The Snake Cult worships the evil god Aziz Dahaka.
According to Anson, this is a god that lives in a gray cumulonimbus cloud, has a body like a giant snake, scales like a horned viper, and fleshy wings on its back - this is the pattern of the Theological Seminary in Boshi City.
Logically speaking, the appearance of this giant flying snake often means fear and destruction.
But in the eyes of the Snake Cult believers, this is not the case.
Anson and Roland had both seen members of the Snake Cult—Bacchus was once filled with them.
In the eyes of the Snake Cult followers, Aziz Dahaka is the 'merciful goddess'.
It's hard to imagine that this giant snake could be a goddess...
But according to the snake worshippers, people are born to suffer, and the world is originally a purgatory, unless everything is destroyed and the "Kingdom of God" is rebuilt on earth.
The 'merciful goddess' will respond to the prayers of every believer, bring strength to devout believers, and take the believers to the kingdom of God after their death to enjoy all the good things.
Moreover, if the kingdom of God could be built on earth, then the devout snake worshippers would be able to achieve their wishes, become eternal and immortal beings, and enjoy blessings forever.
Obviously, this is a sect that uses the means of spreading despair and fear, and the promises of beautiful results such as "power", "afterlife" and "kingdom of God" as a way of deceiving people. It is also highly inflammatory, and basically every doctrine exists for the purpose of rebellion.
At the same time, the Snake Cult is also very good at using various drug tools, such as the Snake Heart Stone.
This clearly organized sect has a fatal attraction for the lower-class people who have neither knowledge nor hope.
It just so happened that the Bacchus Empire had always implemented the Law of Equality - this was the ancient Bacchus tradition, which divided people into several levels based on their bloodline and wealth, with clear and fixed distinctions between classes.
As conquerors, the descendants of the Bacchus were naturally superior people; and the natives and their descendants in the southern part of the Pendor continent were naturally inferior people...
Only the descendants of Bacchus could join the legion.
The Pande natives are not allowed to own weapons and can only be farmers or laborers all their lives.
In fact, for a long time, the lower class poor and slaves in Bacchus were not considered as population at all, but as livestock.
The Pende natives in Bacchus have their fate determined from the moment they are born.
This situation is the norm for foreign conquerors to carry out colonial rule.
However, as the motherland of Bacchus on the Amala continent had been completely destroyed, this conqueror's way of ruling not only made the Bacchus Empire increasingly weaker, but also provided the best soil for the spread of Snake Worship.
The descendants of the local nobles who had been surrendered by General Osa, led the indigenous "lower class" who had lost hope in life, and have been constantly launching resistance during the more than 100 years of colonial rule, with rebellions breaking out everywhere.
Even though many of the natives of Pendor knew that the Snake Cult had problems, they would still join it to gain strength to fight against the Bacchus Empire - long-term oppression, hatred, and hopeless life made them firmly believe that they were living in hell, and they would rather destroy everything.
However, the Bacchus Empire did not have enough military power to suppress it.
The fleet that General Osa led to invade Pendor consisted of only tens of thousands of Bacchus, and many of them died in the battle. Compared with the indigenous people of the entire southern part of Pendor, the descendants of these Bacchus are a minority group.
However, their traditional civilian law meant that only descendants of Bacchus could join the legion to fight, so one can imagine how scarce the source of soldiers was.
As a result, the Snake Cult became more and more rampant in Bacchus, with more and more believers, and even gradually infiltrated high-level officials at the archon level.
Fortunately, at that time, a mad king appeared in the Kingdom of the Fierce Lion, and the country was even more chaotic than Bacchus. The two countries were competing with each other for the worst at the time, which gave the Bacchus Empire a chance to change.
Emperor Marius was a wise man. He launched targeted reforms just after he ascended the throne twenty years ago.
He first established the harvest goddess 'Damia Providence' as the main god of Bacchus.
The image of this goddess is that of a mature woman with a kind face, naked with only a wreath of wheat ears covering her key parts. She looks gentle and plump.
This is one of the main gods of Pendor, and is the god of harvest commonly worshipped by farmers in the southern part of the continent of Pendor.
Emperor Marius required all descendants of the Bacchus to worship the native goddess Damia of Pende, and he even replaced his crown with a wheat ear wreath pattern of the goddess Damia.
This is of course to change the image of the Bacchus invaders, integrate them into the local area of ​​Pendor as much as possible, and reduce the opposition of the indigenous people.
At the same time, this policy can also play another role - the image of the harvest goddess is beautiful and abundant, and using this image of the main god full of beautiful yearnings and rich hopes can actively fill people's faith and curb the spread of snake worship.
After all, compared to a giant snake with wings, the Harvest Goddess appears to be more approachable just from her image alone.
Subsequently, Emperor Marius personally completely destroyed the traditional civil laws of the Bacchus Empire and re-promulgated the civil law.
The citizenship law abolished the human hierarchy and stipulated that both the Bacchus and the Pendor natives were citizens of the empire with equal status, without distinction of superiority or inferiority.
Emperor Marius did not completely abolish slavery, but he gave everyone, including slaves, a ladder to rise - anyone could join the legion to fight and improve their status by making military achievements.
But if you join the Snake Cult, no matter what your previous status was, you will be treated as a slave.
At the same time, he promoted many of the native Pendor people to lords and granted local lords autonomy over those areas that could not be governed.
In civil affairs, the traditional veto power of the "tribune" was also abolished, and replaced by a collegial panel system in which the lord, the superior consul, and the elected tribunes jointly deliberated.
The tribunes were representatives elected from the common people. Since only Bacchus were considered human beings in the past, the original tribunes were all Bacchus. They would only side with the Bacchus and would not protect the interests of the native inhabitants of Pendor.
The new policy requires elected tribunes to be chosen from villagers according to population ratio, including people from all ethnic groups, which is relatively fairer to the people.
This is to move closer to the mainland of Pendor, or to fully integrate the Bacchus into the continent of Pendor.
In addition, he implemented a thorough separation of soldiers and farmers in the Bacchus Empire, replacing compulsory conscription with a volunteer system, and then formed a number of new large-scale legions, all of which were equipped by the state or the emperor himself.
——This professional military system is actually more advanced than Pendor's native knight conscription system, and civilians have more opportunities for advancement.
His newly formed 'Immortal Legion' didn't care whether the recruits were Pendor or Bacchus, and treated everyone equally within the legion.
The Imperial Gladiator Corps was composed entirely of slaves and criminals who had crawled out of the arena.
This enabled the Bacchus Empire to obtain a wide range of military resources, so in the past decade or so, when facing the Fierce Lion Kingdom, the Bacchus Empire was able to gain the upper hand most of the time and occupied a lot of territory.
This political system reform carried out by the gods, the people, and the military has truly integrated Bacchus into Pendor in the past twenty years. It has also brought hope to the majority of the people. Internal conflicts have gradually eased, and the national strength of the Bacchus Empire has become stronger and stronger.
Emperor Marius' reforms also received strong support from the Knights of the Radiant Cross at the first time. Scholars of the Knights of the Radiant Cross even helped Emperor Marius establish some seminaries, not only to spread Damian beliefs, but also to spread more scientific medical skills.
Spreading theological and medical knowledge can also suppress the Snake Cult, and at the same time make the country of Bacchus recognized by the people. Anson once studied in the seminary in the city of Boshi.
These new policies brought Emperor Marius great prestige. Most of the Pandites in Bacchus no longer regarded him as a descendant of conquerors, but as a true emperor, just of a different nationality.
It took the Bacchus Empire 150 years to achieve true rule, from being an invader to gaining recognition from the local people.
But the reform policies that achieved actual results were all promulgated by Emperor Marius, who took less than twenty years to implement them.
During these twenty years, he had to face tremendous pressure, abandon traditions, face opposition from the Bacchus people, and complete changes in national policy despite various internal and external troubles.
As a foreign ruler, actively seeking to integrate into Pender and return rights to the Penderites is far braver than being a pure conqueror.
Of course, the reform clauses initiated by Emperor Marius were not limited to these, but Anson and Sarah didn't know more.
Of course, the information Sarah found had been verified, and she would not tell any rumors that she was not sure of.
Just like what happened with Alfred, Duke of Sarleon in the months before he became king, she didn't find any information, so she wouldn't make random guesses.
She would leave the judgment to the Lord himself.
This is undoubtedly the style of an excellent foreign affairs officer - not adding personal subjective assumptions to work, but only objectively collecting information and performing tasks.
Li Ang was digesting this information along the way.
For him, these historical materials are of great significance. They not only enable him to verify his original strategy, but also provide him with learning and thinking.
The reforms of Emperor Marius had a profound impact on him, and the lord even wanted to meet the emperor.
Of course, not now.
Now the convoy is moving forward, passing through hundreds of miles of uninhabited areas, and has entered the territory of the Bacchus Empire.
The transport team was not large, with only five vehicles and a dozen people, and the drivers were all from Mettenheim.
The Lord disguised himself as a fur trader - or rather, he did not disguise himself at all, he was originally a trader, and the people of Mettenheim were originally mercenaries...
The trade route from Changhe Town to Dilingang is actually a very reasonable route, and the lord has thought it over carefully.
Leather happens to be a commodity that is in short supply in the southern part of the Bacchus Empire. The climate in the southern part of the Pand Continent is hot and there are few pastures, which is not suitable for large-scale breeding of cattle and sheep. There are also very few wild boars and wild deer making a living there.
This was already known when the Lord held the Double Eleven event last time . At that time, the merchants from Changhe Town basically sold all their inventory to Bacchus.
Southern coastal ports like Dilingang have a lot of seafood such as pearls and corals, as well as cheap salt and spices, and are also a good place to purchase goods.
In the Kingdom of Fierce Lion, many people raise cattle and sheep. There are many forests and mountains around Changhe Town, as well as many wild animals, so furs and other things are relatively abundant.
There are many leather products produced in Changhe Town, Yongdun Castle, Shihu City and other places.
Of course, some furs were obtained through private transactions with the Jatu people.
Therefore, the most common local products in Changhe Town are leather products - of course, there is also a less common local product, the Noldor elves...
As one of the local specialties, Risa Dilan is indeed in the team.
The people of Mettenheim, Sarah, Amy and others all knew about Lisadiran's existence. However, although they were on the same path, Lisadiran did not walk with the others.
He was always not far behind Leon, either in the woods or in a dark place where no light could reach.
Occasionally I would go to the main road for a while, but I would always turn around and no one would be there.
This Noldor elf seems to be a little autistic now. He hasn't spoken to anyone for a long time. Only the lord can communicate with him occasionally.
After completing the task of blowing the horn last time, Lisadiran hid in the forest until the ceasefire, and he met his own people, a patrol team, in the Noldor Forest.
The sound of the horn in the forest would of course attract the investigation of the Noldor elves, but the Noldor obviously did not want to pay attention to the war of humans.
Lisadilan and his people just looked at each other from a distance in the woods, and no one spoke.
Lisadilan didn't dare to speak because he was exiled. High Lord Islandil would not allow him to return to the Noldor Forest. He was afraid of being attacked by his own people and didn't know how to face them.
His people probably recognized him, and perhaps that was also the reason why they didn't speak - they didn't want to attack Risadilan, but they also didn't know how to face this exiled guy.
As a result, Lisa Dillan was probably a little depressed after returning to McFlurry.
Although he had been living like this for more than ten years without being able to return home, this was the first time he was speechless with his tribesmen in the Changhe Forest.
As an exiled sinner, Risadiran was unable to interact with his people;
But most humans regarded the Noldor as enemies, so he could not have too much contact with humans.
This probably made him feel lonely and out of tune with this world.
Li Ang can understand this feeling of loneliness.
Because, the Lord himself is not from this world...
But no one can help with this kind of loneliness, so Leon did not bother Lisa Dilan.
The lord felt that Lisadilan's current condition was not bad. Perhaps he did not want to talk to anyone, but the loneliness in his heart made him devote himself to his work wholeheartedly.
As a qualified entrepreneur, Li Ang would not interfere with his employees' dedication to their work...
This elf killer was certainly not a fragile person. In fact, he did not show much abnormality, but he hid deeper. Sometimes even the lord did not know where he was.
But unless it is inconvenient for the lord to take him with him, he will definitely be near the lord, and he will come out when Leon calls him.
After all, his duty is to serve as a secret guard and protect the safety of the lord.
Of course, I have to bring this bodyguard with me on this long journey.
The transport team flew three flags, Leon's black and white griffin flag, Godric's three lions flag, and Leofric's red griffin flag. They were all shareholders, so of course they had to protect their own businesses.
With the three flags flying together, safety can basically be guaranteed in the Fierce Lion Territory. After all, this represents the lord of the entire eastern region. No matter who the nobles or bandits are, they always have to think carefully.
The risk would naturally be higher after leaving Sarleon, but as long as there were no bandits, the lords or soldiers of Bacchus would generally not attack a caravan flying several noble flags.
After all, no one is a fool. If they easily rob a merchant company backed by so many nobles, it might trigger a large-scale war, and they will definitely be tracked down at that time.
Of course, if there were no three baron flags, the caravan would have been robbed by Bacchus’ patrols not long after entering Bacchus’ territory.
Bacchus's soldiers don't worry about those ordinary businessmen with no background...
However, in order to minimize the risks, the convoy cautiously bypassed the fortresses on the border between the two countries to avoid trouble from the border garrisons of the Bacchus Empire.
In this era, it was common for merchants and travelers to enter the country secretly. After all, the garrison in the border counties was limited in number and it was difficult to keep an eye on them.
The lord entered the Bacchus Empire from between Shieldwind Fortress and Karen Deer Fortress - there were hundreds of miles of wilderness between these two border fortresses.
Afterwards, the convoy prepared to make a brief stop in the village of Imei to replenish some necessities such as food, water, and horse feed.
Imeier Village is actually a subordinate village of Shieldwind Fortress, but it is quite far away from Shieldwind Fortress, at least more than two hundred miles away.
The Shieldwind Fortress of the Bacchus Empire is somewhat similar to the Seven Forks Fortress of the Fierce Lion Kingdom. It is a relatively pure military fortress and is the front line facing the Fierce Lion Kingdom. It can even be regarded as an isolated mid-way fortress.
More than a hundred years ago, when the Bacchus Empire was first established, the population originally living in the border areas were relocated to the heart of the empire, leaving a few hundred miles of uninhabited buffer zone on the border between the two countries, and the Shield Wind Fortress was built at the same time.
This fortress is located just south of the Dengjir Mountains, and the straight-line distance from Bailu Fort is only more than 300 miles, which is equivalent to the distance from Changhe Town to Bailu Fort.
The original intention of building the fortress was to serve as an outpost when the Bacchus Empire attacked the White Hart Castle, and also to avoid a counterattack from the Fierce Lion Kingdom, so the fortress was located far away from the village where people lived.
The buffer zone of several hundred miles also weakened the advantage of the heavy cavalry of the Kingdom of Sarleon - the heavy cavalry of the Sarleon Kingdom was actually not suitable for long-term combat in the wild.
Due to the existence of this buffer zone of several hundred miles, the Knights of the Fierce Lion Territory rarely attack the Bacchus Empire from the east, because it is both time-consuming and laborious, and they cannot find supplies along the way, nor can they find local laborers.
In the past two or three decades, Baron Godric of White Hart Fort has never attacked, so the village of Imer under the jurisdiction of Shieldwind Fortress has spent decades of stable peace.
As a subordinate village of a border fortress, it has not experienced war for decades. This is incredible...
But another border area of ​​the Bacchus Empire, Karen Deer Castle, did not receive the same treatment.
Almost every large-scale attack launched by the Kingdom of Fierce Lions targeted the Castle of Karen Deer. The villages under the Castle of Karen Deer had been ravaged for a long time and were almost in ruins.
Even Karen Deerburg had given up Salem Village, the village closest to the Kingdom of Sarleon - this village was basically deserted and now was as completely empty as the village of Trubrun in Changhe Town.
Although both are subordinate villages of the border castle, the difference between Imer and Seren is really huge.
Today, most of the original residents of Seren Village and Barug, another subordinate village of Karen Deer Castle, have moved to Imer.
So in the past twenty or thirty years, Imer has developed into a large town with a population of over ten thousand, which is larger than the village of Kwin.
But the population in Imei Village is more densely populated, and there are more streets and villagers in the center of the village. It looks very lively and feels like a big city without walls. There is also a small square in the village.