[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-rise-of-the-empire-spain":3,"chapter-rise-of-the-empire-spain-rise-of-the-empire-spain-chapter-54":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Rise of the Empire: Spain",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2364982,4632,"Chapter 54: Guilt is Hard to Prove, Innocence is Harder (Begging for Follow-Reads)","rise-of-the-empire-spain-chapter-54",54,"\u003Cp>Inside the vast and luxurious Ma Deli Wang Gong, a conversation with deep implications was unfolding.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Your Majesty, what is Prime Minister Primo trying to do? Is he going to destroy the entire Spanish Church?\" The moment Archbishop Pedro saw Carlo, he displayed his innocence and indignation, attempting to win Carlo's sympathy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What has happened, Bishop Pedro?\" How could Carlo not understand what the Church had suffered? In fact, Carlo was one of the planners behind the scheme to purge the Church.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But at this juncture, it was better to pretend not to understand; at the very least, Archbishop Pedro’s indignation was entirely directed at Prime Minister Primo, causing Carlo no loss whatsoever.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I know the assassination of Prime Minister Primo is a matter of great importance, but surely you cannot arrest the Church's bishops without any evidence?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Your Majesty, the government has already arrested more than a dozen bishops, and the arrests are still ongoing. If you do not intervene, I fear I will be arrested by Prime Minister Primo tomorrow as well,\" Archbishop Pedro continued.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"It isn't that serious, is it, Bishop Pedro? I authorized the city-wide search in Ma Deli; surely the bishops were arrested because they were suspected of something?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If you have any questions, you can go protest to Prime Minister Primo. Marquis Primo is by no means an arbitrary man; if you can prove the innocence of those bishops, the government will certainly release them.\" Carlo would not hinder Primo’s purge of the Church; the best method was to kick the ball to Primo.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Carlo’s meaning was very simple. If Archbishop Pedro possessed sufficient evidence to prove those bishops were innocent, then he could certainly pressure Prime Minister Primo and demand that the government release the Church personnel.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the difficulty lay precisely there.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although Prime Minister Primo did not have complete evidence to prove the Church's responsibility, it was very easy to produce some incriminating evidence to pin charges on these Church members.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Proving guilt is difficult; proving innocence is even harder.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Archbishop Pedro clearly lacked sufficient evidence to prove those Church members were innocent, which also meant Prime Minister Primo possessed sufficient evidence to continue detaining them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing that he could find no sympathy or protection from Carlo, Archbishop Pedro finally realized that things were looking grim.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Either Carlo truly understood nothing and naively believed the government's arrests were all reasonable and evidence-based.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Or Carlo understood everything, and this purge of Church personnel was something Carlo and the government had agreed upon, with the goal of settling accounts with the Church.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But regardless of which outcome it was, it was not a good thing for the current Church and Archbishop Pedro.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If they could not obtain the King's support, relying solely on the Church's power to confront the current government was truly like an egg hitting a rock.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The mere fact that Primo controlled the army doomed the Church to be unable to contend with the government.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Moreover, Carlo’s words reminded Archbishop Pedro of something. Compared to the Church, the government clearly stood on the side of public opinion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Prime Minister being assassinated leading to a city-wide search is reasonable, right? Arresting suspicious individuals discovered during the search is reasonable, right?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As for why the majority of those arrested were Church personnel, what responsibility did the government have for that?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As long as Archbishop Pedro could not prove that these arrested individuals were innocent, the Church would have to bear the blame for suspected involvement in the Prime Minister's assassination.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Watching Carlo wear a faint, indifferent smile, Archbishop Pedro realized that the young King before him was playing dumb.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Archbishop Pedro was certain that the majority of the Church's members had nothing to do with the assassination; after all, the Church leadership knew absolutely nothing about the matter.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But at this moment, the Church could not shake off the suspicion, because the only victim of the decree to abolish tithes in Primo’s reforms was precisely the Spanish Church.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Church being dissatisfied with the government’s abolition of tithes and assassinating the promoter of the reforms, Primo, in an attempt to restore the payment of tithes, seemed like a very reasonable motive.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No matter how much Archbishop Pedro and the Church argued, they could not escape their suspicion and could only passively endure in this incident.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After walking out of the Wang Gong, Archbishop Pedro sighed and decided to head to Primo’s residence to find a solution to this matter.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Church was speechless at this time, but allowing the government to continue arresting Church members was absolutely out of the question.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The only way was to negotiate with Primo and reach a compromise on certain interests in exchange for the government calling off the arrests of Church members.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Primo was not some simple guy from an army background. Archbishop Pedro understood that if he opened talks with Primo, even if he could resolve this incident, it was destined to cost the Church immense interests.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But there was simply no other way at this moment. If this were the Church’s heyday, Archbishop Pedro would have challenged the government regardless of the cost and would not have retreated in the slightest.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Unfortunately, the influence of religion on the populace had already significantly declined, and it no longer had any ability to subvert the government.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>More importantly, even the Pope was trapped in the Vatican, so what could they, these archbishops, do?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Facts had already proven that religious authority could no longer be mentioned in the same breath as political power. In front of the massive institution that was the national government, religious forces had to retreat, and they had no choice but to retreat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Inside Primo’s residence, Prime Minister Primo was inquiring about the situation regarding the arrests.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hearing the news that Archbishop Pedro requested an audience, Primo wore a smile, looking not the least bit surprised.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Respected Prime Minister, when will you abandon the arrests of Church members?\" As soon as Pedro entered the room, he appeared angry, quite dissatisfied with the government’s arrest actions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Bishop Pedro, shouldn't you be asking the Church's bishops? When all the fish that slipped through the net are caught, that is when the police will stop their operations,\" Primo said with a smile.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Prime Minister, those you have arrested are all Church personnel, they are Church bishops, not traitors who planned an assassination! I hope you can give me a reasonable explanation; is this how you treat the pious believers of God?\" Archbishop Pedro tried to keep himself on the offensive, constantly pressing Prime Minister Primo.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"No, Bishop Pedro. If they have nothing to do with the assassination, I believe no police officer would come looking for them. If you want to absolve them of their crimes, please bring sufficient evidence.\" Prime Minister Primo was hardly a weak man; after hearing Archbishop Pedro’s relentless questioning, he stood up and said with a cold laugh:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"If you do not have sufficient evidence to prove they are innocent, can I interpret this as you challenging the authority of the government on behalf of these bishops?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>First update, asking for support! I beg my brothers to give a follow-read; today's follow-read is crucial!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1209,"2026-06-25T09:27:12.995Z",1,"Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite","e348ee8c502c9e20d192e3fb5671110ce7bc8801019af7004038679f4a16187b","rise-of-the-empire-spain-chapter-55","rise-of-the-empire-spain-chapter-53",493,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Frise-of-the-empire-spain-cover.jpg"]