the victory. So, rather than believing in the gods, it was better to believe in the sword in one's hand. At least, one's life and death would be in one's hands.
Chrison IV rejected the request to build shrines in the imperial capital, only allowing a few shrines to build shrines in the outskirts of the imperial capital. For example, the War God Temple, the Temple of Knowledge and Wisdom, the Temple of Mother Earth, the Silvermoon Goddess Temple, and so on. Because the royal family of the Chrison clearly did not support non-believers, most of the people in the imperial capital were non-believers. They were the kind of people who would go to the shrines if they had something to do, and pretend that they didn't see them if they didn't. Therefore, these shrines couldn't develop in the imperial capital, and could only barely maintain themselves. After the war ended, most of them returned to Moronte City.
Mopper College, which was used to train the grassroots and junior bureaucrats of the Crimson Kingdom, had always followed the footsteps of the Crimson Kingdom's royal family. Therefore, most of the students and teachers were opposed to the Temples. They believed that the Temples would increase the number of variables in the territories under their jurisdiction, especially because they were easy to mislead and hold the people hostage, thus opposing the legitimate rights and interests of the lords. Therefore, Governor Hickard's firm opposition to the construction of shrines in the territory of the family was clear at a glance.
Fatty Shi stood up and made a speech. He believed that it was inevitable for the family to face the spying and infiltration of those shrines after the family turned Moronte City into a wholesale market and transfer center for the commodities and goods produced in the family territory. Just as Governor Hickard had said, the Norton Family's territory had a large population, developed commerce, and rich people. In the eyes of the Temples, the Norton Family's territory was a big fat piece of meat. Those sanctimonious Temple bishops and priests would not give up on their goals.
In terms of strength and armed forces, the Temples were no threat to the Norton Family. But it was worth noting that these shrines were adept at playing with people's hearts. If the family openly forbade these shrines from preaching to the people in the family's territory, then these shrines would only bring more trouble to the family's rule. Today, there were more than three million people in the north, and there were nearly sixty towns of a moderate size. In addition, most of the people were refugees who had been forced to migrate. Although the Norton Family had given them a stable and rich life, it was still a short time, and the people's hearts had not truly belonged to the Norton Family.
Fatty Shi's opinion was that the Norton Family was currently supporting the Freedom Alliance, and the Temples were also a powerful faction in the Freedom Alliance. It was easy to reject the Temples' request, but the consequence was that they would become enemies with the Temples and form a faction in the Freedom Alliance that opposed the Norton Family. It would be a hindrance to the Norton Family's future actions and strategies in Moronte City.
Therefore, Fatty Shi's opinion was that they could agree to the Temples' request to build Temples in the family territory, but they had to implement effective supervision and control of the Temples. This way, not only could they obtain the support of the Temples in the Freedom Alliance's ruling parliament, they could also effectively appease the people in the family territory and reduce the daily conflicts between the people in the towns. It was a good thing to kill two birds with one stone.
Director Kedan also stood up to speak. He agreed with Fatty Shi's opinion. As the person in charge of the patrol system in the family territory, he understood the current situation of the family territory very well. He informed everyone in the meeting about the criminal cases that had occurred in the family territory because of the worship of evil gods. Currently, the more than three million people in the north were refugees from various provinces of the former Christen Empire. Most of them were poor and ignorant peasants.
Although the family had set up the most basic literacy schools in every town, only a small portion of the children received primary education. The family currently did not have the ability to implement adult literacy education in the territory. Therefore, when the peasants obtained basic living security and extra harvests, they did not thank the benevolent government of the Norton Family. Instead, they thanked the various gods. This was a loophole that some swindlers and evil cultists took advantage of.
For example, a few villages in the Red River Plain near the Black Forest suddenly worshiped a Black Sorcerer God. They even held a blood sacrifice ceremony in the Black Forest on the night of the full moon. They killed a ten-year-old boy and a girl, believing that this blood sacrifice would bring them a good harvest. There was also a popular cult in the east of the north. They worshiped a god called Walis. It was said that this god was the younger brother of the Sun God, the God of Light and the God of War, Higgwa. He had immortality and the ability to turn stone into gold. He would also teach these two sacred skills to his devout followers. Some of the people in the east donated all their belongings to this evil god. Some even robbed and killed people because they did not have enough offerings.
Director Kedan said that the family territory used to be a remote and barren land. Therefore, no temple was willing to come here to preach. Back then, because the population was small and the land was vast, it did not matter whether the people had faith or not. Most of the people in the north believed in the God of War and the God of Sun. But now, it was different. The people from different places had different beliefs. There would even be disputes and fights because of the different gods they worshiped.
Just like the two evil cults mentioned above. When the family sent a patrol team to capture the leaders, they were obstructed and cursed by the believers. It almost led to a violent armed conflict. Therefore, Director Kedan thought that they should take the initiative to introduce these temples. After all, these temples worshiped the righteous gods. Their teachings had also withstood the test of time. It had an obvious positive effect on pacifying the people and preventing the invasion of the evil cults.
Director Kedan's speech made most of the Norton family's higher-ups fall into deep thought. This was indeed a new problem. People in times of war were easily satisfied. They longed for a stable and peaceful life. The Norton family gave them stability and made them rich. But now, what the people needed was spiritual satisfaction. The Norton family could not do anything about faith. Therefore, Director Kedan hoped that the family would take the initiative to welcome the temples.
Although Viscount Shredder and Director Kedan thought that it would be beneficial for the family to agree to the temple's request to preach in the family's territory, they also had to consider the drawbacks of the temples that Governor Hickard had mentioned. At present, the temples needed the Norton family's help. In order to preach in the north, they were willing to agree to some harsh requirements and conditions. However, the family also had to guard against the temples holding the people hostage or instigating them to force the family to relax their supervision of the temples after they gained a foothold in the north. In the past, some lords had quarreled with the temples in their territory because of this. They had even used force to expel the temples. These examples were all examples. Therefore, ordinary lords were very disgusted with a temple setting foot in their family territory.
Viscount Camelot believed that if the family wanted the shrines in Moronte City to enter the family's territory to build shrines and preach, they couldn't divide the shrines like they did in Moronte City. That way, they wouldn't be able to collude and form shrines. These temples should be divided into areas in the various towns of the family territory. For example, North Sea City could build the Sea God's Temple and the Wind God's Temple because these two gods were related to shipping.
The Fengle Plain, which was dominated by Nong Chen, could worship the Mother Earth Goddess and the Goddess of Harvest. The Red River Plain, which was near the Black Forest, could build the Forest Goddess's Temple and the Forest Stream Goddess's Temple. Rock Castle and Furious Bear City could be divided into the preaching area of the War God's Temple. Viscount Carmola quickly divided the more than 60 towns in the north to more than 20 gods. He said that perhaps the construction of temples in Muye Province and the eastern part of the north would be beneficial to the assimilation of the grass-barbarian tribes and the mountain barbarian tribes.
At this point in the meeting, it could be said that there was a clear answer. That was to allow the temples in Moronte City to enter the family territory to preach and build temples. Next, they discussed how to effectively supervise the temples that entered the Northern Lands. Fatty Shi said that the first rule was that no temple was allowed to oppose the policies and administrative measures implemented by the Norton family on the family territory. Any behavior that hijacked the public's opinion or instigated the public would be regarded as treason and would be mercilessly annihilated and expelled.
Director Spear hurriedly stood up. She thought that the second rule should be that no temple was allowed to collect money from the believers within the preaching area. Any believer could not offer more than a certain amount to the temple every month. Otherwise, they would have to pay a heavy tax of three times the amount. The temple also had to truthfully report the amount of money they received from the believers every month and allocate half of the money to support the poor believers and treat their illnesses and injuries.
Director Cordan said that no temple was allowed to shelter criminals or protect the enemies of the Norton family in the Norton family territory. Violators would be punished. At the same time, no temple was allowed to help the Norton family maintain the security of the territory, fight against evil cults, and settle riots peacefully. They could not use the excuse of neutrality to stand by and do nothing when the Norton family's territory was in chaos. They had to cooperate with the Norton family's patrols and investigations.
Viscount Camorra thought that every temple had to follow the preaching area of their own temple. They could not interfere with the territory of other temples, fight for believers, or slander other temples. In the process of preaching, they had to respect the freedom of belief. They could not force believers to change their beliefs or force others to do what they wanted. They could not use the free labor of believers to gain benefits for the temple.
Governor Hikde also changed his original view of refusing the temple to enter the family territory. He believed that if the temple had the power to teach the grass barbarian tribes and mountain barbarian tribes, then the family might as well reward and support the temple with funds. There were rewards for merit and punishment for mistakes. This would be fair to the temple and would also encourage them to recruit a large number of believers from the grass barbarian tribes and mountain barbarian tribes to preach the faith of the gods.
Soon, with everyone's suggestions, the eighteen regulations regarding the church's preaching within the family's territory were collected and presented to Laurist.
When Laurist looked at the eighteen supervision regulations and asked everyone which department was going to be in charge of supervising the temples, everyone realized that they had forgotten the most important point. The administrative department, the armed forces, and the internal affairs department had recommended for a long time before they felt that these departments were not suitable to supervise the temples. But if there was no department to supervise, these regulations would only be a piece of paper …
Laurist shook his head. How about this, with Viscount Shredder as the leader, Governor Hickard and Viscount Camorra as his assistants, they would go and negotiate with the temple emissaries. According to the eighteen supervision regulations, they would reach an agreement with the temples and establish a temple supervision committee in the family territory. Every temple would send a representative to the committee as a supervisor. If any of the shrines broke the rules, the Visitors' Committee could fine and confiscate the preaching area as a common case.
Any temple would have to pay a sum of money every year as the operating expenses of the supervision committee. Every supervisor's work expenses, benefits, and salary would be deducted from this sum. In addition, the position of a supervisor could be a part-time job, and it would not affect his duties in the temple. At the same time, half of the fines for the temples that violated the regulations could be used as a bonus for the investigation committee, and the other half as the operating expenses of the supervision committee. If a temple's preaching area was confiscated, then the preaching area could be voted on by the supervision committee to choose a temple to take over.
Laurist was very confident that the supervision committee he proposed would quickly become a hot commodity for the temples. These temples would no longer form an alliance to resist the supervision of the Norton Family like they did in Moronte City. Instead, they would fight endlessly to expand the area and scope of their preaching area. Of course, the Norton Family would also send a corresponding number of people into the supervision committee. Otherwise, the temple representatives in the supervision committee would probably fight to the death …
The negotiation team led by Fatty Shi and the representatives from the various temples in Moronte City went through a long and arduous negotiation. Finally, in July, the eighteen supervision regulations provided by the Norton Family were thoroughly detailed. They formulated standards to deal with all kinds of conflicts and conflicts under various circumstances. Finally, both sides reached a satisfactory agreement. From this moment on, the eighteen supervision regulations of the temple became the official law of the Norton Family territory.
For the Norton Family and the various temples, this was a win-win situation. After the Norton Family allowed the various temples to preach in their territory, they effectively pacified the citizens and used the hands of the temples to eliminate and crack down on the cults that were secretly spreading in their territory. On the other hand, the temples in Moronte City found a more suitable place to preach. The rich north and citizens were enough to ensure that they could expand the faith of their temples and establish a stable foundation for the temples.
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