Chapter 278 The Usurper
Alistair probably does know a lot of information, but he is not in a good condition right now, so he cannot be questioned for the time being.
In fact, his life was not in danger, nor did he fall into a coma. Even the wound under his crotch was treated by Jocelyn and it had stopped bleeding.
Jocelyn showed a certain kindness towards Alistair. After all, he was his former comrade-in-arms and the two did have a friendship in the past.
However, ever since Alistair was hit by Leon's sword that could cut off his descendants, he has been lifeless and dispirited, and no longer paying attention to anything. He didn't even react when Jocelyn took off his pants to treat his wound.
His whole state is basically the same as that of a male cat who has just undergone sterilization surgery, perfectly illustrating what it means to have "no desire to live".
This is understandable. Any man who has his penis cut off will definitely become depressed.
It was not until Jocelyn handed him a small clay pot sealed with wax that he had a little reaction - he hugged the small clay pot tightly in his arms and began to cry silently without saying a word.
The jar contained the half...'remnant' that Jocelyn had taken out from Alistair's crotch.
Le Ang couldn't question this desperate guy for the time being - Alistair was in no condition to ask any questions, and his hostility towards Le Ang must be at its peak.
After all, it was the lord himself who did it.
"It seems that Bridget will indeed escape...Ediz, do you know anything else about Bridget? Where do you think he will go?"
Leon planned to get some information from Ediz first.
"Lord Leon, I only know that Bridget once said he wanted to build a 'kingdom of God', but I don't know much about him... At first I thought he was a kind man who generously lent me money."
Ediz replied.
He probably really didn't know much, otherwise he wouldn't know he was being deceived.
But even just this one sentence is enough.
The lord immediately had an idea: "Ediz, what kind of equipment did Bridge wear last night? Go get an identical set..."
After sending Ediz away, Leon first began to deal with the war in Toba City.
Toba City has been basically occupied by Leon at present, but it can only be called "basic occupation" and cannot be called "complete control".
Because the Desha people in the city are only afraid of Leon's army and temporarily stop resisting openly, but there must be many rebels hiding in the city secretly. Leon must be on guard against assassination or sneak attacks at all times.
But the inner castle and the treasury were indeed taken over in their entirety. The treasury has not yet been counted, but the supplies stored in it are not many. Preliminary estimates show that the stock inside is worth about 500,000 dinars - which is really too little for a national treasury.
Fortunately, they are all high-value hard currencies such as gold, silver and velvet, so they are very convenient to carry.
The inner castle was largely undamaged, but the storerooms were basically empty. Apparently Cardin had taken away most of the valuables.
It was expected that Cardan would recruit soldiers and take away most of the property.
Right now, every household in Toba City has closed its doors and is extremely quiet, but this is not the state that a city that has just been conquered should be in.
In fact, there is always some sporadic resistance in ordinary cities.
If there was no resistance at all and it was completely quiet, it could only mean that there must be a lot of D'Shar warriors loyal to Cardan hiding in the houses.
This actually means risk.
"Sir, we have deployed personnel to various places in the city. Do we need to clear all the residents out onto the streets? I mean, do we want to publicly execute the captives?"
In the castle in Toba City, Eric began to ask for instructions on how to proceed.
Eric's martial arts skills were not good, so he basically did not have to go to the battlefield during combat. His main job in the army group was seal-bearing officer, and he also served as a logistics officer - in fact, these were the two highest civilian positions in the army.
Of course, these two positions were originally mainly intended to facilitate Eric's control over those businessmen.
But now that the merchants are not in the team, Eric's main responsibility has become to convey orders to other lords, that is, to be responsible for dispatching those small lords who have joined the army but are not Leon's direct subordinates.
Usually, after occupying an enemy city, the conqueror would gather the residents and announce some orders or policies.
Sometimes the policy was mild—when the conqueror intended to rule the land for a long time;
More often than not, the orders would be harsh, even cruel - for example, when it was necessary to lure out rebels hiding among the residents, some captives might be publicly executed in a brutal and cruel manner.
Eric's intention was obviously the latter - he knew that his boss had no intention of occupying Toba City for a long time, he only needed to completely clear Toba City and ensure its safety.
"No, Eric, just declare martial law and order no one to go out on the streets. There's no need to clear the city. We don't need to attract hatred... I don't plan to stay in the city anyway."
Li Ang shook his head and walked out of the inner castle, giving orders as he walked: "Seal the door of the inner castle, and have Klose empty the treasury in the city. Don't leave any valuables behind..."
Walking out of the inner castle, Leon turned around and asked Wendy behind him : "Where are those female knights? Call them over... and find some sets of Omen Seeker equipment."
Those female knights were the eight female explorers sent by Amy. Sarah went to the Holy Mountain of Ghazi with Sigismund, and these eight female trainee knights temporarily served as Leon's guards together with Wendy.
"Sir, do you want them to change into the Omen Seekers' equipment?"
Wendy was very smart and guessed Leon's plan.
"Yes... Since Bridget has run away, in order to prevent him from ruining my plans, I naturally have to prevent him from seeing Cardin..."
Li Ang nodded.
In fact, the lord is not sure whether Bridget was hired by Cardin, but in any case, Bridget must not be allowed to see Cardin, otherwise Ramon may be in big trouble.
Leon doesn't want Ramon to be killed by Cardin.
"My Lord, Brigitte has already escaped. How can we prevent someone who has already escaped from seeing Cardin?"
Wendy expressed her incomprehension.
"It's very simple. We just need to make him afraid to meet Cardan. In Toba City, there are Cardan's trusted troops, the 'Wind Riders'. They will definitely tell Cardan everything that happens in the city. Therefore, there is no need to eliminate them. We can just keep them to report to Cardan."
Li Ang smiled and said, "I plan to make Bridget the 'usurper'!"
…
Four days later, Singal.
Bahad Khan Kadan met a Desha Wind Rider from Toba in the castle of Tahir, the Lord of Sinjar.
"Supreme Bahad Khan, Toba City has been occupied by the enemy... But the one who occupied Toba City was not Leon of the Sarleon Kingdom, but that bastard Brigi!"
The Desha Wind Rider was covered in dust and exhausted, but he still brought the news to Cardan without a moment's rest.
This Wind Rider was able to cross 600 miles of desert from Toba City to Singal in four days, and he really risked his life. It is obvious that he is a loyal and capable general.
"Bridge?! What's going on?"
The invitation in Cardin's hand fell to the ground - it was an invitation to the Ramon auction, made of gold foil.
"Brigi deceived us. He colluded with the army of Sarleon Kingdom and made Leon lead his army to capture Toba City. Then Leon took away the silver in the city, and the army of Sarleon Kingdom withdrew from Toba City... And then, Brigi announced that he would establish a new kingdom of God in Toba City! He would become the new Bahad Khan as the 'Desert Prophet'! He even appointed several omen seekers as caliphs and bayis - he usurped the throne!"
The wind rider was a little angry when he spoke, because he had seen all of this with his own eyes...
Leon took away the gold and silver in the treasury of Toba City, but did not occupy Toba City. Instead, he left the city to "Bridge".
In the eyes of the Wind Rider, all this is obvious - Bridget has colluded with Leon, Leon wants wealth, Bridget wants Toba City, each getting what they want.
It is understandable that Le Ang did not occupy the city. Most people with a little bit of common sense can realize that Toba City cannot become Le Ang's territory, so it is normal for Le Ang to only take away the wealth without occupying the city.
In the eyes of most people, as long as Toba is captured, Leon will have completed his mission of leading the army to war, which means he has proved the dignity of the Kingdom of the Fierce Lions, and he can also make up for all the losses from the silver treasury of Toba City.
As for who will get Toba... it really doesn't matter to Leon. Anyway, it is difficult for the Kingdom of Sarleon to implement effective rule here.
And Bridget...
When Li Ang was attacking the city, he deliberately arranged for drug addicts to climb the city walls, disrupting the city defense deployment, which was irrefutable evidence of collusion with the enemy;
Later, when he was resisting in the street fighting in the city, he suddenly disappeared again, which is also irrefutable evidence;
But when Leon left Toba City, Bridget reappeared in the inner castle, sat on the throne of Bahad Khan, and declared that Toba would become the "capital of the kingdom of God"... This was definitely a usurpation of the throne.
Of course, the 'Bridge' who claimed to 'establish a kingdom of God' in Toba was impersonated by Ediz at the request of the lord.
Those omen seekers were all fakes, too.
But this Wind Rider couldn't tell the difference...
Ediz is also a Singalian, and after putting on Brigi's clothes, he can basically be mistaken for the real thing.
The angry Cardin turned to look at Tahir beside him and slapped him: "Didn't you say that Bridget is reliable?"
Tahir covered his face after being slapped, and there was anger in his eyes: "Bahad Khan, I admit that I didn't know the man well... But Briji can't control Toba City in a short time. As long as you write his reward in various taverns, the head of this usurper will soon appear in front of you..."
Sometimes you don't need to kill to remove a threat, you just need to act...
At this time, Bridget was struggling to cross the desert.
He did not ride a horse when he escaped from Toba City. In order to avoid being tracked, he did not dare to go to the surrounding villages and towns to find means of transportation.
Brigi, who was walking across the desert, was moving much slower than the wind rider that Leon had deliberately released from Toba City...
And Bridget had no idea that his own employer had already determined that he was a usurper - just like he was Ediz , but he also determined that Ediz was secretly hiding money.
You'll always have to pay for what you've done...
During these few days, Leon gradually got some information from Jocelyn, and this information came from Alistair.
The eunuch was gradually able to speak to Jocelyn, and although most of the time he was just complaining to himself and it wasn't really a conversation, Alistair's resentment actually revealed a lot of information.
Combined with some of his own analysis, the lord basically had an idea in his mind.
The Dusk Knights' mission to capture Leon this time is obviously related to the Three Prophets.
The Three Prophets were originally priests of the goddess of justice, Astalia - apparently, they originally came from the continent of Barclay.
And now, they are disciples of the dark goddess Erida.
When the Knights of Dusk separated from the Knights of Dawn, they also believed in the goddess of justice, and they also came from the continent of Barkley.
And now they have also converted to the Dark Goddess. Although they have always claimed that they want to "correct the Knights of the Dawn", the Knights of the Dusk have never done any good deeds. Instead secretly causing trouble everywhere. The only advantage is probably that they will not burn, kill and loot in the name of the gods like the Knights of the Dawn.
As for Brigi, he is not from Barkley, he is from Singal, but the headquarters of the Knights of Dusk is in Singal.
Moreover, Bridget's way of doing things is very strange, as if he has merged the Knights of the Dawn, the Knights of the Dusk and the Three Prophets - he calls himself the 'Desert Prophet', uses poison to control his subordinates, and uses deception to expand his team. This is the way of the Three Prophets;
In addition, he claimed to "destroy evil spirits" just like the Knights of Dawn, and his method of destroying evil spirits was also the same as the Knights of Dawn's method of using fire to judge;
The Dusk Knights, whose purpose is to "correct" the Dawn Knights, appear here to cooperate with him...
It was obvious that Bridget's mysterious sect was actually a branch of the dark goddess Erida's sect; and Bridget's troops were probably one of the ways for the Knights of Dusk to "correct" the Knights of Dawn - by fostering a "desert prophet" and letting him do bad things in the name of the gods.
In fact, Leon felt that the Dark Goddess should probably be called the 'Evil God', because the forces that believed in Ereda were basically not upright. It was probably just because no one was willing to believe in her if she called herself the Evil God, so she was given the name 'Darkness'.
Leon guessed that the goddess Erida and the goddess of justice Astalia were probably twins, with two wills appearing in one godhead, and they would compete for control - in fact, it was split personality.
Or it can be called the splitting of the Godhead...
The Three Prophets could be considered as the spokesmen of the Dark Goddess. They were the true prophets of the sect. After all, they could indeed use the power of Erida - that is to say, the Three Prophets were the "church forces".
The Knights of Dusk represent the ruling class that worships the dark goddess Erida, that is, the "secular aristocracy".
As for Bridge and his army of drug addicts, they were most likely cannon fodders jointly fostered by the Three Prophets and the Knights of Dusk to do the dirty work...
When they united, they could already be seen as the prototype of a theocratic kingdom. This structure was actually the same as the structure of the Barclay Empire many years ago. Starting hundreds of years ago, the emperors of the Barclay Empire needed to be crowned by the Pope, otherwise they would not be regarded as orthodox.
It was not until more than ten years ago that the Barclay Empire, after comprehensive technological progress, expelled the Knights of the Dawn, and religious power was greatly weakened, and it became difficult for the church to interfere in royal politics.
It seems that the Three Prophets and the Knights of Dusk want to recreate a theocracy on the continent of Pendor - this is probably indeed the wish of the dark goddess Erida.
The Three Prophets and the Order of Dusk clearly wanted to overthrow the Kingdom of Sarleon and the Principality of D'Shar, and they might even have agreed on common interests - they might be planning to establish a religious state based on the Dark Goddess Erida.
In this way, the Three Prophets can become the Pope or a clergyman with a higher status than the Pope, the Order of the Twilight Knights can become a national order of knights, and each Twilight Knight can become a lord of a place.
As for Bridget - if you want to accomplish great things, you have to make some sacrifices. Bridget's troops are probably meant to be sacrificed...
