At the beginning of December 1687, the Age of Light was bitterly cold. Winter in Olopa came earlier and colder than usual. Even in the warmer countries in the south, it snows early.

Snow and ice covered the land, and at the end of the shortened autumn, crops that had not yet had time to be harvested were buried in a thick layer of snow and then frozen. Even the seeds, which should have been sown next spring, have not had time to be recovered.

It is foreseeable that by the next year, in 1688, the year of light, there will be a shortage of seeds, crops will fail, there will be a shortage of food, livestock will starve to death due to lack of fodder, and a great famine will spread across the land of Olopa.

However, even as natural disasters are near, man-made disasters have already caused even more damage.

In the chaotic Fayale Empire, the prince who seized power has not yet been recognized by the Holy See, and the war with the alliance of Monis, Ban Xuanmen, and Weimumen has not stopped at all, and several forces in the country are also approaching step by step. The "Holy Terror" shows no signs of easing, but is becoming more and more intense, and at least 200,000 people in the lands directly under the Dominion of the Holy See have died directly or indirectly in the purges of the "purifiers". The Kingdom of St. Olufe has lost a large number of people and territory under the joint strangulation of the Orcs and the Kingdom of Pole, coupled with the inability to receive the support of the Central Church, has completely declined, and has lost the hope of a comeback. Although the war between the Kingdom of Sealand and the Kingdom of Medin ended in a palace coup d'état by the Sealand royal family, the war continued to devastate both countries. Because of the catastrophe in the imperial capital, the thousand-year-old Rocard Empire almost fell into the ranks of the imperial family, and the little emperor who had just been crowned had no real power, and the fall of imperial power led to the outbreak of civil war. Also caught in the civil war are the West Luo Fei Kingdom, where the royal family was mysteriously slaughtered, and the Loma Kingdom, which has long been in a food crisis. At present, the only country that has not yet fallen into military disasters and wars is the Kingdom of Shalilan, which hangs alone in the continent of Morun.

However, not all countries are sitting still in the midst of the impending famine.

On December 4, 1687, the royal family of the Kingdom of Pole announced a new policy that caused an uproar around the world. In fact, this "New Decree" was not the first of its kind in the Kingdom of Pole, and in the long history, there were other powerful countries that announced such similar policies, but soon after the decree was announced, these countries without exception would quickly collapse, either overthrown by their own internal opposition, or jointly attacked by neighboring countries, or the monarch was assassinated, and the successor ruler quickly canceled the New Deal. This result was not caused by some mysterious force majeure, but by a powerful force that was well known to the people of Olopa.

This powerful force was the inviolable Central Church, which was considered taboo and never allowed to be introduced, and that was the "abolition of tithes" issued in the name of King Turis I.

The so-called "tithe" means that within the scope of the Holy Light mission, all believers must give one-tenth of their annual income to the God of Light free of charge. In the early days of the Holy Illumination, when the power of the Holy See was far less powerful than it is now, it was only a voluntary donation by very devout believers, and later as the Holy Light Cult spread more and more, the power of the Holy See became larger and larger, and gradually soaked into the secular state. In return, of course, the Church will return a small part of the proceeds of the "tithes" to the secular rulers, and in fact only the powerless masses will suffer.

Tithes, the sale of indulgences, and the confiscation of the property of "heretics" became the three major sources of revenue for the Holy Light Church. This is the main reason why the central church is not engaged in production, and the churches everywhere have nothing to do, but they can be so rich. And in contrast, tithes are more stable, safer, and more profitable than the other two ways of accumulating money. Because of this, how can the powerful Central Church easily cut off this flow of gold by the rulers of secular states?

The diocesan bishop of the kingdom of Pole has spoken, saying that King Duris's move is against the will of God and a dirty deal with the devil. In short, it is to list a lot of crimes first, and then put aside cruel words and the like.

Of course, the response from the side of the Pole Kingdom was also quite positive and prompt. On the morning of December 6, 1687, the day after the bishop of the diocese spoke, the diocesan bishop of the Kingdom of Pole was found dead in his own church in the city of Hansha.

The killer deliberately left these two murder weapons at the scene, which is to find out that the assassination is related to the Pole Kingdom, of course, the kingdom official will not admit it, anyway, the reason can be made up casually, but this also shows that Duris has declared war on the Central Church, but he has not yet torn the last layer of window paper.

At this moment, the Central Church, which is shrouded in "Divine Terror", is busy dealing with the matter of the Clearing the Truth Society, and it is flawless for the time being, but everyone knows that when the Central Church has dealt with everything within itself, it will concentrate its efforts on dealing with the Pole Kingdom. As a result, many people are predicting how long the regime will last in Duris.

"I've heard that there are a lot of people speculating about how long I can sit on the throne, right?" asked Queen Catherine, who was hugging him from behind, in the royal study of the palace, by the window.

"The nobility circle has indeed exploded, and some panic and rumors are circulating in small quantities, but they are still within the controllable range. But what I didn't expect was that the reaction of the common people to this matter was very calm, and although there were some hardcore devout believers who were desperately opposed, the majority of the ordinary people agreed with the decree. ”

A few days ago, Duris had secretly returned to the royal capital, and Catherine knew that the treasure had been successfully retrieved. Just as Catherine was about to celebrate with a small house party, she didn't expect her husband to suddenly announce this decree, which was considered taboo, which really startled Catherine at the time. However, since it was her husband's decision, Catherine supported it unconditionally. Before Duris could make a request, she took the initiative to send spies to collect intelligence between the people and the nobles to ensure that Duris could accurately judge the situation.

"Of course. Ordinary civilians could not cross the threshold to participate in politics, so it didn't matter to them who sat on the throne. Whoever gives them a house to live in, bread to eat, clothes to wear, and a stable job will be king. ”

"My dear, your words sound familiar. Is it from Equal Nation?"

"So you've seen this forbidden book too. ”

"Humph!" Catherine smiled mischievously, and put her head in her husband's arms.