Chapter 312 Religious War
After returning from the inspection in Nelson, it was already November.
After four years of accumulation, the commodity fair in Harland Territory has become a grand spectacle in Grant Kingdom and enjoys a great reputation in the northern border, especially after the sale of alchemical bombs last year, all the nobles in Grant Kingdom have heard of it.
Because there are too many people coming this year, not only northern nobles, but also many southern nobles, more than a hundred caravans of all sizes, plus merchants in Harland Territory, the total number of people attending the fair is more than 30,000.
Because there are too many people coming, the hotel in the castle can't accommodate so many people, and coordinating accommodation and catering is a headache for Roger, and even the prices near Fort William have risen. In the end, some foreign caravans had to live in tents.
November in the northern border is already very cold, and it is not easy to live in tents in such weather. Fortunately, the coal mine sent hundreds of tons of fuel, so that people will not freeze to death.
Although the alchemical bombs in Harland Territory were severely consumed due to the war this year, and only 8,000 were left in stock, Richard still used his prestige to persuade the cadres in the army to take out 4,000 and prepare to put them in the market.
As the Harland Mage Association expanded its manpower, the production of alchemical bombs increased, reaching 8,000 this year. Because of the lack of gold coins due to too much military expansion this year, Richard decided to put half of the production capacity on the market from this year to recover funds.
In recent years of war, Harland Territory's alchemical bombs have become famous. Because of its superior cost performance, it has become the most famous weapon in the Grant Kingdom. The army equipped with this weapon has greatly improved its combat effectiveness.
The three great nobles of Harland Dukedom, Jonathan Dukedom, and Grant Royal Family have mastered the technology of making alchemical bombs, and have obviously opened up a gap with other great nobles in weapons and equipment.
The Duke families of York, Edward, Fox, etc. have sent people to Richard for detailed discussions many times, hoping to trade the alchemical bomb manufacturing technology, but they could not provide suitable chips, so Richard did not agree.
Today, the Harland family has the same political status as several major duke families. Although its economic strength is a little weaker, its military strength is already ranked in the upper reaches of several duke families. It is not afraid of the coercion and inducement of several dukes. Without a suitable deal, Richard will never easily spread the alchemical bomb manufacturing technology to increase the foundation of several dukes.
The political system of the Grant Kingdom, at the duke level, is equivalent to a board shareholder.
Every shareholder is a secret competitor. Although the Harland family is a shareholder who has just entered the board of directors and has little influence in the company, it will not easily sell its own technology to increase the shares of competitors.
Because of the large-scale spread of alchemical bombs, preventing technology leaks has become a top priority.
Since last year, the alchemical bombs manufactured by Harland have been wrapped with a layer of iron sheet to cover the burst rune, and the internal explosives have also made special fire steel wheels. Once disassembled, the burst rune will be triggered immediately, and it will explode in advance, increasing the difficulty of copying.
In addition, a special contract must be signed in advance to purchase alchemical bombs. The contract stipulates that they cannot be resold, given to others, or disassembled for research. If an alchemical bomb is lost, not only will a fine of 2,000 gold coins be paid to Harland. And the quota for continuing to purchase alchemical bombs will be lost.
The contract is quite detailed, with dozens of clauses in total, and buying alchemical bombs has become a very serious matter.
Although the threshold is high and buying alchemical bombs is a bit more troublesome than last year, it still cannot reduce the enthusiasm of the nobles in the northern border.
In the orc invasion war that broke out this year, the nobles found that alchemical bombs are very useful. After the orcs broke through the defense line, they generally divided their troops into battalions. With hundreds of alchemical bombs in hand, it is easy to break the attack of a battalion of orcs.
The nobles who bought alchemical bombs from Harland last year successfully repelled the orcs, not only saving the territory but also making many military exploits. Finding that alchemical bombs are so useful, these people have taken out large sums of money and want to continue to buy a batch to ensure the stability of the territory.
After all, alchemical bombs are consumables and need to be replenished after the war.
Due to the restrictions of the royal contract, the alchemical bombs made by the two nobles, the Grant royal family and Duke Jonathan, can only be used for their own use. Now the Harland family has a monopoly in this market. Even if the contract is very harsh, the nobles of the Northern Frontier can only agree.
On November 3, the first day of the commodity fair, 4,000 alchemical bombs were swept away by the nobles of the Northern Frontier.
Because of Richard's secret control, the nobles who can buy alchemical bombs this year are basically from the Gascoigne Province.
The rebellion a few years ago caused heavy losses to the nobles of the Gascoigne Province.
At that time, several powerful nobles in the Gascoigne Province were infiltrated by the Venus family and deeply involved in the rebellion. In the end, they were liquidated by the Grant royal family and basically swept away.
After losing several viscount families, the noble power of the Gascoigne Province has not recovered until now. Without the help of the noble coalition, every time the orcs invaded, the Mad Lion Legion was left and right and embarrassed.
In recent years, orcs often broke in from the Gascoigne Province, which is also an important reason.
The sale of arms and supplies can help strengthen the Gascoigne Province noble coalition. The military strength of Gascoigne Province is strengthened, and the defensive pressure in the hinterland of Harland will be reduced.
In fact, selling alchemical bombs to the neighboring northern border nobles is a win-win situation.
Four thousand alchemical bombs had just been sold when Pastor Sanders of the Dawn Church in Harland came to the door.
After more than ten years of development, the church power in Harland has increased very quickly.
Up to now, the Dawn Church has built fifteen churches and trained nearly sixty warriors, more than ten formal pastors and magicians, and nearly thirty apprentices. Melee professionals are basically trained locally, and a large part of magic professionals are transferred from the headquarters.
Sanders was also promoted from a fourth-level pastor to a sixth-level pastor, and he was only one step away from entering the top level of the church in the Grant area.
Originally, according to the specifications of the Dukedom of Harland, the bishop should choose a high-level professional, but considering Sanders' hard work and great contributions to the development of the Harland Diocese, and his close relationship with Richard, Nolan's headquarters did not choose to replace him, and temporarily let him act as the bishop, and wait until he breaks through the seventh level to become a regular bishop.
Hearing that the acting bishop Sanders had arrived, Richard immediately invited him to the living room.
"Mr. Sanders came to me tonight. Could it be about the alchemical bomb?"
Richard and Sanders have known each other for many years. The Dawn Church has also cooperated with the policies of the Harland Territory. The two have participated in several battles together. They have some comradeship and a deep friendship. So Richard didn't say anything polite and went straight to the point.
Sanders nodded and said, "Indeed. Duke Richard is still as sharp as before."
"Mr. Sanders, has the church encountered any troubles and needs to strengthen its combat power?"
"I won't hide it from you. The Church of Faith did break out in the Holy Glorious Empire this winter. Although our Dawn Church stayed out of it, the Truth Church suffered heavy losses under the attack of the Kingship Church and the Glorious Church. The alchemical bomb manufacturing technology is actually traded to the Truth Church."
Although Richard became the Duke of Grant Kingdom, the Harland family has a shallow background. He is almost in the dark about the inside story of the upper level of the Dawn Plane. The situation of the Holy Glorious Empire is even more confusing and he can't figure it out at all.
Perhaps it was because he saw Richard becoming a duke that Sanders introduced him to some details of the Holy God Glory Empire.
This plane is named after the Dawn, so naturally the power of the Dawn Goddess is the strongest. However, in the battle with the ancient wizard and the Lord of the Dead, the Dawn Goddess was also the most seriously injured and slept the longest. She barely woke up about a thousand years ago.
The God of Glory was the god with the second strongest power after the Dawn Goddess. His injuries were relatively light and he successfully woke up more than two thousand years ago.
The God of Glory woke up more than a thousand years in advance. Although he could not have too much power to interfere with the real world, under the cultivation of the gods, the strength of the Glory Church exceeded that of the other six gods. When the Holy Glory Empire was established, the Glory Church contributed the most power and its influence also exceeded that of the other six gods.
More than a thousand years ago, with the support of the secular nobles, the Seven Gods Church quickly defeated the orcs and occupied the most fertile land in the Dawn Continent.
But after the victory, deep contradictions accumulated internally.
Less than a hundred years after the orcs were driven to the north, the first religious war broke out in the Holy Glory Empire.
The two warring parties were the Church of the God of Truth and the Church of the God of Glory.
Because the God of Truth awakened earlier, the church's power was second only to the God of Glory, ranking second among the Seven Gods Churches.
Because the magic civilization developed rapidly after the war, the power controlled by the Church of the God of Truth increased greatly. In just over a hundred years, the power controlled by the Church of the God of Truth caught up with the Church of the God of Glory.
With the support of secular believers, the two sides fought a brutal religious war. According to the description of the books handed down, this religious war is said to have killed hundreds of millions of people, almost wiping out half of the population of the Holy Empire of Glory.
At the end of the war, the orcs invaded from the north again, the elves of the East Continent and the dwarves of the West Continent were also ready to move, and even the dragon rushed out of the Dragon Valley of the sub-plane to take advantage.
At such a critical moment, the two warring churches had already fought a deep hatred, and they were still fighting desperately.
Fortunately, the other five major churches joined forces. The Dawn Church and the Kingship Church did their best to defeat the orcs, the Fair God Church suppressed the elves, the Wealth God Church defeated the dwarves, and the Nature God Church repelled the dragon, allowing humans to maintain their dominant position.
After the war, the God of Truth focused its main efforts on the southwest of the Central Continent and formed an alliance with the magic nobles.
Because the Dawn Church was weak at the time, it did not participate in the religious war and focused its main efforts on preaching in the northeast of the Central Continent. In recent years, its apparent strength has ranked third among the Seven Gods Churches.
In the past few hundred years, with the evolution of the situation, the Dawn Church has a closer relationship with the Truth Church, the Kingship Church has formed an alliance with the Radiant Church, and the three weakest churches of Wealth, Nature, and Fairness are also vaguely approaching.
Because the first religious war was too tragic, the Seven Gods Church learned a lesson and formulated the Seven Gods Treaty, prohibiting the mobilization of secular forces to participate in religious wars. It also prohibits the power of the Seven Gods Church from participating in secular wars. Although everyone has taken advantage of some loopholes, the treaty has not been publicly torn up yet, and the balance is generally maintained.
After listening to Sanders' explanation, Richard immediately grasped the main contradiction of the Dawn Plane, which is the war between gods.
In fact, the main forces of this plane are supported by gods.
There are seven gods behind humans. Although these gods are seriously injured, they are still recovering and their strength ranks first. In addition to their own efforts, the support of gods is also an important reason for humans to become the overlord of the plane.
Behind the Orc Empire, there are two orc gods. These two orc gods are also outsiders, but they have not mastered the core power. After the clones came to the Dawn Plane, their strength was suppressed. They were only equivalent to the fourth-level legend and did not have the power to overwhelm the Seven Gods Church. In the war a thousand years ago, they even lost two clones and were swallowed by the seven gods of humans.
The situation of elves, dwarves and orcs is roughly the same, but they are not so aggressive.
Although there is no god behind the dragon, there is a demigod dragon, which is stronger than the god's clone in the Dawn Plane.
Even behind the skeleton of the undead, there is a vague figure of the Undead Lord. The Undead Lord is the master of the plane, and the power he controls is stronger than the gods.
The protection of the church is also a very important reason why the Harland family can develop to this day. After the battle to block the plane channel, the power of the Dawn Church valued Richard very much and has been supporting the Harland leader in these years.
Moreover, the Harland family has been believers of the Dawn Goddess for generations, so of course it is impossible for them to support other gods. Even if Richard does not have a deep belief in the Dawn Goddess and is ready to defect to another church, he has no upper-level connections to use.
Hearing Sanders' request, Richard said happily: "Given our relationship, I will not set up obstacles for the trade of alchemical bomb manufacturing technology.
But I have a question in my mind. The Church of the God of Truth has a great influence in the Southwest Magic Kingdom. It should be able to get the manufacturing technology of alchemical bombs from the Heart of Elements, right? Why go far away? You know, the alchemical bombs made by the Heart of Elements are twice as powerful as those made in our territory. Is it that the religious war between the two families is very fierce and they need to reduce costs?"
Sanders nodded and said: "This religious conflict is indeed very fierce. In just two months, the Church of Truth is said to have mobilized more than 100,000 soldiers and consumed tens of thousands of alchemical bombs. Even though the Church of Truth is big and powerful, the pressure is also serious. We can't let the Church of Truth If the Church of the God of Truth fails, we must give them some support in secret. If the Church of Truth fails, the pressure will fall on us.
The Harland Territory is deeply involved with the Church of Dawn. The Holy Empire of Light is not only overbearing, but also very conservative and closed, and does not trust outsiders at all. If the Church of Light wins, the Harland family may not survive.
As for the bargaining chips for exchange, the church can provide a batch of magic potion formulas, a total of twelve, such as Morning Light Potion, Starry Sky Potion, Frost Potion, Arcane Potion, and eight elemental affinity potions.
In addition, the Dawn Church can provide twelve copies of each potion, and also provide you with a Holy Light Potion to help you advance to the seventh ring magician one or two years earlier.
Compared with the Grant Royal Family and Grand Duke Jonathan, the church's trading conditions are much more relaxed than theirs. "