Royal Gold Medal County Magistrate

"Why did you betray me?" The Pope stared intently at the Grand Inquisitor.

As the Grand Inquisitor of the Religious Court, the chief executioner under him, almost all major matters were entrusted to him.

He had always been a well-deserved confidant.

The attack on the Holy City, the inexplicable arrival of people wanting to abduct him—he didn't want to think about any of that now.

The only thing he couldn't understand was why the Grand Inquisitor betrayed him!

He lacked neither money nor status; their interests had long been intertwined.

The Grand Inquisitor looked at the guards threatening the Pope with their swords, and shrugged.

"I'm sorry, they offered too much."

The Pope raged, "Just for money?! If I give you money, aren't you afraid you won't live to spend it?!"

The Grand Inquisitor raised an eyebrow and sighed, "It's not entirely for money either. Your Holiness, you and I understand each other. After Solje escaped from the Holy City, I merely made a suggestion with a slight problem, and you secretly began looking for someone to replace me. I'm not wrong about that, am I?"

The Pope was speechless.

Indeed, if the Grand Inquisitor hadn't come up with a few bad ideas, Solje wouldn't have escaped from the Holy City, and it wouldn't have led to so many problems later.

But that was his incompetence! How could an incompetent person be entrusted with important tasks?

Seeing that he didn't speak, the Grand Inquisitor said, "Your Holiness, let's not say anything more. Everyone has to prepare a way out for themselves. If I become a pawn one day, wouldn't I be meat on the chopping block?"

"Gentlemen, the journey is long, and pursuers may appear in the city at any time. I think you should catch up after you meet with His Majesty."

The guard, who had been silent all along, poked the Pope's chest with his sword, forcing him onto the carriage.

The moment the Pope boarded the carriage, dozens of people around them attacked the Pope's guards in unison.

Several lives quietly disappeared into the night...

......

The turmoil within the Holy City continued, only calming down after two days and a night.

Initially, only the Da Jing and Brotherhood armies were fighting the Holy City army within the city.

The Da Jing side relied on the advantage of firearms to push the enemy back step by step.

The Holy City army, fearing the power of firearms, relied on their knowledge of the terrain to start guerrilla warfare within the city.

The people in the slums began to continuously loot and plunder.

These people, like locusts, scurried around the city, seizing supplies.

The Holy City army, instinctively seeing this scene, still scolded or tried to stop them.

However, with the Da Jing enemy on the side, they really didn't have much energy to manage these chaotic scenes.

Soon, the slum dwellers who were grabbing money also discovered this pattern. At the same time, some people, experiencing the crossfire, also found that the Da Jing people only attacked the Holy City army, ignoring everyone else!

In this way... the slum dwellers began to stand up!

In order to loot money faster and more effectively, the best way was obviously to help the Da Jing side eliminate the Holy City army as soon as possible.

Anyway, they had no feelings for the Holy City army, and the inner city people of the Holy City didn't treat them as human beings.

Betrayal was smooth and seamless, with no moral condemnation in their hearts!

Whenever the slum dwellers encountered Da Jing soldiers, they would often stand at attention, point to the location where the Holy City army was hiding, and report loudly.

Most of the soldiers on the Da Jing side, of course, didn't understand the local language, but after experiencing such events twice, they roughly understood.

Sir! This way!

That's about the meaning.

Da Jing, the slums, and the Brotherhood, all three forces working together.

The Holy City army scattered throughout the city was quickly and completely annihilated.

The main forces had basically been defeated, and the remaining forces, upon hearing someone shouting in the city that the Pope was dead and that money would be distributed unconditionally, took the initiative to step forward, disarm, and surrender.

At this point, the overall situation could be considered calm.

Although the city was in chaos, a different kind of order emerged.

More than twenty Italian cannons were set up on the walls of the Holy City, half facing outwards and half facing inwards.

All the patrolling soldiers were replaced with soldiers from Da Jing.

The remaining Da Jing soldiers and the Brotherhood began to organize people to stabilize the rioters, preventing them from continuing to loot wantonly.

At the same time, they notified everyone that they no longer needed to rob, and that they could go to legally collect money!

Within the Holy City, starting from the Temple Mount, a long queue stretched through the entire city!

Everyone was waiting in line to enter the vault and collect money.

The person in charge of distributing money in the vault was Father Solje, who had long been prepared to take over the position of Pope.

He wore the Pope's crown, continuously distributing money, and saying auspicious words every time he handed out a portion.

At this moment, his whole person was already mentally dazed.

The treasures in the vault were simply dazzling, with no sign of being exhausted.

Today was the same as always, distributing money, and Lai Gou'er watched silently from the side.

Suddenly, hearty laughter came from behind him: "Brother Lai! I really didn't expect it, congratulations on your success!"

Lai Gou'er looked back and was also happy: "Brother Hope, where did you run off to? I even sent people to look for you but couldn't find you."

Hope gave a wry smile: "Where else could I go? I was just scurrying around outside the city to take refuge. I only dared to come back when I saw the Da Jing people on the city walls. My home... has been burned to ruins, luckily I was prepared early. Forget it, let's not talk about these things, where is the Pope's body, take me to see it."

Lai Gou'er pulled him to a deserted corner and frowned, "The Pope ran away. We found a secret passage in the temple and have sent people to chase him, but I estimate we won't catch him."

Hope was stunned: "But I heard that the Pope is dead..."

"It's fake, they were all people pretending. Now the problem is troublesome, I originally thought that capturing the Pope would allow us to control other countries, but now we only have a fake, what to do?"

"Hiss..." Hope said with a headache, "How could you let him run away, it's indeed a bit troublesome, but don't worry."

"What, do you have a way?"

Hope nodded, analyzing, "Things aren't as serious as you think. The Pope's appeal is beyond doubt, but none of the monarchs under him are fools. No emperor wants to be suppressed by the church, it's all out of necessity. Now, even if he is pretending to be dead, everyone may have a tacit understanding."

"I think Father Solje is stable in the Holy City, so many Holy City soldiers and civilians have taken money from the church vault, they definitely don't want anything to happen to him. Then... we can completely declare to the outside world that the Brotherhood intended to rebel against the church, and Solje learned of the news in advance and brought people to assist the Holy City, but was one step late."

"The high-level members of the church have been slaughtered, and Father Solje has been publicly elected as the Pope by others. After he takes office, he will abolish the offerings from the dioceses of various countries. The opportunity to defend the imperial power, I believe no one is willing to give up."

This guy is really not giving up for nothing.

Lai Gou'er pondered for a long time, and said, "How confident are you? Is the Xiluo Kingdom also on this list? The most important thing right now is to send the news back to the Fika battlefield and end the war."

Hope smiled slightly: "Don't you trust me on this? Xiluo is a powerful country, the more powerful the country, the more the emperor hates the church in his heart. I've traveled north and south for so many years, I've seen many high-level people, I can help you to be a lobbyist."

"I've met the King of Xiluo, I'm very confident in persuading Xiluo!"

......