Chapter 859: The Unbearable Upper Rivershire Convent

The drizzle was as fine as silk, causing tiny ripples on the water surface, like silver threads passing through blue silk.

The river was shrouded in mist, and as Shengsun’s boat sailed, mountains and forests replaced hills and plains.

Standing on the slippery deck and looking out, you can see the vague outlines of distant mountains and pine forests, as well as the villages and towns on both sides of the river.

Although the distance was not very close, Horn could see the church steeple through the mist and farmers in short cloaks carrying farm tools walking on the causeway.

Similar to the original Moulin Rouge village, most of the village churches in Upper Rivershire are located on the riverside.

The former Upper River County was a populous county among the five mountain counties and was relatively prosperous.

Just the two floods and wars reduced the population of Upper River County by nearly 50%.

The original people of Upper River County either moved to North Mound County to work as miners, or migrated to Dazexiang or Plain County to work as laborers or join the army.

Of course, many others died in floods and swords.

Wherever Horn looked, he could see large tracts of abandoned village ruins or gatherings of a few cats and cats.

As for the fields, you can see patches of knee-high weeds from afar.

The former sheriff of Upper River County has been dismissed.

As for the priests at all levels, due to the dispersion of the population caused by the flood and the influx of outsiders such as the Shepherds and the Iron Fist, the original household registers were almost no longer effective, resulting in the same loss of grassroots control.

Although many itinerant monks are still trying their best to organize farming and sericulture, after the flood, Upper River County will not be able to recover for at least three to five years.

Although the flood has stopped, I’m afraid that Upper River County’s tax revenue will not be restored for a while.

Just think of it as a long fallow period, this is the only way Horn can comfort himself.

At least after being abandoned for two or three years, the land harvest in Upper River County will surely see a big boom, and social conflicts will be alleviated a lot.

Rubbing his temple, Valen Taylor appeared at the bow with a light step.

He immediately saw the young Pope standing at the bow of the ship.

His Holiness the Pope did not wear any elaborate vestments, but only a black woolen military uniform over his tweed vest.

The drizzle fell on the blood-covered scabbard, slowly sliding down and dripping from the end onto the deck.

“Your Majesty.” Valentyl bowed slightly to Horn, and even though it was a greeting, he stood beside Horn, “Where are we now?”

“We’ll be there in three days.” Horn leaned against the side of the ship, holding the hilt of his sword. “With the help of these old friends, we won’t be left without support, right?”

Valen Taylor laughed dryly: “You are my greatest reliance.”

Horn laughed in silence: “Thousands of believers are your greatest support. Let me ask you again, are you capable of being the chief pastor?”

“can.”

“Do you know what to do in the High Castle?”

“I know. We have a plan.” Valentyl took out a few pieces of paper and handed them to Horn.

Horn’s eyes swept across the yellow manuscript paper with watermarks and oil stains, scanning the texts in different handwritings at a glance.

After a while, he put down the manuscript and said with great satisfaction: “You have all made progress.”

“First we learned to read and write, then we implemented the 100-household districts and went to the battlefield. It would be strange if we didn’t make progress.”

“Okay.” Horn nodded. “When we stop at the next town, I will send a fast horse to notify the Imperial Council of Cardinals. You can just go there with my administrative order.”

“The local priestly order in Upper River County…”

“We’ll allocate them to you. They’re just sitting there doing nothing anyway.”

“Thank you for your trust, Your Majesty.” Valentyl bowed to Horn solemnly.

“I know you.”

Hearing the short words “I know you”, Valen Taylor felt his nose sore for some reason.

Horn still had a smile on his face: “Since you have made your plans, you can do whatever you want when you get there. I won’t interfere.”

“Please rest assured, Your Majesty.”

Horn was naturally relieved. If Valentyl would be as opportunistic and hesitant as Andre, there would be no angry killing of the lord and uprising.

Compared with Andre, the position of Valentyl, a righteous man who was born as a butler, is definitely not a problem.

As for the proposed strategy, it was obviously the result of referring to the information provided by Horn and combining it with his own thinking.

Now, it’s a question of execution.

…………

I have to say that due to the bad luck of the Holy Father, it rained for three days in a row and the wind was against us for three days.

This forced Horn’s fleet to stop frequently for rest and even hire boat trackers. His Holiness was generous, but it made things difficult for the stewards who accompanied him.

Later, six regiments were simply left in the sentry fort, with only the First Holy Armor Regiment and the Eighth Vanguard Regiment escorting Horn and Valentyl.

This has accelerated the speed of the ship.

But it was difficult to wait in the High Castle. After all, the Border Knights were attacking, and they had to send out people of high rank to wait in the High Castle.

This regiment was originally created by Meliati, and Horn was unable to establish much prestige in it.

Moreover, many people in the battle group were from the previous Death Regiment and Eagle Regiment, and they had fought with Horn’s Salvation Army in Cheese Bay.

Those junior officers and soldiers at the lower level would naturally grumble.

The monks of the local priestly order who received the news naturally read the news in Pravda and rushed to the High Castle in advance to welcome them.

Hearing the complaints and grumblings of the veteran soldiers, the monks did not dare to confront them head-on.

After all, Andre’s Iron Fist Legion has gradually undermined the priestly order.

But if they can’t control the Iron Fist, can’t His Holiness the Pope control it either?

Then all kinds of letters of complaint and accusation flew towards Shengsun’s ship like snowflakes.

Every time the boat delivered water, it came with a large bag of letters, which made Valentyl frown.

There is a reason why the local priestly orders have been sidelined.

As a mountain faction territory, Upper Rife County also has a system in which aristocratic forces appoint centurions, who then work together with itinerant monks to govern.

As for the level of itinerant monks, since Horn was short of manpower in the later period, there were only a small number of Saint Sun Sect, and most of them were examined and promoted from local monasteries and churches.

Although these people have undergone intensive training, their stance and will are far less firm than those of the Holy Fathers, which has resulted in the local orders and the Iron Fist Legion repeatedly lagging behind in power struggles.

As a result, the two sides changed from non-interference to Andrew directing the priestly order.

After reading these letters every day, Valentyl was angry at the local monks for not fighting back, and at the same time he scolded Andre for overstepping his authority.

This French rogue actually dared to appoint military garrison officers privately.

The military garrison officer recruited shepherds. If one man joined the army, the remaining men in his family could get 50 acres of land.

But the problem is that due to population flight, invalid household registration and inaction of priests and religious orders, the ownership of the land is extremely chaotic.

Although the fields were cultivated and grazed, they were reported to Horn as wasteland.

Since it is wasteland, naturally no taxes will be collected.

However, this is just one of Andre’s ways to raise troops.

The majority of the Iron Fist Group still relies on border trade.

He first massively expanded the number of soldiers, and then took these soldiers to the Imperial Court, saying that he didn’t want the salaries anymore, but wanted rations, right?
The Imperial Order naturally refused to agree because they saw that he had overstaffed, so Andre cried and asked if he couldn’t just buy it.

But Horn stipulated that in wartime, food could not be traded at will, so the Imperial Society had no choice but to give him the authority to buy food from outside.

Then Andre began to perform.

In short, import low-priced grain from Red Leaf Hill and sell it to Gravelfield in exchange for wool, which is sent to South Mound County in exchange for money, and the money is used to buy grain.

You know, just because Horn can control the flood doesn’t mean that Shishiyuan can do the same.

The flood submerged the grain-producing land in the Gravel Plain, causing famine in the Gravel Plain.

Especially now that the Duke of Stonewreath’s Wing Nest has fled, the nobles are leaderless.

Originally, the Osra family of the Thorn Garden could lend a helping hand, but now they have to fight a war of their own, so they have no choice but to let their fellow believers die instead.

In today’s Gravel Plains, a bag of grain can buy a large amount of wool or even people.

This was equivalent to Andre directly swallowing up the wool tariff of Gravel Plain to support his troops and himself.

Yes, this Chapter Master Andre was even corrupt.

Valen Taylor faced letters every day and cursed Andre in vain.

On the contrary, Horn often spoke up. Seeing how weak the local monastery was, it might not be able to withstand the attack of the Stonewalling nobles without integration.

The premise for Andre to be able to do this is that he completely suppressed the nobles in the southern part of the Stone Plain.

A large portion of the proceeds from corruption were indeed used on the soldiers.

“It’s really hard to figure out.”

Accompanied by Valentyl’s puzzled and angry comments, the fleet finally arrived at the city of High Castle.

(End of this chapter)