our family is gone

Chapter 850 Spring
"I'm not even sure yet, are you really sure that Hamlet can win? You know, no one knows who will win or lose unless they fight."

Lance didn't answer, but asked a question instead.

But when I thought of what he said when they first met, I reacted instantly, and the smile on my face became a little playful.

"Oh, I almost forgot that the victories of those nobles have made no difference to you. You would even be more willing to eliminate Hamlet.

But there is another possibility that when Hamlet wins and makes changes, it will touch the core interests of the church, so you are eager to get my opinion.

And it is obvious that the current emperor can no longer satisfy you. Just replace him and pretend nothing happened, right?"

As he spoke, the corners of Lance's mouth slowly curled up, "How can it be so easy to stay out of this now?"

His purpose was revealed after just two sentences, and the friar had no choice but to continue speaking.

"But if we support Hamlet, you will become the new emperor of the empire. Our only request is to maintain the status quo."

This means that the church is ready to bet on Hamlet, or Reims, and sell out all the emperor, nobles and bureaucrats in exchange for maintaining its status and treatment in the imperial state religion.

For them, changing an emperor is like changing a partner, or to put it bluntly, a watchdog.

"What era is it now? Are you still playing this game? Do I need the church's approval to become the emperor? Are you the emperor or am I?" Lance mocked without giving any face, "Maintain the status quo? Then what? All ordinary people are still blinded by your holy light and support you guys?"

After all, the current emperor was canonized by the church, but when talking about this with Lance, it was good enough that he didn't pick up weapons to chop him down.

A few damn charlatans dare to bully me. Is it because the labor camp is not luxurious enough or the sanatorium is too quiet?
"Once the church supports the nobles, they will launch a holy war. The coalition forces will receive support from priests and clergy. A steady stream of believers will join the army, and there will never be a shortage of soldiers. The holy light will cover this land."

"In the final analysis, it's just because you can't bully ordinary people anymore. You came to me now. What were you doing before?"

Lance was not afraid of the threat at all. Instead, he laughed. That smile seemed like that of a devil to the mendicant monk.

"You keep saying you're doing this for the people, but aren't you pushing them into the quagmire of war?"

Seeing that threats didn't work, you resorted to moral blackmail, right? Unfortunately, Lance had no morals at all, and he retorted with ridicule.

"Then aren't you also pushing ordinary people into war by inciting rebellions in various places? Why don't you just hide in the back? You won't be the one to die anyway, right?

Debating with Lance is pure trouble, he has no bottom line and doesn't mind dragging ordinary people into war.

What's more, he knew very well how abstract human nature was. Without the struggle of blood and fire, they would never awaken or cherish the life they had.

At this moment, the mendicant's hands holding the staff were turning white, which was because he had failed in his previous attempt, otherwise he would have killed this demon here at the risk of his life.

But after a moment's silence, he finally gave in, or maybe there was nothing he could do.

"Perhaps what happened back then made you feel uncomfortable, but the church has protected the people of the empire for so many years. Even Hamlet had the best church back then. The church is part of the empire and part of Hamlet. Why can't you accept us?"

Faced with the mendicant monk's explanation, Lance just wanted to laugh, but did not rush to refute. Instead, he motioned for the two to follow him.

Soon they arrived at a memorial hall, where evidence of the crimes committed by those guys when Reims recaptured the territory was collected, including many from the church.

“Don’t talk nonsense. You should know that Hamlet has never discriminated against or oppressed his followers. You two have lived here before and even committed treason. Even so, has Hamlet ever targeted you?
Among our friends there is a combat nun, the senior leaders are also from the Crusades, and among the ordinary people there are some who are related to the church, or are also pan-believers. Do they have any problems here?"

As he spoke, Lance pointed at the wall of evidence and began to question.

"Can't you look for the reason within yourself for what has happened? Your church is being too overbearing by blaming everything on me, isn't it?

Did I force you to oppress ordinary people? Did I force you to lend money at high interest rates? Did I force you to trade slaves? Did I force you monks to molest children?
You even have internal oppression. A priest recruited seven nuns. Six of them got pregnant and had more than one abortion. Is the remaining one merciful? She was not old enough to get pregnant.

The victims were rescued by us and settled in the city. How do you explain this? Doing such dirty things in the name of the Holy Light, where is your Holy Light? Tell me the fucking truth! "

The evidence was right there, so the two of them had no room to refute Lance's questioning.

"How can the Holy Light allow such evil..." The Candle Priest lowered his head in shame, his hideous and terrifying face full of complex emotions, and the sound of gnashing teeth revealed his anger.

"They are just a small number of pests. There are still many righteous people in the church. We don't know about this kind of thing, otherwise we would definitely punish them."

The friar forced an explanation with a stern face, but Lance responded with a sarcastic remark.

"A small part..."

"At least we didn't do it!"

Martin was really pushed into a corner, but Lance had no intention of continuing to have fun. Instead, he suddenly calmed down.

"I don't deny what you said. At least you two are beggars who have truly followed the vow of poverty. That's why you can see me and hear me say these words."

When Martin heard Lance give in, a glimmer of hope arose in his heart.

"That's right. We in the Mendicant Order have never approved of such things."

Lance no longer had the patience to waste time talking to them and stated his conditions directly.

"I give you a choice. All the people in your church must give up their extravagant lives and strictly follow the vow of poverty and abstinence. Those who violate this vow will be expelled from the church and severely punished.

All clergy must pass an examination. We do not recognize those without certificates. Promotion and appointment must also be subject to official review, and the same applies to those who are not recognized.

You cannot preach in public places, only in specific areas. You cannot force others to believe in something, and you cannot attack people of other faiths or those without faith.

End all cruel rituals and criminal laws, abolish the Inquisition and the Knights Templar, and be obliged to cooperate with the authorities to maintain a stable and harmonious society. "

Lance's words directly cut off their way of obtaining money and power, and also cut off their channels for expanding their influence and controlling others.

Who can tolerate having their lifeblood in someone else's hands? Moreover, the power will only shrink smaller and smaller. Even Martin, who seems to have no desires, finds it difficult to accept such terms.

"Impossible. Even if I agree, how could so many people in the church agree?" "Isn't it just perfect? ​​I know that your faction of the Mendicant Order has always been marginalized within the church. Now that you have my support, it is time for you to reorganize the church and clean out those termites."

Martin came here intending to find a way to use his support for Hamlet as a bargaining chip to exchange for a position in the new order with the church, but why is it the other way around now?

However, Martin also realized that this was indeed an opportunity. It was a fact that their faction was suppressed internally and marginalized, and many people even looked down on these poor guys.

"Is there really no discussion?"

"I am not discussing anything with you, nor am I targeting you, but all religions must be accepted, either reformed or destroyed."

Lance didn't care at all. How many people died had nothing to do with him? If he didn't kill a bunch of fanatics, he would leave trouble behind.

Such a firm attitude left Martin speechless for a moment. He actually wanted to get advice from the candlelighting priest, but found that the priest was looking at the evidence on the side, and he was speechless for a moment.

Why did you go and see those things?

"Let me go back and think about it."

Lance did not force him to agree, but he did add one sentence.

"What restrains us is faith. We respect blessings. Those who try to influence and control others are cults. We must eradicate them resolutely. Whether there is anything left of the church depends on you."

After saying that, he left without giving any face. The fact that Martin came over could only mean one thing, that after the saints were completely gone, there was something wrong with their holy light. They no longer had the ability to intervene in this battle, so they would shrink their forces and even stand on Hamlet's side in exchange for something.

But even if they are fine, it will not affect the overall situation. How can a religion stop the tide of the times?
…………

No matter what humans do, they cannot stop climate change. The coldness of winter is exhausted in several heavy snowfalls, and then it gradually begins to warm up. Although it is still very cold, spring seems to be just around the corner.

As the roads thawed, most villages and towns were very excited to see caravans coming from afar loaded with supplies.

Because of the heavy snow blockade, supplies were in short supply, especially refined salt and farm tools. One was a necessity, while the other was related to spring ploughing, which was a very important activity in the year and was related to the harvest of that year.

Another thing is that they are eager to get news from the outside world in their boring and isolated life, and what spread along the caravan is of course the story of Hamlet.

Now I know why Lance wanted to talk to those businessmen. The news about Hamlet showed a very terrifying ability to spread with the revival of spring.

It is like a giant beast that has been sleeping for many years, enduring the pain in its body. After lying dormant for many years, a low roar can make the surrounding area feel the terrifying pressure.

In a very ordinary farm, the foreman nervously approached the farmer, who was an old man with a thin face and a somewhat mean look.

"Sir, a few more serfs ran away today."

"What a bunch of damn bastards! I'm going to kill those guys! Damn Hamlet!"

No matter how much the farmer shouts and curses, it cannot change the fact that several of them have run away in the past few days. If the spring ploughing is affected, then his core interests will be affected.

It would be difficult for them to capture the people because the small farm did not have so many people. If they asked the local lord to borrow people to search for them, they would have to pay a lot of money to get those people to move.

But in fact, giving money was useless because similar incidents happened too often. There were runaway slaves everywhere and it was impossible to catch them all.

And once they enter Hamlet's territory, who dares to cause trouble? Even the knights don't dare, let alone them.

The news of Hamlet's abolition of slavery brought hope to many desperate serfs. Most of them owed high-interest loans that could never be repaid for various reasons, and had been slaves for generations.

If we calculate based on a generation of 20 years, that means three generations have served the same master, but the debt keeps increasing.

They spent the whole day in the fields, being whipped by the foreman, working for the master, cultivating fields that did not belong to them. Every harvest seemed to have nothing to do with them, and even having enough to eat was impossible.

These people can no longer see the future. One can imagine what they will do when they hear that going to Hamlet can eliminate their slavery and avoid paying off the debt that will never be repaid?
Of course, only the brave have this determination. Most slaves still work numbly day after day, or simply cannot receive any news from the outside world.

But these actions have already made the nobles panic. What will happen if this continues?

Even the Empire had sensed the terrifying infectious power, which was spreading like a plague.

The coalition forces, which had been hesitating, decided to pass quickly. Of course, another reason was that the church had taken action. It no longer used the previous reason of not interfering in the internal affairs of the nobles, but directly came out to take a stand.

He declared that Hamlet was a dark place where even the light of God could not shine, and began to call for crusaders in the name of holy war.

Now with the church, the three parties can finally be convinced, or at least obey on the surface.

In fact, it goes without saying that there is no way those people in the church would agree to Lance's request, as this would mean cutting off their roots and eating their flesh.

How could they be willing to keep their vows and live in poverty and abstinence when they are used to such a luxurious and decadent life?

Not to mention that Lance is planning to liquidate them. Haven't these people done a lot of shady things?

Can this be checked? What if something is found?

So after knowing Lance's plan, they fought back more fiercely and stood firmly on the opposite side.

But so what?
No matter how loud the outside world is and how loud the voices against Hamlet are getting, they still have to do what they have to do internally.

While the army was preparing for war, the normal operation was not even disrupted on the other hand, and people's lives were stable.

If they were in another place, they would probably collapse, but Hamlet and other residents had all seen big scenes before, so instead of being afraid, they became excited.

Because the propaganda had changed and the stories of escaped slaves were told, most people were outraged. Moreover, most of them had suffered and been oppressed, and they found redemption here.

So when facing the coalition forces, everyone did not retreat at all. There was no way they would return to a life worse than pigs and dogs.

On the contrary, the goal is to overthrow the nobles, overthrow religion, and rescue ordinary people. Many retired veterans are eager for the lord to summon them to the battlefield again to fight for humanity.