togophonebook #314 - Valen Taylor and Andre
#314 - Valen Taylor and Andre
"...Our most beloved Water Wheel Knight, Danjiheder, has fallen in a pool of blood."
Sitting on a simple wooden box, Valentine Tyler closed the *Chronicles of the Holy Sun's Expedition* in his hand and looked at the teary-eyed young boys.
"Read two more paragraphs."
"Yes, Uncle Valentine Tyler, please read two more paragraphs."
Surrounding Valentine Tyler were seven or eight children, around ten years old.
They wore the simplest linen vests, exposing their bare, wheat-colored arms, sitting cross-legged on the dirt, eagerly looking at Valentine Tyler.
Golden sunlight, swaying reed marshes, slender cedar trees planted on the green land.
Amidst the layered reed marshes, the simple huts of fishermen stood on the river islands.
As the evening approached, the fishermen rowed their small boats towards the shore, singing fishermen's songs.
Valentine Tyler reached out and stroked the head of one of the children: "Tomorrow, you should go eat."
"Read two more paragraphs, at least don't stop here!" the boy protested.
"Yes, I can't sleep at night."
"Hahahaha." Valentine Tyler laughed, his messy gray beard trembling with laughter, tears streaming down his face.
His son had disappeared at this age.
No, even younger than this age, less than ten years old at that time.
"Go, go, don't let your Papas and Mamas worry."
Pulling the boys up from the ground one by one, Valentine Tyler urged them to go home.
Since the Blue Blood Monastery incident broke out, he had been fleeing everywhere, spreading the word about the Blue Blood Monastery.
As the news spread, people began to follow him, helping him spread the word and attack the church.
Unknowingly, more and more people followed him.
It started with a dozen or twenty, and then suddenly soared to hundreds, even thousands.
So far, Valentine Tyler controls five or six Holy Sun armies, scattered in several townships, each with hundreds of people.
Relying on forests, rivers, and reed marshes, they attacked everywhere, proclaiming the ugliness of the Thousand River Valley Church while violently attacking knights, priests, and even their families.
In the past, these petty thieves would have been wiped out by the church long ago.
Since the Three Giants Uprising, the knights of Hotham County have been transferred in several directions, and the supervision has been relaxed.
Under the operation of Valentine Tyler and others, many people secretly converted to the Holy Sun or Huannuo sects; they couldn't distinguish the difference.
This is thanks to the church and monasteries' encroachment on land, which made the church the direct lord of the farmers.
Without the rapid suppression of the front-line military aristocrats like knights, although they gained more income, their control was weakened.
In addition to paying taxes, a large number of villages were perfunctory with the church's orders.
Not only did they drag their feet and not contribute in the encirclement and suppression, but they even took in the Holy Sun army, and there were even situations where the night watchmen were at work and the Holy Sun army was their life.
Due to the support of the Hotham people and the extensive water system.
These Holy Sun rebels relied on attacking supplies and destroying roads, dragging Prince Condé for a full three weeks before sending troops.
This is the only thing Valentine Tyler can do.
On the front battlefield, he couldn't defeat those extraordinary knights at all; the Three Giants were his only hope.
"Those little radishes came to you again?"
A rough voice rang from behind Valentine Tyler; he turned his head, and a man in his thirties with black hair and blue eyes jumped off the approaching fishing boat.
The man opened the front of his shirt, revealing his furry chest, his eyelids half-open and half-closed, and a thick knight's sword hanging from his waist.
Behind him on the small boat, the fishermen jumped off with several large boxes of grain and wealth, and even a disheveled woman.
Valentine Tyler rushed over unceremoniously: "Andrew! What have you been doing again? Where did this woman come from?"
"Don't worry." Andrew chuckled, "I, Andrew, am a real man; I can't do things that force good women into prostitution. She is a poor woman and followed me on her own."
The blonde woman, revealing half of her white shoulder, winked charmingly at Valentine Tyler.
Valentine Tyler's forehead veins jumped: "Oh, I'm a pig; I can't recognize who she is... Don't you know how dangerous we are?"
"Honey, you go wait for me in my room first." Andrew's big hand slapped the woman's fat buttocks, and the woman let out a moaning "Oh~" and walked towards the house.
"I asked you to investigate Prince Condé's whereabouts, not to... to do this kind of shameless thing." Valentine Tyler looked at Andrew's unrestrained face and sighed at the end.
This is Andrew, considered the number two figure in the Hotham Holy Sun Army.
Although he is a Fran vagrant and a church wanted man, he is Valentine Tyler's closest comrade-in-arms.
It can even be said that the current Holy Sun Army can survive and have its current scale, more than half of which is due to this greedy and lecherous Andrew.
It was he who proposed using the Holy Sun as a banner, and it was he who led the tactic of hiding in the village and attacking the logistics.
Although he looks carefree and unreliable, he is quite reliable in specific battles, often playing the church around in circles.
Valentine Tyler really has no good solution for this Andrew.
"Don't worry." Andrew patted Valentine Tyler's shoulder forcefully, "I haven't been doing serious business."
Valentine Tyler looked around and led him towards the temporary wooden house outside the village.
Strands of hot wind blew through the trees, and wisps of smoke rose slowly from the reed marshes.
At the door of the wooden house stood several guards in leather armor, but judging from the calluses on their hands and the hairless calves, they should have been transferred not long ago.
Entering the cabin, the two sat down, and Andrew briefly recounted the news he had inquired about.
After listening to Andrew's account, Valentine Tyler stroked his chin: "You mean to say that Prince Condé has already left Feiliu Fort?"
"Yes, if I estimate correctly, our deposed Prince Charles should have left Hotham County in the morning." Andrew said sarcastically.
Valentine Tyler followed up and asked, "Which direction are they going in?"
"That goes without saying; they must be going to retake High Fort City." Andrew curled his lips, "If the Leya civil war leads to the independence of Thousand River Valley, only Melia can be the king."
"Why?"
"First of all, Melia is a noble; her being the Prince of Thousand River Valley is considered an internal dispute within the noble world, even if the methods are not glorious.
Not to mention anything else, don't look at us chanting Holy Sun every day, but those who have the ability to influence will be more inclined towards Melia.
Letting a farmer be a prince or a king, are you crazy?
Secondly, Duke Kush died, and only Melia can get the recognition of the Fran Kingdom and the Noen Kingdom.
For the Noen people, Melia is one of their own.
For the Fran people, Melia is the granddaughter of Grand Duke Herma Stone, and the territory that is independent is still the territory of the Leya Kingdom, double the happiness.
Who will they support? It's clear at a glance."
Seeing Valentine Tyler's face showing some frustration, Andrew quickly comforted him: "Don't worry, if Grand Duke Herma Stone wins, the Holy Sun will not be short of a Thousand River Valley Archbishop.
I proposed to raise the Holy Sun banner because the Holy Sun is kind-hearted; if you follow the Duchess, you won't have these happy days."
"How many troops did they bring?"
"I don't know; where would I get the specific troop allocation for you?" Andrew thought for a while and added, "But they left an edict company in Feiliu Fort."
"What about Rapid Current City?" Valentine Tyler's starting funds were given by Rapid Current City; the *Chronicles of the Holy Sun's Expedition* in his hand was obtained from Catherine.
"According to the replies from past merchants, the two edict companies that were broken after High Fort City seem to have been repaired; at this time, they should all be attacking Ansen Fort."
Ansen Fort is an important fortress upstream of Rapid Current City; once it is broken, it can go down the river and take Rapid Current City itself.
"Can it be defended?"
"Ansen Fort is impregnable, but whether it can be defended depends on the person." Andrew said shamelessly, "If I defend it, I can defend it until Charles dies of old age."
Andrew always calls Prince Condé by his first name.
"Then do you think we can win? Can we, these farmers and petty citizens, win?"
"Fifty-fifty." Without much worry, Andrew smiled and said, "Charles' backer has fallen, and the edict company is not easy to replenish; every death is one less.
He is now a rootless weed, and he is unwilling to bet, the odds are too low, so he can only go to the table himself.
The Duchess relies on the castle to grind slowly; it depends on who can't hold on first.
We are too weak; don't always think about quick wins; a victory that comes from grinding is also a victory."
After reporting the news, Andrew couldn't wait to sprint towards his house.
Leaning on the door, looking at the blood-red surface of the Nauan River, Valentine Tyler secretly prayed to the Holy Father in his heart, *You must hold on.*