The light and heat brought by the huge sun are fading day by day. The time when the sun shines directly on the earth every day is shortening, while the night is quietly extending. After the Harvest Festival, a sudden rainfall ends the past few days of heat. On the cooler night, the white-angled stars gradually moving westward remind scholars and farmers who are paying attention to astronomical phenomena: summer is coming to an end.

The frost moon is approaching. Although autumn has not yet arrived, as a northern kingdom, most areas of Ansu will turn cool within a week before the frost moon, even the southern border is no exception.

In the past, this will be the last "prime time" for residents of various towns to hoard the grain harvest in the harvest month in the harvest month in every household. There is no need to worry about food problems for the time being. The various epidemics that are prevalent in summer will decrease as the weather turns cooler, and annoying mosquitoes begin to gradually disappear. It will take some time for the weather to turn completely cold. Before the foggy moon in winter, people do not have to worry about the survival threat brought by the cold winter. They can take advantage of this last suitable period of activity to continue to hoard food, repair houses, and store firewood...

In theory, this short "Ansu Autumn" is the last busy and busy day for each town throughout the year.

However, in Lu'an City, prosperity ends at the beginning of the harvest month.

Today is the fifty-fourth day of the lockdown, and the atmosphere in the city is still deteriorating.

There are almost no pedestrians on the street, and every household has closed its doors and windows. Occasionally, a hurried figure flashed through the corners of the street. Apart from the patrolling soldiers of the Holy Cult, there are only priests or minor officials who came out to inquire about the news. Even at noon, the whole city is as dead as nightfall and has no life.

Almost no one associates such a city filled with a depressing and tense atmosphere with the holy land of the Holy Light Church in the southern border.

However, this atmosphere makes sense. The southern border changed hands. The news of the revival of the Principality of Cecil has spread throughout the region. Everyone knows that a new ruler has ruled the land. However, what is bad is that the relationship between the new ruler and the Church of Holy Light does not seem to be harmonious: in the amazing war more than a month ago, the Church of Holy Light made a bad choice. An elite army of Holy Spirit stepped into the battlefield under the leadership of the bishop of the South, and was on the opposite side of Cecil...

The war began with great momentum, but it ended so quickly that it was unbelievable. In that short battle, the bishop was defeated and the most powerful Holy See knights in the southern region were wiped out.

He even caught up with all the high-level knights from the Holy Spirit Plain.

Then Lu'an City was blocked.

Blockade, rather than attack, puts greater pressure on Lu'an City.

If the Duke of Southern Frontier came directly to seek revenge after the war, or simply sent troops to the city, the priests of Lu'an City would feel at ease, at least that proved a clear attitude, and as long as the attitude was clear, it would be much easier to deal with it.

Lu'an City can apologize sincerely, agree to a series of compensation conditions, give up some church lands and even some religious immunity in exchange for the quellation of the new lord's anger, and the opportunity to continue to survive and preach on this land. Even if the situation is really out of control, the Duke of the South insists on solving the problem with force, and the guardians of Lu'an City will not be afraid: the fanatical knights of the Holy Church have been prepared for martyrdom, and the priests are not afraid of swords and demon fire. The clergy who can preach on this barbaric land in the South have always been the most stubborn and least afraid of challenges in the Holy Light Church.

However, the new ruler of the principality chose the most difficult to deal with and the most difficult to guess: the silent blockade.

He did not send a soldier to Lu'an City, but only blocked all the checkpoints connected to the entire city. The fully armed Cecil soldiers and their fortifications blocked every road outside Lu'an City like a plug on a wooden barrel. Whether it was the movement of people or the spread of information, the Duke was strictly prohibited from using the reason to maintain post-war order and investigate intelligence, but anyone with a discerning eye could see that he had placed a house arrest on the entire Southern Church.

All the Holy Light Priests who preached in the southern region were driven to the city, and the channels for contact with the Holy Spirit Plain were completely blocked. Whether it was a caravan, scattered adventurers and mercenaries, were forbidden to approach this area. At the beginning, since the Cecilian blockade had not yet closed, there were still sporadic exile knights running into the city through the path. The cathedral officials could also learn about the latest changes outside through the mouth of the exiled knights, but soon all loopholes were filled, and all the information channels to the outside world were cut off. The city was completely blindfolded, covering its ears and blocking its mouth.

The residents of the city soon became uneasy. The nominal city managers sent here by the Ansu royal family ran away before the blockade was closed. It is said that half of them had defected to the Cecils.

In such an atmosphere, this year's Harvest Festival was spent in silence. No one organized a celebration, and no one dared to waste food. The priests directed the farmers to harvest the last crops in the farmland close to the city wall, and then pushed these perhaps the last food into the granary, and began to impose the strictest curfew and rationing system on civilians.

It seemed that everything was at its worst, but in fact, in the Cathedral of St. Lu'an, the firm faith still supported the last priests who stayed here.

Franberg, who was temporarily elected as "Biography of Luan", ended his morning prayer. He stood up silently in front of the statue of the God of Light, and let the servants come forward to tidy up his still glamorous robe, with the expression on his face calm.

The image of the God of Holy Light stands quietly in this prayer room, with a clear layer of light shrouded on the icon, just like the past hundred years, and in Franberger's view, this image that always lingers in glory represents the Lu'an Cathedral at this moment: no matter how bad the situation outside is, no matter how rampant the beliefs of heresy are, the great God of Holy Light will always protect it, and His light will never dissipate, which means that all challenges from the outside world are temporary.

After letting the attendant leave, the tall black-haired bishop left the prayer room, and in the rest room outside, he saw several people wearing priestly robes gathered here.

The round table in the rest room was decorated with exquisite desserts and fragrant black tea, and it was obviously enjoyed.

Food distribution is being carried out in the city, and civilians can only receive food that is only enough to survive. In order to avoid exhausting physical strength, most civilians now choose to stay at home all day long. However, the priests in the cathedral are messengers of God who are not within the "rational restrictions". The priests cannot endure hunger like untouchables. This not only disgraces the majesty of the God of Holy Light, but also seriously affects the combat effectiveness of the priests.

The arrangement was reasonable, so Franberg just glanced at the snacks and tea, and came to the priests with expressionless expression: "What's the situation in the city?"

A priest stood up: "There is no chaos, the Holy Clan and the exiled knights who defect to us are on patrol, and the civilians are basically staying at home."

Flan nodded and turned to another priest: "Where are the movements of the Cecils?"

"Nothing changed, they still locked down the city, but there was no further move."

"The duke who surrendered to the devil and was stupid and arrogant..." a middle-aged priest couldn't help but say angrily, "...his behavior is simply unreasonable! When treating the Church of Holy Light like this, did he think that there was only one St. Lu'an Cathedral in the entire Su?"

"Maybe the Holy Spirit Plain and the Bishops of the Capital will come to help us, but at least at this stage, we are still subject to others," Franberg glanced at the resentful middle-aged bishop and shook his head slightly, "Gowencecile's behavior is indeed like being with the devil, but he is a powerful devil."

The first priest who spoke before had a hint of sorrow on his face: "Bissary, what do you think that Gowen Cecil wants to do?"

Franberger pondered for a moment, then said slowly: "It is obvious that he wants to drive us out completely."

Then he added: "Neither attack nor retreat, maintaining the blockade, waiting for Lu'an City to collapse, his purpose is very clear, that is, to hope that we will surrender and let our Lord's servants leave the city by themselves, and he naturally takes over here and completely expels the faith of the Holy Light, without worrying about moral criticism. This is a typical vicious trick, full of cunning and without honor, as we first judged: the founding hero who looked great and glamorous on the surface was actually just a greedy man, and all he wanted was absolute power, which was completely exposed when he destroyed all the nobles in the southern territory with tricks."

"We are the servants of the Lord, how can we surrender to such people!" The irritable middle-aged priest immediately shouted, "He can only waste his energy and he does not understand the power of piety at all!"

"Those powerful magic weapons blinded his judgment. He thought that conquering Lu'an Cathedral would be as easy as conquering the Rock Fortress," Franberg shook his head, but then his tone was a little solemn. "But Gauven Cecil is still a very cunning person... He did not directly attack Lu'an Cathedral, which means that he at least understood that he was morally disadvantaged."

An elderly priest who never spoke nodded slightly, with a hint of pride and reserve in his tone: "Yes, he realized at least one thing that directly attacked Lu'an Cathedral, which would only turn us into martyrs, but he himself would lose the support of the people."

"Yes, his opposition with the church can only push him to an unjust situation, even more so at this moment," Franberg said solemnly, his eyes swept across everyone on the scene. Although the language was plain, it conveyed an unwavering idea. "Our persistence is the greatest counterattack against him. His blockade of Lu'an cannot last forever. The clumsy excuses he used will soon be unable to hold on. As long as we stick to the cathedral, the doubts of the people of the Holy Light against Gowenceciel will gradually overwhelm him...

"We may make some sacrifices in this process, which may be longer and more difficult than we imagined, but I believe that everyone present must be prepared, and even prepared for martyrdom.

"The God of Light will witness our piety and courage. We will prove with facts that Gowen Cecil's arbitrary and blasphemy are unjust. We will never evacuate and will never let the God of Light be shamed. Perhaps we will eventually fall, but when we fall, we will have the name of a saint, and Gowen Cecil may eventually step into this place, but we swear that he can only step into this place as an executioner and a blasphemer!"

Franberg's voice was powerful and strongly infected everyone present. They thought of Bishop Lemont, who had been martyred, the crisis facing Lu'an City at this moment, and the glory of devoting to the Lord. So everyone stood up and followed the voice of the interim bishop:
Chapter completed!