When the strengthening was over and all the believers had adapted to their new powers, Abel had Alphonso write a declaration of war against the Holy Church on behalf of the Church of Life and Wisdom, officially announcing the start of the Holy War between the God of Life and Wisdom and the Holy God.
The war between churches of different faiths was called the Holy War, a war that transcended the mortal world. The nobles could choose to participate in the Holy War or not, and in theory, they wouldn't be punished after the war.
But this was only in theory. In reality, the nobles and lords of the Dale Province basically had no choice.
They were all living in their own land, so how could they stay out of it? The Holy War involved all believers, and many of the knights and soldiers under the nobles were believers of the Holy Church. When the Holy Church called for enlistment, all your subordinates would join the war, so how could you, as a lord, stay out of it?
So there was no choice. In this war, Lin Xiao was destined to use Alphonso's territory to challenge all the lords of the Dale Province.
It was very difficult, but there were also benefits. If he could win, especially if he showed his unstoppable power on the battlefield, the Holy Church would be defeated, and the faith of the entire Dale Province would immediately collapse.
It might take a long time for the commoners to change their faith, but the nobles would certainly change their faith very quickly.
Most importantly, this was a world without magic, and the Holy God had yet to be born, so there was no divine punishment for changing faith. Even if a fanatic changed their faith, there wouldn't be any problems. This gave many lords the opportunity to change their faith.
Faced with his provocation, the Holy Church was furious. Many bishops cursed Alphonso as a heretic, and said in unison that the Gibson family should be punished.
But this was loud as thunder, because the Knights of the Holy Church in the Dale Province were currently fighting with Hook in the north, and they couldn't spare any manpower.
Speaking of which, it was beyond everyone's expectations. They had thought that the Church's knights and the many opportunistic private soldiers of the nobles would be able to wipe out the small Hook Hill easily. But in fact, they had not taken down Hook Hill even after a few months of fighting.
The other side had long been prepared to defend the castle of the original lord of Hook. Not only did they have a group of elite soldiers, they also had a very powerful defensive weapon. Not only were they unable to take down Hook after more than two months, but they also suffered great losses.
Of course, the Church's knights had the absolute advantage in numbers. Even if they suffered great losses, they could still hold on. As long as they could endure the loss of their subordinates, they would definitely be able to take down Hook Hill in the end.
The leader of the knights, Bartos, had wanted to use this method to exhaust the enemy with the private soldiers of the nobles and the militia as cannon fodder. After two months, the enemy was exhausted and their defense was obviously weakened. Just as they were about to break through the castle, they received the news of the Holy War from the cathedral. This put Bartos in a dilemma.
After considering it for a long time, he wrote a letter to the cathedral, suggesting that they defend themselves first, and that they would come back to help after they had eliminated their opponents.
However, the plan was good, but the plot did not develop according to his imagination.
Less than two days after Bartos sent out the letter, he received a second letter from the cathedral. The letter contained a piece of news that made him restless.
"The infidels defeated an army of Viscount Fetan and Count Dyson at the border of Viscount Fetan's territory. They have already conquered Viscount Fetan's territory and are attacking Count Dyson's border outpost."
.....
"This God of Life and Wisdom … Which side does she belong to?"
In Hook Castle, Daryl, the Son of Spiritual Realm, looked at the secret letter in his hand and did not move for a long time.
As an aspiring Son of Spirit Realm, he placed great importance on intelligence. He had long since sent out his believers to establish an intelligence network. Therefore, when Lin Xiao's declaration of war came out, his believers immediately sent the news back.
Looking at the contents of the secret letter for a long time, he was thinking about how to deal with this situation.
"The other side should be panicking and retreating. When the Holy Knights retreat, I have to observe the situation and find out which side the God of Life and Wisdom belongs to. At the same time, I have to prepare for changes in the situation."
As an elite Descender, Daryl had his own unique understanding of the situation. He immediately understood that the situation in Dale Province had entered a critical moment.
No matter who won, it was his chance. He was already thinking about waiting for the Holy Knights to retreat, and after a short rest, he would follow the Holy Knights to the edge of the battlefield and wait for an opportunity.
But …
Outside the city, in the camp, after receiving the second urgent letter from the cathedral, Bartos stood in place and was silent for a short while. About ten seconds later, he ordered to gather all the officers for a meeting.
Ten minutes later, a dull horn sounded. Many knights who were resting mounted their horses and approached the city wall. All the troops surrounding the city were mobilized, even the reserves were transferred.
"Damn it!"
Hearing the war horn, Daryl, who was on the castle wall, immediately understood that his prediction was wrong. The Commander of the Holy Knights, Bartos, did not retreat immediately. Instead, he wanted to go all out and fight again.
A day later, under the relentless attacks of the Holy Knights, who did not care about the cost and losses, Hook Castle, which was at an absolute disadvantage in terms of numbers, was finally breached.
After a great battle, the leader of the Hook Castle's garrison led a small group of core subordinates to break through the encirclement and escape. The entire territory of Hook Castle was taken back.
After that, leaving behind some nobles and speculators to clean up the remnants, Bartos led the army back to Dale City.
At this time, Alfonsol's army had already crossed Viscount Fetan's territory and entered Count Dyson's territory.
After knowing Alfonsol's strength, Count Dyson chose to withdraw his defense. He gave up all the outer territories and retreated to the core of Dale City. He was prepared to defend Dale City together with the Holy Church. Therefore, the army arrived at Dale City without any battle.
A day later, Lin Xiao rushed over with dozens of paladins. From afar, he could see the sharp spire of the cathedral in the center of Dale City. A white beam of light that ordinary people could not see soared into the sky. That was the rich power of faith.
Dale Cathedral had been built for thousands of years. Countless believers in the Dale Province had accumulated over thousands of years. No one knew how much power of faith it had accumulated. Due to the limitations of the world, this world could not give birth to Transcendents. Naturally, there was no such thing as a Holy God. Therefore, the power of faith had been accumulated in the statues in the cathedral. It had been too long and there was too much of it, so it could be seen from afar.
Lin Xiao had ten thousand ideas about this. He was quite eager for the power of faith.
"Don't hold back. Break through Dale City in one go. I'll support you."
In the meeting before the battle, Lin Xiao directly gave the order. He did not want to delay any longer and have more problems.
In the early hours of the next day, the sound of drums thundered throughout the camp. Many soldiers who had woken up early and finished their breakfast began to gather. They lined up neatly and left the camp.
Although there were not many of them, even if they included the surrendered soldiers and the private soldiers of the opportunists, the total number was only seven to eight hundred. Their numbers were far less than the two thousand defenders on the city walls. However, their morale was very high.
Large tents in the camp were opened. Inside were huge all-metal battering rams, ballistas, and trebuchets that Lin Xiao had secretly put in last night.
All of them were primitive and cumbersome, but in this world, they were considered high-end war machines. They were all provided by the military.
The surface of these all-metal battering rams was covered with a thick layer of steel plate. It could block all arrows and small catapults. The battering rams themselves were driven by mechanical gears. Only two to three soldiers were needed to move them. However, there were dozens of people hiding under each battering ram. The arrows raining down from the city walls clanked against the roof. They could not penetrate it at all.
The same was true for the ballistas. They were all made of metal, and there was a thick layer of steel plate behind them to protect the operators.
The trebuchets, on the other hand, did not have such protection. These things had always been at the rear. Apart from the enemy's trebuchets, no attacks could reach them. The only change to these things was that their metal structure was thicker and thicker. They could withstand the bombardment of the enemy's trebuchets without deforming.
There were only two battering rams, but they were unstoppable. They braved the rain of arrows all the way to the bottom of the city walls and stopped in front of the city gates. A huge metal hammer nearly half a meter in diameter was raised back and smashed forward.
Boom!
The huge metal hammer heavily smashed into the thick wooden gate, causing it to tremble violently. Countless splinters and dust flew into the air.
At the back of the battlefield, the huge ballistas were also gradually approaching the attack range. These metal ballistas had all been modified. Each ballista had ten firing ports and could fire ten bolts at once. A total of ten large ballistas were lined up in a row. Following a series of firing sounds, the ballista bolts flew toward the city walls one after another.
A wave of a hundred ballista bolts. In an instant, the dense attack directly suppressed a section of the city walls. The defenders on the city walls looked at the shattered rubble of the city walls and did not dare to poke their heads out.
The trebuchets threw stones the size of tables, covered in a layer of oil. The oil on the stones was ignited before they were thrown, and a burning fireball would be thrown out.
After landing, the oil-soaked shell would explode. Countless flames would fly, causing great damage to the city.
At this time, no one cared about how much damage the flames would cause to the city. At this time, the priority was to take down the city and then extinguish the city with fire.
Moreover, although the trebuchets were primitive, their workmanship was very advanced and their accuracy was very high. There was a standard way to use them, and as long as they were used according to the standard, they would basically shoot wherever they were directed.
Not long after the siege began, and before the army even got close, several rounds of accurate bombardment from the trebuchets and ballistas were already difficult for the defenders to bear.
A few soldiers flew up using divine spells and found the headquarters of the defenders hidden in the city gate tower. Several rounds of concentrated fire directly blew the tower down.
It was unknown whether the enemy defenders were all dead, but they must have been scared out of their wits. The morale of the defenders also plummeted.
This bombardment continued … In less than half an hour, the city gates were forcibly smashed open by the battering rams. However, they did not directly attack the city. Instead, they continued to smash into other sections of the city walls. At the same time, the trebuchets also began to concentrate fire on a section of the city walls.
Two hours later, three huge holes were forcibly blasted in the city walls of Dale City.
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