Galileo died - this news left Woolley stunned for a long time, and then a string of tears rolled down the corners of his eyes.

The letter was written by Shelley, saying that Galileo died of old age, frailty and overwork.

Wu Lai knew, however, that although Galileo was a bit old, he was by no means weak. He was, however, overworked - since he became the head of the arsenal, the old man had never allowed himself a good rest.

"Old Galileo..." Wu Lai muttered to himself silently, and suddenly burst into tears...

…

"What a vicious Wu Lai!" Helen slammed the table with her right palm. The memorial presented by Ye Renwu mentioned two major things. One was that Hatra's disease was caused by poison, and the other was that the Assyrian territory now began to worship two gods.

Each of these was like a sharp sword, piercing Helen's heart.

Although Hatra had become a disabled man, although there was still a big gap between him and Wulai, and although he had been stripped of his royal title in Assyria, he was still Helen's husband, the hero she was willing to rely on, and the pride of the Tianjuan Empire.

But now he was being plotted against - Ye Renwu's letter said that Hatra was bedridden and spent most of his time in a daze. When he was awake occasionally, he would only cry and mutter Helen's name, and rarely talked to anyone...

"Your Majesty, in my opinion, King Wushuang may not be able to recover. The best plan now is to seek divine help as soon as possible so that he can be saved. This matter is very urgent. Your Majesty, please make a decision as soon as possible..." Ye Renwu wrote in the memorial.

"Night Blade Dance..." Helen gritted her teeth and muttered to herself, "Since you knew he was like this, you should have sent him back immediately. Why did you have to ask for permission?"

Although Helen was talking to herself, her voice was quite loud. When the female official accompanying her heard what she said, her heart skipped a beat.

"Someone come here!" Helen said in a deep voice.

"I'm here." The female official accompanying him hurried forward.

"Tell the Imperial Guards to immediately send two hundred light cavalry to Titania to bring back King Wushuang." Helen said.

"As you command." The female official hesitated for a moment and asked, "Your Majesty, the area around Honggu Bay has been blocked by the Assyrian army..."

"Then let's take the water route! Land at the attacked port in Armenia! The sooner the better!" Helen said angrily.

"Yes, sir. Yes, sir." The female official bowed and left to pass on the message.

After a long silence, Helen's gaze returned to Night Blade Dance's music.

"Two gods coexisting, Wuleglindo, you're lucky you could come up with that. Humph, I don't believe you can overturn the thoughts of thousands of years in one fell swoop!" A cold light flashed across Helen's eyes.

However, despite thinking this, she had actually begun to worry. In the past, the empire had been at war all the time, and the civil and military officials were accustomed to putting war first in everything. But now, Tianjuan was restricted by the agreement and the treasury was empty and unable to send troops. The ministers also focused their attention on construction and management, and gradually lost interest in the war. In their view, Tianjuan had already seized a territory three times larger than before. Instead of taking the risk of fighting with Assyria and suffering mutual losses, it would be better to settle down and manage the country well. Even if there was no war, Assyria would not dare to provoke Tianjuan easily because of its vast territory and large population.

Helen was disgusted by the ministers' thoughts, because she knew very well that with Wu Lai in charge, Assyria would be faster than Tianjuan both economically and militarily. One or two steps faster might not be a big deal, but if every step and every day was a little faster, in three to five years, Tianjuan would completely fall behind Assyria.

Those who fall behind will be beaten - this is what Wu Lai said to Helen back then. He said that this was said by a great man. Although Helen did not learn from him who this great man was, nor could she find the answer she wanted in any other books, Helen felt that this sentence was the truth.

Although she lost to Wu Lai in the battle of Kayikede, Helen did not think it was a shame, because her wrestling with Wu Lai was a challenge that she had no chance of winning. She learned a lot from Wu Lai, and Wu Lai obviously did not teach her everything he knew. To put it bluntly, her competition with Wu Lai was like a half-learned student challenging a teacher with profound knowledge...

Now, the teacher is going to set a trap for her student again -

Helen knew very well that every time the Tianjuan army went on an expedition from the territory period to the current empire era, it was under the banner of "defending the goddess Luo and protecting the holy land", but in fact, every time, it was an invasion and looting launched mainly for political, religious, social and economic purposes. The noble groups participating in the expedition all had their own goals, such as land, wealth, fame, and slaves. Of course, the Tianjuan army after the victory was no more elegant and noble than any other army. They would plunder, steal, and kill without reason, leaving scorched earth everywhere they passed. This also made the Tianjuan army's reputation worse and worse, until it became the public enemy of the continent...

In the final analysis, it was all greed at work. Helen knew this, but as a saint of the Heavenly Favour, she accepted it because it was a good thing from the Heavenly Favour's perspective. Constant conquests meant constant gains, because the unity of the people of the Heavenly Favour far exceeded that of the other three territories. Their organization, military discipline, and command orders during combat were always very unified, and their logistical supplies in the face of long-term confrontations were also well planned...

But Wu Lai now wanted to strip Tianjuan of his casus belli, not temporarily, but permanently—

Assyria, which believed in the goddess Luo, was no longer a pagan religion from a moral point of view. Even if Tianjuan wanted to forcefully say that it was, he would no longer have an excuse to provoke Assyria, because Ye Renwu's memorial said that Assyria had achieved separation of church and state and emphasized freedom of belief.

In other words, the Assyrian temple has followed the steps of the Senate and the Supreme Noble Council and left the stage of leading Assyria. At the same time, the god Amun is no longer a necessary belief for the Assyrian people - or simply put, Assyria no longer has a unique religion that is opposed to the will of heaven.

Under such circumstances, as long as Assyria does not provoke first, any military action taken by Tianjuan against Assyria can be interpreted as aggression. Even if Helen forcibly defines it as revenge, she will certainly hear a lot of opposition in the country. Although it will not affect her decision or make it difficult for her to move forward, it will definitely make her lose many of her original supporters...

…

In the central square of Assyria, Mikoyan, wearing a brand new archbishop's uniform, stood on the pulpit. Behind him were four knights in bright armor, and three clergymen stood on each side. In front of the pulpit, thousands of people who came to listen to his speeches and sermons stood crowded together.

This was Mikoyan's fifth speech in the Assyrian Central Square this month. Although the content of each speech was the same, Mikoyan did not find it boring at all.

"The sacred and revered High Priest Saint Wulai, for the welfare of all the Assyrian people, overruled all opposition, resolutely and without hesitation abolished the nobility and slaves, and granted the title of 'citizen' and freedom and equality to everyone." Mikoyan raised his right arm high.

"The new Assyrian law defined by the proclamation of Saint Wulai states that all citizens have the right to believe in or not believe in religion, the legal property of all healthy religious groups is protected by law, and citizens, regardless of whether they have religious beliefs or not, have equal opportunities to receive education in accordance with the law. Mutual respect between citizens cannot be changed by the other party's language, customs, or religious beliefs..."

"According to the research of Saint Wulai, in ancient times, when people were still ignorant, the supreme gods Amon and Luo came to the world. They taught humans how to use fire, writing, and medicine, allowing humans to resist severe cold and heat, diseases and disasters..."

"So, for the entire continent, God Amon and Goddess Luo are both true gods of the world! Don't you think so?!" Mikoyan asked loudly.

"Yes!" people echoed.

"So!" Mikoyan's voice became louder. "The decision of the High Priest Saint Wulai to allow the goddess Luo to regain the respect and worship of Assyria is absolutely correct! Right?!"

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"Yes!" People raised their arms and shouted, imitating Mikoyan's example. Although many of them could not quite understand or were not used to the coexistence of two gods, this did not prevent them from raising their hands to show their agreement, because it was Wu Lai who advocated all this. If it were not for him, the Assyrian territory would still be suffering from the slavery and humiliation of the heavenly favor.

The reputation of the high priest is definitely the highest in Assyria since ancient times. While waving his arms and leading the people to praise the two gods, Mikoyan sighed in his heart that when he accepted the order before, he was worried that he would encounter too much resistance, but he didn't expect it to be so smooth - when everyone heard that it was Wu Lai's idea, they all accepted it happily, and not only accepted it, but also took the initiative to help promote it, which saved Mikoyan a lot of trouble.

Mikoyan was only half right in attributing this to Wulai's reputation. The fact that Wulai's "dual gods" could be successfully implemented was largely due to the previous system - in an era when the Senate, the Supreme Council of Nobles and the three giants of the temple simultaneously controlled the military and political affairs of the territory, the main protector of religion was the nobles, and the nobles also had the most contact with it. Although this gave religion enough mystery and sacredness to make it superior, it also doomed it to be basically separated from the common people.

But now it is different. The nobility no longer exists. Coupled with the freedom of religious belief promoted by Wu Lai before, religion has changed from being the exclusive privilege of the nobility and the rich to being close to the people. Although close to the people, its sacredness, mystery, and solemnity are still imprinted in the hearts of the people. As a result, more and more people choose to believe in it. And these new believers will not have so many twists and turns in their minds like the nobles in the past. They simply worship the strong, whether he is Amon or Luo. Some of them even think that Wu Lai is the incarnation of God, not just a representative or messenger...

After delivering a sermon, Mikoyan's back was soaked with sweat, but he was very satisfied with today's results, which allowed him to temporarily forget about the sweat.

Just as he turned around and was about to leave, a clergyman walked quickly to his side, whispered something in his ear, and then Mikoyan frowned.

"Okay, let's go." Mikoyan nodded. The clergyman had just sent a message saying that the high priest had urgently summoned him.

What's the hurry? Mikoyan thought as he walked...

As soon as Mikoyan entered the cabin, Woolley waved him closer and said, "Galileo is dead."

"Ah?..." Mikoyan was stunned.

"I will hold a memorial meeting for him in the central square of Assyria, and you will be the host. You and I both know how much contribution old Galileo made to Assyria, but the people of Assyria do not know. A hero should not be buried. Do you understand what I mean?"

"I understand, High Priest. Don't worry, I will definitely get this done. You can set a time, tomorrow or the day after tomorrow will be fine. I promise I'll be in time." Mikoyan said, secretly glancing at Wu Lai's still red eyes.

"The day after tomorrow, arrange for someone to post the obituary tomorrow." Wu Lai sighed heavily, smiled bitterly and shook his head, "Before I left for the expedition, old Galileo asked me to come back to the island and have a drink with him after I stabilized the situation in Assyria. I nodded at that time, but now... I can only drink with him in the next life..."

Wu Lai's words made Mikoyan feel sour. After sighing quietly, he nodded and said, "Don't worry, High Priest. I will hold a grand and decent memorial service for Brother Galileo."

"I will attend and make a speech. You should contact Mayor De Leng and tell him what I said. The posthumous reputation of a hero should be given to the military and the government." Wu Lai said...

…

Ten days later, in the tent of the Titania Tianjuan Army, Ye Renwu wrote hastily: "... Seven days ago, Wulai Grindo held a memorial service for Galileo of Grindo Island Arsenal in the Assyrian Central Square... Five days ago, Assyria and Annan held a legal publicity event... Two days ago, our army lost 266 cavalrymen..."

After writing for a while, Ye Renwu stopped writing and read the memorial carefully. Feeling that there was nothing missing, he picked up the pen again and added the words "respectfully memorial" and then put it in a paper envelope and sealed it with sealing wax.

King Wushuang should be returning to Hulit Province soon, right? Ye Jianwu thought as he sealed his mouth...