"Your Highness, I believe we absolutely cannot allow these despicable charlatans of the cloth to enter our family's territories and erect temples to bewilder our ignorant subjects. These self-proclaimed spokesmen and attendants of the gods on earth are nothing more than vultures chasing wealth and greedy jackals. Wherever there is prosperity, they swarm in droves, using the gods' names as a pretext to fleece their followers of their wealth, and they even band together to resist the lord's rule. Therefore, I believe we must not allow these temple envoys from
The one who took the firmest opposition was Viscount Hickard, Governor of Muyean Province, who had been summoned to attend the meeting on whether to permit those temples to preach in the Northland. He had originally been a trainee Instructor at the imperial capital's Moper Academy, but later fled to Shilovas Island to escape the turmoil of war and became the clerk of Whitebird Town. After
It was well known that the Krisen Empire had once been formidable, and its successive emperors from the royal house had never given face to any temple. During the reign of Krisen IV, there had been an occasion when envoys from the major temples came to seek an audience, hoping to be granted permission to set aside a district in the imperial capital for building temples. They were met with a flat refusal from Krisen IV.
Krisen IV's reply was that the empire had been carved out by his ancestors with the swords in their hands, and had nothing to do with the gods. He had heard that before battle, warriors would pray to their respective gods for protection, but he had never heard of divine protection arriving only after victory. Therefore, placing faith in the gods was inferior to placing faith in the sword in one's own hand — at least life and death could remain in one's own control.
Krisen IV rejected the request to build a temple district within the imperial capital, permitting only a handful of temples to erect buildings in the capital's outer suburbs. These included the War God's Temple, the Temple of Knowledge and Wisdom, the Earth Mother's Temple, and the Silver Moon Goddess's Temple, among others. Because the Krisen royal house made its non-support and non-belief abundantly clear, most of the capital's residents became indifferent pluralists — the sort who visited a temple when they needed something and otherwise pretended it didn't exist. As a result, these temples could find no foothold in the capital and barely managed to survive; after the wars ended, most of them withdrew back to Morant City.
The Moper Academy, which served as the Krisen Kingdom's institution for cultivating grassroots and junior bureaucrats, had always followed the royal house's lead. Consequently, the students and Instructors it trained mostly held an adversarial view of the temples, believing that they introduced unpredictable variables into the territories under their jurisdiction. In particular, they were prone to swaying and coercing public sentiment to oppose the lord's legitimate right to rule. Governor Hickard's firm opposition to allowing these temples to build within the family's territories was therefore entirely understandable.
In terms of raw strength and military power, these temples posed little threat compared to the Norton Family. However, what was worth noting was that these temples excelled at manipulating people's hearts. If the family openly forbade these temples from preaching to its subjects and the temples simply went underground, that would likely cause even greater trouble for the family's rule. The entire Northland now had a population of over three million, more than sixty towns of considerable size, and the majority of the subjects were refugees who had been forcibly relocated. Although the Norton Family had provided them with a stable and prosperous life, it had been for too short a time for their hearts to have truly become loyal to the Norton Family.
Fatty Shi's view was that the Norton Family was currently supporting the Free Alliance, and these temples were also a powerful faction within the Alliance's ruling council. Refusing the temples' demands would be simple, but the consequences would likely be a rupture with these temple forces, potentially giving rise to an anti-Norton faction within the Free Alliance that would hinder and obstruct the family's future actions and strategies in Morant City.
So Fatty Shi's proposal was that the family could agree to the temples' requests to build shrines in the family's territories, but must implement effective supervision and control over these temples. This way, the family would not only gain the support of the temple faction within the Free Alliance's ruling council, but also effectively pacify the subjects in the family's territories, reducing conflicts and petty daily disputes among subjects from various regions in the towns. It was a solution that killed two birds with one stone.
Director Codan very rarely stood up to speak, but he endorsed Fatty Shi's proposal. As the head of the entire family's patrol police system, he had a thorough understanding of the current state of the family's territories. He reported to everyone at the meeting on several criminal cases within the family's territories that had been caused by the worship of heretical gods. At present, the three million or so subjects in the Northland were refugees from various provinces of the former Krisen Empire, and the majority of them were ignorant, impoverished peasants.
Although the family had set up basic literacy schools in every town, only a small portion of children had received primary education. The family currently did not have the capacity to enforce adult literacy campaigns throughout its territories. So many peasants, after obtaining basic subsistence security and a surplus harvest, gave their gratitude not to the Norton Family's benevolent rule, but to various gods. This had opened a gap for swindlers and cultists to exploit.
Blood sacrifices could bring bountiful harvests. Then there was a heretical cult popular in the eastern part of the Northland that worshipped a deity called Walishi. It was said that this deity was the brother of the War God and Sun God Sigwa, possessed the powers of immortality and the ability to turn stone into gold, and would teach these two sacred skills to devout followers. Some subjects in the eastern region had donated all their wealth to this heretical deity until they were destitute, and some had even resorted to robbery and murder when their offerings were insufficient…
Director Codan said that the family's territories had previously been considered a remote and uncivilized frontier, so no temples had been willing to come here to preach. In those days, because the population was small and the land was vast, it did not matter much to the subjects whether they had a faith or not. Most of the Northland's people worshipped the War God and the Sun God. But now things were different — subjects from various regions had different faiths, and would even quarrel and brawl over the gods they worshipped.
Just like the two heretical cults mentioned above, when the family dispatched patrol police squads to arrest their leaders, they were obstructed and verbally abused by the cult's followers, nearly escalating into violent armed conflict. Director Codan therefore believed the family should proactively bring in the established temples. After all, these temples worshipped orthodox gods whose doctrines had withstood the test of time, and they could play a clearly positive role in pacifying the populace and preventing the harm of those heretical cults…
Director Codan's remarks left most of the Norton Family's senior leadership who had come for the meeting deep in thought. This was indeed a new problem. People in times of war were easily satisfied — what they craved was stability and a peaceful life. The Norton Family had given them stability and made them prosperous. But now the subjects needed spiritual fulfillment, and the Norton Family was powerless when it came to the matter of faith. That was why Director Codan hoped the family would proactively welcome the arrival of those temples.
Viscount Kamora stated that while Viscount Shrade and Director Codan believed that agreeing to the temples' requests to preach in the family's territories was beneficial at this stage, they also had to consider the drawbacks Governor Hickard had pointed out. Currently those temples needed the Norton Family and were willing to accept harsh demands and conditions in order to preach in the Northland, but the family also had to guard against the possibility that once these temples had firmly established themselves in the Northland, they would manipulate public opinion or incite the populace to pressure the family into relaxing its oversight. In the past, some lords had fallen out spectacularly with the temples in their territories over exactly this issue, even resorting to military force to expel them — there was historical precedent for all of this. That was why most lords were deeply wary of any particular temple entering their family's territories.
Viscount Kamora believed that if the family were to allow those temples from Morant City to enter the family's territories, build shrines, and preach, the first priority was not to designate a dedicated temple district the way Morant City had done, which allowed the temples to band together and form a temple power bloc. Instead, the various temples should be separated by designating different zones across the towns in the family's territories. For example, in North Sea City, shrines to the Sea God and the Wind God could be built, since these two deities were related to maritime shipping.
In the agricultural frontier of the Fengle Plains, the Earth Mother Goddess and the Harvest Goddess could be venerated. In the Red River Plains near the Black Forest, shrines to the Forest Goddess and the Brook Goddess could be erected. Stone Fort and Angry Bear City could be assigned to the War God's preaching jurisdiction. Viscount Kamora quickly allocated the Northland's sixty-odd towns among more than twenty deities, and he remarked that building shrines in the Muye Plains Province and the eastern part of the Northland might help with the assimilation of the Grassland Barbarian and Mountain Barbarian tribes.
The meeting had by this point reached a clear consensus: the temples of Morant City would be permitted to enter the family's territories to preach and construct shrines. What remained to be discussed was how to effectively supervise these temples once they entered the Northland. Fatty spoke first, declaring that the foremost regulation must be that no temple would be allowed to oppose any policies or administrative measures implemented by the Norton Family within its territories. Any act of hijacking public sentiment or inciting the populace would be deemed treason and met with ruthless extermination and expulsion.
Director Spell hastily rose to his feet. He believed the second regulation should prohibit temples from extorting large sums of money from believers within their preaching jurisdictions. The total value of offerings any individual believer made to a temple within a single month must not exceed a prescribed limit, or else a penalty tax of triple the amount would be levied. Furthermore, every temple must truthfully report the monthly sum of offerings received from believers, and set aside half of that amount to support impoverished believers, treating their illnesses and injuries…
Director Codan stated that no temple within the Norton Family's territories must be permitted to shelter criminals or protect hostile elements opposed to the Norton Family — offenders would be held accountable without exception. At the same time, every temple was obligated to assist the Norton Family in maintaining territorial security, suppressing heresy and quelling rebellions, rather than using neutrality as an excuse to stand idle when unrest erupted in the family's territories. Temples must cooperate with the Norton Family's patrol officers during inquiries and investigations, and were forbidden from evading or concealing information.
Viscount Kamora believed that each temple must adhere strictly to its own preaching jurisdiction and must not encroach upon the territory of other temples, compete for believers, or slander rival deities. During the preaching process, the religious freedom of individuals must be respected — believers must not be coerced into changing their faith or forced against their will. Temples were also forbidden from exploiting the unpaid labor of believers to generate profit for themselves.
Governor Hickard had also revised his earlier stance of refusing the temples entry into the family's territories. He believed that if those temples possessed the capacity to educate and guide the Grassland Barbarian and Mountain Barbarian tribes toward assimilation, then the family might as well reward them and offer financial support. Good deeds would be rewarded, misconduct punished — only then would it be fair to those temples, and it would also encourage them to draw large numbers of believers from the barbarian tribes and spread the faith of their gods.
Soon, through a rapid exchange of everyone's suggestions, eighteen supervisory regulations governing the preaching activities of temples within the family's territories were compiled and presented before Norris.
With a smile, Norris asked which department would be responsible for supervising these temples, and only then did everyone realize they had forgotten the most critical point. The Administrative Department, the Armed Forces Department, and the Internal Affairs Department were each put forward, but after much deliberation it became clear that none of them seemed suitable for overseeing the temples. Yet without a dedicated department to manage supervision, these regulations would amount to nothing more than empty words on paper…
Norris shook his head and said, "Here is what we'll do. Viscount Shrade will lead the delegation, with Governor Hickard and Viscount Kamora as his deputies, to negotiate with those temple envoys. Once an agreement is reached with the temples based on these eighteen supervisory regulations, we will establish a Family Temple Supervisory Committee. Each temple will send one representative to serve on this committee as a supervisory commissioner. If any temple violates the regulations, the supervisory committee will handle the case by levying fines and confiscating preaching zones."
"Every temple must submit an annual payment to cover the operating expenses of the supervisory committee. The work expenses, benefits, and salaries of each supervisory commissioner will be deducted from this fund. Additionally, the position of supervisory commissioner may be held on a part-time basis, so as not to interfere with the commissioner's duties within their own temple. As for the fines collected from temples that violate the regulations, half may be awarded as bonuses to the investigating commissioners, while the other half will go toward the committee's operating costs. If a temple has its preaching zone confiscated, the zone will be put to a vote within the supervisory committee to select the temple that will take it over."
Norris was quite confident that his proposed supervisory committee would quickly become a coveted prize for those temples. They would never again band together into a unified bloc to resist the Norton Family's oversight the way they had in Morant City. Instead, they would compete endlessly with one another in a bid to expand their own preaching zones and territories. Of course, the Norton Family would also appoint its own personnel to the supervisory committee — otherwise, the temple representatives on the committee would likely come to blows with one another…
The negotiation team led by Fatty Shrade engaged in grueling, see-saw negotiations with the representatives from each temple that had come from Morant City. Finally, in July, they carried out an in-depth refinement of the eighteen supervisory regulations proposed by the Norton Family, establishing standards for handling various contradictions and conflicts under different circumstances. Ultimately, both sides reached a satisfactory agreement. From that moment on, the "Eighteen Articles of Temple Supervision" became an official enforcement decree within the Norton Family's territory.
For both the Norton Family and the various temples, this was a win-win outcome. After allowing the temples to enter the family's territory to preach, the Norton Family effectively pacified the populace and, through the temples' efforts, eliminated and struck against the cults that had been secretly spreading their doctrines within the territory. Meanwhile, the temples from Morant City discovered a far more suitable place for their preaching and expansion. The prosperous Northland and its people were more than sufficient to allow them to grow their faith, establishing a solid foundation for their temples.
……