Imperial Crown

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…

Everyone in Eagle City is looking forward to the killing of the Insect King.

The first thing old Gordon does every day when he gets up is to open the curtains to see if the locusts have subsided.

Fiona always catches a few locusts and dissects them. She estimates how long it will take for the swarm to leave based on the food in their stomachs. The result is "soon" every time, but every new day, the locusts still do not decrease.

Even Denise, who has always been rational, began to try to study divination magic, but she broke several crystal balls but could not get the answer she wanted.

Raven was also full of expectations at first, but slowly found that he was too naive before.

According to the exploration and reports of the flight squadron, Raven found that the movements of the swarm without the Insect King began to become unpredictable like a wild horse, not as orderly as before.

However, this is the only impact.

On the 11th day after the death of the Insect King, a new Insect King was born in the swarm, leading a considerable number of locusts to leave Raven's territory and fly to the bloody highlands in the northwest.

In the next few days, the locusts in the territory became less and less visible, and gradually lost their vitality.

Until the 14th day after the death of the Insect King.

When Raven went out under the protection of a group of guards, many locusts had no strength to fly.

Grabbing a pair of wings and holding the locust in his hand, Raven poked it with a crossbow arrow.

The locust's three pairs of limbs clung to the crossbow arrow, but it could no longer hold on. As soon as Raven let go, it fell to the ground with a puff, struggled a few times, and then kicked its legs and couldn't move.

"It seems that this locust plague is finally over." Raven breathed a sigh of relief: "Immediately send down the previously drafted order to collect locusts and centrally deal with them."

Raven's new chief guard "Hyena" Wheeler swallowed his saliva:

"Sir, what are you collecting locusts for?"

Wheeler is 33 years old this year. He was once a veteran who followed Raven to fight on the bloody highlands. During the battle, he was chopped on the head by a knife and half of his scalp was shaved off. He was seriously injured for a time. In the end, he struggled to survive, but he also missed the opportunity for Raven to be promoted to extraordinary. A hideous scar with no hair on his head will always be left on his head.

Because of this scar and his crazy energy when fighting, he got the nickname "Hyena".

It's not just him. The guards next to him don't quite understand Raven's order.

Raven answered casually: "What else can I do? Of course, I eat it."

Hyena's scalp tingled. Looking at the struggling locusts on the ground, he grinned and said: "Sir, this thing... can I really eat it?"

"It is somewhat toxic, but it will be much better if it is cooked." Raven explained: "And it is not for you to eat. There is limited food in the territory. If you don't eat this, you will pay to feed the refugees?"

Hearing that they don't need to eat it themselves, the guards, including Hyena, breathed a sigh of relief. This kind of thing is really hard to eat.

Raven waved his hand: "Okay, let's talk about it later. Pass the order first and let the Eagle Army move."

"Yes, sir!"

The order to collect locusts was quickly promoted in Raven's territory.

Having endured hunger and fear for too long, many people who noticed that the locusts were beginning to weaken also came out of the house fully armed and cautiously before Raven's order arrived.

Then they welcomed the first wave of impact.

Because as far as the people could see, there was nothing but locusts.

There were no shrubs, no flowers, no crops, and the trees were stripped of their branches and leaves, some of which had already died, and some were on the way to dying.

There were no birds, no rabbits, and mice and snakes were extinct.

The green mountains and clear waters had turned into a field of dead trees and wasteland, and even the river was filled with the corpses of locusts.

It was like coming to a brand new land, a barren land without any vitality.

The huge impact brought a strong sense of loss and apocalypse, so that many people's first reaction was to shout, kneel on the ground to pray to their ancestors or the Lord of Light, or curse, and then whip the locusts on the ground like crazy.

However, this chaos did not last long.

Baron Raven's order was issued, and every 50 pounds of locusts collected could be exchanged for 5 pounds of rye.

Although I don't know why, the Baron's reputation is well-known, and fear and anxiety turned into excitement and enthusiasm.

The people in the territory brought their families, picked up rakes, shovels, dustpans, and sacks to collect locusts.

These things are everywhere. Although there are occasionally a few that are still energetic and bite people, most of them just wait to die on the spot. If a family is diligent, they can collect hundreds of pounds in a day.

Carts carrying rye set out from Eagle City and went to various places in the territory. Then the rye was replaced with locusts and transported back to the temporary site outside Eagle City. They were poured into large pots and boiled.

The weather that had been dry for a whole year actually played a good role. It was mid-September and the sun was still scorching during the day. After the locusts were cooked, they were spread out to dry. It only took about half a day to dry them.

After drying, they were sent directly to the mill, ground into light yellow powder, and packed into bags and sent to the refugees.

If you only look at the nutritional content, then these locust powders are much better than bread. After all, it is meat.

Wheat mixed with locust powder is cooked into porridge, and a little coarse salt is added. If you don't consider what they originally look like, they taste pretty good.

Of course, you also have to ignore the occasional remains of wings, claws and mouthparts inside.

However, Raven would definitely not eat these things. He didn't want to do something stupid to set an example - it was just to make himself uncomfortable. If he had that time, getting more food for the territory would be better than anything else.

"What a tragedy..." Raven scratched his hair in the study.

Although the locust plague has passed, the challenge has just begun. After all, looking back on the process of fighting locusts, it really cannot be called a success.

Well, to put it bluntly, it failed.

The early preparations were basically in vain, and even a considerable part of the buildings housing the refugees were temporarily repaired.

After the locusts arrived, nothing could be done.

Although the insect king was killed, it was difficult to judge whether this action drove away the locusts, or whether the locusts chose to leave because they had reached the end of their lifespan and had eaten up everything in their territory.

After the entire locust plague, including the loss of food, the loss of the factory shutdown, the basic shutdown of the territory, and the loss of natural resources in the territory, the initial estimate is more than 200,000 gold coins.

This does not include the subsequent investment in rebuilding the territory.

If there is any consolation, it is that the population of the territory has not decreased at all, and most of the new refugees are young and strong laborers, who can restore the vegetation in the territory more quickly.

In addition, there are more locusts left on the territory than expected. Tens of thousands of pounds of locust powder are ground every day, which can make up for a considerable part of the food consumption.

However, whether it is restoring vegetation or organizing farming, we have to wait until next spring. The next four or five months will not allow anyone to be idle.

Raven grabbed the quill, cheered up, and began to sign the decree.

In the next few days, everyone in the territory witnessed Raven's abundant energy and flexible thinking. For five consecutive days, more than one decree was issued every day.

This includes, but is not limited to, organizing manpower from various places to open water canals; cutting down trees on the mountains that have been eaten by locusts; sorting refugees into various professions according to their skills; releasing previously surviving poultry to deal with the eggs left by the locusts...

The most eye-catching thing is the military expansion order.

Raven ordered to immediately start the selection and recruitment of soldiers to form the second legion of the Eagle Army.

This kind of move is not uncommon in the history of Middles Continent.

After a major disaster, integrating unemployed young people into the army and giving them the most basic food, drink and training can not only effectively eliminate unstable factors, but also organize forces to maintain law and order.

But it is unusual to start a legion at once, especially considering the population composition of Raven's territory. After this conscription, the ratio of troops to serfs is close to 1:15.

Some people may think that Raven's move is unwise, but currently not many nobles have time to comment on this.

It's not like I was tripped by locusts.

Xuefeng County is located on the northwest edge of the Nord province. The passing of the locust plague here means that the entire Nord province is gradually freed from the locust plague.

The reason for the relatively slow movement is that they do not have a large number of air troops like Raven.

After the locust plague is over, the first thing to do is to send someone to confirm how many people are alive in your territory.

Even Governor Anthony did not issue a new decree immediately.

The one who moved the fastest was the Church of Light.

Under the auspices of Archbishop Thomas, almost immediately after the locust plague, he sent his holy knights to contact churches in various counties and began to provide free food to believers everywhere.

The holy knights worked non-stop, collecting news from all over the place and feeding it back to Men'en City.

At this time, Mengcheng Church.

As the oldest and largest church in the province, the statue of the Lord of Light is also quite huge, with its head almost reaching the 12-meter-high dome.

Apollo, Lord of Light, has three official forms.

The first one wears a laurel wreath on his head, wears pebolos, holds the sun and moon in his hands, and steps on the corpse of the dragon lord "Tiamat", which symbolizes the "courage" of the lord of light.

The second one wears a gemstone and jade crown, holds a scepter, and is surrounded by 6 angels with different images. The sun, moon and stars rotate on the chest, symbolizing the "wisdom" of the Lord of Light.

The third type wears a ring of thorns on the head, draped with linen on the shoulders, and has a stooped figure. He holds a wooden staff in his left hand and holds ears of wheat in his right hand to feed the deer, which symbolizes the "mercy" of the Lord of Light.

Except for the cathedral in the Papal States that enshrines three kinds of statues at the same time, all churches on the continent of Middles worship one of the images.

The church in Eagle Town is the first type, while the church in Mengchen City is the third type.

Archbishop Thomas finished a round of prayer, with the corners of his mouth slightly lowered, showing a trace of compassion that resembled the statue of the Lord of Light.

"well……"

In the empty hall, Archbishop Thomas sighed.

As far as he knew, many people had died in Meng'en City, and many citizens who once came to pray every day never showed up again after the church reopened.

The avalanche of letters from all over the country describing the tragic situation after the locust plague shocked him even more.

So much so that the hair that was not much to begin with has now all fallen out.

At this moment, a man in a dark red robe opened the side door and appeared.

He looked to be less than 40 years old, with copper-like eyes, a square face and a broad mouth, with thick hair and a thick beard.

He reached out and drew an ∞-shaped holy symbol of the Lord of Light on his chest, and he said:

"Your Excellency, Archbishop, why did you call me here?"

If there were outsiders present, they would definitely laugh, because he looked more like a bear than a human, but his voice was sharp and thin, as if he was deliberately pinching his throat to speak.

But Archbishop Thomas did not laugh. He took out a letter from his arms: "Sir Xiufa, I hope you can pass it to His Holiness the Pope for me."

The man called Xiufa showed a trace of doubt in his eyes. He did not take the letter immediately, but hesitated and said: "Sir Thomas, you can let me deliver this letter, but you have to tell me what is written in the letter."

"As one of the seven Blood Wing Inquisitors of the Tribunal, you can read it if you want, why ask me?" Thomas said.

"If I say I don't want to read it, then I won't." Xiufa's voice became sharper and sharper. He reached out and touched his throat, with a bit of fear and vigilance in his eyes: "The voice that I am proud of has been destroyed by someone. You don't want to cheat my thick hair again?"

Thomas's mouth curled up a smile: "It has nothing to do with Lord Crouch."

"Really?" Xiufa's brows relaxed.

He was beaten by Crouch because he opened a private letter to Archpriest Crouch. Although he didn't lose his life, his voice became what it is now.

Lord of Light, his tenor singing was well-known before.

"Of course." Thomas opened the envelope himself and shook the letter.

Xiufa looked at it carefully and relaxed: "The content is fine, the herbs and other things are fine, but the amount of food is too much."

Thomas did not hide his intentions: "Now that the locust plague has just passed, the entire Nord Province, as well as the southern Molinier Province and the eastern Ina Province are short of food, and it will definitely last for a long time."

"This is a perfect opportunity for the church to expand its influence in the western part of the Keynes Empire."

There is no need to explain too much, Xiufa, who is well versed in church history, can understand.

Ancestral beliefs are deeply rooted in the Nord Province. The church has been taking the upper-class route before, but the results are actually quite limited. The nobles are all greedy for the resources of the church, and there is no true believer.

But now the Nord Province has been almost eaten into a white land by locusts. It can be predicted that the famine will last for a long time, possibly two or three years.

The church can take this opportunity to recruit believers by distributing food.

In the eyes of the revisionists, the lower-class people are always ignorant. They will follow whoever gives them benefits. Once the food is delivered to them, they will naturally be influenced by the church and slowly become believers.

The misfortune of the Nord Province is the great fortune of the Church of Light.

In the past, this was not done because the nobles held on to power very tightly and did not want the church to intervene too much in the affairs of the territory.

But now is different from the past. They are already busy with their own affairs and it is impossible for them to refuse someone to help them feed the serfs.

"If there are no problems, please help me present it to His Holiness the Pope as soon as possible." Archbishop Thomas said: "Every extra delay will cost the lives of future believers of our Lord, and this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity will be wasted."

Xiu Fa did not agree immediately, but talked about a seemingly irrelevant topic: "I have a distant nephew who just graduated from Stormwind Seminary recently, and I, as his uncle, can't take care of him..."

Thomas suppressed his dissatisfaction: "The bishop of Mansa County is old and weak, and is not qualified for the position. I am also planning for a candidate."

"Oh, that's a pity." Xiu Fa smiled and bowed: "Then, Sir Thomas, I will go to perform my duties."

Although Thomas was one level higher than Xiu Fa in rank, he still returned the greeting considerately: "Please."

Xiu Fa turned and left, and Thomas waited until his figure completely disappeared before sighing faintly.

The Inquisition, a lowly but powerful institution, was supposed to be responsible for eradicating corruption within the church, but now...

Just then, footsteps sounded, and a young assistant priest came over:

"Your Excellency the Archbishop, there is a visiting card for you."

Thomas took it and looked at it, his eyebrows slightly raised:

"Please clear my schedule for the evening of 5 days later."

...