Chapter 75: Drawing fire from the bottom of the cauldron
Author: Ke Xue's Caitou
Chapter 75: Drawing fire from the bottom of the cauldron
Levin slammed the first draft of the news on the table and said with a serious face: "No matter how you look at it, the Bureau of Religious Affairs is a weapon used by Congress to control the church! On the surface, they provide benefits to the church, but in fact they secretly collect church intelligence so that they can expand
Next move!”
"Do you think Congress is still under the control of members?"
"What do you mean? Hasn't Parliament always been the highest legislative body in the Kingdom of Windsor? It is composed of the upper and lower houses and the monarch. Any law must be voted on."
"That's true on the surface."
Ma Wei picked up the first draft of the news on the table and read it again: "But you have to judge it based on current events. The essence of politics is the grab for power. People use political means to strive for greater power and the right to speak for themselves."
"The new religious law clearly states that a large-scale censorship campaign will be carried out. In other words, churches that have not been registered with the Religious Affairs Bureau will be deemed illegal and all will be eliminated."
"And the promoter of this law is probably not the king, but the upper and lower houses, I think so."
Not the King, the House of Lords and the House of Commons?
Who could that be?
Levin lowered his head and thought about it, and came back to his senses.
The "New Religious Law" seems to target all churches, but in fact, it only targets churches other than the state religion.
During this change, the Church of the Three Goddesses of Destiny, as the state religion, was not affected in any way, and its status remains high. After all, they are the official church.
"Do you suspect that the driving force behind the "New Religious Law" is the Church of the Three Destinies?"
"Yes." Ma Wei nodded: "Although I have no evidence, since the arrival of the gods, various religions have not made much movement. It is not difficult to guess that they are waiting for the Pope's instructions."
"If the Pope who is far away in the royal capital wants to ride on the wind and grasp huge power, he will definitely have to avoid Congress and King Rhodes IV. As the people in power, how can Rhodes IV and Congress give up their power to others?
?”
"An open and covert struggle is bound to break out between them, and the promulgation of the "New Religious Law", in my opinion, is exactly the result of the struggle."
"Who's winning?"
After a pause, Levin changed his words: "Who can win?"
"The answer is obvious, isn't it?"
Mavey looked at Yunia, who was sitting next to her and eating a chocolate croissant: "If the king wins, then the newly promulgated law will definitely include the Church of the Three Destinies. Otherwise, it will prove that the Pope has won."
In this struggle for power, it is not surprising that the Church of the Three Goddesses of Destiny wins. With the support of the gods, it is strange that they cannot win!
"What the hell."
Levin scratched his hair and said angrily: "Is the Church of the Three Destinies going to attack other churches? This is too fast!"
"Not for the time being." Ma Wei said: "This is just a census of the number of churches, and it is the first step in a serial plan. In the past, the Kingdom of Windsor was not strict about religious control, because there was no need to pay taxes, so many people under the name of the Church were born.
Small churches that do business in the name of religion, such as the Sweet Food Church and the Tobacco Cult. These small churches are in name only, they just use the religious cover to gain profits, and the emergence of the "New Religious Law" is partly aimed at them."
"Why do you want to attack them? Why didn't you do it before?"
"Because after the declaration of naval war was signed, the privateering system disappeared, which caused a sharp decrease in the financial income of the royal families of various countries. Do you know how much wealth the Kingdom of Windsor can obtain every year from privateering?"
"It's said to be millions of gold pounds," Levin replied.
"Oh, that's the number three hundred years ago." Ma Wei smiled disdainfully: "I'm afraid you calculated it based on the wealth gained by Captain Drake during his voyage around the world from 1577 to 1580. Yes, during that voyage, Drake
Captain Grams plundered a total of about 1.5 million gold pounds of property, but the wealth plundered by the Saint-Martial fleet during the voyage three years ago was conservatively estimated to be around 2 million gold pounds. You have to know that our ships were very fast at that time.
Burdened by treasures of gold and silver."
"200w?!"
Levin was shocked: "When I visited the palace last time, I saw the finance minister's report. It said that the Kingdom of Windsor's fiscal revenue for the whole year was 100 million gold pounds. You plundered fifty cents in one voyage.
one’s wealth?!”
You know, the Kingdom of Windsor has more than just a fleet with privateering certificates, the St. Martial fleet!
There are always dozens of them.
"The Popon Kingdom is very rich, and their merchant ships are even richer."
Ma Wei said calmly: "When the privateer system was not abolished, the Kingdom of Windsor didn't care at all about some small religions that concealed the truth. But now the situation is different. After the privateer system was abolished, the kingdom's fiscal revenue was directly cut in half. If you want to make money,
You have to start from other aspects.”
"Is the Kingdom of Windsor short of money?"
"The wealth they accumulated in the past was enough for them to squander it for several years. Unfortunately, the recent situation is special and they are really in urgent need of money."
Tapping his fingers on the table, Mavey narrowed his eyes and revealed information that shocked Levin: "The Kingdom of Windsor will declare war on the Romanov Kingdom in the near future."
"What?! Where did you get this news?"
"I know a friend who has a wide network of contacts and has his own intelligence channels. Most of the information is true."
"."
Levin didn't know what to say for a while.
He didn't want to see the war break out, because that meant that the peaceful life would be broken, and once the wheels of war started turning, it would be difficult to stop.
"This is the tide of the times, and it is not something we can stop."
Seeing his silence, Ma Wei sighed: "Peter the Great destroyed the Apocalypse Religion, which means that in the next war, the Romanov Kingdom will not have the support of gods, even if they have vast land,
Nor can it be the opponent of the Kingdom of Windsor. This will be an overwhelming and unsuspicious war."
"That's not necessarily true." Levin thought for a moment and said, "The Romanov Kingdom can ask for foreign aid! Aren't the Wisdom Cult of the Popon Kingdom and the Judgment Cult of the Frederick Kingdom great allies?
"
"Indeed, the Romanov Kingdom is not without the power to fight back."
Mawei did not refute, but agreed with Levine's statement: "In any case, in addition to conducting religious statistics, the "New Religious Law" also announced many favorable policies, the purpose of which is to keep various churches in the country.
Denying them the opportunity to contact the Romanov Kingdom is like boiling a frog in warm water. What Peter the Great did at the time really left a big shadow on other churches. To this day, no church dares to set foot on the Romanov Kingdom.
land. Huh?”
"What's wrong?"
"I suddenly thought of something." Ma Wei's eyes lit up, he stood up in a hurry, took out a silver shilling and pressed it at the bottom of the cup: "Let's go home!"
"The tea hasn't been finished yet."
"Drink when you go back!"
"Why are you in such a hurry? It's not even noon yet."
Amidst the depressed complaints, Levin picked up the coat hanging on the back of the chair and began to chase the two figures walking fast in front of him.