Tap tap tap tap...
Accompanied by the sound of horses' hooves trampling on the road, a group of fully armed knights wearing gorgeous plate armor were slowly advancing along the road.
The surrounding merchants, mercenaries, and travelers all showed surprise and awe after seeing their flags.
Because this team of knights does not belong to any noble lord or king, but to the King's Hall, which represents the divine authority.
As an existence similar to the Papal States in Europe in the Middle Ages on earth, although the military power of the French King's Hall is not worth mentioning, its political influence is terrifying.
From ordinary people's spiritual beliefs to weddings and funerals, to the coronation of kings, everything needs to be recognized and endorsed by them, otherwise you may encounter a lot of troubles and problems.
The most important thing is that the nobles will use this as an excuse to launch reasonable and legal rebellions, taking the opportunity to expand the power of their own families and weaken the prestige of the royal family.
Therefore, although the "divine right of kings" helps rulers quickly establish authority and prevents the common people at the bottom from easily resisting, it also places themselves under the supreme authority of the religious system.
Anything that might conflict with religion can become extremely troublesome.
Therefore, the attitude of most people at the bottom towards the Dharma King's Hall is one of respect and fear.
The respect is that they represent the only true God in the world. Anyone who does not want to go to hell and endure eternal torture and torture after death must give up his faith.
What I am afraid of is the religious tithe tax in addition to the share paid to the noble lords, and the possibility of religious persecution such as being labeled a heretic, a heretic, or a witch.
After all, the power of interpretation lies in the hands of the priests, and priests are also human beings with their own greed and desires.
For example, a young priest fell in love with a beautiful girl or widow and wanted to take her as his own and become his lover, but was ruthlessly rejected by the other party.
Then he took a grudge and found an opportunity to slander and frame the other party as a heretic or a witch. He wanted to poison the towns and villages where he was with terrible witchcraft, and finally incited the people to tie him to a pillar and burn him alive.
The same method can also be used on some businessmen and workshop owners who have little background power but have a small amount of property to confiscate property reasonably and legally.
In addition to the darkness and sin of the church itself, many civilians will also report and frame each other because of negative emotions such as envy, jealousy, hatred, and anger.
In addition, the god worshiped in the King's Hall is the God of the Abyss, so the entire church takes on a creepy and terrifying atmosphere from top to bottom.
Looking at the shunned attitude of the surrounding civilians at this moment, you will know how terrible this kind of religious oppression is.
Perhaps the only thing that makes passers-by feel curious and take a second look is the young female knight riding a horse at the front, who is also the leader of this religious knighthood - Farnese Du...
Wattimio.
After all, female knights are rare these days, and young and beautiful female knights are even rarer.
While many people were discussing who this woman was and which famous aristocratic family she came from, a handsome young man with squinting eyes and a fox face quickly chased after the team from behind.
He came up and reported in a low voice: "Captain, in accordance with your instructions, I have inquired about everything clearly."
"Oh? What happened to this kingdom?"
Farnese asked without looking back.
Because after crossing the border, she clearly felt that this country was different from other feudal kingdoms.
For example, commerce and handicrafts are extremely prosperous, and the living standards of the lower class are relatively good. At least they are not hungry, and their mental outlook is not like that of serfs in other places. There is only a dull numbness in the eyes of the tenant farmers.
, on the contrary, there is an inexplicable vitality.
Everyone seems to know what they want to do and is always busy.
If she hadn't seen it with her own eyes, this young lady would simply not believe that there was such a country on this continent.
"It's very simple, the royal family and the nobility of this country have all been overthrown.
It is said that a prince from a foreign country entered into a marriage contract with the Roald family, and then used this as a basis to launch a war to conquer the entire country.
Not long ago, the army he led fought a decisive battle with the aristocratic coalition, crushing all resistance forces.
The royal capital did not even carry out any act of stubborn resistance, and directly opened the city gates and surrendered under the leadership of the municipal council.
Now this country is the property of the foreign prince.
Perhaps these anomalies we see are what he brought with him from his own country.
This included distributing land to serfs and tenant farmers, and replacing the nobility with citizens including merchants, craftsmen, and military officers."
The squinting young man shook out all the information he had learned.
It is not difficult to see from the expression on his face that he himself is quite unbelievable about this.
After all, in this continent dominated by aristocrats, this is the first time in thousands of years that an anti-aristocratic person can rise to power and seize power.
In particular, the process of conquest was so rapid that no surrounding country could react, let alone mobilize troops to intervene.
This kind of madness that completely ignored the existing rules, laws and order deeply shocked him who had followed the rules since he was a child.
Farnese asked with great confusion: "Isn't that foreign prince afraid of being besieged by nobles from other countries by doing this?
You must know that the nobles of this kingdom have a tradition of marrying with neighboring nobles.
Even the queen married by the king was a princess from another country.
By the way, what happened to the king, his queen, and their heirs after the fall of the royal capital?"
The squinted young man obviously hesitated for a moment, but still answered with a wry smile: "The king and all the males in the royal family were beheaded in public.
Queens, princesses and women were all demoted to prostitutes and had to receive at least a dozen to dozens of guests every day.
As long as they can afford it, anyone can suppress these formerly aristocratic women and ravage them as they please.
As for interference from other surrounding countries, it cannot be said that there is no interference.
An earl and his allies once gathered an army of 6,000 people to launch an invasion from the border, but were easily defeated by the 2,000-man defenders who arrived later. Even he was captured and nailed to the city wall alive.
show to the public.
Obviously, this prince will not play those war games between nobles, let alone the ransom.
Once it falls into his hands, whether it is a noble or a king, there is only one outcome, and that is death.
Oh, yes, one more thing.
The excuse for this foreign prince to launch the war was that the country's nobles had turned into greedy, bloodthirsty, and cruel monsters.
So he stood up to uphold justice and ensure the safety of civilians' lives and property."
"What? How dare he take advantage of us!"
Farnese's eyes widened in surprise, and at the same time an uncontrollable anger surged from the bottom of his heart.
Because in her eyes, who was extremely devout to God, this was blatant blasphemy and she should be tied to a pillar and burned alive.
“Shh——
Keep your voice down!
That foreign prince is not the kings and nobles we have met before.
The first thing he did after occupying the royal capital was to confiscate all the church lands, and then arrest all the priests for trial.
Through almost cruel torture, he exposed all the dirty deeds done within the church to the sun for everyone to see.
Otherwise, why do you think the strange attitudes and looks of passers-by around you are going on?
So no matter what happens, don't be impulsive.
Because you have offended this foreign prince, he will not care about the King's Hall and the Vatimio family behind you.
So promise me, no matter what, you won't act out of anger."
When he said this, the young man's tone suddenly became serious and serious.
"Serpico, are you worried about my safety?"
Farnese turned his head and looked into the other person's eyes.
The young man known as Serpico nodded without thinking: "Yes. Because what we are going to face next is a subversive, a madman who doesn't care about any rules. It is impossible to predict what he will do.
actions. There are also dangers that may arise from your identity and status."
"Okay, I'll pay attention."
After saying these words, the eldest lady stopped paying attention to anyone and walked along the main road towards the location of the royal capital.
After several days of marching, she finally arrived at this ancient city with hundreds of years of history at dusk.
However, when they saw the construction teams that were dismantling the city wall densely like ants, everyone felt confused and puzzled.
Because for a city, the two most important things are the city wall and the moat.
To be continued...