Chapter 60 You are so pious! (Please read! Please recommend!)
Chapter 60 You are so pious! Holy City, Bethlehem.
Different from the bustling and noisy imperial capital of Saint Lawrence, the holy city of Bethlehem located in the south of the empire is like a pearl immersed in the mountains. Although it has long restrained its aura, it still cannot escape everyone's sight.
As the legendary place where the God of Light descended, Bethlehem has the most magnificent church and the largest number of statues among the four countries on the continent.
It is also the seat of the Holy See, and the Lateran Palace in the center of Bethlehem is the residence of the Pope.
According to legend, the Star Cave in Bethlehem not only preserves half of the "Book of the Angel Raziel", which is known as the "first scripture in the world", but also devout believers can communicate with gods through dreams in the Star Cave and accept the will of the gods.
Bethlehem has its own laws and its own army. Under the rule of the Pope, it is like a country within a country.
However, it has been twenty years since the current Pope Clement V took over the papacy.
Except for attending the coronation ceremony of the Imperial Emperor eighteen years ago, he has never set foot outside the Holy City. Many affairs in Bethlehem are handled by Archbishop Camille Blanchard.
This time, the recruitment of believers to build the statue was naturally carried out under the order of Camus Blanchard.
At this time, a strange team arrived outside the city of Bethlehem.
This was a team of about dozens of people. They made the sign of the cross with their right hands in front of their chests and walked forward slowly.
Idar's soldiers escorted the fifty men to the edge of the holy city of Bethlehem and stopped there, leaving them to walk the rest of the way on their own.
In his previous life, Bruno still remembered the grand scene of believers making the pilgrimage to Mecca.
Since every noble territory has to send people to build the statue, how can the bishops of the church remember these believers from Idal Territory? The bishops of the church must be made to feel the piety of the Idal people! You know, it is very beneficial to have a good relationship with the church. At least in name, the birth of every imperial noble needs the approval of the church.
More importantly, everyone, including the nobility, had to pay taxes to the church. This was the legendary tithe! The tithe was a tax added to the total product of the land, requiring the payment of taxes or in kind equivalent to one-tenth of the agricultural and animal husbandry products.
This is also one of the church’s most important sources of income!
Although this tax would be almost entirely transferred to the civilians after being transferred through various levels, Bruno felt particularly distressed when he thought that things that originally belonged to the Idar Territory would have to be handed over.
Even if they are civilians, they are civilians of Idar. Why should they pay taxes to the church!
And if you have a good relationship with the church, then the amount of the tithe will be more flexible.
As one of the fifty thugs, Mike had the deepest understanding of the teachings of the Church of Light, and was therefore regarded as the most devout believer by Lord Bruno of Idar, and became the leader of the fifty thugs.
Bruno made a solemn promise to the thugs who came to build the statue that all their families in Idar would be well taken care of.
In addition to this, for Mike, once he completes the task assigned by Bruno and returns to Idar County, he will receive a generous reward!
The team of fifty people was not very large, but the group of guys who kept making the sign of the cross with their right hands and muttering something outside the city gate obviously attracted the attention of the Crusaders.
"stop!"
A Crusader soldier stopped these strange people.
"Where are you from? What do you do?"
Mike, who was making the sign of the cross devoutly, was startled by the sudden shout. He calmed himself down, then recalled what Lord Shabi and Lord Bruno had told him several times before, made another sign of the cross on his chest, and then said, "I came from Idar, a believer who is going to the Holy City to build a statue..."
Soldier: щ()
щHearing Mike's words, almost all the soldiers on duty nearby looked over.
"Are you believers... or soldiers escorting civilians?" The soldier felt as if he had heard something wrong and asked again.
"We are believers, and we are here to repair the statue!" Mike said in a sonorous voice.
"Then...where are the soldiers escorting you?"
"Soldiers? Why do we need soldiers? We came here voluntarily!" Mike asked in disbelief.
Something is wrong!
This is very wrong! Which civilian who was escorted by the nobles to build the statue was not sad and miserable? Even the soldiers of the Crusaders asked themselves that they would not be willing to do so.
How could someone in this world voluntarily abandon his family and travel thousands of miles to the holy city of Bethlehem to build a statue of God? You have to know that in this era, a man is the backbone of the family. If you come to build a statue of God, what will your wife and children eat and how will they live?
Most nobles would only take you to build the statue, and would not care about the life and death of your family! Even if you survived and finished building the statue and were able to go back, by the time you got home, you would probably be left to run wild on the green grassland.
How devout one must be to the God of Light to be able to do this!
I'm afraid only a bishop-level leader can be so pious! Thinking of this, even the soldiers couldn't help but look up to this team and said, "Go along this road and report to the square in the center of the city!"
"May the God of Light bless you!" Mike said softly, and once again made the sign of the cross on his chest with his right hand.
…
In a side hall of the Lateran Palace.
Cardinal Camus Blanchard was looking through a thick roster that recorded the civilians recruited from various places.
"Have all the noble lords sent over the people responsible for building the statue?"
Blanchard's voice was a little hoarse, but there seemed to be an extremely strong aura in his voice that could not be refuted.
"Except for Duke Eric and his vassals who are guarding the northern border of the empire, the rest of the noble lords have sent their men one after another..." A bishop beside Blanchard answered cautiously.
“Duke Eric…” The cardinal pondered for a moment and knocked on the table. As if he had finally made a decision, he said in a deep voice, “No matter how long we wait, I’m afraid the Northern Frontier won’t send any manpower… In this case, let’s start the construction of the statue and let the Crusaders supervise it.”
"Yes." The bishop on the side lowered his head and quickly agreed.
…
Regarding currency, I checked on CNKI today and it says that it will be changed, but not too drastic.
The initial consideration is to use gold coins, silver shillings and copper pennies as monetary units, and to convert at the rate of 1 gold = 20 silver shillings = 400 copper pennies. The price level and income level will refer to data from the late Middle Ages in the West, mainly because no documents about the early Middle Ages have been found.
What do you think? Second update, no more.
(End of this chapter)
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