Fox of France

As for the Holy See, they were willing to make some concessions to take back the French diocese, but they were worried that these concessions would become a bad example for other dioceses to learn from. At that time, everyone will come one by one, "France can be touched, I can't touch", and a good example to learn from France, what should we do?

The Holy See even pointed out that these French conditions are actually not negotiable, but it is best to keep them as a confidential part of the agreement and not make them public, so as not to damage the face of the Holy See too much.

But the French said that France is a democratic country, and our people have the right to know and supervise the various tasks of our government. So such a requirement violates the principles of French legislation, and is impossible...

Everyone knows that this is pure nonsense, because whether it is the treaty signed between France and the Spaniards, or the treaty signed between the French and the Austrians or even the Prussians, there are many undisclosed secret clauses, and even some secret clauses. The clause, even its very existence, is a secret.

Of course, there are reasons for doing so, because it is to protect "state secrets" and to defend the people. Anyway, as long as you learn how to set up two coordinates on a plane, many things in this world will make sense.

In fact, the meaning of the French is also simple, because if these conditions can be made public, it will of course be a blow to the majesty of the Holy See, but it will have a great effect on improving the prestige of France, especially the first ruler of France. That being the case, it is nothing more than a choice between sacrificing the interests of France and sacrificing the interests of the Holy See. How to choose, isn't that obvious?

So the representative of France said that without hesitation.

As soon as these words were uttered, the negotiators on the Holy See's side suddenly changed their colors. Because this word contains a very serious threat.

The so-called "Our country has always planned to implement a constitutional monarchy politically from the beginning, and did not intend to become a republic. But some people were unwilling, and France became a republic as a result." It was said that Louis XVI was unwilling to accept the constitutional monarchy honestly and gave up As a result, the entire rule was overthrown, and he himself went to the guillotine.

And the so-called "France, now a republic, is willing to accept a church with a constitutional monarchy. I personally think that this is already a very sincere expression." This is an analogy between the Holy See and Louis XVI. The Holy See is unwilling to accept a diocese that is basically independent of the church, just as Louis XVI is unwilling to be a king under a constitutional system and must restore autocratic rule. Louis XVI did not accept the goodwill of the French people, and he refused to eat fine wine for a toast, so he was sent to the guillotine, and his dynasty disappeared in smoke.

Today, if the Holy See insists on bowing to France, it is refusing to accept the goodwill of the French people. Then how the French people dealt with Louis XVI back then can now deal with the Holy See. This is no longer a question of inviting the pope back to Avignon, but a question of directly violently transforming the structure of the Holy See.

So the Holy See proposed a temporary adjournment, and they needed to ask the Pope for instructions.

Then, that night, a bishop secretly visited the French envoy, from whom he finally got a tip, after paying a bribe of two hundred thousand francs. A few days later, France finally reached an agreement with the Holy See.

In this agreement, basically all the requirements of the French were met, and of course the Holy See also got the face they needed. The French agreed to keep the privileges of the French Church as confidential and not to make them public. However, the agreement will also openly tell everyone that the French church has obtained some privileges, but these privileges are related to national security, so they are not made public.

After reaching such an agreement, Catholicism can finally return to France. However, those priests who were expelled in 1993 found that when they returned to France, the most important positions in the French Church no longer belonged to them, and they even had to go through the new French Church. Closed study and examination can resume teaching.

During the break in the training class, two middle-aged students got together and complained. They were already at the middle level of the church in France, but now they have fallen to the bottom all of a sudden, and there will inevitably be some complaints.

"I heard that these tricks were created by our new director of the Religious Affairs Bureau. I heard that his performance in the seminary was very mediocre, and he was not even able to obtain the official status of a priest. Now he has become a Our immediate superiors, this is really..."

"Honestly speaking, it would be better to let Talleyrand become the religious director. Although he is a traitor to the church, he was also an archbishop, and he was a nobleman, and our cardinal is not even... ..."

"Do you want to die?" A voice sounded behind them, and the two turned their heads, only to see another preparatory pastor, Raynal, who had come back from abroad with them and was undergoing training.

"Haven't you forgotten the great reputation of your Excellency, Chief? Don't you know, how did that His Excellency get to the high position? How dare you... You must know that it is a rare opportunity for us to be able to return to China.

In other places, we are all outsiders, but in France, although we are only the lower class now, the French church is very short of clergy with sufficient accumulation. The higher the level, the more so.

So, as long as we show enough loyalty to the new regime, our promotion will be very fast. But the premise of all this is loyalty. "Pastor Renard said, "Don't bring your bad habits abroad back to France—we went back together. If you can't get rid of your bad habits in foreign countries, it will not only harm yourselves, but also implicate me..."

Speaking of which, a cruel smile appeared on the face of the preparatory pastor Reynal: "I will never allow such things to affect me, do you understand? This is my first and last warning to you."

After saying this, the preparatory priest of Rainer turned and left, leaving two stunned guys standing aside in a daze.

The person who also serves as the director of the newly established institution, the Bureau of Religious Affairs, is none other than Fouché.

In Fouche's view, when it comes to intelligence, the church is really useful. Because an important job of pastors is to listen to other people's confession. And in the process, they can master a lot of secrets. However, because the church has many propaganda functions, the direct control of the church falls into the hands of Lucien's "Ministry of Truth". And Fouché had no choice but to use the Religious Bureau to exert influence on the church and use it to obtain information.

In a sense, one of the important purposes of Fouché's training course was to take this opportunity to develop his spies among these people.

Of course, it is said that according to the rules of the church, pastors will not and are not allowed to spread the news they heard in the confessional. There is even such a joke:

Someone was wrongly regarded as a murderer, wrongly imprisoned, and sentenced to death. Before going to the gallows, a priest came to make the last confession for him.

"Pastor, I really didn't kill anyone. I really didn't kill that man." The man said to the pastor.

"Oh, boy, I know. All the priests in the city know that you didn't kill anyone. But we can't tell." The priest replied with compassion.

But if you really think that the priests will be so tight-lipped, you are wrong. If this is the case, how can the affairs of Madame de Renal and Julien be known to others? At the right time, using this information is one of the skills for the church to grow. Therefore, the slightly smarter students in those training courses did not actually resist Fouché's solicitation.

As for the newly appointed cardinal, he was a brilliant student of a seminary named O'Brien. (Of course, this is a statement after verification by the Records Division of the Ministry of Truth. The previous rumors claimed that O'Brien never graduated.) After the beginning of the Great Revolution, this man obtained the position of priest by swearing allegiance to the revolutionary government. Later, in 1993, You transformed into a pastor of the Rational Church, and also worked as a spy for Robespierre.

After the fall of Robespierre, this man was naturally unlucky, but soon he relied on his former detective friend to draw Lucien's relationship. Since then, he has performed well under Lucien and has been continuously promoted. Before becoming a cardinal, he had already served as the head of the Records Department of the Ministry of Truth.

Both Joseph and Napoleon knew how important it was to control the church in their own hands, and Lucien, who was engaged in intelligence and propaganda, would naturally not let this position go. It’s just that Catholic clergy must be single and cannot have wives. (Of course, they can have mistresses or illegitimate children.) Without wives, there will naturally be no legal heirs, which is not good for the future balance of the family. Therefore, the three surnames Bonaparte could not hold this position concurrently by themselves. So O'Brien was recommended by Lucien to Joseph and Napoleon because of his experience in working in religious institutions, and was finally appointed as the cardinal of the French diocese.

In addition to the cardinal, most of the bishops in various regions also fell into the hands of Lucien. However, most of the heads of religious bureaus in various places are from Fouché. After all, when it comes to engaging in intelligence and investigating conspiracies, Fouché's level is much higher than that of Lucien. In addition, Lucien had too many things to take care of, and he himself was distracted by a lot of things. Even Joseph and Napoleon felt that it would be more efficient to hand over these things to Fouche.

Of course, although Fouché is very capable and has many common interests with the Bonaparte family, neither Joseph nor Napoleon fully trusts him, so the church itself still falls into the hands of Lucien——The Bonaparte family It must have its own intelligence system to balance Fouché.