After twenty years of development, the strength of the Church of Light has never been what it used to be.
During the Second Epic War, there were only two hundred white-robed monks.
But now Alexander has broken through the first level, mastered more light magic, and the number of white-robed monks he has trained has increased by 0 times, reaching as many as 4,000.
Alexander also established the Judgment Knights, which specializes in punishing vampires. They are not only proficient in fighting and killing skills, but can also use light magic, becoming a powerful armed organization as famous as the Glory Knights.
Although Alexander had become the first pope of the Church of Light at this time, he had great respect for Shang Tang, the talented and strategic founder of the country. He always regarded himself as a subordinate and never showed any disrespect or arrogance.
Shangtang couldn't find any reason to attack the Guangming Church for a while. He could only watch the Guangming Church grow in size day by day, and gradually became a force that could not be lost.
As time went by, Shang Tang discovered that not only the common people began to believe in the Light Church, but even ministers and palaces had concubines and princes who believed in the Light Church.
At the same time, domestic voices calling for the Illuminati Church to become the state religion are getting stronger and stronger.
Shang Tang realized that he could not wait any longer and must eradicate the Church of Light as soon as possible, otherwise the divine power would sooner or later overwhelm the royal power.
At this time, news came from the orcs that Lei Chengyang had passed away. The orcs were in mourning across the country and their morale was low. It was the perfect opportunity to seize the verdict.
Shangtang had to make a choice between destroying the Church of Light and the Sword of Judgment.
In fact, he only hesitated for a second before choosing to summon an army to attack the orcs again.
In the decades since Lei Chengyang became the King of Beasts, he has made an indelible contribution to the strength of the beastmen and has won the sincere support of all races.
After his death, the kings of each clan personally took their elites to Chiluo City to pay homage, leaving a void in defense power in various places.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, the human army marched all the way in unstoppably, and in just one month they reached the foot of Chilo City.
This is the first time in history that a large human army has reached the base of the orc king's city.
While the majesty of Chilo City amazed the humans, they were also helpless.
Shang Tang looked at the city wall that was hundreds of meters high and couldn't think of any way to fill it. Even if he risked his life to fill it, he couldn't fill it up.
Shang Tang tried to attack once, but he left tens of thousands of corpses behind and withdrew in embarrassment.
Because Shang Tang attacked at this time, the orcs were filled with grief and anger, and they also united like never before. Russ, a blood warrior of the bear tribe, even broke through to the second level due to this stimulation.
The orcs quickly elected Russ as the new generation of beast king, and led the orcs to organize a large-scale counterattack.
On the battlefield, there was someone who could confront Shang Tang head-on, and the orcs had the Judgment Sword in their hands, and the situation on the battlefield suddenly reversed.
In a head-to-head confrontation, Shangtang was defeated by Russ holding the Judgment. The human army also suffered heavy losses from inside and outside Qiluo City and the orcs who came from various places.
In the end, after the Glory Knights fought to the death, Shang Tang fled back to the human race with his remaining tens of thousands of troops.
Shangtang's prestige suffered a heavy blow, but at this time, it shifted the target of the attack to the Church of Light.
The following year, Shang Tang declared that the Creation God Religion created by Han Fei was the state religion and that the Light Church was a heresy that believed in false gods. He also ordered people to spread rumors about the Light Church everywhere, such as taking the organs of living people as sacrifices and drinking people.
Blood, incest and other evil deeds that secular society cannot tolerate have been imposed on the Church of Light.
Shangtang began a three-year nationwide campaign to exterminate religion. Soldiers destroyed churches of the Illuminati Church, arrested local bishops, and executed them without trial.
Naturally, Alexander would not sit still and wait for death. He announced that Shang Tang was possessed by a demon and would be purified by the radiance of the goddess of light.
At this point, the Great Shang Dynasty and the Church of Light started a struggle for royal power and theocratic power.
The Church of Light has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people for decades, and their white-robed monks often use healing techniques to treat poor people, so they have a very broad base. Even if Shangtang has a powerful army, it will be difficult to completely wipe out the Church of Light.
This directly led to this struggle lasting for twenty years, known as the "Twenty Years' War" in history.
It wasn't until Alexander broke through to the second level that the Church of Light changed from passive defense to being able to counterattack.
Shangtang knew that the Church of Light was in a strong position, and if they were to be forcibly eliminated by force, it would only greatly damage the strength of the human race and allow the orcs to take advantage of it.
Without the protection of light magic from the white-robed monks of the Church of Light and the Knights of Judgment, vampires began to wreak havoc again.
There were widespread complaints among the people, causing Shangtang's prestige to drop again and again, and he was forced to negotiate with Alexander.
In the 11th year of the Great Shang Dynasty, after half a year of repeated bargaining, Shang Tang issued an edict in the imperial capital tolerating the Church of Light.
This edict announced the freedom to believe in the Church of the Light within the Shang Dynasty, returned the confiscated church property, and recognized the legal status of the Church of the Light. It was known as the "Edict from the Emperor" in history.
The "Edict from the Emperor" was a turning point in the history of the Guangming Church, marking the Shang Dynasty's shift from a policy of suppression to a policy of utilization, and from a persecuted "underground religion" to a recognized religion.
As a price, the Church of Light must suppress vampires as soon as possible when they appear.
From then on, the two parties carried out a clear division of power. Shangtang did not interfere in the internal affairs of the church, and the church was strictly prohibited from obtaining political power through its own influence. The royal power and theocratic power did not interfere with each other.
A hundred years passed in the blink of an eye, and Shang Tang finally failed to break through to the third level and died.
Chen Luo couldn't help but feel regretful when he saw this. Shang Tang ended up in the same situation as Han Fei.
Han Fei was obsessed with power, ignored his own strength, and finally hoped that God would save him.
At the beginning, Shang Tang was considered a wise man, but due to the emergence of the Church of Light, he was afraid that his authority would be threatened, and he fell into a power struggle and was unable to extricate himself.
Shang Tang also knew that improving one's own strength was the core, but what he was obsessed with was the power of the Judgment Sword, and he wanted to make himself invincible through Judgment.
That's why he has been obsessed with that artifact and launched wars again and again.
However, Shang Tang lived a wonderful life. Starting from obtaining the divine blood, he counterattacked all the way and became the founding monarch of the new dynasty. Although his actions in the second half were not so glorious, overall his merits outweighed his faults.
, at least much stronger than Han Fei's back then.
After the death of Shang Tang, the whole nation mourned, and memorial activities were held for a full month. A huge fifty-meter-high bronze statue was built for him outside the palace square for future generations to admire the heroic appearance of the founding monarch.
Even the Church of Light, which had always been at odds with Shang Tang, declared him to be the Holy Spirit. He did not die, but ascended to bliss and returned to the kingdom of God under the crown of the goddess of light.
When Chen Luo saw this, he immediately kicked Cain, the only player still alive, out of the game and posted an update announcement on the forum.
[Author's digression]: There will be another five updates tomorrow! Please vote! (To be continued)