Chapter 288 The Master is Dead! I'm Going to Become the Master!
March 3, Chateau Joan of Arc.

The pale golden sunlight shines through the fluttering Salvation Flag, framing the silhouette of the church with a golden edge of morning light.

In the square surrounded by the town hall and the Joan of Arc church, there are representatives of public opinion wearing various linen, woolen and silk clothes.

The citizen representatives, with their mustaches trembling, gathered in a chaotic group, noisily buying butter and toasted wheat cakes from street vendors.

The labor and peasant representatives with knotted beards only ate the black bread and water provided free of charge by the hotel, and huddled against the wall in a daze.

The mayor and the wealthy businessmen gathered together, holding butter and ginger beer early in the morning, and whispered to the mayors of Grayfurnace and Mayo for advice.

A cool breeze with a hint of warmth blew by, and the smell of alcohol hit the faces of the low-level monks who were leading the way. They sniffed enviously and continued to guide the representatives to their seats.

At this moment, Victory Square was crowded with representatives of people who had come from other places.

This city square was originally called Claus Square, but after a unanimous decision by the Senate, it was renamed Victory Square to commemorate the bloody Battle of Joan of Arc.

This time, the Joan of Arc believers' meeting was held in Victory Square.

There were 392 representatives of public opinion who came to attend the meeting. There was no room for them in the City Hall, so they had to be arranged in Victory Square.

The execution platform in the center of Victory Square has been dismantled and replaced with a 5X5 wooden platform to facilitate Horn's speech.

But despite washing it many times, the bloody smell still lingered in the air.

During this week or so, Horn did not execute hundreds of nobles every day, but he still executed more than ten or twenty in a single day.

According to the statistics of the accounting team, Horn used the Devil's Crime to execute 112 feudal nobles and religious nobles in these seven days, and detained 903 monks, servants, knight stewards, etc. to help the Devil's Crime.

If we include the local nobles killed in the war and during the purge, a total of 457 nobles were killed in the battle of Joan of Arc against King Horn.

These 457 nobles only accounted for 0.4% of the total population, but occupied nearly half of the land in the entire Kush Territory.

The actions of the Salvation Army are an uprising and a rebellion, and their essence is violent activity.

The survival of the regime cannot be sustained without bloodshed, violence, and depriving the vested interests of their wealth.

The essence of Horn's policy is to cut the upper part, support the middle part, and supplement the lower part.

Under the current external environment and internal conditions, supporting China is a key step in whether the Papal States can gain a firm foothold.

Rows of long tables formed a circle, surrounding the wooden podium. Wild cats crouched under the tables, chasing birds around.

Following the guidance of the waiters and low-level monks, Grothien wandered among the crowd like a headless fly until he heard a familiar voice.

“Here!”

Grosien saw his cousin at a glance. He arrived at the venue in advance and saved a seat for his cousin.

Grosien's cousin lived in a manor near Joan of Arc and was very familiar with Joan of Arc, so he was able to arrive early.

Because they arrived early, their position was relatively close to the front, so at least they could see Horn's face clearly.

Those who were arranged further back, according to Grosien's estimate, were probably 20 meters away from the wooden platform and probably couldn't hear anything.

Other representatives who arrived late had to sit at the outermost seats.

Some of them cursed and complained that they couldn't hear clearly, while others were happy to have free time and even took a nap.

Grosien touched things here and there curiously. It was the first time he attended such a meeting.

Especially the priests on the stage wearing woolen robes. They stood motionless at the four corners of the wooden platform, and no one knew what they were doing.

Grothien asked in a low voice: "Cousin, what do those priests do?"

"That one is called the Natural Priest. He can use the unique blessing magic of the Order of the Holy Father. You will see it later. It is very magical."

Grosien didn't have to wait long before Horn arrived.

He was wearing a simple half-shawl priest robe, holding a pamphlet in his hand, and walked onto the wooden platform leisurely.

Standing beside a person-high sloping copying table, Horn placed the booklet in his hand on the copying table.

"quiet!"

The Black Hat Soldiers present raised their guns and fired stones into the air. The shrill sounds immediately quieted the previously noisy crowd.

After all, many of them had seen the battle between the Holy Gun Cavalry and the Knights, and had witnessed the power of the clockwork guns.

At this point, the four priests raised their arms at the same time, with their palms facing each other in a half-moon shape, placed beside their faces.

"Everyone..."

As soon as Horn opened his mouth, Grosien was stunned, because the voice seemed to be speaking in his ear.

This is too amazing! Grosien's eyes widened. Is this the magic of those priests?

On the wooden stage, after a brief opening statement and self-introduction, Horn went straight to the point.

"I know you must be worried, why did we call you here?
But please don't panic, we have no ill intentions. Compared to the nobles and bishops, we are on your side.

Our enemies are the church and nobles of the Thousand Valleys, and have nothing to do with you unless you have any involvement with them."

When Horn finished speaking, it was obvious that most people in the audience breathed a sigh of relief, but a small number of people became more nervous. Without paying attention to the reactions of the people below, Horn explained the origin of the Salvation Army to the people present.

The main content is that Horn has been very pious since he was a child, and was chosen by the Holy Father and the Lord to watch over him silently.

When Knight Barnett was committing the crime, he bravely stepped forward to stop him.

Despite having his head chopped off, he was chosen by the Holy Father and the Holy Lord, who even possessed him personally and resurrected him.

Later, Horn used himself as bait and had no choice but to expose Barnett's true face, and suddenly realized that the devil had already invaded the world.

Only then did he realize that the Holy Father resurrected him to give him the mission of eliminating demons.

This led to the subsequent Battle of the Gulag, the Long Walk of Blood and Sweat, the Battle of Jeanne d'Arc and other battles.

At no time has His Holiness the Pope ever thought of escaping, but has always stood firmly with the believers.

Therefore, the rumors that His Holiness the Pope launched the coup and contacted the secret party to try to escape are pure rumors!

It has to be said that Horn's history book did fool quite a few people, including Grosien who listened to it with great interest.

But most people were not interested in this, and the representatives in the row in front of Grosien even fell asleep.

After explaining the source of his legitimacy and past deeds, Horn changed the subject and talked about the current situation in Qianhe Valley.

“…Now, citizens of Rapid City, west of the Thousand River Valley, are rising up in rebellion and occupying most of Lower River County.

In the north, Duke Hermash of Cold Spring Castle revolted, and the mountain counties responded one after another.

The Kingdom of Leia is in civil war, and the Lords of the Kingdom of Norn are willing to help us gain independence.

You have been bullied by the Imperials and the Leia people for so many years, have you ever thought about not being bullied one day?"

In this era when there are vast rural areas everywhere, it is hard to imagine the lack of information.

Many representatives of public opinion did not even know about the Grand Rapids Uprising that was just around the corner, let alone the Cold Spring Uprising further north?
This bombshell news quickly spread among the representatives and spread out in ripples of whispers.

The Salvation Army is an isolated force, their confidence is only 10%, while their friendly forces have 30% confidence.

If they had the support of the Norns behind them, their confidence would jump to 70%.

After all, they themselves know that their strength is too weak, and it is difficult to achieve independence without the help of foreign forces.

If that's the case, then maybe there's some chance of success if we follow the Salvation Army?

After Horn's words, the atmosphere on the field gradually changed.

They began to question whether the news was true or not and imagined what it would be like if they successfully achieved independence.

After all, if Qianhe Valley could become independent, their lives would be much better.

The legend about the Thousand River Valley people's chosen Pope is the embodiment of this beautiful wish in their hearts.

Horne struck while the iron was hot: “Have you ever thought about this question?

Our enemies are the nobles and bishops. Now that they are all dead, who will govern our territory for us?
In the past, we relied on nobles and bishops to pass decrees, but who will help us pass them on now?"

The representative who was dozing off while reclining in front of Grosien suddenly stood up straight, staring intently at the stage.

Not only him, many representatives of public opinion also began to breathe rapidly.

Yes, the Knight Master is dead, so whoever the Savior Army says is the master is the master, right?

Ah! The master is dead, and I am going to become the master!
Some people even got up from their seats and went around to verify the news.

It was not until the night watchmen armed with T-shaped sticks came forward that they elbowed the representatives who were running around back to their seats.

When the surging sound wave stopped, facing everyone's focused and expectant gazes, Horn continued with a smile: "In the next period of time, we will carry out the reform of the Hundred Household Districts.

It is expected that the manor will be changed into a hundred-household district, and each hundred-household district will be equipped with a centurion and a centurion monk. "

If the manor was changed into a centurion, wouldn't the centurion be a knight? The centurion monk would definitely be equivalent to a wandering priest!

Your Majesty, when you say this here, doesn't that mean you are going to choose from among these representatives of public opinion?
Their hands and feet began to tremble, with excitement and fear. Those who were quick-witted were secretly giving money to the Crusaders who were maintaining order in order to find out the situation.

But they never thought that the source of the knight's power to control the manor was his own extraordinary military power.

If these villagers or citizens become centurions, their power depends on the extraordinary military force of the Salvation Army.

In other words, as long as Horn wanted, when the time was right, he could smoothly deprive them of their status, which would be no easier than peeing.

In the end, they can only choose between becoming Horn's shape or losing their status.

"It's almost noon. I guess everyone is hungry. I'm hungry too." Horn smiled and patted his belly. The representatives immediately laughed in support, whether they were being sincere or not.

"Let's eat first, and we'll talk about the centurion's matter after lunch.

We have prepared a free lunch for you. After the meal, a special person will post and read the first edict of the Papal States.

That's the topic of our afternoon meeting!"

(End of this chapter)