When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

Chapter 1235 Modification and Entry Point

With a loud crash, bricks and stones fell from the wall like dandruff.

Count Dura Castle, a castle surrounded by water on three sides, once withstood an army more than ten times its size.

Its red roof and white walls have become a famous landmark in the area.

But now, the once beautiful garden is in disarray, with petals and precious trees scattered all over the ground.

What was once a flat, green lawn is now riddled with bullet holes and crisscrossed trenches.

With the 12-pound, 24-pound, and 48-pound cannons firing in turn, the thin and fragile city walls were collapsing little by little.

The outer white bricks are collapsing, revealing the rammed earth city wall, which is only a little over a meter wide inside.

In fact, several breaches had already been made in the castle walls, but they were blocked by wooden palisades by the garrison inside the castle.

As for the tall tower, it was bombed down along with the white flag it was hanging there several days ago.

Princess Jeanne's instructions are very clear: your surrender does not mean I have to accept it!

Who gave you the right to rebel in the first place? Why didn't you think about this question back then?

Looking at the desolate castle, many nobles who came to attend the assembly of believers turned pale.

It should be noted that castles like the Château de Dura are considered masterpieces among count-level castles.

The city walls, comparable to those of a capital city, and the surrounding mounds, are a full twenty meters high, taller than many noble castles.

If they were to attack, even with ten or twenty times the number of troops, it would likely be a protracted siege.

But what about now?

It took a week, or even less, because the castle had actually been breached long ago; Jeanne was just deliberately not attacking.

According to their understanding, unless it is a specialized war fortress, it would be difficult to hold off the Holy Alliance artillery for two or three weeks.

It seems the castle and the knight are destined to drift away like spring water flowing westward.

The nobles' gazes were fixed on Jeanne, who stood with her hands behind her back, dressed in a white, fitted military uniform.

Her long black hair was tied into a ponytail and hung down her back. She picked up the coffee cup on the porcelain plate with white gloves and took a sip without saying a word.

Her Highness remained silent, but everyone understood the meaning behind her actions.

The proverb from the Book of Proverbs is "kill a chicken to scare the monkeys," to make them behave and behave themselves.

"Gentlemen," Jessica, standing beside Jeanne, looked at the nobles around her with a half-smile, "what do you think of our Holy Alliance's siege technology?"

"The Holy Maiden is invincible, I'm impressed."

"The Holy Alliance's artillery is simply a miracle bestowed by the Father!"

"Originally, I didn't believe in the Holy Path Sect, but after seeing the Holy Alliance's siege technology, I've decided to convert to the Holy Path Sect tonight."

The counts and barons fawned over him, even swearing that he would be selfless and never have any disloyal thoughts.

Jeanne glanced at the nobles, but continued drinking her coffee without saying a word.

Jeanne was actually dissatisfied with Horn leaving behind these nobles.

Why can't it be completely eradicated like the Thousand River Valley?
They had to coexist with the nobles when they were weak; now that they are strong, they still want to coexist with the nobles.

Wouldn't that be a waste of effort?

Could it be Carrie's influence? Every time we go too far from the central command, Carrie stirs up some trouble!

Although this was a decision made collectively by the College of Cardinals, it did not change Jeanne's opinion.

Jeanne's aversion to the nobility stemmed not only from the perspective of a village girl, but also from her disapproval of certain flexible moral standards among the nobility.

Didn't she know she was married? And yet, all those handsome, pale-faced young noblemen were throwing themselves at her?

They even dared to secretly send young and beautiful family maids and noble ladies, supposedly on American transport ships, to the Holy See, intending to offer them to the Holy Grandson!

You've got some nerve, haven't you?

Jeanne was furious and quickly boarded a transport ship across America, forcibly arranging marriages between these noble ladies and maids and officers.

“I will be staying in the New Gem Federation during this time to oversee military affairs.” Jeanne handed the tea tray and coffee cup to her adjutant and turned around. “I hope you will cooperate with our work.”

"Of course, of course."

"Then there is only one answer: we will swear allegiance to you!"

“Wrong.” Jeanne frowned. “The one you swore allegiance to is not me, not the Patriarch, and certainly not the Holy Grandson, but the Holy Alliance. Do you understand?”

"Look at my mouth, that's exactly what I wanted to say."

"Yes, to express our apologies, would Your Highness Jeanne, Lord Jessica, and the officers be willing to visit my estate? I have prepared a banquet..."

Jeanne's lips curled down, her lips, as delicate as an eighteen-year-old girl's, conveying a forced smile. Many nobles actively participated in the affairs of the newly established Gem Federation, and Jeanne was fully aware of their motives.

The current imperial system dictates that the Holy Path Sect will often have to rely on cities for development.

While the vast majority of farmers in rural areas do have the desire for change, most of them are politically apathetic.

In other words, as propertied persons, they tend to be conservative, even if their property is small.

On the contrary, urban laborers and tenant farmers, as well as middle-class citizens, have both the expectation and the ability to bring about change in different directions.

This resulted in the fact that when the Holy Alliance occupied a region, the cities were dominated by the commoners while the countryside was dominated by the aristocracy.

Even now, the Holy Alliance's Council of Advisors is rife with conflict between the Mountain Faction and the Plains Faction.

The power and traditional values ​​of the aristocracy still exist in the eyes of the middle-aged and elderly, and even many of the younger generation.

They might even regard the monks of the Holy Path as a new kind of aristocracy.

Even after the Holy Alliance occupies a region and defeats the coalition of major nobles, there will still be no shortage of noble rebellions.

However, due to its inefficient feudal system, once it was broken up in an organized manner, it was difficult to reunite.

Every time the knight lord raised the banner of rebellion, the Holy Alliance's suppression forces would immediately arrive at his doorstep.

After several such encounters, the nobles will realize that the Holy Alliance is unstoppable and will then choose to resist through non-violent cooperation.

Simply put, if you can't beat them, join them.

This is not to praise the nobility, but due to the difference in educational resources and perspectives, the nobility are indeed better than ordinary commoners in administrative affairs.

Their involvement will quickly put the administration of the new federal government on track.

This is something the Holy Alliance has experienced before, otherwise Jeanne wouldn't know so much about it.

In the first round, defeat the nobles, bring the power of the citizens into the core of the ruling class, and develop the power of the farmers.

The second round completely eliminated the basis for the existence of feudal nobles or oligarchs, but allowed them to retain their position in the new system, allowing farmers to enter the core of the ruling class.

The third round was a major purge, which cleansed out all the remnants of the old system to ensure internal purity.

Currently, both the New Gem Federation and the Dawn Federation are in their first phase, and they need time.

Time, oh time...

Jeanne did not accept the nobles' invitation, but said calmly, "The Patriarch of the Federation has arrived. There will be a welcoming ceremony tomorrow where the Patriarch will answer questions from the representatives. You should all go back early and make preparations."

Before the counts and barons could ask any more questions, Jeanne strode over and boarded the carriage for the return journey.

When she arrived at the military dependents' building, Patriarch Gilatl and the Federal Chief Reverend Gakivili were already waiting at the door.

"I happen to need to talk to you." With that, Jeanne walked straight into the house.

Gilardel and Gakivili had no choice but to hurry up and follow, until they reached a tea room on the second floor.

Compared to the nobles, Jeanne's expression was much better at this moment, after all, they were her own people: "Tomorrow is the introductory meeting for the believers' assembly. You will need to ask and answer the believers' questions. Are you ready?"

"We did it, but we dare not say we did it well; we can only say we did it thoroughly." Both Gilardel and Gakivili only dared to sit on half of the chair.

The person in front of them was the chief judge, who was essentially the same as the armed prosecutor in the Holy Alliance Military Police, so they dared not slack off.

"Cowardly and timid, you have no ambition and you don't even have confidence in your own work!" Jeanne said sternly. "Doing a good job is doing a good job, and not doing a good job is not doing a good job. Don't play word games with me!"

"Yes, you are right." The two quickly acknowledged that they had learned their lesson.

Jeanne crossed her legs: "Then let me ask you, what are your thoughts on the next step, which is to reorganize the New Gem Federation?"

"This new Gem Federation is newly established, and there are so many things to deal with that we don't know where to begin. Do you have any suggestions?"

"I'm a soldier, I don't know about these things." Jeanne swung her crossed legs and smiled at the two of them.

Faced with Na's clearly kind smile, both Gilardel and Gakivili's vests were soaked with sweat.

It's not that they don't understand; they're clearly being tested.

As time passed, Jeanne's smile grew wider, but the two of them felt somewhat suffocated.

After a long pause, the two finally mustered up their courage and spoke at the same time.

"Perpetual tenancy rights".

“Relief for work.”

The room fell silent again. After a few seconds, it felt like an eternity had passed for the two of them.

Jeanne then stood up: "If each of you tells half the answer, you've passed."

(End of this chapter)