"'I repeat to you again, to-morrow you will see this obedient flock of sheep, and if I wave my hand, they will scramble to light the pyre and burn you at the stake, for you are coming to hinder our cause! You are more qualified than anyone else to be burned at the stake, and tomorrow I will burn you to death, I'm done. ’”

When the Chancellor of the Holy See had finished speaking, he saw how the prisoner had answered, and he noticed that the prisoner had been listening to him calmly and attentively, with his eyes fixed on his eyes, not wanting to object to anything. The old man expected that the other man would say something else to him, even harsh and harsh words. But the prisoner suddenly walked up to the old man silently and kissed him lightly on the bloodless ninety lips—that was all he had answered. ”

Roland aborted the story, turning his gaze to Patriarch Gregory, who had been listening attentively—the story was mainly told to him.

Feeling Roland's gaze, Gregory slowly raised his head to meet him, his dry lips squirming slightly, and finally spat out a sentence:

"What happened?"

"That kiss injected a warm current into the Inquisition, and he shuddered......" Roland sighed softly, and added at last, "but the Chancellor did not change his mind because of that kiss, and the next day he burned the prisoner at the stake." ”

When Roland finished his story, there was silence in the room. People have different expressions, and they are all thinking about the moral of this story. Through this allegory, everyone has a perceptual understanding of Roland's so-called "religiousization of the state", but for a while they can't sort out the chaotic thoughts.

Roland still stood as straight as a javelin, pursed the corners of his lips, and stared at Gregory fixedly, his eyes bright. He didn't care what others did and how they reacted, those people didn't deserve to listen to his story, he only cared about the old man's feelings.

Grigory buried his head deeply, the tip of his nose almost touching the tabletop, and his hands covered his face, as if he was dozing.

Suddenly, however, he straightened up and sat up, slowly removing the dry palms that covered his face. It was only then that people were surprised to find that this old man, who was known for his strength and stubbornness, was actually in tears at this moment.

……

The story told by Roland and the tears of Patriarch Gregory were just episodes in the seminar. Most people don't understand or care about the moral of Roland's story, just as they don't understand why Gregory is in tears.

As the night wore on, the three-day reform seminar finally came to an end in a squabble. After the meeting ended, Patriarch Gregory came to Roland and offered to shake hands with the young man.

"Young man, you taught me a lesson today, and I want to say thank you to you."

"I'm not sure if it's an inspiration or a curse for you, maybe one day you'll hate me for it." Roland held the old man's dry hand, and felt a little guilty in his heart.

The old man smiled faintly and said calmly, "Listening to you tell the story about the Church of the Moon God today, I suddenly remembered a past, how long ago was that?" Seventy years ago, or eighty years ago? I don't remember exactly, when I had just become a priest of Perot, and was a deacon in the church, and one day I was sent by the priest to help in the inquisition of the city, where I witnessed for the first time the whole process of burning at the stake, and when I saw a cultist being set on fire, and gradually burned in the flames with a miserable wail, and bubbling all over his body, and his face was unrecognizable, until he became charred, for some reason, I had a mixed feeling of worship and envy for the tortured, and I longed to treat him as a person. to test whether you can maintain your pure faith even after being burned at the stake. ”

Roland shuddered.

"It's a pity that I have had a smooth ride in my life, I have not made any big mistakes, I have never put myself in a desperate situation, and I am nearly 100 years old and have not experienced such a severe test as being burned at the stake, so in terms of life experience alone, I am really a very shallow person, not even as good as you young people who have experienced strong winds and waves." Patriarch Gregory shook Roland's hand vigorously, "I think it's time for me to stop, young friend, I have learned a lot from talking to you, and I look forward to seeing you again." ”

"Goodbye, honorable throne, and I wish you good health." Roland bowed deeply.

The old man turned around and took a step, stopped and turned back, and smiled meaningfully at him: "It's getting late, and the holy city is stormy, so go home as soon as possible." ”

Roland watched the old man's back go away, chewing on his parting words, there seemed to be some kind of hint hidden in the plain words, and the more he thought about it, the more terrible he felt.

"It seems that the Holy City can't stay long......" Roland secretly made up his mind, without further ado, to return to the Far East tonight. If you delay any longer, you won't be able to go back!

Thinking so, Roland gave Palatina a look, asked her to wait, and turned to Frank, intending to ask the crown prince to resign. However, before he could speak, Frank shouted excitedly: "Brother Roland! I'm looking for you, come with me to a quiet place, I have something important to talk to you! ”

Roland shrugged helplessly, and had to follow Frank up the "wind ladder" of the Puai Palace into the crown prince's private office on the roof.

Frank withdrew from the idlers around him, leaving only Roland and John Lauer, closed the door, let out a long sigh, and unabashedly confided in the two of them about the current predicament he was facing.

"The two are my most relied on friends, and I don't hide some things from you, and now I'm like a mouse that fell into the bellows, neither left nor right, and I'm very embarrassed!"

Roland couldn't help but feel some sympathy for the imperial crown prince, his current situation was indeed a dilemma. Frank's original intention in holding this symposium was to build a bridge between the "reformists" and the "conservatives", to exchange views frankly, and to try to reach some consensus while preserving their differences.

Unfortunately, the outcome of the meeting frustrated him, and after three days of bickering, the "reformers" and "conservatives" did not reach any consensus, but further deepened the contradictions.

At the meeting, the "conservatives" first concentrated their firepower on attacking the "tax package business" class, and put forward the slogan of "reform and reform the tax package system first". If Frank wants to persuade the "conservatives" to cooperate with him, he can only start with the tax system. However, Frank also urgently needed to co-opt the tax-chartered merchant class, represented by the Fogel family, and was unable to overhaul the current taxation system. What's more, even though the tax package system is not good in every way, how can the grassroots officials of the empire be corrupted, and the rural government has long been dissolved, and there is no other more effective way to collect taxes except for the tax package system.

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