RPAGF #623 - The rain is heavy
#623 - The rain is heavy
"I, I can't breathe..." The bald knight had half his head buried in a mud pit, with a white-armored Holy Gun cavalryman kneeling on his neck.
"Be honest, who told you to attack the army." While wrapping his hands with iron chains, the Holy Gun knight cursed with the muzzle of his gun against his head.
With half his face pressed against the muddy ground, the bald knight's view of the sky was tilted to the other side of the world, while the world before him was filled with brawling hillbillies.
On the dirt road in the cold rain, not far from the knight's main house, between the bushes, streams, and forests, arrows flew back and forth, sticking into shields or tree trunks.
The Black Champion in a felt hat yawned, leaned his Holy Gun on his shoulder, and woodenly watched the childish brawl before him.
Two groups of hillbillies waved flails and spears, shouting and pushing each other, and rusty choppers and pitchforks even splashed a few sparks in the rain.
From time to time, shouts could be heard in the rain: "You like blocking the road and not letting the wool through, huh?" "Because of you, I'm short 4 dinars; who's going to compensate me for the money I need for the winter?"
Compared to the Black Champion soldiers' slackness, Juldan, as the legion commander, watched the hillbillies of South Mander County with gleaming eyes.
It must be said that the hillbillies of South Mander County have a very high level of fighting, and they even have tactical formations with the first row advancing and the back two rows flanking from the left and right.
And the attacked hillbillies even cooperated with archers to shoot arrows to counterattack. This ability, developed from hunting foxes, wolves, wild boars, and even monsters, made Juldan quite envious.
It is said that Melia is trying to ask His Majesty to help train a new type of infantry in the mountain counties in the style of the Salvation Army. Maybe these hillbillies are good sources of soldiers.
While Juldan was thinking about this, the hillbillies' brawl was coming to an end. After all, the villagers led by the Church of the Holy Father were prepared.
First, their number was twice that of the so-called martial law protesting army, and second, they each wore a simple leather armor or carried a page hammer or hook spear, which was much more elite than the so-called "martial law army's" patchwork weapons.
In less than half an hour, the villagers led by the itinerant monks beat the villagers led by the knight to pieces.
Juldan looked up and said to the captain of the Holy Gun cavalry: "Let's go meet that Knight Adrian."
After a dozen or so cavalrymen in white breastplates appeared in sight, Adrian's expression was extremely ugly at first, and then became indifferent or even joyful.
Sure enough, His Majesty the Holy Grandson couldn't help it. He even dispatched his direct line of Holy Gun cavalry to suppress the situation.
Although it didn't achieve the desired effect, it did accomplish half of the goal. "The Salvation Army defined the hillbillies' protest as a rebellion," which meant that His Majesty the Holy Grandson, who formulated the constitution, took the initiative to violate the constitution.
In this way, the legality of the perpetual lease is gone.
After all, the perpetual lease is based on guaranteeing the autonomy of the people, and the Salvation Army's suppression is a deprivation of national autonomy.
After all, it is the people's autonomous choice not to have perpetual leases and the Hundred Households District(百户区: A special district), but the Salvation Army forbids them not to. Isn't this ignoring national freedom?
There will be a lot of arguments in the Advisory Council.
Honestly, Adrian always believed that the Salvation Army had set the tone too high and would eventually suffer a backlash on this matter.
"Lord Adrian..." A trembling voice sounded. Adrian turned his head and saw Henderson, who couldn't even stand still.
Understanding in his heart, Adrian said indifferently: "Your young son and your wife and daughters, I will take care of them for you."
Henderson collapsed to the ground. He wanted to continue speaking, but when he saw Adrian's cold eyes, he felt as if his whole body was frozen.
You see, everything Adrian did was only through Henderson's single line of contact, and even Ansel and Bryson were kept in the dark.
Even if Henderson confessed everything, he would not be able to affect Adrian in the slightest because there was no sufficient evidence.
It was not until this moment that Henderson suddenly understood why His Majesty the Holy Grandson insisted on promoting the perpetual lease and the Hundred Households District.
At least with the mechanism of the Hundred Households District, he would no longer be afraid of Adrian using his power as the lord of the manor to harm his family, leading to today's situation.
Adrian adjusted his expression, openly opened the gate of the main house's courtyard, and walked towards the seven or eight knights galloping on horseback.
"You all arrived just in time. If it weren't for you, our manor would have been almost captured by these bandits." Adrian feigned concern, holding Juldan's horse and saying with tears in his eyes.
"It's not our credit for driving away the army." Juldan smiled. "These are righteous people from nearby parishes. Their brawl with the martial law army is a private fight.
This kind of rural security problem is the business of the rural sheriff. Our Salvation Army can't and won't interfere. We just happened to run into it."
First, he nodded flatteringly, but then the smile on Adrian's face froze.
Because this meant that it was not the Salvation Army that stopped the hillbillies' riot, but other hillbillies.
The Salvation Army did not participate in it at all!
In other words, the narrative of "South Mander County hillbillies rejecting the perpetual lease and being suppressed by the army" became the narrative of "some opposing hillbillies being suppressed by more agreeing hillbillies."
This is a different matter.
From the conflict between the Church of the Holy Father and the hillbillies, it became an internal conflict among the hillbillies. Then everything Adrian had imagined became a bubble.
After all, the "hillbillies" in the Church of the Holy Father's forcing hillbillies to sign the perpetual lease referred to all the hillbillies in South Mander County.
But from the internal fighting among the hillbillies, the "hillbillies" at this time only became a part or even a small number of villagers.
Damn it, the strategy that these nobles and knights had racked their brains for so long was so easily resolved.
These hillbillies, who were used to being represented, were unwilling to be represented by a small number of knights and hillbilly representatives at this time!
"Then, then why did your cavalry arrest these two knights?" Adrian asked with a forced smile.
"They attacked the army. We originally just invited them to the Mud Pond Township priest's church for a meeting, but who knew that as soon as we got close, they launched an attack on us." The Holy Gun cavalry captain spread his hands. "There's no way we can't fight back, right? Don't worry, they'll be out after a few years of hard labor and paying some fines. They didn't hurt anyone."
"I see." Adrian's smile became even more forced. "Then I won't disturb you in the performance of your official duties. I'm leaving."
"Wait." Juldan stopped Adrian, who was about to leave. "Mr. Adrian, you are also on the list of invitations this time. There's no time like the present. To prevent you from being threatened by the martial law protesting hillbillies, we'll escort you there."
The smile on Adrian's face completely disappeared, and after switching back and forth between ferocity and anger several times, he turned around with bulging veins: "Look at my head, I'll go pack my luggage."
"Hey, you take a few people and help the knight pack his luggage."
"Yes." A team of Salvation Army soldiers gave a chest-thumping and hand-waving salute and quickly filed in to control the entrances and exits of the knight's main house and followed closely behind Adrian.
Just as Adrian was pretending to pack his luggage, Juldan left the front of the main house and ran towards the village church.
At this time, the village church had lifted its guard, and people were cheerfully wrapped in blankets and drinking ginger soup in the main hall of the church.
Some nosy people even carried flails to the village to help fight.
The remaining people stayed in front of the church and applauded and greeted when they saw Juldan in black military uniform and the white-armored knights arriving.
Ansel was sick, so Bryson greeted him himself and gave Juldan a chest-stroking bow.
But what he didn't expect was that before his waist could bend down, Juldan grabbed him by the back of his neck and lifted him up.
"We're late." Juldan's movements were rough, but his words were kind and friendly.
"We thought we would have to pay the price of blood, like in 'The Holy Grandson's Expedition'..." For some reason, Bryson suddenly felt a little aggrieved and at a loss. He smiled self-deprecatingly. "It always feels like a lot of noise and little rain."
"Enough monks have died for this matter, and we have paid enough blood. If we had to exchange sacrifice for rebirth in the beginning, and we still have to now, then wasn't the Church of the Holy Father formed in vain?"
Taking two steps back, Juldan stood solemnly in front of Bryson, heavily thumped his chest, and then waved it out parallel to the ground: "You have suffered enough grievances. Thank you for your contribution."
Bryson was stunned for a moment, and then, half-crying and half-laughing, he also thumped his chest and waved his hand in the same salute.
He had never heard this sentence from any bishop or bishop-level clergy.