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The only places with tighter defenses than the royal palace are probably the places where great wizards live.
"No, it's impossible..." Purson shook his head. This place was a large open area and was the training ground for the knights of the kingdom. The great wizards would never condescend to live in such a thing.
It's most likely the place where those witchcraft weapons were made...
What surprised Purson a little was that the places protected by the magic barrier even included several churches in the royal capital.
It seems that although those followers of the evil god have occupied the royal capital, they are also afraid of the majesty of God and dare not destroy the residence dedicated to the Lord at will!
As Pulson thought this, he had no idea that the reason these churches were not demolished was because their tops were high enough, making them suitable as factories for producing lead bullets. In fact, the interiors had already been greatly changed, and even the statue of [Ella] had been melted. Otherwise, he would surely rush into the royal capital in anger to kill this damn blasphemer.
"Very good!" After looking at the map, Edwill showed a smile on his face, and then asked someone to bring up a nobleman from the kingdom.
He was an old nobleman, about fifty years old, with a thin face and wrinkles all over his face. When he saw Edelweir, he couldn't wait to bow down to him.
"Sir Suze, I think the secret passage leading to the royal capital should not have been destroyed by those evil god believers, right?" Edwill asked confidently.
Chapter 351: Avoid the enemy’s strengths and attack his weaknesses!
"I have verified it, Lord Edelweir, and the secret passage is still passable." The old Suzi said excitedly.
"After we capture the capital, I will report your achievements to the Pope." Edwill nodded, and then explained to the confused bishops.
Few people know that in order to avoid failure in the fight for the throne and end up dead, the eldest prince Harold deliberately dug a secret passage underground in the royal capital.
The entrance is in a deep well in the slums of the royal capital, and the exit is in the dense forest of the west gate.
The only ones who knew about this were the eldest prince and a few trusted confidants.
It was a pity that the evil god's followers captured the royal capital too suddenly. On the way to the secret passage, the eldest prince was blocked from front and back by two teams of musketeers, and both he and his personal guards were killed in the hail of bullets.
Only Suzi received the order and was responsible for guarding the exit, so he escaped.
After hearing this, all the bishops present realized that Edelweir had already had a countermeasure. Although the attack at noon today seemed fierce, it was actually just a test to see what tricks those evil god believers had.
"Pulson, you will lead a group of secret guards to sneak into the royal capital and wait for my instructions!" Edelweir spoke again and gave the order.
"Yes, I will obey the Lord's will!"
Pulson replied respectfully, all his previous doubts about Edelweir's poor command being swept away.
The Dark Guards are a special force carefully nurtured by the Holy See. They are not as famous as the Divine Punishment Army and the Griffin Knights, but their abilities are equally outstanding, and they are the best killers and spies.
There have always been voices within the Vatican that the existence of secret guards has tarnished the holiness of the Lord, but Purson is not one of those old stubborn conservatives. In order to deal with those insidious and cunning believers of the evil god who master strange witchcraft, sometimes he has to use some shady means.
The strongest fortress is often breached from within!
After agreeing on a plan to capture the capital by combining internal and external forces, the bishops discussed how to deal with the wizards' endless new weapons and minimize casualties.
"Although these weapons are powerful, they take some time to operate and prepare. I have observed that the shooting interval of the hand-held muskets is about one minute, but they will shoot in multiple segments to create continuous offensives, while the interval of more powerful artillery is about half a minute..." A cardinal analyzed with a serious expression.
Such a long interval was undoubtedly a huge flaw. If there were no city walls blocking the way, they would only need to use magic to protect thousands of cavalrymen and force their way through to easily win.
In addition, judging from the style of their weapons, the close combat capabilities of these musketeers should not be strong. Some bishops even arrogantly believed that only 800 God's Punishment Army soldiers were needed to kill all the tens of thousands of musketeers on the city wall.
"During the day, their vision is very wide, and they can fully unleash the power of these weapons. Perhaps we can resort to night warfare. No matter how powerful these new weapons are, it will be futile if we can't aim accurately..." a cardinal suggested.
This is undoubtedly another advantage of theirs.
Both the God's Punishment Army and the Griffin Knights, with the assistance of their own divine arts, can see in the dark and display combat capabilities that are no less than usual.
But the same may not be true for their enemies!
"It's a very good plan!" said Edwill appreciatively.
It is not practical to find a way to crack the system in such a short time, but they can completely avoid the enemy's strengths and attack their weaknesses.
"Then let's set the time five days later!" Edelweir made the decision.
Five days?
Purson thought about it and decided that would be the time when reinforcements would arrive.
……
For the next few days, tens of thousands of troops of the Holy See were surrounded outside the city. Apart from the griffin knights flying over the capital from time to time to carry out routine harassment, there was no other movement.
While Lin En was busy developing new firearms, he did not neglect the gathering of intelligence. He arranged a whole battalion of musketeers to stare at these people's every move with telescopes, and asked some psychic wizards to control some inconspicuous small animals to see if they could sneak into the opponent's tent to gather some information.
However, their enemies obviously had extremely rich experience. The entire camp was wrapped in a divine magic barrier. No matter whether it was a bird or an animal, as long as it was contaminated with magic, it would be identified when passing through.
Even the few moles that Lynn personally controlled were dug out from the ground. Their perception ability was terrifying. In the end, they could only do the next best thing and conduct exploration from a distance to assist the musketeers in their exploration work.
"Aren't divine arts and magic the same thing? Why can they easily tell the difference between the two?" Lin En was puzzled. After learning about the birth of the Holy See, this doubt has been lingering in his mind.
"I don't know much about this. I'm afraid only the speakers know the inside story." Raphael shook his head hesitantly, then lowered his head to check the two pieces of intelligence in his hand.
Whether it was the musketeers observing through telescopes or the psychic wizards controlling living creatures, the information they reported was very consistent.
In the past few days, the Vatican's expeditionary army has been busy cutting down trees in the dense forest outside the city and making new siege equipment. They are unlikely to have any intention of attacking in the short term.
"So we can take a good rest for some time." Raphael slowly breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that they had indeed dealt a heavy blow to the punitive army in the last battle and established a certain deterrent, making them dare not act rashly again.
Of course, it is also possible that Edwell felt that they were a tough nut to crack, so he planned to wait for reinforcements to arrive.
"It's better not to let your guard down!" Lynn did not agree with Raphael's judgment. Sometimes the calmer things are, the more undercurrents there are.
"By the way, can we also create a magic barrier covering the entire city like them?" Lin En suddenly asked. This would undoubtedly be a good way to prevent attacks and could save them a lot of trouble.
"This... I'm afraid it's not easy." Raphael shrugged helplessly. The area of the royal capital was too large, dozens of times larger than the camp set up by the Vatican's expeditionary army. The consumption of magic power would definitely be an astronomical figure. Even if these great wizards joined forces, they might not be able to hold on for long.
Using the magic stone reserves to hold on is not a solution.
Wizards are not like priests and bishops who can get the help of that false god by just shouting a few words of praise.
Chapter 352: All These Tribulations Are God’s Tests!
Due to the limited supply of magic stones, they can only prioritize protecting those key areas.
For example, a granary, an armory, or an alchemy research institute.
After Dennis' explanation, Lin En had no choice but to give up this wonderful idea and continued to ask with regret, "Then there has been no unusual movement among the believers in the capital and the nobles under house arrest recently, right?"
Compared with external threats, he was more worried about chaos within the royal capital. If the capital was caught in a dilemma both internally and externally, it would be really troublesome.
"We have been sending people to monitor those nobles. The people in the capital are also relatively well behaved. Apart from the training team catching a few poor people who gathered to pray, the rest of the people have not made any unusual moves."
The one who answered was Redel, who was currently in charge of patrolling and defending the royal capital.
However, this task is not easy, because they have only recently occupied the capital, and some believers are still very resistant.
Since the royal family is still in existence, they cannot gain the recognition of the poor by distributing land or hanging evil nobles.
The only thing to be thankful for was that when they captured the royal capital, the cardinal had helped them capture the fanatics, and now they were all taken to the mines for transformation.
The rest are ordinary believers. Although they believe in the false god [Ella], they are not fanatical enough to sacrifice their lives for it.
"Concepts cannot be changed in a short period of time." Lin En nodded. He had a rough estimate of the situation inside the royal capital. After thinking for a while, he made a suggestion.
"You can try to start with the errors and omissions in the Bible, pick out some that are easy to disprove, and do some novel experiments. The more eye-catching the better. You can also give this knowledge to children first, as they are always more receptive and can slowly influence adults."
Hearing this, Redleton's eyes lit up and he immediately ran to make arrangements.
Lin En didn't care about Redel's impetuous temper. He took the map beside him and wondered if there were any omissions in the defense of the royal capital.
"I think your arrangement is perfect!" Raphael shook his head helplessly. In his opinion, Lin En was a little too cautious.
He had also seen the defense map of the royal capital. There was a guard post every five steps and a sentry post every ten steps. Many emergency measures were also arranged to ensure that if any chaos broke out in any area, more than a thousand musketeers and at least fifty wizards would arrive at the scene within a minute to suppress the rebellion.
"It's enough to deal with the riots of those believers, but what if the Vatican's punitive army suddenly appears in the city? These forces alone are far from enough, and the losses will be unpredictable." Lin En said worriedly.
"But didn't you ask King Hattar before? The king did not leave any secret passages when designing and repairing the city." Raphael said hesitantly.
"What if they dig a tunnel directly here?" Lin En asked.
How is this possible? Raphael rolled his eyes. The Vatican's punitive army's base is at least ten kilometers away from here!
Even if they dig at all costs, it will take ten days or half a month. By then, their new weapons will have been developed and they can launch a counterattack.
Lin En didn't think so. He had seen the time and space gate in the magic stone mine. Maybe those priests also mastered similar magic.
In recent times, those griffin riders have been risking being shot down and frequently coming to harass and investigate, which probably has a hidden meaning.
Lin En touched his chin. It was a pity that these griffins had a very sensitive sense of smell and the laser launcher had not been completed yet. Otherwise, he could send airships to cut off the opponent's food supply.
No matter how powerful a person is, he still needs to eat. Even great wizards like them are no exception. Maybe they can survive by going hungry for three to five days, but there will always be some impact over time.
Well... maybe that false god [Ella] is an exception.
When Lin En was wondering whether the god needed to eat, an apprentice knocked on the door and walked in, saying respectfully, "Master Dean... Master Anthony is looking for you, as well as several alchemy masters from the research institute."
"What a coincidence! It looks like our new weapon has been completed!" Lin En's frown finally relaxed.
"I've been annoyed with the Vatican's punitive army for a long time!" Raphael said happily. They had been hiding in the city and passively taking beatings these days, and the depression in their hearts was about to explode.
……
A day passed in a flash, and the poor people in the capital had gradually adapted to the wartime life. When they looked up, they could still see large groups of griffin knights flying through the sky.
The shadow brought by the rain of fire that fell from the sky five days ago still looms over everyone's heart, but life goes on anyway, and they cannot stop their work even in the war.
Griphook was an ordinary poor man in the royal capital. Before those damned wizards occupied the royal capital, he would go to the church at this time every week to listen to the priests' teachings, confess his sins, and put all his meager savings except for his livelihood into the church's donation box.
According to the priests, the sound you hear when you put copper coins into the box is the sound of your soul being purified!
Griphook agreed with this deeply, because he was too poor, without a wife or children, and his only hope was to ascend to the kingdom of God after his death and enjoy endless joy and happiness.
There are endless steaks to eat and endless wine to drink, and beautiful elves as servants to serve his daily life...
God's kingdom has everything he longs for!
Lahhuan had always believed that his faith was extremely firm, until two months ago, when that group of evil god followers invaded the capital and created killing and chaos, the Lord's call suddenly sounded in his mind.
But Griphook was afraid and hesitated, and did not obey the first call, because there were vicious wizard minions outside. If he dared to go out, he would definitely be captured and sacrificed to the evil god, and his soul would fall into the endless abyss.
Afterwards, it was heard that the Lord's incarnation had descended on the royal capital, but was dispersed by several streams of light!
Griphook was both confused and frightened. God was great, eternal, omniscient and omnipotent. Even if only an incarnation came down, there was no way he could be defeated by a group of evil believers.
This must be fake, it must be an illusion created by those weird wizards, it is a blasphemy against God!