Chapter 391 Defending His Life
By the time Halkin arrived at Chateau Jeanne in a panic, it was already evening.

Although it was not yet night, torches were all lit on the newly built low wall of the East City. The crusaders walked hurriedly, and their boots collided with the stone slabs, making a crisp but rapid sound.

The vendors along the avenue packed up their stalls, rolled their last few items into worn cloth bags, and hurried back home at the orders of the night watchmen.

Halkin could see a series of prominent figures, including representatives of the people and guild leaders from various blocks in Jeanne d'Arc, appearing on the streets.

They walked hurriedly, and under the collective escort of the night watchmen, they headed towards the Holy Visitation Hall.

"What's going on?" Halkin saw a representative of the Colton neighborhood and grabbed his arm and asked.

The representative was surprised when he saw him: "Aren't you in the Holy Casting Department? You should have been the first one to arrive, right?"

"I was on official business in Huilu Town and was delayed by something." Halkin's short legs moved quickly, chasing the representative forward.

The representative looked at the brightly lit Holy Hall, scratched his head and said, "Your Holiness, he returned to Château Jeanne d'Arc in the afternoon with only a few dozen cavalry guards. Although we don't know what happened, something big must have happened."

"So where are you going?"

"As soon as the Pope returned, he convened a meeting of believers, and we all went to the meeting."

Pope Horn, the supreme commander of the army, suddenly appeared in Fort Joan of Arc and left more than 6,000 troops on the front line of Fort Black Mountain. This was not an ordinary thing.

Could it be that the Ibe Knights have counterattacked?

Or maybe something happened in Gouhu Township and the church called?

The peaceful scene he had just seen in the fields instantly cast a layer of gloom over Halkin's heart.

If it wasn't an extremely urgent matter, how could the great and honorable Pope Horn come back with only such a small number of guards?

With an uneasy mind, Halkin walked past the Sphinx and stepped onto the marble steps.

The four-petal glass windows reflected the dim light of the setting sun and the dancing flames of torches on the ground.

There were hundreds of chairs and benches placed in the hall on the first floor, and men, women, young and old of all kinds, some wearing linen robes, some wearing silk gowns and linen shirts.

On the high platform on the second floor of the hall, a huge triangular vertical flag with a sun gear is hanging below the platform like a waterfall.

Regardless of their identities, they all sat equally on the benches, anxiously waiting for Horn's speech.

Not only representatives of all ranks from Jeanne d'Arc came, but representatives from the three administrative towns and even the mayor himself came.

Halkin arrived at the hall a little later than others because he needed to file the list of craftsmen, but he just caught up with the most important part.

"...The Ibe Knights have surrendered to the great Holy Father and pledged their loyalty to our Papal State of Savior!" Standing on a high platform covered with a golden carpet, Horn looked down at everyone present with a serious face.

Before the crowd's cheers ended, with the help of the natural priest, Horn's voice quickly spread to everyone's ears.

"But I have to tell you two pieces of bad news. The first is that the nobles of the Kasha County Church have united and launched an attack on Xiaochi City, an important city of the Juano faction.

The second is that Rapid City has suffered heavy casualties due to the fire and is currently facing a fierce attack from the church army. I am afraid it will not be able to hold out for long."

The original cheers came to an abrupt end, and turned into a series of exclamations.

They knew the urgency of the news, but they didn't understand what Horn meant by saying this at this time.

The representatives either whispered or suddenly raised their heads to observe Horn's expression.

Horn didn't say anything more, but gave them some time to digest the content.

"I have to tell you all." When the noise gradually died down, Horn took a deep breath and said solemnly, "Rapids City, we are saved. Xiaochi City, we are saved too."

"Save Xiaochicheng?" Many people showed surprised expressions on their faces.

Everyone could understand rescuing Rapid City, but the decision to rescue Kochi City caused the representatives and public officials present to whisper to each other.

"Why do we need to rescue Xiaochi City?" Horn's stern voice echoed under the dome of the Holy Lord Demon Slaying Map. "First, Xiaochi City is our trade ally and has provided us with food aid. Xiaochi City is a believer of the Juano sect and is our brother in faith.

Out of moral considerations, we must rescue Koike Castle.

Second, if Xiaochi City is breached, the coalition of nobles will most likely attack our Jinhe Township through the King's Road.

Now that Knight Ibe has just surrendered and there are still internal conflicts, if they attack, we will most likely be faced with being attacked from both sides by them and the Gouhu Township Church Army.

For military reasons, we must rescue Xiaochi City.

Thirdly, Gouhu Township is heavily guarded and has a solid castle. By the time we break through Gouhu Township, the people of Jiliu City will probably have been massacred three times.

For political reasons, we must rescue Koike Castle first."

"But what does this have to do with us?" a citizen representative couldn't help but raise his hand and asked.

"Yes, the Ibe Knights attacked us first, and then we fought back." Someone shouted from below.

"Rapid City has something to do with us, I admit, but the noble coalition that besieged Xiaochi City is not hostile to us, so there is no need to provoke them, right?"

"yes……"

"Well, why don't we talk to them and find a way through."

"If you ask me..." "Quiet, quiet—" Seeing that the scene was gradually getting noisy, the Night's Watch and the Crusaders led by Du Valon roared in unison and even fired their guns to warn, thus suppressing the quarrel.

Standing on the soft carpet, Horn glanced at the audience and felt a deep sense of helplessness.

Among this group of representatives of public opinion and the middle-level leaders of the Papal States, most have a vision at the level of Paramecium.

The farmer representatives dozed off with their heads down and rubbed their noses indifferently.

As for the citizen representatives, they were very active, but their active direction was to take the opportunity to go south and get more church and real estate in Jinhe Township and Yibei Township.

They have no idea how urgent this war is. As long as their own lives are good, what does it matter if other people's families live in poverty?
There was no other way around it. In order to ensure the combat effectiveness of the army, all the talented people with some faith and ideals were thrown into the Savior Army by Horn.

Most of the people who appear here are just living their lives, and their concern and participation in politics are extremely low, even less than those of the people in Koike City who have personal pain.

"Let me ask you this question. What would happen if the church army invaded?" Horne said in a different way, as if mockingly asking, "What would happen to the Labor Law and the Fugitive Slave Law?"

The farmers who had not cared at first suddenly raised their heads, and cold sweat quickly flowed down their foreheads.

Needless to say, the simplest one, the Labor Law and the Fugitive Slave Law would be fully restored, the farmland that had been issued would be taken back, and the farmers would once again be confined to the land.

Not to mention the laborers, who will once again live the miserable life of refugees.

If they had not lived the free and prosperous life they have now, they could have lived the past.

But now they are like Eve and Adam who have tasted the fruit of wisdom and can never go back to the past.

Many farmers and labor representatives began to tremble and had to walk out of the hell before they realized that they had been living in the hell.

"What about those church properties and noble estates? What will happen to them?" In the silence, before the farmers' representatives could fully understand, Horn asked again.

"When--" After a few seconds of silence, the cane in the hand of a citizen fell to the ground, and their faces turned pale.

At least half of the church property fell into the hands of various citizens, armed farmers and craftsmen.

After all, only they have the money to buy jihad bonds, and only they have the willingness and ability to purchase these religious properties.

If the church returns, their assets and properties will be forcibly reclaimed.

These assets had just been acquired, and they had not even had time to earn back their capital, so most of the citizens and craftsmen present would go bankrupt.

They could almost see the guards going door to door, extorting and threatening them to leave their workshops or properties.

The small groups of citizens and craftsmen began to whisper to each other, and the sound of people swallowing their saliva and crying could be heard from time to time.

Most of those who were able to rejoice at the return of the church were hanged in Victory Square at the beginning of the year.

The remaining people then realized that in the past six months, 20 people in the entire Kush Territory had been firmly bound to the Salvation Army and the Papal States.

The fall of the Papal States would definitely mean their fall. At this point, it would be too late even if they wanted to get out of this predicament.

"We are like drowned people who just floated half of their heads out of the water and took a breath of air with the tip of their noses." Horn pointed in the direction of Feiliu Castle. "We are clearly doing the right thing, but why does the Thousand River Valley Church want to suppress us so much?

If I were the Pope, these things would never happen. I would ask Prince Condé to withdraw his troops and let the people of the Thousand River Valley live freely and equally! "

"I wrote to the Pope before, asking him to make me the Pope, but he refused. Why?" Pointing at the sky above his head, Horn shouted in grief and anger, "The position of Pope was promised to me by my mother herself. The old Pope is dead, why can't I ascend the throne in the Holy See City?
You are all innocent believers, why do Prince Condé and Barnifors oppress us so much?"

"There are demons in the church, and their number is far greater than we imagined!"

"The name of one demon has become clear. That is Prince Condé - Charles!"

Some representatives of the Crusaders immediately followed suit and shouted loudly.

Yes, they are obviously the side of justice, why does the church suppress them, and why does Prince Condai kill them wantonly?
How can this be a holy church? It's clearly an evil devil!

For the sake of their family’s fields and the assets and real estate they have just acquired, even if they are not devils, they are devils!

After they realized what was happening, the situation on the field changed rapidly. The farmers gnashed their teeth and cursed Prince Condé, while the citizens shouted loudly.

"Then what can we do? What should we do?" Horn said as if roaring, "Tell me! What should we do?"

"If you don't treat people as equals, you should kill them!"

"Drive out the devil! Judge the monster!"

"Drive out the devil! Judge the monster!"

The originally chaotic shouts, led by the Crusaders, gradually turned into a uniform "Drive out the devil! Judge the monster!"

The raised fists were like waves, and the lights were swaying in the wind caused by the shouting and waving fists.

Horn knew that they were not fighting for their fellow believers, and that the representatives and public officials who were detached from higher interests were fighting only to protect their own lives.

But this is enough. Horn needs them to maintain the normal operation of the Papal States and to resist possible attacks from Gouhu Township when he is away.

As long as his house is not stolen, Horn will have no worries in this rescue operation.

"I declare—" Amid the uniform shouting, Horn raised his right hand high and shouted fanatically, "A great judgment holy war will be launched against Xiaochi City and Lower River County!"

(End of this chapter)