It seems that neither nobles nor monks, nor those Maesters, are weak in their ability to pass the buck.
But when it comes to verbal sparring, women have a natural advantage. The current Minister of Law, Lady Emerald, immediately spoke righteously,
"Your Grace, Archbishop, legally speaking, all Seven Gods Churches are under your command. Therefore, Your Grace, Archbishop, you have the obligation to restrain all monks and churches."
"So, any mistakes made by the Starry Sept, or the King's Landing Cathedral, or any other branch of the Seven Gods Church, are all inextricably linked to you."
"That's right, just as the various Seven Gods Church branches ultimately have to pay their church taxes proportionally to the King's Landing Cathedral. So, no matter what crimes they commit, Your Grace, Archbishop, you must bear a part of the responsibility."
The Minister of Finance, Earl Beesbury, also chimed in at this moment.
Hearing the implication, as soon as King Jaehaerys spoke, the shrewd Minister of Law and Minister of Finance knew that His Majesty the King was preparing to direct this fire towards the Seven Gods Church as well.
Earl Hightower had already intended to divert the trouble, and seeing that his little scheme indeed worked, and having guessed some of King Jaehaerys's intentions, he immediately turned his spearhead, saying,
"The Hightower Family, in order to show their loyalty to the Royal Family and their apology to Princess Daenerys, has already transferred the right to fund the Citadel to the Royal Family. If the Seven Gods Church truly wants to prove itself, it needs to show some sincerity to be convincing."
How could the Bald-headed Archbishop easily comply? Their faction had originally gained the position of Archbishop of King's Landing Cathedral by using all their connections due to their discord with the monks of the Hightower Family faction.
After generations of effort and the secret support of the Targaryen Royal Family, they finally managed to replace the Starry Sept and become the nominal leader of the Seven Gods Church. Even so, they were still constrained by the Starry Sept everywhere.
Not long ago, the news of the Starry Sept being purged came, making him so happy that he felt as if he could hear the Father whispering in his ear at any moment. He was just thinking of taking this opportunity to completely suppress the Starry Sept faction.
The reason he came today was to watch the Starry Sept and the Hightower Family make fools of themselves. Who would have thought that while he was enjoying the show, the spearhead was now all directed at him?
The Bald-headed Archbishop reprimanded Earl Hightower with a voice like a booming bell,
"Montague, His Majesty is currently prosecuting your Hightower Family for several serious counts of treason. What's the use of you suddenly jumping out and saying all this nonsense?"
"I think your Hightower Family not only has problems with its bloodline, but you probably also worship some evil god! You're always doing such crazy things!"
Daniella watched the verbal sparring among these old fellows and couldn't help but feel a bit amazed. It seemed that when their fundamental interests were involved, those usually high and mighty figures were not much different from common market shrew.
Crying, making a scene, spreading rumors, being stubborn, playing dumb, and feigning ignorance—all these tactics seemed to follow the same pattern.
At this moment, the Bald-headed Archbishop in front of him had completely lost his usual lofty demeanor as a charlatan. The scepter in his hand was directly wielded like a stick to beat a dog, and he spewed saliva as he cursed Earl Hightower.
And Earl Hightower naturally did not show weakness. The Guardian of Oldtown, who was accustomed to being high and mighty, had been humble and submissive in front of Daniella, who was riding the dragon, for a while, holding back immense resentment in his heart. At this moment, it seemed to be completely unleashed.
Their back-and-forth arguments and mutual exposures of shortcomings provided ample gossip for everyone in the Throne Room.
"Your Hightower Family, I don't know how many immoral and incompetent second sons you've placed in the Seven Gods Church and the Citadel. Now, perhaps all the great noble territories in the Seven Kingdoms are already filled with your informants."
"Communication between the great families, I'm afraid, will first make a stop at your Hightower Family's Hightower."
The Bald-headed Archbishop's words were quite damaging. His half-truths immediately led the Hightower Family directly to oppose all the nobles of the Seven Kingdoms.
The eyes of everyone in the Throne Room looking at the Hightower Family had completely changed at this moment. Everyone's unified thought now was that upon returning to their families, they must immediately and thoroughly investigate their Maesters and Septas.
After all, the boys of almost every family were taught knowledge by Maesters, and their daughters were all trained by Septas. What if there was some hidden agenda mixed in?!
Thinking of this, many nobles couldn't help but feel a chill down their spines. The same thought popped into their heads simultaneously,
"The Hightower Family cannot be allowed to remain!"
King Jaehaerys saw that the time was ripe and immediately interrupted their quarrel,
"Enough, silence!"
"Your Grace, Archbishop, this Oldtown riot is inextricably linked to the Seven Gods Church. And as the Archbishop of the Seven Gods Church, you naturally must bear the corresponding responsibility."
"Earl Hightower said something very correctly: since you made a mistake, you must show sincerity!"
When King Jaehaerys spoke, they naturally dared not continue to be presumptuous. Being suddenly interrupted by the Old King also made their reason quickly return. For a moment, both of them were full of regret, wondering why they had let their emotions get the better of them and blurted out everything?
And Daniella gestured to Besani, who was holding incense in the corner of the hall, to leave.
Jaehaerys suddenly turned his head to Daniella beside him and said,
"Daniella, you are the biggest victim of this Oldtown riot. What are your thoughts on this?"
Daniella respectfully performed a standard noble bow to King Jaehaerys, then said,
"Speaking of this Oldtown riot, the main rhetoric the monks used to incite the public was to bring up the dragon."
"If the Seven Gods Church truly has no ill intentions, or if the clergy do not treat the people of the Seven Kingdoms as livestock, then they really need to show some sincerity this time to convince everyone."
"So, I propose that the Seven Gods Church should bear the feeding expenses of the Royal Family's dragon from now on! At the same time, the Seven Gods Church can establish free teaching classes in various churches to impart some basic knowledge to the common people, which would also be a great meritorious deed."
At this, the Bald-headed Archbishop's mind was rapidly calculating,
"According to the current Royal Family standards, a dragon, along with its Dragon Knight's subsidy, costs three hundred thousand gold dragons annually. Now, the Targaryen Royal Family has nearly twenty dragon, so the annual cost will be almost 6 million gold dragons starting, which is almost two to three years of the Seven Gods Church's surplus."
"If this continues, the Seven Gods Church will eventually be drained."
"As for establishing free study classes, it's not difficult for them. However, all those with teaching abilities are high-ranking clergy of the Seven Gods Church, which would inevitably affect the church's missionary work."
So, the Bald-headed Archbishop quickly organized his words,
"Your Highness, Princess, establishing free study classes is not a problem. However, this would lead to a shortage of clergy in the church. At that time, it would inevitably affect the church's income, and then there would not be enough subsidies to support the dragon."
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