Chapter 1453: Holy War

The Eastern Orthodox Church has announced a crusade against Protestantism, a crusade against the heretics!

The news of the cooperation with Catholicism spread throughout Europe, and for a time, the three largest ecclesiastical organizations in Europe took sides one after another.

The war has evolved to this point, having completely become a struggle of the Holy See!

Catholicism prides itself on being the orthodox successor of Rome, an ecclesiastical organization inherited from Christianity.

The Pope acts on behalf of God to exercise power, and the theocracy possesses the most countries and territories.

The Franco-Austrian Alliance is composed of countries that believe in the Pope, and it has the greatest power.

The country where the Pope resides—the Vatican.

After receiving this news, the White Pope gave a contemptuous smile.

Is the Eastern Orthodox Church entering the fray to stop Catholicism from proselytizing in Tsarist Russia?

The Pope chuckled, then stopped thinking about the Eastern Orthodox Church; his goal had already been achieved.

Since the Eastern Orthodox Church has entered the fray, he can now proceed with his plan.

In the vast cathedral, countless Bishops of the Vatican looked at this supreme Pope who exercises power on behalf of God.

"The faith of the Lord must not be blasphemed; issue my decree: all Protestants are heretics."

"The Lord does not permit their existence."

The Cardinals bowed their heads, and upon hearing the Pope's teachings, they all voiced their assent.

Catholicism officially pronounced their punishment for Protestantism.

"Assemble the Crusaders."

The Pope, wearing the Holy Crown, said these words lightly, but thunder exploded in the sky.

The Crusaders, the army that guards the Holy See!

They are also the army that crusades against demons as described in the Bible; this army had disbanded thousands of years ago, but now the Pope has ordered the Crusaders to be reorganized.

The meaning is already very clear: the Holy See is going to launch a Holy War against Protestantism this time!

In a word, Protestantism must be erased from Europe.

The only countries supporting Protestantism are Britain and Prussia, plus perhaps Longyan.

Although the sphere of influence of the Eastern Orthodox Church is vast, it is concentrated only in the single country of Tsarist Russia.

It now appears that Catholicism has the greatest power.

Through the glass window of the cathedral, the Pope looked at the great cathedral bathed in the wind and rain outside.

The gale and torrential rain in the sky were cheering for him.

The Pope's gaze seemed to cross mountains and seas, overlooking the entire European continent; a war over faith was about to unfold.

After this war, only the Catholic faith would remain in all of Europe, and the Pope revealed a smile.

He seemed to already see a divine kingdom, built by his own hands, about to rise in Europe.

Soon, this news spread throughout Europe.

Upon hearing this news, the Protestants seemed to sneer, seemed to be angry, and seemed to be driven mad!

A Protestant priest, holding the Bible with tears in his eyes and a cold sneer on his lips, shouted frantically: "Lord, do you see? Catholicism is using divine power to launch an unprovoked war and create slaughter."

"Have you seen all these crimes?"

He looked at the Bible in his hands; the dark red cover of the Bible looked like surging blood as he flipped through it.

He saw the interpretation of the Holy War in the Bible.

He closed the Bible tightly, tears streaming from the corners of his eyes; the Holy War had always been directed at demons and heretics, and the Lord had always crusaded against devils.

But this Holy War is directed at the Protestants who also believe in the Lord!

The priest asked himself in his heart:

If believing in the Lord and believing in the Bible is a sin.

"Then is the Pope, who provides the interpretation of the Lord's Bible, not the greatest blasphemer!"

"From today on, Protestantism enters the Holy War; the Catholicism inherited from Rome has already rotted and has betrayed the Lord!"

The priest held the Bible, returned to the church, and contacted other Protestant churches.

Protestantism advocates equality; believers are priests, and the priest is just an ordinary person who believes in the Lord, no different from ordinary believers.

This resulted in:

Protestantism having no clergy to unite all believers.

Therefore, every place is on its own.

After the priest sent the letters, Protestantism was weak in Europe; previously, Prussia regarded Protestantism as the state religion, so Prussia served as the base for Protestantism.

But now Prussia has declined, even reaching the brink of life and death.

Another country that believes in Protestantism, Britain, is far away across the ocean and, being far from the European mainland, has no way to provide help.

All that remains is Longyan...

But Longyan does not believe in Protestantism; it is only coming to help Protestantism.

Yet the priest still resolutely wrote a letter to ask Longyan for help, begging him to help Protestantism.

Far away in the port city, Liu Zheng received three pieces of news today.

One was that the Eastern Orthodox Church announced its participation in the war, not for the sake of Tsarist Russia, but because Protestantism had blasphemed the Lord, and they wanted to eliminate all these Protestant heretics.

Liu Zheng was stunned when he saw this news; he did not expect the Eastern Orthodox Church to enter the fray as well.

But immediately, he revealed a smile; the Eastern Orthodox Church serves Tsarist Russia, its influence in Europe is not strong, and entering the fray to crusade against Protestants is meaningless.

What truly made his expression solemn was the second piece of news.

That Pope of Catholicism is launching a Holy War against Protestantism!

Liu Zheng's expression froze; the war had been going on for so long, was that Pope of Catholicism finally unable to sit still?

In fact, he had long since deduced that Catholicism would enter the war; when Liu Zheng marched into Europe, he had openly raised the slogan of supporting Protestantism.

As the largest Holy See organization in Europe, that Pope was even more ambitious; back in Longyan, he had already heard about what this Pope loved to do... place divine power above imperial power.

But he had not expected the Pope to be able to endure until now to officially announce his entry into the war.

Could it be because of the Eastern Orthodox Church?

Liu Zheng was reading the third piece of news: Protestantism had responded, vowing to fight Catholicism to the death.

Seeing this, Liu Zheng revealed a smile and burned the paper containing the three pieces of intelligence in his hand.

A Holy War? A Bitter Remonstrance of faith?

Interesting.

Liu Zheng stood with his hands behind his back; since the situation in Europe was now intensifying, and the three Holy Sees had all entered the fray, their goal was to prove that their own ideologies were correct.

Since that was the case...

Liu Zheng picked up a brush and wrote a line of characters on the rice paper!

"Support Protestantism, purge the heretics, act on behalf of God, and blaspheme the divine!"

He summoned a servant.

"Pass on my order." Liu Zheng handed the rice paper to him and said, "Make sure everyone in Europe knows."

The servant acknowledged the order and conveyed Liu Zheng's words exactly as they were.

As the leader of Longyan and the actual person in power, his words fell upon a Europe that was already mired in chaos.

One stone stirred up a thousand ripples.

After seeing these words, countless Europeans reacted: some smiled with contempt, some flew into a rage, and some were timid and dared not make a sound.

In a Europe that currently believed in Catholicism, this statement was equivalent to pointing at the bridge of the Pope's nose and cursing him.

When the Protestants saw these words, it was deeply gratifying.

Even many kings of European countries could not help but praise it as good when they saw these words.

The Divine Right of Kings—not every king possessed such a philosophy.

After all, in some countries, if a former king was incompetent and had his power usurped by his subordinates, the usurper could not become king without being crowned by the Pope.

In the end, the successor to the throne could only be whoever the Pope wanted to appoint.

This made many kings feel very displeased.

I conquered this territory; by what right is it only mine if you say it is?