Chapter 379 Council
As her name suggests, the Corner Bay League is a political alliance. More than a hundred years ago, in order to protect their own security and wealth, a dozen relatively weak city-states united rise and gradually develop into the most powerful political force in the Jiaowan area.
The alliance was not called the "Kakuwan Alliance" at the beginning. This name was too sharp. After all, there are other large and small states and countries in the broken area of Kakuwan. Independent collar. However, as the alliance gradually rose and won again and again in several wars, the confident executives directly named their alliance after Diagon Bay. In the maritime trade outside Diagon Bay, they relied on Backed by national strength, merchants from the Alliance gradually gained a dominant position over merchants from other countries, so much so that many ordinary people outside the Cape Bay equated the geographical term Cape Bay with the political term Cape Bay Alliance.
The power center of the alliance is called the Supreme Council. At the beginning, this institution was a place for the top officials of various city-states to argue. It did not have substantive power over the entire alliance. However, due to the peacetime situation, Its influence gradually grew in various matters - such as negotiating tariffs or mediating disputes between members, etc., coupled with the catalytic effect of several wars, power was gradually concentrated in the Supreme Council, and it has developed to this day. It already has most of the powers that a country's central government has, such as diplomacy, military, taxation, etc., and people outside have already viewed the Horn Alliance as a country.
The number of members of the Council is fixed at 150. They are all descendants of the powerful people in the city-states who originally established the alliance. The seats of the Council are passed down from generation to generation. If a family becomes extinct, then this person will The closest male relative of the last person in the family inherits and also inherits the family name.
The leader of the Council is called the Speaker, and is selected every five years. The Speaker selects 10 members as his assistants, who are in charge of diplomatic, military, administrative, legal and other affairs, and hold at least two plenary meetings every month. Discuss major issues of recent times.
On this day, the discussion hall was filled with an atmosphere of tension. The members of the council took turns to fight and bicker with each other. There was only one issue - the Corner Bay Alliance's attitude towards the church.
"Distinguished members of Congress, I ask you to touch your chest and feel whether you still have the enthusiasm of being a corner noble! If your hearts have not turned cold, if your enthusiasm still exists If so, can you turn a blind eye to the many crimes committed by the church against the citizens of the Alliance?”
A congressman spoke loudly on the platform with a face filled with pathos.
“Since the church launched the witch-hunting campaign, they have robbed our citizens of so much wealth in the name of purging heretics. What is even more terrifying than plundering wealth is that they have also taken human lives lightly. How many innocent people have been brutally murdered? ”
He shed tears as he spoke.
“The church has gone too far!”
“It’s time for them to restrain themselves!”
His speech resonated with many people and they all echoed his words.
“Therefore, we must quickly take strong and effective measures to protect the citizens of the Alliance from the abuse of the church.”
But not everyone agreed with his conclusion. They stood up in their seats and booed.
"Horace, you ulterior motive! Don't think we don't know what you are up to."
A man rushed to the podium and shouted loudly to Horace who had spoken before refute.
"Hey, Simmons, you have to abide by the order of the venue!" Horace was very dissatisfied.
“Go to hell with your venue order!”
Simons shouted to the crowd: "Everyone, listen to the vicious language Horace used, such as 'taking human lives lightly' and 'poisoning'. Can such words be used to describe the church that serves the Father?" ?”
“I admit that there will be some radical measures in the witch-hunting movement, which will cause some misfortunes that no one wants to see, but this is inevitable and is to protect ordinary people like us from more evil. The price that had to be paid for the great evil." Horace shouted loudly: "Do you hear what Senator Simmons said?"
His supporters had booed Simmons, who was known to be a devout churchgoer.
"Hmph! Horace, don't think you don't know what you have in mind."
Simmons was unmoved and continued to shout to everyone: "Everyone must know that Horace's family is in the slave trade business. A few days ago, his family's auction house was destroyed by a group of kind-hearted believers, but the guards But not a few people were caught. Horace suspected that the church had hidden these believers, so he eagerly encouraged us to fight against the church. This was private revenge, and he did so without evidence. If you suspect anything, use private revenge."
"Shut up! Simmons!" Horace said with an angry look, pointing at Simmons's nose, "I am purely out of public motives. I know you are pious. Believer, don’t be blinded by your piety. Moreover, my business is a legal business, but I have suffered huge losses due to a group of people in the name of the Lord of Light. I am also a believer of the Lord of Light. Every time a tithe is paid, shouldn’t the church, as the shepherd of the Father, uphold justice? Should it allow the evil lambs in the flock to bully the good lambs?”
Simon? Si ignored him and shouted to everyone: "Listen, everyone, listen, isn't this self-retaliation? He admitted it himself."
"Shut up! I didn't admit it at all! "
The two quarreled on the podium, and their respective supporters in the audience also joined in the quarrel. For a while, the entire hall was like a vegetable market, with a loud noise.
"Silence! Silence!"
The current speaker took a hammer and knocked hard on the wooden table to quiet the venue that was about to lose order.
“Now it’s Congressman Foster’s turn to speak!”
As soon as he finished speaking, Joe Foster—that is, Marquis Foster—slowly walked towards the podium. Horace and Simmons, who were standing on the stage, looked at each other and snorted, then left the left and right sides of the stage respectively.
The Marquis cleared his throat and said seriously: "Everyone, I don't want to make any big claims, I just want to state a fact - since the witch-hunting movement began, the alliance's import and export trade volume has increased year by year. It has shrunk, and not only our alliance, but also the commercial activities in the entire Corner Bay are declining, and commerce is the foundation of our country.”
His words were like a gust of cold wind, making everyone present shiver.
“I believe that each of us has enough piety towards the Heavenly Father, but piety alone cannot fill our stomachs. Only by solving basic physiological needs first can we fulfill our obligations as believers, and better Therefore, I agree with some restrictive regulations on the church's behavior within the alliance."
Someone in the audience said: "But Lord Marquis, the alliance alone cannot fight against the church. , This is also another fact!"
The Marquis nodded and said: "So, I would like to invite other countries to discuss countermeasures together."
Last year, the Horned Bay Alliance. A council of nations had been convened, but amid various resistances - mainly from the Church - no substantial results were achieved.
(End of this chapter)