Since the beginning of the war, Emperor Xirel finally fully demonstrated his ruthless side.
With the support of powerful force, Emperor Xirel pushed religious persecution to a new peak.
In a short period of time, the Church of the Fairy of the Lake built hundreds of large and small churches and temples within the control areas of the Holy Alliance.
The most important function of these churches, in addition to developing local believers, is to persecute the original believers of the Holy Church and force them to change their beliefs.
Therefore, in each large diocese, a separate Inquisition will be established to try those confirmed or suspected believers of the Holy Church.
The Fairy of the Lake Church has developed so fast that a trainee priest three months ago may now preside over a small church and even have the right to organize a small armed force to defend the church and fight against heretics.
Three months ago, an ordinary clergy could serve in a medium-sized city, and the middle-level clergy in those churches have also become very scarce. At least now, there are hundreds of large and small dioceses within the scope of the Holy Agreement.
, this has exceeded the total number of mid-level clergy!
Nowadays, a young priest often comes to a new district with a few followers, occupies a large house at will, hangs the emblem of the Church of the Fairy of the Lake on the door, and places the statue of the goddess with rough workmanship in the hall due to urgent work.
If so, a local church can be opened.
With such rapid expansion, the priests presiding over the area must be mixed, but the gallows standing high in Orsinia prevent them from being too messy, let alone tampering with matters of faith.
Louise, the High Priest of the Lady of the Lake, spends half of her time hiding in the Great Temple of the Lady of the Lake in Genoa, and the other half of her time traveling around the parishes.
In every diocese, there is a must-have program, which is the trial.
Most of those who were hanged on the gallows were believers of the Holy Church who refused to change their faith, but occasionally there would be cases where priests of the Lady of the Lake who had failed in their duties were left hanging on the gallows.
Driven by Louise, the High Priest of the Lake Fairy, all countries in the Holy Agreement declared the Holy Church illegal. All believers of the Holy Church need to change their faith within a limited time, otherwise they will be punished by a series of taxes and military service.
measure.
Louise still seemed to feel that the raging fire of religious persecution was not burning fiercely enough, so she added a lot of dry wood to it.
"There is no need for mercy towards those who are enemies of God. They have stolen the world that originally belonged to the goddess's followers. Their greed has no end. They should be punished! Everything they hold in their hands should belong to you, the great Lake Fairy.
A devout believer in He.”
At a public religious ceremony, Louise said this to tens of thousands of gathered believers.
Her speech was soon misinterpreted intentionally or unintentionally, and crazy Holy Church believers with ulterior motives began their crazy persecution of Holy Church believers.
At the same time, aristocrats and bureaucrats in various countries also took the opportunity to purge political opponents.
For a time, in the vast land of the Holy Agreement, as long as one is identified as a believer of the Holy Church, the life of the whole family will be in danger.
Therefore, even if it is just to protect the safety of their own family, these civilians living at the bottom must desperately prove their belief position and prove that they are not believers of the Holy Church, or have turned to believe in the goddess.
Every morning, Iros would devote half an hour to reviewing the reports sent from various places about the situation of the Fairy Church in the Lake and the hangings of the Holy Church believers.
The number of gallows needed was increasing, and finally one day, even the adjutant Ji who was responsible for sorting out these reports couldn't stand it any longer, and cautiously said to Iros:
"Lord Iros, did the Fairy of the Lake Church kill too many people? In the current war, if public anger is aroused, it will be detrimental to the future war situation!"
Iros put down the report in his hand and asked: "What do you think is the real reason for this war? Are the monarchs of all human nations crazy?"
The young adjutant quickly went through all the reasons for the war in his mind:
Civil War? Struggle for royal hegemony? Religious opposition? Of all the reasons, only the last reason seems to be the least tenable.
Iros looked at the young adjutant, as if he had seen through his inner thoughts, and smiled and said:
"This war has involved almost all human nations. If it were just for territory and population, even the most ambitious people would not be so crazy.
The real driving force of this war is the war between two different faiths.
Faith is a wonderful thing. A religious person with devout faith can ignore all difficulties and obstacles in the world.
They cannot be bribed, and they will never surrender. Besides killing them, what better way to deal with them?"
"But forcing believers to change their beliefs seems to have little effect on the war situation. Lord Iros, there is a huge backlash against the church's... tough methods in various places," the adjutant said.
Iros pondered for a moment and said: "We will kill every one of those guys who are still protecting the Holy Church. We would rather kill the wrong one than let him go. But what you said makes some sense...
Okay, you go and inform Louise and let her watch the most corrupt people in the church be selected and killed, so that the rest of the people will know to restrain themselves."
"Yes, Lord Iros."
The adjutant exited the study with the reviewed documents. He didn't understand why it was necessary to kill all the believers of the Holy Church, even taking the risk of provoking a civil uprising. This was a war period, and once those small marginal countries defected, they couldn't.
Call it a trivial matter.
The adjutant left worriedly.
“What an art!”
In the royal city of Charles, Fiona admired while flipping through a thick report in her hand.
Her elegant smile and heartfelt joy gave her perfect face a faint glow.
In front of her unusually large office desk, Talleyrand was sitting in a chair. He was wearing a dark black dress decorated with gold threads, and a little lace was decorated just right, adding elegance without being vulgar.
.
From his expression to his clothing, he was meticulous and said nothing, quietly waiting for Fiona's instructions.
At this time, Talleyrand's forehead and eyes had some traces of time, and the smile on his face had remained unchanged for many years. However, there was no warmth at all in his eyes, and there was only coldness and indifference.
.
In just a few minutes, Fiona read through the dozens of pages of the report. She pushed the report forward and said to Talleyrand:
"Come and see, my lover Ilos, he is frighteningly clever at creating chaos, provoking hatred and opposition among the people, and persecuting dissidents. Moreover, he can always control the hatred and dissatisfaction of the people.
On the verge of breaking out, so that the situation will not get out of control."
Talleyrand took the report, read it at a very fast speed, put the report back, and replied respectfully: "Lord Iros is indeed very powerful. He is truly the pinnacle of the young generation in the mainland, both in terms of force and brains.
.”
Fiona picked up another report, flipped through it quickly, and said:
"You are also very good. In terms of resourcefulness, you are much better than Iros and I. If you could sit in your current position early, you would definitely be able to do something great."
Talleyrand was indifferent to Fiona's praise and just said: "I am just a loyal dog in front of you now and have no interest in a higher position."
"A loyal dog?" Fiona smiled and said:
“Even a loyal dog may bite his owner back when his owner is not strong enough to subdue it.
But don’t worry, since your master is me, you will never encounter such an opportunity that can put your entire family in ruins."
"Thank you for your kindness."
Talleyrand stood up and bowed.
Fiona's attention returned to the report in her hand, she waved to Talleyrand and said:
"You go back and prepare. We will go to the front line tomorrow to visit the soldiers who have fought hard."
Talleyrand had some doubts in his heart. Fiona had so many things to do that she hardly had any time to spare.
As a general manager, he has to go to bed very late at night every day. Excessive work has already made him numb.
At this moment when the war was in full swing, both of them were too busy to do anything.
Why go to the front line at this time?
However, he knew that Fiona was always unpredictable and every step must have a purpose, so he didn't ask any more questions, silently exited the room, and went back to make preparations on his own.