Chapter 41 Expansion of the Apostolic Guard

Silky rays of sunlight flowed in through the cracks in the thatched roof, illuminating the flying dust in the thatched house.

In the dark room, the faint light was hazy, and the stench of feces mixed with the smell of rotting soil swirled in the air.

Lying on a simple cot made of a bench and straw, a man closed his eyes, clenched his teeth, and his cracked lips trembled constantly.

A few drops of golden liquid flowed from the wooden tube and fell into the man's lips.

Armand picked up a leaf, slid a handful of water along the veins of the leaf into the man's mouth, and let the golden liquid flow into his body.

"Master Chanter, are you ready?"

Although he was two heads older than the young monk in front of him, the old uncle did not dare to put on airs in front of Armand, but asked cautiously.

"Okay, but I want to remind you that the holy oil is only useful to devout believers. If he is sincere, even if he has one foot in purgatory, the holy oil can pull him back. If he is not sincere, it will just be a waste of this precious holy oil."

Sweat oozed from the uncle's forehead: "We are pious, we are especially pious."

"As I said before, if you recite the song of thanksgiving every day and thank Your Majesty for your kindness, you will be safe."

“Oh, oh, oh, yes, yes.” The uncle bowed to Armand and thanked him profusely. “Sir, I have one more thing to ask. My wife’s cousin, my second cousin, has dysentery…”

"It's the same old saying, either wait or bring ten households here. The head of the ten households will be given priority and will be designated for use once." Armand said mercilessly.

"Yes, yes, yes." Not daring to refute at all, the old uncle picked up his son and walked out of the straw hut.

"Next." After crossing out the name on the list in his hand, Armand looked up and saw Jeanne lifting the curtain and walking into the thatched house.

"Sister Jeanne." Armand stood up and hurried forward to greet her.

Jeanne reached out and slapped Armand's Paul-style Mediterranean bald head: "When did you come up with a cantor's vocation? Why haven't I heard of it?"

"Your Majesty once said that it is inconvenient for me to get things done without the right status. I have no identity at all," Armand said with a smile.

Jeanne smiled and took out four bottles of allicin in wooden tubes with corks from her bag and placed them on the small square table in front of Armand.

"That's great! I was worried about being out of stock." Armand quickly unlocked the box and put the four tubes of allicin into it.

Ignoring Armand, Jeanne found a place to sit down.

After what happened before, Jeanne was basically completely disappointed with the villagers, knights, and priests.

The only people she felt close to and trusted were probably these child soldiers and children.

The child soldiers are all orphans, with similar backgrounds to Jeanne. Children don’t have so many cunning thoughts, at least they are better than adults.

"I came here this time because Brother Horn wanted to ask about your situation. Are you doing well? Is anyone giving you any trouble?"

Armand pulled a stool over and sat down. "We are all the Pope's Apostolic Guard. Who dares to embarrass us? In the past, there were people who always looked at us with strange eyes, but now there are no such people."

After the villagers of Moulin Rouge moved to the Papal Gulag, Horn gave them the name "Pontifical Guard".

Now all the villagers of Moulin Rouge Village, from babies to sixty-year-old men, are Apostolic Guards.

The Papal Guard is naturally different from those elsewhere, and Horn has customized uniforms for them.

Adult men wear black tweed hooded cloaks, adult women wear black turbans, and children wear black headbands.

In the meadows outside the capital of the Gulag Papal State, a strange sight can be seen every morning when the cocks crow.

At dawn, groups of papal guards with black crowns on their heads, some leaning on crutches, some holding their parents' hands, lined up in a square formation and walked to Father Cosset and the cantor Armand. In the aroma of food, they not only did not rush forward to grab, but sang hymns such as the Thanksgiving Song, the Thanksgiving Song, and the Dream of Heaven while marching in unison.

From time to time, ten households with their child soldiers would come forward to patrol and beat with rattan those who did not move in unison.

At first, the villagers around would watch and laugh at them, and even complain loudly that they were disturbing their sweet dreams, but recently, these voices have become smaller.

Because they found that the guards' singing was so loud, their movements were so neat, and they were so united.

Whenever one person is bullied, the men from the same ten households will attack together.

When they lined up in neat rows, sang hymns, marched as if in one body, and rushed over waving pitchforks and sticks, those rogue villagers thought they had encountered a group of sergeants charging forward.

After all, Horn's stepping prayer still works. When walking, the guards will subconsciously step in sync.

After being beaten with a cane and subjected to daily stepping prayer exercises, these movements became almost reflexes.

With the initial formation, organization and morale, it would be very easy to beat up those untrained villagers and aggressive scoundrels.

Maybe it's still a long way off from Horn's point of view, but it's different for the villagers.

Besides being difficult to mess with, there is another reason why these scoundrels in the village behave themselves.

That is, the Pontifical Guard has control of the precious holy oil and is generous in using it.

People like Tang Li also obtained a lot of holy oil, but they were never willing to use this precious thing on ordinary people.

Although the Apostolic Guards have to wait in line, at least they can be used.

There is also a very useful little trick. As long as you can get ten households to register and form a group of ten households, the head of the ten households can have priority in using the holy oil.

Registering on the roster was not in vain. In the evening, you had to sing hymns with the guards, do the three-finger chest gesture when you met them, and people from the same ten households had to live together.

Furthermore, even if we need your help, you are not allowed to refuse.

If you dare to refuse, the guards will really beat you to death.

"How many new guards have been added to our team now?"

"Five." Armand held up five fingers of his left hand and four fingers of his right hand. "There are nine decanters in total, 498 people. The roster is right here. There may be another decanter tomorrow, so that will make up the total ten."

Jeanne silently calculated that there were originally more than 600 refugees outside the Gulag Monastery, and with those in the Moulin Rouge Village, there were almost 800 people.

However, since the weather cleared up, dozens of new refugees have been arriving every day. Now the Gulag Papal State has nearly a thousand subjects.

But these ten households are basically the limit, and most of the rest of the people are dependent on Tang Li and others.

Moreover, these new guards are only in a state of being under control and only obey orders, and they may not be as loyal as the old guards of the Pope.

The people of the Old Guard witnessed Horn's resurrection and the descent of the Holy Father.

We have to continue to deepen our control.

Even though she had listened to Horn's analysis of these situations, Jeanna still felt a headache every time she thought about it: "You asked someone to ask before, and Brother Horn gave the answer."

"What does your Majesty say?"

"Brother Horn said that Jeshka had made great contributions in killing demons before, so he will be the centurion."

(End of this chapter)