Chapter 210: Keeping up with the Saint Sun's pace

Along the turbulent river, narrow sailboats of all sizes and large cargo ships are crowded in the harbor.

In the blue sky, the gray sunlight falls equally on the shoulders and head of every passerby.

The winter wind, whose chill had been dampened by the sun, blew wildly against the wooden sign of a roadside tavern with a mermaid carved on it.

Between the swaying signs are ropes and festive flags hung above the streets to welcome the Winter Market in early December and the Winter Advent Festival in late December.

Under the triangular colorful flags that intertwined like a net were merchants and civilians passing by in groups of three or four.

Norns wearing thick fur hats, Franks decorating their hair with cloth flowers, nobles wearing tall hats, laborers wearing brimless hats, the flow of people is like a thread, moving along the loom formed by the streets.

The sun was shining brightly, making people's backs hot and itchy. As soon as they took off their clothes, the cold wind started to blow, making pedestrians sneeze repeatedly.

The porters had no such worries. They had been working for a whole morning and were sweating all over. They were only wearing the simplest long-sleeved linen shirt and at most a tweed vest.

The resting dock workers gathered at the edge of the plank road. They sat on the ground, rolled up their sleeves to reveal their strong and shiny muscles, and ate black bread softened by water.

An older laborer sat on a barrel with his legs apart, surrounded by dozens of similar porters, who were chewing bread and listening attentively to the story the old laborer had heard in the tavern last night.

This is their only entertainment during lunch break.

"...Knowing that the vicious bishop Durdafo wanted to escape, Saint Sun Horn ambushed him by the river in advance. At that time, Durdafo was accompanied by 300 armored soldiers, while Saint Sun Horn was accompanied by only the Saintess."

"How could the devil resist the power of the Holy Grandson? The Holy Grandson trembled all over, and the holy aura rose. The armored soldier bowed down, but there were still hundreds of demon pretenders who were still resisting stubbornly..."

"So the Holy Grandson asked Saint Jeanne to kill the soldiers disguised as the devil, while he himself fought bravely with Durdafo, who had revealed his true form as the devil. This was the Holy Father descending to earth with the Eye of God, Blood Covering the Clouds, showing off his heroic spirit, and that was the devil appearing as the fake bishop, igniting the Heavenly Devil Flame with the Dark Sword..."

"war!"

"The two of them were extremely skilled in swordsmanship. Each move was so precise that the ground shook and even the road beside was obliterated..."

The workers here were still listening attentively, but they didn't notice that three businessmen wearing gray cloaks and hoods covering half of their faces were standing next to them.

"These stories are widely spread." Catherine's voice was emotionless.

Mitternich chuckled and said, "After all, this is a hot topic right now. After the Demon King Hoss appeared the next day, discussions about the Savior Army and the Blue Blood Monastery could be heard in the tavern almost every day."

Xixi was a little embarrassed: "I just wanted to give the Salvation Army a good name, but I didn't expect them to spread more and more outrageous stories."

Ever since the Blue Blood Monastery incident was revealed, people's curiosity about the Shorthairs or the Saviors has reached a peak.

In the past, people simply regarded the existence of the Salvation Army or the Shorthairs as a rebellious party that had nothing to do with them, but now this situation has changed.

They began to wonder what the Saviors had done, and were intrigued by the legend of the Shorthairs killing the Duke.

At this juncture, a short story called "The Expedition of Saint Sun" became popular. At first, it was just a summary of the deeds of the Salvation Army by individual bards.

Later, with the processing of jugglers, clowns and tavern guests, it was transformed into this collection of stories with ups and downs, popular language and interesting fun.

Different from the collections of witch hunting stories published by witchers, this kind of story has opened up a new blue ocean of plots in which peasants outsmart priests and knights.

Most story collections of this era feature witchers, knights, and priests as their protagonists, with commoners often playing only lowly servants and silly, comic relief roles.

But in this book "The Expedition of Saint Sun", the knights and priests became clowns, while ordinary peasants and petty citizens became the wise and righteous ones.

Now the sense of immersion is full.

Catherine was also very curious about the legendary holy grandson. This curiosity arose after she learned about Horn's killing of the Duke and his motto "Kill all the evil to bring peace."

This curiosity reached its peak when Sissi brought Horn's letter.

The letter did leave a deep impression on Catherine. It could not even be called a deep impression, but it could be said that it opened the door to a whole new world. She sometimes even dreamed about the contents of the letter.

"…After cheap grain and large amounts of precious metals from overseas entered the imperial market through trade, as the population increased, a local imbalance in the output of agricultural products and commodities appeared…"

“…I call this economic change ‘price revolution’, and under the influence of the price revolution, gold and silver depreciated and prices soared…”

"The first to suffer were the feudal landlords who collected cash rents. Prices soared, and they signed contracts with fixed-rate landlords. Their actual income seemed to have remained the same, but it was reduced due to currency depreciation, and they fell into poverty and bankruptcy...

"The second group to suffer is hired labor in urban and rural areas. Due to the existence of supernatural powers, the lords can only care about the interests of their employers and enact the Labor Law to restrict the wages of workers, so that the growth rate of wages cannot keep up with the increase in prices..."

"Similarly, with the development of the commodity economy, material life has become more abundant. Regardless of the class in the empire, people have begun to change their previous pessimistic attitude towards reality and have begun to pursue worldly things..."

"Under this appearance, in terms of class, the peasants are at the bottom, and in terms of region, the people of Qianhe Valley are at the bottom..."

"...Everyone thinks that the people of Qianhe Valley are ruined, it's over, they will never be able to hold their heads up high again, but only I can tell you that it's stable..."

"... Thousand River Valley is the weakest link in the church's strong rule. It is the worst, but also the one with the most opportunities. No one is more desperate than the people of Thousand River Valley..."

“…Abolish the three-class peasant system and make peasants the owners of the land. Only then will they have the motivation to improve the land…”

"... by absorbing the surplus migrant workers into the city's handicraft system, through tariff protection and the abolition of private tax cards, the commercial potential of the Thousand River Valley can be released...

"...From whom can I hear such a clear rebellion plan and keep up with my pace..."

Catherine smiled as she thought of the words in the letter.

I heard that this saintly grandson was self-taught. I wonder whether these interesting words and phrases were intentional or unintentional.

"How did the talks with the church go?" Without continuing to listen to the stories told by the workers, Catherine slowly walked towards the watchtower in Rapid City.

Mitternich whispered, "We have negotiated with those low-level monks and priests. As long as the plan goes well in three days, we will be able to remove the bishop of the Rapids Diocese and take over the entire Rapids City."

"What about the City Guard?"

"Carl is in charge recently. Only a few are still resisting."

"Come to think of it, Karl still doesn't want us to cooperate with the Salvation Army?" Sissi asked, tucking her long hair behind her ears.

Mitternich spread his hands helplessly: "What else can I say? He just can't get over the Duke of Kush. After all, their three generations have been..."

"He is not worthy of being called the Duke of Kush." ​​Catherine cursed in a low voice without disguising. "He brought the Kush people here to avoid the wine that turned them into vampires. But he turned us into the wine of the church."

"Alas." Mittenyi sighed softly, "No matter what he thinks, after the death of Duke Kush, we do need to cooperate with the Salvation Army."

After all, Rapid City is not far from Fort Joan of Arc. The Shelley City of Blago Abbey, Rapid City where Catherine is located, and Fort Joan of Arc can help and support each other.

Originally, Catherine planned to cooperate with Duke Darnay because of this geographical condition.

But now, if the Salvation Army can replace the Duke of Kush and occupy Fort Jeanne, there will be no problem in cooperation between the two sides.

Ignoring Mitternich's sigh, Catherine turned to look at Sissi and said, "Are you sure that Saint Grandson can come out and raise an army in three months?"

"I guarantee it with my life." Sissi stopped walking, and the lines on her face were so hard for the first time. "If you have walked the road of blood and sweat with us, you will know that my judgment will never be wrong."

"Okay." Catherine nodded. "I'll write him a letter. You take a rest and go to Chateau Jeanne in two days and secretly pass the letter to him."

"At your service."

(End of this chapter)