On 11 December 7571, the Knights of Radiance, Lord Howard Turtier, Deputy Master Stroch Terstir, Chief Templar Tournans, and Patriarch of the Cardinal, Friedus, slew the Blackhoof Centaur Khan Orogar in the Barreto Valley.

At this point, the combined forces of the Sassan Empire and the Church fought bloodifully for seven years, finally defeating the most powerful centaur tribe in the eastern part of the empire, and nipping a terrible threat in the bud.

It was a glorious victory that will go down in history!

The Church is preparing to wait until the following spring to celebrate the deeds of the clergy and knightly lords with a procession of celebrations throughout the kingdoms, displaying the heads and leathers of legendary men and horses to the faithful of the parishes. But the news of the paladin's triumph seemed to have wings, flying over the season of snow and water, and had spread to every town in the human realm.

The bards, cabaret troupes, and itinerant entertainers of the towns learned about the Battle of Barreto from the local churches and caravanserais, and under the guidance of the church priests, adapted the feats of the clergy and knightly lords into poetry and plays, which were then sung and performed by the townspeople.

During the rainy and snowy season, townspeople with bulging wallets are particularly fond of the theatre and poetry performances of the cabaret troupe, which can be used to increase their knowledge and set themselves apart from the unheard hillbillies. The content of each song and dance troupe's singing performance is different, but the story material is the same, all of them are clergy and knights fighting brutal orcs, and then add some tear-jerking, blood-boiling love or revenge scenes, and of course, there are also scenes where heroes regain fertile land.

Audiences love to watch that.

The Knights of Radiance and the Sarsan Empire's allied efforts to defeat the Blackhoof Centaur Clan became the hottest and most exciting topic of the moment.

The lords and nobles of the kingdoms were not enthusiastic about watching new plays and poetry, which was originally a propaganda ploy for the Church to harvest faith. They had already obtained detailed battle reports through the church, and the truth was far more heroic and heavy than the exaggerated theatrical performance, the fall of Benadikt, the deputy head of the Radiant Knights, 5 silver knights, 31 high-ranking clergy, tens of thousands of soldiers and low-ranking clergy died in battle, and even Patriarch Friedes lost three sons and a daughter in the war.

It was a victory forged with life and blood, but it was not the focus of the great nobles.

Although the war is not over, the nature of the war has changed. The overall strategy of the Sarsangian Empire shifted from a defensive offensive to an offensive offensive of exploration.

The Knights of Radiance and the Sassan Empire seem to have ushered in a new era, taking the lead in seizing the lead in pioneering warfare.

The Sasangian royal family began to divide land in the northern wilderness, and the total area of the first fiefs exceeded 140,000 square kilometers. The Knights of Radiance have publicly stated that the second stop of the Legendary Centaur Head Tour will be Neville, and that it will take place in March of the year 7572 in the Radiant calendar.

When the news spread, the lords and nobles of Neville suddenly exploded, especially the lords of the central and southern parts of the fiefdom who were barren and barren, and they were eager to try, and the proposal to open up the northern wilderness officially appeared on the table of the House of Nobles.

However, the kingdom of Neville was not ready, and the Senators were reluctant to act as a barrier to the Sassan Empire's quest for new territory. In the face of the questioning voice of the lord of the central south, King Rex was anxious, he made an appointment with this viscount today, and had dinner with that count tomorrow, and after appeasing the viscount and the earl, several baron lords jumped out again.

In fact, the lords of the central and southern parts are not ignorant of the overall situation, but the propaganda offensive of the Radiant Knights has had an effect, and the lords have been kidnapped by vassals and lords, and they always have to ask the king for an explanation, ask for benefits, and give an explanation to the people.

On January 34, 7572, the disturbed kingdom of Neville attracted the founder of the new farming and tenant system, Viscount Randall of the Kingdom of Gambis.

"Cousin Victor, what do you think of my Cogston?"

King Neville asked in a high-spirited manner on a well-built, black-haired Wharton thoroughbred, whip in his hand. He was dressed in gorgeous ceremonial armor, tall and strong, with bronze skin, brown hair, eyes that were the amber color unique to earth knights, and cheeks with a beard rarely seen in high-ranking knights, looking rough and brave, and heroic.

Victor didn't know how this rough-looking guy had become his cousin? Anyway, King Neville personally led the team to greet Victor's car, and after the two sides greeted each other, he called Victor his cousin.

It seems that one of his favorite court ladies was the Moon Elf noblewoman of the House of Wimbledon, and according to heraldic records, he was indeed Victor's cousin-in-law.

King Neville was ceremonious, cordial and welcoming. Victor, however, did not lose his sense of proportion, and said sincerely: "Your Majesty, Cogyston has almost blinded me. ”

This sentence was absolutely sincere, and Rex pointed the purple and gold bell in Cogston Church with a golden horsewhip, almost blinding Victor's eyes.

Victor speculated based on the size and luster of the Purple Gold Hanging Bell that it weighed at least 7 tons, and was cast in gold and adamantite gold in a ratio of three thousandths, totaling about 46 pounds of adamantite...... Well, this hanging bell is worth 10 million gold soles. The Randall family earns 100,000 gold soles a year, and they save for another 100 years, which is about that amount.

Rex was very proud, laughed, and rode side by side with Victor, talking and laughing.

It was early spring, the snow and ice melted, the temperature warmed up, the main road was crowded with brightly dressed people, the front two rows were almost all Neville's noblewomen, and when Victor and Rex's guard of honor approached, some young and beautiful aristocratic ladies took out colorful petals from the maid's flower basket and threw them at the convoy. Most of the petals fell on Victor's side, though, and King Neville almost became his foil.

This is a treatment that Victor has never had in the royal city of Gambis.

Coghston may not be the largest royal capital in the human realm, but it must be the city with the highest concentration of knights and nobles. In Neville, almost all the lords above the baron settled in Cogston, and their children often saw their king. Compared with the noble children of other kingdoms, they were less in awe of the king and more affectionate to His Majesty Rex. Even though Neville's Miss Knight rolled her eyes at him in public, Rex just smiled sideways, allowing more petals to fall on Victor's body.

Victor did not squint, with a light smile on the corner of his mouth, neither cold nor enthusiastic, and he heard the sound of the carriage behind him pulling the curtains, and Catherine was probably sitting in the carriage, secretly gritting her teeth.

In this way, the horse's hooves stepped on the petals, and the honor guard of Viscount Randall came to the door of Coggston Cathedral. Rex jumped off his mount and very gentlemanly helped the Queen Mother of Gambis out of the carriage. Catherine walked gracefully to Victor's side with King Rex on his left arm and his skirt in the other. Naturally, she raised her hand to dust off the orchid petals on her lover's shoulder, took his arm around him, and turned to smile at Rex:

"Your Majesty, I am impressed by the hospitality of the Neville people. ”

Rex was coarse on the outside and fine on the inside, and of course he understood where the Queen Mother's vigilance came from, but he still didn't know what kind of etiquette to use to entertain Catherine Auguste. In the end, he decided to adopt the tradition of high knights, and regarded Catherine only as the lover of Victor's cousin, and made a knightly salute to her:

"Haha, the Neville people have always been enthusiastic...... Well, Cousin Victor, Lady Catherine, when you go into the church to pray, I will be absent first...... Tonight, Satya and I hosted a welcome dinner at Rock Castle to wash the dust for both of us. Enchino and Luisa will serve as two liaison officers in Neville. ”

Two young squire knights crossed Rex and saluted Victor and Catherine, respectively. Enchino is 19 years old, a junior knight, with soft facial features, brown hair and dark eyes. According to Rex's previous introduction, he is the cousin of the Moon Elf court lady and Victor's cousin.

Luisa was a 25-year-old veteran knight from a prestigious family in Neville, with the title of Baron of the Court, and was the female officer of Queen Satya Rex. She is blonde and blue-eyed, has a graceful and quiet temperament, and her figure and appearance are also outstanding among female knights, and she is not yet married.

Neville people are really welcoming.

Victor first greeted the two liaison officers with a bow, and then returned a knightly salute to Rex, and Catherine lifted her skirt and curtsied. Rex nodded to the Priest Dane, Master Edwin, and Ariel as they caught up, then stepped onto the Wharton thoroughbred and led the guard of honor towards the palace.

Catherine turned her gaze to Luisa and said with a smile, "Luisa, you are my liaison officer, Enchino, you follow Lord Randall." ”

"As you wish, noble lady. The two squire knights replied in unison.

"Honey, let's go in. Catherine took Victor by the arm and led the crowd into the palatial Cogstone Cathedral.

Archbishop Vespuch of Neville personally presided over the prayer service for Victor and Catherine and wrote the documents for the visit.

Victor completed the report and donated 5,000 gold soles to Cogston Cathedral. Archbishop Neville didn't say much to Victor, leaving Pastor Dane alone.

One was Clement's classmate and friend, and the other was Clement's personal disciple, and they had many things that were inconvenient to say in front of outsiders. Even if Archbishop Vespucci had to tell Victor through Dane.

In fact, Victor has a special status, but after all, he is a small viscount lord. King Rex condescended to his dignity, personally went out of the city to greet Victor's car, and also organized the noble children of the royal capital to welcome him, which was already a special courtesy. And behind this courtesy, there are internal contradictions in the church. But no matter how dissatisfied Archbishop Vespucci was with the Knights of Radiance, he couldn't let Victor see the church's jokes.

In fact, Victor received a steady stream of messages from all sides during his travels. The county guards of the northern counties of Gambis, who organized their men to repair roads and bridges, clear the snow, lay hay, and make way for Victor's convoy. They also presented the latest information to the Queen Mother. Catherine not only read the letters to her lover, but also analysed the annotations for him.

For now, Clement and Tamor are silent, and Friedes is the only voice in the Holy See, but the bishops of the various dioceses have different opinions, and Vispucci of Neville is the first archbishop to speak out, and he expresses concern about the aggressive war tactics of the Knights of Radiance. He considered the Sarsang's policy of relocating displaced people to the northern wilderness hasty and reckless, and suggested that the Radiant Knights and the Sarsan Empire adopt a conservative strategy, sitting back and watching the centaur tribes fight among themselves, training new soldiers to restore the lord army and the Templar army, and then attempting to open up the northern wilderness.

Vespucci is risking his political life. Because his rhetoric and facts are to the left.

The Sassan Empire had millions of registered citizens, more than half of whom had received standard military training, and the war potential was enormous. The Imperial army has been limited by its excellent equipment to maintain its size at 100,000 men. Although the Sassanid lords lost tens of thousands of cavalry in the Seven Years' War, with the lifting of arms export restrictions by the Kingdom of Duoduo, the Sassanid Empire pulled up another 120,000 elite cavalry. Moreover, Sasang's vassal soldiers took turns to attack, underwent the baptism of blood, and accumulated rich combat experience, and their combat quality was generally higher than that of the vassal soldiers of the Southern Kingdom.

Far from breaking the bones of the Sassangian Empire, this war made them stronger and stronger. The Sasang Emperor took advantage of the great victory, rewarded the meritorious deeds, divided the land, the imperial lords were unprecedentedly united, the morale of the army was high, and the people stared at the fertile northern wilderness, looking forward to it.

At this time, if the Sassan Empire is told to adopt a conservative strategy, can the Friedan royal family give up the opportunity to consolidate the imperial power? Can the lord of the empire agree? Can the vassal soldiers of the empire agree? What will the people of the empire think? If the Emperor Philip dares to offend the public, the Barcelius family will definitely rebuild the Iron Mountain Empire!

Therefore, Vespucci was severely reprimanded by Patriarch Friedus. When the Sassan Empire expanded eastward, built fortresses, built the first line of defense, and gained a foothold in the northern wilderness, Archbishop Vespucci had no choice but to retire.

He didn't have any chance of winning, and it was a matter of three or five years at most.

Vespucci knew he was playing with fire, but he had to do it. He was kidnapped by the Kingdom of Neville.

It is reported that after Clement returned to the Holy See, Rex went to Cogston Cathedral every day to talk to the archbishop. Soon, Vespucci openly criticized the aggressive tactics of the Sassangian Empire, and public opinion in the Corgysten aristocratic circles about sending troops to the northern wilderness died down considerably.

In fact, the Knights of Radiance had a clear purpose, they wanted to turn the Kingdom of Neville into a second vassal. Once the Kingdom of Neville joined the Paladin's camp, the Radiant Knights unified the forces that opened up the northern wilderness externally, and internally, disintegrated the alliance of the three southern kingdoms. Without Neville's support, the kingdom of Duoduo could only fall to the Knights of Radiance. The Sassan Empire will no longer have to worry about the future, and will unite the two kingdoms of Neville and Duoduo to go all out to the north to recover the territory of the northern wilderness, and the six Paladin families will once again control the authority of the Church of Radiance.

The question is, can the Knights of Radiance level a bowl of water?

If the Radiant Knights grant Neville and the Sassanian Empire equal status, the lords of Neville will be more than happy to join the Paladin's side. But this is impossible!

In the eyes of the Radiant Knights, the Eastern Lords of the Empire, led by the Frerett family, ranked first, the Central Lords of the Empire, led by the Moon Bear family, ranked second, and the Western Lords of the Empire, led by the Baselius family, ranked third. Neville now defected to the Knights of Radiance and could only be at the bottom of the line.

Can Friedes' support for Neville compare to Clement's?

Rex's only option was to help Clement tide over the difficulties, and the specific way to do this was to unify the internal voices first, quickly promote the construction of water conservancy projects, get hundreds of thousands of displaced people to work, and keep all the clergy under Clement's command.

This required the authority of Viscount Randall in the field of hydraulic engineering and new farming and pastoral affairs to convince the lords and vassals of Neville.

In short, even if Victor drew a few random circles on the map, Rex would be able to get Neville back on track according to his will. As for Vespucci, it doesn't matter if he falls, Clement will put his disciple in the position of Archbishop of Neville.

Victor was happy to help Rex, and while it would offend the Knights of Radiance, he didn't care.

The Ant-Man army had been raging in the Centaur Hills for so long that it had nearly uprooted Randall's Purple Cane, the Yorks' Fanged Legion suffered heavy casualties, and the Knights of Radiance never sent Templar support. Victor and Sylvia have always held a grudge against this.

Now, with the opportunity to sabotage the Radiant Knights' plan, Victor can be regarded as a breath of evil anger back then.

Of course, Victor traveled thousands of miles to Neville to help Clement break the game is not as simple as venting his anger.

The Sassan Empire is following in the footsteps of the Radiant Knights, and the Paladin family wants to win over the Neville Kingdom, and Neville wants to hug Clement's thigh...... This interesting phenomenon reveals the essence of the problem:

The Church took advantage of the divisions of the lords to control secular politics, and the knight lords used the restraint of the Radiant Code on the clergy to seek the supernatural power of divine magic.

Whoever can mobilize the divine power of the church will be able to soar. Lords want to increase their voice and influence over the church, and Victor is no exception. Therefore, he wanted to speed up the promotion of the tenant system in Neville, which would not only help Clement stabilize the situation, but also allow him to establish a new political proposition within the church, thereby expanding the influence of the papal line and attracting a large number of clergy.

Clement follows Victor's predetermined path and will soon encounter the indispensable golden clump. The two sides are interdependent and work closely together, and the Randall family's weight on Clement naturally exceeds that of the Neville Kingdom. This is because the Golden Order focuses on the entire human kingdom, not on individual kingdoms.

Victor had a clear idea that he came to the kingdom of Neville for three purposes: to inspect the suspected alchemy tower, to promote the tenant system, and to design a system of hydraulic engineering for Neville.

Leaving the cathedral, Victor took out a parchment scroll from his pocket and handed it to the liaison officer arranged by Rex, "Lord Enchino, please forward this letter to His Majesty Rex." ”

The knight-in-waiting took the letter, saluted, turned and mounted his mount, and ran toward the palace.

"What did you give him, my dear?" asked Catherine as she stepped forward, grabbed Victor's arm, and asked curiously.

"A little advice about the welcome dinner...... When the time comes, you'll know. ”

Victor smiled mysteriously, turned to Master Edwin and asked, "Uncle Edwin, where are we staying?"

Edwin served as the chief designer of the water conservancy project in the Neville Kingdom as a scholar of the Silver Tower, and he and Victor have been separated for almost three years, with gray hair but strong spirits. He faced Catherine and said respectfully, "Your Majesty, what do you mean?"

"Master Edwin, Victor lives there, and I'll live there. Catherine said with a smile.

The kingdoms did not yet have the concept of embassies with each other, but large families generally had in-laws in each kingdom. Those who do not have in-laws are generally small families that are not worthy of attention, and can only rent hotels.

August swapped children with the Rex family, and Catherine was allowed to live in Fort Rock, but she preferred to respect Victor's opinion.

Edwin bowed his jaw and said, "In that case, please follow me to the mansion of Count Dolly de Kaiser." I've always lived there. ”

Dolly De Caeser was the biological mother of the brothers Embiter and Fred, the cousin-in-law of Master Edwin, and the guardian of the family who was driven out by the old Duke of York because of Sylvia...... Of course, Edwin is fine living in her mansion, but it would be a shame for her to take revenge on Sylvia and deliberately embarrass me...... Victor was stunned and said, "I was going to pay a visit to Mrs. Dolly......"

Catherine pursed her lips and smiled, "Lady Dolly is Angelina's grandmother, and I really should pay her a visit." ”

Hey, I almost forgot, I'm still Angelina's guardian...... Hey, intricate kinship, even the X-3 is not good...... Victor was secretly relieved, patted Catherine's slender hand, and said with a smile:

"Honey, you're so right. Let's go and pay a visit to the Countess de Caesser. ”