Although the Boar Empire had numerous people, the various lords large and small were not united in heart.

The Boar Empire emperor had gathered them under the banner of land and wealth. But facing the first battle against the Papal States, the flaws of this interest-seeking group were immediately revealed.

Confronted by the Papal States' mighty army of two hundred thousand soldiers, the Boar Empire and its allied forces actually had no one daring to accept battle?

"It's truly laughable. Who could possibly withstand the Papal States' two hundred thousand soldiers and eight thousand Church Knights? They actually want us to lead our troops into battle! If our military strength gets exhausted, how could we possibly get our share of the subsequent plunder?"

Lord Mears of the Boar Empire sneered contemptuously, looking sideways at the Boar Empire crown prince seated in the highest position: Aryan III.

Of course, the emperor wouldn't personally come during wartime, so the representative of the royal family was the Boar Empire prince, Aryan III.

The current emperor of the Boar Empire was Aryan II. Why had this nearly thousand-year-old empire's royal family only passed down two generations? This required the old Pope to explain the reason.

When the old Pope first ascended the throne, whether he harbored the same thoughts as His Holiness Adam or simply wanted to prove himself, he launched a great war, dispatching the Holy Inquisition Tribunal to slaughter the Boar Empire's royal family members along with those of surrounding small kingdoms, killing so thoroughly that the various nations didn't dare entertain any rebellious thoughts for a century.

Therefore, the royal family members present today were either newly emerged third generations or fourth generations, with none older than that.

Hearing Lord Mears' disdainful snort, the surrounding major lords immediately chimed in: "Well said, Lord Mears. Moreover, conflicts between large and small lords continue endlessly. If our military strength gets depleted here, the enemies that follow won't be limited to just the Papal States. Even the Aryan royal family might strike brutally to seize our territories!"

Minor lords weren't qualified to participate in such high-level discussions. Although the king didn't have absolute authority over them, threats of force would still make these minor lords obey the king's words.

But these major lords weren't necessarily so compliant.

Before the war had even begun, both sides had already fallen into mutual suspicion.

Although these nobles didn't speak loudly enough for the Aryan III above to hear clearly, the murmuring throughout the hall and the lords' expressions—some sneering, some disdainful—allowed him to clearly guess their general thoughts.

The fundamental reason why the Boar Empire had remained indecisive after the Papal States' Holy Inquisition Tribunal was destroyed lay precisely in this.

Most of the Boar Empire's military strength was controlled by various lords. The king controlled the major lords, major lords wanted to encroach on minor lords, minor lords banded together for warmth against major lords—it was like raising gu insects. This made their thinking completely incompatible with the royal family's intentions.

Since their thoughts couldn't be unified, then they would have to be forcibly unified!

Aryan III's expression was unreadable. His somewhat slender fingers lightly tapped the armrest of the throne as his gaze swept across the faces of the major lords below.

"Gentlemen!"

As he spoke, the restless lords below seemed not to regard him highly, still not falling silent.

Aryan III didn't mind the major lords' reactions, instead continuing loudly: "I know you have differing opinions and many concerns. But with the Papal States' Holy Inquisition Tribunal completely annihilated, this is truly a once-in-a-millennium opportunity.

For thousands of years, the Papal States have arbitrarily dispatched the Holy Inquisition Tribunal to suppress us, wantonly slaughtering royal families and nobility of various nations—truly cruel, tyrannical, and disrespectful of royal authority! Now we finally see an opportunity to uproot the Papal States completely—this is our collective fortune!

Therefore, we should unite wholeheartedly, crusade against the Pope, exterminate the Holy Church, and completely end that suspended sword hanging over our necks!

This opportunity is God's favor. I absolutely will not allow anyone to dare slack off in this campaign or undermine military morale!

So, I must inconvenience you all.

Take action!"

Aryan III's words were high-sounding, displaying the demeanor of a national ruler. But as soon as he finished speaking, with the utterance of those last two words, the military tent was violently thrown open, and executioners wearing steel armor and wielding great axes rushed into the tent.

Besides the executioners rushing in, outside one could even see that the tent perimeter had been surrounded by crossbowmen holding powerful crossbows, all aiming their bolts threateningly into the tent.

Almost instantly, chaos erupted within the tent as the major lords panicked.

"Aryan III, you're making enemies of all the major lords..." Lord Mears' eyes widened in fury, about to deliver a threat when in the next moment, an axe handle smashed hard against his forehead, knocking back the words he wanted to say.

Aryan III rose from his throne, watching expressionlessly as the executioners subdued the major lords, snorting coldly: "Everyone knows this is the best opportunity for our kingdoms large and small to end the Church. Yet you damned things suspect each other, confused and foolish—utterly stupid!

Since you don't want to cooperate, don't want unity, then I'll take it upon myself to forcibly merge you together!

Take them away!"

Aryan III watched with gloomy eyes as the executioners led away the major lords one by one, listening to their curses while his face remained expressionless.

This war was indeed the best opportunity to exterminate the Papal States, but equally, it was the best opportunity to deplete the strength of these major and minor lords.

Aryan III had long been dissatisfied with the Boar Empire's lord system. These Miyang lords constantly schemed against each other, pointlessly draining national strength and, damn it, wouldn't obey orders.

Since that was the case, why not take advantage of this war to smash through the Papal States in one go, destroy all these lords' forces, transform the entire Boar Empire's system, and thereby win rebirth!

With the stabilization of internal power within the Boar Empire, this great war fully commenced.

Although the Church had eight thousand Church Knights holding the line, this didn't mean the other side lacked heavy armored knights.

With both sides evenly matched, this war became extremely brutal.

Within just half a month, the Boar Empire manipulated its military formations and formally met the Papal States' offensive.

In this era, there were still no stirrups or horseshoes, and besides, no one consciously specialized in breeding warhorses, so cavalry hadn't yet emerged. Both sides consisted entirely of infantry, at most equipped with some primitive battering rams or catapults.

If the Boar Empire's military internal situation remained unstable, they would likely fight while retreating, conducting small-scale harassment.

But now both armies were completely united from top to bottom, causing the war to enter a white-hot phase from the very beginning.

In just three months, casualties on both sides had already reached tens of thousands, corpses covering the earth, with the northern wind carrying a thick, bloody scent.

The Papal States ultimately differed from the Boar Empire. As a religious state, its people weren't overly afraid of death, especially the lower-ranking soldiers participating in the war.

In their faith, God existed, Heaven existed.

Brainwashed by the Church, they believed death wasn't the end, but that they would ascend to Heaven for fighting for the Church, for fighting for God.

This made the Papal States army utterly fearless, trading injury for injury, life for life—completely insane!

The Boar Empire soldiers trembled with fear under such brutal assaults, at the most severe point even struggling to form battle formations under Aryan III's supervision.

With no alternative, the Boar Empire could only shift tactics, using small-scale harassment, bypassing the main army to attack supply lines, and other guerrilla methods to temporarily reduce combat frequency.

They even sometimes issued truce notices to the Papal States, glorifying it as allowing both sides to temporarily rest and regroup.

Although the Boar Empire was being beaten on the battlefield to the point of barely being able to organize effective manpower, within the Boar Empire itself, their momentum grew increasingly triumphant.

Some historians even wrote with a flourish of their pens: "The Third planned strategies within a command tent, leading a million-strong army to endless victories, conquering everywhere unstoppable, capturing fifteen cities in three months, striking such fear into the Holy Sovereign's imperial kingdom that they continuously dispatched messengers day and night seeking peace..."