As Siegel's words fell, most of the faces of the many priests in the room showed expressions of joy. Only a few of them bit their lips, with gloomy looks in their eyes.
Obviously, Siegel's words did not go beyond everyone's expectations.
Before coming, everyone was mentally prepared for the decision Siegel would make.
However, everyone still felt differently after hearing Siegel's decision.
The chief archbishop officially made it clear that the church was the church of the gods and openly opposed the Roman emperor. This historic scene will probably not be forgotten by anyone for a long time.
After Siegel finished speaking, he paused for a long time and then continued.
"Now that the decision has been made, I will convene a meeting of the Bishops' Conference tomorrow to change the requirement that one must have served as Bishop of Thrace and Bishop of Constantinople in order to be promoted to Purple Archbishop, to the Bishop of Milan and Rome."
The priests in the room listened quietly, and no one raised any objections. Since they had already decided to cut off the Roman emperor, Siegel's decision was normal.
After all, the status of the churches in the Roman Empire, even the regional bishops, was far inferior to the officials sent by the emperor. This has long been dissatisfied.
The other three purple-clothed archbishops in the room looked at each other, then shook their heads and said nothing.
Although they do not agree with Sigel's decision in their hearts and believe that it is not the right time to break with the emperor when the Roman Empire still has strength and the emperor's prestige is still there, their faction is quite tied to the Apollin family. Deep down, there are some things that even if they object to, it will be useless.
Forget about them, most of the decisions made by the chief archbishop who has ruled the Holy See for many years will be passed even at the bishops' conference.
Then, after Siegel said some more about the arrangements for some things in the church, he waved his hand and most of the priests, including the Archbishop in Purple, left the room.
Only the absolute core personnel of the Sun God family remained in the room.
"Your Majesty, are you in good health?" A cardinal asked boldly and cautiously.
"What else?" Siegel glanced at the cardinal, his tone neither gentle nor slow. "I'm afraid, I don't have much time to protect you from the wind and rain. Recently, I have seen Sun God Mianxia many times in my dreams. Perhaps, the day I will enter His Kingdom to serve Him will be tomorrow."
"Your Majesty." A group of cardinals suddenly panicked. No one knew better than them. The reason why the Sun God family dared to do things so recklessly and unscrupulously over the years was because of the old man in front of them.
But if this old man is gone, can anyone really take his place in the current Sun God family and handle the complicated church affairs? Can the position of chief archbishop still remain in the Sun God line?
"Okay, how pleasant it must be for a servant of the Sun God to enter His Kingdom. What do you mean by this expression?
Humph, you guys..."
Siegel glared at the bishops, and then sighed quietly.
"You have been doing more and more things recently, especially some people. Didn't they tell you not to be enemies with those nobles?
What, are you starting to stop listening to what I say? You actually attack the nobles again and again. Do you really think those Carolingian kings are weak and can be bullied? "
"Chief..." A cardinal wanted to explain.
"You don't need to explain so much to me. If it were a few years ago, I would definitely not have spared you, but now, I can't control so much.
Thomas, come here and prepare to take over the position of Archbishop of Rome. "
Siegel interrupted, waved his hand, and motioned for a middle-aged priest to come to him.
Suddenly, eyes full of various emotions fell on Thomas.
Just now, Siegel said that he would reform the conditions for the election of the Purple Archbishop. Now, he is preparing to let Thomas take over as the Archbishop of Rome. The meaning of this is self-evident.
Thomas will become the new helmsman of the Apollo family. After Siegel returns to the Kingdom of Apollo, he will take over the position of the other party's purple archbishop and run for the chief archbishop on behalf of the Apollo family and take over the church.
The Chief Archbishop may have really made up his mind.
Several cardinals had the same idea in their minds.
Because Thomas was not favored before. Although the other party was very capable and proficient in their respective classics, he was also very popular among believers. However, Thomas was a radical among the gods, advocating that the church should be reformed and that the church should compete with secular lords for power.
It is precisely because of his various opinions that even among the Sun God faction, everyone is not optimistic about his coming to power. They are more optimistic about Bishop Ellison, who has good relations with other factions and advocates moderate policies.
Within the Sun God faction, the voice in support of Ellison's ascension is also the highest.
But now, Siegel supports Thomas to come to power, which undoubtedly represents an attitude. Even if the vast majority of people disagree, as long as Siegel supports it, Thomas' ascension is inevitable.
Many people's eyes fell on Ellison, wanting to know the other person's reaction, but Ellison seemed to have expected it, and his expression was as usual.
Just when everyone was praising in their hearts that Bishop Ellison was worthy of admiration for his character, Siegel's voice sounded again.
"Ellison, the position of Archbishop of Milan will be vacant soon. You can run for the position of Archbishop of Milan."
For a moment, the cardinals in the room were dumbfounded.
"By the way, I heard that there is a young bishop named Jason who is doing well in Saxony? Let him come to Rome when you have time."
"So, what the nobles of Saxony want is aristocratic autonomy?" Otto frowned and couldn't help but ask as Count Werner introduced the situation to him.
"They must be crazy. Why do they think the Duke and His Majesty the King would agree to such an outrageous request?"
Noble autonomy was something that Otto was not unfamiliar with, and so was Count Werner in front of him. Speaking of which, this is also a policy implemented by many kingdoms in this era.
However, it seems so inappropriate under the system of the Frankish Kingdom.
As a feudal kingdom, everything in the Frankish Kingdom was based on the so-called feudal system. That is, upper-level lords exchanged rewards of land or other resources for the loyalty and performance of feudal obligations of lower-level nobles.
The equivalence of reward resources and feudal obligations is the basis for maintaining this feudal system.
Today, the nobles in Saxony enjoy land but do not want to fulfill their feudal obligations. It's said to be a noble discussion, but in fact it just depends on the mood. They want to decide whether to fulfill the contract based on their mood. Which lord can bear it?
No wonder the friction between the two parties is getting bigger and bigger, and they can't reach an agreement at all. Even if Otto becomes the Duke of Saxony, he won't be able to agree to such conditions.
The feudal system of the Frankish Kingdom was relatively loose, and these Saxon nobles couldn't stand it. Otto thought that King Louis might have spoiled them.
Now that we know the price difference between the two parties, it is obviously impossible to negotiate, so we can only continue to use force.
However, Otto was a little confused. In his opinion, Count Werner's war was okay, so how could there be no progress?
"Your Excellency, are you trying to make the bandits proud?"
