Chapter 1581 - 895: National Church Conflict (Part 2)

Their current cooperation with the Alliance is essentially based on interests. Whether it’s for the benefit of the battle group itself or for the overall interests of the Empire and humanity as a race, closely collaborating with the Alliance and joining their expedition is the most valuable thing.

But this does not mean they have become part of the Alliance.

This can be seen from the system as well. They don’t appear in the battle group interface but rather in the allies list of the Alliance.

Gu Hang is still somewhat patient about this.

He doesn’t necessarily need to acquire the Saints right now, immediately.

But he has a series of plans to slowly advance.

The core point of entry is religion, where the value differences between the two sides are the greatest.

The Alliance also has a National Church belief, but it is quite suppressed.

Or rather than saying ’suppression’, it might be better to say ’transformation’.

Within the Alliance, they call this system ’New Teaching’.

It still follows the "Emperor’s Holy Words Record", but it mainly emphasizes the positive moral qualities such as leading people to be good, calling for unity, dedication, and contribution... It weakens some of the ritualistic and extreme parts of religion, dissolves the organizational degree of religious groups, and confines religion to the scope of religion, ideology, and community service, thus weakening its influence on society.

Are these heresies?

But they’re not heretical, they even adhere to the original teachings of the Holy Words, discarding many of the so-called Saints and theologians’ later additions, various other religious scriptures, and interpretations of the Holy Words.

The core conflict among the various sects of the National Church is about the right to interpret doctrine. To have the interpretation right is to have more influence, thereby gaining greater divine power, and then secular power.

What the Alliance did was cut out that part of the interpretation right. The interpretation right is only with the Alliance officials and the New Teaching. And the Alliance officials and the New Teaching only recognize the "Emperor’s Holy Words Record".

To be honest, the National Church forces are generally dissatisfied with this — it’s like taking away their political life!

However, it’s hard to say this openly.

What political life should religious groups have?

This is a lesson left from the era of apostasy, which the Empire’s laws have direct stipulations on. Nowadays, many actions of the National Church, strictly speaking, are pushing the boundaries.

Unable to publicly use this reason, the critique of the New Teaching would say it is heretical. But this essentially circles back to competing for the right of interpretation, thereby competing for influence, divine power, and secular power.

This is also the most skilled strategy of the National Church.

But within the areas controlled by the Alliance, this strategy fails.

It’s quite challenging to contest the interpretation rights of the New Teaching, as they adhere strictly to the Holy Words, and there are numerous New Teaching priests and fathers cultivated from the Alliance’s Divinity School to help refute. The Alliance’s Divinity School is something Gu Hang exchanged with Gift Points, quite similar in nature to the Loyal Heir Academy, and the priests trained there are quite competent.

Moreover, Gu Hang has often used Gift Points to enlighten and upgrade religious talents.

When it comes to debating doctrine, they don’t have much of an advantage, so don’t even think about competing in other areas.

The Alliance’s official laws favor the New Teaching; the Alliance’s military is strong enough to suppress uprisings; the Alliance’s administrative measures have strengthened grassroots control, facilitating the spread of the New Teaching and making it inconvenient for traditional National Church sects.

With such a dynamic equilibrium, religious issues within the Alliance’s territory are controllable.

And this system, under Gu Hang’s direction, was soon also applied to the Star Domain of Mercifat.

After the war in the Seven Star Corridor had stabilized, the Western Expedition Army gathered three vanguard fleets to enter Mercifat.

Under the framework agreement signed with the Saints, the Alliance quickly gained a significant degree of administrative power over the Mercifat Star Domain.

Subsequently, as the Alliance’s army, together with the Saints Battle Group, numerous Saint subgroups, and the Holy War Army, began their journey beyond Mercifat Star Domain, the Alliance also started the economic, political, and religious development of Mercifat.

Economic development posed no issue, and proceeded smoothly.

Investment was very welcome.

However, the Alliance’s economic system differs from that of Mercifat’s original system.

The style of the Saints Battle Group indicates what kind of situation the Mercifat Star Domain is in—hundreds of worlds here, in a way, are all religious worlds. Their characteristic lies in the combination of church and state, where divine power guides political power.

And these aspects must be changed.

To facilitate economic investment, political construction naturally had to keep pace.

At this point, many conflicts began to emerge.

But they were still acceptable, at least when the two sides were generally still in a honeymoon phase, making coordination relatively easy.

However, as the Alliance New Teaching began to integrate alongside the economic and political reforms, conflicts started to sharpen.

Many conflicts reached the ears of Raymond Vis on the front lines.

To be honest, upon receiving this news, his feelings were very complicated.

On one hand, he did not want to disrupt the cooperation between the Saints and the Alliance.

After leaving his homeland, he realized that the entire Empire was already on the brink of collapse. His previous disappointment with Holy Terra was entirely justified. Because of this, he further realized that following the steps of the Alliance, and following the instructions of High Lord Gu Hang, was the correct path to save the Empire.

But at the same time, what the Alliance New Teaching was doing in Mercifat indeed made him uncomfortable.

With a contradictory mindset, all he could do was continually put a facade, striving to mediate relations between the two sides—aided mainly by calming his own people.

The bishops and clergy who rule the many worlds of the Mercifat Star Domain, their political lives were dying a slow death.

Not finding support from Raymond Vis, some began to take desperate risks.

A significant rebellion erupted in Mercifat—of course, according to the rebels, they were engaging in a ’holy war’, expelling heresy, and restoring the holiness of the Mercifat Star Domain.

The rebellion was, of course, eventually suppressed.

However, the impact of this event was profound.

Among those involved in the rebellion, many were indeed Raymond Vis’s own people.

Within the battle group, many different voices began to surface.

Raymond Vis finally could no longer keep up the facade.

The conflicts had become so apparent that they could no longer be ignored.

He needed to have a conversation with Gu Hang.

And this conversation was exactly what Gu Hang had been anticipating.

From the emergence of religious conflicts, to their intensification, to rebellion, to the change in Raymond Vis’s mindset, all of this was what Gu Hang hoped to see.

How can real change occur without bringing these issues to the forefront?