Water Margin people

“Who dares to apostatize?”

Bernard roared as he looked at the gathered civilians.

All the guards drew their weapons and looked coldly at the gathered civilians. They came to encircle and suppress the pagans. If these civilians dared to help the pagans, they would be betraying the church. They had the right to kill these people.

"Master Saint Bernard, what are you doing!"

The Venetian troops looked at Bernard and shouted that they were all native Venetians, and there were their fellow countrymen among the civilians, and many of them were even relatives. They could not bear to watch Bernard kill them.

“You want to apostatize too!”

Bernard stared at the Venetian troops.

The Venetian troops lowered their heads in fear; they did not dare to confront the church's top leaders.

"Master Saint Bernard, you cannot massacre civilians!"

In the distance, a young noble led a large army towards them and formed up their array between Bernard and the civilians.

"What do you mean?"

Bernard's face turned pale. The situation had exceeded his expectations. The Black Death had greatly shaken the believers.

"It doesn't make any sense. These people are citizens of Venice. Now they are threatened by the Black Death. Why would Lord Saint Bernard kill them?"

The young nobleman looked at Bernard and said without giving in.

"These people want to follow the pagans, which is tantamount to apostasy!"

The captain of the guard looked at the young noble and said.

"Humph, the Black Death is raging now. Please ask Lord Saint Bernard to perform a miracle to drive away the disease."

The young noble said as he looked at Bernard and the captain of the guard.

"Les, are you going to be an enemy of the Holy See?"

Bernard looked at the young nobleman and asked. He remembered that this man was a viscount who worked for the Doge of Venice.

"Who would be the enemy of the church? We are all the most devout believers of the church!"

Viscount Rice looked at Bernard and smiled. His mission was to keep an eye on Bernard and not to conflict with him.

Bernard looked at Les with a grim face. A viscount of a kingdom actually dared to treat him and the Vatican's guards like this. All this showed that the split between the kingdom and the Vatican had become very serious. If it was not controlled, these kingdoms would break away from the Vatican.

"I want you to drive these believers away now. They have been bewitched by the cult and need to go to church to listen to the gospel of the Lord!"

Bernard pointed at the civilians gathered on the beach and spoke.

"Master Saint Bernard, there may be patients in there, how dare we go near?"

Les looked at Bernard and shook his head. He didn't dare to get close to those civilians.

Bernard's face turned ugly. Rice didn't let him kill these civilians, nor did he drive them away. This was obviously against him.

"Sir, the ship is coming!"

A guard pointed to the seashore, where a ship was approaching slowly.

Bernard didn't care about the civilians at this time. He wanted to exterminate the pagans on the island and capture Baldwin IV and execute him publicly. He wanted to tie Baldwin IV to a cross and burn him in public to let all believers know the consequences of apostasy.

Only Bernard and three hundred guards were on board, while the Venetian army did not move.

"Lord Rice, what should we do? Should we drive the civilians away?"

A general looked at Rice and asked, they also wanted to silence the witnesses, it would be difficult to do it with so many people watching them.

"Why are you chasing them away? We need witnesses, lots of witnesses!"

Les smiled and said that they wanted to kill Bernard, but it was impossible to do it without anyone knowing. If Bernard died in Venice, the Pope would definitely be angry. The best way was to let Bernard die at the hands of Baldwin IV.

"It's getting late, let's get ready!"

Rice nodded to the generals around him.

Bernard led his army and slowly sailed towards the island. Baldwin IV had been paying attention to the situation on the shore. When he saw a large number of civilians gathering, he saw Bernard bringing people on board.

"Get on board, we'll go too!"

Baldwin IV ordered.

"Your Majesty, shall we go over there?"

William asked in confusion. Now they should guard the dock and prevent the enemy from landing.

"The people around Bernard are the Vatican's guards. We can't defend the dock with so few people!"

Baldwin IV said that he only had dozens of people around him, so how could he possibly stop the three hundred guards.

"We are going to fight them at sea and show the believers that we are not afraid of the Church!"

Baldwin IV said that the biggest obstacle to their missionary work was the Holy See. The believers were afraid of the power of the Holy See and dared not convert to other churches.

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

6◇9◇Book◇Bar

Everyone boarded the boat quickly. There were not many of them, and the boat would soon leave the port and head towards the coast.

"Look, the people from the island are coming out!"

The civilians on the shore were shocked when they saw Baldwin IV coming out with his men. They thought Baldwin IV would escape, after all, they were facing the powerful Vatican.

Les on the shore was also shocked. He did not expect that Baldwin IV would dare to accept the challenge. He originally planned to secretly send people to the island to pretend to be pagans and kill Bernard, but now everything was disrupted.

The two ships were head-on, neither side showing any intention of backing down.

"Sir, do you want to hit me?"

The captain of the guard looked at Bernard and asked, this ship is just an ordinary cargo ship, there is no ram on the bow, if it is hit, the ship will definitely sink.

Bernard looked at the approaching ship with a gloomy face and said nothing. He was not afraid if it really hit her.

Baldwin IV just stood at the bow, his silver mask reflecting the light of dusk, and his whole body was dyed golden, which made Baldwin IV look like a god possessed. The civilians who were watching him began to pray.

The two ships approached each other rapidly, and finally, Bernard's ship moved aside.

It was not Bernard who gave the order, but the guards who controlled the ship acted on their own initiative. They believed that they had an absolute numerical advantage and there was no need to collide with the enemy. Their advantage would be weakened after falling into the water.

"Who told you to get out of the way! Baldwin IV can't swim!"

Bernard was furious. This made them lose their momentum, and their image in the eyes of their believers plummeted.

"Turn around, jump, and kill!"

Bernard didn't bother to continue being angry and continued to command the battle. He knew that his men had no idea what to do.

"Is that all?"

Baldwin IV smiled and waved to the civilians gathered on the shore.

Upon seeing this, the civilians burst into huge cheers, as if they were celebrating a victory.

"Turn back and shoot with bows and crossbows!"

Baldwin IV gave the order. Of course he couldn't jump on board. They only had so many people and would be wiped out in a head-on confrontation.

But if it is a battle on a ship, it is different. It is impossible to be defeated before the warship is destroyed.

The shooting of crossbows blocked the Vatican guards' jumping gongs, but the guards were all protected by armor, and the crossbows could hardly cause any damage.

"madness!"

Baldwin IV and Bernard sneered at the same time.

Bernard laughed at Baldwin IV for trying to fight a powerful enemy with an egg, saying that such a small number of people dared to rebel.

Baldwin IV mocked Bernard's guards for wearing heavy armor in a naval battle. (End of this chapter)