chsdbacks #405 - They are all relatives of the Pope.
#405 - They are all relatives of the Pope.
Although Alman had secretly instructed the servants to clean the tent before he left, it was still filled with a strong stench.
"Open the curtains, it's too dark," Alman whispered to the attendants at the door, still mindful of the nobles' faces inside the tent.
The servant spread a clean blanket on the chair before Alman sat down.
On the greasy long table, the nobles who had reveled all night were still not awake from their hangovers, and many were still dozing off.
Unlike the Golden Plains in the heart of the empire, the nobles of Thousand River Valley still retained the ruggedness and barbarity of the old aristocracy.
Perhaps due to the scarcity of resources, their banquets were always "unrestrained."
In the core areas of the empire, where the New Marie fashion prevailed, the nobles had long abandoned this kind of revelry, instead dining elegantly and quietly with clean tables and bone china, and socializing politely at balls.
Facing the disheveled nobles, Alman could only say that they had a rather retro and simple style.
"Father Mizam is temporarily unavailable, so we will hold the meeting first this time," Alman said, rubbing his nose, unable to bear the stench any longer. "The first thing is that all banquets will be suspended for three days, and alcohol will be prohibited for three days, to piously pray for the grace of the Holy Father."
"Ah?"
There was a mournful wail in the tent, as if they would die if they didn't have a banquet for a day.
The male servants and maids beside them all showed a relieved expression, and when they looked at Alman again, their eyes flashed with gratitude.
They were all beautiful women and handsome men who had been captured by the knights from nearby.
As mortals, after serving the nobles for several nights in a row, their bodies were already on the verge of collapse.
Almost every night, maids and male servants would die suddenly. They were dragged out of the tent and buried randomly by the roadside or taken away by their families in carts.
However, most of their families were besieging Rapidwater City, and probably didn't have the time or energy to deal with them, and might even envy their beauty, no longer having to go to the battlefield.
It should be known that the area around Rapidwater City was densely populated with civilians.
In order to capture Rapidwater City as soon as possible, Alman had pulled out more than 10,000 civilians from this area, including Dogfox Village.
Their daily job was to receive a spear or even a wooden stick, constantly attacking the city, and hundreds of people died every day.
Among these people, at least one-fifth were killed for deserting or because the knights didn't like them.
In Beechburg downstream, dozens of rotten corpses could be seen hanging in front of the water gate's iron railings every day.
They showed their skin swollen like balloons, revealing a pale blue face in the heat, and small fish and shrimps surrounded them, tearing off pieces of pink and blue rotten flesh.
Unfolding the battle report in his hand, Alman was still dissatisfied. He had put in so much effort, so why hadn't he been able to capture Rapidwater City yet?
Calling the servants to wipe the faces of the hungover nobles and sober them up, Alman turned to Earl Koma and asked, "That Desai, have you contacted him?"
"Uh, uh, contacted him, I gave him permission, he can come to me at any time."
"Good, I'll ask you about related matters in the future," Alman looked at Earl Koma meaningfully.
"Yes, yes."
Looking at Earl Koma wiping his sweat with a handkerchief, Alman's lips curved into a smile.
He had some idea about the nobles stealing potions.
After all, if Koma took it, and Marika took it, how could Alman, as the supreme commander, not take it?
It was just that Koma had gone too far, and Alman had decided to敲打 him.
But he couldn't show that he knew about it, because knowing meant having to take responsibility, and not knowing meant not having to take responsibility.
As for the impact of these potions on the war and the damage to the knights, Alman didn't care at all.
Because the potions in the military camp warehouse were only drunk by the bottom-level knights, guards, and mercenaries. What combat power could they provide?
Alman's 160 Edicts, as well as the accompanying transcendent knights, had a dedicated potion warehouse.
That was Prince Condé's private property. Even if Koma had ten thousand guts, he wouldn't dare to take it.
"Everyone..." Seeing that most of the people present had washed their faces and hands, and barely wiped away the grease, Alman slowly said, "Bishop Barneyforth has sent a letter asking us to capture Rapidwater City as soon as possible, the sooner the better.
The reason why I ordered the ban on banquets for the next three days is to let the Holy Father bless us. Don't worry, once Rapidwater City is captured, you can have as many victory banquets as you want."
"Why? Is Featherfall Fortress in such a hurry?"
Alman threw out a stack of letters: "Look for yourselves, the rebel forces in Hotham County are getting bigger and bigger. They have even captured Dove Monastery and looted thousands of pounds of money.
We believe that the rebels in Hotham County now number nearly ten thousand!"
According to the letters, after the knight forces were transferred away, Hotham County was struggling to deal with the local rebels.
In the past, they would first raise a group, then destroy a group, and then raise another group, and each time they only needed to deal with a single rebel force in the same area.
But now, ten rebel forces were rising at the same time, and the church only had the ability to send troops to suppress three of them, and they might not even be able to catch them.
As the core of the Hotham County rebels, the Holy Uncle Army, its leaders Valentine Taylor and Andre used the characteristics of Hotham County's crisscrossing waterways to move quickly by boat.
Under the unified command of these two, the rebel forces, such as the Holy Second Cousin Army and the Holy Great Cousin Army, were elusive.
The Templar Knights couldn't run on the water, so they could only be played around, allowing the rebels to attack churches and castles everywhere, making it impossible to completely suppress the rebels.
"Nearly ten thousand, is that so exaggerated?" Someone muttered.
Alman didn't speak. In fact, he also had doubts about this number. Was it a lie by Barneyforth to urge him?
But he knew at least one thing, that the capture of Dove Monastery outside Featherfall Fortress had scared this young bishop, who had always cherished his life.
He sent twelve gold-lacquered letters in one day, demanding that Alman "capture Rapidwater City at all costs and return as quickly as possible."
"Holy Uncle Army? What is that?" Duchess Marika picked up a letter on the table and read it roughly, but she had never heard of the name.
"It's the original Holy Grandson Army. The leader is Valentine Taylor. He claims to be the Holy Grandson's uncle and has now declared himself Pope," Earl Koma explained in a low voice.
It must be said that even after so many years, the legacy of the Messiah's personality faction still influenced the people of Thousand River Valley.
Valentine Taylor's behavior formed a path dependence in Hotham County. Valentine Taylor first copied Horne's uprising, and others copied Valentine Taylor's uprising.
Any rebel army had to have some kind of kinship with the Holy Grandson to be recognized.
Armand, who was in charge of liaison in Kasha County, would recognize anyone who dared to rise up, unless you took too much advantage.
Fortunately, the people of Thousand River Valley inherited the Kush tribe's descriptive kinship system, otherwise there wouldn't be so many available holy relatives.
"This Hotham County rebel also declared himself Pope?" A noble who naturally liked to joke suddenly picked up a letter and read it.
The crowd gathered in astonishment, listening to him read the letter in his hand, and couldn't help laughing.
"This self-proclaimed Pope, isn't that one Pope in the east and one Pope in the west? Then who is the Pope of this Savior Army?"
"Look for yourself, Holy Father, this is too blasphemous, but I want to laugh so much."
"Western Guardian Pope, Eastern Guardian Pope, hahaha, what about the north and south? What about the north and south?"
"Still Western Guardian, hahaha, I'm dying of laughter."
"Alright, alright." Alman, whose serious atmosphere was disturbed by the humorous noble, although he almost couldn't hold back his laughter, still pressed his hand to silence them.
"I have agreed with Barneyforth to take Rapidwater City within three days as much as possible. Do you have any ideas?"
As soon as Alman said this, the nobles who were still laughing heartily seemed to have been pressed the mute button, and forcibly turned from laughter into silence.
This awkward silence lasted for a full three minutes, and there was no movement except for the rustling sound of individual nobles scratching their itches.
Looking at these nobles with dull eyes and still drunk, Alman couldn't help but grit his teeth. How could he think of asking this group of people for ideas?
Thousand River Valley was a rural area after all, and it was too difficult to expect them to be like the Longsong nobles or El scholars who waved their hands and gave directions.
Just as Alman was thinking about how to break the awkward silence, a sound of footsteps came from far to near.
Figures flickered outside the tent, and the halberdiers guarding the door bowed, bringing up the wind. Prince Condé's strategist, Father Mizam, looked suspiciously at the open door curtain and walked into the tent.
Like Alman, he pinched his nose as soon as he came in, and showed a look of disgust without hesitation.
He didn't care whether the tent was awkward or not, and walked straight to Alman's side, leaned on his shoulder and whispered.
Earl Koma quietly moved to the left, and could only vaguely hear words like "property," "city gate," "Megardy Merchant Guild," and "witch" between Mizam's fingers.
Before Mizam finished speaking, Alman slammed the table excitedly: "Great, where is the person?"
Mizam nodded with a smile: "You will see when you come with me."
Alman stood up and saw the surprised eyes of the people around him, and then belatedly cleared his throat: "Okay, everyone, let's disband for now, the specific arrangements will be discussed tomorrow morning."
As if he couldn't wait to leave, Alman strode away, but he had just reached the door when he turned back.
"Ms. Marika, can you do me a favor?"
"I'd be happy to serve," Duchess Marika stood up, the lead powder on her face falling down.
"There has been no news from Littlepool City. Can I borrow your fast horses and fast ships to investigate?"
"Of course, it's my honor."