Chapter 171 There is a devil in front of the Father's throne
"Yes! Of course!"

Horn looked around at everyone present and held up two fingers: "We have two examples. The first is to introduce external forces, such as Duchess Hemashi introducing the Norn Lords (old barbarians, dual beliefs), or Catherine introducing the secret party of Black Snake Bay."

"We can't do it." Jeanna has a good understanding of this. "We are not strong enough. No external force will support us in vain."

Glancing at Jeanna in surprise, Horn continued, "The second is to slowly cultivate one's own power internally, such as the Brago Monastery in Kasha County and the secret party in Black Snake Bay."

"It still won't work. We only have three months, and Dean Juanno has trained two generations and preached for thirty years to get to this level. The secret party has a history almost as long as the empire." Sissi retorted.

After listening and thinking for a while, Busak's smile turned bitter: "For us, the former requires channels, the latter requires time, and both require economic support and political capital. We don't have any of them."

All Horn had was a clockwork gun, divine blood, and a vague reputation.

The clockwork gun still faces the problems of power, firing frequency, number of shots, etc., while the Holy Bloodline is uncertain. Horn himself does not know when he can spread the Holy Bloodline and to whom he can spread it.

"Don't be so pessimistic." Horn continued to analyze, "If we look beyond the phenomenon to the essence, we will find that they essentially introduced an authority independent of the church and the empire on the basis of material guarantees."

“Take the Secret Party as an example. They do not consider themselves as imperial people or subjects of Myrcella, so they are naturally not afraid of the knights and priests of the empire.

They only fear the Supernatural itself, not the Knight.

When facing the empire and the church, our refugees did not regard them as enemies, but as the righteous side, as if their uprising was wrong.

Even if we fight, we will only use war to force the church to accept our surrender."

This general mentality is a manifestation of the lack of cohesion within the Salvation Army.

The biggest crisis within the Salvation Army right now is the lack of cohesion, lack of confidence in the future, and full of fear of the Imperial Church.

To put it simply, the refugees are unwilling to give up their current interests in exchange for greater interests in the future or for greater interests for everyone.

"Isn't this a dead end?"

"Not really."

In fact, during this period of time, Horn has been thinking about these issues based on his communication and investigation with refugees and Gongbu farmers.

If we call the unwillingness to sacrifice oneself, unwillingness to abide by the rules, unrealistic fantasies about reality, unscrupulousness, and exquisite selfishness, all such similar qualities are called insect nature.

Then it is almost impossible to eliminate the insectivism of individuals, but the unconscious insectivism of the group can be suppressed.

There are many things that can suppress group insectivness. In Horn's opinion, the most suitable thing for the current level of world civilization is the imagined community.

A simple example of the so-called imagined community is "When thinking of Myrcella's power and holiness, even the most impoverished peasant would involuntarily straighten his chest in front of the witch."

Messianicism is a classic imagined community.

Specifically speaking, what kind of people do the refugees think they belong to?

Are they from the Thousand Valleys? Or the Empire? Or followers of the Messiah Cult?

It is obvious that these refugees believe that they are believers more than they believe that they are people from the Thousand River Valley, or even that they are human beings. Angels have come down to earth, so why don’t you believe in God?

As a follower of Messiah, is what I did considered blasphemy? If what I did last night was wrong, should I continue to make mistakes?
“It is relatively easy to move from one imagined community to another, and there may even be converts to it, but building an imagined community is a rather long process. We do not have enough time to construct a new imagined community, and the remaining imagined communities are almost all on the side of the church and the empire.”

Horn raised a finger and said, "Juanno has given us an inspiration. You see, even though the Juanno faction's opinions are against the Thousand Valley Church, why are the villagers willing to follow them?
Because in the eyes of the villagers, they are still part of the Misella system and also represent authority.

In other words, it is very difficult for a priest to write a new scripture, but it is very easy to distort the old scripture.”

Who can't carry a cross and fight against it?
Horn's Church of Messiah had been modified beyond recognition by him, and now he just had to continue modifying it to the way he wanted.

The common people have been deceived by the church and don't even know what the Messiah religion is like. Horn can say whatever he wants.

Their blind faith in the Church of Messiah was originally a shackle used by the church to suppress them, but it also gave Horn an opportunity.

But just as Myrcella could swing her chains to kill sinners, Horn could also use these shackles to break the head of the Church.

"Let me be frank. Our Papal States must continue, and the Holy Father may have to come down to earth again." At this point, Horn's bitter smile gradually subsided. "However, it is not certain whether our Holy Father and the Holy Father of the Church are the same Holy Father."

"You mean to say that we are to found a new Messianic sect?" Armand asked quietly. "How shall we determine our doctrine?"

"There are many, such as equality for all, rejection, and adding doctrines to whatever groups we need to win over... But this matter is not urgent for now, we can take our time."

"Then Your Majesty, how do we tell the refugees and believers?"

"Isn't this simple?" Horn shrugged. "The church has become what it is now. There must be a devil in front of the Holy Father. After the Blue Blood Orphan, the devil has already jumped out. The Duke is one, and there is also Archbishop Constance of Feiliu Castle."

"No mention of the Pope?"

"Let's not talk about it. The refugees can't bear it for now. After Constance, we will put a hat on the Pope. Now we just need to throw dirty water on him."

René suddenly asked, "What if, as you said, Johnny VIII sold Constance? Won't the refugees betray us again?"

"As long as we can withstand the military pressure, the probability of them rebelling again is very small." Horn walked up and patted René's head. "The refugees' lack of confidence comes from their lack of military confidence. As long as we can train a legion that can defeat the extraordinary knights head-on in three months instead of relying on witches, there will be no problem.

Then, they will sincerely shout out, 'If you are not fair, you must kill the fair.'"

René nodded, not quite understanding. After Horn left, an inexplicable light flashed in his eyes: "...I do have some doubts."

Turning around and looking at the people present, especially Armand and Jeanne, the top executives working on the front line, Horn said seriously:

"During this period, your job is to spread the word. Don't say that we are against the church or the empire. Instead, portray our actions as a factional civil war within the church in order to eliminate the demons within the church!"

"But it doesn't seem like this will last long?" Armand said hesitantly.

Horn shook his head: "No matter how long it lasts, let's calm people down first. We still have other means."

(End of this chapter)