Chapter 43 Return of the Great Government
"Powerful minister...Townley...er...that's it, the cardinal, isolating the inside and the outside, the Papal State is in danger...um..."

"Master Frick, are you really capable of this? You've been studying these two lines for a long time."

"Stop making noise, stop making noise." The old man named Frick rubbed his half-blind eyes and shouted loudly towards the dim light.

He was half blind, but he spoke so loudly that Madeleine's eardrums hurt.

"Oh, your ink is all smudged. The following is that you, as a fellow cardinal...wait for something, ah, then, something, and finally something, ah, you can return power."

Madeleine looked at the old man in front of him and said helplessly, "Master Frick, were you really a bard when you were young? You've been talking for a long time, but I just don't understand anything."

Frick stiffened his neck and said, "I have been one before, what do you know, little brat?"

Madeleine was somewhat helpless. Among the many villagers he trusted, this Mr. Frick was relatively the most trustworthy and was in the same group with him.

Those who followed Madeleine were either refugees or public servants. How could they have the culture of papermaking?

Among Madeleine's more than 200 men, only less than ten were literate, and the only one Madeleine could trust was Frick.

After the fall, there is still a hint of chill in this thatched hut with ventilation on all sides and straw curtains hanging on it.

The old man in front of me was wearing a wrinkled, patched, knee-length robe, revealing his dry wrists with white skin sticking to bones and blue veins.

Dragging a three-legged stool from the garbage heap, sweeping the dust off the stool, Madeleine sat down: "Then tell me, what exactly does the secret letter from the Pope say to me?"

"Ah, His Holiness, you are the same. Why do you always use such flowery words? I thought you were reading some boring chivalric poetry."

After complaining a little, Old Frick still explained, "Well, His Holiness the Pope probably meant that you should attack the monastery as soon as possible and kill the powerful minister, Tang Li."

"Me? Go and kill Tang Li? Is that really what the Pope wants?" Madeleine's eyes widened. "Do the old, weak, and disabled like us have the strength to do that?"

Old Frick had only said this casually, but the more he thought about it, the more he felt it was right: "What else? Those armed peasants are all on the side of Tangli, the Pope is not even allowed to leave the monastery, and the Apostolic Guards are all stopped outside the door.

There must be a traitor in our papal state. Chilvis and Grampven both stand on Townley's side, while Dange is neutral. Apart from you, who else can His Holiness rely on?"

"But we are no match for Tang Li. Why did His Majesty issue such an order?"

After learning Horn's "real" intentions, Madeleine felt a little headache.

Although he and Tang Li were extremely at odds, he had to endure it most of the time because Tang Li had a large number of armed peasants behind him.

Compared with most of the Gongbu farmers and refugees, these armed farmers not only have stronger physical fitness, but most of them even have weapons and equipment such as chain mail, leather armor, short swords and longbows.

The church's Night Watch is actually a militia organization. Its predecessor is the Night Watch Brotherhood, which was formed by armed peasants.

Therefore, more than 90% of the night watch guards are from armed peasants.

As long as Tang Li wanted, he could quickly pull out twenty or thirty night guards, and the weapons and equipment of those armored soldiers were also in his hands.

However, there is also a problem with Townley's forces. The armed peasants are very brave when facing refugees and public book farmers, but once they face the church or the nobles, they will immediately become defeatist fighters.

This is also the reason why Horn felt that once the church sent troops, Townley would surrender immediately.

The consequence of not surrendering is that you and I are about to surrender first, so why is Your Majesty fighting to the death?

But Horn never meant to ask Madeleine to fight with Townley.

He asked Madeleine to contact Jessica, tip him off at the critical moment, guard the gate of the monastery, and prevent Tonli from running out and joining the armed peasants.

But this most important paragraph was omitted by Frick. He only understood that the beginning was a scolding of Townley and the end was about the Return of Imperial Rule. He filled in the middle part with his own imagination.

Putting a bottle of muddy wine on the table, Madeleine left with a worried look on his face.

Frick leisurely picked up the muddy wine, hummed a little tune, and drank by himself. But after just two sips, another person came into the hut, also an old man: "Frick, where did you get the wine?"

"Hey, big brother, two drinks?" Frick became excited when he saw the old man. This was his cousin. They were drinking buddies and often drank together.

"Come on, hey, I saw brother Madeleine leave in a hurry just now, what was he doing?"

"Hey, you can't say that."

"What is our relationship? There is nothing to hide. I promise not to tell anyone."

The old man took out a half-roasted hairy pheasant from his waist bag and threw it on the table. He also took out a half-bottle of mead and shook it: "That's good enough, isn't it?"

After a few drinks, Frick's face turned slightly red. He glanced at the roast chicken and hesitated for a while: "Then I'll tell you, but you're not allowed to tell anyone else."

"Go ahead and tell me. I promise I won't say anything nonsense."

"Come here, put your ear close to me."

"…………"

"What? His Holiness the Pope told Madeleine to get rid of Townley."

"Keep it down, keep it down," Frick said in a booming voice, "Don't let anyone hear it."

He swirled the wine in his glass and said with some pride: "Look at me, your brother. Now the bishop has to ask me what I think. How do I compare to the forest sage Hero?"

"Bullshit." The old man cursed with a smile and started drinking along with them.

........................

"What?" Townley stood up suddenly from his chair, "Madeleine is going to come and kill me the day after tomorrow?"

The blazing fire in the fireplace made everyone's faces red, and the flickering flames shone on the flower-leaf Boss shrine on the wall, casting Myrcella wrapped in the sacred tree in varying degrees of light and shadow.

"Where did you hear this news?" Chilvis put down his wine glass, his long dwarf-like beard shaking constantly.

The young man with a curly beard replied, "It's my second brother. His blacksmith's daughter married Madfa from Tudunzi Village. Madfa's ex-wife's cousin's sister-in-law is from Madelan."

"Is the news true?"

"It's absolutely true. My second brother told me not to tell anyone else."

"Okay, I get it." Tang Li threw out a dinar, "This is your reward, go away."

After the young man left, only the core members such as Townley and Chilvis were left in this small monk's house.

After waiting for a long time in the firelight, Grampven frowned and asked, "How did Madeleine know that you would go outside the monastery to meet the secret party messenger the day after tomorrow?"

"You ask me, who can I ask?" Tang Li's face was not looking good. "I guess, most likely it's because there is a spy among us."

"Does a little Madeline really dare to come and kill us?" Chilvis rubbed the wine glass in his hand. "Ask more people tomorrow and make sure to investigate thoroughly."

"It will be too late to investigate it. Madeleine has a grudge against me last time, and he might really do this." Tang Li stood up. "This might be directed by that guy named Horn. During this period, he is not willing to stay honestly. The refugees now all follow his lead."

"So what do you say?" asked Grampven.

Tang Li raised his palm and made a downward chopping motion: "Instead of waiting to die, it is better to take the initiative. Tomorrow night, we will capture Madeleine and teach that Horn a lesson.

Humph, he may be the leader of the secret party, but we are not easy to mess with!"

(End of this chapter)