379. Convocation
Chapter 379 Convocation
Just like her name, the Horned Bay Alliance was a political alliance, over a hundred years ago, in order to protect their safety and wealth, a dozen or so relatively weak city-states banded together and gradually developed into the most powerful political force along the Horned Bay.
In the beginning, the Alliance was not called the “Corner Bay Alliance”, it was too strong a name, after all, there are other large and small states and independent territories in this fragmented area of Corner Bay. But with the gradual rise of the alliance, and in a number of wars, time and time again victory, confidence in the top directly to their own alliance in the name of the corner of the bay, and in the sea trade outside the corner of the bay, relying on the strength of the country as a backing, the alliance merchants gradually gained a dominant position compared to the merchants of other states, so that the corner of the bay outside of the common people will be corner of the bay of this geographic term and the corner of the bay alliance so much so that many common people outside of Cape Town equate the geographical term Cape Town with the political term Cape Town Alliance.
The center of power of the League was called the Supreme Council, a body that in the beginning was originally a place for the top brass of each city-state to wrangle with each other, and did not have any substantial power over the League as a whole, but due to peacetime matters – such as negotiating tariffs or mediating disputes between members, etc. – its influence gradually grew, coupled with the catalytic effect of several wars, and it gradually became more and more influential. Coupled with the catalytic effect of several wars, the power has been gradually centralized to the Supreme Council, and today, it has most of the powers of a country’s central government, such as diplomacy, military, taxation, and so on, and the people outside have long since regarded the Horned Bay Alliance as a country.
The Convocation has a fixed number of 150 members, all of whom are descendants of those in power in the original city-states that founded the Alliance, and the seats on the Convocation are passed down from generation to generation, so that if a family becomes extinct, the nearest male relative of the last person in the family inherits the seat, as well as the family’s last name.
The head of the Convocation is called the Speaker, and is chosen every five years. The Speaker chooses ten more members as his assistants, who are in charge of diplomatic, military, administrative, and legal affairs, and holds at least two plenary meetings every other month to discuss the major issues of the recent period.
On this day, the hall was filled with a tense atmosphere, the members of the Convocation took turns in the battle of words, and there was only one topic – the attitude of the Horned Bay Alliance towards the Church.
“Honored councilors, I ask you to feel your chests and sense if you still possess the passion of being a Horned Noble! If your hearts have not turned cold, if your passion still exists, can you turn a blind eye to the many crimes the Church has committed against the citizens of the Alliance?”
A councilor spoke loudly from the platform with a face full of pathos.
“Since the Church launched the Witch Hunt, how much wealth have they plundered from our citizens under the guise of cleansing them of heresies, and even more horrifying than the plundering of wealth is the fact that they have also taken the lives of human beings, and how many innocents have been brutally murdered?”
He was still shedding tears as he spoke.
“The Church has gone too far!”
“It’s time for them to get a grip!”
His statement resonated with many people, who spoke out in agreement.
“That’s why we need to before we quickly take strong and effective measures to defend the citizens of the Alliance from the poison of the Church.”
But not everyone was in favor of his conclusion, and they rose to their feet in their seats and let out a chorus of boos.
“Horace, you ill-intentioned fellow! Don’t think we don’t know what you’re up to.”
A man rushed to the podium and shouted a refutation at Horace, who had spoken earlier.
“Hey hey, Simmons, you have to observe the order of the meeting!” Horace was very displeased.
“Screw the order of the meeting!”
Simmons faced the congregation and shouted, “Gentlemen, listen to what vicious language Horace has used, what ‘straw man’, what ‘toxin’, can such words be used to describe the Church that serves the Father? ”
“I recognize that there will be radical measures in the witch-hunting movement that will result in misfortunes that no one wants, but it is inevitable, a price that has to be paid in order to defend us mortals from being killed and maimed by a greater evil.” Off to the side, Horace shouted up, “Do you hear Senator Simmons saying this as a human being?”
A hush fell over Simmons from those who had been his supporters earlier, all of whom knew Simmons to be a devout churchgoer.
“Hmph! Horace, don’t think you don’t know what you have in mind.”
Simmons was unmoved and continued to shout to the crowd, “I’m sure everyone knows that Horace’s family is in the slave trading business, some time ago, his family’s auction house was trashed by a group of kind believers, but the guards didn’t catch a few people, this guy Horace suspects that the church is hiding these believers, that’s why he desperately encourages us to fight against the church. That’s why he’s urging us to go against the Church. It’s a personal vendetta, and it’s a personal vendetta without proof, based on mere suspicion.”
“Shut up! Simmons!” With an angry face, Horace pointed at Simmons’ nose and said, “I’m doing this out of purely public interest, and I know you’re a devout believer, but don’t let your piety blind you. Moreover, my business is a legitimate business, it is just so unexplained that I suffered a huge loss because of a group of people who are wearing the name of the Lord of Light, I am also a believer of the Lord of Light, and every time I pay a penny of tithes, shouldn’t the church, as the shepherds of the Heavenly Father, dispense justice? Shouldn’t the church, as the shepherd of the Father, be allowed to do justice? Shouldn’t the evil lambs in the flock be allowed to bully the good lambs?”
Simmons ignored him and shouted to the congregation, “Listen, everyone, isn’t this still hostage-taking? He’s admitted it himself.”
“Shut up! I didn’t even admit it!”
The two men bickered on the podium, while their respective supporters below the stage also joined in the bickering, and for a time, the entire hall was like a food market, the noise shaking the sky.
“Silence! Silence!”
The current Speaker took a hammer and vigorously knocked on the wooden table, only then did he make the venue, which was about to lose order, quiet down.
“It is now Rep. Foster’s turn to speak!”
As soon as his words fell, Joe Foster – also known as Marquis Foster – walked slowly towards the podium, and Horace and Simmons, who were originally standing on the stage, grunted at each other and left from the left and right sides of the stage respectively.
The Marquis cleared his throat and said with a serious expression, “Gentlemen, I don’t want to talk about anything, I just want to state a fact – since the witch hunt started, the import and export trade of the alliance has shrunk year by year, and not only our alliance, but also the entire commercial activities of Horned Cove are in decline! and commerce, which is what we were founded on.”
His words were like a gust of cold wind, causing everyone present to snort.
“I believe that each and every one of us has enough devotion to our Heavenly Father, but devotion alone does not fill our stomachs, only by first addressing our basic physical needs can we fulfill our obligations as believers and better serve our Heavenly Father. Therefore, I am in favor of some restrictive regulations on the Church’s behavior within the territory of the Alliance.”
Someone from the stage said, “But Lord Marquis, it is another fact that the Alliance alone cannot fight against the Church!”
The Margrave nodded and said, “Therefore, I would like to invite the other countries, once again, to come together to discuss a solution.”
In the last year, the Horned Bay Alliance had already held a meeting of the nations, but with all the resistance – mainly from the Church – there were no substantial results.
(End of chapter)