When Jiang Tian returned to the city of Toulouse again, he also held a grand entry/military parade ceremony; the captured flags of the Knights of the Holy Kingdom, the family crests and coats of arms of the rebel nobles, and the severed heads of giant beasts were Displayed together with other strange corpses.
A total of 40,000 soldiers lined up under the city, wearing brand new armor and blouses, holding weapons and flags high, and shouting slogans when they passed through the city gate; they also received a response like a tsunami from the citizens in the city. The envoys/representatives of all parties present could not help but look at each other in shock.
Therefore, the grand tour celebrations and sermons held next naturally became a great opportunity for the Free Army to further promote the illustrious martial arts and emphasize the legitimacy and justice of the ruling power. The celebrations also last three days with alcohol and food served in the streets.
In the midst of this hustle and bustle. Father Lacha also presented the newly compiled first edition of the teachings of Liberation Theology, as well as the corresponding organizational program of the military order. Because the members of the religious order imitate military discipline and formulate strict internal rules, they are also called "pious companies."
The members are also divided by analogy with military ranks. In addition to strictly abiding by traditional oaths such as "absolute wealth", "absolute beauty", "absolute will" and "three wishes", they should also be unconditionally loyal to the military leaders above the religious order and perform all tasks assigned by them. Searching for and combating alien beings, etc...
Another example is that in order to facilitate penetration into all strata of society, specialized services are cancelled, and people no longer live in monasteries and churches. Instead, they preach in public places, open schools and hospitals, hold public offices, and are employed as private teachers/confessors. , etc. to carry out various activities
On the other side, the old hunter Ajax, who had previously arrived in Toulouse with the special service company, was investigating and reporting on the possible aliens in the territory. Through the information provided one after another by the local Purity believers, we really found several clues about the existence of aliens in the local area.
The most harmful one among them is a giant man-eating tree hidden in a natural rock cave and relying on blood and flesh offerings from believers in nearby villages. After destroying the surrounding rhizomes and pouring a large amount of kerosene on it, it burned. A condensed crystal-like residue was harvested.
In addition, there are also skeleton aggregation monsters that look scary but can be knocked apart with a stick; monster grass that shoots out sap fragments to hurt people; spindle-shaped giant spiders that hide in the forest to hunt small livestock and wild beasts; disguised as dead trees , and entangle and strangle the tree spirits that are close to the creatures...
It can be said that the wilderness and remote areas outside most human activity areas are not very peaceful either. In addition to the usual beasts, these aliens have quietly existed for a long or short time; they even formed a deformed coexistence with nearby villages.
Moreover, the active scope of these aliens mainly exists in the noble territories; there are even people who perform sacrifices regularly. It can be seen from this that they have neglected and neglected the management of the territory under their rule, except entrusting it to tax collectors to collect taxes.
On the other hand, Ajax also found two clues. The first one is: in the city of Toulouse, there is the largest underground black market in the south, which is famous for obtaining objects from various strange sources; however, the man behind the black market The host happened to be a certain rebellious city noble.
Therefore, after subsequent interrogations of his family and cronies, an underground channel and multiple secret hiding places were found. An underground pharmaceutical workshop was seized, as well as a large amount of illegal drugs and formulas, as well as a large amount of materials of unknown purpose.
The second clue is that as the junction of the upper and lower crown territories, a water and land hub, and a commercial center; Toulouse was also the former Royal Confidential Bureau/Kingdom Investigation Bureau, with headquarters in several southern provinces; it is also responsible for surveillance and suppress possible changes by surrounding nobles.
Guided by this clue, Jiang Tian also personally came to the vicinity of Toulouse; it is located between the Grand Crown of Upper and Lower Garonne, at the confluence of the La Terra-Le-Garonne Canal and the South Canal. Here is located the Tolosa Castle, which the locals call the "Palace of the Roses".
Its predecessor is the transshipment hub and large fortress established by the ancient Romans in the province of Gaul in the mountains - Volka Etectosages. Later, during the Albigensian Crusade against the south by the Lily Dynasty, the members of the Languedoc family who held on to the end were destroyed.
Therefore, in order to erase as much as possible the traces of the past ruling family. King Oz of the Lily Dynasty invested huge sums of money and ordered all the nobles of the enfeoffed local kingdom to donate money and building materials according to their titles in the name of holy war tax; a royal palace was rebuilt on the old site and ruins.
Because a large amount of ocher red stone mined in the mountainous area of the upper reaches of the Garonne River was used as the exterior decoration of most of the buildings in the palace. It is also called the Rose Palace because most of the buildings have basically not faded or changed under the baptism of time, wind and rain; instead, they appear more vivid during the rainy season.
Only between the abdication of the royal family in the May Storm and the tragic collapse of the royal family in the Blood Moon, this old palace had been looted several times. Later, it became a battlefield for fighting between local liberals and royalists; therefore, the damage was particularly serious and it was basically abandoned.
According to local rumors, this is a forbidden place where haunted incidents occur from time to time. For example, when someone was fishing on the Garonne River at night, they saw will-o'-wisps wandering in the ruins and ghosts of knights walking among the walls; there were also wandering gangs of foreign robbers who entered and never came out.
Of course, for the Free Army, which has basically taken control of the Toulouse area, these haunting rumors are not enough. No matter how awesome the souls and ghosts are, can they still stop the tens of thousands of troops approaching the city of Toulouse, digging three feet into the ground to sweep the holes?
In fact, the special service company that specializes in handling and investigating abnormal things is becoming more and more powerful and has sufficient resources. Because the population and resource output of the territory controlled by the Free Army continued to grow, the old hunter Ajax was also able to find more of his colleagues operating in the south.
Although, the hunter organization passed down from ancient times has ceased to exist in name only and has dissipated; only two or three kittens under the names of several factions are left, doing their own thing. But compared to the more than ten provinces in the south, he still contacted some other hunters through various methods.
After some friendly exchanges (coercion and inducement)/introduction (verification of strength), he voluntarily joined the Free Army and became a specially appointed member of the special service company. Among them are the Bear sect, which is famous for its strength and body training; the Scorpion sect, which is good at medicine and props; and the Cat sect, which is proficient in human body structure...
Although they, together with three generations of teachers, students and apprentices, only have a dozen people together; but with the support of sufficient financial and resource resources of the Free Army, the basic situation has been greatly improved; they have even opened several sealed secret strongholds and planned to Restore more lost heritage.
Therefore, when we went to the ruins of the Rose Palace this time, in addition to a guard company armed to the teeth with the best equipment and equipment, six combat teams were also dispatched from the special service company that was taking turns performing tasks. Ajax personally led an in-depth search.
Therefore, when Jiang Tian arrived at the ruins of the palace, which covers a vast area and still has a large area of city walls, the site had already been initially cleaned up. I saw only a huge wild boar with strong tusks, plus a dozen of the same species of different sizes, riddled with holes, piled together with blood.
In addition, there are several huge night crows and vultures, seven or eight wild dogs with colorful fur, a hedgehog the size of a basin, two pig badgers and a fox; a brown-striped red deer, a half-cart of rabbits... ...Okay, Jiang Tian felt like his mouth was watering just by looking at it.
Among the overgrown ruins, several passages and large open spaces for temporary camping have been cleared; only the patterns on the broken walls, broken bricks and tiles, entangled by the withered vines, still stand out under the melting morning dew and frost. You can see the splendor and splendor of the past.
The bones that were found one after another in the ruins were being carefully laid out on tarpaulins, and a pair of corpses were carried out while keeping their original shape as much as possible. It's just that although there are many signs of gnawing on these human skeletons, upon closer inspection, it will be discovered that the fatal parts were punctured or cut by sharp blades.
There are even crushing blows caused by powerful forces. This is interesting. Who on earth would carry out targeted attacks in this ruins? Judging from the remaining clothing, these look like foreign intruders; are they secretly guarding and guarding something?
However, after preliminary searches by the teams that entered first, nothing special or abnormal was found. Therefore, Jiang Tian subsequently ordered that in addition to continuing to block and surround the vast ruins, more auxiliary companies were mobilized to clean up the site.
So when it was past three o'clock in the afternoon, Jiang Tian also finished enjoying butter-fried meatballs, honey cheese crisp, raspberry and green plum jam nut tart, and afternoon tea with bitter coffee; Finally, something new was discovered at the ruins of the palace.
As Jiang Tian walked through a large area of broken-down buildings that had been cleared of weeds and vines, cut down excess tree limbs, and dug up the remaining bricks and tiles that had accumulated over the years, he suddenly saw a withered building. A large cracked reservoir and a group of large sculptures in the pond.
These statues, with most of their hands, feet and heads incomplete, are not made of ordinary white and malleable marble, but a solid block of pale red bedrock, carved layer by layer from top to bottom; it seems to be describing It tells an unknown ancient epic story:
Standing on the prow of a large pointed ship, men and women wearing classical robes and muscle breastplates are wielding tridents, wing-shaped spears, shooting laurel bows and other weapons, fighting against the surging sea beasts on all sides. It looks like the lines are delicate and the pleat texture is lifelike.
However, compared to the dust and flakes accumulated over the years in various parts of the pool, the sculptures that were originally covered under the overgrown branches around the pool appeared to be too clean in some places.
