"Everyone, calm yourselves first," Archbishop of Chartres said, raising a hand toward his colleagues as they vented their fury. "Things have not yet become that bad. The tithe is an ancient tradition, and the Cabinet Meeting is very likely to reject this proposal."
"Who knows whether Roland and his people will make an exchange of interests in the cabinet to win support?"
Archbishop Beaumont nodded and said slowly, "The key still lies in the Crown Prince's attitude."
Archbishop Boulogne immediately rose to his feet. "We will go to His Highness right now and make our position clear!"
Archbishop Beaumont hurriedly grabbed him. "You absolutely must not do that. Surely you know what this Highness of ours is like? The more you show that there is no room for discussion, the more you will push him into making a decision unfavorable to us even faster."
The archbishops fell silent in an instant.
If this had been before, even in the era of Louis XV, as long as the church was united from top to bottom, the King would not have dared forcibly defy the church's wishes. But the current Crown Prince not only enjoyed the people's frenzied support, he also possessed the army's absolute loyalty, as well as control over intelligence, finance, law, public opinion, industry, and every other sphere. The church truly did not have the courage to show even the slightest hardness before him.
Only after quite a while did Archbishop of Chartres say in a low voice, "Then are we to do nothing at all?"
Archbishop Beaumont sighed. "We can use indirect methods to display the church's influence.
"First, we must go plead with Her Majesty the Queen, but we absolutely must not directly mention the matter of the tithe. It will be enough to speak as much