Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 693 How much money did they make from selling indulgences? gulden! Not even enough for a convoy.

After the meeting, Guo Kang rushed back to Cairo without stopping and immediately went to look for Tuohuan and Zhu Wenkui.

Soon, Zhu Wenkui arrived at the government hall. He looked even more exhausted than Guo Kang, with his pants rolled up and covered in dust. As soon as he entered, he shouted, "The meeting is over so soon?"

"It's not finished yet, many people haven't arrived yet." Guo Kang said, taking out an envelope: "But there are things here too, I have to come over to deal with it first. In addition, there is a letter from your father, the princess asked you to read it too. I brought it to you on the way."

"Oh?" Zhu Wenkui was a little surprised and quickly took it.

"I heard from the messenger that there seemed to be a fight over there. It feels a bit rushed... There are so many things going on this year, I'm afraid we can't take care of them all." Guo Kang scratched his head, hesitating to speak.

"However, it will take at least a week for the letter to be sent from where he is to Dadu. There is no permanent postal route from Dadu to here, and the letter is sent along with official documents, which takes another seven days. With such a long delay, we can't make any suggestions. Whether it is appropriate depends on the decision over there." He thought for a moment and then said in reverse.

"The letter just said that the time is ripe and the people are excited. We can't wait any longer." Zhu Wenkui quickly scanned the letter and said, "The counselors all said that the reason why everyone supports King Wu the most is that he is particularly determined to reduce the power of the princes and insists on going against the great nobles. With this attitude, countless people will naturally come to support him. As for the real royal bloodline and the nobles from the country of Elder John, they are just reasons spread out for this goal. The statements in different places are not the same. In the final analysis, it is because everyone wants to believe him that there are these arguments, not the other way around."

"Now everyone wants to fight the enemy, so only those who follow this trend can get the support of everyone. If he keeps hesitating, everyone will think that the nobles of the Eastern Ming Dynasty are like this. These days, there are many people in Europe who, out of indignation or ambition, take advantage of this trend and even directly claim to be officials of the Ming Dynasty to gather people to start a rebellion. If he doesn't do it, others will do it themselves, and those who support him will follow others. By then, when someone succeeds, he, the Great Ming King, will become a Small Ming King."

"...His advisers are too sharp in their words." Guo Kang said in surprise: "Even if I knew such words, I wouldn't tell them to the lord casually."

"Those counselors were not highly educated. I remember two of them were traveling monks who had more experience, so we invited them to help. In addition, there were some traveling doctors, accountants, and even veterinarians." Zhu Wenkui explained: "Everyone's literary level was not very good, and sometimes they couldn't hide it even if they wanted to be tactful."

"Also, I suspect that it's because of the cultural environment that the counselors are generally more radical, thinking about how to fight every day." He shook his head and said, "Plus, the palace has always been quite... corrupt. They may have regarded this place as a religious order, and once they are enthusiastic or have inspiration, they immediately run out to preach."

"My father spent a long time to restrain those rural priests and told them to complete their work first at all times. They were not allowed to leave the court on their own and go to the people to recruit people without even leaving their resignation letters. But his ministers still often complained that the overly cumbersome paperwork was wasting their pursuit of justice. They had to be constantly managed, otherwise they would run out and fight with others..."

"It's a bit exaggerated." Guo Kang was a little confused: "I know the level of culture and education there is not very good, even if the intellectual class is more pure, but it shouldn't be so exciting. What happened?"

"It may be that the actions of the Alemanni Church and the nobles provoked the priests." Zhu Wenkui replied: "You should know the whole story of the split of the Catholic Church better than I do. I heard them say that in the early years, most priests in the Alemanni region actually supported the church and hoped that the church would be peacefully unified."

"However, neither the Roman nor Avignon churches were willing to make concessions. Moreover, they soon discovered that they could not convince the other side to accept unification through debates, and they had to resort to force. And whether it was to eliminate the other side's supporters or to win the support of secular lords, it would cost a lot of money. Therefore, both churches were frantically making money, and various income channels were soon abused."

"In most places, the king represents the local forces and chooses the pope he supports according to political needs. For example, when the Kingdom of France supports the Avignon Church, England will support the Roman Catholic Church. But compared with other places, the Alemanni is politically chaotic, resulting in no unified voice. The lords, big and small, each stand on their own side, and even jump back and forth to seek support."

"This kind of chaos is more deadly than simple church corruption. And the sheep pay for the wool. The money they spend on this back and forth is ultimately paid by the believers. As a result, everyone wants to make a fortune here, causing the church to become more and more greedy, and ordinary believers are becoming more and more dissatisfied."

"The special envoys you met were all senior priests in Rome, and they probably wouldn't tell you too much. But many people in grassroots churches are already extremely dissatisfied with this. Moreover, the more steadfast their faith, the more they question these actions; the more they value the authority of the church, the more they can't stand the current chaos." "These people were originally the most staunch supporters of the church. But the church did not pay attention to their demands and treated them like cows. As a result, many people who were relatively moderate at the beginning and hoped that the church could reform itself as before quickly fell into despair. These people are also very active. After thinking that the church can no longer be relied on, they begin to try to save their faith in their own way."

"Grassroots priests often interact with the people and know what they need most and what they can accept. So, although their cultural level may not be very high, they are indeed very good at public speaking and propaganda, and can have a great influence on the people. In many cases, the people's uprisings are also led by these people."

"Now, everyone is very enthusiastic. Not only the priests themselves, but also the church's clerks, craftsmen who do carving and painting, and even hired workers and volunteers are often called out by them to help and promote the cause. Maybe this has become a habit, which has led to the current atmosphere in the palace."

"This... there really is no better way." Guo Kang said helplessly: "I was thinking of replacing your people after the first phase is finished here."

"I originally estimated that something might happen in Bohemia in 1415, which is next year. In this way, I can experience all the major battles and accumulate some experience in household registration and infrastructure construction. Then I can go back and catch up with the work over there." He calculated and shook his head: "But now the situation has changed, it may be too late."

"Then what do you think is the best thing for me to do?" Zhu Wenkui asked. "Captain Yang and his men said privately before that the more than a thousand people here are the military backbone of the palace. Although it may not seem like a large number, they will all be candidates for squad leaders and flag leaders in the future, and they are already a very important force. It is a bit unsafe to send most of the backbone forces away. But my father insisted that he has more soldiers and generals on his side, so there is no need to worry about this."

"Although he insisted on giving such an order at the time and we followed his arrangements, Captain Yang, I, and even my mother and sister were a little worried. My mother said in the letter that she had sent all the guards I left behind and those who came to seek refuge back to support my father. But I don't know if it will be enough..."

"I'm not a prophet, I can't predict this kind of thing." Guo Kang said without hesitation: "Now it happens that the situation has changed dramatically, and my prediction is no longer accurate. If I insist on guessing, it may interfere with your judgment. So this kind of thing can be considered by you."

“From what you said, it seems like not making the prediction right is a good thing?” Zhu Wenkui said speechlessly.

"That's a good thing indeed." Guo Kang was a little surprised. "If everything goes according to the prophecy, the world will be in trouble. And I don't like others always treating me as a prophet. Being too superstitious about these things is not a good thing."

“You work in the church every day, and you still say we shouldn’t be superstitious or anything like that…” Zhu Wenkui felt helpless.

"It is in the church that we hope that everyone can establish the correct faith." Guo Kang pointed out: "A qualified believer must know better than others what to believe and what not to believe. When it comes to faith, we must seek truth from facts and pursue the truth that is beneficial to mankind. We cannot just recite scriptures behind closed doors or believe in random charlatans, otherwise we will sooner or later go astray and fall into heresy..."

"Alright, alright, it starts again..." Zhu Wenkui interrupted him hastily, and then gave an example: "Some prophecies are still very useful. Before my great-grandfather started the rebellion, wasn't there a prophecy like the Stone Man saying that the Yuan Dynasty would end? This is probably really a manifestation of destiny, so it's so reliable."

"We can't calculate it that way. If the prophecy said that Rome could only last until 1453, what would you think?" Guo Kang objected.

"That's definitely impossible. Someone must have misunderstood the meaning of the prophecy, or they simply made it up themselves. There are many such things in history, and they don't count." Zhu Wenkui denied it immediately.

"With your mentality, you really don't have to worry about superstitious prophecies..." Guo Kang had to say.

(End of this chapter)