This heretic cannot be burned, he must be hung up and whipped!

PS: There is no county system in Europe, but that place is larger than the village level, but it is not at the city level, nor has it reached the level of a parish. There are a large number of such autonomous "village communities" (village communities) in medieval records. Beizhai uses "township" as the name here.

"Okay." The staff officer stood up and said, "I'll contact the Saints right away."

After watching the staff officer disappear into the distance, Valentin addressed his battalion commanders, "Heinrich, we need to hurry up and build a concentration camp for heretic prisoners of war. We can't wait until the heretic army overtakes us. Forget humanitarian concerns. Just treat these traitors like animals and work them to death. If they die of exhaustion, it's my fault!"

"Yes." Heinrich adjusted his small round glasses, snapped to attention, and then said in a fierce voice, "Just wait and see. Within a day, the three major heretic prisoner-of-war concentration camps will be rebuilt in a respectable shape!"

...

First Army Headquarters

It was already very late at night, but the light in Neos' tent was still on.

He had indeed not slept yet. He was formulating the major policies and guidelines for the Carpathian Mountain base!

Establishing a solid base is a huge project, and it is not something that can be done by simply stationing troops there. If Neos really wants to do this, when the heretics end their frontal offensive (if Vienna is captured, the frontal offensive will probably not stop), and turn around to sweep the occupied areas, he will definitely be beaten to pieces by the heretics' heavy troops through the subway, and then he will have no choice but to wander around and fight guerrilla warfare.

He was alone, but had to abandon all these soldiers in the mountains thousands of miles away. This really made him worried.

If you want to run your base as solid as a rock, you must first have solid military facilities!

The legion entered the mountains along five routes. The so-called five routes actually refer to five large canyons running north-south and crossing this mountain range.

His idea was to build a fortress in the southern part of the Grand Canyon. The main support of these fortresses was a large number of bunkers and a huge network of tunnels connected to them. At the same time, he would cut off several railways and roads that ran through the Carpathian Mountains to Hungary, and build a large number of anti-tank trenches on the roadbed to ensure that the heretics' tanks, armored vehicles, heavy artillery and other heavy equipment could not enter the mountains!

PS: Yes, railways were built in this mountain range as early as the late 19th century. Before the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the railways running through these mountains converged in Budapest. Unfortunately, the empire collapsed later.

As long as heavy equipment couldn't enter the mountainous area, even if the heretics mobilized 500,000 men, it would only be a waste of food. The reason was simple: the Grand Canyon's north and south exits were only so narrow, deploying a single infantry regiment was already the limit. What was the point of sending more troops? Wouldn't they just stand there and watch helplessly?

After all, the heretics are not good at mountain warfare, and they have not formed a special mountain division. Decades ago, they were pinned down in the mountains by Romanian troops and could not move north. Now, even with tanks, they may not be able to cross the mountains.

Therefore, in theory, the First Legion is fully capable of defending the fortresses at both ends of the Grand Canyon.

As long as the arsenals, steel mills, power plants, gunpowder mills, spinning mills and other factories in the Carpathian base can be opened, Neos will be able to fight the heretics who come to sweep it away for a long time. The fortresses at both ends of the canyon will become meat grinders, and in the end, only the heretics will be unable to bear it!

Of course, the base cannot be defended with just two fortresses.

Since the heretics couldn't attack directly, they would definitely resort to a sweep. The Carpathian Mountains were rich in strategic resources, including coal, iron ore, timber, and more—even uranium mines in Slovakia!

However, this place lacks one most important strategic resource: food! There are many mountains here and little arable land, and there is more dry land than water. The grain production is already low, and it is already difficult to feed the local population. Adding hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians, it is absolutely impossible.

There are only two ways to solve the problem of food shortage. One is to transport it from Poland in the north, and the other is to produce it for self-help.

The precious transportation line in northern Poland was not used to transport food, but to transport military pay, medicines, chemical raw materials, scientific research materials and other scarce supplies. Neos did not forget the thousands of old European version of "educated youth" who were to be sent to the Carpathians to "go to the countryside".

Therefore, if we want to solve the problem of food shortage for more than 100,000 soldiers and civilians, we have to rely on self-help production.

Labor is not a problem. Thousands of heretic prisoners of war are just fucking animals. In the future, there will be more heretic soldiers sent to prisoner-of-war concentration camps because of the sweep of this mountainous area. But once there are too many prisoners of war, it will be difficult to manage them!

"Oh, by the way, who is in charge of the prisoners in our team?"

The orderly went out for a few minutes and came back with a man wearing small round glasses: "Saint, that's him - Heinrich Himmler."

"Not buddy?"

PS: The first volume is finished! The next volume is on the shelves. 260 votes for the next update of 4.5k!

Red Tide: 1921: Chapter 48 I don't know, I came here because I heard scientists weren't burned here.

St. Peter's Basilica, Rome

Pope Benedict is in a bad mood right now.

Budapest ultimately fell. Aside from the first legion that arrived to support Budapest, the remaining improvised recruits couldn't even penetrate the heretic's makeshift defenses. The Danube waterway was about to be completely opened up by the heretic legions. The bad news kept coming one after another, and it was already disturbing enough.

Unexpectedly, just a few days after he hung up the phone with Neos, the intelligence department sent him another piece of news that made him even more upset!

The Russian Empire has already negotiated terms with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and those Orthodox barbarians are having substantive contact with Neos!

This was like a bolt from the blue for the Catholic world.

Although it was Neos who took away a Paladin of the Church, directly reducing the Church's top combat power by one-seventh, he also took away several backbone members of the warbands he had formed and directly under his command!

After struggling for a long time, their faction took advantage of the fact that God could not contact the committee and that they could not use the prophecy to launch a series of attacks in a hurry for quick success, deliberately causing the committee's troops to fail, but ultimately gained nothing.

Although he really disliked Neos, who stole people's things everywhere, he had to admit that the troops led by Neos and he himself were indeed capable of fighting!

If such people were to turn to Eastern Orthodoxy, the consequences for the Catholic world would be disastrous. If a large number of people converted to Eastern Orthodoxy and were unwilling to pay for the church or respond to the church, the consequences would be very serious!

Besides, Neos now has tens of thousands of veterans in his hands!

"Generals, bishops, come, come and sit down." Benedict waved his confidants to take seats, then asked, "Tell me, what should we do about this?"

Although the Pope's words were incoherent, his confidants all knew that he was referring to the fact that the Orthodox Church had sent a lot of people and supplies to contact Neos.

A bishop was the first to speak: "Your Majesty, I feel this matter cannot be taken lightly."

"Nonsense!" Benedict said unhappily. "I'm asking you, what should we do?"

The bishop thought for a moment and replied, "Now Neos is far away in the Carpathian Mountains. He is far away and has tens of thousands of veterans under his command. You can do nothing about him. If you put pressure on him openly, it might even do more harm than good. Therefore, I suggest infiltrating him. Send a group of young, promising, and loyal people to the Carpathian base to take up important positions and secretly undermine Neos!"

These people may not be officers, they may be bureaucrats, or engineers and technicians. They come to such a barren place in their hundreds of thousands to fight guerrilla warfare against heretics, so they must build good relations with the local residents! The ethnic composition of the Carpathians is very complex.

Czechs inhabit the western slopes, Poles on the northern slopes, Slovaks throughout the central region, and Hungarians in the south. The northern part of the Southeastern Carpathians is inhabited by Ukrainians, but south of 47° latitude, it is mostly Romanians. Within the Southeastern Carpathian arc, parts of the Transylvanian Plateau are also inhabited by some remnants of Germanic colonization during the Middle Ages. Serbs occupy the Danube Valley and the southwestern edge of the Carpathians.

The language and cultural barriers alone are enough to make Neos suffer. Without excellent bureaucrats, how can he maintain a strong mass base? No one understands the masses better than us!

"How long will it take?"

After a moment's thought, Benedict continued, "Well, then, give him a promotion. Go back and draft an order immediately, promoting Neos to the rank of Protector of the Nation! The First Legion will be expanded into the Ninth Crusader Army, with Protector of the Nation Marshal Neos as commander-in-chief. Also, in recognition of the First Legion's unprecedented victory and significant contribution to Europe's war against heresy, an additional bonus of seventy thousand francs will be awarded!"

The Pope's move was very clever. On the one hand, it greatly showed his favor to Neos and stabilized the morale of these officers and soldiers. On the other hand, it created a huge obstacle for the Orthodox Church to win over Neos!

He is now the commander-in-chief of the Ninth Army in the Crusaders' organization, and in terms of official title, he is also the Marshal of the Protectorate. If Neos is really corrupted by the "sugar-coated bullets" of the Orthodox Church and wants to lead his troops to defect to the Russians, how will the Orthodox Church arrange his position?

If the position is too low, the officers and soldiers of this group army will not be happy. If the position is too high, how high can it be? You can't just let Neos become the Orthodox Patriarch, right?

PS: The Orthodox Patriarch is equivalent to the Pope on the Catholic side.

"Your Majesty." Several marshals came to their senses at this point and couldn't help but applaud, "Your wisdom always surpasses ours!"

Benedict waved his hand, his expression darkening again. He added, "However, we can't just let things go as we did before. When you return, immediately select three hundred students from the command department of the Crusader Roman Military Academy, have them graduate early, and send them there through the Holy Roman Empire theater."

He originally planned to directly appoint senior generals. He had given Neos such a large organizational framework, so he had to appoint a chief of staff, two deputy commanders-in-chief and a large number of administrative personnel. But then he thought that his paladin seemed to have been abducted. Judging from the paladins' hundreds of years of combat experience, the people he sent were dispensable, so it would be better not to send them.

But selecting three hundred command cadets from the military academy was a different story. Guerrilla forces were always relatively decentralized, with central control severely weakened. The commanders of each detachment were essentially "local tyrants." These three hundred cadets should quickly become the backbone of the Ninth Army. Within a year or two, the vast majority of them would be promoted to battalion, company, or even regimental officers.

By then, these grassroots officers loyal to them, along with the bases they are responsible for, will become a huge force loyal to Catholicism!

The generals nodded, and the messenger was called back after taking only two steps.

"I remember Neos asked me for someone a few days ago?" he asked with a frown.

"Yes," said another bishop, "He hopes you can select some experts and professors from various universities and send a group of skilled workers."

"Satisfy him, and satisfy him doubly!" Benedict said. "From now on, whatever Neos asks for, whether it's for people, money, or equipment, we'll satisfy him doubly!"

Benedict was a master of political maneuvering after all. Although he was already very alert, he also knew that he had to do everything he could to win over and appease Neos.

----------

The Roman Inquisition on February 28, 1915

The deep dungeon emanated a perpetual musty odor. A few dim oil lamps dotted the dark, damp stone walls, barely illuminating the narrow corridors.

But this place is different from the gloomy and terrifying hell full of torture instruments that people imagine. Instead, it is more like a special library - the walls, the floor, and even the ceiling are covered with various formulas, charts and sketches.

"Let me tell you, solid fuel is more suitable for rocket propulsion systems than liquid fuel! Liquid fuel requires complex supply pipelines and valve controls, and on the battlefield, simplicity and reliability are the top priority!" An old man with white hair and a skinny body was drawing a diagram on the ground with a piece of lime, his eyes flashing with enthusiasm that did not belong to his age.

"Ah, then let me ask you, is this rocket of yours used for manned space flight or for space flight to kill people?" A rebuttal voice came from the other side.

This is Father Andrei Kovacs, a former lecturer at the Technical Institute of Munich and a staunch advocate of solid-fuel rocket propulsion systems. He has been imprisoned here for seven years and nine months, but he still patiently explains to his fellow inmates every day his research, which was "on the verge of success but was interrupted at a critical juncture."

"Andre, you're here again." In the cell opposite, Dr. Luca Mendel continued to carve some spiral patterns on the wall with a sharp stone without raising his head.

"I've been listening to you ramble on for over six months. Even though I'm a doctor, I already understand the problem you're working on. Even if your solid fuel burns evenly, thrust control remains an insurmountable challenge. The future belongs to liquid fuels, that's for sure."

Luca was a microbiologist who, before his arrest, was dedicated to bacterial culture and antibiotic research. He firmly believed that humanity's greatest enemy was not heresy, but the microbial world invisible to the naked eye. In this dark place, he persisted in using the walls as a canvas to record the bacterial patterns he observed.

"Can you two stop arguing?" a third voice came from the corner. An engineer was sitting cross-legged on a straw bed, spinning a piece of wire in his hand as if it were a key component of some precision instrument.

"Rocket propulsion is just a means to an end, but radio communications are the soul of this era. Just imagine, if we can perfect the microwave signal transmission system and bounce the signals off the ionosphere in the sky, we can build a radio network covering all of Europe. Maybe we can even bypass the Atlantic Ocean!"

"How can you cross the Atlantic Ocean? Isn't the Earth flat? How can you get around it?"

"Haha, when the idiot opens his mouth, the whole world laughs!" This sentence triggered a burst of low laughter in the cell.

"Then prove it! If the Earth is really a sphere, why hasn't anyone orbited it yet?" "Guess what the underwater heretics' submarines are for?" "You can't fly a plane or take an airship?"

"Have you forgotten again? Those who do this have either been burned to death digging trenches in heaven, or are sitting here debating with an idiot like you!"

The dungeon was filled with the sounds of debate. Within this imprisoned temple of knowledge, scholars and tech-priests from various fields whiled away the long, dark hours in debate and intellectual exchange. There were physicists studying electromagnetic waves, engineers delving into the efficiency of internal combustion engines, biologists attempting to decipher the genetic code, and even a few scientists attempting to explore atomic theory.

The only thing they have in common is that they were all arrested by the Strategic Prophecy Committee on charges of "researching blasphemous technology" and thrown into this isolated dungeon.

"Laval's research is still very useful for engines, as long as the shape of the pressure chamber is controlled well--" another engineer continued to explain persistently.

"God, please grant me the gift of deafness!" A younger prisoner put his hands together and covered his ears. He felt that he was almost drowning in the ocean of knowledge in front of a group of knowledge masters. He pretended to pray, which caused laughter from people around him.

Amidst the noisy debate, the iron door deep in the dungeon, which was almost never opened, suddenly made a sharp creaking sound.

The laughter abruptly stopped. The cell fell silent, leaving only the sound of heavy breathing. In this place, an open door wasn't always a good thing—it usually meant a new "blasphemous technology researcher" was being sent in, or someone was being taken for "trial."

But this time it's different.

A monk in a bright red robe walked into the dungeon.

"Fellow scholars, please forgive our sudden arrival." The monk's voice was loud and clear, echoing off the stone walls. "I am Cardinal Alexander, and I have come to make an announcement by the Pope."

He paused, looking around at the prisoners who were looking at him with bewildered eyes through the bars.

"From today on, you are all free."

These words hit the dungeon like a bomb. No one spoke, as if everyone doubted their own hearing.

"Is this... some new type of interrogation method?" Dr. Luca spoke first, his voice full of suspicion.

The monk smiled faintly. "No, that is the truth. His wise and sagacious Holiness has, after careful consideration, decided to mobilize your brilliant minds in this critical hour. You will be sent to the Carpathian Mountains, where you will contribute to the Crusades."

"Carpathia?" one prisoner frowned. "What's there?"

"There is Saint Neos." A young monk answered with a tone of almost fanatical reverence.

"He is the messenger sent by God to save mankind. Under his guidance, the Carpathian Mountains will become the ark of human civilization, and you—" his eyes swept across every face, "will become the builders of this ark."

The silence in the cell was broken. Whispers, questions, and even a few excited laughs intertwined. These scholars, who had been imprisoned for many years, seemed to see a glimmer of hope.

"When are we leaving?" asked a young man who had just been imprisoned, his voice already filled with obvious excitement.

"Immediately," the monk replied. "You may take your personal belongings and research materials with you. More importantly, your family members—those still living and willing to accompany you—will also be allowed to go with you. A full pardon has been signed. You are no longer criminals, but valuable assets to the Church."

After saying this, he knocked his cane, and his followers immediately stepped forward to open the prison door.

"Please follow me, the train is waiting."

------

At Rome Central Station, the sun is so bright that it is hard to open your eyes.

For this group of scholars who had just walked out of the dungeon, the strong light was almost a torture. But no one complained, and they took a deep breath of the free air, as if to make up for the oxygen they had lost in the past few years.

Father Kovacs' body was weak due to long-term imprisonment. He staggered and was supported by the doctor beside him.

"Be careful, Old Deng," the doctor said. "We have a long way to go."

In the station square, dozens of scholars and technical priests were reuniting with their families. It was a scene of both sadness and joy - some scholars found that their wives had remarried and their children had grown up; others found that their family members had passed away;

Karl Engler had no relatives present. He stood alone beside the train, holding a small notebook in his hand, thinking about something.

"Principal Engler?" a young voice came.

Engler looked up and saw a middle-aged man in his thirties standing in front of him.

"I'm Fritz Haber, your student," the middle-aged man said nervously. "I came here from Karlsruhe University immediately after hearing the news of your release via telegram. If you allow me, I'd like to follow you to the Carpathians."

Engler rubbed his presbyopic eyes and looked at the strange yet familiar face in shock. He suddenly remembered the name - the most talented student in chemistry before his arrest.

"You - Fritz, are you sure you want to come? That may be a dangerous place. We actually have no choice but to go to Carpathians, and it's very close to the front line." Engler asked.

"Principal, there's nothing more dangerous than the Strategic Prophecy Committee," Harber said firmly. "Besides, I brought something."

He pulled a stack of papers from his backpack, and Engler was surprised to find that it was a continuation of his research before his arrest - this student, who made him most proud, had been secretly continuing his work over the past few years.