The Black Emperor Gardemel has never been a taboo subject, and his legend seems to be a celebration of the sanctity and greatness of the Glorious Church.

About 9,000 years ago, the first Pope Enoch cooperated with the knights of the city-state to overthrow the tyranny of the Chosen One and establish the Glorious Code, ushering in an era of co-rule between the knightly aristocracy and the clergy of the Church.

At that time, the elves were far away, the barbarians were extinct, and the human race monopolized the territory of the two races, and the territory of domination increased instead of decreasing. After hundreds of years of recuperation, the size of the population once surpassed the heyday of the Chosen One. However, the orc tribes of the Far North began to move south, and they continued to harass and encroach on human territory, and the population gradually grew to the point of capturing several of the northernmost human city-states.

Faced with the threat of orcs, the knight families of the northern city-states form the first alliance in human history to fight against the growing tide of monsters. The Alliance has the rudiments of an empire, and its main feature is to train citizen soldiers and form a large mortal army.

After another few hundred years, the goblin king Omi enslaved 14 white ape beasts and led the orc tribe to invade the south. The leader of the Northern Alliance, the legendary knight Gardemier, gathered an army of 800,000 humans and fought a decisive battle against the orcs in the Plains of Sorrow, despite the dissuasion of the Church. As a result, the Northern Alliance suffered heavy losses, 9 legendary knights and 23 golden knights fell, and 530,000 soldiers died on the battlefield.

Fortunately, the current Pope Berto led the Knights of Radiance and the Templar Army to rescue in time, His Majesty Berto sounded the golden horn and summoned the Radiant Angel to kill the white ape giant beast and the goblin king Omi, and the clergy fought bravely to annihilate the orc army and save countless lives.

This glorious victory completely shattered the newly established Goblin Kingdom and pushed the prestige of the Glorious Church to the extreme.

There are many strange things about the history written by the Church, such as why did Gardemel insist on a decisive battle with the orc army in the Plain of Sorrow, why did the army of the Alliance and the army of the clergy not join first, and why did Pope Berto wait until the League and the Goblin Kingdom were defeated before joining the battlefield?

7,570 years have passed, and the intrigues and betrayals of that year are not even more tangible than a piece of bread. No one will complain about what happened to Gardemier, but the historical impact of the Black Emperor incident cannot be ignored.

After the death of the Black Emperor, the Church openly raised butcher's knives against the noble knights, and the crimes of the victims were almost always related to the persecution of the people. In order to escape the threat of the orcs, the citizens of the city-state, under the protection of the clergy, fled their homes and became outcasts. From then on, no knight nobles dared to recruit the outcasts into the army, and the army came to an abrupt end like a flash in the pan.

Now, the Centaur Hills are about to implement the Great Army, has it touched the bottom limit of the church?

Although the Grand Legion was disguised by mercenaries, and despite Clement's strong support, there were bloody examples ahead, and the Pope had political enemies. Even if the expansion strategy of the Grand Army achieves remarkable results, will other forces be jealous of the Church to encourage the Church to discipline the House of York? Will Clement's rivals take advantage of the problem to seize the papal throne? If Clement himself is not protected, who will bear the blame?

The first Pope Enoch made a public promise that the Church would never take the initiative to provoke the majesty of the Knights of the Gods.

The worst outcome would be to join a paladin family, and the Knights of Radiance would not be able to bear the charge.

The white and chubby Duke of York, his hands grasped the edge of the table, and a pair of small eyes scanned each of the vassal lords who supported the Great Legion fiercely. Viscount Fred and Count Terrandon's expressions averted the Duke's gaze unnaturally.

Sylvia holds the supreme power of the House of York, and in addition to her personal prestige, she has three major institutions of power: the Rose Manor, the Knights of the Rose, and the Fangs.

The Rose Manor not only had secret knights, but also influenced the family life of nobles and vassals. The heirs of each of the vassal families were trained as Sylvia's squires, and the noble children of the House of York were proud to be Squires of the Roses. Sisters Nicole, Lilia, and Alina, all born as handmaidens of the Rose Manor, became Victor's companions and trained the chambermaids in the Rose Manor's way, who in turn married the lord's vassals.

The members of the Knights of the Rose include the high knights and lords of the House of York, who swear allegiance to Sylvia and obey the orders of their commander.

The Knights of the Rose are armed with the Fangs of vassal soldiers, whose tentacles extend to the armies of each vassal lord. Once the Duke issued a war order, the regular army of the vassal lord was directly subsumed into the Fanged Legion. It can be said that the vassal lords, in addition to the pro-guards, were very lacking in independent basic armed forces.

The Randall family develops mercenary legions, and a military parade makes the eyes of the vassal lords red.

However, Sylvia has already handed over command of the Fangs to Caterina. What is it that the vassal lords recruited mercenaries, in fact, weakened Caterina's influence, and made Embiter York the main responsibility?

According to the Bright New Testament, the Church could not put nobles to death, but could only deprive them of their titles and punish them with imprisonment or exile. If Embither is stripped of the Duke title by the Church, everyone has to wonder about Fred and Tellandon's intentions in supporting the strategy of the Grand Army, since they both have family succession.

In any case, Embiter York is the nominal monarch of the House of York, representing the order of the aristocratic class, which should not be taken lightly!

Since Caterina mentioned the Black Emperor, the vassal lord did not continue to take a stand. But Sylvia's Consulting Scholars are not included.

"Your Excellency the Duke and Lady Caterina, I would like to tell you a little about the history of the Black Emperor and Pope Berto. An old man with a short stature and a white beard stood up tremblingly and saluted.

Katerina hurriedly said, "Master James, please sit down and speak." ”

James is not a master scholar of the Silver Tower, he is the inheritor of heraldic training by the York family, and is responsible for collecting, organizing, recording, and studying the secrets of major families and churches, and providing reference opinions for the decision-making of the head of the family. The decision to abandon the Yorks' traditional territory and move west to the Centaur Hills was made after Sylvia consulted James.

It is precisely because the heraldic inheritors have unparalleled influence on the family leaders that they cannot be selfish. The extended family secretly adopted babies as heraldic bearers, fed them infertile drugs, arranged heterosexual partners for them, but they had no blood relatives, only students, no family, only a family.

In a sense, heraldic inheritors belong to the category of family deceased.

James is such a dead man, and his opinion is absolutely objective.

"I think that Baikal executed the Black Emperor not because he sacrificed hundreds of thousands of soldiers, but because of imbalance. James' old voice echoed through the room, and everyone listened quietly.

"Before the first year of the glorious calendar, the blood of knights was pure, almost every city-state family had legendary knights, the number of golden knights was not much, but there were many of them, and the status of silver knights was only equivalent to the current knights. The city-state family was called the Golden Ancient Family, and that era could be called the Golden Age. ”

"The death of the Black Emperor marked the end of the Golden Age and the beginning of the Silver Age. Until the advent of the vassal system, the Silver Age entered the current Bronze Horseman Age. ”

"Based on the evolution of history, we can see that the Church has been weakening the power of the knights. Knights went from the Golden Age before the Glorious Calendar, to the Silver Age before the vassal system, and finally to the Bronze Age, where ordinary knights were the mainstream. ”

"The one who started it all was the first Pope Enoch!"

James coughed a few times, and Trisley personally offered him a glass of water, he picked up the teacup, moistened his throat, and continued: "In the era of the Chosen One, wizards pressed on the heads of knights, and when the Church of Radiance overthrew the rule of wizards, were knights still willing to be pressed on their heads? However, the knights were very powerful at that time, and high-ranking knights abounded, and they controlled many mortal armies in the wizarding wars, and the clergy of the church were not sure of defeating the knight alliance at all. If the first pope had intervened in person, the knights of the gods would have taken his life, and the church would have been completely finished. ”

"It is no problem for the haughty knights to submit to Enoch, and it is impossible for them to bow down to the clergy of the mud-legged clergy. ”

Enoch had to compromise and put the knights on an equal footing with the clergy, but he was well aware of the contradiction between the knights and clergy of the Golden Age—the High Knights did not believe in the Lord of Light. In the future, the knight family will definitely want to subdue the clergy and become the supreme ruler of mankind. ”

"So, Enoch set a trap on the Radiant Codex and secretly gave the clergy maximum law enforcement powers......" The old scholar paused and smiled at Victor, "Viscount Randall, what do you want to ask?"

Victor was shocked, stretched his brows, and said respectfully: "Master, I'm just strange...... Why did the knight fall into Enoch's trap?"

James nodded and said: "The specific details are difficult to verify, but I think there are many wise men among the knights, but they are scattered and have their own plans." The most important thing is that the golden generation is confident and arrogant, and even the strongest Enoch can't do anything about them, so what can those mud-legged clergy do? After the death of the first pope, the church really dares to enforce the law against the knights, and the golden generation will kill them!"

Sylvia chuckled and said, "The Radiant Code clearly states that clergy are not allowed to form a secular government. This is the basis for the compromise between the Golden Generation and Enoch. I really appreciate that...... Master James, please go on. She gestured to the old scholar's jaw.

"In short, the imbalance of power between the two sides has laid the seeds between the golden generation and the clergy. Therefore, the church gave the city-state to the knight family to rule, so as to achieve the purpose of dividing the knight alliance. On the other side, the clergy worked to restore the population of the city-state, spread the faith, and secretly accumulate power. James stroked his beard and said slowly.

"In the first year of the glorious calendar, the power of the church has reached its peak, and the time is ripe for a showdown with the golden generation. And the knight family is not idle, the Chosen have withdrawn from the stage of history, the city-state has lost the protection of wizards, and in the face of the invasion of orcs, the golden generation must fight to the end. They formed alliances of city-states through marriages and trained large armies of mortals, gradually giving rise to the rudiments of empires and armies. War was the catalyst for the imperial regime, and the high yield of green barley was the economic basis of the empire. ”

James suddenly asked: "Lord Randall, your Great Legion strategy is to fight for attrition, do you think that with the strength of the human race at that time, you can defeat the orcs in the Far North?"

"At least I won't lose!" Victor shook his head, serious.

Goblins may be the protagonists of an era, and it is almost impossible to completely eradicate them. Victor even suspects that the Chosen One's alliance with the elves and barbarians is to squeeze the living space of the goblins and prevent them from having a chance to resurrect.

"That's right!" James said, "The Black Emperor Gardemel is able to muster hundreds of thousands of mortal armies, and even without the help of the Church, he can continue to recruit armies to fight against the orc invaders. ”

"If the Baikal pope does not take measures, the charisma of Galdemier's leadership, the threat of foreign enemies, and one victory after another will all contribute to the rapid establishment of a great empire of the golden generation. At that time, the clergy of the Church will surely become vassals of the knights......"

"However, the Golden Generation has no faith in the Lord of Radiance!"

The contradictions between the two sides have become irreconcilable, and Pope Baikal has no choice, he sits back and watches the Black Emperor's vitality be greatly damaged, takes advantage of the situation to annihilate the remnants of the orcs, executes the Black Emperor in the name of betraying his duty to protect, and calls on mortals to avoid danger. In fact, what Baikal destroyed was the political and economic foundations of the Golden Empire!"

James picked up the cup and took a sip, furrowed his eyebrows, and muttered, "Can you give me a cup of coffee?"

"Please wait a moment. ”

Like a beautiful girl, Trisley got up and walked to the back of the room, lit the small stove, and began to make coffee. She brought all the utensils, water, milk and coffee.

While he was making coffee, James continued: "Baikal thought that the power of the church was enough to deal with orcs, but he was not a figure from the time of the Chosen One, and he did not understand the horror of orcs at all. Worst of all, the Church has no right to conscript mortal armies...... The army of the clergy suffered heavy losses. Humanity is losing ground and losing vast swaths of territory, and the orcs are growing stronger. ”

"Baikal should be damned!" said Nicole hatefully.

Sylvia smiled slightly: "From the standpoint of the church, His Majesty Baikal is a great leader. ”

"But he was still accused by the heirs......"

At this time, Trisley presented a cup of fragrant coffee, and James took a sip and said with satisfaction, "Your Excellency, your coffee is a great invention. ”

"It's an honor to have your compliments...... You can call me Victor. Viktor paused and asked, "You just said that Pope Baikal was blamed by the Church?"

"Not the accusations of the church...... It is the accusation of the successor. The old man waved his hand and said: "For hundreds of years, the Pope of the Cardinal Council has privately complained about Baikal. ”

Katerina asked curiously: "The Pope is the beneficiary of the Baikal pope, why should they blame the ancestors?"

"Because of the balance and the position. ”

James put down his coffee cup and continued: "The strength of the knights has been weakened, the clergy of the church have also been weakened, the forces of the two sides have tended to be balanced, there is a basis for cooperation, and the pressure of survival has finally brought the two sides together. The noble lady Arya delved into the glorious code, established a vassal system, and classified some mortals into the category of nobles, so that the blood of knights spread. The Bronze Horseman also needed the support of the gods, the knight lords could not threaten the divine power of the Church, and the nobles were able to infiltrate the Church. This is both a compromise for the knights and a counterattack for the knights. ”

"When Arya created the vassal system, she said, 'This may be a bad thing, but it must be a good thing, the important thing is that we don't choose', hehe, Arya is a noble daughter first, and then a priest, and her vassal system is indeed a good thing for knights, but it is completely bad for the church, especially for the pope!"

Victor had a flash of inspiration in his mind and exclaimed, "I understand!"

"Honey, what do you understand?" asked Nicole softly, blinking her pretty eyes. The others also looked at Victor.

"The Pope's loss of power is not accidental, but inevitable! The Grand Wizard Claire and the Elder Brother are just an opportunity, even without them, the Knights of Radiance will try to steal the Golden Horn......! Hehe...... "Victor thought to himself: maybe, that was a deliberate game set up by the Knights of Radiance! They may be secretly in collusion with the Pantheon...... In this case, things are complicated and may involve otherworldly beings.

James laughed, "That's right. Since the advent of vassalage, the papal line has lost its governing base. If you look at the current church, the Knights of Radiance are nobles, Pope Clement is a noble knight, Friedus is a nobleman, Tamor is a nobleman, and even if the other high-ranking priesthoods do not have noble blood, what is the difference between their behavior and that of nobles?"

"The present church is the church of the aristocracy, and the present era is the age of the aristocracy!"

"I heard that the Church controls more than 1,000 of the Pope's heirs...... Alas, the descendants of Baikal have become puppets, I wonder how he feels in the Radiant God Congress?"

The old scholar sighed but gloated, and everyone laughed, even Sylvia.

"The aristocratic church only wants the pope to be a decoration, and no one wants the pope to return to power. The patriarch criticized the pope and weakened the influence of the pope in order to take a stand and sit on the papal throne. This is the position after the balance!" Sylvia's pleasant voice resounded throughout the audience, "The nobles have been testing the loopholes of the Radiant Code, Arya has tried, the Knights of Radiance have tried, and each attempt has been accompanied by struggle, progress, and great benefits, but one thing is certain, the clergy need population and land, and the knight lords need land and population, and we have the same position and the same goal. ”

"The Grand Legion has existed, and it can now! Who disagrees?"

Embiter slowly stood up, met everyone's surprised eyes, and said in a deep voice: "This is a big gamble, His Majesty Clement is already sitting at the gambling table, as a descendant of Fangs, how can the current Duke of York retreat? I support the strategy of the Grand Army!"

Katerina's eyes twinkled, as if she had met her husband for the first time. Just when everyone was in awe, Embiter retracted his seat, wiped the beads of sweat from his head, and whispered, "However, I have a small problem here......