"You are the king, and your offspring will inevitably become kings as well. In the foreseeable future, the Targaryens will come to represent royal authority.
And an overly powerful church will inevitably come into conflict with that authority," Marwyn warned.
"You just said it yourself. The High Sparrow has saved countless lives," Dany said with a faint smile.
"The High Sparrow saves common folk. He bleeds the nobles to keep the people of the Seven Kingdoms alive, but the Targaryens represent the nobility!" Marwyn said, stamping his foot.
Dany felt a momentary daze.
"Doctor, do you know why the whole world formed an alliance to besiege Slaver's Bay?" she asked softly.
"Because you intend to abolish slavery across the entire world," Marwyn replied thoughtfully, the urgency on his face gradually fading.
"Then why must I set myself against the entire world?" Dany asked again.
"Why?" Gerold Dayne, who had been silent all this time, finally spoke.
Dany glanced at him and sighed. "Because my original wish was to build a world without oppression, without enslavement, where hard work could earn wealth and dignity."
She suddenly gave a strange smile. "The Citadel wants to build a real world. I want to build a normal world."
I think you're very abnormal!Darkstar complained inwardly.
"Look, look," Dany said, pointing at Gerold's distorted expression and laughing. "He must be thinking that I'm very abnormal."
"N-no!" Gerold blushed and hurriedly denied it.
"If you think I'm abnormal, that only proves how abnormal this world is," Dany said.
"Uh…" Darkstar's cheeks twisted again.
Scanning the circle of gazes around her, some confused, some puzzled, some dawning with understanding, Dany continued, "Gerold represents the nobility, Doctor Marwyn represents the scholars. You almost represent the middle and upper strata of this world.
Yet all of you believe that it is only natural and perfectly justified for nobles to oppress common people like pigs and dogs."
"Isn't a world like that deeply abnormal?"
"If nobles don't have privileges, what kind of nobles are they?" Gerold could not help but retort.
Dany smiled helplessly. "That's why I preserved the noble system and didn't raise the red banner high in this world."
"What is the red banner?" Darkstar asked in confusion.
A banner meant specifically to take your lives.
She merely gave him a calm glance and continued, "A world of complete equality and absolute absence of oppression cannot be built. But under the premise of fitting this world's realities, the power of the nobility can be effectively restrained, and ordinary people can be institutionally protected."
Building a world empire only satisfied her personal desires. Her original aspiration, however, was this: because of her arrival, to make this world a better place.
She bore no destiny, yet she did not forget her original intent.
Given the ability to change the world, if a transmigrator only indulged in personal desires, that would seem rather low.
"Your Majesty, your ideas may not be conventional, but they are great."
At this moment, the somewhat rigid face of Maester Pyllos was filled with respect.
Is that supposed to be praise?The Dragon Queen replied blankly, "You don't understand now. Come back in twenty years and look at this world again. Perhaps then you will understand what I said today."
"There's no need to wait twenty years. I can understand it now. I just don't understand why you chose the church instead of using the kingdom's laws to restrain noble power," Marwyn said.
"You really understand?" Dany asked curiously.
"Yes. In fact, the Citadel once had similar currents of thought in earlier years, but as soon as they appeared, they were suppressed by more maesters and doctors. They were afraid of such ideas."
"Scholars feel fear? They even dared to create a real world, and even dared to plot against me," Dany said doubtfully.
"Sigh. Nobles have swords!"
"I have dragons," Dany retorted.
"It's not the same," Marwyn shook his head. "The Citadel has never confronted dragons head-on, but limiting noble power inevitably means drawing blades and fighting for real."
"Sigh."
Dany shook her head, raised her index and middle fingers, and said, "Back to the original topic. Second question: between the kingdom's government and the church system, which is more incorruptible, more efficient, and more fair?"
Marwyn frowned. "Your Majesty, the High Sparrow and Saint Baelor are both freaks that appear once in a thousand years. Under normal circumstances, the High Septon is even worse than the officials of the Seven Kingdoms.
Officials may be inefficient, may bend the law for personal gain, but at least they are working and keeping the kingdom running normally.
But High Septons…They are greedy, extravagant, indulgent in pleasure, frequent visitors to the brothels of King's Landing, they prey on young novices in the monasteries, and sigh, they do no good and are steeped in sin!"
"It's different now," Dany shook her head.
One could view both the church and the kingdom as companies, with the kingdom's performance determined by its ruler.
Yet even a wise and capable ruler is hard to come by. How much less can every generation of kings be exceptionally talented?
If there were no deity behind the church, like the previous Faith of the Seven, then its CEO, like the kingdom's ruler, would still be a mortal. Its revenues would be determined entirely by the wisdom or folly of its management.
But a kingdom is a family business with unlimited liability, while a church is a state-owned enterprise with no liability. There is no doubt that a family business has stronger core competitiveness.
If the church has a powerful and wise god, it is impossible for that god to manage grassroots officials directly. However, when it comes to the senior leadership, such as the High Septon and the archseptons, the god can very easily select the most outstanding talents, namely believers whose alignment with the doctrine is the highest.
A god needs faith and will not be tempted or corrupted by mortal power or money. At the very least, this can ensure that the church remains fair and incorruptible.
In that case, the church's competitiveness would far exceed that of the kingdom.
Even if Dany made no adjustments at all, or even suppressed the church for the sake of royal authority, the Faith of the Seven under Dahei's management would not suffer from unqualified officials or idle placeholders. It would inevitably flourish and grow vigorously.
Sooner or later, through survival of the fittest, the Faith of the Seven would certainly overpower royal authority.
This would be even more lethal to royal power, and not necessarily beneficial to the church either, because the purpose of the church is to serve the gods, and the gods do not need royal authority.
Or rather, secular power exists only to facilitate the spread of faith.
If the existing political system can ensure the smooth propagation of belief, the church will not need any political power at all and can completely refrain from interfering with royal authority.
Have you noticed?
The church and the kingdom appear to be competing for royal authority, but they have no fundamental contradiction. One is selling flour, the other is selling lime.
As the saying goes, those who sell flour cannot tolerate those who sell lime. That is the limit of the common man's perspective.
If one reaches Dany's level, one can see through the difference at a glance, and even realize that the owners of both shops are her.
The kingdom will be inherited by her blood descendants, while the church will be inherited by her eldest son, Dahei.
Since there is no fundamental conflict between the two companies, it would be better to unite them.
When enterprises producing similar goods unite, it is called a cartel.
If there were no church, and only a feudal kingdom were established, dividing the world into countless small kingdoms for Dany's offspring to rule as kings, that would form a cartel-style "Targaryen Kingdom Corporation."
In fact, a cartel is the lowest and most primitive form of monopoly.
Above cartels are the second level, syndicates, the third level, trusts, and ultimately the highest level, the concern. Given the current stage of Earth's economic development, the concern is the most advanced form of monopoly.
What is a concern?
If all flour shops are unified under one owner, that is a cartel.
If all flour shops and wheat shops are controlled together, that is a syndicate.
If control extends from wheat planting to bread processing and even to bread shops, covering an entire chain of industries connected to flour, that is called a trust.
A flour trust.
Similarly, if a single enterprise controls everything from limestone mining to processing and sales, and even construction, real estate, and property management, it can be called a "limestone trust."
Flour and lime have no industrial connection, but they share one thing in common. Both are daily necessities for ordinary people.
Based on this commonality, a core enterprise begins to spread its tentacles like an octopus into various fields through "small trusts." A complete trust is too reactionary and unfavorable to the improvement of productivity, and would be resisted by any country.
This is the "four-tier monopoly technique." Once deployed, it is enough to massacre cities and destroy nations.
Yes, the Korean Acid Star is precisely a concern-style model.
So now everyone understands Dany's choice, right?
Ninety-nine point ninety-nine percent of transmigrators would overthrow the church and then establish a world empire.
But in the end, they are only creating a low-level cartel.
Given the opportunity to form a concern group, Dany would naturally not choose a cartel.
As the helmsman of the Dragon Clan Group, the first thing she must do is to restructure the operations of her two subsidiaries, clearly defining their respective budget allocations and profit points. She must separate royal authority from religious authority and transform conflict into harmonious joint progress.
Frankly speaking, Dany's concern is more terrifying than the Lee family's Acid Star by a hundredfold. The royal subsidiary controls most material resources, namely secular power, while the church subsidiary controls spiritual civilization, namely faith and moral guidance. This almost completely deprives any "new Chosen of Destiny" of the chance to rise.
If Dany were a bit more evil, the world of Ice and Fire would be shrouded in the shadow of the Targaryens for ten thousand or even a hundred thousand years, like a pool of stagnant water, unable to stir even the slightest ripple.
Fortunately, she has not forgotten her original intention and mission, and firmly upholds the ideal of a "normal world" that emphasizes "striking down evil nobles and improving the people's right to social survival."
Dany is still dreaming of holding religious authority in her left hand and royal authority in her right, lifting the world with both hands, when the Iron Throne makes another move.
With the death of the High Sparrow, the position of High Septon becomes vacant. An archsepton named John from the Starry Sept steps forward, declares himself High Septon of the Southern Diocese, and crowns Cersei as the official Queen of the Seven Kingdoms.
Archsepton Matthew of the Great Sept of Baelor in King's Landing immediately steps out and publicly condemns the Starry Sept for its sinful act of splitting the church.
In fact, after the High Sparrow came to power, the Starry Sept and the Great Sept of Baelor had already formed a de facto schism.
The High Sparrow mortgaged the church bank of the Starry Sept. How could the archseptons of Oldtown not be angry and resentful?
Moreover, a god who promotes faith must be fair and just.
Although the Starry Sept has many fallen members, it is not without devout believers, such as Archsepton John.
He is a believer with a faith level exceeding 200. In theory, he can communicate with the Mother. In practice, the Mother rarely pays attention to such believers. Even so, Archsepton John can use divine arts and is fully qualified to run for High Septon.
As for why John was bought over by the Iron Throne, devout faith does not mean that a believer lacks personal will.
Unless the Seven Gods deliver a divine oracle, believers will all have thoughts, desires, and choices.
That is precisely why Pope Dany is needed to establish new canon law.
As for Archsepton John, Dany has no mind to deal with him for now, because sudden news arrives from the Vale. Her grandnephew is dead.
Yes, this time it is real.
(End of chapter)
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