Hearing Prim's questioning, Archbishop Pedro couldn't help but swallow.
Prime Minister Prim's oppressive presence was still quite strong, especially considering he had just quelled the Carlist rebellion not long ago.
Archbishop Pedro certainly didn't want to be at the mercy of others, but were there any good ways to resist the Prim government at the moment?
With the precedent of the Carlists, Archbishop Pedro had no confidence in the Church's ability to resist.
"No, that's not it," Archbishop Pedro quickly said, "Of course I won't resist the government. I'm just offering some opinions on the arrests of Church members."
"Archbishop Pedro, I have heard your opinion. However, the assassination attempt is a matter of great importance and requires a thorough investigation to determine any suspicion," Prime Minister Prim said.
"Please wait patiently for a period of time. If the arrested individuals have no suspicion, they will naturally return safely."
Requires a thorough investigation to determine any suspicion? Hearing Prime Minister Prim say this, Archbishop Pedro almost wanted to laugh.
If the arrests were truly this serious and responsible, how could so many Church members have been arrested?
There wasn't much evidence during the arrests, but now complete evidence is needed to prove they have no suspicion before releasing them. Isn't that just fooling people?
And even if the investigation is concluded and they are released, the police on the other side will continue to arrest other Church personnel in a steady stream.
Releasing one and arresting two, Archbishop Pedro didn't think Prim was incapable of doing that.
"Prime Minister Prim, what exactly needs to be done to prove the Church's innocence? I swear to God, the Spanish Church was absolutely not involved in the plan to assassinate you. Those arrested bishops are innocent," Archbishop Pedro said with considerable helplessness.
In the current situation, he had no choice. The most important thing was to get the government to stop arresting Church members first.
As for counterattacking the government's actions, the Church's power alone was insufficient; the help of other forces was needed.
Before that, reaching a temporary compromise with the government in exchange for the Church safely weathering this assassination incident had become Archbishop Pedro's only thought.
"Do you know, Pedro? Because of this assassination, many government tasks have been delayed for a long time. I was originally planning to issue the second batch of industrial bonds. After the assassination incident occurred, how can you expect the public to feel confident buying government bonds?" Prime Minister Prim suddenly said.
Hearing this, Archbishop Pedro immediately understood what Prim wanted.
To ensure the Church's temporary safety, Archbishop Pedro could only reluctantly sacrifice the Church's interests: "Although I am certain the Church is unrelated to the assassination incident, as a Spaniard, how can I ignore the country's development?
I believe God would not want to see this scene. I am willing to represent the Spanish Church in purchasing the industrial bonds issued by the government and donate 2 million pesetas to the government."
Archbishop Pedro's understanding pleased Prime Minister Prim, but Prim's objective was not for these few million pesetas.
The wealth accumulated by the Spanish Church over a long period might be even more exaggerated than that of the Bourbon family. A few million pesetas was likely just a drop in the bucket for the Church.
Moreover, compared to this not-so-large sum of money, Prim was more interested in the Church's land.
To be honest, what was the use of the Church holding so much land? They used the government's low taxes on Church land to amass wealth frantically and then used that money to buy more land.
Just around Madrid, vast tracts of land were occupied by nobles and the Church, while the land in the hands of ordinary people became the minority.
This was extremely detrimental to Spain's development. If these lands could not be recovered, it would severely impact Spain's future growth.
"Alright, Archbishop Pedro. For God's sake, I am willing to believe your sincerity. I will instruct the Madrid police department to conduct more detailed screening during arrests to avoid harming innocent people.
Of course, I will also have them carefully vet the arrested Church members, and they will be released if there are no issues.
Someone will contact you then. I deeply apologize for the trouble caused to the Church. I believe the matter will be resolved satisfactorily in the near future, and no Church member will be wrongly accused," Prim said with a smile.
After confirming that Archbishop Pedro was willing to sacrifice the Church's interests for the sake of those bishops, Prim had achieved his goal.
As for the more detailed negotiations with the Church on how to use money and land to bail out those Church members, that was not something Prim needed to do.
As the Prime Minister of Spain, Prim had more important things to attend to and naturally wouldn't abandon other matters just for some Church land.
Anyway, the officials in the Ministry of Finance were professionals at haggling; they would absolutely not let the government suffer a loss.
After hearing Prim back down, Archbishop Pedro finally breathed a sigh of relief.
If Prim had insisted on arresting Church members, Archbishop Pedro really wouldn't have known what to do.
As for resisting, the current Church didn't have very good means against the government. Perhaps they could incite some brainwashed believers to hold demonstrations, but such demonstrations would quickly be suppressed by the government.
Rebellion was even more impossible. Demonstrations might still attract public participation through brainwashing and deception, but rebellion could not trick ordinary people into joining.
With Prim's reforms, the living standards of farmers and workers were slowly improving. Under such circumstances, farmers and workers were naturally not fools and would not stand up against the Prim government.
"Prime Minister Prim, can we also join the investigation into this assassination attempt?" Archbishop Pedro inquired.
Archbishop Pedro was well aware that a major loss for the Church was unavoidable, and this made him extremely angry at the true mastermind behind the assassination.
Assassination was one thing, but why did they have to drag the Church into it?
Regardless of which force was behind it, Archbishop Pedro had only one thought: to make the person or force behind it bleed even more.
"Of course, Archbishop Pedro," Prim smiled and nodded, looking as if it were the most natural thing in the world. "It's best to catch the mastermind as soon as possible, which is beneficial for both the government and the Church."
Undeniably, the Church was still a relatively large force in Spain at this time.
As for resisting the government, the current Church was definitely incapable of doing so. But if it were investigating the assassination case, the Church could still play some role, at least helping the government investigate the mastermind behind the assassination case more quickly.
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