Sitting in the chief of the Knights' headquarters, Todd once again looked at the Holy Ministry documents sent by the church. The paperwork, sprinkled with six pages, affirmed Todd's exploits, praised the Knights of the Twilight West in the Battle of the Northern Rock, and implicitly urged the Knights to secularize it.

When Todd got the letter two weeks ago, he couldn't figure out why the church was so desperate to urge the Knights of the Twilight West to secularize.

It stands to reason that the Knights of the Twilight West's attitude towards xenomorphs and the use of forbidden weapons such as gunpowder should have angered the church, so why did they receive such a Holy Ministry document?

Todd also held a high-level meeting of the Knights to discuss the attitude of the church and the content of the documents, but to his disappointment, the high-ranking members of the Knights of the Twilight West, Rachel was good at strategy, Cumberland was proficient in tactics, Kendi was obsessed with technology, and the others were combat experts and domestic affairs experts, but politicians with a sense of the overall situation and insight into the situation of power and strategic layout were difficult to find.

The deep meaning behind this document, naturally, no one can give a reasonable answer.

Since I can't figure it out, I simply take it one step at a time. The top brass of the Knights of the Twilight West agreed that secularization was imperative and that a state with an independent polity would not only be able to digest the occupied territories, but also to emerge from the shadow of the Church and gradually gain autonomy and independence.

Soon, the town of Twilight began to plan intensively for the establishment of the kingdom.

The flow of the ceremony, the preparation of the celebration, and the arrangement of personnel are not problems, but there is one link that makes it difficult for everyone. When the king is crowned, he should be blessed and crowned by the clergy at the level of archbishop, but as the centralizer of politics and religion, Todd, in addition to the status of the king, is also recognized as the Holy Son, where can he find the right clergy to carry out this "divine right of king" ceremony?

After some discussion, it was finally decided that the crown should be placed on the stone platform under the Holy Cross, and Todd would kneel in front of the cross on one knee, remove the crown and put it on his head.

The coronation ceremony of the Knights of the Twilight West lasted for three days, from the beginning of the military parade, then to the coronation ceremony, to the knightly canonization, and finally to the celebration.

In addition to the powerful military power of the Knights during the parade and the extravagant scenes during the celebration, there are several things that make everyone talk about it repeatedly:

1. As the secularized monarch of the Order, in order to strengthen the centralization of power, Todd abandoned the common system of titles and fiefdoms, and instead restored the early kingdom office and salary system of Gutello. The only knighthood that is reserved is only one - Knight, all knights are granted by the king, and all knights are loyal to the king.

2. After the coronation ceremony, Todd delivered what later history called the "Prologue to the Reformation." The speech consisted of three parts: first, the doctrinal and scriptural emphasis on the Father's love and tolerance, then the declaration that all heretics have the right to freedom of movement in Twilight and will not be persecuted by heresy and other means, and finally the name of the xenomorph race, rejecting the unjust title of "demon's widow."

3. In view of the fact that the population of the town exceeded 10,000 and the establishment of the Knights was completed, Todd officially upgraded the town of Twilight to the city of Twilight, and announced the long-term plan and goals of the royal city.

After the establishment of the Knights of the Twilight West, the royal castle was still under construction, and the King's Council was placed in the Great Hall of the Knights' headquarters. Unlike in the past, Todd's position was moved from the original head of the table to the high pulpit. The chair has also been replaced by an ordinary armchair with a gorgeous throne handmade of precious camphor wood.

Raised his seat, changed chairs, and put on his royal robes, even though weeks had passed since the coronation, Todd still couldn't quickly switch roles. Sometimes he would blurt out "how is the Knights" and "how is it as the chief master", and at this time, Cumberland would stand at the bottom and always remind the superior to change his words with a heavy cough.

"Let's talk about the military dynamics in the surrounding area. Todd looked at the people at the table below, and there was still a sense of unreality in his mind. Two years ago, he was a hungry monk in the monastery, but now he has become the monarch of a country.

Cumberland stood up, frowning deeply, and looked at the report in front of him: "There are a few things. First, according to the information provided by Morgan, some tribes in the northeastern part of the North Island are secretly communicating with the barbarians across the sea, and may attack the "Talon Tribe" and the "Blackhead Tribe". ”

"Second, in the two southern empires, the prime minister Saladin lasted half a year, eliminated the struggle within the empire without blood, and officially became the caliphate of the Fatimid Empire. ”

"One last thing......" Cumberland paused, glanced at Todd, and then read, "There is information that the Church and its allies have signed a peace agreement with the Silver Ring Kingdom and the Barbarians. ”

When Todd heard this, he was shocked and asked Cumberland, "When is the peace agreement?"

"Judging from the timing of the intelligence, it was about two weeks ago. ”

"Two weeks ago, wasn't that just after the kingdom was founded?" Todd pondered for a moment, finally understanding the church's sinister intentions.

In the past, the Knights of Twilight were nominally the Church's army, and the town of Twilight was the territory of the Church. The Church is watching this power slowly rise, but there is nothing it can do to control it. There are two reasons for this: first, the town of Duxi is separated from the territory of the Church by the Kingdom of the Silver Ring and the barbarians, and the army of the Church is unable to produce military deterrence at all, and can only guide the behavior in the form of official documents;

But as the battle escalated, and the strength was revealed. The Knights of Twilight's actions went far beyond the Church's tolerance, accepting alien races, hiding college fugitives, and colluding with the North Island pirates, all of which had made the Church realize that Twilight was gradually falling out of control and becoming a cancer that could not be ignored.

So, on the surface, it seems to be aimed at the Silver Ring Alliance, but in fact it is a conspiracy aimed at the Knights of the Twilight West, which is planned by the church and is laid out step by step.

The North Quarry is the first step in this conspiracy, and it is also a "bait" to lure the Knights of the Dusk West into the game. On the condition that they were allowed to dispose of all the resources of the occupied area, the Knights were required to capture the Northern Quarry within a time limit. After the fall of the Northern Stone Fortress, the Silver Ring Alliance lost the mines, an important source of income, and naturally made the Twilight Knights their primary target.

The second step for the church is to separate Twilight from the church. Specifically, first instigate the secularization of the Knights of the Twilight West and establish a state, and then sign a peace agreement with the Silverring Alliance, ensuring that when the latter goes to war with the "Knights of the Twilight West", the war is declared against a kingdom and not an army of the Church, so as to avoid the possibility of violating the peace agreement.

Thinking of all this, Todd smiled bitterly, this time it was a solid one by the church.

originally thought that he would make a fortune away from the eastern battlefield, but he didn't expect to be pulled into the whirlpool of this war because of greed.

Cumberland looked at Todd's expression, lowered his voice and reminded: "Your Majesty, we must be fully prepared, war is coming soon......"