Your war hammer is too fake

"Then fight. The weak often have an illusion that no one will take them seriously, and what I have to do is to break this illusion and crush their lucky mentality," An Jiyue held her chin with her left hand, and rubbed the rough grain of the wooden table with her right index and middle fingers. "A Ugor regime that actively approaches us politically and is deeply tied to us diplomatically may be a better choice."

Dustan thought for a moment and asked a question that seemed a little strange to An Jiyue: "Um...what about Katarin?"

An Jiyue looked puzzled: "What do you mean by 'what about Katarin'?"

"Don't you like that little girl very much? What do you want Katalin to do with all the things you said?"

"Dustan, you must have made a mistake," the governor sighed. "I really like this smart and cute little girl, but not to mention that I have only met her a few times in total - why do you think I would let my emotions influence my decision?"

"Tsk, there is a reason why you can be the boss," the wizard shook his head, "I thought you would restrain yourself a little for Katarin's sake."

"There is absolutely no such possibility." The Jiedushi said firmly.

The room suddenly fell silent. After a moment, Dustan asked, "When are you going to perform the purification ceremony?"

"Personally, I actually hope that it will be as soon as possible, but there are some expected troubles that are holding us back," An Jiyue said helplessly. "After Prince Belov released the news, the Ersun Church in Prager City declared that, well, they said that allowing a foreign witch to practice witchcraft on the land of Kislev is not only dangerous, but also deviates from the teachings of Ersun."

"Xiao Jin told me that yesterday a patriarch tried to incite the followers of Ersun to come and block the door. He wanted to drive me away, or at least make the prince give up the purification ceremony. Don't worry, Xiao Jin has dealt with that person."

"What does it mean to deal with it specifically..."

"As for Mrs. Kislev, isn't it normal for her to get drunk and lie on the street? In our 'hometown', in the Northeast, every winter people get drunk and freeze to death on the street," An Jiyue waved her hand disapprovingly, "But this can only delay the issue temporarily and cannot solve the root of the problem. Prince Belov promised me that he would solve this problem."

Dustan looked over suspiciously: "Is that bald guy reliable?"

"He'd better be reliable," An Jiyue said meaningfully, "otherwise I can only use my own way to solve the problem."

The author says:

Author's words: PS: Regarding the issue of horseback archery, I have posted a separate chapter related to the work. Those who are interested can take a look.

Answering readers' questions:

I haven't played Vermintide, so I'm not sure what you're referring to.

Answer to the reader "Aurora's Little Soldier":

All the parts related to Prince Belov are my own original works.

Answering readers' questions about "traveling":

Have you just realized who this Yuri is...

Chapter 128: Convincing Everyone One by One

Prince Belov always keeps his word.

The prince visited several religious figures in Prager in one day and had one-on-one meetings with them. He started with the less influential sects and persuaded them to agree, or at least not oppose, the purification plan proposed and implemented by An Jiyue. In fact, among these religious figures, only the Orthodox Church was strongly opposed to this matter. The Church of Yurik had some doubts but was not so firm. Most of the clergy's concerns about this matter were more due to their distrust of magic.

The servants of the healing god Saliah openly expressed their support for the purification plan. They believed that the Pragers had been tortured by the pain brought by the power of Chaos for too long, and it was time to end it all. In parentheses, these loving and kind ladies also distrust magic. The attitude of the main religions in the Old World towards magic is not much different from that of the dwarves. However, compared with the human kingdoms in the south that do not need to face Chaos directly, the views of the Kislevites on magic are more... well, flexible.

In the Empire, even after Magnus the Pious established the Imperial School of Magic against all odds, discrimination and exclusion against spellcasters still permeated every class and every corner of the Empire, and the Church of Sigmar never concealed their views on mages and magic. Witch hunters affiliated with the Silver Hammer Order often raided the homes of battle mages and even took more direct actions. This also led to a very bad relationship between the Church and the School of Magic, and various small-scale conflicts almost never stopped.

Sometimes, witch hunters successfully uncovered the corrupted people hiding within the empire and prevented certain evil conspiracies from harming the empire's land and people; at other times, such actions only damaged the empire's power in vain and created a lot of unnecessary hostility and hatred.

In contrast, the Kislevites don't even take undead magic seriously, let alone conventional magic. In the history of Kislev, there was a vampire tsar, and the fundamental reason why she was overthrown was that she transformed all her boyars into vampires - as undead, vampires do not die naturally. In other words, unless the vampire boyars of the vampire tsar died on the battlefield, they would always occupy various positions in the Ice and Snow Court.

Compared to this, the sixty-year-old prince is nothing. The Tsar himself lives forever, but the Tsar's court officials also live forever. How long will we have to wait to fill the vacancy? Will ten lifetimes be enough?

In the eyes of the Kislevites, magic is dangerous and difficult to control. However, except for the real chaos magic, other magic is not that bad. These Warhammer guys are so unrestrained that they can even accept undead magic. The mysterious spells of the Cathay people from the far east are definitely better than those tricks of vampire bats.

Before the Great Orthodox Church came into being, it was no big deal for Prince Belov to hire a Chinese witch. Kislevites had messed up even the religious rituals of several traditional beliefs, and the countryside was full of all kinds of semi-immortals, whose primitive witchcraft was only a hair's breadth away from chaos magic. It was not until Boris Bokaha founded the Great Orthodox Church, standardized the rituals, and got rid of those shamans that the attitude of the Kislev religious community towards magic was barely reversed.

After all, Warhammer's magic does present huge hidden dangers.

Even though Boris and his Orthodox Church have made great efforts to this end, the time is too short and some deep-rooted ideas are not so easy to reverse.

"In Kislev, women's opinions are as important as men's," and the "women" here refer to ice witches. Since the time of Khan Queen Miska (Note 1), ice witches have been a significant political force in Gospada society, so much so that the Bokaha family has a tradition that men become warriors and women become ice witches. The female tsar of the Bokaha family is usually also the leader of the ice witches, and the royal family controls the most powerful magic group in the kingdom in this way.

An Jiyue was both a woman and a powerful wizard, so Prince Belov started from this point and convinced everyone except the Great Orthodox Church. Whenever he met with religious people in Prager, he would start by giving them a history lesson, telling them the ancient story that all Kisli people were familiar with - the legendary epic about how the ancestors of the Kisli women crossed the mountain pass under the leadership of Miska and came to settle in the land today.

The prince was obviously good at telling stories. When he described this story, which was quite delicate for the Ugor people (Note 2), he emphasized the role of Queen Miska's ice magic in the entire expedition, and pointed out the many similarities between An Jiyue and Miska, whether intentionally or unintentionally: a beauty, a powerful wizard, a ruler...

The prince's behavior could not be said to be taking things out of context, at most it could be said to be a Spring and Autumn style of writing. On the whole, the clergy of Kislev were much purer than their counterparts in the south. The bishops of the Church of Sigmar were as proficient in politics as they were in doctrine, and the clergy of Kislev were not so cunning. When the prince tried his best to connect An Jiyue with the legendary Khan Queen, the clergy who grew up listening to these legends were naturally convinced.

After dealing with the others, Prince Belov began to tackle the final hurdle. When facing the Orthodox Church, the prince no longer taught any history lessons, but played a beautiful retreat to advance.

He told the indignant patriarchs that he himself did not believe in foreign witchcraft. As the ruler of Prager, the prince always believed that only the power of the bear father could save his city from the clutches of the dark forces. For this reason, even though the finances were extremely tight, he was still willing to raise funds for the Grand Orthodox Church to hold a grand religious ceremony.

At that time, the prince will lead all the leading figures in Prager to the scene and witness with their own eyes how the miracle of Ersun redeemed Prager's teeth! I believe that the great bear father should not be unable to handle such a "small matter", right? What, you said that the Ersun sect has tried to purify Prager before, but all attempts failed? Well, it must be that the priests in the past were not pious enough, and the rituals were not standardized enough!

I believe that now that the Great Orthodox Church has long been on the right track, things that would disappoint the devout Esun believers will never happen again, right?

...So the Great Orthodox Church also relented and no longer opposed An Jiyue's purification ceremony. The big hamster disappeared for two whole years, and during this period, no one's prayers were answered. The people's suspicion and even doubts about the bear god were rampant, and many people took the opportunity to stir up trouble. The patriarchs of Prager could no longer afford any failure.

If no miracles were performed, they could forcefully explain that this was a test from the gods to the believers. However, if the ceremony was held but the desired effect was not achieved, it would really destroy the foundation of the Great Orthodox Church. The patriarchs, who were forced into a desperate situation by Prince Belov's rhetoric, could only agree to let An Jiyue try her magic first. After all, even if the girl failed, the situation would not get worse.

……

Note 1: Translated as "Misha" in Total War. The founding monarch of Kislev, a powerful ice witch.

Note 2: Kislev was originally inhabited by many ethnic groups, but the most important were the Ugol people. As outsiders, the Gospadans had taken all their land from the Ugol people and other indigenous peoples...

The author says:

Author's note: The temperature dropped sharply yesterday, and I sneezed all day. I managed to write one chapter. I still feel dizzy.

Chapter 129: The Arrival of Half-Baldy

[Level 3 Chaos Synapse Purification Completed, Feedback Calculation in Progress...]

[Settlement completed, 170809 points obtained]

Before the red light of Xihe's demon-slaying had completely dissipated, a message from the Supreme War Scripture popped up. An Jiyue narrowed her eyes slightly. The income of 17 points was much less than she had estimated in advance, but considering that there was almost no risk this time and it was just a little effort, this result was still acceptable.

The girl originally thought that this purification ritual might encounter some kind of mishap, such as a Chaos Demon suddenly appearing out of nowhere, but it didn't happen. She didn't know whether the Chaos Demon didn't care about Pragg or there were other reasons. Anyway, the whole ritual ended without any setbacks, and all the arrangements made by the girl were useless.

"How much did you earn?" Dustan asked, who came forward. Just like the time when Pingshan was created, this time he brought a magician to guard An Jiyue while she cast a spell. As for Prince Belov and other locals, they were asked to stay far away.

"17, less than I expected. A temporary altar in Hasut gave , but the famous Cursed City only gave this much," An Jiyue couldn't help but complain, "I just hope Mordheim can give me some surprises. After all, it was hit by a double-tailed comet, it can't be as poor as Kislev."

"It's better than the border prince's territory. My place is really poor," the wizard glanced at me, "If only the money-making opportunity in Plateau Castle could come again..."

"Silence, they are coming," An Jiyue suddenly lowered her voice, then immediately returned to her normal volume, "As I promised you, Prince, your city has been liberated from the power of chaos."

Led by Prince Belov, a large group of local leaders from Prager came over. They had different expressions, and it looked like they were performing a bad pantomime. The expressions of the several patriarchs of the Great Orthodox Church were particularly interesting.

"Yes, dear lady. Even though I am a soldier, I can clearly feel this." Prince Belov put his right hand on his chest and bowed deeply to An Jiyue. "Please accept my gratitude. The Ugor people will never forget your generous help in times of crisis. Prager will always open its doors to you and your followers."

Even ordinary people without magical senses could clearly feel that their city had undergone some inexplicable changes. The invisible yet omnipresent, oppressive and crazy dark force that had long been entrenched in the city was finally driven out today, instead of just barely suppressing it for a short period of time as in the past.

Plug was still Plug, but he looked different.

"Don't worry, Prince. I never make promises easily. If I do, I will definitely do it," the girl said, "You can start gathering the troops you promised me before. Judging from the time, the reinforcements from Kislev should be here soon..."

"Don't be too complacent, witch!" A patriarch suddenly said. He stared at An Jiyue and shouted at her angrily: "The great Bear Father is the protector of this land, and you are just a pagan from a distant land, a pathetic soul who does not believe in God! This time is just a fluke, your trick can't be hidden from the servants of the Bear Father!"

The governor raised his eyebrows. Prince Belov was about to speak when he saw that something was wrong, but the governor raised his hand and stopped him. "Cut off your tongue yourself," she said, "and I won't mind your rudeness just now."

"How dare you threaten the servants of the Bear Father on the land of Kislev?!" The Patriarch raised his head and shouted, "You Chinese bitch..."

With a crisp sound, the Patriarch's head rotated 180 degrees on the spot. The body fell straight to the ground with a thud. The scene was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. Everyone stared at the Patriarch's body with their minds blank.

"You must leave here immediately, ma'am!" Prince Belov stretched out his hand to grab An Jiuyue: "The believers of the Bear God will riot! I will handle the follow-up matters, and my previous promise is still valid, you..."

"You'd better take another look at what this thing is," the girl used telekinesis to slap the prince's hand away, "Kislev is really a good place with outstanding people and beautiful scenery. Things like this can sneak in without anyone noticing."

Without the girl's reminder, the prince had already heard a series of exclamations and the sound of swords being unsheathed behind him. He turned his head and saw that the patriarch had turned into a ball of dissolving blue... mud? It was difficult for the prince to describe the thing in front of him in Gospada. Perhaps the mud dug out from the bottom of the river in summer was the closest to this thing in terms of appearance.

The thing opened what was probably its mouth and uttered a series of incomprehensible grunts. Then, unable to sustain itself any longer, it turned into a handful of hot ash that scattered all over the ground.

"What the hell is this thing? It can change so flexibly?" Dustan asked in amazement.

"How is that possible? How can a changeling be so easily exposed?" An Jiyue gave him a strange look. "It's just an ordinary Tzeentch Army vanguard (Note 1). No wonder the purification ceremony went so smoothly before. It turns out that they had a backup plan here."

The magician asked curiously, "How did you find out that there was something wrong with the other party?"

"The fanatic is just insane, not really brainless," the governor explained. "This guy's acting is a bit exaggerated. Even the most fanatical believer would not provoke the person who just helped them purify their corruption at this time. His intention to sow discord is too obvious, and he is completely treating others as fools."

After saying that, the girl waved her hand and said, "I'm going to rest now. You can handle the rest by yourselves. I will leave for Dwengard tomorrow. If you stay, Ruolan, the troops I prepared for you will also stay in Praag. From now on, they will obey your command. How about you take them with you when the reinforcements from Kislev and the Ugor warriors are all in place?"

"Uh..." Bing Ruolan said hesitantly, "Aren't you going with the main group?"

"When we set out from Kislev, didn't you listen carefully to what Boris said? Constantine was the leader of the team," the girl said unhappily, "even I, a native of China, have heard of his 'renowned name'."

In front of the Kissiri ladies with strange expressions, Shugen-King was dumbfounded and said, "No, so you just left that extremely troublesome half-bald, insane old man to me?"

"You are not even afraid of an expedition to the Arctic wasteland, so why are you afraid of a mere demonic person?" The governor gave Xiuyanqing a thumbs up and said, "Brave old lady Weijing, use your character to overcome this little trouble!"

"Hey, I'm still young! I'm not some old auntie!!"

……

On the afternoon of the day after the purification ceremony, Constantine, the second-in-command of the Great Orthodox Church and the future successor to the position of Patriarch, came to Prager with two thousand people... probably warriors.

The first thing this crazy, half-bald middle-aged man did after arriving in Praag was to lead his men into the local Ersun Temple and arrest all the members of the Orthodox Church in Praag.

When An Jiyue arrived at the scene after receiving the news, Constantine was surrounded by countless citizens and ordered his men to tie several priests in gorgeous clothes to wooden stakes. In front of the onlookers, he loudly read out the crimes of these people, including but not limited to dereliction of duty, wavering faith, and condoning corruption. After reading out the crimes, Constantine threw a torch, and a raging flame suddenly rose from the pile of wood poured with oil, engulfing the guys who were crying and begging for mercy.

The girl noticed that Constantine did not BBQ everyone indiscriminately. Most of the people in the Prague branch of the Great Orthodox Church received punishments of varying severity, but at least they saved their lives instead of being burned to death like the guys with the most serious crimes.

Even so, these people had already lost all their reputation, wealth and status. Constantine gave them two choices: to participate in this doomed expedition or to live in disgrace.

"Interesting," An Jiyue watched with interest as Constantine dealt with his colleagues who had neglected their duties and began to preach passionately and inspiringly on the spot. "This is probably what is called a 'holy fool'."

The Jiedushi turned and walked back, followed by Nishikori Shigeki and the sword guards.

"I have to speed up the pace here..."

……

Note 1: This ability to change appearance has never been exclusive to changelings. Changelings just have the best camouflage ability.

Chapter 130 You bald guy!

Constantine brought two thousand volunteers.

Anyway, An Jiyue didn't think that these people could be called "soldiers"... If she met these people in the empire, she would definitely think they were a group of whippers. They were wrapped in everything they could to keep out the cold. They looked tattered and shabby, and exuded a suffocating smell. Their weapons were also tattered and in all kinds of shapes. Some people were holding weapons that looked so simple that they were more like makeshift weapons used by some urban gangs in street fights.

They had no armor, no organization, no supplies, and certainly no training. They had nothing except the high morale inspired by their fanatical religious beliefs. As a commander with increasing military experience, An Jiyue felt that it was a miracle that this mob could reach Praag - organizing a march has always been a difficult task, especially in a place like Kislev where there is no decent road outside the city walls and it is extremely cold.

An Jiyue, who originally did not want to deal with Constantine, had to take the initiative to meet with this half-bald man. The Jiedushi did not care about these so-called "reinforcements". It was doubtful how much these people could play in the expedition; but if they hindered the actions of the Aurora troops, then she had to take care of it.

"You should train your people at least," An Jiyue said to Constantine. "Faith is important, but faith alone cannot win the war. Excuse me, even if they can't help, at least they shouldn't be a hindrance."

"I have gathered 3700 devout believers who are willing to die for their faith in Kislev and its nearby villages," Constantine said calmly. "On the way to Praag, I will preach in every settled place I pass by, calling on the children of Kislev to join this great war. People continue to join us along the way, expanding our team, but more people are martyred. When I set out from Kislev, they knew nothing. They didn't know how to set up camp, get water, or protect themselves from wild beasts. But now they have learned a lot, perhaps more than they will learn in their entire lives."

"You have no money and no supplies, so you use human lives to pay for the training? This is very Kislev," An Jiyue was not surprised by Constantine's statement, "which means that at least half of you died to get here. But the supply problem still cannot be solved. Prager can't provide much supplies, especially since Belov also promised to provide a team of 2,000 soldiers."

"We don't have much supplies, but if we use them sparingly, we should have no problem getting to Derwengard," Constantine said in a rather calm tone. "Praise Father Bear, we encountered a group of goblins on the way here. They don't taste very good, but it's better than going hungry."

Although it sounds and is actually outrageous, greenskins are indeed edible. For example, dwarves have hate jerky made from goblins, and you can even buy dishes cooked with snot brains in the market of the imperial town. Of course, greenskin meat tastes very bad. Other than that, greenskin meat is indeed harmless to humans.

"I'm glad you didn't try mutton and beef. These things are everywhere in the Eastern Province recently," the girl said. "As long as you can reach Devingard, you will have food, weapons, and everything. The Heavenly Court is trying to send a large amount of supplies there. By the time you arrive, these supplies will have arrived."

Constantine looked at An Jiyue and said, "We don't have the money to pay for anything."

"Great, there are actually Kisli women in this world who know to pay for things," An Jiyue said mockingly, "Don't worry, it's free. Remember to take good care of your people when the time comes, and don't take things that don't belong to them."

"Listen, pagan, your Gospada is standard, but that doesn't mean you really understand our people," Constantine still didn't get angry, and even his tone didn't change. "The Kislevites only take what they deserve."

"It sounds very law-abiding, but unfortunately I know what kind of people you are actually," An Jiyue never trusted the moral integrity of creatures like Maozi, whether they were Maozi in her "hometown" or in this world. "Your definition of 'what you deserve' has always been broad and flexible, and you refuse to accept any objection."

The half-bald man finally looked like he was going to get angry, but he finally controlled his emotions. Many people who didn't know Constantine well enough thought he was a lunatic, which was true, but not the whole truth.

"The Kislevites have their own code of conduct," he said. "Even though you have repeatedly humiliated us, I and many other Kislevites are still grateful for your help. That's it."

The girl suddenly felt a little bored. She lost interest in continuing to argue with the half-bald man. "I will prepare weapons and supplies according to the standard of 2,000 infantrymen," the Jiedushi calmed down and said, "I will not participate in this expedition. My colleague Bing Ruolan will be fully responsible for commanding all the Aurora troops. She is also the commander of this operation."

Constantine frowned when he heard this: "Pagan, you want me to obey the orders of another pagan?"

"You can refuse," the Jiedushi said coldly, "Only we know where to go and what methods to use after arriving there to find your imprisoned god. We even know who is in charge of all this and what its purpose is. So the question is, why should we tell you?"

"Boris told me that the Heavenly Court came here to seek an answer, and only my Lord can give this answer," Constantine subconsciously tightened his grip on the flame brazier, "We should be equal allies, not a slave master and his slaves."

"For the Heavenly Court," An Jiyue stared into Constantine's eyes and said very seriously, "people like the dwarves are allies. The Empire can probably be considered an ally, if their emperor can mobilize the entire empire."

Having said that, there was no need to continue this meeting. Constantine did not make it clear whether he would obey Bing Ruolan's command, and An Jiyue did not ask. The command of the coalition forces could only belong to Zhendan. If it was really necessary, An Jiyue did not mind letting Constantine and his people disappear halfway.

Well, this attitude also applies to the Ugol soldiers sent by Prince Belov. After all, the greatest help the Kislevites can provide in this expedition is to not cause trouble.

As a fanatic, Constantine's position and attitude are undoubtedly a potential hidden danger. Although Kislev cannot accomplish anything, she is fully capable of doing bad things. The girl will not ignore this, and will not do nothing even though she has already noticed the hidden danger.