North, far north.

Climbing over the Shade Mountains, passing through the Holy Empire, heading towards the end of the horizon, until the rough Narrow Sea, you can reach the true north.

The Venetians complained about the cold, wet winter and found long-sleeved clothing from the bottom of their trunks;

The Platoans cursed the biting winter winds and hid in houses with closed doors and windows.

Little did they know that fate was already gentle enough for the Senas people. The majestic shady mountains blocked the cold air from the south. The huge inland sea was a natural heat storage pool, so the land sandwiched between the two mountains did not freeze almost all year round.

In the true north, the God of Winter will show another ruthless side.

A blizzard swept across the sky, turning everything in the world into a vast white color. The water vapor exhaled by animals froze on their hair, and preserving body temperature became a matter of life and death.

In this world where dripping water turns into ice, a group of people are holding a ceremony.

A waterway was carved out of the glacial lake, and a naked boy walked into the icy water tremblingly.

The body heat was losing rapidly, and the boy struggled to swim to the end of the waterway.

There were many people watching, but no one helped.

Thin ice is constantly forming on the water surface. If the guards with long sticks had not broken the ice in time and fished out the ice floes, the sharp ice ballast could have killed people.

The mothers closed their eyes, while the men whispered: The rite of passage is usually held at the age of fifteen, and even then misfortunes often happen. It is too early for an eleven-year-old child to swim across the glacier!

But the boy finally swam to the other side. When he walked out of the ice water, the crowd surrounding the glacier burst into cheers.

The grandfather walked up to the boy, took off the cloak from his shoulders and tied it for the boy.

Later, the grandfather hung a dagger inlaid with rubies on the boy's waist.

In the cognition of people participating in the ceremony, when a boy gets these three things, it means that he is no longer a child, but a young man and a warrior.

From this moment on, the boy gains full rights as a "free man."

Next, the guests should offer congratulatory gifts to the boy.

But the boy's grandfather made an unexpected move: he took off the iron crown from his head and placed it on the boy's head.

"Karl, I had a dream." The grandfather rubbed the boy's soft blond hair, his eyes full of love: "I dreamed that you would get it all."

A dream doesn't mean anything, it's just a good blessing from a grandfather to his grandson.

But at this moment when dark clouds were overwhelming the city, the prophetic words of the old king ignited a glimmer of hope in people's hearts.

The nobles who were watching the ceremony piled the gifts at the boy's feet in order.

They still have an existential battle to fight.

…

The vast majority of Catholic and Protestant believers do not know that there is a group of people living in the Far North, and they do not care.

In the eyes of people with slightly better geographical knowledge, such as the residents of the far north of Winters-Montagne, there is no doubt that they are barbarians.

The popularity of this perception is largely due to the fact that the empire "has long deliberately used images of [savages] and [barbarians] to distort its northern 'neighbors'".

Belittling the enemy is a consistent narrative method of the empire. Describing the northern kingdoms as "barbarians" is exactly the same as emphasizing that the Senas Alliance is a "traitor".

In fact, since the Catholic Church sent missionaries to the [narrow sea coast] on a large scale four hundred years ago, northern society quickly got rid of the original form of [tribe-region], and various tribes entered the feudal era.

After all, the missionaries not only brought scriptures, but also advanced technology and culture. How could they convince the barbarian chieftains to convert if they didn't come up with something good?

However, what happened next quickly deviated from the expectations of the Catholic Church.

Scripture, culture and magic, with these three magic weapons, the Catholic Church can expand its territory without any disadvantages.

But in the north... they're out of control.

Unlike the old pagan religions that collapsed at the drop of a hat, the pantheistic faith in the North has shown a tenacious vitality beyond imagination.

Because when the Catholic Church marched into the north, both sides of the Narrow Sea were still in the "mythological age" when demigods walked the world.

The priests of the Northern Territory absorbed elements such as the "Battle of Good and Evil", "Heaven and Hell", and "Eternal Life" from Catholic beliefs, straightened out the originally messy Northern Territory mythology, and rebuilt a complete belief system.

Generally speaking, the weaker the party with the right to speak, the more conservative it is.

For example, when many dynasties were at their peak, they were open to all rivers, but when they declined, they often fell into the fear of "everyone looks like a traitor"; when religions rose, they forced pagans to convert, and when they declined, they started arguing about who was more pious.

If there are miracles in the world, the Nirvana and Rebirth of the Pantheistic Faith in the North can be considered one of them.

The war of faith raged for two hundred years, with Catholic priests fighting against demigods in the north, and monotheistic religions fighting against pantheistic beliefs.

Marked by the successive conversions of the kings in the north, the Catholic Church won.

However, the then Pope Pius II had no time to celebrate, because he discovered something even more terrifying: heresy.

The problem lies with [the second-generation missionaries].

Second-generation missionaries generally refer to the first northerners to convert to Catholicism.

Most of them are half-way monks, have not received complete theological education, and use the language of the northerners to preach.

It should be noted that "a wrong translation of a scripture may cause the Lamb to go astray," not to mention that the second-generation missionaries "paraphrased" the doctrines they understood in a foreign language.

It was precisely the second-generation missionaries who were born and raised in China who made great contributions to the victory of the Catholic Church.

During the two hundred years of the war of faith, the second-generation missionary group, which had repeatedly encountered obstacles, learned from the experience and gradually combined Catholic teachings with northern traditions to assist missionary work.

The worship of saints gradually replaced the worship of monotheism, new chapels were built at the old sacrificial sites, and festivals of pantheistic beliefs were transformed into Catholic festivals...

Relying on various "localization" strategies, the second-generation missionaries achieved great success.

Then... they were all condemned as heretics by Pope Pius II.

If we say that in the first two hundred years, the mode of struggle between pantheistic beliefs and the Catholic Church was still "persuasion" in the literal sense.

Then in the next two hundred years, "weapons of criticism" completely replaced "weapons of criticism."

Because the two hundred years of Catholicization in the north were also the two hundred years of rapid development when the [tribe-region] structure was shattered and the feudal country was formed.

At the same time, the once ravaged and fragmented Holy Empire was once again unified under one banner, known in history as the "Eagle Castle Dynasty".

[Note: The same dynasty is not the same as the ruling dynasty today. The Eagle Fort Dynasty has ceased to exist, and the current crown of the empire belongs to the Lieyang Dynasty]

The war continued, but lords replaced priests, swords replaced scriptures, and more and more political factors were mixed into sectarian struggles.

In the end, "crushing heretics" had become a high-sounding reason, and only two powers were left attacking each other in the name of holy war.

The fighting stopped, the fighting stopped. In the past two hundred years, the years when the empire's princes and the "barbarians" in the north were completely at peace can be counted on one hand.

But maybe this is all coming to an end?

…

Three days have passed since the boy's coming-of-age ceremony. No, he is a man now.

The little man "Karl" stood beside the bed blankly, holding his grandfather's cloak in his arms.

And his grandfather, who tied the cloak for him with his own hands, was lying on the bed, no longer breathing, and the sheets were soaked red with blood.

A shot fired from a forty-eight-pound cannon knocked the charging old king off his horse, and the old man died before he could be carried back.

However, for the old king, dying in the final charge may be the best way to die, so that he does not have to witness the sad scene of the collapse of the army and the demise of the country:

The new cast-iron cannon destroyed the old walls, the spears and muskets defeated the shields and swords, the disciplined army defeated the brave army;

Wearing heavy armor, wielding a page hammer, and killing like a demigod, the warrior bishop was beheaded by "nobody";

Battalion-level square formations, light artillery, and medium-mounted cavalry that combine impact and speed shine.

The sound of boot spurs hitting the ground came from the corridor.

The bedroom door was pushed open, and a magnetic and careless voice sounded: "Where is Karl Eleven?"

The owner of the voice saw the old king's body on the bed and suddenly stopped.

He took off his helmet, revealing light golden hair and a handsome face.

If it were a countess's banquet, the owner of this face must be the favorite of married and unmarried ladies.

It's just that for a general commanding an army, this face is a bit too young. Thirty years old? Maybe not yet?

The young general with light blond hair bowed deeply to the old king's body.

"Are you Wang Sun?" The pale blond man bent down and asked little Karl gently: "Where are the others?"

Little Carl shook his head.

The pale blond man sneered and ordered the accompanying military attache: "Capture the palace manager and prepare the king's funeral for Carl XI."

The accompanying military attaché hesitated to speak, but turned around to carry out the order.

Another lieutenant took off his helmet, revealing chestnut hair.

The chestnut-haired man said helplessly: "The Duke of Congreve is the commander-in-chief. In any case, you should 'solicit' his opinion."

"Okay, you go." The pale blond replied casually, "I have other things to do."

The chestnut-haired man sighed, turned around and left to be friendly.

"There is something that I originally wanted Karl Eleven to do personally." The pale blond hair looked at little Karl: "Now you can only do it."

Little Karl was taken out of the castle, and he watched in horror as the silver-covered city was defiled by blood and fire.
To be continued...