This guy, who was regarded as a religious madman in later generations, only then revealed his thoughts. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

Obviously, although Emperor Maude had a very devout belief in the Temple of Light, as an emperor of the empire, he did not blindly only want to pursue his faith.

At that time, the mainland had just been unified, and the people were determined, although the imperial army could pacify the rebellious tribes, but the pacification of people's hearts could only rely on religion and belief. There is no doubt that the Temple of Light, which I have been a devout believer in since childhood, is an excellent choice!

Perhaps Emperor Maude the Great did have this idea, because at that time, the Temple of Light was almost single-handedly supported by him, and he even easily became the Pope of the Temple, becoming the de facto ruler of both the Temple and the Empire.

In this way, there seems to be nothing wrong with it, the power is still firmly in the hands of the emperor, and the power of religion can be used to appease the hearts and minds of the emperor.

But even someone as smart as Maude the Great probably didn't expect that the temple would one day grow enough to threaten imperial power and imperial rule!

Because at that time, Emperor Maude, whether in the temple or in the world, had absolute authority, and no power could threaten his power, so he couldn't see how far the divine power would grow hundreds of years later!

After a hundred years of development, the Temple of Light has gradually become the only faith of the people of the Empire, especially in the vast eastern part of the Empire, and the belief in the Temple of Light can be described as fanatical. And correspondingly, the great rise of theocracy!

Maude the Great had already died by this time, and the emperor who succeeded him could succeed him, but not the Pope. In addition, the later emperors did not pay any attention to the power of religion and did not control the position of the pope in their own hands, and finally made the Temple of Light grow larger and larger, until the monastery buildings competed with the nobles for land, and the local taxes were looted by the temple, and the imperial treasury spent more than one million gold coins every year to support more than 100,000 clergy and monks in the empire.

What made the emperors even more intolerable was that the Temple of Light was openly claiming to be "divine authority of the monarch" at this time! The emperor's coronation was required to be presided over by the Pope!

Such a move would undoubtedly suppress the royal power under the divine power! Only then did the emperors realize that the growth of the temple was beyond their control!

Finally, the contradiction between theocracy and royal power intensified, and one hundred and eighty years after the establishment of the empire, the new emperor of the empire, Yudelian I, succeeded to the throne, claiming that the emperor's power came from the goddess of light, but did not need to be granted by the Pope, so he refused to coronate the Pope of the Temple, and abandoned the tradition of going to St. Maud's Cathedral to receive the Pope's coronation at that time, which is undoubtedly a blasphemy of the divine right in the eyes of the Temple!

An enraged Pope of the Temple immediately issued a proclamation declaring that the throne of Youdry I was illegitimate. At this time, His Majesty Youdelian I is facing a great crisis.

At that time, in the Empire of Light, the Temple of Light had infiltrated the empire for more than a hundred years, and it had already been deeply rooted, and it was not suitable to tear face, and several other areas within the empire were also increasingly contradictory. The Macedonian Isby and the steppe people have risen to prominence after a hundred years of imperial rule, while the empire has been weakened due to various problems.

At this time, the Temple of Light declared that His Majesty Youdrud I's throne was illegitimate, which undoubtedly gave these careerists a chance. So Macedonia took the lead in attacking, openly denying the status of Youdry I as emperor, and taking the opportunity to declare self-reliance.

Yudrid I was shocked when he heard the news, so he sent an army to quell the rebellion, but he was also very backbone and insisted on not bowing to the temple. At this time, Isbi and the steppe people also took advantage of the situation to claim self-reliance, and most of the empire rebelled one after another, which made His Majesty the Emperor shocked, and finally after a decision, he was forced to bow to the temple.

It was the cold winter season, and in order to get the support of the temple, Yudry I rushed from the imperial capital of Gilliat to the Papal States in the northeast of the empire, and stood outside the Basilica of St. Maud for three days and three nights before being received by the pope. The emperor, who was once determined to restore royal power, had to bow to His Majesty the Pope at that time, and even kissed His Majesty's shoes as a sign of repentance in his heart.

The temple considered that although the Macedonian Isbi and other alien races were nominally under the banner of religion, once they became independent, they probably would not recognize the status of the temple, and they had already obtained the promise of Yudry I, so the temple immediately recognized the legitimacy of Yudry I's throne.

At this time, His Majesty the Emperor conquered Macedonia in the west with legitimate royal power, but finally because of the internal strength of the empire, if it is attacked, I am afraid that not only will it not be able to recover a large territory in the west, but even lose more imperial land.

So in desperation, although the empire was unwilling to recognize the independence of these regions, it was also unable to take it back. Therefore, the Macedonian Isby and the Chatai Khanate became independent one after another, and the Bright Empire was therefore left with only the territory in the east, the river valley corridor in the west, and the border of Lingbei Province in the north, barely competing with these three empires, and after the mainland remained unified for less than two hundred years, it was again divided into several parallel empires.

And His Majesty Youdelian I, who was once ambitious, after such a blow, fell ill directly and died within a few years.

After such a situation arose, the power of the temple became even stronger, and the royal power after that was almost always under the divine power, and until now, the struggle between the royal power and the divine power has never subsided.

These things were all heard by Joseph from Su Ya, and now when he sees the people in the temple in this imperial capital, he naturally thinks a lot.

Looking at the team of people in front of him, Joseph couldn't help but squint his eyes and glanced at Gould: "These guys are so magnificent, is it the Pope himself sitting in the car?"

However, the fat man shook his head: "His Majesty the Pope is generally in the Papal States in the northeast, and rarely enters the imperial capital, except for major festivals such as New Year's celebrations, or the coronation of the emperor, he rarely sets foot in the imperial capital...... Looking at the appearance of these guys, it should be an archbishop in the imperial capital, oh, that is, the cardinal archbishop in charge of the diocese of the central province!"

Cardinal Archbishop?Such a person is already a very powerful person in the Temple of Light on the Ceylon Continent!

The Temple of Light divides the Empire of Light into five dioceses, each with a cardinal archbishop and four vicarious bishops under the archbishop, who are responsible for all the affairs of a diocese.

This included collecting taxes, pacifying the faithful, administering the temple property, and preaching the doctrine.

What's more, these archbishops, as the heads of the temple affairs, not only have the right to collect taxes, but also the estates in the temple's name, as well as ...... Soldiers!

There are about a few thousand holy knights in each diocese, all of whom are under the authority of the archbishop...... has its own finances, as well as its own military power, hum, what is the difference between this kind of "archbishop" and the governor of the empire?