Heroes of Might and Magic: Knight Chapter 473: Betrayal
Longxiguan
This pass, which blocks the westward advance of the orcs, has always been the most important line of defense in the human kingdom. More than a million troops are stationed all year round. There are three passes at the main pass, and six castles form a formation that can echo each other. There is a defense system, and there are dozens of other auxiliary small and medium-sized castles.
At this time, a team of more than 200 people was marching towards Longxi Pass from the great plain to the west of Longxi Pass, which was about forty or fifty miles away.
Most of this team are soldiers wearing armor and armed with weapons. The armor they wear is the Kingdom's traditional mail armor and leather armor. The main body is mainly heavy metal armor, and some links It is made of hard cowhide and is well made. It is better than the equipment of the Kingdom's regular army. It wears a face-covering iron helmet, and a piece of chain armor is placed around the neck to prevent damage from the gap between the armor and the helmet.
The team carried several blue flags with unknown family crests painted on them. They seemed to be the private soldiers of a certain noble group.
It is quite normal for such private soldiers of nobles to go to Longxing Pass recently. The kingdom has ordered that all nobles in the entire Great Plains have the obligation to go to Longxing Pass to participate in the war. After the kingdom’s order, all nobles will be more or less interested. Suddenly, since Sol sent troops, the number of noble coalition forces gathered at Longxing Pass has reached tens of thousands.
It’s just that this team is slightly different in that the number is larger than that of ordinary noble private soldiers. After all, some baron and viscount-level nobles can only raise a few hundred private soldiers in total, but they can have more than a hundred. There are a lot of people, and the equipment is so well-equipped.
Just suddenly, the leader took off his face-covering helmet, stopped, looked at the Longxinguan Observation Tower whose outline could be faintly seen in the distance, and fell into deep thought, and the entire team also stopped. march.
"Your Holiness, why did you stop suddenly."
Soon several knights behind him came up to ask the reason.
The leader of this team is none other than Pope Mixiu of the Rising Sun Cult, who has disappeared for a long time. The people beside him are Hussein, the leader of the Knights of the Cult, and several high knight-level bishops.
This team of more than two hundred people is also composed of elite forces mobilized by the Divine Cult. It is said that a skinny camel is bigger than a horse. Although the Divine Cult has been suppressed by the kingdom for so many years, it has never dared to appear on the stage, but Bai Zu The insect is dead but not dead. As the largest religion in the past, the base of believers is too broad. Even among the nobles, there are many secrets. The kingdom official can only suppress it but cannot completely eliminate it.
With the foundation of the divine religion, it was not difficult to spend some time gathering some of its elite forces. With the nobles hidden in the kingdom providing identity cover, their team walked struttingly on the central plains without encountering any To the slightest obstruction.
At this point in time, their purpose of going to Longxing Pass is questionable. It cannot be to help the kingdom guard the pass.
"Can't go any further, this place is just right."
"What do you mean?"
Several bishops were a little confused. It was noon and this place was out of the way, so it was not the right place to rest.
At this time, Archbishop Yoni, the second-in-command of the Rising Sun Cult, came up and said to Mi Xiu:
"His Majesty the Pope, according to the oracle, we should arrive at Longxi Pass as soon as possible to cooperate with the next move of the envoy. The other two teams from the central diocese are already waiting for us at Longxi Pass. We should hurry up. ”
The archbishop is the figure next to the pope in the Rising Sun Religion. In some cases, the archbishop will even control more power. Yoni is much older and more qualified than Mi Xiu. In Mi Xiu, Before becoming the Pope, he was already the Archbishop of the Divine Religion, so only a peerless evildoer like Misiu could firmly suppress him.
It’s just that Yoni has a deep belief in the God of the Rising Sun. The oracle gave them a real order to arrive at Longxi Pass as soon as possible. Seeing that Mi Xiu stopped, he couldn’t help but urge him.
"Archbishop Yoni, you said the oracle asked us to sneak into Longxi Pass to cooperate with the envoy of God. Why are we cooperating with him?"
"This... we will naturally know after receiving the order from the envoy of God."
Yoni was stunned by Misu's question. He thought for a moment, seemed to have something to say but didn't say it out, and finally said something nonsense.
It’s just that Mi Xiu obviously didn’t mean to let him pass like this, so he continued:
"Actually, you guessed it."
"Right, Johnny?"
Mixiu's eyes were staring straight at Yoni. Facing Mixiu's deep eyes, Yoni felt a huge pressure for no reason, and finally turned his head away without answering.
"The kingdom is at war with the orcs. From the looks of the soldiers in the nearby castle and beacon tower, I'm afraid the situation is not going well."
"We have sneaked into Dragon's Breath Pass at this time. Are we going to cooperate with the orcs inside and outside to open the door?"
Although Yoni is devout enough to the God of the Rising Sun, he is still a human being. When Misu asked such a straightforward question, he didn’t know how to answer for a while. In the end, he could only say:
“Everything awaits the will of my Lord.”
"In other words, I want you to open Guancheng and let the orcs in. Are you going to do it?"
Yoni paused for a second and nodded. However, the next second, Mi Xiu said something that made his expression change.
"But, I don't want to do it."
"Mi Xiu! You are the pope of a divine religion, how can you question the oracle of our Lord! Do you want to be an apostate?"
Yoni was so anxious that he called Mishu by his name. The Pope took the lead in not accepting the oracle and wanted to be a traitor. Are you kidding?
However, Mi Xiu shook his head and said:
"The teachings I teach are equality, love for others, diligence and thrift..."
"I have never betrayed my faith."
"If I help the orcs open the Dragon's Breath Pass, what's the difference between me and those nobles who forced my parents to starve to death by taxing them?"
"Back then, the nobles forced taxes, and one-third of the people in the village starved to death. But if the orcs came in, I'm afraid not even one person in the village would survive."
Speaking of this, the image of the village in the North that was slaughtered by orcs flashed through Mi Xiu's mind. The nobles are corrupt, but normal nobles will not really force their subjects to death. If the orcs enter the border, then human beings will really become like pigs and dogs.
"Mixiu, this is an oracle. Have you forgotten the oath you made when you succeeded the Pope? The God of the Rising Sun is supreme..."
Yoni spoke a little excitedly, his voice became louder and louder, and his fingertips trembled a little.
From a psychological point of view, the louder you speak, the less confident you are. Of course, Yoni does not have any confidence when facing Mi Xiu. The strength gap between the two sides is like a chasm. Mi Xiu is a peak sky-level master. To kill him, a peak knight, you might not even need to use weapons.
What's more important is that Yoni has noticed that something is wrong. It seems that Mi Xiu doesn't just want to simply question the decision of the Lord of the Rising Sun.
However, Mi Xiu still said in a calm tone:
“I believe in the God of the Rising Sun who preaches equality and love for others, not the God of the Rising Sun who wants to make people homeless.”
"You!"
Yoni didn't even know what words to use to describe his mood at this time. After all, the Pope's apostasy was so new that he had never seen this scene before.
However, no matter how confused Yoni's thoughts are at this time, his belief in the Lord of the Rising Sun is still very firm. After all, a bishop like him has received the brainwashing education of the church since childhood and is a true believer. The existence of the **** was also confirmed, which strengthened his belief. It was difficult to change his mind just by Mi Xiu's words.
"If His Majesty the Pope is not willing to go, then we will go ourselves!"
Afterwards, Yoni actually called several bishops and Hussein, the leader of the knights, and prepared to take people away directly.
Yoni originally had a high prestige in the church. Several bishops around him had just heard his conversation with Misiu and chose to follow Yoni after looking shocked. Some soldiers in the team started to take action under their call.
However, Hussein did not follow Yoni and several bishops. Instead, he stopped where he was, and even the members of the Knights under him did not react at all.
Although these members of the Knights also believe in the Lord of the Rising Sun, they are not as deep as the bishops. They spend most of their time training and performing tasks. Now that the Pope and Hussein have not spoken, they dare not easily action. The team actually seemed to split into two.
"Wait!"
"You can't leave."
"What do you mean?"
"Bang!"
Before Yoni could react, the scepter in Mi Xiu's hand had already hit his chest. The force of this blow directly shattered his heart and lungs. Yoni glanced at Mi Xiu and opened his mouth. I wanted to say something, but in the end no words came out.
"Lord Yoni!"
"Mixiu betrayed the Lord!"
"Kill him!"
Mixiu's sudden attack made the whole scene extremely chaotic. Some soldiers with deeper faith even tried to attack Mixiu under the leadership of the remaining bishops.
"Hussein, do it."
"Yes, Master Mishu!"
Mi Xiu did not take any further action, but gave instructions to Hussein, the leader of the knights.
Hussein did not hesitate after receiving the order. He drew out his sword with a clang, and led his members of the Knights and some close soldiers to fight with the bishop's men.
…
Facts have proved that Hussein and the knights he led were more powerful than ordinary soldiers, and after experiencing such an outrageous event as the Pope's apostasy, most of the soldiers were a little confused, except for a few bishops and Except for the ordinary soldiers who have deep faith, everyone else's will to fight is very weak, and they don't even know which side they are on. However, the elite knights led by Hussein are carefully selected confidants, and they are a little more aggressive. Without any hesitation.
The battle ended quickly, in less than half an hour. The few bishops were no more than powerful knights. Facing the earth-level Hussein was a bit difficult, let alone against Misu. At this time, several archbishops turned into corpses and lay on the ground. In addition, there were some soldiers who wanted to follow them.
Mixiu and Hussein were obviously prepared. They took the initiative and directly wiped out most of the top leaders of the Rising Sun Religion. In addition to the knights and the soldiers who died in the battle, there were also some soldiers who were in danger. In a dazed state, he did not join the battle. It was not until the end of the battle that he started to clear up the battlefield and pick up the corpses under Hussein's orders.
And Hussein himself came to Mi Xiu’s side and asked:
"Lord Pope, where are you going next? Do you still want to go to Longxi Pass?"
"No, let's go to the south."
"Yes, Your Majesty the Pope..."
Although Mixiu made the decision to betray the Rising Sun Cult, he himself was in confusion. The former Rising Sun Cult was simply a better place than most of the kingdom’s elites who regarded common people as ants. Up to heaven, the Rising Sun Cult spread mostly among the people at the bottom, helping the poor and adopting orphans. Most of the priests themselves were thrifty, and Mi Xiu himself set an example by living a simple life.
In the eyes of Mi Xiu, it is absolutely just to use the church as the basis to overthrow the now decadent kingdom's nobility. However, when the messenger Rand appeared and the God of the Rising Sun changed from a sculpture to a real living creature, Everything has changed.
Mixiu's prestige has been shaken. Bishops at all levels are wavering between the pope's orders and the oracles. Some people with stronger beliefs no longer listen to Mixiu's greetings.
That is to say, people like Hussein, who experienced similar experiences to Mi Xiu, can still stand firmly on Mi Xiu's side. After Mi Xiu cleaned up most of the senior officials of the central diocese this time, he was completely separated from the Rising Sun Sect. Losing his face, after the news spreads, it may be difficult for Mi Xiu to control the Rising Sun Sect.
As for defecting to the kingdom, it is also not within the scope of Mi Xiu's choice. Even if he, the number one rebel in the sky, dares to seek refuge, the kingdom does not dare to accept him easily.
Going to the south was just a random decision, as if there was a voice in the dark urging him.