Imperial Crown.

Chapter 287 The Church’s Great Fortune

Many thanks to Qidian Dad [Book Friend 20241031124926471] for the 200 reward!

……

Everyone in Eagle City is hoping that killing the Insect King will have an effect.

The first thing old Gordon did every morning when he got up was to draw back the curtains to see if the locusts had gone away.

Fiona would always catch a few locusts and dissect them, and estimate how long it would take for the swarm to leave based on the food in their stomachs. The answer was always "soon", but when a new day came, the number of locusts did not decrease.

Even Denise, who has always been rational, began to try to study divination magic. As a result, she broke several crystal balls but couldn't get the answer she wanted.

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

According to the flight squadron's investigation and reports, Raven discovered that the movements of the insect swarm without the insect king began to become unpredictable like a wild horse, and no longer as orderly as before.

However, this is the only impact.

It was not until the 11th day after the death of the Insect King that a new Insect King was born in the swarm. He led a considerable number of locusts to leave Raven's territory and fly towards the Bloody Highlands in the northwest.

Over the next few days, the number of locusts in the territory visibly decreased day by day, and they 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 plop, struggled a few times, and then stopped kicking.

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

Raven's new chief of guards, "Hyena" Wheeler, swallowed his saliva:

"Sir, what are you collecting locusts for?"

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

Because of this scar and his desperate fighting spirit, he was nicknamed "Hyena".

It wasn't just him, the guards next to him also didn't quite understand Raven's order.

Raven replied casually: "What else can I do? Eat, of course."

The hyena's scalp tingled. Looking at the struggling locust on the ground, he grinned and said, "Sir, is this thing... really edible?"

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

Hearing that they didn't need to eat it themselves, the guards, including the hyena, breathed a sigh of relief. This kind of stuff was really hard to eat.

Raven waved his hand: "Okay, we'll talk about it later. Pass the order down first and get the Eagle Army moving."

"Yes, my lord!"

The order to collect locusts spread quickly throughout Raven's territory.

Having endured hunger and fear for too long, many of the subjects, who had noticed that the locusts were beginning to weaken, came out of their houses carefully and fully armed, before Raven's order arrived.

Then came the first wave of impact.

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

There are no shrubs, no flowers, no crops. The big trees have lost their branches and leaves and have been stripped of their bark. Some have already died, while others are on the way to death.

There are no birds, no rabbits, rats and snakes are extinct.

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

It was like coming to a completely new land, a barren land without any life.

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

However, this chaos did not last long.

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

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

The people brought their families, picked up rakes, shovels and dustpans, and carried sacks to start collecting locusts.

This stuff is everywhere, and although there are occasionally a few that are still energetic enough to bite people, most of them just stay where they are and wait to die. If a family is diligent, they can collect hundreds of pounds in a day.

Large carts loaded with rye set out from Eagle City and went to various places in the territory. The rye was then exchanged for locusts and transported back to a temporary site outside Eagle City, where they were poured into large pots and boiled.

The drought that had lasted a whole year actually had a positive effect. It was mid-September and the sun was still scorching during the day. After the locusts were cooked and spread out to dry in the sun, they could be dried in about half a day.

After drying, it is sent directly to the mill, ground into light yellow powder, packed into bags and fed to the refugees.

If you only look at the nutritional content, then locust powder is 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, we also have to ignore the occasional remnants of wings, claws, and mouthparts.

But Raven would definitely not eat these things. He didn't want to do anything stupid and set an example - it would only make himself uncomfortable. If he had the time, it would be better to get more food for the territory.

"It's terrible..." Raven scratched his hair in the study.

Although the locust plague is over, the challenges have just begun. After all, looking back on the anti-locust process, it cannot be said to be a success.

Well, to be frank, it was a failure.

The preliminary preparations were basically in vain, and even a considerable portion of the buildings that housed the refugees were temporarily repaired.

And when the locusts arrive, there is nothing that can be done.

Although the insect king was killed, it is difficult to determine whether this action dispersed the locusts or whether the locusts chose to leave because their lifespan had reached the end and they had eaten everything in the territory.

After the entire locust plague, taking into account the loss of food, the loss of factories and the basic shutdown of the territory, plus the loss of natural resources in the territory, the preliminary estimate is that it is more than 20 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 basically not decreased, and most of the new refugees are young and strong laborers, who can restore the vegetation in the territory more quickly.

In addition, the number of locusts left in the territory was beyond expectations, and the amount of locust powder ground out every day was enough to make up for a considerable part of the food consumption.

However, whether it is restoring vegetation or organizing farming, we have to wait until the beginning of next spring. During the next four or five months, people cannot be idle.

Raven grabbed his quill, pulled himself together, and began to sign decrees.

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

This included but was not limited to having local organizations dig canals; cutting down trees on the mountain that had been killed by locusts; classifying refugees according to their respective skills and assigning them to different trades; releasing previously surviving poultry to deal with the eggs left by the locusts...

The most eye-catching thing is the order to expand the military.

Raven gave the order 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 the Middles Continent. After the disaster, unemployed young people were incorporated into the army and given the most basic food, drink and training, which could effectively eliminate unstable factors and organize forces to maintain law and order.

But it is not common to mobilize a whole legion at once, especially considering the population structure in Raven's territory. After the conscription is completed, the ratio of soldiers to serfs is close to 1:15.

Some people may think that Raven's move was not wise, but not many nobles have time to comment on it.

It's not that I was tripped up by locusts.

Xuefeng County is located on the northwestern edge of the Nord Province. The end of the locust plague here means that the entire Nord Province is gradually getting rid of the locust plague.

The reason why they move relatively slowly is that they do not have large numbers of air forces like Raven.

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

Even Governor Anthony did not issue a new decree immediately.

The one that acted the fastest was the Church of Light.

Under the chairmanship of Archbishop Thomas, almost as soon as the locust plague was over, he sent out his holy knights to contact churches in various counties and began to provide free food to believers everywhere.

The Holy Knights worked non-stop, gathering information from all over the place and reporting it back to the City of Mon'en.

At this time, in the Church of Mon Grace City.

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

Apollo, the Lord of Light, has three official images.

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

The second type wears a jeweled jade crown, holds a scepter, is surrounded by six angels of different images, and the sun, moon and stars rotate in front of his chest, symbolizing the "wisdom" of the Lord of Light.

The third type wears a wreath of thorns on his head, sackcloth on his shoulders, has a hunched body, leans on a wooden stick in his left hand, and holds ears of wheat in his right hand to feed a fawn, symbolizing the "mercy" of the Lord of Light.

Except for the cathedral in the Papal States which worships all three statues, all churches on the Middles continent choose to worship one image.

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

Archbishop Thomas finished a round of prayers, with the corners of his mouth slightly lowered, showing a trace of compassion similar to the statue of the Lord of Light.

"Ugh……"

In the empty hall, Archbishop Thomas sighed.

As far as he knew, many people died in the city of Mon'en, and many citizens who used to come to pray every day never showed up again after the church reopened.

The tragic conditions after the locust plague described in the letters that came in like snowflakes from all over the country were even more shocking to him.

As a result, the little hair I had to begin with has now all fallen out.

Just then, a man in a dark red robe pushed open the side door and appeared.

He looked less than 40 years old, with eyes like bells, a square face, a wide mouth, thick hair and a thick beard.

He stretched out his hand and drew an ∞-shaped holy emblem of the Lord of Light on his chest, and 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 so 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 and said, "Your Excellency, I hope you can pass it to His Holiness the Pope on my behalf."

The man called the Law Reviser had a hint of doubt in his eyes. He did not take the letter immediately, but said hesitantly: "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 Inquisition, you can watch it if you want. Why ask me?" Thomas said.

"I said I don't want to watch it, so I won't watch it." Xiufa's voice became more and more shrill. He reached out and touched his throat, with a bit of fear and vigilance in his eyes: "The voice that I am so proud of has been destroyed by someone. You don't want to cheat me of my thick hair again, do you?"

Thomas's lips curled up into a smile, "It has nothing to do with Lord Crouch."

"Really?" Xiufa's brows relaxed.

He was beaten by Crouch because he opened and read a private letter addressed to Archpriest Crouch. Although he did not lose his life, his voice became what it is now.

Lord of Light, his previous tenor singing was highly praised.

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

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

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

“This is a perfect time for the church to expand its influence in the western part of the Cairns empire.”

There is no need to explain it in too much depth; anyone who is well versed in church history can understand the revision of the law.

Ancestral worship is deeply rooted in the Nordic province. Previously, the church has been taking the upper-class route, but the results achieved are actually quite limited. The nobles are all greedy for the church's resources, and there is no true believer.

But now the Nord province has been almost turned into a barren land by locusts. It is foreseeable that the famine will continue for quite 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 amendment, the lower-class people are always ignorant and will follow whoever gives them benefits. Once food is delivered to their mouths, they will naturally be influenced by the church and slowly become believers.

The misfortune of the Nord Province is the blessing of the Church of Light.

This had not been done in the past because the nobles held on to power tightly and did not want the church to interfere too much in the affairs of the territories.

But things are different now. They are already struggling to take care of themselves and cannot 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 minute of delay will cost the lives of future believers of our Lord, and this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity will be wasted."

Xiufa did not agree immediately, but instead brought up a seemingly unrelated topic: "I have a distant nephew who just graduated from Stormwind Seminary, and as his uncle, I can't take care of him..."

Thomas suppressed his dissatisfaction and said, "The bishop of Mansa County is too old and frail to be competent. I am also considering a candidate."

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

Although Thomas was one level higher than Xiufa in rank, he still returned the greeting politely: "Please."

Xiufa turned and left. Thomas waited until his figure completely disappeared before he sighed softly.

The Inquisition, a humble yet powerful institution that was supposed to be responsible for eradicating corruption within the church, is now...

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

"Your Excellency, I have a visiting card for you."

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

"Blank out my schedule for the evenings five days from now."

……

(End of this chapter)