The path under your feet is paved with gravel, and large or small jade-white pebbles are embedded in the slightly moist mud, using their round lines to outline simple patterns. Summer has arrived, and the flowers and plants on both sides are in full swing.
Showing the most delicate appearance to the heaven and earth, the delicate flowers are nestling, the branches and leaves are trembling softly, and the faint fragrance lingers around you.
If you are a guest of the Temple of Light, the priest accompanying you should point to the patterns under your feet and the flowers and plants on both sides, and tell a set of principles on how to behave in the world? Most humans are sad animals, working hard to find a person.
If there is no place that can accommodate the physical body, all courage will be lost, and the feelings that arise in the heart can only be placed among the vegetation, flowers and rocks.
If human behavior is controlled by the body or laws, then one day, human behavior will be suppressed by the latter. The only thing that can be expected is the soul that breeds in the body, which is wild and ever-changing, and only belongs to
I euphemistically call it self-cultivation. Is this a kind of... self-exile or active recruitment?
"Emperor Sibia." A whisper awakened Cohen from his wild thoughts, "The princess is approaching, you have to stop."
"I was in a daze for a while, please forgive me." Cohen took two steps back, the slight embarrassment on his face was perfectly covered by a smile, and said to the goddess with a frosty face in front of him: "Emperor Sbia, Cohen Keda, has issued an edict.
Come here, please pass the news on your behalf."
"There is no need to report. When such a big living person walks in front of you, do you still need to be polite?"
A chilling voice came from the front, and the goddess blocking in front of Cohen heard the sound and moved away.
A stone table appeared in Emperor Sibia's field of vision. Beside the table, two princesses of the Light God Clan were sitting opposite each other.
The person who spoke was none other than the little princess whose face showed no expression.
"Emperor Kohn Keda of Sbia, hereby meets with the eldest princess and the little princess of the Light God Clan. May the glory of these two gentlemen last forever and their youthful beauty remain forever."
The two princesses arrived at the same time. This was an unusual occasion. Cohen knelt down and saluted meticulously. But he quietly raised the corners of his eyes just a little to bring the figure of the eldest princess into his sight.
The elders and younger ones are in order. Since the eldest princess was included in Emperor Sibia's greetings, she should be the first to answer.
The eldest princess played with two freshly cut flower branches in her hands, and glanced at Cohen with a half-smile: "No need to peek, if you want to see, then raise your head and look openly! Today I am just
The guest who came to review my flower arrangement skills is this one... I haven’t seen you for a long time, why have you become so vulgar?"
"Back to the eldest princess, ever since I became this cheap emperor, I not only have to manage money, food, military affairs, and politics every day, but I also have to worry about others spying on me. Unexpected disasters, even beacon fire, are commonplace. This, the body cannot bear the torture, and it will inevitably become vulgar.
Some." The smile on Cohen's face did not change, and his eyes returned to the little princess: "I didn't know that the little princess was coming, but I didn't welcome her from afar. Please forgive me."
"Ignorance is not a crime. You get up and sit down to answer." The little princess sitting opposite Cohen raised her hand, and the goddess serving on the side raised a chair.
Cohen spoke humbly and sat down upright without squinting.
"I haven't received the official notification yet." After Cohen sat down, the little princess asked: "But I heard that Emperor Sibia has announced to the whole territory that the Sibia Empire has withdrawn from the Divine Alliance and will expel those in the empire.
Priest of the Temple of Light, is this true?"
As if he didn't expect the little princess to ask such a direct question, Cohen paused slightly before replying: "Back to the little princess, this is the matter."
"You don't need me to remind you, Emperor Sibia, do you know the nature and impact of this matter?" The little princess frowned slightly, "The people served by the Temple of Light are the Gods of Light. If you do this, you will
Where are the gods placed?"
"Little princess, please listen to my explanation." Cohen's tone was slow, but steady and sincere: "From the moment I was born, I have been a citizen bathed in God's grace. This is what I was born to do.
Fundamentally. No matter what happens, the position of the Light God Clan in my heart has never changed."
"Only because they knew your loyalty, the Light God Clan would tolerate you before." The little princess replied: "Otherwise, with your domineering and unruly behavior, how could you have been running rampant on the mainland to this day? How could the Sbia Empire accumulate such wealth?
How powerful is it today?"
"I will always bear in mind the kindness that the Light God Clan has shown to Sibia and to me personally. In the past, although I had some deviants in my personal behavior, I did not have any disrespect for the Light God Clan." After hearing this, the little boy
Regarding the princess's words, Cohen said sternly: "Both adults know that the conflict between me and the Divine Alliance is not due to my personal reasons. At the end of the last war between gods and demons, the Divine Alliance drew a knife from behind and hit me.
Black Hand, after the rebellion, the restoration of the country, the alliance actually stood on the opposite side of Sbia! In this battle against the demons, they actually gathered a coalition to attack... I must also know the dangers involved. The reason why I am here today
It’s really lucky that I can still sit here and talk.”
"What the Divine Alliance possesses is a symbol that is closely related to faith. The empire is not immune to conflicts of interest. Most of the conflicts between you and the Divine Alliance are due to your personality." The little princess replied in a cold tone.
: "Ten thousand steps back, even if something like this happens, don't you have any other option but to withdraw from the alliance? You can just maintain it openly and guard against it secretly like you did after the restoration of the country. Why do you have to make the matter public?
Everyone, do you know the consequences of doing this?"
"Little princess, to be honest, if I don't announce my withdrawal from the Divine Alliance, the Sibia Empire will be disintegrated within three years, and I will be dead." Cohen responded calmly: "Although I know
God belongs to the alliance's intentions, but the people under it don't know it, and they will treat other alliance empires like their relatives. How can the empire be safe if people's hearts are not on guard? Yes, I know that after this matter is made public, many people will be involved.
But sir, there is a difference between closeness and distance. I am the emperor of the Sbia Empire, and I really cannot take care of the life and death of other empires."
"So, the relationship between Sibia and other empires has really reached the point where they are on a par with each other?"
"It's really difficult to answer these words of the little princess! In fact, the conflict between the empires is ultimately about jealousy." Smiling at himself, Cohen said softly: "Sibiya has become stronger, and they are jealous; Sibia has become stronger;
Bea won, and they were jealous; Sibiya was favored by the Gods of Light, but they were still jealous..."
"Arrogant." The eldest princess of the God Clan, who was concentrating on arranging flowers, snorted coldly: "When will the Light God Clan favor you?"
"What the eldest princess has taught me is this." Cohen smiled apologetically and said to the little princess: "In fact, it is not entirely a bad thing to be in the same position as fire and water, and the same is true for jealousy. As long as the two are not mixed together, they cannot complement each other." Sibia
The purpose of breaking away from the Divine Alliance is to draw a boundary and space between the two to avoid misunderstandings easily. In this case, other empires should be more cautious when dealing with Sbia."
"What you said is so good." The little princess glanced at Cohen with a meaningful look, and commented in a cold tone: "Then what will the Sbia Empire do next? Which force will it join?"
"The prerequisite for Sibia to leave the Divine Alliance is not to join the Demonic Alliance. I have already stated this in the order." Cohen avoided the trap in the little princess's words and answered without changing his face: "If I
If I can't do it, not only will I have no face to see you two adults, but I will also have no face to live in this world."
"There is no need to say it with so much sadness and indignation. Even if you really intend to join the Demon Alliance, I can't do anything to you." She said a high-sounding excuse, but the expression on the little princess's face was completely different from her words.
Match.
As the little princess's mood changed, the invisible intimidation of the gods invaded, penetrating into bits and pieces, freezing to the bone; waves of vibrations, like razors passing over the skin. The chair under Cohen retreated three inches with a harsh sound,
His body shook and the color on his face changed.
At this moment, the voice of the eldest princess intervened: "This mess in the alliance is ultimately the grudge of your human empire. Sibia is regarded as a thorn in the eyes of other empires. You, as the emperor, bear the greatest responsibility."
Following her voice, the little princess realized that she had inadvertently caused Cohen to suffer, and took the opportunity to gradually put away her power.
"Aren't you convinced? The way of a king is about balance, selecting talents, and being self-denial and serving the public. This is not what I say, but the ancestral precepts of the Sibia royal family. How many of them have you followed?" After a glance, his face has not returned to normal.
Cohen, the eldest princess smiled slightly: "Emperor Sibia, who is happy with revenge, if you are willing to spend some energy to appease the allies, why would the other empires in the alliance be like this?"
"This." Cohen didn't catch his breath until this moment, and his forehead was covered with a layer of cold sweat: "There is indeed something like Meng Lang in my character, but I have always made a distinction between public and private..."
"What you are facing now is the inquiry from the little princess of the Light God Clan. In this kind of situation, no king can maintain his majesty, and no one can lie." The eldest princess put the flower branch in her hand and said: "You want to
Understand, the power of kings is divinely authorized!”
"Yes." Cohen lowered his eyes.
"Put aside the affairs of the Divine Alliance for the time being. Someone will naturally handle it." The little princess took over: "In fact, I will not interfere in the affairs of the alliance because it does not belong to the scope of my affairs. Emperor Sibia, you
You should know what I am in charge of, right?"
"Know something." Cohen nodded: "The little princess manages the Temple of Light."
"It turns out that you really know, Emperor Sibia, that you have posed a big problem for me." The little princess sneered: "Expelling the priests of the Temple of Light is really an amazing feat. For just this one thing, you have already
You can leave your name in history!"
"Little princess, please calm down and let me explain."
"I am here today to listen to your explanation." The little princess said: "There is plenty of time. You should think about it before you reply. If you cannot satisfy me or the Guangming God Clan, you will spend the rest of your life in this temple."
"No matter whether the little princess is satisfied with my explanation or not, I will not spend the rest of my life in this temple." After hearing the little princess's words, Cohen kept his eyes level and showed a shallow smile: "Si
Of course, the emperor of Bibia will shed his blood on the land of the empire, but the temple is not Bibia's land."
"Your life is not enough to threaten the Light God Clan."
"My little princess has misunderstood. I am not a threat, but I am using my blood to prove my loyalty and belief." Cohen stretched out his hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead: "There has always been a lack of communication channels between me and the Gods. Without him, this kind of
The channels are controlled by the Divine Alliance and the Temple of Light. Under the operation of the priests, the temple has not only become a place where filth and evil are hidden, but also directly affects the reputation of the Gods. Perhaps the two adults are not clear about what the temple is doing.
But the Temple of Light is indeed the main reason for the decline of the Divine Alliance."
"This is the first time I have heard of this kind of rhetoric." The eldest princess said on the side: "Be more detailed."
"Not to mention routine offerings and etiquette, the property that the Temple of Light demands from Sbia every year alone accounts for one-fifth of the national tax revenue. One-fifth, this is an amount that is enough to shake the rule of the empire! If the temple
He is a servant of the Guangming God Clan, so I can't help but wonder, what does a servant do with so many people's hard-earned money?" As if to endorse, Cohen began to read the old stories of the Guangming God Clan: "What's even more frightening is that money cannot buy peace, it can only buy peace.
Bringing deeper corruption and depravity. No temple in the empire will be satisfied with this fifth, and the priests rack their brains every day to extract more wealth."
"Interfering in criminal law, buying and selling titles, meddling in government affairs, cultivating thieves, assassinating ministers... Priests have done everything that an emperor can do. Even a priest who guards the temple gate also has land slaves, lovable wives and concubines." Speaking of this, Cohen
The smile at the corner of his mouth became a little cold: "They do not require the royal family and the empire to be loyal to the Light God Clan, it is enough to be loyal to them..."
"Shut up." The little princess almost broke her silver teeth, and her fingers on her lap trembled slightly: "Bold!"
"I can shut up." Cohen said with a peaceful face: "I hope these situations will disappear together with my voice."
"So, you, Cohen Keda, suffered a big loss at the hands of the temple?" Seeing that her little sister was so angry that she could hardly speak, the eldest princess had no choice but to take over her again and inquire: "Among the empires of the alliance, there are
The temple in Sibia is the most pitiful. Since you came to the throne, the temple has not received any benefits from you, right? In this case, why do you want to expel the temple? "
"As an emperor, you have to plan for the future of the empire." Cohen looked back at the eldest princess calmly: "I did not receive a royal education since I was a child. I have a strong aura of recklessness. To be fair, my personality is actually more
I am suitable to be a simple soldier. So I can't understand what the temple is doing, and I have the ability to fight against it... But, who can guarantee that the next emperor will still have the courage to fight against the temple? Sibi is under the lustful power of the temple.
Can Asia continue to be strong? Therefore, the temple must change!"
"Change? How to change the law?"
"The reason for the degeneration and corruption of the temple is that the power is too absolute and there is no supervision." Speaking of this, Cohen hardly needs to think about it: "Of course, this power of supervising the royal family, nobles, and civilians can be retained, but other powers must be taken back. Cancel the temple.
Officials are sent down, and priests are not allowed to interfere in government affairs. The annual offerings are rationed. The most important point is to establish communication channels between the royal families of various countries and the Guangming Clan, so that the royal family will not be sued, and they will not even have a chance to defend themselves!"
"The temple is like an empire. Human beings are in charge of the power. There will always be some problems." The eldest princess shook her head: "Not to mention whether it can be prevented in the system, your current behavior has destroyed the possibility of the temple changing.
"
"Did Princess Princess say that Sibia asked the temple to leave? Admittedly, such a decision will make the temple uncomfortable, but I don't think this is a bad thing, but an opportunity to change the temple." Cohen smiled.
Said: "No matter what I, the emperor, can do in the future, history will give me mixed reviews, but the future Emperor Sbia can become a flawless wise king. Therefore, for the sake of future successors, I
I don’t mind doing one more thing and taking another scapegoat... Temple of Light, of course, can come back to Sbia, but only if they leave first."
"You think very long-term. For Sibia, you really sacrificed your own reputation and reputation." The little princess calmed down from her anger. As an important member of the God Clan, she was not unaware of what Cohen just said.
.
These actions of the temple have actually always been in the sight of the Gods. The reason why no one has ever wanted to change this status quo is because the actions of the temple did not arouse enough response-the previous empire was unable to compete with Sibia in all aspects.
On a par with that, there is no need to restrict or exclude temples, either economically or politically. But unlike Sibia, the existence of temples constitutes a threat to the rule.
"To be honest, I don't think I am a good emperor because I am too extreme and direct in my actions, but what can I do? The emperor cannot resign." Cohen smiled: "Little princess, I have no intention of challenging the light.
The Protoss, I don’t have the ability to challenge the Protoss... But today, Sibia must find an accurate positioning for himself. I think that Sibia, who maintains his faith in the Light Protoss and withdraws from the Divine Alliance, is a person who can benefit everyone.
The choice of benefits.”
"Really? Then don't other empires have an example to follow?" the little princess asked: "When the demonic army invades, what will you use to resist it?"
"The reason why the alliance became an alliance is because they are complementary to each other. Sbia's strength will turn itself into a charity, which is a disaster for everyone." Cohen's smile showed some pride:
"The alliance will change, but other empires cannot withdraw from the alliance like Sibia. The reason is simple. They do not have the foundation and missed the opportunity. At the same time, in order to maintain its strength, Sibia will continue to fight against the demons.
belongs, and the military is no exception..."
"Are you saying that Sibia's army will still join the Divine Alliance?"
"Of course, the coalition and the alliance are two different things, and Sibia's belief is still the God of Light." Cohen nodded: "As for welcoming back the temple and returning to the God Alliance... I think, at least within five years
It is not very realistic, because Sibia needs time to digest these two extreme orders, but during this period, Sibia needs a channel to contact the Light God Clan to ensure the faith of the people..."
Cohen Keda has made his point clear, and what he said is not completely unreasonable. The failure of the first two wars between gods and demons has foreshadowed various problems within the Temple of Light and the Divine Alliance.
This kind of thing was actually somewhat expected. It was just that it would appear in such a way and at such a time, but it surprised the Protoss.
Humanity will always progress, but Sibiya's progress is too fast. Cohen Keda's tricks also dazzled the gods. The gods and demons have just finalized a plan, and they are about to start the show when they see the good show.
But he poked a hole in this...
Punishment? Apart from the Gods, who has the ability to punish him now? If the Gods take action, it is not a trivial matter... Without the protagonist, who will watch the show?
"You can go down now." Seeing that the eldest princess had finished talking about the matter and the little princess's anger had almost subsided, she stepped forward to interrupt Cohen's chatter: "You can't escape punishment. Go back and meditate on your past, and wait for the gods.
Let’s judge!”
"Yes." Cohen stood up and saluted the two princesses: "A new city has been built in Sibia, and the capital will be moved soon. I will wait in the new city for the Holy Judgment of the God of Light."
"There is still enough energy left to build a new capital. It seems that Sibiya is not as poor as you said." The eldest princess waved her hand: "I might go and have a look, but you, little princess, have to go far away.
Once, I have to repent."
"Yes." Cohen understood: "There have been arrangements early in the morning, and the temple dedicated to the great God King of Light and the two adults is under construction."
"You know the truth." The eldest princess smiled slightly: "Still not leaving? Are you waiting for dinner?" (To be continued)