Eagle's Glory

"I will continue to train her like this." Theresa replied.

Among the people who can get in touch with Haiidee, both Teresa and Chanel are deliberately cultivating Haiidee's respect for Eggron.

Haiidee is the future Grand Duchess of Ioannina. If she becomes disobedient, although it will not affect the overall situation, it will be a trouble after all.

Fortunately, Haiidee has been a slave of the Sultan since she was a child, and now she has fully accepted her status as a slave girl psychologically, and takes obedience to her master as a matter of course, so it is not difficult to instill the mentality of obeying Eggron's orders .

"With you personally educating her, I believe she will remain loyal to me." Aigron looked at Teresa encouragingly, "However, we still have to strictly control who can get close to her, even when she grows up, Nor should she be allowed to be taught by anyone that she can act on her own."

"Of course." Teresa replied, "I have already strictly instructed her not to allow her to communicate with other idlers."

Speaking of which, she seemed a little regretful. "However, if you think about it this way, we owe her something... We should try our best to treat her better in terms of living conditions in the future."

"Teresa, your kindness is a good thing, but there is one fact that we have to distinguish clearly - we don't owe her anything." Aigron sternly refuted his fiancée, "You can see that she originally lived What day? She was a slave girl in the sultan's harem, and she was long forgotten, unaccompanied, and she didn't even know when she would starve to death, but I bought her, and no one can say that I have deprived her from now on. her freedom, because she didn't have this thing in the first place!

Taking a step back, even if she didn’t suffer a catastrophe or become a slave girl, but enjoyed her childhood as Pasha’s granddaughter, then we didn’t make her life worse, because in the msl world She is destined to not be able to show her face and will not have any power. She will only be married to other Pasha families as a bargain by her grandfather and father when she grows up, and will become an accessory of her husband from then on——compared to the current situation, how much more does she have? What is lost?I thought it was obvious that I brought her a light in the darkness, and I even intended to make her a Grand Duchess!After falling into my hands, she will be much better than her original fate. Correspondingly, in order to repay her kindness, she should also pay the due price, isn't it fair?Maybe I owed a lot of people, but I never owed her..."

After Aigron said this, Teresa suddenly felt that it made sense in her heart, and the original unbearableness disappeared in no time.

"You're right in saying that..." She nodded, "However, let's treat her better if we can."

"Of course we can treat her well, but this is a gift, not a debt repayment. We have to make a clear distinction. I will never be in debt easily." After emphatically emphasizing it, he made another joke in order to ease the atmosphere, " Teresa, in fact, you are only a few years older than Haidee, but now you are acting like a teacher, even a bit like a mother..."

"What are you talking about? I'm just for your career, so I'm more devoted..." Teresa blushed suddenly, and quickly defended herself.

Then, she added softly, "Besides, even if you learn how to be a mother in advance, is there anything wrong?"

Her answer made Eggron, who was just joking, suddenly embarrassed.

"No problem, of course no problem... I believe you can teach her well, just as you can teach our future children well." In the end, he could only answer with a smile.

This young girl has entrusted all her body and mind to her side at this time, and her heart is also to promote her career.

I will form a family with her, and then spread the family to a greater extent... Thinking about it carefully, this is quite attractive.

Thinking about it, he was a little fanciful, looking forward to the day when he and Teresa got married, and then married her in a legitimate way.

Teresa might also be a little embarrassed, so she kept silent, and the two of them suddenly fell into a strange silence. Only Haide looked at them back and forth ignorantly, not understanding what the two of them were talking about.

"Teresa, let's hold a ceremony as soon as possible." After a moment of silence, Aigron said suddenly.

"Didn't you agree to wait until the things here are finished?" Teresa replied with some doubts, and then lowered her voice, "Of course, if you really can't wait, Your Highness, I won't refuse to move forward... "

"Hahahaha..." Aigron laughed loudly, then shook his head, "Teresa, you may have made a mistake, the ceremony I mentioned refers to holding an Orthodox conversion ceremony for Haiide, according to our As a result of the discussion with the ambassador, Haiide should become an Orthodox ruler. I think this is a result acceptable to all parties... What do you think? As for the canonization ceremony of the Grand Duchess Ioannina, wait until after our wedding is over. Let’s hold it again, I think it’s the best arrangement.”

Teresa understood at this time that she was being tricked by His Highness again.

She was shy and annoyed at the same time, but she couldn't get angry with him no matter what, and finally could only protest to him helplessly, "Your Highness, be more serious!!"　　

231, judging the situation

After agreeing with Teresa, Egron took action as usual, and immediately began preparations for Haiidee's conversion.

In his view, there are many militias in the Ioannina region. If Haiidee is converted to the Orthodox Church, she can sever her emotional connection with a large part of her future subjects, which is tantamount to preventing problems before they happen.

Moreover, having a pagan queen princess "consciously" inspired by God was something for him to brag about.

This is a political issue as well as a religious issue, so he immediately thought of his adviser, Father Faria, and asked him to discuss it together.

Since Teresa left for Messolonghi, Father Faria naturally followed her. This elderly priest who was unconscious on the right side of his body supported himself with a strong will and tried hard to keep himself alive. with life.

He had nothing to worry about in this world, he was already ready to die, the only thing he couldn't let go of was his adopted son Edmund Dantès; The passion to survive, seems to want to let his remaining wisdom continue to burn for the cause of His Majesty Napoleon II, so as to reflect his own life value.

And Aigron was still as polite to him as ever, not only let people take care of his daily life carefully and properly, but also chatted with him occasionally, he was also very honored by this, and he wholeheartedly hoped that he could help more.

Under Aigron's order, the entourage brought Father Faria over in a wheelchair.

Because of his physical inconvenience, the priest did not salute, but bowed slightly, "Your Majesty, what do you want to ask me?"

"There's a little religious question—I think that happens to be your specialty." Aigron replied, "I intend to convert Haidee to the Orthodox Church as soon as possible before I officially enter Ioannina. For this we need to hold a meeting. a ceremony."

Father Faria was not surprised. As the think tank next to Aigron, he naturally knew about Haiide's life experience and the fact that she was bought by His Majesty.

"Religiously, it's not difficult. We can hold a baptism and conversion ceremony for her. It only needs the presence of an Orthodox priest and a prestigious notary." Father Faria replied after a little thought.

The reason why the priest took it so lightly was that such things were not so rare as to be surprising at all.

In the more than 100 years after the death of Peter the Great, the Russian Empire has staged many dramas of "foreign princesses converting to the Orthodox Church".

After Peter the Great, the Russian tsars began to look up to Europe. They called themselves the noble royal family, and naturally they only wanted to marry the European royal family.

But there was a huge problem in front of them - the Russian Empire was Orthodox Church as the state religion, but European countries were Catholic or Protestant. According to the imperial tradition, the tsars were not allowed to marry women from these countries.

Of course, there are always more solutions than difficulties, especially when owning an empire. The Romanov royal family used the power and wealth of the empire as bait to find marriage partners from ordinary princes and nobles in Germany. There is only one condition for the bride price—the princess must convert to the Orthodox Church in order to be eligible to marry the royal family.

As we all know, there are so many princes and nobles in Germany. Those big families have spread out and married each other for generations, creating countless offshoots and collateral descendants.

And because these princes and nobles have extremely small territories (or no territories at all), most of them have very meager incomes.

The meager income but the need to maintain the dignity of the princes and nobles made them very thirsty for money, and the extravagance of the royal family of the Russian Empire became a temptation that they could not turn their eyes away from.

Under the temptation of the throne and jewels, there is no psychological obstacle for her daughter to convert to the Orthodox Church and marry into Russia.

Catherine II the Great, the daughter of the little prince of Germany, married Tsar Peter III at the cost of converting to the Orthodox Church, and finally killed her husband and successfully ruled the Russian Empire for decades.

And she also used the same criteria when choosing an heir for her crown prince Paul-this time she picked a royal collateral family in Hesse-Darmstadt as the marriage partner.

The head of the family was flattered when he heard about it. He brought his three daughters to St. Petersburg for selection by Crown Prince Paul. In the end, the crown prince chose the youngest daughter, Princess Wilhelmina Louise, and then converted her to the Orthodox Church. And changed to the Russian name Natalia - Alexeyevna.

It's a pity that although the princess was as beautiful as a flower, she was not blessed to enjoy this "glory". After three years of marriage, she died of dystocia.

So the crown prince had to find another princess, Maria Feodorovna, from a branch duke of the Principality of Württemberg as his second marriage partner, and this princess later bore him four sons, including the defeated Tsar Alexander, who defeated Napoleon, and the current Tsar Nicholas I.

There are so many female princes who have converted to the Orthodox Church, and the world will not be surprised or disgusted at all if a mere Haidai converts to the Orthodox Church.

Although she is theoretically an MSL now, there is no difference in essence.

What really troubled Father Faria was another question.

"Considering that Miss Haidee will become a titular ruler in the future, with a distinguished title and status, her conversion ceremony should be a major event, and we should find a baptist with weight for her. Currently We don't have a religious figure of that magnitude in our possession, if we can - we can get one from our allies."

Father Faria's statement is of course positive. Considering that Haide is the future Grand Duchess of Ioannina, if she converts to the Orthodox Church, she must find a senior religious figure to preside over the ceremony for her. The higher her religious status, the more legal she is. It is even higher, and it can even be regarded as the long-lost victory of the Orthodox Church over the Islamic religion. Presumably the Greek religious people are also very happy to see this come true.

At this time, because of the flames of the Greek War of Independence, serious turmoil occurred in most of the Greek regions, and religious people were naturally unavoidable-blood feuds had been bred for years, and ethnic antagonisms immediately turned into religious vendettas, and the Greeks massacred msl And ysl religious people, the Turks also returned them as they were, and a large number of priests died under the vendetta on both sides, and the rest could only hide in Tibet. The only one that is well preserved is the Peloponnese, which is still under the control of the independent military government. The peninsula is gone.

Therefore, in theory, if you want to hold such a religious ceremony, then the best way is for Aigron to inform his allies, and then find a senior Orthodox priest from the Peloponnese Peninsula to preside over the baptism and convert Haiide ceremony.

But Egron thinks just the opposite.

"No, Father, I don't think we can use this method." He shook his head lightly, denying the priest's opinion, "This is not only a religious issue, but also a political issue, so we can't consider it entirely from a religious perspective. .

Haidee will be the Grand Duchess in the future, and her nominal territory is the Principality of Ioannina that we will establish.Haiidee was bought by me. I created this country from scratch, and it should all be controlled by our people. It cannot have any affiliation with the future Kingdom of Greece, even if it is a religious affiliation It doesn't work either.If we find an Orthodox priest from our allies as a baptist today, it is tantamount to admitting that Haide was converted by the Greeks to the feet of God, and the Principality of Ioannina is also religiously owned by the Patriarchate of Greece... We cannot give that impression. "

The priest made such a mistake not because he was politically insensitive or ill-considered, but because he didn't know what was going to happen in the future—

At this time, all Orthodox Christians in the Balkans belonged to the leadership of the Ecumenical Patriarch who stayed in Istanbul. Continue to obey the Sultan and the Empire as you have done for hundreds of years.

Therefore, in the eyes of the Greeks, the Universal Patriarch is tantamount to betraying Greece and the Orthodox Church, and they harbor resentment about it.

At this moment, this kind of resentment did not cause any trouble. After all, the Greek War of Independence was not over yet, but Egron knew that the break between them was not far away.

In the original historical line, not long after the Kingdom of Greece became independent, the Greek Orthodox Church and the Orthodox Patriarch who remained in Istanbul were divided into equals, no longer submitting to each other's jurisdiction, and the two sides split.

In order to expand its influence, the Greek Orthodox Church also spared no effort to emphasize its orthodoxy and legitimacy.

Because of this, if people from the Greek Orthodox Church were to baptize Haiidee, then the future Grand Duchess Ioannina would become a legitimate Greek Orthodox missionary, which Egron could not accept politically.

Although he is now an ally of the Greek Independence Army, and even though he leads people to scatter blood for the cause of Greek independence, his interests are inviolable, and he does not intend to share the future rights and interests of the Principality of Ioannina with anyone— — at least within his own generation.

Therefore, no matter how reasonable Father Faria's suggestion was, he didn't want to adopt it.

Although the old priest couldn't see what Aigron was thinking deep in his heart, from Aigron's resolute attitude, he could also see that this was His Majesty's unquestionable will.

As a counselor, he cannot defy this will, he can only change his thinking and find a way to implement His Majesty's will.

"If you don't want the priest of the Greek Orthodox Church to baptize Haiide, then... we can only find a priest within our control to do this." After thinking for a while, the priest said softly , "Now that the Greeks are your allies and depend on your help, they shouldn't say much; if, the foreigners who are disaffected with you, such as the Russians, they may question the validity of such a religious ceremony .”

"They can question as much as they like. I don't live in this world to please the Tsar." Eggron replied decisively. "The current situation has reached the point where we can no longer consider what other people think. As long as we believe that Haiide's conversion is legal, then it is legal-we can pretend not to see how much other people have opinions."

Seeing that Eggron's will is so firm, although the priest hesitated, he didn't dare to persuade him any more.

He turned his old head again, thinking carefully for Eggron.

"If we don't have enough good orthodox priests on hand, then we might as well make the pomp a little bigger... so that there are many witnesses and enough legal effect, I don't think anyone will object to the birth of a Christian principality in a forest by msl In the lands they ruled..."

"That's fine." Aigron nodded and agreed with him, "I will hold a grand ceremony, and I will invite our Greek allies to be witnesses—since they have seen my attitude , should know what to do."

When talking about this, Father Faria thought of something again, "If we can find a significant religious figure from Rome, such as a cardinal, to watch the ceremony and serve as a witness, it should be convincing enough. Are you strong?"

Aigron's eyes lit up, but he was a little suspicious, "This is an Orthodox conversion ceremony. Why are people in the Roman Church interested in participating?"

"The Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church are one family..." Father Faria smiled slyly.

He knew that he was talking nonsense, but as a politician, the most important skill is to talk nonsense, "The Pope and that cardinal took so much money from us, and the cardinal is also a My friends, if we need their help, they will consider it—besides, it is an honor to let the glory of Christ touch a land that was once polluted, even as a Catholic, isn't it?"

Aigron thought about it and felt that there was no problem.

The pope and the cardinal received his great gift and advocated for him many times. If he made a similar request, they should also be happy to come—anyway, they are just witnesses

And if they were present, no one would have asked any questions. For the church, this was also a victory.

Although Aigron spoke forcefully in front of the priest, it was only to strengthen the confidence of his subordinates. Deep down, he certainly had some scruples.

No doubt he had a feud with the Romanovs, the Tsar definitely didn't like him, and he would never end well if he fell into the hands of the Russians - but Eggron was never one to be blinded by hatred. A person with a brain, on the contrary, he knows how to judge the situation.　　

232 Baptism

After finalizing the details of Haidee's conversion to the Orthodox Church with Father Faria, Aigron continued to take action and began to prepare for it.

He sent his envoys to the Peloponnese and Rome, intending to seek the support of his allies and the Roman Church.

Perhaps because of his gratitude for his contribution, his ally Panos Kolokotronis was very straightforward and supported the idea of ​​​​making the Ioannina region free from Turkish rule in the future, so he decided to come here in person Witnesses of conversion and baptism, cheer for Eggron.

On the side of the Roman Church, things are a little more complicated.

Both Pope Leo XII and Cardinal Vittorio Esposito were initially a bit shocked by Aiglon's idea, and almost refused the emissary's request.

However, considering that this young man has "contributed a lot" to the Church of Rome and to themselves, after some secret discussions, although they all felt that Aigron's request was a bit absurd, they decided to agree to the request.

Of course, the exorbitant price of sending a cardinal was directly dismissed. The glorious Roman Church will not allow cardinals to witness the conversion ceremony of Orthodox "heretics", but Vittorio Esposito The cardinal decided to send one of his confidantes, who was also an official of the Holy See, to attend the conversion ceremony.

After all, although the Orthodox Church and the Church of Rome have been split for nearly 800 years, everyone still regards each other as Christians in their hearts, and the Pope of Rome would also suffer from the fall of Constantinople.

Today, it is not unreasonable to celebrate the conversion of a pagan monarch into the arms of the Lord.

And Aigron himself is also busy with this.

He ordered to search for priests who had been pastors in his control area, and following his order, the entire Messolonghi was in a commotion. After careful searching, several priests were finally found.

However, these pastors do not have any senior priest status, they are just ordinary church pastors.

Of course, it didn't matter to Aigron. He informed these pastors of his plan, and also told them that after the founding of the Principality of Ioannina in the future, it would become an independent diocese, and the one who baptized Haiide That priest, of course, will also become the Patriarch of the Principality.

Such an attractive reward easily penetrated their psychological defenses, and they almost all expressed their willingness to cooperate with Aigron, but Aigron spent a few days screening the most suitable candidates.

In the end, he chose a priest named Constantine Dimopoulos.

On the one hand, the pastor is imposing, with a big beard, and looks like a dignified treasure, suitable for taking up the position of Patriarch at that time; He does not refuse, so it is easy to control, and he is naturally the most suitable for combining these two aspects.

So, more than half a month later, Aigron's preparations were fully prepared, and the time was ripe.

He was not prepared to waste any more time, and after sending people from both Rome and the Peloponnese, he held the conversion ceremony in a newly renovated church outside Messolonghi.

When the morning sun crossed the peaks and hills and began to fall on the earth, the ceremony officially began.

People lined up in two long lines and walked into the church led by the pastor and assistants.

Egron and Teresa walked in the front, and Teresa led today's protagonist, Haiide, into the church together.

Then the spectators filed in.

The small church was quickly filled with people, and no one wanted to miss this historic moment. Aigron also specially ordered Edgar to be the royal painter to draw the next big scene.

Outside the church, there is also a guard of honor on standby, and many supporters who actively or passively come to watch the freshness-they will welcome this moment in history with cheers.

The priest went to the altar, which was now covered with religious vessels.

Aigron walked to the front seat and sat down, while Teresa took Haidee up to the altar.

Suddenly, everyone fell silent, silently watching Haiidee's next move.

Haidee is visibly on edge, not used to being in the spotlight – but for Aigron and Teresa, this is their day-to-day life, so they can proceed with a sense of poise.

Teresa, who was standing on the altar, looked at the pastor, and the pastor nodded lightly, indicating that everything went well and the ceremony could begin.

Since it is baptism, it naturally begins with baptism.

"Haidee, come with me." Teresa lowered her head and whispered to Haiidee.