Return With the change of hands of Mont Saint-Michel, this is not only the end of a series of expeditions and raids in the north, but also a new beginning. For example, the first order issued by Jiang Tianxiashan was to rectify the churches in the northern provinces of Upper and Lower Normandy, Calais, Picardy, and Loire.
Of course, the reason is also ready. Because the results of tracing Princess Theresia all the way are enough to prove that the church organizations in some places in the north have become a refuge for the royal party and the old nobles to hide their corruption, and continue to engage in illegal activities against the rule of the new dynasty.
Therefore, the plan will be divided into three steps: The first step is to cooperate with the accounting and surveying personnel sent by the government to target the industries owned by church organizations in these provinces, as well as their related churches, monasteries and religious schools. and wealth, conduct unified inventory and accounting.
The second step is to form a special sacramental investigation committee; for relevant rural priests, auxiliary priests, deacons, priests, presiding priests and parish bishops, county/district bishops, provincial/metropolitan bishops; affiliated clergy and auxiliaries, etc. The various fraternity groups attached undergo status checks.
The third step is to eliminate the redundant clergy based on the results of the first two stages of review, force a considerable number of them to return to the secular life, who are no longer suitable to remain in the church, and encourage the disclosure and reporting of criminals who are suspected of hiding in the church. or suspicious persons of unknown origin.
Finally, according to the results of the third stage of rectification, the clergy and priesthood in the northern parts of the kingdom will be unified and standardized; the jurisdiction of the diocese will be re-divided and adjusted; the number of clergy will be fixed according to the corresponding population; a clear and detailed relocation plan will be formulated. transfer process and reward and punishment standards.
At the same time, the threshold for secular people to join the church is strictly enforced; private donations and contributions without notarization are prohibited. Although the status quo will be maintained for the time being for minor priests below auxiliary priests; in the future, teachers and students in religious schools and monasteries will gradually be replaced and eventually completely replaced.
And if you want to advance from the lower third-level priests of rural priests, priest assistants, and auxiliary priests to the high priests of deacon and above, you not only need to evaluate your piety and daily reputation, but also go to a specialized religious school/seminary. Undertake longer or shorter further training and subsequent internships.
In this way, through a thorough investigation and liquidation of the reasons for the remnants of the old dynasty and those who protected them, they can further legitimately intervene and indirectly control the personnel rights and property management rights within the church. It will also create a large additional source of income for the new government from church real estate, properties and other projects.
As corresponding cooperating measures, Jiang Tian issued a second formal edict, the Land Purchase Order. It is to carry out formal distribution and planning of the confiscated/nationalized land in the kingdom's five archdioceses, nineteen provinces and eight crown territories since the Free Army launched its troops.
A small part of the real estate is reserved as a farm to be awarded to veterans and meritorious service in the future; part of it is leased to poor people with innocent wealth in the name of the country; and part of it is built to build more model farms and large livestock farms; to provide large-scale Maintenance fees for public projects.
In this way, the real estate and farms directly controlled by the country have reached 14 million Bonniers (ancient unit/about 1 hectare), accounting for almost half of the currently registered real estate in the kingdom; and the adult population in the southern part of the kingdom is about 800 million, with another estimated four to five million in the north.
In addition, there are a large number of mills, wineries, mines, workshops and other properties attached to these properties that are not produced from the fields. As long as enough officials and service personnel are assigned and proper management and operations are carried out, there will be no risk of unemployment or exile for at least two or three generations.
However, just when Jiang Tian left the corresponding guard force and left Mont Saint-Michel to return to the army on the mainland coast, unexpectedly but not unexpectedly, he met the Holy Kingdom's negotiation envoy who had been waiting for a long time. But surprisingly, this emissary represented the Principality of Brittany.
Rather than the Holy Blood Court of the Holy Kingdom and the formal official status of the Supreme Lords Council. The purpose of the other party's visit was also very clear. After seeing dozens of large ships full of soldiers rushing for reinforcements destroyed by force majeure at sea, Brittany was obviously somewhat frightened.
Therefore, the contemporary Grand Duke of Britannia is willing to privately pay a large sum of military expenses as compensation; and severely punish many related people who violated the original "Kingdom Agreement" without authorization and led the army into Mont Saint-Michel in exchange for Jiang Tian's leadership understanding between the Kingdom of Zealand and the new government.
At the same time, it is also to prevent the tens of thousands of Royal Army troops who are close to Chichi and only separated by a river from further pursuing and expanding the situation of border conflicts; and even seek to reduce the size of the garrison in the border areas bordering the two sides, maintain communication channels, and avoid conflicts. A series of secret treaties.
But this attitude and proposal are a bit interesting. Because Jiang Tian actually had no intention of further escalating the situation, or using this opportunity to invade the territory of the Holy Kingdom, and start another protracted national war; but the more this happened, the more he had to bluff and show that he would not hesitate to use force to deter all-out war.
But obviously no matter how the Holy Blood Court and the Supreme Lords Council reacted; the approaching Britannia was in the lead and couldn't hold back. This again involves the unique national system and internal situation formed by the Holy Kingdom since the founding of Saint Laurent. It is also often called collegial kingship.
Because the original Saint Laurent and his followers were from the family of the Margraves of Brittany; as an accomplice of King Charlemagne of the Frankish Kingdom, he went to the Imbrian Peninsula and defeated the local Panlassens in the battle. Emerge and stay in Catalonia.
However, when the Marquis of Brittany was poisoned by his step-wife and stole the territorial rights in a series of Frankish court battles and conspiracies; Saint Laurent was also summoned back to the royal capital Aachen, in the Pyrenees. The mountains were attacked by local mountain people and even disappeared for a time.
Later, when he reappeared in front of the world, he had landed in Catalonia with a knights from multiple ethnic groups on the sea. He used this as a base to gather strength and launched a revenge against the Frankish Kingdom. battle. Later he defeated the army of Aquitaine.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, he married the only daughter of the lord of Aquitaine, thus gaining the right to rule and legalize Aquitaine; then he took advantage of the opportunity and invaded his hometown of Britannia to complete his revenge on his stepmother and seize power; thus also completing Britannia. , Catalonia and Aquitaine, the original union.
The prototype of the United Kingdom of Holy Britannia was born. From then on, in addition to the three major union territories that directly belonged to the Holy Blood Court, Saint Laurent and his descendants also conquered most of the Imbilia Peninsula and a large area north of the mountains through various knightly conquests and expansions. land.
Therefore, in addition to the three core/feudal territories that were highly vassalized and fiefdom-based; these successively conquered lands included not only Romanized provinces/counties/cities, but also more than a dozen large and small ones, which had been preserved for generations. Secondary feudal titles such as kingdoms, principalities, and counties with varying degrees of privilege.
Therefore, the Lords of the Holy Blood Court in the past dynasties also held these numerous titles. While they were highly centralized in religion, politics, and military, they also retained local nobles and a considerable degree of economic, cultural, and ethnic autonomy in these territories. , and even establish exclusive armed forces.
As a result, during the foreign expeditions in the name of chivalry in the past dynasties, dozens of knights of various sizes were also established within the Holy Kingdom; among them were city knights in areas with developed handicrafts and commerce, as well as secondary feudal knights. Your exclusive knighthood, an armed order/religious knighthood.
These knights, who have been engaged in foreign campaigns all year round, have also become an important part of the large and complex military system alongside the provincial armies, border guards, and local militia that serve as defense and internal repression in the Holy Kingdom. Therefore, the Holy Kingdom is also often called the Kingdom of the Knights.
The leaders of the major knights, together with the secondary lords and great nobles, formed an existence called the Supreme Lords Council; they assisted the previous Lords of the Holy Blood Court to jointly decide on the country's major policies, as well as those who were temporarily absent from the throne. During the transitional period, he was responsible for maintaining the daily operations of the Holy Kingdom.
Therefore, during the heyday of the Council of the Supreme Lords and the Chivalry War, several large knights united to build a large expedition fleet on the long coastline from Galicia to Lisbon, and to the southernmost point Andalusia's roundabout attack.
Even for a time, with the response and help of the Henna Federation on the East African coast, they successfully captured and occupied the Cordoba Dynasty, a large area of land near the city of Ceuta, an important town and fortress in North Africa. Then, in the name of the Sea Knights, he organized many of his plundering ships to venture to the New World.
Even for a long time on the other side of the Atlantic, in that mysterious and wild land; with the Saracens of the Cordoba dynasty, the Vikings from the North Sea ice sheet, the Britons from the archipelago, and even the sea who were once allies. The city-state of Na; competes for routes and products from the New World.
It wasn't until the celestial changes hundreds of years ago that led to the collapse of the First Dynasty of Zealand; and the sea creatures that gradually grew larger blocked and destroyed the routes to the New World. It took more than a hundred years and several generations before we saw ships from the New World again.
But everything on the other side of the ocean has long since changed. The Sealand Kingdom took advantage of this opportunity to squeeze out the Holy Kingdom's forces in Africa and established its first overseas province. Having said that, the archduke who tried to reach a secret agreement came from a close branch of the Holy Blood Court.
As one of the three original states, the Grand Duke of Britannia is not a position that can be inherited; rather, he is a member of the royal family appointed by each generation of the Holy Blood Court after the current death. His status is also second only to that of the current heir to the Holy Blood Court known as the "Prince of Asturias".
And it is higher than the royal status of several secondary princes such as Leon, Castile, Galicia, and Navarre. It's just that as a new regime, Jiang Tian's sources of information within the Holy Kingdom are quite limited. Coupled with the shrinkage of troops and border blockade brought about by the changes in the celestial sphere, it is even more difficult.
Therefore, we can only get some vague descriptions from the monks of Mont Saint-Michel. For example, due to an accident at the court, the Grand Duke of Britannia was appointed by the previous Holy Blood Court at the age of eleven as the protector of all secular/religious lords in Britannia.
He has been in office for more than fifty years; for another example, he was an example of a particularly devout believer earlier. I have to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Mountain every few years; but now I have not come for a full ten years, and only the routine donation on Patron's Day every year...
