Lord Duke

Chapter 8 Protestantism

The huge royal city can be roughly divided into four urban areas, the main urban area where the imperial palace is located, the market area where the merchants are located, the urban area where the priests are located, and the civilian residential area.The entire royal city is in the shape of a double ring, and the inner ring is the main city where the royal palace is located.Yanggelu Church is located directly across the creek next to the Royal Palace.The former dilapidated church has been repaired twice, and its appearance is very solemn and gorgeous.

A long snow-white bridge crosses the stream at the entrance of the church. From time to time, plainly dressed people cross the long bridge to go to the church to pray.The nuns stood on both sides of the long bridge in robes, with peaceful faces, clasped their hands, and silently recited hymns.The missionaries led the people to pray in the main hall of the church. A row of candles were lit at the same time, and the common people prayed silently.

three months ago.

remote western regions thousands of miles away.Countless missionaries put on white robes, glanced at the oppressed serfs or common people with compassionate eyes, and preached their own teachings: "Do not succumb to oppression...God loves the world and gives people the right to pursue equality..." They Active in the streets and alleys, either blatantly or secretly promoting their teachings, doing good deeds, more and more people began to believe in Protestantism, and more and more people wore double crosses.

Protestantism developed extremely rapidly, and some small lords went to church to pray from time to time, and even nodded when they met missionaries.This can be regarded as a more polite attitude.

So some people became restless.Protestantism has only one bishop, the one in Wangcheng, and there are scattered missionaries in other places. Some of these missionaries are sincere preachers, and some have their own ambitions. They are all assigned to the bishop according to the canon. Loyalty, not to mention.

Seeing that Protestantism is developing very well, these people gradually have different thoughts.Release the public opinion that kingship cannot tolerate theocracy, under the banner of propagating teachings, give demagogic speeches, everything is going on quietly and orderly... It is a remote place, so not many people pay attention, even this land The barons, lords and other small nobles in the city didn't take it seriously, and even faintly felt that the teachings were very reasonable.

They put their hands together, closed their eyes and prayed devoutly: God, the supreme God... A gust of wind brought the fragrance of tulips, knocked the wind chimes from nowhere, and made a crisp wind chime: "Dingling Bell... jingle bell..."

The serf in the manor let go of his hoe, wiped his sweat with his hands, quietly drew a double cross on his chest, and said to himself: God, change this situation and save your faithful believers... His eyes flicked There are many people around who are working hard like him, they exchanged eyes, and the depths of the eyes are the same firm.

Sparks of fire have already begun to appear under the originally peaceful Kingdom of Eaton.I just don't know, can this spark start a prairie fire?

Looking at the secret letter from his subordinates, Slant frowned and tapped his fingers on the table.The situation in these areas in the west... He has not received any news. If the unfinished meaning in Gru's words hadn't reminded him, he would not have been interested in investigating Gru again.That day, he flipped through the more detailed information about Gru, and his eyes focused on a line of small words:

The Marquis of Gru believed in Protestantism and had traveled to and from the church many times.

Before that, he just skimmed over this piece of information lightly, but this time Slant did a good job of investigating the situation of Protestantism in the western region.As a result, as stated in the secret letter: before March, it had begun to take shape on a large scale, and the number of believers continued to expand.

His industry has infiltrated most of the west, but he has not found any clues, which is impossible... Unless, Slante's eyes turned cold, these clues were dismissed as insignificant things !Oversight.Slanter curled up the letter paper fiercely and threw it out.

He hates the unexpected.He loosened his collar and suddenly calmed down.

That's right, believing in religion is a normal thing. His business is simply to accumulate wealth, so he naturally doesn't pay attention to what religion these people believe in and how much they believe in.As for those rebellious serfs, they will not have the opportunity to touch his property.These missionaries have been instilling the idea of ​​the supremacy of theocracy in the common people, and even some minor nobles have begun to believe this.

Slant continued to follow this line of thought. He picked up a quill pen dipped in ink, and wrote the word "King" on the paper.The tip of the pen was dipped in thick ink, and because the owner of the pen was reluctant to write down a stroke, a drop of ink finally fell on the paper, smudged and stained with ink marks.

Slanter put down his pen and his mind was running fast.He had already thought of the key points of this incident, he thought of the assassination he had experienced before, and thought of the invitation sent by the king. It seemed that he had to go to Wangcheng again.It's a little troublesome, but... Slante covered his face and smiled happily. A ray of sunlight slanted in from outside the window, and his blond hair seemed to be shining. The lake-green eyes in the palm of the hand flickered with flickering light.

— He also likes the unexpected.

When he raised his head again, he said in a deep voice: "The butler." The guards guarding the door quietly went down to look for the butler to come up, and Slante thought: He already knows what he is going to do.

Payne lifted the curtain of the car, and the carriage passed through the busy city. His calm eyes swept across the bustling crowd on both sides of the street, and he let out a sigh before putting down the curtain.So calm, I don't know if it is true or not, how long can it last?He made up his mind to guard his territory, and he still wanted to participate in this game after all.

The game between the church personnel, the royal family, and their nobles.Everyone wants to gain greater rights, but how can there be such a good thing in the world?There was no emotion in Payne's eyes, and he laughed for a while: "As a duke, exercise the power of a duke." Some kind of unquestionable determination.

Article No. 12 of the Lord's Treaty: The Lord has the right to protect the people under him and protect their legitimate rights and interests.

Regardless of whether King Phil agrees or not, it is absolutely impossible for him to agree to tax increases, and this matter is not as simple as tax increases.Payne put his hands flat in front of his knees, his eyes were extremely calm, without any sharpness.He has been peaceful for so long that everyone has forgotten what he really looks like.A gust of wind lifted the car curtain slightly, and he smelled a faint scent of tulips at the tip of his nose, just like he smelled when he was a child.

When he was young, Payne showed his sharpness and high spirits. He quickly put down the rebellion in the east and returned to the royal city to be sealed.He remembered the moment he took the duke's scepter from the king, he turned and looked, the petals were flying all over the sky, and the crowd below cheered and called his name: "Duke Payne Sosa!" To salute, he raised his scepter high, and the ruby ​​at the top refracted dazzling light under the sunlight.He said: "Thank you!" There was applause and cheers from the tsunami below.

Perhaps since then, the king has been afraid of him.But Payne didn't care. After returning to the territory, he devoted himself to governing Ward County, and spent a lot of time making Ward County a paradise on earth.Countless letters of advice were piled up on the desk of the palace, and the king thought about how to divide the army in his hands.The commoners of Wardshire loved and respected him, and praised him as a good lord.And this made the king faintly uneasy. Sitting in this seat, he was inevitably more suspicious.

He is young and energetic, and his life can be said to be smooth sailing, until he finds out that the most trusted subordinate by his side is actually a secret agent left by the previous king to this king to lurk beside him.He felt betrayed and resented that he didn't know the person clearly, so he only saw the person for the last time in the underground cell of the last manor.

The man's face was calm, with messy blood stains on his face.The young Payne couldn't control his emotions very well, and it was a bit sad to see him die calmly like this, but he tried his best to hold back.Because if he is allowed to lurk, his military power is likely to be divided, and the Sosa family without military power, the ending can be imagined.

The man laughed, and said, "Your Excellency, you are overstepping. Above the nobles, there is always the royal family."

He said, "My lord, you are a good lord, but not a good duke."

He said, "My lord, do you know what you are responsible for?"

..............................

Then many things happened.

His younger sister, Isa, was estranged from him and married King Phil, although both of them knew that this was just a means of restraint.Therefore, Payne maintained the status quo that he had a good relationship with Isa, and also took the opportunity to extinguish many people's desire to incite him to seize the throne.The title of Duke he obtained through his own efforts was coveted by his clansmen.They took his dedication for granted, and some elders of the family even put on airs and secretly asked him to hand over his military power in exchange for more benefits.The forest is really big, and there are all kinds of birds.

There are many, many things that made him lose confidence in the family.But his name is Payne Sosa, and the Sosa family has helped him on his way to become a duke, so he has to fulfill his noble obligations as a member of this noble family.

He felt bound.

He feels not free.

He fell in love with red tulips.

It seems that all the troubles have gathered during this time.He had wondered for a while why he should be this duke at all.Then he stopped thinking about it, because he understood that it was his responsibility.He gradually learned to compromise, restrained his edge, and only wanted to guard his territory and heal it.

No one understood him, time quietly polished him into this haughty and indifferent appearance.An arrogant and indifferent duke would not make friends with various marquises and counts, and with the relationship of in-laws, the king would not be too afraid, as long as he carefully grasped this degree.

The colors are mixed, the colors are colorful, and the memory is a big colorful piece. Payne can't recall everything carefully, as if everything is kneaded into a ball, which makes him feel a little headache.

He raised his hand and pressed his forehead lightly, his eyes cleared up.If there is no peace after repeated compromises and concessions, then there will be no retreat.The bumpy carriage drove to the final destination - the main gate of the palace.Payne got out of the carriage, and the setting sun was reflected on his side face. He couldn't help squinting his eyes, and raised a hand to cover the setting sun. Through his fingers, he saw the fiery red clouds in the sky, inlaid with white clouds. He touched the gilded edge, lowered his eyes and let go, and walked straight to the main entrance of the palace.

He thought: I know I am responsible to my people.I have always known.