As the number one supporter of the Grand Prince Harold, Grand Duke Rickman announced after the banquet that he would obey the command of God and personally lead the army to the Earldom of Joyce to fight against the rebellious miners! The other nobles who supported Harold also responded one after another. In order to save time and avoid being preempted by the men of the Second Prince Hattar, more than a dozen nobles decided to gather their private soldiers together after discussion, and recruit some serfs from the southern part of the kingdom. Within a week, they would be able to gather an army of 15,000 people.
Enough to crush those rioting miners into powder!
What surprised everyone was that, as a strong contender for the crown prince, Hattar did not make any big moves.
In fact, after returning from the palace, Hattar immediately summoned the nobles who supported him and prepared to form an army as soon as possible to suppress the riot in the southern part of the kingdom.
But before he even started, he was stopped by Anthony.
"Since Harold is so enthusiastic, let them go. Those miners are not so easy to deal with..." Anthony said with a sneer.
"Master, could it be that the riot of these miners is related to the wizards?" Hattar hesitated for a moment and asked with a little confusion. He didn't think these people could cause any waves.
Although Earl Joyce boasted about the so-called miners' leader very much, in his opinion, it was just some clever tricks. The miners took advantage of Joyce's unpreparedness and used some despicable means to catch the other party off guard.
Poor people without training would never be able to resist on the battlefield, even with the help of wizards! After all, the miners' act of blowing up the goddess statue had angered the church, and Cardinal Ansruk even said at the banquet that he would send several archbishops and a team of priests to go!
Unless... Anthony, the great wizard, is willing to do it himself!
Anthony neither admitted nor denied that now was not the time to expose the Secret Society and the Wizarding Land, but spoke ambiguously.
"If the kingdom remains peaceful and stable, you probably won't have any advantage. Even if we ignore the interference of the church, Harold's supporters are more powerful than you. Only a suitable change can reverse your current disadvantage."
"In short, you just need to do as instructed, and you will naturally be able to ascend the throne when the time comes."
Although Anthony didn't know much about these miners, he knew that this was arranged by that adult, and they could not be wiped out by just these hastily assembled troops.
Hattar took Anthony's words as a tacit agreement, and his anxiety was much less. However, he still felt a little unsafe to simply allow Grand Duke Rickman and others to go to the Earldom of Joyce.
This was the first time that his father, King Bazel, had mentioned the matter of appointing a crown prince so clearly, and in front of all the nobles of the entire empire. In addition, this matter was proposed by Cardinal Anluik himself, which meant that whoever could solve the problem of the miners would not be able to regret it easily, even if the two of them were dissatisfied with the candidate.
If Harold were to succeed in this, it would be very difficult to deal with!
Hattar hesitated whether to organize a large army to follow the other side, pretending to go together to suppress the riot, and then suddenly turn against them and cooperate with the miners and wizards to jointly annihilate the private soldiers of dozens of nobles who went to the earldom to fight the miners!
Anthony was also shocked by Hattar's ruthlessness. After pondering for a moment, he did not agree with Hattar's risky move. Unless he could ensure that the entire legion would be wiped out, he would be caught by others.
…
At the same time, the final battle is taking place in Earl Joyce's territory!
After playing a trick to attack from the east and west, Redel easily captured the castle. After dealing with the guards, he encountered the biggest problem since the uprising - that is, to disintegrate the local church! Unlike the baronial territory where only one priest was stationed, the church had a bishop and five priests. In addition, they made quite a commotion when dealing with the guards, which had already alarmed the church. Therefore, it was impossible to cheat and attack. The only thing they could do was to fight with all their strength! This was a battle between the poor and the extraordinary!
In the pouring rain, thousands of miners, armed with seized crossbows, spears, or sharp knives, surrounded the church. Dozens of crossbows were fired at the same time, and the flying arrows fell like a rainstorm.
However, the bishop just raised his hand, and an invisible barrier blocked the rain of arrows. The arrows shot at it, creating waves, but they could not break through it in a short time.
Although a well-made composite crossbow is as powerful as a flintlock rifle, that is based on breakthroughs in materials science and the invention of pulleys. The "strong crossbow" made by the Empire's craftsmen is far from satisfactory. A single round of crossbow arrows is simply not enough to break the second-ring divine spell [Shield of Holy Light].
On the contrary, the opponent's subsequent holy light attack would kill dozens of people!
As for the miners who rushed up and attempted to attack, they all knelt down on the ground crying under the light of the divine spell [Confession of Sins], devoutly confessing their actions of smashing statues and blaspheming God.
Such a horrifying scene caused the absolute majority of miners to retreat in fear, not daring to take a single step forward and only daring to fight back from a distance with bows and crossbows.
The gap between the extraordinary and the poor is obvious! "Is this a true clergyman?" Redel looked at the bishop who was handling their siege with ease, then looked at the dozens of corpses lying on the ground, and tightened the long knife in his hand.
He really wanted to rush forward and fight with everyone, but he knew very well that this would be of no help at all.
"That's right, so I told you that the real difficulties have just begun." Lin En's voice rang in his ears. "The bishop stationed in the earldom should be a second-ring clergyman."
"Is there any way to kill him?" Redel asked anxiously.
"There are two ways. First, you can wait until his strength is exhausted." Lin En said casually. Whether it is a wizard or a clergyman, casting a spell will inevitably consume mental energy.
However, in the church, the opponent seemed to be able to receive a certain bonus, so while protecting those priests, the power had not been exhausted for a long time.
"What about the second method?" Redel rejected the first method without even thinking about it, because if he waited a moment longer, several miners would die...
(End of this chapter)