The light and heat brought by the giant sun are fading day by day, the time of direct sunlight on the earth is shortening every day, and the night is quietly prolonging. When the harvest festival is over, a sudden rain ends the days of heat and cools down At night, the white-pointed star gradually moving west reminds scholars and farmers who pay attention to astronomical phenomena: summer is coming to an end.
The Frost Moon is approaching, and although autumn has not yet arrived, as a northern kingdom, most of Ansu will turn cooler in the week before the Frost Moon, even in the south.
In the past, this will be the last "golden time" for the residents of various towns. The grain harvested during the harvest month is stored in the cellars and granaries of every household. For the time being, there is no need to worry about food. The weather is getting colder and less, and the annoying mosquitoes are gradually disappearing, and it will take some time before the weather completely turns cold. Before the winter foggy moon comes, people don’t have to worry about the threat of survival brought by the cold winter, and they can take advantage of this last suitable activity Continue to hoard food for a period of time, or repair houses, stockpile firewood...
Theoretically, this short "Ansu Autumn" is the last bustling and busy day of the year for various towns.
However, in Luan City, the prosperity ended at the beginning of the Harvest Moon.
Today is the fifty-fourth day of the lockdown, and the mood in the city is still deteriorating.
There are almost no pedestrians on the street, and the doors and windows of every house are closed. Occasionally, there are hurried figures flashing past the corner of the street. Apart from the patrolling Crusader soldiers, there are only priests or petty officials who come out to inquire about news. It is noon now, but the whole city is lifeless and lifeless like nightfall.
Few people would associate such a city full of depressive tension and lifelessness with the holy land of the Church of the Holy Light in the southern border.
However, such an atmosphere is justified. The news of the change of ownership in the southern border and the revival of the Principality of Cecil has spread throughout the region. Everyone knows that a new ruler has ruled this land, but the bad thing is that this new ruler The relationship with the Church of the Holy Light does not seem to be harmonious: in the amazing war more than a month ago, the Church of the Holy Light made a bad choice. On the battlefield, and on the opposite side of Cecil...
The war started with great momentum, but ended so quickly that it was unbelievable. In that short battle, the bishop was defeated, and the most powerful Holy See knights in the southern region were wiped out.
He even caught up with all the high-ranking knights from the Holy Spirit Plain.
Then Luan City was blocked.
Blocking, rather than attacking, puts more pressure on Luan City.
After the war, if the Duke of the Southern Territory came directly to raise his troops to inquire about crimes, or simply sent troops to the city, the priests of Luan City would feel more at ease. At least that proved a clear attitude, and as long as the attitude is clear, it would be much easier to deal with.
Lu'an City can sincerely apologize, agree to a series of compensation conditions, give up some church land and even some religious immunity, in exchange for appeasement of the new lord's anger, in exchange for the opportunity to continue to survive and preach on this land, even if the situation It's really out of control. The Duke of the South is determined to use force to solve the problem, and the defenders of Luan City will not be afraid: the fanatical knights of the Holy See have long been ready for martyrdom, and the priests and priests are not afraid of swords and magic fire. The clergy who preached in this barren land in the southern border have always been the most stubborn and fearless group of challenges in the Church of the Holy Light.
Yet the new ruler of the principality chose the most difficult and unpredictable course of action: a silent blockade.
He didn't send a single soldier into the city of Luan, but just blocked all the checkpoints connecting the entire city to the outside world. The heavily armed Cecil soldiers and their fortifications were blocked outside the city of Luan like a bung on a barrel. On every road in the city, no matter whether it is the movement of people or the dissemination of news, it is strictly prohibited. The reason the Duke used was to maintain post-war order and investigate intelligence, but anyone with a discerning eye could see that he was putting the entire Southern Church under house arrest.
All the priests of the Holy Light preaching in the southern region were driven to the city, and the communication channel with the Holy Spirit Plain was completely blocked. No matter whether it was a caravan, scattered adventurers, or mercenaries, they were forbidden to approach this area. At the beginning, because the blockade of the Cecilians had not been closed, there were still sporadic exiled knights running into the city through the small roads. But soon, all the loopholes were patched, all channels of news to the outside world were cut off, the city was completely blindfolded, its ears were covered and its mouth was blocked.
Residents in the city quickly became uneasy, and the nominal city administrators sent here by the Ansu royal family ran away before the blockade was closed, and it is said that half of them were already dead Take refuge with the Cecilians.
In such an atmosphere, this year's Harvest Festival was spent in silence. No one organized the celebration, and no one dared to waste food. The priests directed the farmers to harvest the last crops in the farmland close to the city wall, and then These may be the last foodstuffs were preciously pressed into the granary, and the strictest curfew and rationing system began to be imposed on civilians.
It seems that everything has reached the worst situation, but in fact, in St. Luan Cathedral, the firm belief still supports the last batch of clergymen who stayed here.
Flambérand, who was temporarily elected as the "Bishop of Luan", finished his morning prayers. He stood up in front of the icon of the God of Holy Light in silence, and let his attendants come forward to arrange his still bright robes, his face His expression was calm.
The holy image of the God of Holy Light stands quietly in this prayer room, a layer of clear light shrouds the holy image, just like the past hundred years without any dimness, in the view of Flambérand, this statue haunts forever The glorious icon represents the Luan Cathedral at this moment: no matter how bad the outside situation is, no matter how rampant the darkness and heresy beliefs are, the great God of Holy Light will always protect this place, and his light will never dissipate. It means that all external challenges are temporary.
After letting the attendants back down, the tall black-haired bishop left the prayer room. In the rest room outside, he saw several people wearing clergyman's robes gathered here.
On the round table in the rest room, there are exquisite snacks and fragrant black tea, and some of them have obviously been enjoyed.
Food rations are going on in the city, and civilians can only receive enough food to survive. In order to avoid exhaustion, most civilians now choose to stay at home all day long, but the priests of the cathedral are not under the "ration limit" As messengers of the gods within the range, the priests cannot suffer from hunger like the untouchables. This will not only insult the majesty of the God of Holy Light, but also seriously affect the combat effectiveness of the priests.
It was a reasonable arrangement, so Flambérand just glanced at the snacks and tea, and then came among the priests expressionlessly: "How is the situation in the city?"
A priest stood up: "There is no chaos, the crusaders and those exiled knights who have defected to us are on patrol, and the civilians are basically staying at home."
Fran nodded and turned to another priest: "What about Cecil?"
"Nothing has changed, they're still locking down the city, but nothing further."
"That foolish and arrogant 'Duke' who turned to the devil..." A middle-aged priest couldn't help but said angrily, "...his behavior is simply unreasonable! Treating the Church of Holy Light like this, he thought that there was only one Is it the Cathedral of St. Luane?"
"Perhaps the bishops of Holy Spirit Plain and King's Capital will come to help us, but at least at this stage, we are still under the control of others," Flambérand glanced at the disaffected middle-aged bishop and shook his head slightly, "Gauvin Cecil His behavior is indeed tantamount to playing with the devil, but he is a powerful devil."
The priest who was the first to speak had a trace of worry on his face: "Bishop, what do you think that Cecil Gawain wants to do?"
Flange pondered for a moment, then said unhurriedly: "He wants to drive us out completely, it's obvious."
Then he added: "Neither attacking nor retreating, maintaining the blockade and waiting for the city of Luan to collapse by itself, his purpose is very clear, that is to hope that we will voluntarily surrender and let us servants of the Lord leave this city by ourselves , so that he can take over here in a logical way and completely expel the belief of the Holy Light without worrying about moral criticism. This is a typical vicious trick, full of cunning, and without honor, just as we judged at first: on the surface The great and glamorous founding hero is actually just an arbitrary and greedy person, all he wants is absolute power, and this was completely exposed when he used tricks to destroy all the nobles in the southern border."
"We are the servants of the Lord, how can we give in to this kind of person!" The grumpy middle-aged priest immediately said loudly, "His efforts are all in vain, he doesn't understand the power of piety!"
"Those powerful magical weapons blinded his judgment. He thought that conquering the Luan Cathedral would be as easy as conquering the Rock Fortress." Flambérand shook his head, but then his tone was a bit dignified, "But Gawain Cecil is still a very cunning man... He didn't directly attack the Luane Cathedral, which shows that he at least understands that he is at a moral disadvantage."
An elderly priest who hadn't spoken yet nodded slightly, with a hint of pride and reserve in his tone: "That's right, he realized at least one thing to directly attack the Luan Cathedral, which can only turn us into A martyred saint who himself loses the support of the people."
"That's right, his confrontation with the church can only push him into an unrighteous situation, especially at this moment," Flambérand said solemnly, his eyes swept over everyone present, although the language was plain, But it conveyed a firm idea, "Our persistence is the biggest counterattack against him. His blockade of Luan City cannot last forever, and those poor excuses he used will soon be unsustainable. As long as we stick to it Living in the cathedral, the people of the Holy Light will gradually overwhelm him with doubts about Gawain Cecil...
"We may have to make some sacrifices in this process, and this process may be longer and more difficult than we imagined, but I believe that everyone present must be prepared, even ready to be martyred.
"The God of Light will witness our piety and courage. We will use facts to prove that Gawain Cecil's deviant and blasphemous actions are unrighteous. We will never evacuate, and we will never shame the God of Light , maybe we will fall in the end, but when we fall there will be the name of saints, Gawain Cecil may finally step here, but we swear, he can only set foot here as an executioner and a blasphemer!"
Flambérand's voice was powerful and powerful, and strongly infected everyone present. They thought of Bishop Lemont who had been martyred, the crisis facing the city of Luan at the moment, and even more the glory of dedicating themselves to the Lord, so everyone Everyone stood up and followed the voice of the interim bishop:
"We swear! We swear!"