Chapter 921: The Four Kingdoms Fight for Hegemony
Because a lot of people didn't really want to fit in with the Eternal Night Leader from the beginning.
Even though the Eternal Night Army has developed by leaps and bounds over the years, it has made remarkable achievements.
But many people still choose, covering their eyes, blocking their ears, turning a blind eye to the changes outside, and turning a deaf ear to the sounds outside.
Still immersed in the idea that the Byron Alliance is the center and master of the entire continent of Ashan, and the Lancelot royal family is the most essential idea.
This kind of thinking was heaviest in the plains of Asia Minor under the rule of the royal family of Lancelot.
This kind of habitual thinking is so deep-rooted.
Even when the royal family of Lancelot has been torn apart and dominated by the Holy Aether Holy See, it has not been reversed, and many people have not been able to really see the facts.
Among the old ministers who followed Sophilia, there were many who regarded the Eternal Night Army as a rocker, a stronghold of strategic retreat, where they could recuperate and accumulate strength, waiting for the day when they would once again peek into the entire Lancelot royal family, and even the entire Byron Alliance.
This idea was revived after Sophia regained the responsibility of reviving the Broken Pulse Line.
They reunite with Sophia to advise her and charge her forward.
The violent death of King Laurie made this idea boil and sublimate.
There was no need for Sophia to hint at anything, and many people spontaneously ran and got busy.
It's just that they have been away from the political center of the Byron Alliance for too long, and their reaction speed is not as fast as that of the Holy Aether Sect who has always been in the center of power.
When their side was just reacting.
In order to stabilize itself, the new royal court has made a series of actions.
King Laurie's wife, Queen Enid, announced that she was five months pregnant, and that she was the real first heir to the Lancelot royal family, and she would shoulder the responsibility of ruling the Lancelot royal family before the child was successfully born.
and appointed King Laurie's uncle, Archduke Buck, as regent to administer on his behalf.
Then St. George, the Holy See Pope, personally went to the royal capital Valesta and carried out an unprecedented blessing, not only publicly recognizing Queen Enid's legitimate right to rule over the Lancelot royal family, promising the support of the Holy See for her, but also blessing the child in Queen Enid's womb, calling it a child of destiny, who will be born with the sacred mission of saving the future of mankind.
According to the memories of many of the congregants who attended this blessing event, when St. George blessed the child in Queen Enid's womb, there were many visions.
They witnessed the coming of heaven with their own eyes, countless angels singing and dancing around Queen Enid, and the melodious sacred music echoed in the ears of all the citizens.
The holy light of the Tao was infused into the child in Queen Enid's womb at the same time.
From that moment on, countless citizens were convinced that the child in Queen Enid's womb was not only their future king, but also born of the will of the true god and came to escape their suffering.
There are countless people who have been converted into devout followers of the Holy See.
Although the three core strengths that make up the new royal court have expressed their positions.
However, there are still many lords of the Lancelot royal family who have questioned this matter, especially the hiring of Archduke Buck as the regent, which has been met with fierce backlash.
In the last thirty years, the Lancelot royal family has been ruled by a regent for four-fifths of the time.
But the two regents were both from the Lancelot royal family, and the two had a close blood tie, even if they were selfish, they were just forming a party for personal gain, and constricting power.
Even if the worst happens, take its place.
For a lot of people, it's not unacceptable.
After all, there is no side bloodline, and the bloodline of the Lancelot royal family is still circulating.
Archduke Buck is different, he is the Grand Duke of the Kingsley family, two powers in one, not to mention the big scary in itself, who knows if he will take the interests of the Lancelot royal family and go to fatten his Kingsley family?
In this case, there was a call within the Lancelot royal family to invite Princess Sophia, the former regent of the Lancelot royal family, to be the regent again.
Princess Sophia's credibility during her reign and her clean letting go of King Laurie as an adult are obvious to all.
The latter, in particular, has earned her the respect of countless people.
Retreating bravely from the rapids is not something that ordinary people can do, at least many people who have tasted the taste of power can't do it.
But as soon as this call started, it was blown up by a bombshell dropped by the new royal court.
The royal family of Lancelot revealed the cause of King Laurie's violent death, he fell from a high altitude while riding a griffin and fell to his death.
As for whether it was a careless stumble, or was it attacked from a high altitude and fell?
The new royal court was not announced.
But this is enough, enough to arouse the reverie of countless people.
Where did King Laurie's griffons come from?
Leader of the Eternal Night.
Who now holds absolute air supremacy?
Leader of the Eternal Night.
Who can pose a threat to a griffon in the sky?
Leader of the Eternal Night.
If King Laurie dies, who will benefit the most?
Leader of the Eternal Night.
More precisely, Sophilia, who has taken control of the Eternal Night Army.
In this case, even Sean, who had been in a coma for a long time, was picked up and used to target Sophia.
Many conspiracy theorists link these two events, and the finger is all pointed at Sophia, believing that in order to gain power, she is desperate to kill her loved ones around her.
Under the propaganda of newcomers, Sophie has become synonymous with ruthless and vicious women in the entire Ashane continent.
Black Widow.
Venomous spiders.
Widowmakers.
A series of stigma, all hung on her head.
Because it was through the fusion of souls, Sean was able to personally feel how difficult Sophia's situation was at that time and how depressed her heart was.
The husband fell into a prolonged coma, and his life and death were uncertain.
The Eternal Night Warlord faces pressure from the outside, and questions the legitimacy of her rule internally.
Not to mention the violent death of his dear brother who was raised by himself, he was also slandered as the mastermind behind the scenes, and the real murderer got away with it, and even benefited from it.
She also has a small life in her belly.
If it were an ordinary woman, I am afraid that I would have been crushed by the heavy pressure.
But Sophia won't, she will only become more and more frustrated, and the pressure will only give her more motivation to resist.
Don't forget who she is.
She was brought up by Archduke Cedric, the god of war of Streich, and her body flowed with the blood of the Straggy family who would never admit defeat.
She is an iron-blooded princess who defeated the former regent of the Lancelot royal family at the age of fifteen, cut blood and flesh from the Holy Aether Holy See, and has been in charge of the military and political power of the Lancelot royal family for 16 years.
Anyone who knows Princess Sophia knows it in-depth.
King Laurie's death was the last shackle on the lioness.
After no scruples about the siblings, Sophia's first decision was to strengthen and improve, and the fog barrier temporarily established by Sean in order to annex the Sea, Ridong Department of the Western Odin Empire at that time extended it to the Jacob River, and divided most of the core area of the Byron Alliance into two.
And rely on this separation belt to build a fortress city and defend it.
The results are obvious.
The entire Manyu Army, as well as the Broken Vein Grassland east of the Broken Vein Blood Castle, will be under her control.
The remnants of the strength of the Grand Duke of Patlem were all exiled and expelled.
Having said that, the last ten years of Archduke Patleme's rule under the Manyu Army have long exhausted the last vestiges of this land, and the essence has been concentrated on Anjibena's side, and there is not much residual strength at all.
The Byron Union was completely torn in half.
Sophia's Eternal Night Lords occupied one-third of the Broken Pulse Steppe, a quarter of the Plains of Asia Minor, all of the Manyu Army, all of the Andes Mountains, all of the Danube Plains, and all of the Kentana Icefield.
The new royal court dominated by the Holy Aether Holy See occupied two-thirds of the territory of the Broken Pulse Grassland, the entire territory of the Twin South Islands, three-quarters of the territory of the Plains of Asia Minor, the entire territory of the Carthusian military domain, and the entire territory of the Flower Plateau.
This situation led to a sharp deterioration in relations between the two parties.
The contradiction is even more acute than that between the new royal court and the Theodin Empire and the Witches' Secret Society.
The main force of the new army of the Holy See, which had just won a brilliant victory, began to press and move towards the border with the Eternal Night Army.
Sophia's army that had been gathered to fight against the Sea and Winter was not disbanded on the spot, but was continuously transported from the Eternal Night Army Leader, and further changed its armament, with the remnants of the Broken Blood Cavalry and the Iron Rose Knights as the core, and reorganized into the Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Armies of the Eternal Night Army.
The eastern line of the Broken Pulse Line, as well as the Mist Line.
So far, although no large-scale war has broken out between the two sides, small-scale friction and clashes have never stopped, especially along the Jacob River.
Control of the waters of the Jacob River is the focus of contention.
After all, the two core kings of the new royal court, Valesta and St. Eden, are both located in the lower reaches of the Jacob River.
Once the ships of the Eternal Night Army are down the river, they will pose a direct threat to both.
Not to mention trade, even if a sampan floats down from the upstream, the new royal court will be highly nervous.
The trade of the Eternal Night Army Leader in the Byron Alliance can be said to have been devastated, and only the semi-secret trade with the Flower Language Plateau has also been greatly restricted, at least there is no way to trade in large quantities for sensitive materials such as grain.
This is also the reason why Sean has seen the assembly line of ships on the Danube River and the thriving maritime trade in the East China Sea.
The grim trade situation on the continent of Asa has caused the Eternal Night Army to spend nearly twenty years and raise a huge army of merchants facing the crisis of unemployment.
They have already tasted the sweetness of predatory foreign trade, and it is impossible to return to the old petty fights of flies and dogs.
The discovery of the East African Islands has allowed them to discover new business opportunities, and it is inevitable that they will turn their attention to them.
As for not having enough experience in merchant ships and maritime trade.
That's not a big deal for a deep-pocketed group.
Even if there is no policy, they will be hard for the sake of future interests, not to mention that the Eternal Night Army Leader will inevitably introduce support policies in this regard for the future development, build their own assembly line shipyard, and solve the problem of more and more ships in the future.
If there is a slight policy tilt in the territory, a large amount of liquidity will be injected, and an unimaginable shipbuilding assembly line will be built in just a few years.
Compared with the conventional war, what is more intense is the war of public opinion between the two sides.
Under Sean's guidance and influence, the Eternal Night Leader originally paid great attention to this part.
And the Holy See, an important part of the new royal court, is also the beginning of this - faith can also be regarded as a part of public opinion, and both sides are controlling the minds of ordinary people.
The new royal court, on the other hand, continued to demonize Sophia, denounce her as a traitor, and lead Andes and the barbarians in an attempt to steal the rule of the Byronic League.
The most important crime is, of course, the conspiracy of the Eternal Night Commander, who plotted to murder King Laurie ten years ago.
On the other hand, the Eternal Night Army reprimanded the Holy See for using faith to fool the world, in a vain attempt to replace the royal power with divine power, and to steal the supreme rule of the Lancelot royal family over the Byron Alliance.
And questioning what they have announced about King Laurie, they are trying to divert the public's attention and cover up the shocking conspiracy behind it.
Anyway, each has its own set of rhetoric.
Sophia herself was convinced that the death of her brother King Laurie was not an accident, but was orchestrated by St. George and Queen Enid of the Holy See of St. Aether.
According to their covert investigations, there has been a great disagreement between King Laurie and Pope St. George over the war with the Theodin Empire and the Witches.
And the biggest difference is in military power.
King Laurie thinks that the Holy Aether Holy See's infiltration of military power is too serious and must make concessions, this kind of thing cannot be completely handed over to divine power, and it is more appropriate for him to be in the hands of the king.
The Holy Aether Holy See, which has already tasted the deliciousness of the right, how can it be let go.
A few months before King Laurie's accident, there had been a bitter dispute between the two sides over this matter, and King Laurie was said to have drafted a restrictive bill to limit the unbridled expansion of the Holy See.
King Laurie had previously been beneficial to the development of the Holy Aether Holy See, and the Holy Aether Holy See, from top to bottom, naturally recognized and supported him.
Now that this puppet has awakened to its self-consciousness and become a stumbling block to their further development, it is natural to be kicked away without hesitation.
Especially when Queen Enid is already pregnant, this decision is not difficult.
After all, what the Holy See needs is a just-in-time reason.
Compared to a puppet like King Laurie, who has begun to get out of control, an unborn fetus is undoubtedly a better choice.
As soon as King Laurie died, the so-called bill he proposed naturally disappeared.
Even more wonderful is that from the moment of birth, the baby will be shrouded in the light of the Holy See, and it will inevitably become a devout believer.
According to the current development trend of the Holy See of the Holy Aether, when this baby is really an adult, the absence of the Lancelot royal family is still a problem.