Chapter 379 Council

Just like its name, the Jiaowan Alliance is a political alliance. More than a hundred years ago, in order to protect their own safety and wealth, a dozen relatively weak city-states united and gradually developed into the most powerful political force in the Jiaowan area.

The alliance was not called the "Jiaowan Alliance" at the beginning. This name was too sharp. After all, there were other large and small states and independent territories in the fragmented area of ​​Jiaowan. However, as the alliance gradually rose and won again and again in several wars, the confident senior officials directly named their alliance Jiaowan. In the maritime trade outside Jiaowan, relying on the national strength as a backing, the alliance merchants gradually gained a dominant position over other states' merchants, so that many ordinary people outside Jiaowan equated the geographical term Jiaowan with the political term Jiaowan Alliance.

The power center of the alliance is called the Supreme Council. In the beginning, this institution was a place where the top leaders of various city-states argued with each other, and it did not have substantive power over the entire alliance. However, due to various affairs in peacetime, such as negotiating tariffs or mediating disputes between members, its influence gradually grew. Coupled with the catalytic effect of several wars, power was gradually concentrated in the Supreme Council. Today, it has most of the powers that a central government of a country has, such as diplomacy, military, and taxation, and people outside have long regarded the Horn Bay Alliance as a country.

The number of members of the Council is fixed at 150. They are all descendants of the powerful people of the city-states who first established the alliance. The seats of the Council are passed down from generation to generation. If a family dies out, the last male relative of the family who is closest to the family will inherit it, and also inherit the family name.

The leader of the council is called the speaker, who is elected every five years. The speaker selects 10 members as his assistants, who are in charge of foreign affairs, military affairs, administration, law and other affairs, and holds at least two plenary meetings every month to discuss major issues in the recent period.

On this day, the council hall was filled with a tense atmosphere. The council members took turns to fight and debated. There was only one topic - the attitude of the Horn Bay Alliance towards the church.

"Dear distinguished members, I ask you to touch your chest and feel whether you still have the enthusiasm of a Horn noble! If your heart has not turned cold, if your enthusiasm still exists, can you turn a blind eye to the many crimes committed by the church against the citizens of the alliance?"

A member of the council spoke loudly on the platform with a sad face.

"Since the church launched the witch hunt, they have plundered our citizens' wealth in the name of cleansing heretics. What is more terrifying than plundering wealth is that they also take human lives lightly. How many innocent people have been killed?"

He shed tears while speaking.

"The church has gone too far!"

"It's time for them to be restrained!"

His speech resonated with many people, who echoed him.

"Therefore, we must quickly take strong and effective measures to protect the citizens of the alliance from the harm of the church."

But not everyone agreed with his conclusion. They stood up and booed.

"Horace, you wicked guy! Don't think we don't know what you are up to."

A man rushed to the podium and loudly refuted Horace who had spoken before.

"Hey, Simmons, you have to abide by the order of the venue!" Horace was very dissatisfied.

"Go to hell with the order of the meeting!"

Simmons shouted to the crowd: "Listen to what vicious words Horace used, such as 'taking human life 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 hunt, which will cause some misfortunes that no one wants to see, but this is inevitable. It is the price that must be paid to protect us ordinary people from greater evil."

Horace shouted loudly: "Listen to what Congressman Simmons said. Is this human language?"

His supporters booed Simmons before. Everyone knew that Simmons was a devout church believer.

"Humph! Horace, don't think I don't know what you're up to."

Simons was unmoved and continued to shout to the crowd: "I think everyone knows that Horace's family is in the slave trade. Some time ago, his auction house was destroyed by a group of kind believers, but the guards didn't catch many people. Horace suspected that the church had hidden these believers, so he was eager to encourage us to go against the church. This is revenge for personal gain, and there is no evidence, just suspicion. "Shut up! Simmons!" Horace said angrily, pointing at Simmons' nose, "I am acting purely out of a sense of justice. I know you are a devout believer, but don't let your piety blind you. My business is a legitimate one, and I have suffered huge losses because of a group of people who claim to be the Lord of Light. I am also a believer of the Lord of Light, and I have paid every tithe. As the shepherd of the Heavenly Father, shouldn't the church be fair? Should we allow the evil lambs in the flock to bully the good lambs?"

Simmons ignored him and shouted to the crowd: "Listen, everyone listen, isn't this a retaliation of private? He acknowledged it himself."

"Stop your mouth! I didn't admit it at all!"

The two quarreled on the podium, and their supporters on the stage also joined the quarrel. For a while, the entire hall was like a vegetable market, and it was noisy.

"Quiet! Quiet!"

The current Speaker holds the hammer and knocks on the wooden table hard, so that the venue that is about to lose the order is quiet.

There is no mistake, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one 619, one book, one, one, one, one, one, one, a book!

"Now is Foster's turn to speak!"

His words have just fallen, Joe Foster -Marquis Foster -slowly walking towards the podium, Herras and Simmons, which were originally standing on the stage, snorted each other, from the left and right of the table, respectively. Leave on both sides.

The Marquis cleared his throat and said seriously: "Everyone, I don't want to say any reason, I just want to explain a fact -since the witch hunting movement has begun, the import and export trade of the alliance has shrunk year by year, and not only not only It is our alliance, and the business activities of the entire Kok Bay are declining, and business is the foundation of our country. "

His words were like a cold wind, so everyone present fought a cold war.

"I believe that each of us has enough devotion to Heavenly Father, but only relies on piety and cannot fill the stomach. Only by solving basic physiological needs can we fulfill our obligation as believers and better serve the Father. , I agree with the church's behavior in the alliance.

Some people in the audience said: "But Jue Jue, only with the power of the alliance, cannot fight the church, this is another fact!"

The Marquis nodded and said, "So, I want to invite other countries again to discuss the countermeasures together."

Last year, the Jiaowan Alliance had held a meeting of the country, but under all kinds of resistance -mainly the church -no substantial results.