Chapter 404 They are all relatives of the Pope

Although Arman secretly instructed the servants to clean up the tent before leaving, the cowhide tent was still full of stench.

"Lift the curtain, the light is too dim." Arman, who was a little obsessed with mysophobia, whispered to the servants at the door, but still took into account the face of the nobles in the tent.

The servant spread a clean blanket on the chair, and Arman sat down.

On the greasy long table, the nobles who had been partying all night last night had not yet recovered from their hangover, and many of them were even dozing off.

Unlike the Golden Plains in the heart of the empire, the nobles of the Thousand River Valley still retain the ruggedness and barbarity of the old nobles.

Perhaps due to the scarcity of supplies, their banquets have always been "informal".

In the core areas of the empire where the new Mary style prevailed, the nobles had long since abandoned such revelry and instead used clean tabletops and bone china dishes to dine elegantly and quietly, and to socialize politely at balls.

Facing the crooked nobles, Arman could only say that they had a retro and simple style.

"Reverend Mizam has something urgent to do, so we will hold a meeting first this time." Arman rubbed his nose and said, "The first thing is to suspend all banquets for three days and abstain from alcohol for three days, so that we can pray devoutly for the blessing of the Holy Father."

"what?"

There was a sudden wailing sound in the tent, as if the people would die if the banquet was not held for one day.

The male servants and maids around them all showed a look of relief, and when they looked at Alman, gratitude flashed in their eyes.

They were all beautiful women and handsome men captured by the knights from nearby areas.

As mortals, the nobles had been serving for several nights in a row, and their bodies were already on the verge of collapse.

Almost every night there were maids and servants who died suddenly. They were dragged out of the tents and buried haphazardly on the roadside or taken away by their families on carts.

However, most of their families are busy attacking the city in front of Rapid City, so they probably don’t have the time and energy to deal with them. They may even envy their beauty and not have to go to the battlefield anymore.

You know, the area around Rapid City is densely populated and there are many civilians.

In order to quickly capture Rapid City, Alman mobilized more than 10,000 civilians from nearby areas, including Gouhu Township.

Their daily job was to be given a spear or even a wooden stick and to constantly attack the city, and hundreds of people died every day.

Among these people, at least one-fifth fled because they were afraid of fighting or were killed by the knights.

In Bichon Ferry downstream, dozens of rotting corpses could be seen hanging in front of the iron railings of the sluice gate every day.

They revealed skin that had swelled like balloons, revealing a pale blue face in the heat. Small fish and shrimps surrounded them, tearing off pieces of pink and blue rotten flesh.

Unfolding the battle report in his hand, Alman was still dissatisfied. After so much effort, why couldn't he capture Rapid City?

After calling the servants to wipe the faces of the hungover nobles, Alman turned to Count Koma and asked, "Did you contact Desai?"

"Uh uh, I contacted him. I gave him permission. He can come to me anytime."

"Okay, I'll come to you to ask about related matters in the future." Arman looked at Count Koma in front of him meaningfully.

"Yes Yes."

Looking at Count Coma wiping his sweat with a handkerchief, Arman curled his lips.

He had some idea about the nobles stealing potions.

After all, Koma took it, Marika took it, so how could Arman, as the supreme commander, not take it?

But Koma went too far, so Armand decided to give him a lesson.

But he also couldn't show that he knew about this, because if he knew, he would have to take responsibility, but if he didn't know, he wouldn't have to take responsibility.

As for the impact of these potions on the war and the damage they caused to the knights, Alman has never cared.

Because only low-level knights, guards, and mercenaries drink the potions stored in the military camp warehouse, what combat power can they provide?
The 160 edicts under Alman, as well as the other extraordinary knights who follow him, have their own dedicated potion warehouses.

That was Prince Conde's private property. Even if Koma had ten thousand guts, he wouldn't dare to take it.

"Everyone..." Seeing that most people present had washed their faces and hands and barely wiped off the oil stains, Alman said slowly, "Bishop Barnifos sent a letter asking us to capture Rapid City as soon as possible, the sooner the better.

The reason why I ordered a ban on banquets for the next three days is to get the blessing of the Holy Father. Don't worry, once Rapid City is captured, you can hold a few days of celebration banquets as you like."

"Why? Is Feiliu Castle so anxious?"

Alman threw out a stack of letters and said, "You can see for yourself that the rebels in Hotham County are becoming more and more powerful. They even captured Dorf Abbey and took away thousands of pounds of money.

We believe that the number of rebels in Hotam County has now reached nearly 10,000!"

According to the letter, after the knights were withdrawn, Hotham County was unable to deal with the local rebels.

In the past, they would first raise one group, then destroy another, and then raise another, and each time they only had to deal with a single group of rebels in the same area. But now, ten groups of rebels have risen at the same time, and the church can only send troops to destroy three groups, and it is not certain that they can be captured.

The Saint Uncle Army, which was the core of the Hotam County rebels, was led by Valentel and Andre, who took advantage of the extensive water network in Hotam County and moved quickly by small boats.

Under the unified command of these two men, various rebel forces such as the Second Cousin Army and the First Cousin Army were elusive.

The Knights Templar could not run on the water, so they could only run around everywhere, allowing the rebels to launch surprise attacks on churches and castles everywhere, and they were unable to completely wipe out the rebels.

"Nearly 10,000 people, is that so exaggerated?" Someone muttered.

Arman didn't say anything. In fact, he also had doubts about this number. Could it be a lie urged by Barnifors?

But he knew the least: the fall of Dorf Abbey just outside Feiliu Castle frightened the young bishop, who always cherished his life.

He sent twelve gold-painted letters in one day, demanding that Arman "take Rapids at all costs and return as quickly as possible."

"Saint Uncle's Army? What is that?" Baroness Marika picked up the letter on the table and read a few lines roughly. She had never heard of this name before.

"It's the original Saint Sun's Army. The leader is Valentyl. He claims to be the Saint Sun's great-uncle, and now he has declared himself the Pope." Count Coma explained in a low voice.

It has to be said that even after all these years, the legacy of the Personality School of the Messiah still influences the people of the Thousand Valley.

Valentyl's actions formed a path dependence in Hotham County. Valentyl first copied Horn's uprising, and others copied Valentyl's uprising.

Any rebel army must have some kind of relationship with the Holy Grandson in order to be recognized.

Armand, who is in charge of liaison in Cassia County, said, "If you dare to bring it up, I will admit it, unless you take advantage of me too much."

Fortunately, the people of the Thousand Valleys inherited the descriptive kinship naming system of the Kush tribe, otherwise there would not be so many available holy relatives.

"This rebel in Hotam County actually calls himself the Pope?" A noble who naturally loved to amuse himself suddenly picked up a letter and started reading.

Everyone came closer in amazement, listened to him reading the letter in his hand, and couldn't help laughing.

"If they declare themselves popes, doesn't that mean there is one pope in the east and one pope in the west? Then who is the pope of the Salvation Army?"

"Look for yourself, Holy Father, this is blasphemous, but I want to laugh so badly."

"The Western Territory guards the Pope, the Eastern Territory guards the Pope, hahahaha, what about the North and South? What about the North and South?"

"Guardian of the Western Territory, hahahaha, I am dying of laughter."

"Okay, okay." Although Arman almost couldn't hold back his laughter as the humorous noble disturbed the serious atmosphere, he still pressed his hands to make them quiet down.

"Barney Force and I have agreed to try to take Rapid City within three days. Do you have any ideas?"

As soon as Alman said this, the nobles who were originally laughing seemed to have their mute button pressed, and their laughter turned into silence.

This awkward silence lasted for a full three minutes. Apart from the rustling sound of some nobles scratching themselves, there was no movement at all.

Looking at these nobles with lifeless eyes and still a hint of drunkenness, Arman couldn't help but feel angry. Why did he want to let these people give him advice?

Thousand River Valley is a rural place after all, and it is too difficult for them to be as powerful as the Longsong nobles or the Aiel scholars.

Just as Arman was thinking about how to break the awkward silence, the sound of footsteps came from far away.

There were shadows swaying outside the tent. The halberd soldiers guarding the gate bowed, creating a gust of wind. Prince Condai's adviser and priest Mizam looked at the open door curtain in confusion and walked into the tent.

Like Arman, he pinched his nose as soon as he came in and showed a look of disgust without hesitation.

He didn't care about the awkwardness in the tent, walked straight to Armand, leaned over his shoulder and whispered to him.

Count Koma quietly moved to the left and could only vaguely hear words like "property", "city gate", "Megdi Chamber of Commerce" and "witch" between Mizam's fingers.

Before Mizam could finish, Arman slammed the table excitedly: "Great, where is the person?"

Mizam smiled and nodded: "You will see it if you follow me."

Alman stood up and saw the surprised looks of the people around him. He cleared his throat belatedly and said, "Okay, let's disperse for now. We'll discuss the specific arrangements tomorrow morning."

As if he couldn't wait to leave, Arman started to leave, but as soon as he reached the door, he turned back.

"Ms. Marika, can you do me a favor?"

"My pleasure." Lady Marika stood up, and the lead powder on her face fell off.

"There is no news from Xiaochi City. Can I borrow your fast horse and boat to investigate?"

"Of course, it's my pleasure."

(End of this chapter)