When the Saintess Arrives, No King Exist
Chapter 76 - 75: Expanded Imperial Conference

Chapter 76: Chapter 75: Expanded Imperial Conference

Imperial Calendar, September 30, 1444, Monday.

"Bishop of Madlan." Madlan was walking hurriedly when he heard Grampwen’s voice coming from behind.

"Are you also heading to the Stag Chamber for the council meeting?" Grampwen, with four cloth bags hanging from his waist and leaning on a bishop’s staff, walked briskly, "Let’s go together, I have something to ask you as well."

Madlan and Grampwen walked side by side down the corridor, engaging in a rapid conversation as they went.

"How are the prisoners from the last battle?"

"Those without ties were held back, those with families were let go. Quincy was injured, we didn’t treat him, and he’s dead now. The monk, though, is still fine."

"Is Tommy still around?"

Grampwen hesitated: "His leg injury was never treated, and almost his entire lower body has rotted away. He’s barely holding on, but he still has 30 lashes left, so..."

"Just give him a quick end, don’t let the Church get him and expose our secrets, that’s His Holiness’s will too."

"I understand."

Wiping the cold sweat from their faces, Grampwen and Madlan arrived at the entrance of the Stag Chamber.

Even before they could get close, several Child Soldiers hurriedly shuffled in, while some Ten Households or soldiers briskly walked out.

From morning prayer to noon service, the door of the Stag Chamber had never shut.

After all, with the "Special Strategic Withdrawal Contest" about to start, it’s only prudent to make more preparations.

The Child Soldiers were coming and going, carrying orders from the central command of the Pope Country, while the bishops were passing in and out, conveying logistical and investigative information.

On either side of Horn’s broad desk sat two monk scribes, sorting documents and categorizing them.

When the Ten Households and bishops came to report, if Horn didn’t have time to listen, the scribes recorded it in written form.

As for Horn’s orders, they would be relayed by the Child Soldiers serving as messengers.

"No, no, no, we’re not retreating. I’ll say it again, for all four major legions, the uniform term is ’strategically advancing’, abbreviated as ’advance’."

"Slogan, what new slogan? ...Cohesive Will, Defend the Pope? Sounds good, let’s use that."

Sitting at the desk, with the practice over time, Horn may not yet skillfully manage these 1,200 people, but at least it wasn’t chaotic, much better than before.

"Sit." He lifted his head and glanced at the two people in front of him, "Did you see the reforms in the Privy Council?"

"We saw it, His Holiness is wise and mighty, we are extremely impressed."

At least for the next month, the entire Pope Country will have to embark on a long ’advance’, while facing pursuit by the Church Army.

This kind of advance was different from how Horn previously stayed in one place; once movement began, it could easily descend into chaos.

Therefore, Horn needed to prepare and arrange in advance, especially the addition of many Pope Country government agencies.

As it was, Horn had always operated with a small government model, but now he had no choice but to reform towards a large government model.

Strategically advancing in military, it was also time to advance politically.

Under the Privy Council of the Pope Country, five new institutions were set up.

The Truth Department, with Kosse as the Minister of Truth and Armand as the Vice Minister, responsible for proselytizing, explaining gospels, and psychological counseling, consisting of two people in total.

The Manufacturing Department, with Jeanne as the Minister of Manufacturing, Rekado as the Vice Minister, and Jilo as the department member and Director of the Corner Creation Bureau, responsible for supervising the creation of weapons, armor, textiles, and tailoring, consisting of three people in total.

The Foreign Affairs Department, with Chervis as the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Qianqian as the Vice Minister, responsible for diplomacy and protocol matters, mainly focusing on diplomacy with Duke Kush and the Secret Faction, consisting of two people in total.

The Staff Department, with Busak as the Chief of Staff, primarily consisting of small merchants and monks among the Armed Farmers, mainly responsible for conveying messages and organizing documents.

This massive department under the Privy Council consists of ten people in total.

The Logistics Department, with Madlan as the Minister of Logistics, responsible for logistics support and material distribution.

Of course, to prevent unspeakable incidents, the positions of Saint Vault Master and Grand Marshal are directly managed by Horn himself.

As both an accountant and a commander of two grand battles, no one understands finance and war better than Horn.

"Alright, let’s begin the Privy Council meeting. All unrelated personnel, please leave."

After chasing most unrelated personnel out and rearranging the seating, Horn directly began this Privy Council meeting.

"Before reporting work, let me first outline the general procedure for our strategic advance action this time.

According to Qianqian’s brother, from here to Joan of Arc Castle, I calculated it’s about 500 li."

This distance is equivalent to the straight line distance from Shangluo to Luoyang.

Taking out a pen, Horn drew a winding line on a crude map, pointing directly to Joan of Arc Castle marked on the map.

Horn drew a circle with charcoal pencil in the first half: "However, this 500-li journey is not entirely through the Wild Spider Forest and the Black Bone Marsh.

The first 150 li and the last 50 li can be traversed on major roads, only the middle 300 li are through the Wild Spider Forest and the Black Bone Marsh.

The first 150 li are all mountain roads, difficult for horses, can avoid the knights but not the infantry, we must traverse these 150 li within 8 days.

It’s full of dangers along the way, to ensure the Pope Country citizens’ safety, we need a new round of military expansion."

Horn handed two pieces of paper to these key ministers of the Pope Country, saying to the two legion commanders:

"Jeska, Dass, I expect the Imperial Guard and Black Hat Army, the two major legions, to complete a large-scale expansion by noon tomorrow.

The Black Hat Army to expand 60 decreed companies, the Imperial Guard to expand 65 decreed companies, so that the Black Hat Army will have three divisions with 180 people, and the Imperial Guard will have two divisions with 120 people.

Moreover, centered around ten large carts, expand 60 decreed companies to form the Divine Armor Division, under my direct command, affiliate with the Imperial Guard.

The Divine Armor Division consists of ten armored brigades, with brigades designated as special units in the Pope Country military sequence, each brigade having only 6 decreed companies."

In addition to this, Horn’s military reform plan will also assign security tasks to the Holy Grail Knight Order, with one brigade seconded from both the Black Hat Army and the Imperial Guard.

Set up 15 logistics camp guard companies managed jointly by Busak and Madlan.

If this military expansion is successful, the total number of decreed companies in the Pope Country army will reach 405.

In this way, among the 1,200 people in the Gulag Papal State, nearly all able-bodied men will participate in the army.

As a state prioritizing military affairs, nearly everyone in the Pope Country is a soldier, with almost every household having one or two serving members.

"What is the reaction of the Ten Households?" Horn asked Chap nearby.

This once simple and honest villager from Red Mill Village had steadily become the Hundred Households Captain of the second hundred with an unblemished record.

"The Ten Households are still very cooperative, but they’ve lately been grumbling that those legion soldiers are hard to manage."

"Hard to manage? Why?" Horn turned towards Jeska, "Do you know about this?"

Jeska smiled wryly and said, "I’ve warned them many times, but they just don’t listen."

"Soldiers being defiant and generals arrogant is not the way for the long-term peace and stability of the Pope Country." Busak immediately quipped sarcastically from the side.

Knocking his knuckles on the table, Horn stopped their dispute and continued to ask, "Why is that? Did you investigate?"

"I investigated, those soldiers think of themselves as junior generals, so they don’t really listen to the Ten Households Leaders."

This was the aftermath of Horn’s excessive bestowals.

With soldiers ranked so highly, any one of them being a general naturally would not heed a mere Ten Households Leader.

"Alright, then." Horn awkwardly coughed, tapping his head with a quill pen, "I recall the El Empire had a Senate, let’s appoint all Ten Households as Senators."

In the widely circulated knight stories, including various saint stories in the Gospels, many take place during the El Empire era.

The senators in these stories were always big boss-level figures, even generals dared not neglect them.

This way, hopefully, those junior generals will behave a bit more.

"Speaking of which, let’s have them form a Senate, some trivial matters can let the Ten Households decide themselves, so they don’t always come to me."

"Very good, very good, I’ll draft an edict immediately." Hearing this, Busak’s face lit up in a smile.

He picked up a radish seal from the table, ready to write the radish-seal edict.

"Wait a moment, there are other matters to discuss." Kosse stopped Busak.

Armand immediately stood up: "Our Gulag Papal State is politically clear, the ruler and ministers are harmonious, and the upper and lower classes work as one, with the Holy Pope governing with benevolence, bringing peace to the land.

Now, with Prince Kongdai’s army approaching, we do not wish to clash with our kin, so we have chosen to evade briefly.

But while we know these affairs, the citizens do not, our only concern is the opinions of the 1.2 million citizens of the Great Pope Country."