Chapter 41: Angels also need promotional packaging (Part 2)
In the medieval feudal society of Europe, the Catholic Church was a big mountain that weighed on the people. It was the most tenacious spiritual pillar of the feudal system. It gave the feudal patriarchal system a sacred glory and united the entire feudal Western Europe. A large political system that faced off against the pagan countries of the East. It established its own religious hierarchy according to the feudal method. Its churches, monasteries, religious courts, and inquisitions were spread across every feudal manor and every trading town. In the end, it itself was the most powerful feudal society. Lord, owns a full third of the real estate in the Catholic world - it can be said that the huge Catholic Church organization is a densely woven spider web, covering almost every piece of land in Western Europe, and its influence extends to Every remote corner penetrates into every aspect of people's lives. In addition to ruthless economic exploitation, its function was to exercise comprehensive and all-pervasive spiritual rule over the vast population: the Middle Ages knew only one ideology, namely "religion and theology"!
If a revolutionary who wanted to change the world and promote the progress of the times attempted to successfully attack the secular feudal system from all aspects in every country in medieval Western Europe, he must first destroy this sacred central organization, at least as much as possible. thereby weakening its sanctity and authority.
If you are a passerby who simply wants to make profits and extract huge wealth, you will not be able to avoid this huge and all-pervasive organization. From the perspective of the medieval church, every Christian in the world is a lamb of the Lord, and every piece of their money should be an offering to the Lord - although many people do not think so, and the church cannot do it. Such an exaggerated thing does not prevent many self-aggrandizing priests from realizing this.
In the final analysis, this has basically nothing to do with the world situation in real society. It is an ideological issue.
The time travelers are not ignorant of the power of the church. They also know that if they make full use of this organization, they can more easily raise the huge amount of money they want, so they will try to reach a cooperation agreement with the Pope from the beginning. , and so far, Pope Clement VI’s attitude is quite cooperative. But the problem is that also in medieval Europe, the strength of the church does not equal the strength of the Holy See, and the strength of the Holy See does not equal the strength of the Pope. His Majesty the Pope often cannot control the Catholic Church, and the Central Holy See often cannot control the local churches.
Even in the years when the papal authority reached its peak, at least half of the huge Catholic Church was in a state of paralysis or even rebellion, preventing Europe from becoming a **** country in the end. In more cases, the pope actually plays an embarrassing role in the Catholic Church, similar to that of the Secretary-General of the United Nations Security Council or the President of the European Council in later generations. Although he has a high position, he lacks real power.
What's even more terrible is that in this era of strong religious atmosphere, no matter where they are, a considerable part of the wealth is hoarded in churches and monasteries. If the travelers want to raise money, they have to cut off the flesh from the church, which is equivalent to The church must contribute both money and effort.
——Under normal circumstances, as the saying goes, taking people's money is like taking their lives. Even if an "angel" comes, if you want to squeeze out such a large sum of money in one go, you will probably be attacked by a group of people. Fortunately, the Black Death is now rampant, and those priests are almost dying, and they can't care about money for the time being... But as soon as the epidemic gets better, these misers and misers will return to their old ways and start to commit suicide.
"...The general situation is like this. Although we only took away gold and silver coins, valuable jewelry and property, and some livestock, we left them with more valuable land and properties, and most of those things were originally ownerless. , but there are always some guys who are greedy..."
Doraemon scratched his head and explained with some annoyance - due to the spread of the Black Death, more than half of Italy's population was wiped out in a short period of time, and countless wealthy families and noble lords lost their heirs. Naturally, their family property Without the owner, the time traveler only took away the gold, silver, jewelry and other frivolous wealth. As for the land and properties that could not be taken away, most of them were assigned to the name of the church.
Therefore, if we look at the actual income, although the church was forced to contribute a lot of gold and silver to the "angels", it gained countless mansions and villas and large manors and pastures, as well as a more firm and devout faith among the entire people. , after all the income and expenditure, it is already a huge profit no matter how you look at it - not to mention that just being able to save a life from the Black Death is already extremely lucky.
But the problem is that human beings are always greedy and short-sighted, and the more privileged the class, the more so. Many priests took the manor properties that fell into their hands due to the owner's death from illness, and the devout faith that sharply increased with the miracle of the "angel coming", without any sense of gratitude; but looking at those The gold, silver and jewelry confiscated by the "angels" made them feel as heartbroken as if someone had cut their chests with a knife, as if they regarded those ownerless things as their own...
Obviously, no matter what era, there seems to be no shortage of people with short-circuited brains seeking death. As a result, under the secret instigation of some behind-the-scenes masterminds, undercurrents began to surge in Rome and Avignon. Some people actually publicly denounced the time-travelers as "fallen angels who betrayed the trust of the Lord and were greedy and greedy" and called on those who had just Christians who have recovered from the Black Death have "pure faith" and will never listen to the fallacies of these "angels".
"...It's...so ridiculous! Shouldn't the Pope be able to suppress such a trivial matter?" Wang Qiu blinked in confusion.
"...It's impossible to count on the Pope. First of all, he claims that he has no ability at all. Secondly, if those misers can create such a momentum, I am afraid that behind it is the old man of the Pope and his cronies who are deliberately indulgent. Maybe they are the same person. The guys are singing a double act for us!”
Minami Rika, a former policewoman with short purple hair, scratched her hair and sighed, "...After all, we have to raise at least 15 billion yen in wealth from this world, which is 150 billion yen in this era. Ten thousand florins or ducats are equivalent to the total income of the Holy See for at least four years. Who is willing to give out such a large amount of wealth? No matter what, the Pope is also the supreme leader of the church and must take the interests of the church into consideration. .”
"...It's really crazy. Letting them survive the Black Death is already the greatest benefit, okay?"
Wang Qiu almost rolled his eyes when he heard this, "...Doraemon, didn't you tell him before? No matter what, we have to collect at least 15 billion yen in this world, which is worth 1 The wealth of one and a half million florins or ducats is absolutely non-negotiable, even if it destroys the world... Isn't this old guy afraid? He doesn't look like he wants money over his life? ”
——He was actually a little surprised by this situation. In order to prevent the Holy See from using bad ideas behind his back, the time travelers showed them the power of various future weapons from the beginning... Unexpectedly, they still dared to do so. Turn a blind eye to the blade under your nose!
However, since in the 21st century, there are still many funny people who are busy trying to die all day long, then maybe this era is no exception.
"...Of course he is afraid, and he also knows that we cannot afford to offend us. Therefore, the Pope will not jump out to oppose us in any case, and will even try his best to defend us in words, but he may be passive in actual implementation. It's just a sign of slacking off and showing extra softness..."
Doraemon spread his hands helplessly, "...I just used [Mini Reconnaissance Satellite] to eavesdrop on the secret conversation between the Pope and several close confidants. They seemed to be very worried about an issue: Although the minimum limit we ask for is one hundred and fifty One hundred thousand gold coins can still be collected by selling everything in Italy. But the problem is, what if we are not greedy enough and want to get three million florins, or even ten million florins?"
"...So there was such a non-violent non-cooperation movement? Do you think we will be afraid of such public attacks? Damn it, it seems that if we don't show them some color, those bastards will really regard us as So cute Hello Kitty.”
Wang Qiu knocked on the table with his fist, "...the so-called non-violence and non-cooperation is tantamount to forcing us to use violence!"
"...The method of using violence to destroy is very simple. I have the T-virus that creates zombies, and I can launch a medieval biochemical crisis at any time." Under the horrified eyes of everyone, Doraemon calmly said: He took out a virus from the world of "Resident Evil" in his pocket and tried it. Guan shook his head, "...but the problem is, we are not the devils who come to destroy the world, we must maintain our good image! Instead of wasting time and effort like bandits, killing people and setting fires in town after town, how can people voluntarily The money is delivered to your doorstep quickly!”
——Marikawa Shizuka, the blond female school nurse who has a pair of foul-sized ****, saw Doraemon's behavior, couldn't help but sigh, lowered her head again and clasped her hands together, silently remembering her. The lost integrity of childhood idol Doraemon...
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Just when everyone was talking and unable to do anything, a series of hysterical laughter suddenly erupted in the venue.
"...Hahahaha, ridiculous! It's really ridiculous! Look what you have done? Isn't it just to collect some money? Can you do this?"
I saw Professor Guo holding the teacup in one hand and covering his stomach with the other, as if he had seen some funny show, looking overjoyed, "... things that could have been discussed openly and openly, you have made it so sneaky that you can't see it." Just like everyone, isn’t this something you’ve done yourself?”
——When searching for property before, because there were all kinds of ownerless things everywhere, the time-travelers simply moved whatever they liked, or directly assigned the matter of collecting money. I think it showed that they were crushing. After the absolute strength of the pressure type, no matter what troubles these "angels" throw out, the Holy See will probably smooth things over for them... I didn't expect that the gang of greedy magicians would dare to disrupt the situation!
"...As we all know, anything that comes too easily will be less cherished by people. Due to the lack of publicity in the past, some people seem to regard saving all living beings and eliminating plagues as the obligations and obligations entrusted to us by the gods. Responsibility should be free benefits that can be obtained without paying any price, and the various property collected along the way are our private gains behind God's back.
According to this idea, of course they will be angry and dissatisfied, and even try every means to cause trouble for us, without thanking us at all for saving their lives! Therefore, if you want to resolve this crisis, you must correct this wrong idea of getting something for nothing - you must warn everyone that they are all sinners punished by God, and no one can get something for nothing, let alone give nothing. It’s easy to be saved! ”
Facing everyone’s eyes that were either admiring or shocked, Professor Guo spoke eloquently, “...First of all, we must state that the reason why we collect the church’s gold and silver wealth is not to take advantage of others, but to encourage the Catholic Church to maintain hardship. The basic doctrine of simplicity and not keeping personal wealth purifies their already tainted faith! Secondly, since every Christian is the Lamb of the Lord, then! All the wealth that has lost its owner belongs to God and should be distributed uniformly by God's messengers. Of course, the specific handling and distribution is the matter of the angels, and ordinary people have no right to interfere. But wait until the angels finish their mission and leave. After that, the church can take over the management of this matter - it's like beating a stick to a sweet date. ”
He lowered his head and took a sip of tea, and then added, "...Third, we must emphasize to all Christians that the society they live in is a whole, facing various disasters that are difficult to withstand, such as plague, famine, and war. , everyone should act in unison, contribute money and efforts if they have the money, so as to avoid the collapse of our civilized society these days. The reason why mortals are required to pay wealth is not to enrich their own pockets, but to make human society more harmonious and just. Those who have a high status and enjoy wealth should naturally give back to the society, otherwise an indiscriminate disaster like the plague will happen. If it breaks out, both the poor and the rich will be ruined together. This is a social responsibility that no one can escape.
All in all, since some people sing high-pitched slogans such as justice and righteousness, we must fight back with higher-profile justice and righteousness! We should promote love and responsibility, promote unity and dedication, in short, we should emphasize some universal truths that are absolutely correct! And I would also like to point out that the reason why this plague is so terrible today is because people are selfish and lack unity and dedication. Those who spread rumors and criticize angels are all guys sent by the devil to disturb people's hearts and want to push the world back into the abyss of plague and death..."
"...push the world back into the abyss of plague and death?! That's so right! That's how it should be! Why didn't I think of that?"
Hearing this, Doraemon suddenly slammed the table and interrupted Professor Guo excitedly, "...the reason why those ungrateful bastards are so bold, not only say weird things in private, but also incite the masses to oppose us, no Even if you think that the plague is over, you won’t die no matter how you commit suicide? Hehe, now I want to let them understand what it means to die after seeking death! Let those ungrateful fools once again recall their despair when they were dominated by the plague, and their fear of not being able to find a way to survive - —Do they think we won’t release the plague? ”
While Doraemon was talking so enthusiastically, he took out a strange machine with a huge jar inlaid from his fourth-dimensional pocket, and started tapping the keyboard and buttons on it. "...Let me see what interesting things should be cultivated." It’s better to have serious germs or viruses... …"——Looking at Doraemon's distorted and ferocious black expression, everyone present couldn't help but look at each other, and then they unanimously lit a candle silently in their hearts to deeply remember Doraemon. Mengjun’s lost integrity...