Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 674: The church is going to be burned, the Holy Grail is going to be chopped, and the Bohemians are going to be changed

After understanding some of the circumstances, Tuohuan also felt that there should be nothing wrong with Guo Kang's idea.

"I was mainly worried that the Egyptians would not accept the Roman state religion we envisioned," he said. "However, if everything goes well, then we can proceed as planned and see if we can bring into play the advantages of these military orders."

"Faith as a thing..." Guo Kang sighed, "We shouldn't have said this, but in fact, what Sir John said last time was the truth. Many times, conflicts between religions and within religions are just manifestations of secular conflicts."

"Just like in Bohemia. Why did Hussites spread so quickly? Because with economic development, conflicts between ethnic groups and between the poor and the rich have become increasingly fierce. Everyone has long needed a reason to oppose the enemy."

"At this time, the church happened to be controlled by the German-speaking Alemanni priests. So, a Czech-speaking religious group that opposed the corruption of the church would just meet everyone's needs. It could be used to oppose the Alemanni, and it could also be used to force the church to reduce extortion, ease the pressure on the poor, and make everyone united against the outside world. In this way, the local people of Bohemia would definitely participate actively."

"That does make sense." Lama Wang agreed. "The Hussites are opposed to the Catholic Church in terms of doctrine, belong to Bohemia in terms of culture, and require the care of the poor in terms of interests. These three points should be the core characteristics of the Hussites. It is also because of this that they have emerged as a new force."

"So which of these characteristics do you think is the most important?" Tuohuan asked.

"It must be to take care of the poor." Guo Kang said without hesitation: "The other two are also superficial, serving this goal. You see, after leaving Bohemia, they don't care much about these issues. Captain Jessica and Master Hans even have a good relationship. When we first set out on the expedition, he asked old Hans to teach his men swordsmanship. Old Hans is an Alemanni and believes in Catholicism, and I haven't seen any conflicts between them."

"It seems so." Tuo Huan understood immediately: "I didn't notice it before."

"You were in the same situation as him at that time, you were too busy." Zhu Wenkui interrupted, "In fact, they have been teaching for quite a long time. Those Bohemians are very hardworking, and they are not shy about their own things. If there is anything, they will study together and help teach each other."

"Old Hans has several special moves, known as the 'Master's Strike'. The Bohemians learn everything, no matter how difficult it is. Last time I went there, I saw all of them training. Even the farmers in the camp were practicing the 'Master's Strike'. You can see the atmosphere there, they will definitely learn well."

"One of the key elements in doctrine is called 'taboos'. Without taboos, there would be no distinction between different doctrines. However, according to our research, most taboos are not derived from religion, but from reality," Guo Kang explained. "In other words, religion only provides a reason for these taboos that is easy for people to understand and follow."

"I have talked with followers of Wycliffe's doctrine and have met Hussite monks. These new sects generally oppose all kinds of humanities. In short, they resist anything that is too complicated and incomprehensible to them. But on the other hand, they do not resist technology and craftsmanship. This situation is very common throughout Europe. I have seen a lot of it when I was young and traveling around."

"And the reason is not complicated. The anti-intellectual tendencies of these believers are not aimed at wisdom itself, but at the 'wise men' who manipulate 'wisdom' to fool people."

"The education rate in Europe is too low, and the people are seriously lacking in common sense. They don't have enough judgment for many basic knowledge. And those who have knowledge have not organized a reliable education system like the ancient sages in the Central Plains. Instead, they often use the advantage of information to make up lies for themselves or their employers and harm the people."

"And the common people are just uneducated, not really stupid. After so many years, they have more or less understood the tricks of these scholars, so they will naturally doubt them instinctively. In comparison, the grassroots clergy of the emerging sects, although their cultural level is not very high, are at least willing to stand with the people and provide them with basic education. The people will not oppose the knowledge they bring."

"And those skills needed for production and knowledge needed for combat will naturally be excluded from the category of 'dangerous knowledge' and will not be considered taboos. Because this kind of taboo actually has no sacred source - it is simply experience gained through being tricked. Therefore, when they find an Alemanni master to learn swordsmanship, although it is also a kind of knowledge, they don't think that this is a violation of taboos."

"Don't even mention ordinary people. I can't understand what the theologians and philosophers over there study." Da Lama Wang also said with a smile: "Those people are too unreasonable. I don't know what they are talking about every day, and they want everyone to listen to them. So everyone must be careful to avoid being deceived."

"So that's how it is. But what if it becomes a habit and can't be changed?" Tuohuan asked curiously.

"This is the price of habit, not the price of religion." Lama Wang said truthfully: "From all the situations we have seen, changing doctrine is much easier than changing custom. So, generally speaking, it is religion that gives way to custom, not the other way around. The problem the church encounters is not that the doctrine changes too little or is too rigid; on the contrary, it is often that there are too many changes and too much flexibility, which leads to frequent heresies."

"Changing habits is the most difficult thing. Making the customs of a place better is the real education. The 'teaching' in our church should have this meaning." He shook his head: "Unfortunately, whether in the Central Plains or here, there are too few people who can do it. Anyone who can successfully achieve it can be considered a saint no matter which civilization he is in, and will be remembered by future generations."

"Generally speaking, the harder the people's lives are, the more severely they are oppressed, and the lower the education level is. The common people have no way to obtain useful knowledge, so they can only rely on the simplest experience to avoid all possible dangers in order to protect themselves. These customs and taboos are more solid." Guo Kang thought for a while and said, "So the situation in Bohemia is relatively good. The civilians in Egypt are more troublesome."

"I have always felt that the education level in Egypt is much higher than that in Europe as a whole," Tuohuan said.

"That's true. But in the entire Mediterranean world, the concept of education level can only cover a small number of people. We can't simply use the cultural and educational level of scholars to estimate the local educational atmosphere like in the Central Plains." Guo Kang shook his head:

"In the Central Plains, there is a tradition of encouraging learning. Especially after the emergence of the imperial examination system, there has always been a certain correlation between the educational foundation of the people and the number of high-level scholars. In places where culture and education are prosperous, the base of people engaged in learning is relatively large, and there will be more educated people who pass the exams. But here, the education of the vast majority of the people has nothing to do with the education level of this area. If you want to evaluate the cultural level of the people, it may be more accurate to look at the number of formal churches at the grassroots level..."

"As for Bohemia, an unexpected situation occurred."

"Their country is the main base of the Luxembourg family, so successive Alemanni kings would mobilize forces to build it. For example, in Europe, universities are important organizations that provide advice to kings and nobles, and they have a great say in the church. For this reason, the previous king Charles IV established a university in Prague to compete with Paris."

"Thanks to the support and investment of the entire Alemannic region, the University of Prague was very large. In the golden age of the late Charles, it is said that there were 1408 students studying here. Even after the civil strife, by , there were still doctors and masters, bachelors, and university students."

"However, most of the senior officials of the University of Prague and even the Bohemian Church are Alemanni. The division of power in the school is also unfavorable to the locals. At the University of Paris, the school's autonomous organization is composed of four fraternal associations: France, Picardy, Normandy, and England. Each fraternal association has one vote, so the French always have an advantage in the vote. The University of Prague also set up four fraternal associations in imitation, but they are Bohemia, Bavaria, Saxony, and Poland. Among them, there are also a large number of Alemanni in the Polish Society. "Later, under pressure from the locals, Bohemian King Wenceslas increased their voting rights and announced that the Bohemian Council would have three votes, equal to the Alemanni. But the Alemanni could not accept it. After the order was issued, two thousand students left the school that day in protest. A few days later, another three thousand people chose to leave. These Alemanni returned to their hometown and established the University of Leipzig on their own to compete with Prague. "

"However, the school's main sponsors were the wealthier Alemanni nobles and wealthy businessmen. The church and some charitable groups also sponsored poor teachers and students, but these organizations were basically controlled by the Alemanni. After the Alemanni students left en masse, many sponsorships were cut off. The teachers and students became even poorer."

"In this situation, some people chose to borrow money to go to school, and ended up owing a lot of debt to the Jews. Others began to look for jobs. Even teachers in schools were paid very little, so they could only find part-time jobs everywhere. Therefore, many teachers and students chose to go to other places to be teachers to subsidize their studies."

"The most troublesome thing is that even after they finish their studies, they can't get a good position, because the lucrative positions in the entire pseudo-Holy Roman Empire are monopolized by the Alemanni. Even if there are more scholars in Bohemia, everyone can only go to grassroots churches and the like to grab a position. In the end, even the church can't accommodate them."

"As a result, many educated people, from the highest level of Prague University down, had to go to the countryside, or even to places like Mount Tabor. These unexpected circumstances led to a great improvement in the level of education in Bohemia during this period. Many changes in the Hussites were also made possible by these objective conditions."

"That's what I said. If they keep doing this, it's a bit like the Central Plains." Tuohuan nodded in understanding: "This is also a good thing."

"I underestimated them before. I didn't expect you to think so highly of them. We can think about what to do next. In time, a great power should emerge in this place."

"I'm afraid there's no such opportunity." Guo Kang shook his head.

"Why?" Tuohuan became even more curious.

Guo Kang pondered for a moment.

In terms of combat effectiveness, the Hussite army was indeed epoch-making. Moreover, their real strength was not in their weapons themselves - in fact, the Crusaders also quickly learned how to use chariots, and even made more sophisticated chariots. However, the two sides fought repeatedly, and the Crusaders were often defeated. Firearms and chariots were also given to the Hussite army, and Sigismund was almost a transport captain...

The real source of their fighting power is high morale and strict discipline. Although there are only a dozen military regulations formulated by Jessica, behind this is a completely different organizational form from the European army of this era. The members of the army are no longer forced civilians or mercenaries fighting for money, but fighting monks with common beliefs and cultural influence. It is normal for them to fight against traditional European armies and have those incredible results.

However, Jessica's idea of ​​building an army was not passed down. This organizational method also disappeared with the demise of the Orphan Army. Even later, when Europe's military power was the most powerful in the world, their military organization was still medieval. It was not until much later that someone on the other side of the continent figured out a similar structure.

In the final analysis, there is actually no corresponding foundation in Europe, whether in terms of culture or organization. The current situation in Bohemia is just a beautiful coincidence - a super civilization like Seris can naturally use 8,000 years and a population of tens of millions to slowly test out the optimal results. But for the Bohemians, this opportunity may only come once in the entire life of their nation.

And unfortunately, they failed to catch it.

"Master Wang just mentioned the three characteristics of Lao Yang and his group." Guo Kang thought for a moment and said, "In my opinion, opposing the Catholic Church in terms of doctrine and adhering to the local characteristics of Bohemia in terms of culture are both simple. But in terms of interests, requiring care for the poor is a very dangerous place."

"At present, the Catholic Church and the Alemanni King are still very powerful compared to them, and can bring great deterrence, so that everyone dare not make too much trouble. But after winning the war, the contradictions in the other two aspects will disappear, and this last characteristic is probably the real killer."

"That's true." Lama Wang thought for a moment and agreed, "It is a consensus among everyone to drive away the Alemanni who eat so badly. It is not difficult. The Catholic Church has always bullied the weak and feared the strong. If they are scared, they will naturally compromise. But meeting the needs of the poor will be more troublesome. At that time, people of the same faith will fight each other. I have seen such cases several times when I was in Asia Minor."

"Then how should they solve it better?" Tuohuan asked curiously.

"I don't know either." Guo Kang spread his hands. "But the great nobles of Bohemia now support the doctrine only because the civilians can help them fight. Once the war goes well, they will definitely compromise with the King of Alemanni and sell out the civilians in order to protect their own interests with the least loss. There are too many such things in history, and you can know without guessing."

"I wouldn't be surprised if they did that...but have these people really never thought about the consequences?" Tuohuan was very skeptical.

"What do they know? And even if they understand the lessons of history, they won't be able to help but do it." Guo Kang was very sure.

After the destruction of the Taborite armed forces, the nobles gained a lot of benefits. However, without the leadership of the military order, the others soon discovered that these people were not excellent warriors at all, but just ordinary Western Slavs.

More than a hundred years later, when the Bohemian nobles still wanted to demand more autonomy, the Habsburg emperor chose to strike directly and hard.

The Holy Roman Army had been at war for 30 years, purging the nobility and slaughtering the common people, reducing the population of Bohemia to less than a quarter. Considering that there were still a large number of German immigrants, it is suspected that the locals were almost wiped out. The once prosperous mining industry was completely destroyed, and the mines were demolished. The church was completely dominated by Catholics because all other sects were killed.

The Bohemians had no ability to resist. At this point, their army was already known for being weak. The kingdom's heyday ended there. From then on, it only existed as a third-rate region.

(End of this chapter)