Hearing the Pope's words, Cardinal Daedalus of the Diocese of the Prairie sneered a few times and said, "I'm afraid that the Father will not bless the courage of the horseman!"

"You!" Gregory VII glared at each other angrily, and Daedalus was not afraid, staring at him with an indifferent expression without flinching.

Cardinal Idas of the Diocese of Africa hurriedly persuaded: "Your Majesty, please calm your anger, Lord Daedalus's words are not completely unreasonable, taking the initiative to attack can certainly show the majesty of the Heavenly Father, but before that, I suggest that you first find out the details of the attacking enemy, and then consider how to deal with it more securely." ”

Several cardinal sect masters also spoke in agreement: "Our forces are weak near Rome, and it is too risky to attack!"

"If we fall victim to the other party's conspiracy, I am afraid that even the city of Rome will be infested by the enemy, and the majesty of the God of Light will not be even more humiliated at that time?"

"The attack came too suddenly, we have no idea of the enemy's situation, and in this case we should ensure the safety of the city of Rome before we can support Pescara, and we must not act rashly......"

In the face of unanimous opposition, Gregory VII fell silent. At this time, he had regained some composure, and indeed, according to the current situation, the opinions of the cardinal sect masters were not wrong. Since deciding to enter the war, the Pope ordered the princes of Western Rome to begin conscripting troops, and has now gathered about 100,000 elite troops, stationed in the Duchy of Naples in batches, ready to invade the southern Balkans.

The rest of the country was empty, with even the most important capital, Rome, defending only 30,000 men. Some of them are new recruits. If the troops were to be urgently transferred from Naples now, it would have taken at least a day to arrive, and if only 30,000 men in Rome had taken the initiative to meet the unknown enemy, it would have been difficult to win with confidence. Once the 30,000 troops who went out of the city to meet the enemy were defeated. Or the enemy may use trickery to hold back the main force of our army, and send another army to attack the unsuspecting city of Rome...... The consequences are unimaginable!

Gregory VII gritted his teeth in hatred, for Pescara, although important, could not be compared to the city of Rome, the center of Western Rome and the Holy See of Light, the economic, cultural, military and political center of the Apennines. Now that the army is insufficient and the enemy's situation is unknown, the safety of Rome must be ensured first and foremost. There is no room for error!

Seeing that the Pope had been shaken, Idas hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, it is impossible for these enemies to suddenly appear. There are not many countries that are hostile to us and have the ability to send troops to attack at this time. According to my estimates, they are most likely the army of the Olympian Union. ”

Gregory VII nodded, but he was puzzled: "But the Olympian Alliance is at a disadvantage in the war with Holy Rome and Eastern Rome, and all its forces have been concentrated in the area of Thermopylae to resist the Holy Rome and the Eastern Roman army going south, where is the ability to send troops to attack us?"

Idas sneered and said, "That being said. However, since the Holy Rome and the Eastern Romans conquered Pera, they have been content with the status quo. Thinking only of occupying the territory and fearing the steep terrain of the Hot Spring Pass, he was reluctant to continue to send the main force south, but kept sending people to urge us to send troops to the southern Balkans, so that they could easily take the Hot Spring Pass. They had a good idea, but the Olympians weren't stupid either, and perhaps they had seen through the fact that the Holy Rome and Eastern Rome would not be heading south anytime soon, so they simply wanted to make a move, while we weren't ready. Secretly send a large army to attack Western Rome first!"

Gregory VII and several cardinals listened to him and felt quite reasonable. Only Daedalus, who supported Holy Rome, said disapprovingly: "Our million-strong army is only a day's journey from Thermopylae, and the Olympians are not gods, how can they dare to take such a big risk?

With that, he stared at Idas. Carthage is the feud of Western Rome, located on the opposite shore of the Central Sea in the north of the continent of Africa, across the sea from Western Rome. The two countries have disputes over religion, trade, territory, and other aspects, and have been at war for a long time. However, in recent years, due to Carthage's successive defeats, they had to sue for peace, and the two sides have put aside their conflict.

Idas was the cardinal in charge of African-African affairs, and he was in charge of the peace talks with Carthage. After listening to Daedalus's words, Idas sneered: "The peace talks between our two sides are going very well, not to mention that we have a large number of spies deployed there, and all kinds of signs show that Carthage is not able to fight again after successive defeats, how can we suddenly send a large army across the sea to bypass Naples and Sicily to attack Pescara?"

Daedalus was about to open his mouth to retort, when Gregory VII waved his hand to stop him: "Don't fight, no matter where the enemy comes from, we are not fit to attack in the present situation." I have decided to abandon Pescara for the time being, to hold on to the city of Rome with all my might, and at the same time to ask Venice, Genoa and Naples for help to keep the enemy at bay!"

Speaking of this, the Pope turned his head and said to Cardinal Afrika: "Idas, you immediately lead five thousand elites out of the city and go."

Hold your ground and be sure to hold off as much as possible before the enemy attacks the city of Rome until reinforcements arrive......"

At the same time, on the other side of the battlefield.

In the aftermath of the shocking explosion, the three-ring coastal defense fortress in the port of Pescara was also damaged and damaged. Thankfully, most of the thousands of defenders survived, and they rose from the ruins to look up at the sky, only to be surprised to find that the locks that had been protecting them had been destroyed in the explosion, and the already dilapidated harbor was now completely exposed to enemy magic cannon attacks.

Cardinal Admeta, who attacked to meet the enemy, was scarred all over his body, and the dazzling divine light on his body had now become very dim, and the artifact cross in his hand had lost all its brilliance, and the surface was full of shocking cracks, and at a glance it could be seen that he had suffered extremely serious injuries in the explosion! As for the enemy's three-headed black dragon, although they were all wounded, their eyes were still sharp and fierce, their wings flapped very powerfully, and their roar was deafening, and the injuries were obviously minimal!

(To be continued......)