Call of the Heroes of Chaos in Another World

Chapter 2078 The Pope's Throne is Settled, Genghis Khan's Steppe Strategy

The establishment of Jehovah and Zeus, along with the Roman and Greek papal courts, dealt an unprecedented blow to the papacy.

Of the five kingdoms, two have become direct adversaries. Rome, Persia, and Macedon have also risen to power. While they are still not as powerful as the five kingdoms, they are far more formidable than they once were.

Therefore, at this time, the Western Rong Papacy was no longer able to control the entire Western Rong region as it had before.

Within the Western Rong Church, both the Temple of Light and the Temple of Judgment have lost their temple masters.

The Temple of Light is doing alright; at least most of its high-ranking members are still around. The previous Temple Master, Jehovah's Master, has once again stepped forward to stabilize the situation at the Temple of Light.

However, the situation is more serious at the Temple of Judgment.

Zeus took away a large number of high-ranking officials, and the few remaining officials simply couldn't find anyone qualified and experienced enough to stabilize the situation.

Thus, while the Temple of Light was preoccupied with its own problems, the Temple of Oracle seized the opportunity, and Jupiter took over the Temple of Judgment.

Capitoline, the Lord of the Temple of Revelation, supports his second-in-command, Jupiter, in taking over the Temple of Judgment and ensuring his consolidation of his position. In turn, Jupiter aims to support Capitoline as the next Pope.

Although Mukadir regained his position as the Temple Master of the Temple of Light, he was disheartened by the matter of Jehovah and no longer had the strength to compete with Capitol.

As for Jupiter, becoming the head of the Temple of Judgment gave him the qualifications to compete for the papacy. However, qualifications are just qualifications. Without Capitoline's help, he wouldn't even be able to secure his position as the head of the Temple of Judgment, let alone compete for the throne.

Otherwise, why would Capitol be so confident in supporting his entry into the Temple of Judgment?
The three major temples each have the support of two other temples. As for the Papal Temple, although they are practically in cahoots with the Temple of Light, those old guys are the most conservative and rule-abiding, and they won't interfere in the struggle for the papacy.

Therefore, the position of the next pope is almost a foregone conclusion.

In this internal strife within the Papacy, the Temple of Oracles emerged as the ultimate victor.

Of all the popes throughout history, nearly seven out of ten came from the Temple of Light, and most of the remaining three also came from the Temple of Judgment, with the Temple of Oracle having the fewest.

Ultimately, the papacy fell into Capitol's hands. While there was an element of luck involved, Capitol's abilities were certainly indispensable.

Jupiter in Roman mythology is essentially a replica of Zeus in Greek mythology, and the fact that Jupiter has remained obedient to Capitol for so many years is no small feat.

Jehovah was a loser in this struggle, but also a winner.

He has found his own path, not only his martial arts path, but also the path to his future life.

As for Zeus, he was a complete loser.

He wanted to copy Jehovah's work, but not only did he copy a mess, he failed to copy it and even lost his own position.

As for the Dongyi people to the north and northeast of Tianqi, they ultimately failed to reclaim their lost territory from the Sun Kingdom in time, so the Sun Kingdom still holds a foothold for the time being.

It will likely be even more difficult for the Eastern Yi to reclaim their lost territory. This battle, if won, will probably be a protracted affair.

Especially now, the Dongyi are exhausted from prolonged warfare, and Yelü Abaoji is unwilling to continue fighting. The Dongyi, after years of war, can no longer withstand further fighting.

This doesn't mean Yelü Abaoji didn't want to reclaim the lost territory; it's just that, given the current situation of the Eastern Yi, he could only proceed cautiously. The Eastern Yi urgently needed to recuperate and rebuild.

The Eastern Barbarians temporarily ceased hostilities, and the Sun Kingdom was equally unhurried.

They have gained a lot from the Eastern Yi, and the temporary truce is a good thing for them as well. They will need time to digest these benefits from the Eastern Yi.

Within the Northern Barbarians, friction between the Golden Horde and the Tuoba tribes was always kept within a certain range.

These two families have been rivals for so many years, and they know each other's strengths and weaknesses pretty well. Both families are well aware that, barring any unforeseen circumstances, neither can be certain of defeating the other.

Therefore, the friction between them has always been kept within a certain range.

However, this battle once again demonstrated the invincible strength of Tuoba Longxiang, the mighty dragon-elephant god.

The Tuoba tribe, in particular, has no current goal in the Golden Horde, but rather in Zhenbei, which is located to their south.

Tuoba Changping spared no effort in protecting the north.

The condition he initially proposed to Lie Feiyang was to retain his military and political autonomy, and this condition remains unchanged.

The cards held by Lie Feiyang back then and Lie Feiyang now are on completely different levels.

However, Tuoba Changping did not offer any discount on the price he quoted, which truly demonstrated his sincerity.

However, if the Northern Barbarians wanted to take over the Central Plains, they could not truly stabilize the region without the support of the people of the Central Plains.

Just as Kublai Khan's Yuan Dynasty received a large amount of support from Han Chinese hereditary lords, the Manchu Qing Dynasty also received a large amount of support from the landlord class during its conquest of the Central Plains.

This is the same principle behind Wang Yu's establishment of a pseudo-Yi dynasty in Dongyi and his heavy reliance on several powerful Dongyi clans.

The fact that Tuoba Changping was willing to offer Lie Feiyang this price, and has not even offered a discount so far, naturally indicates that he can get more from it.

However, Tuoba Changping was sincere, but Lie Feiyang was unwilling to accept it.

Even in the most difficult circumstances, they still maintain a "fight if you want" attitude.

Lie Feiyang may not be a qualified monarch, or even a qualified feudal patriarch.

The split of the Zhenbei Lie clan gave Tuoba Changping the opportunity to divide and conquer them. It is absolutely impossible to say that Lie Feiyang was without fault.

In fact, Lie Feiyang accounted for a considerable proportion of these individuals.

However, Lie Feiyang is also a man of principle and integrity. Most importantly, he has a bottom line, and that bottom line is not low.

However, it was precisely because his bottom line was not low that he could not become a qualified monarch, or even a qualified feudal patriarch.

These two identities don't allow them to be too confident. Especially for monarchs, this profession is never about who has the higher bottom line, but rather who has the lower bottom line.

Fratricide, or even father-son conflict, is never a pleasant thing to hear. However, in the profession of emperor, it was certainly commonplace, if not an everyday occurrence.

But it was precisely because he had a bottom line that Lie Feiyang, no matter how difficult his situation, would rather die than lower his head. However, Lie Feiyang's attitude truly won over the hearts of a group of proud and fierce soldiers of the Zhenbei Army.

Prior to this, the Zhenbei Army was willing to pledge allegiance to Lie Feiyang solely because he was the son of Lie Qiankun, not because of Lie Feiyang himself.

However, the reason why this group of people are willing to pledge allegiance to Lie Feiyang now is truly because of Lie Feiyang himself.

However, a person placed in the position of a monarch, who sets such high standards, often finds it difficult to end up well.

Lie Feiyang's refusal finally brought him a direct military strike from the First Division of the Northern Di.

Previously, Tuoba Changping did not directly send troops to Zhenbei because time was on their side. The longer it dragged on, the weaker Zhenbei would become, and the easier it would be to deal with it later.

Moreover, this period was also a time for him to take advantage of the internal strife and division in Zhenbei and to win over some people.

However, by now, they have done their best to bring over those who could be brought over, and the remaining people are basically die-hards like Lie Feiyang.

Especially Gongsun Zan. Tuoba Changping originally thought that he was not one of the veterans of the Zhenbei Army and would be easier to win over than the others.

But to everyone's surprise, it was this guy with the most explosive temper who killed the envoy he had sent with a single blow and then hung the body on the city wall.

This attitude left no room for compromise whatsoever; in a way, it was tantamount to trampling on Tuoba Changping's face.

In fact, Gongsun Zan's stance was even more resolute than Lie Feiyang's.

Gongsun Zan's cousin, Gongsun Shu, though he disagreed, still maintained a certain level of decorum.

The attitude of Lie Feiyang and Gongsun Zan made Tuoba Changping realize that no matter what conditions he offered, these people would not be on the same path.

Although it is said that what we can't have is always the best, no matter how helpless we feel, it can't affect Tuoba Changping's clear-headedness.

Therefore, he knew it was time to really take action.

In particular, if the Han army's southern expedition succeeds, the situation in Cangdi will undergo a dramatic change. If it drags on until then, the situation may change in some way.

Therefore, not long after the Han Dynasty began its southern expedition, Tuoba Changping also launched his own southern expedition.

It was precisely because of this that friction arose between the Golden Horde and the Tuoba tribe.

In the northwest, the Yuan Mongols, on the one hand, joined forces with the Gallic Kingdom to continuously encroach on the land of Dawu.

On the other hand, it also expanded their interests on the grasslands once again.

After all, among the seven great dynasties, although the Great Wu was not the strongest, it was the one with the last remaining foundation and was definitely not so easy to defeat.

Despite years of continuous warfare, the Great Wu has managed to hold out until now. Temujin is not confident that he can break through the Great Wu's defenses in a short period of time, so he has decided to slow down.

In Temujin's view, the Great Wu was a suitable target for a coordinated attack.

As the Han Dynasty expands eastward, the threat to Dawu grows daily. Dawu will face even greater pressure in the east in the future, and its military focus will inevitably shift eastward to some extent.

And the Great Qin to the southwest of the Great Wu will not remain in a state of recuperation forever; the purpose of recuperation has always been further expansion.

Therefore, the Qin Dynasty will inevitably take action again sooner or later.

Only when that time comes will it be time for Temujin to unleash his full power against the Great Wu.

After Murong Yuan's death, the Yuan Mongols initially gave up a lot of interests on the grasslands. In the subsequent struggle, they seized the three northwestern regions of the Great Wu, which had fallen into the hands of the Northern Di.

However, they ultimately came from the Northern Barbarians, whose roots lay in the grasslands. Therefore, it was impossible for them to truly abandon the grasslands.

After years of fighting, the various forces that split after Murong Yuan's death are now exhausted from their battles and have grown weaker with each fight.

Whether it's the Golden Horde or the Yuan Mongols, they have been directly or indirectly controlling the intensity of the fighting between these forces through various means, both overt and covert. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been fighting for so many years without achieving a result.

The Yuan Dynasty was ultimately no match for the Golden Horde. Taking advantage of the friction between the Golden Horde and the Tuoba tribe, Temujin decided to first take a bite on the grasslands.

Before the Golden Horde took action, his Mongols devoured as much as they could.

If the Golden Horde, a competitor, enters the fray, his share of the spoils will be reduced. At that point, the lion's share will undoubtedly go to the Golden Horde.

Mongolia is currently at the height of its military strength.

When Temujin was in the Central Plains, he recruited a large number of people from the Central Plains through recruitment, and among them were many talented individuals.

The alliance between the Mongol and Gallic kingdoms, through mutual exchange of resources, greatly increased the strength of both sides.

The Gallic Kingdom, lacking horses, significantly expanded its cavalry force through an alliance with the Mongols.

Among the five kingdoms of the Western Rong, the Kingdom of Gaul was a traditional land power. Compared to a sea power like the Kingdom of Britain, the importance of cavalry to them was self-evident.

As for the Mongols, the Gallic Kingdom provided them with a large amount of pig iron, which enabled the Yuan Dynasty to possess a large number of armored troops. They not only had the traditional armored cavalry of the steppes, but also heavy armored infantry.

The three Northern Di families in the northeast have always been the most ruthless in their fighting.

Of these three, Luan Di, as a veteran force, may not have the youthful vigor of the other two, but it has the deepest foundation.

Of the three, the one in the far north, although the weakest in terms of overall strength, is also the most savage, or rather, the one whose soldiers have the highest average overall combat quality, as they were born in a harsh and cold land.

Furthermore, they also have the support of the Tuoba tribe.

Nurhaci's Manchu tribe gained the support of the Han Dynasty when Huang Taiji entered the Han court as a hostage.

Therefore, the three families fought each other fiercely.

In particular, with Wang Yingkan, a man who loves to stir up trouble, constantly moving among the Northern Di, these three families cannot settle down even if they want to.

However, it was ultimately a tacit agreement between the Luan Di and Manchu tribes to fight one side. Even with the support of the Tuoba tribe, the other side gradually became unable to sustain itself.