Chapter 499: The Indulgence Note That Was Detonated
Sam Layton's war ideas are in the same vein as Bruno Stuart, the Emperor of Idar.
Therefore, the siege idea adopted by Idar's army is actually very simple: firepower coverage!
The generals at all levels of Idar's army are very aware of this mantra that Bruno often talks about.
In the eyes of His Majesty Emperor Idar, it was definitely not a wise move to use every living life to accumulate victory when the weapons and equipment were clearly ahead.
In addition, Boulder City is not far from the mainland of Idar. Although it is not connected by railway tracks, the ammunition supply of the Idar people is also extremely sufficient, so there is no need to worry about logistics.
Therefore, Sam Layton actually never thought of relying on human lives to attack the city.
What era are we in now?!
In this era of rapid development of magic technology, how could General Idar, who keeps pace with the times, retain such primitive siege methods? That is simply reversing the course of history!
As a general of Idar, Sam Layton is very aware of the important value of population to the Idar Empire. Among other things, from factories and businesses to workshops and farms, there is no shortage of manpower in any industry or field in the Idar Empire.
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Moreover, for this war, the Idar Empire had already prepared a large amount of military supplies and conducted countless sand table simulations. There was no need to adopt such a brutal fighting method.
In one word, that’s it!
In many cases, human beings' joys and sorrows are not the same.
Perhaps to the Crusader soldiers guarding the city, the artillery fire falling from the sky and the roar coming from all directions were like the chants and wails of the angels of hell, ruthlessly taking away lives in the blink of an eye.
But in the eyes of the Idar soldiers, this thunderous sound was like an impassioned movement, a march that inspired the Idar soldiers to move forward bravely and defend their homeland!
The warmth of the artillery fire melted the surrounding frosty ground, and the loud noise awakened the sleeping beasts in the forest.
One after another, the birds flapped their wings vigorously and scurried around under the shroud of war. Their densely packed gray-black figures were like dark clouds filling the sky.
Under the command of each company and battalion commander, the Idar soldiers worked in groups of three according to their experience gained in past exercises, with a clear division of labor, and skillfully operated the artillery in front of them.
Accompanied by sharp roars and dull roars one after another, countless artillery fire poured on the towering walls of the Stone City.
Even the cold wind coming from the far north ice sheet seems to be intimidated by the rumbling artillery fire. Under the invasion of the rolling heat wave, even the cold wind that is reckless in winter can only dissipate quietly at this moment.
Outside the city wall.
The ground is shaking and the towers are moaning.
The solid city walls are scattered with cracked rubble, and the towering arrow towers appear to be crumbling under the attack of artillery fire.
Those Crusader soldiers who had no time to find bunkers were blown away by fierce artillery fire almost instantly, or were burned by the spreading flames.
Since the Church of Light has been prepared for this for a long time, there are no flammable or explosive dangerous items in Boulder City.
This means that after the magic cannonball is triggered, the deflagration array built into it can only stimulate bursting flames, but it is difficult to ignite the buildings in the Boulder City.
But even so, the shrapnel, gravel and flames ejected after the shells hit the ground also caused heavy losses to the Crusaders in the city.
However……
This is just the beginning!
Sam Layton is very clear about the importance the Church of Light attaches to Boulder City. According to the intelligence obtained by the CIA, not only are tens of thousands of enemy soldiers stationed in this city, but sufficient food and grass have also been prepared in advance.
Since he wanted to capture the city as soon as possible without causing too many casualties to his own side, he could only rely on firepower coverage to open a gap for Idar's army.
The consumption of ammunition can be made up by subsequent transportation, and damaged weapons can also be produced and repaired in Idar's local arsenal. But every Crusader soldier dies will be one less!
Under the command of Sam Layton, rounds of artillery fire streaked across the sky, and violent explosions almost covered the entire Boulder City!
The deafening roar seems to be able to shake the surrounding air, and it can even pierce the fragile hearts of the Crusaders.
And with the continuous indiscriminate bombardment,
Fear finally began to spread among the soldiers of the Crusaders...
Crusaders are humans too,
Even though most of them have their own beliefs, as long as they are human, they will have the emotions of cowardice, shrinkage, and fear!
Not to mention how many of the religious classics mentioned by the Guangming Church are logically self-consistent, people in this era actually have more helpless expectations for their faith in the Guangming Church.
And now...
Even though the Church of Light paints the world after death as extremely beautiful, looking at the huge stone city in front of them that has become like a purgatory on earth under the attack of artillery fire, it is really difficult for ordinary Crusaders not to have doubts in their hearts.
The Idar people believe in Protestantism and are heretics in the eyes of the Church of Light.
The artillery fire that poured into this city was the fire of hell in the eyes of the soldiers.
If this is the case, then if you die in the hands of the Idar people and die on this land, can you really go to the heaven on earth where the church is?
The reason why the Holy Crusaders were able to frequently come out on top in past wars was because they more or less believed that after they devoted themselves to the church, the door to heaven on earth would open for them.
But in the face of such a violent explosion, even the most devout believers will eventually feel fear and tremble all over.
You must know that although the number of holy soldiers stationed in Boulder City is tens of thousands, not all of these soldiers are battle-hardened veterans.
A large part of them are strong men temporarily recruited before the arrival of Idar's army.
Although when it comes to recruiting soldiers, the Crusader Army, which carries the banner of the God of Light, will not do anything like forcefully recruiting people.
But asking a group of new recruits who have never seen blood to fight against the Idar army with era-defining weapons is actually no different from a joke.
And as rounds of artillery fire continued to pour down, many recruits had the same doubt in their minds: How could the war be like this?!
Swords, armor, arrows, bucklers...
These equipment are what most Crusader soldiers consider weapons, and they are also the daily training arrangements for Crusader soldiers.
However, the fighting style of Idar's army left many Crusader soldiers stunned on the spot.
Where are the people? Where are the enemies?
The Idar people are far outside the city wall, but the holy priests in the Stone City have already suffered a heavy blow.
If it were not for the early precautions taken by Callaway Wendell, the leader of the Crusaders, and the hard support of the most devout elite veterans, the defense line of Boulder City would have been destroyed in the blink of an eye under the double blow from the ground and the sky.
The sounds outside the house were noisy and chaotic, and as a loud noise came, dust seemed to rise all over the sky outside the window.
At this time, Bishop Howard didn't care about his dignity as a bishop. He hurriedly picked up a pure gold candlestick. He didn't even have time to look around, then he looked at the corner of the house and hurriedly got into a bed.
Under the inconspicuous desk, no one dared to make the slightest sound.
"Clang"
The door to the room was slammed open by the crowd, and a group of ragged civilians finally broke into this spacious mansion in the city.
The civilians who broke into the mansion had a mess of "weapons" in their hands, including hammers, hoes, rakes and other simple farm tools, which even had some hardened soil on them.
Excited, nervous, timid, fearful, brave...
In the eyes of many civilians, we can see complex and contradictory expressions, and we can clearly realize the entanglement and anxiety deep in their hearts.
But……
These complicated emotions turned into grief and anger the moment they broke into the mansion.
This is Louisburg, located in the southern part of the Principality of Sidon, and these intruders armed with "sharp blades" are civilians and serfs who have lived on this land for generations.
As the most important central city in the southeast of the Principality of Sidon, Louisbourg is not only home to a large number of businessmen and gentlemen who claim to be upper-class people, but also a large number of nobles, big and small.
So although from the outside, this spacious mansion occupies a large area, it is not very conspicuous in this city.
However, when these civilians actually rushed in and worked together to break open the door of the house, what appeared in front of these civilians was a luxurious scene they had never imagined.
The pure gold candlestick is burning with bright candlelight, and the thin gauze is just the most ordinary decoration.
On the long oak table in the room are still warm meals. The thin and soft white bread has just been broken into a corner. The suckling pig that has been roasted into a light golden color is dripping fat and exuding an overflowing burnt aroma.
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A silver wine glass holds clear and transparent wine, and a soft and fluffy light red velvet cushion reclines on a Gothic high-backed chair.
Almost all the originally aggressive civilians stopped in front of the door, staring at everything in the room with their mouths open.
Until a civilian who couldn't bear the hunger squeezed away his companions in front of him, boldly stepped forward, grabbed the piece of white bread that he had taken a bite of, and stuffed it into his mouth...
The civilians present seemed to have suddenly reacted from the shock and realized where they were now.
This is the residence of Bishop Howard, the cardinal of the Diocese of Louisburg, where he lives and lives on weekdays.
but……
Is this really the residence of the poor, kind, pious and dignified Bishop Howard?
Even before that, they had heard about the unknown extravagance behind Bishop Howard from "Mr. Walter".
But this and them rashly breaking into the mansion and witnessing everything with their own eyes were two completely different feelings.
In fact, the reason why these civilians are standing here today is more because they are encouraged by others to vent their anger and resentment towards the indulgences!
But the scene at this time undoubtedly showed the extravagance behind the church nakedly in front of the poor common people!
In the Principality of Sidon, the church not only had indulgences, tithes and other conventional means of raising money, but also levied many taxes with different names.
The life of the common people was already difficult, and the current instability made it even more common for indulgences to be forcibly distributed.
As a result, even the common people of Sidon, who had always been extremely obedient to the church, were actually guided by a certain CIA agent from Idar under the pseudonym "Mr. Walter", who coerced hundreds of believers who were living in difficult circumstances and made a violent move.
The "atrocity" of breaking into the bishop's house.
Most of the civilians who broke into the mansion were used to a life of starvation, so when they finally reacted, the long table in the room was immediately surrounded by crazy civilians.
They grabbed a lot of food that they would never see before and stuffed their mouths full.
In addition, there are civilians rummaging through boxes and cabinets in the mansion. There are countless gold coins, and gold and silver utensils of different shapes are fascinating. Almost every time a wooden box is smashed open by civilians with brute force, they can see countless gold coins.
Endless collection.
"Everyone, now is not the time to do this, we need the church to give us an explanation! We need to find Bishop Howard!"
finally……
Amidst the noisy crowd, a high-pitched shout finally brought the civilians' frantic "liquidation" action to a halt.
Yeah! They need an explanation!
The bishops lived a luxurious life in their own mansions, but imposed increasingly expensive indulgences on all believers and the common people of Sidon.
While the common people could only watch their families starve and gradually turn into stiff corpses in the cold winter, the bishop of the church was tasting the suckling pig roasted over a low fire.
The strong contrast brought an extremely unreal feeling, but everyone present knew that everything in front of them was their most real experience!
And what’s even more outrageous is…
As time goes by, it seems that even the church itself has forgotten what indulgences should look like.
From the careful drawing at the beginning, to the shoddy work later, to now just collecting money...
The role of indulgences is changing quietly.
The significance of its continued issuance seems to have evolved from the initial "financial instrument issued to raise funds to support the war" to the most convenient means of making money for the cardinals of various dioceses today.
The feeling of having broken faith is not pleasant, not to mention that this is the belief and ideal that the people of Sidon have believed in for most of their lives.
so……
When these angry civilians finally discovered Bishop Howard hiding under the desk, the fate of this unlucky bishop was actually doomed.
…
January 27, 540 in the New Calendar,
On the fourth day after the death of Bishop Howard, the revolution triggered by the indulgences finally broke out in the Principality of Sidon, and with the help of the Idar people, it quickly spread throughout the Principality of Sidon with the force of a fire.
What's more,
As Protestant ideas accidentally spread to the ears of many Sidonian commoners, this conflict has gradually evolved from the "Indulgence War" at the beginning into an attack on the church and a call for change.
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And this is the real killing of the foundation of church faith by the Idar people.