Alien Knights

A week after the submission day ended, the list of winners was posted on the bulletin board in front of the church.

Contrary to residents' expectations, there was only one winner, and it turned out to be a prisoner named Hans.

After that, there were rumors that the Holy Son personally received the captive at the headquarters of the Knights. Just when everyone was curious about what this guy named Hans had written. On the square in front of the church in Muxi Town, a large tent for theatrical performances was temporarily erected.

It took half a month to set up the tent. After such a long time, a play based on the novel "Mockingbird" officially met with the residents of Muxi Town in this tent.

That night, in the simple theater with 200 seats, there were 300 spectators.

During the hour-long show, people talk loudly at first, and gradually become quieter as the episode develops, and finally become endless crying and sobbing.

Although the stage setting is simple and the props are arranged hastily, the tragic experience of the father and son in "Mockingbird" deeply touched the hearts of the audience, making them feel overwhelmed with grief.

In the next few days, the stage play "Mockingbird" caused a sensation in the whole Muxi Town. Not to mention the full performances, there were even people from distant towns who rode in a carriage for a day and a night just to get a ticket.

As for the author of the script, Mr. Hans, he was completely sought after as a star.

Todd not only distributed the competition rewards and performance income to him as agreed, but also specially allocated a sum of money from Muxi Mutual Aid to set up a "literary studio" for him to support his full-time writing.

Through this "Story Contest", Muxi Town is quietly undergoing some changes.

First of all, people's views on literature have gradually broken the shackles of theological allusions and myths and legends, and have taken a big step towards the awakening of self-awareness and thinking transformation.

Secondly, the success of "Mockingbird" promoted the commercial development of literature and drama. In Muxi Town, more and more businessmen saw the huge business opportunities. They held up the coins, looking for any novels and scripts that might be successful, which indirectly created the driving force for folk creations.

Last but not least. Driven by literature and drama, the need for literacy in Muxi Town is getting bigger and bigger. For those who have financial conditions or pursue their dreams, a new way of life—writing is in front of them. But if you want to write the thoughts in your head, you must first learn to write. Driven by this motivation, and also at Todd's initiative, free study classes by monks and students sprung up like mushrooms after rain. With the high enthusiasm of the people, coupled with the large number of textbooks printed by printing presses, Muxi Town has officially entered a wave of learning.

Of course, this is all for later, let us turn our attention back to the Muxi Knights. After being busy with the "Story Contest", Todd began to focus on the military again.

After nearly three months of outward expansion and captive reorganization, Todd held a military meeting at the headquarters of the Knights. Only Huggins, Cumberland, Alfonso, and Tristan, who attended the meeting as an intelligence agent, were present.

At the meeting, Huggins first introduced the expansion results of the Muxi Knights: Relying on the "Successor" and explosive kits, the Knights are invincible and invincible. Huggins led troops to capture eleven fiefdoms in total, transferred about 1,300 residents to Muxi Town, and acquired a wealth of about 130,000 silver moons. After many battles, the popularity of the Muxi Knights has greatly increased.

Then, Cumberland recruited 229 captives and formed a cavalry company consisting of 25 standard lances and a half-organized heavy armored infantry regiment. During this period of time, Alfonso took over the task of defending the town from Huggins and conducted a new round of selection and training for the militia.

Finally, Tristan, the deacon from the capital of the Pope, shared the news he had recently learned from the church with the Muxi Knights.

The first news was about the situation on the Eastern Front. The allied forces of the Holy Acropolis and the Knights Templar, and the allied forces of the Silver Ring City and the barbarians, have been fighting for several months. Among them, the biggest conflict occurred 20 days ago. The two sides mobilized a total of 12,000 troops, and an encounter broke out at the mountain pass near Fort Watch. After a day and a night of intense fighting, from the point of view of the battle damage ratio, although the church coalition forces were superior to the coalition forces, the battle still ended with the church coalition forces actively retreating.

The second news came from the south. According to the information received by the missionaries of the church, the sectarian disputes in the southern desert kingdom--the Fatimid dynasty have gradually entered a fever under the political operation of a kingdom's prime minister-"Saladin". Those pagans who believe in Allah may break out of civil war at any time.

The third message came from the Papal States. After the "Disaster of Truth" incident, the First Heresy Inquisition collected a large amount of evidence of heresy. Although the secular nobles in Tailuo City tried their best to prevent the trial from proceeding, the situation has become more and more severe for the arrested scholars and disciples.

Regarding the first two matters, Tristan's suggestion to the Muxi Knights only had four words - "wait and see what happens". But regarding the third matter, he seemed extremely anxious and anxious.

From the perspective of the young deacon, the church had to take into account the mood of the secular kingdom when judging the teachers and students of the college in the past. This trial may be the same as in the past, with thunder and rain, and finally nothing. But to his surprise, the pope seemed determined to take the academy people under his knife. In the final analysis, this is not so much a trial against the truth as it is a beating and threat to secular forces.

After reassuring Tristan, Todd began to discuss the strategic direction in the future with the military "cadres" of the Muxi Knights.

Huggins suggested that while the eastern front is attracting the main force of the enemy, one should gather superior forces, expand the territory controlled by the Knights as soon as possible, and obtain as much population and wealth as possible.

Alfonso hopes to complete the reorganization of troops as soon as possible, and separate an army to station in the fortress east of Muxi Town for regional defense. The reason for this is that most of the industrial areas, livestock areas and residential areas in Muxi Town have been moved out. If the enemy uses highly mobile forces to destroy and plunder, the loss of Muxi Town will be immeasurable.

After hearing the speeches of the two, Todd nodded, but found that the old knight hadn't said a word yet.

Cumberland heard the question from the head of the regiment, stroked his beard, and expressed his opinion.

In his view, expanding territory as soon as possible, acquiring population and wealth, and moving defense forces eastward are all correct strategic directions. But Muxi Town currently has a strategic weak link, which has been close to a state of defenselessness, and that is the military invasion from the northern sea.

Although Muxi Town has set up an observation post on Waiheke Island, this passive defense method will not only occupy a considerable part of the Knights' military resources, but will also bring great constraints to Muxi Town's coastal military planning. Therefore, how to eliminate or reduce the threat of the northern enemy is the most important task of the Muxi Knights.

Todd agrees with Cumberland's analysis very much, but his perspective on this issue is different from that of the old Cavaliers.

Cumberland analyzed how to prevent the enemy's attack from the defense loopholes of Muxi Town; while Todd analyzed how the town should connect with the outside world from the future development of Muxi Town.

Muxi Town is now in a very embarrassing situation. Its agriculture, animal husbandry, handicrafts and industry are on the rise, but there is only one way to digest the products of these industries - domestic demand. It’s not that the merchants in the town haven’t thought about selling the products they produce to other towns, but all the commercial routes seem to be full of difficulties: to the north is the Falling Star Mountains, and the caravans want to reach the northern border unless they can grow wings; to the east, there are turmoil and wars, and there is no way for caravans to safely pass through that land; to the south, the road is far away, the road conditions are bad, there are no supply points, and they have to pass through layers of checkpoints, this route is not realistic.

After all, the only convenient trade route is the sea to the west.

But when it comes to maritime trade routes, Muxi Town encountered two big problems: one is the backwardness of ship construction technology; the other is that the sea passages are vulnerable to pirates.

Thinking about it this way, the focus of the Knights' next attack should indeed be on the alliance between the North Island pirates and the barbarians.