Chapter 135 The Great Purge

December 1444, 11 in the Imperial calendar.

The end of the fleas has come.

Hundreds of black hat soldiers entered the new camp in neat rows and controlled all the important traffic arteries.

Also moved in were various brooms, shovels and rattan baskets.

At the urging of the former legion commander and the new head of ten households, the refugees were forced to get up from the garbage dump and numbly lined up outside.

Under the frowning leadership of the black-clad nationals of the old Gulag camp, nearly a thousand refugees were brought to the stream.

There were also piles of firewood beside the stream, and nearly three hundred broken wine barrels and water jars collected or discarded from the ruins.

These were all prepared by Horne.

The stream water was brought ashore and put into large wooden barrels. The boiling stream water emitted wisps of white steam.

As for the female refugees, they were arranged to stay in another place.

The refugees suddenly became agitated. This scene, this atmosphere, could it be that they were going to be cooked?
"Master, the Golden Medal Chanter, what are you doing?"

"Are you going to make soup? Why don't I see any food?"

Some brave refugees stepped forward and asked questions.

Armand climbed up a dirt slope with great effort, imitating Horn's usual tone and saying:
"Everyone, before now you have only used the name of my Papal State, and there has been no formal joining ceremony."

Armand shouted righteously: "If you want to join my Papal State, you must go through three major ceremonies.

The first one is the baptism ceremony, which washes away sins and filth. The ungodly people, falling into hot water, will only go crazy and resist, which is the symbol of the devil!

The second is the hair-cutting ceremony, where you cut off your long hair and beards to imitate Eve and Adam. After cutting your hair, you are no longer the same you were before, but newborns of this world.

The third is the hymn ceremony, where, under the leadership of the head of the ten households, we sing hymns and learn to pray step by step! "

Obviously, Armand did not have the same prestige among the refugees in the new camp as he did in the old camp.

His statement only attracted more suspicious looks.

But he had a backup plan. Armand winked at Thomas beside him.

Amid everyone's suspicious looks, Thomas set an example and came to the water tank.

The surface of the water tank was emitting hot steam. He took off all his clothes, hesitated for half a second, and then flipped into the water tank.

"Hiss..." Thomas gritted his teeth, pressing down on his rapidly reddening face, and forced a smile at the refugees, "It's not hot!"

"If it's not hot, don't stand. Close your eyes and sit down."

Just when Thomas was wondering if he had heard it wrong, two black-clad soldiers had already forced his shoulders down and stuffed him into the boiling hot water.

The burning sensation eroded Thomas' skin. When he stood up from the water again, he showed his black skin that was burned red, and said half crying and half laughing, "It's not hot!"

After all, if it is hot, then it means there is a devil in your heart.

In fact, the burning sensation Thomas felt did not come only from the hot water, but also from the cleaning potion prepared by Ceci.

The effect is better than normal cleaning solutions and the cost is lower, but the price is that there is a slight burning sensation like a soldering iron on the skin when using it.

Following Thomas' demonstration, the rest of the refugees jumped into the hot water one by one.

Even though they were howling in the beginning, in the end, they still forced themselves to say "it's not hot".

Just as they gradually got used to the water temperature, they actually felt comfortable, as if some burden had been washed away.

The fatigue from the past few days seemed to disappear, and some of them even fell asleep in the hot water.

Until the villagers in the old camp took out the pig-bristle brush.

“Ooooooooooo…it doesn’t hurt!”

"It doesn't hurt! Ah! It doesn't hurt at all!"

"Ooooooh, it doesn't hurt at all!"

Looking up from the hot water, the refugees felt like they had been reborn, as if they had fallen into the devil's hell and returned to the human world. "If it doesn't hurt or burn, why are you crying?"

"These are tears of joy, what do you know?" the refugees cried.

Every time the pig-bristle brush passed over their backs, it would leave blood-stained marks and streaks of oily mud scattered in the hot water.

During this period, the villagers of Laoying would trim their hair and beards with knives, cutting off all the tangled hair and beards.

During this period, their clothes will be placed in front of the fire and smoked. The wood in the fire is soaked in insect repellent, which can drive away all fleas and small insects.

When they have finished washing, they have to sprinkle powder, brush their teeth, and trim their nails with a knife.

Finally, the refugees, with red and white bodies like red-boiled shrimps, stood on the roadside in a daze and joy.

This strange feeling of being fresh and without any protective layer was something they had never experienced in their lives.

It really looks like a newborn baby.

A huge amount of sewage was dumped into the lower reaches of the stream, and the originally clear water turned gray, with the corpses of fleas floating in the water.

Armand stood in front of these "newborns" and began to preach to them.

"As long as you are baptized and repent for your sin, you can make amends for your crime!" Armand said shamelessly.

"I don't think there is such a doctrine?" said a devout believer. "I have worked as a handyman in the church for 20 years and have never heard of it."

"You are still too rigid. To understand God's intention, you must not only look at the scriptures, but also look at your heart."

Armand waved his hand with disdain and said, “I came to this doctrine from my heart.

You see, a merciful person will forgive someone who makes mistakes three times. The Holy Father is merciful, so he will definitely forgive someone who makes mistakes three times, and he will definitely let you make amends for your sins!"

"Hey, that seems to make some sense."

"What the hell, isn't this pure nonsense?"

"What? You understand it again? Are you a priest? If you can do it, come and interpret it!"

People are being washed over here, and the ground is being washed over there in the camp.

Basket after basket of rubble, garbage and broken bones were swept out of the tents and huts. At the urging of the ten heads of households, the refugees struggled to push the garbage into a large pit outside the camp.

For fleas and the like, there is cheap anthelmintic powder prepared by Ceci.

This insect repellent powder is very low cost and very effective, but it has an extremely rich and strong heather smell.

Enough to send fleas and humans flying away with a sharp pop.

It took six hours from noon to dusk to wash half of the people.

But it doesn’t matter. Those who have finished washing and those who haven’t finished washing can be separated and continue washing tomorrow.

Collective action, especially collective action involving everyone, is the most convenient environment for establishing authority and expanding influence.

The Great Purge was not only a cleansing of people and settlements, but also a cleansing of the remaining influence of the legion leaders.

During the Great Purge, Horn and his old battalion were in charge of the entire dispatch and command, and the corps commander only played an advisory role.

So, when the six-hour purge was over, they would still subconsciously obey Horn's orders.

Of course there were some setbacks during this period, but power was transferred step by step through the tug of war.

In addition, all the sick refugees in the refugee camp were registered one by one, and Chilvis's distillation pot never stopped.

Horn purchased thousands of pounds of garlic at one time, and another thousand pounds will arrive tomorrow. The extracted allicin will definitely be enough to treat these refugees.

I don’t know if it’s because they haven’t been tempered with antibiotics, but these refugees are particularly sensitive to allicin, and the effect is amazing.

Even Horn's existence became mysterious.

The Pope’s holy water can really cure diseases!

(End of this chapter)