"Your Excellency the Count, I have come this time by order of the Pope, and in addition to serving as your diocesan bishop, I have also brought with me the call of His Holiness the Pope."

After the two sides were seated, Bishop Pierre said to Karl with a serious face.

"Oh? The call of the Pope? Karl and Brother Derian looked at each other.

"Yes, the infidels have gone too far, they have repeatedly invaded the territory of the Christians, plundered our people and even some nobles have died at their hands, and their actions have angered the Lord, and the Lord has sent down an oracle, and His Holiness has conveyed this to us, and he wants to start a holy war to crush the infidels, to drive them out of our territory, and to let them know how powerful we are!" Bishop Pierre's eyes burned with fire, and he felt his blood boiling as he said this.

"Jihad?" Carl was stunned, he was now a little skeptical that something was wrong with his ears, otherwise why he would have heard such a word.

Jihad is not an ordinary war, it is a holy war called by the Pope himself, it is a war of great scale, and every Christian who is called should contribute to it, of course, it depends on the will of each noble, after all, you can't force them.

But in most cases, the nobles are willing to do their part here, maybe send some soldiers to participate, maybe send some coins, and even if it is not good, they will give a few words of verbal support.

This is not idle and nothing, nor is it because of any face problem, of course, this is also one of the reasons, but this is not the main reason, the main reason is that you have contributed, then after the end of this holy war, you will be given a certain reward according to your contribution, this reward can be a piece of land, or some real estate, or even slaves...... Many, many, in a sense, this is an investment of great scale, and every nobleman can be an investor in this investment.

And even aside, jihad is a war far beyond ordinary wars, in which only the defeat of one side can bring an end to the war, and this defeat is often written in the blood of countless infidels, after all, there is no option for surrender in such a war, and the honor of God does not allow surrender.

"Yes, Jihad!" Bishop Pierre opened his arms, as a clergyman, he was very willing to see the outbreak of holy war, only if the nobles pierced the chests of those Christians with their swords and spears, and let their blood drain, then the glory of the Lord could spread to those lands, otherwise, the guys in those places would do everything possible to stop them.

"I would like to ask, which side of the infidels is this holy war directed against?" Carl's fingers tapped lightly on the tabletop, making some crisp sounds, as a habit of his movements, which he would change every time he thought, which helped to make his mind clearer.

"Wikipedians!"

"Boom!"

Hearing those three words, Carl directly clenched his fists and slammed them on the table, making a dull sound.

This is an option he has never thought of, the Holy City is 108,000 miles away from the territory of the Wikipedians, he has thought about the Magyars in the east, he has thought about the Flo people in the south, but he has never thought about the Wikipedians in the north.

"Your Excellency Bishop Pierre, are you wrong?" Carl seemed to want to make sure again.

"It's the Wikipedians, those abominable fellows, who take advantage of the fact that they have boats, leaning on the sea, cruising on the ocean, stopping again and again next to our Christian territory, plundering their villages, killing their people, these Wikipedians are so indescribable that His Majesty the Pope wants to tell those Wikipedians that the glory of the Lord is not to be offended, and that every Christian does not allow persecution in his life!" Bishop Pierre looked reverent, as if he wanted to go up and kill the enemy himself.

Karl was silent for a long time, and then he sighed slowly, the courage of this pope was far beyond his imagination, and he issued a call to fight, if he fought against a force as far away from a territory, such courage was simply indescribable.

He thought of the legendary Crusades, which were also legends, and although the Crusades were notorious, they did achieve brilliant results, and those Crusaders roamed the Holy Land, and even established kingdoms, so that the glory of the kingdom of heaven appeared in that land, and all this only originated from the holy war called by the Pope.

"I understand what His Holiness the Pope meant, His Excellency Bishop Pierre's influence is too great, and I need to think about it for a while." Karl said in a deep voice, as a member of the Christian world, he naturally couldn't do nothing, in that case he would find the choice of other nobles, but whether to seriously participate in it, or donate something, he needed to weigh it carefully.

"Of course, Your Excellency, I am just a person in charge of bringing the news, since I have already told you, then my task is completed, and I will seriously serve as the bishop of your diocese, I hope to bring faith to the people of Dortmund."

"You are a pious man, then please go down and rest, I have prepared a great banquet for you to welcome you, and I will send someone to call you before the banquet begins." Karl clapped his hands, and immediately two maids came up and stood respectfully beside Bishop Pierre.

"Thank you, Your Excellency, Earl." Bishop Pierre was very intrigued, nodded and left with the two maids.

As several people left the castle hall, only Karl and Brother Derian were left again.

"That's shocking news, Derian," Carl said as he poured himself a glass of wine.

"Yes, Your Excellency, I never imagined that the one in the Holy City would give such an order." Brother Derian was also a little shocked, and he still didn't recover.

"And what do you think of this holy war?" Karl turned his gaze to Brother Derian, as if he wanted the other to bring him some good advice.

Brother Derian pondered for a moment, then said slowly, "My lord, I don't think this war is a bad thing for us. ”

"Oh? Go on. Karl raised his eyebrows and said with amusement.

"Remember your agreement with Queen Stephanie? Dortmund's army will appear on Wikipedian territory and attack their king, but who knows for what we are attacking their king? Brother Derian's eyes were bright.

"Brother Derian, what do you mean?" Karl's eyes narrowed slightly, and he somewhat understood what Brother Derian meant.

"We can say that our actions are a response to the Holy War, and the other Wikikingdoms will naturally be held back by the other Dillman nobles and knights, and if all goes well, we will not only get Sibeck, but you can even become a hero of Christendom!"

"Brother Derian, what a good idea!" Carl laughed, and had to say that Derian's ploy was very much to his appetite.

"Then do it, you arrange for someone to reply to our Pope, and tell him that as a member of Christendom, we are more than willing to participate in it, and we will start a war against the kingdom of Denmaka."

"Yes!"

Just as Brother Derian was about to leave, Karl stopped him again.

"Any other commands? My honorable lord. Brother Derian turned his head to look at Karl.

"Inform Kevin, Sylvia, and Boris of this matter, and let Boris stop guarding for this period of time, he needs to step up his training, and the Knights Templar will shine on this battlefield!" Carl said in a deep voice.

"Lord Count, are you going to involve the Knights Templar in this war?" Brother Derian was stunned for a moment, he had always thought that Karl's main task in establishing this order was only to let them carry out the economic integration work.

"This is a very good opportunity, Imperial Minister, you must know that the Knights Templar have some of the most valiant knights under my command, and I have brought them together, and I definitely did not let them be used as vases, that would make no sense. And if we seize this opportunity, their prestige will resound throughout Christendom, and all our plans will be much smoother. Carl explained.

"Oh, I see, Lord Earl." Brother Derian nodded, paused a little more, saw that Karl had no other orders, and then turned to leave.

"Jihad? What a good excuse. Karl sneered, what was sacred in the eyes of those devout Christians was only an excuse for him, and a very good excuse.

"Speaking of which, I asked Alan to build something about the same...... "Karl muttered softly, although he had been in peace for a long time, he had never forgotten to prepare for war, and he knew that Dortmund would not be able to stay away from war for long.

……

The banquet to welcome Bishop Pierre was so grand that Karl even invited the people of his realm to join him, and many nobles would invite their subjects to celebrate on days worth celebrating, which was conducive to spreading the prestige of those nobles, and at the same time making their realm more stable and making his subjects love him.

To Karl's surprise, Bishop Pierre didn't seem to drink too much, he liked to drink the wine called the blood of the Son, but he didn't drink much before he got drunk and fell unconscious.

Fortunately, he didn't drink desperately from the beginning, otherwise I am afraid that the protagonist would have quit this banquet at the beginning.