Chapter 341 The Promised Paradise Island

Under the large roof of the largest technical academy in Joan of Arc, which has now been converted into a theater, nearly a hundred people were sitting there to watch a play.

They included both citizen craftsmen and laboring farmers. The two sides sat separately, looking at the red cloth on the stage in front of them and talking in low voices.

Horn, who was sitting in the first row, was also discussing with Boussac that after Armand went to Cassia County for further studies, he delivered the latest news from the Empire to Jeanne d'Arc for the first time.

"The civil war in the Kingdom of Leia officially started three weeks ago. The royal Duke Luel officially launched a war for the throne in the name of revenge for Imbra. His brother Duke Neidbach formed an alliance with Duke Luel...

At present, Prince Condé is still attacking Upper River County. He wrote an open letter to the Holy See City, saying that he has no ambition for the throne, but only wants to retain an armed force to fight against pagans and foreign enemies..."

"What is the reaction of the Holy See City?" Horn interrupted Armand's recitation and asked him.

Boussac rubbed his brows and said, "According to the news Armand sent back from Kasha County, there is still a large vacancy."

The so-called Great Void is similar to the Great Void of the Empire, in that everyone thinks that they are the only one qualified to be Pope.

The secret meeting for the election of the Pope has ended, and a bishop from Leia, Archbishop of Windmill Land, Priano of Eagle Point Bay, has been successfully elected Pope.

This should have been a settled matter, but the outrageous point is that this election was quite problematic.

According to the laws passed down from ancient times, the election of the Pope requires an absolute majority of cardinals to vote, that is, more than two-thirds of the votes.

But the problem is that the old pope's suicide note before his death said:

If I die, in order to quickly respond to the crisis of the empire, I ask the cardinals of the Holy See City to hold an immediate election, and a simple majority (more than half) of the votes will be sufficient.

The end result was that the unknown Pugliano was elected Pope by one vote.

But the biggest problem is that if the vote had taken place before the Pope's death, it should have at least been a tie, not a one-vote difference.

Because after the Pope's death, he promoted a young bishop around him, Cherry, to the rank of cardinal.

This resulted in the bishops of Leia, who were originally at a slight disadvantage, taking the lead by just one vote, and pushing their favorite candidate to the position of Pope.

For the bishops of Leia, this is of course very good, but for Grandivar, the favorite to take the throne, it is -

Johnny the Eighth, you devil have no moral principles, you sneak attacked a 49-year-old comrade like me!
Grandivar, who had accepted the gift from the Pope in exchange for a small loan, was furious. During the election, there were seven or eight French cardinals still in the French Kingdom!

If the normal election procedure was followed and they waited for these seven or eight cardinals to arrive before the election, it would have been impossible for Priano to be elected easily.

Without any other French cardinals present, and with only a simple majority, on what basis did you elect him Pope?

So in the eyes of Grandivar and some Franks, he was an illegal pope, a false pope.

Grandivar immediately called for a new election, but his request was vetoed by the "new" Pope.

"So Grandivar is expected to declare himself Pope?" Horn exclaimed as if he was listening to a mystery.

"It's not an estimate, but it's already being prepared." Busak said with a bitter face, "According to the news from the order system, Grandivar is expected to announce the re-election of the Pope at the end of June.

In fact, all the Franco-bishops in the Holy See City and some of the Aiel-bishops have returned to Franco-bishops.

They will quickly elect a Pope in the capital of France based on the simple majority principle, just like the old Pope did.

I am even certain that Grandivar's election as Pope will be unprecedented with a unanimous vote."

"Unilaterally declaring himself the Pope, tut tut tut, that's too cheap." Horn shook his head in disdain, as if he had forgotten how he became Pope in the first place.

In this case, will a strange sight appear in the empire by July - one empire with three popes?
Shaking his head, Horn put this strange idea behind him. He was about to speak when he heard the clear sound of a lute.

"We'll talk about the specifics later. Let's just watch the show first."

As the curtain slowly opened, Horn relaxed his body and immersed himself completely in the play.

This scene is the solution that Jeanna mentioned earlier. When they were in Heitao Town before, the friars of the Holy Fathers complained that the land distribution and the Great Judgment were difficult to do.

The sufferings of many villagers are truly worthy of their recognition, and the grievance meetings that have always worked have only 20% to 30% of their original effects.

Horn had to admit that these nobles and the church were really good at training the people with their supernatural powers.

But it doesn’t matter. The contradiction exists, it’s just covered up. It’s impossible to ignore it as if it doesn’t exist.

Just like if a landlord lives in a nice house and eats delicious food, the peasants will not be upset, but if the landlord feeds white flour buns to his dog, the peasants will be upset.

As long as we start with their lives, step by step, we will definitely make them wake up.

The solution Horn came up with was drama.

Unlike the elaborate operas that the aristocrats enjoyed, Horn's plays were rather simple.

Spoken and sung in vernacular, with folk tunes as accompaniment and bards singing the narration, the artist strives to make the language easy to understand and close to life.

Horn gave the task to Grampven. First, he was an eyewitness, and second, he came from a circus background, so he was sure he could do it.

So Horn, Grampwen and a group of bards began to brainstorm.

In the end, they wrote the first drama in the history of the empire - "The Promised Paradise Island" based on the deeds of the Blue Blood Monastery and the unknown monk.

For dramatic effect, they did not copy the original story exactly, but made a lot of adaptations.

For example, the unnamed monk stayed in the monastery for more than ten years, but in the play it was only one year.

For example, the location of the monastery was placed in a rural area, and a clown knight was added to make it easier for the peasants to fit in.

This play consists of five acts, and uses the sentimental ending that is most favored by the "masses", that is, a happy beginning and a sad end.

Many people would be disgusted by this thing in Horn's hometown, but it is extremely novel in this world.

The five-act play is tightly structured, with the first three acts being a comedy about a thief who pretends to be an unknown monk and tries to steal the secret recipe for wine.

It tells how he battled wits and courage with the bishop and the knight, and how he searched for the secret recipe, which produced many jokes.

The hidden thread is that the nameless monk gradually fell in love with these innocent orphans.

In the fourth act, the nameless monk, with the help of the smart and kind farmer, discovered the clues and discovered the truth at the end of this act.

The fifth act is the final ending, where the nameless monk chooses to save the children and perish together with the bishop.

But most of the children were captured by the church and brutally killed. Only the little girl Tess escaped alive and met the Salvation Army.

To this end, Horn also plagiarized many famous sayings from his hometown to add color to it.

For example, at this moment on the stage, the little girl Tess hugged the arm of the nameless monk and asked, "Is life always so painful? Or is it only like this when you are a child?"

Anyway, Horn basically sewed in all the famous quotes that were suitable for sewing.

The whole play was coming to an end when the nameless monk finally made his decision and said, "To live or to fight, that is the question."

Many citizens and villagers present couldn't help crying, and more people held the armrests of the chairs tightly, as if they were about to rush up to save people in the next second.

Horn, who had rehearsed countless times, did not cry. He stared at the scene on the stage as if he was back in that winter.

I wonder what the scene will be like when this drama is performed in the countryside?

(End of this chapter)