Chapter 282: Entering Chancery Castle

"Should we disperse these villagers around here?"

Looking at the increasing number of villagers gathering on both sides of the team, almost tens of thousands of them, Hakuto asked in a low voice.

Horn shook his head: "No, just find a few Skitarii to maintain order and avoid a stampede."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Looking at the Savior Army's slightly changing formation, Horn felt that his control over the army had reached a new level.

He even had a feeling that the army was a part of his body, as if he could easily command them.

Sitting on the cushioned chair in the carriage, Horn lowered his head to look at his rough hands, lost in thought.

"Brother, look." Jeanna pointed to a place not far away on the side of the road, "That's the camp of the Knights of Wang Xian."

"The camp of the Knights Wang Xian..." Looking up, Horn saw a camp on the side of the road with black smoke and burn marks everywhere. "You haven't told me how you defeated them."

“It was raining that day, and they were all hiding in the house, drinking, gambling or sleeping. They didn’t expect us to come.

I rushed in with the Holy Gun Cavalry. They didn't have time to put on their armor or mount their horses, and I electrocuted dozens of them to death. The rest surrendered. "

Horn was speechless for a moment. He could foresee that the defeat of the Royal Knights would be stupid, but he didn't expect it to be so stupid.

But it was normal, and it fit Horn's stereotype of the French: they were casual, undisciplined and loved to drink.

"Where are those prisoners of the Royal Knights? Why don't I see them?"

Jeanne's face looked a little grim. "Last night, the escaped Royal Knights came back and rescued the remaining companions."

Jeshka rode on his warhorse and looked at Horn, who was holding the gauze, with his one eye: "It's funny, those Frankish prisoners were locked up together with the Knights Templar prisoners, but they only rescued their own people and even beat up a few Knights Templar."

The Franks' national character of being both loyal and petty was fully demonstrated in this incident.

"Let them run away if they want." Horn shrugged indifferently, "We don't have much conflict of interest with these Franks."

After finding out the situation of the Royal Knights, Horn asked Jeanne again: "Did you defeat these Royal Knights and immediately capture Fort Jeanne?"

"No." The spring breeze blew up a corner of Jeanne's robe, and she reached out to smooth out the wrinkles, "If that were the case, I would have rushed to the battlefield long ago.

They used smoke signals to alert Fort Jeanne d'Arc, and we fought a battle with the Knights Templar outside the city and won.

Some night guards and extraordinary knights tried to escape into the castle, but the citizens and laborers of Jeanne d'Arc formed a guard to stop them.

I seized the opportunity to charge and kill them all, and the rest of the knights and armored men-at-arms fled in all directions.

After taking control of the castle and the church, I led the war monks to Pavia without stopping, and luckily we caught up."

Horn's body was shaking up and down with the bumpy dirt road, and he almost vomited. He couldn't help cursing in his heart: Damn it, sooner or later I'm going to pour mortar into you.

After listening to Jeanna's narration, Horn resisted the urge to vomit and feel dizzy, and quickly grasped the key point: "Those citizens formed a guard to help you attack the knights? Do they have the courage to do so?"

It’s not that Horn looked down on the citizens, but most of the courageous and brave people in Zhendark Castle followed him to Dazexiang.

Based on Horn's understanding of them, although they might revolt because of their superiors, they have no organizers and most of them fight on their own.

"It was organized by the Boys' Brigade and the Brothers of the Holy Fathers," Jeanne revealed. "But they did actively participate in the Guards."

"After all, he has some blood in his veins. Does the Holy Lord still have some temper?"

"Is that what the Holy Lord calls a temper? Doesn't she kill tens of millions of pagans at will?"

"Uh..." Horn's tongue was tied for two seconds due to the inappropriate metaphor. He didn't expect that Jeanne would catch his flaw.

"Your Majesty, we have arrived at Fort Joan of Arc." Jessica immediately stepped forward to help.

On the open space on the main road outside the city of Joan of Arc, all the original stalls and hawkers' sheds were demolished, leaving a large open space to welcome Horn.

The citizens hired a number of laborers to stand on the roadside waving colorful flags and flowers, which was a necessary part of the inspection by the foreign bishop.

Although the desire for independence is strong, citizens know it is unrealistic.

The force they wielded was not enough to defeat even the Knights Templar, let alone the Savior Army who "defeated" the Knights of the Imperial Decree.

In the subconscious of most citizens, the Savior Army should have only driven away the Imperial Order Company instead of defeating them head-on.

That's the Imperial Order Company. Not to mention killing them, if they can shoot down ten Imperial Order Knights, they will just eat them.

The citizens all knew that given the current situation in the Thousand River Valley, they would have to submit to Horn for a long time to come.

In the final analysis, it is just a matter of changing the flag. After all, the operation of the city still depends on them.

Several representatives of the citizens, the heads of the major artisan guilds, and several prestigious elders nominated by the workers, all stood respectfully on the roadside, waiting for Horn's arrival.

Before the people arrived, tens of thousands of villagers scared the citizens.

"It's quite a grand ceremony." Sid, the citizen representative, tilted his head and whispered to Bunaford, the head of the Stonemason Guild beside him, "It must cost a lot of money to hire these villagers."

"Why do you care? It's not our money." Bunaford snorted.

"Who said it's not our money? Have you forgotten what he did before?" Sid sighed, "When there are no heroes, a farmer becomes famous."

"Could it be that the Knights of the Imperial Order or Darnay would be good enough?" The old laborer next to him couldn't stand it any longer. "At least they have some sense."

"I was just saying it casually. Why are you in such a hurry? Are you ready to lick that farmer's shoes?"

"伱!"

"Keep your voice down so no one can hear you. Do you still want to stay in the ice cellar?" another citizen representative nearby reminded.

When the sound of orderly and powerful footsteps was heard, Sid immediately closed his mouth.

"Hurry up, don't delay."

Standing up from under the awning, they lined up at the intersection, put on professional fake smiles, and welcomed Horn's arrival.

Just as they had welcomed the Imperial Order Company here a few months ago.

As expected, the Salvation Army soldiers who entered their field of vision were all injured, wearing neat clothes, but their bodies were covered with dust and stains. They had wheat-colored faces, simple and stupid eyes, rude movements, and vulgar conversations...

Even if you put on nice clothes, you are still just a farmer.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk."

"That's it……"

"Laughed."

The sound of whispering could be heard among the citizens present, even mixed with a few giggles that could not be distinguished between men and women.

Is this the soldier who can defeat the Imperial Order Company?
They thought they hid it well, but the look of doubt and contempt could not be hidden no matter what.

The Black Hat First Legion was not affected at all. They held their heads high and cleared the way for the war monks in the rear.

Even their pace didn't change at all. It's not that they didn't hear it, they didn't react because they just thought it was ridiculous.

When the people behind the Black Hat First Legion appeared, the laughter was like a duck with its neck strangled, suddenly stuck in the throat and turned into a funny "ho ho" sound.

More than twenty prisoners of war were covered in blood, walking forward with either their heads hung or their faces filled with sorrow.

Their necks were locked with slave collars, their hands were chopped off, and they were only wearing a pair of trousers.

Occasionally, when they made eye contact with the escorting war monks, they would quickly retract their heads like mice seeing a cat.

But it was precisely this group of prisoners of war that made the citizens feel as if their world was collapsing.

That is the Imperial Knight, the high and mighty Imperial Knight!
The citizens rubbed their eyes repeatedly, fearing that they had seen it wrong, and some even shouted out the name of a knight.

They could clearly see that the knight trembled all over and did not dare to look up.

Before they could react to the shock, another carriage drove up, with 20 human heads pickled in lime neatly placed on it.

After some deformation, they could still recognize that they were the Knights of the Imperial Order!

"One, two, three..." a citizen on the roadside muttered to himself, "Three carriages, sixty heads of the Knights of the Imperial Order, plus more than twenty prisoners of war -"

The noisy crowd was as quiet as a library.

More than eighty Knights of the Imperial Order, the pinnacle of the Kingdom's Extraordinary Knights, all bowed down at the feet of the Savior Army.

It is said that each of them is a knight of the imperial decree who is protected by an angel!

How many times have they shown off their power in the streets, but the citizens could only swallow their anger and even put on a smile.

Now, they are just loaded onto a manure cart for people to watch?

"Total annihilation?"

"I am not seeing things, my eye is broken, can someone help me take a look?"

"Eighty. There really are eighty."

If Madeleine were here, she would definitely have to sort things out with them.

Not more than eighty, but all 100 Knights of the Imperial Order, without a single one missing, and in perfect order.

It’s just that some of them had their heads smashed by leather cannons or were burned by lightning, so they were not pickled for display.

When the black-clad soldiers marched past again in neat rows, the citizens didn't even dare to look them in the face.

"Mr. Sid, that is the head of Lord Boaluo! He is the captain of the Imperial Order Company!"

"What Lord Bo'olio! That's the devil Bo'olio, watch your words! Citizens!" Sid turned around suddenly and cursed at the followers behind him.

With a smile that wrinkled his face, Sid laughed and rubbed his hands as he walked in front of Victor: "Captain, where is my Pope? We have prepared a table of delicious food and are waiting for you."

"His Holiness the Pope is at the back." Victor pointed behind him, and just then two strong war monks came carrying Horn's wheelchair and moving him off the carriage.

Sid instantly ran over like a hungry dog ​​seeing stinky shit, and fell to his knees with a thud.

He lowered his head as if snatching food and kissed Horn's feet repeatedly.

Horn was frightened by him, and the monk guarding next to him was so terrified that he picked him up from the ground and threw him out.

Sid, who was covered in dirt and dust, did not feel insulted at all. He stood up with a grin on his face and said, "Your Majesty, it's me, Sid. Have you forgotten?"

"Sid?"

"Yes, Sid, the judge of Jeanne d'Arc."

"Oh—" Horn gave him a meaningful look, "So it's you."

"Your Majesty is here. We have invited the best chef from Jeanne d'Arc to prepare a banquet for you..."

"Let's skip the meal." Jeanne interrupted Sid impatiently, "Let's go into the city first, we still have things to do."

Under the escort of the First Guards Legion, Horn and the Holy Gun Cavalry slowly moved forward along the old road.

The villagers followed them and squeezed into Jeanne d'Arc Castle together with the citizens.

Many people in the Salvation Army are familiar with every brick and tile here, after all, the bloody battle that night is unforgettable.

Coming to the center of the city square, the flag of the Salvation Army was flying above the Joan of Arc Castle, the flag of the Papal States was flying above the tower of the Town Hall, and the sun gear flag of Pope Horn was flying above the church.

Sitting in a wheelchair, lifted high by the war monks, Horn looked at everything in front of him.

The square was crowded with villagers, the alleys were filled with citizens and laborers, and even many residents of Joan of Arc were standing on the roofs.

"Fellow believers, this is no longer the territory of the Thousand Valley Church."

Pointing his index finger to the sky, Horn solemnly announced: "From this moment on, Fort Joan of Arc and the Territory of Kush will be under the Pope's flag! It belongs to the direct jurisdiction of the Holy Father!"

(End of this chapter)