If Douglas hadn't been prepared in advance and asked those who stayed outside the city to attack the city if anything went wrong, he would really have been surrounded and killed.
When the team he led broke through, they found that many streets in the city had been blocked. Those blockades were composed of believers from the Red God church and the governor's guards.
He could only change direction, break out towards the city wall, and evacuate from the pre-arranged route.
After paying a heavy price, he finally lowered himself from the city wall.
The personal guards he brought into the city were almost all killed and wounded, and only a few people were left with him. Everyone was covered in blood and their clothes were in tatters.
Douglas, who was out of trouble, was extremely angry. He did not expect to suffer such a big loss.
The city was already in chaos due to the war, so he did not hesitate to let Demon Dragon join the battle and started burning along the streets.
Fifty Demon Dragon swooped down from the sky outside the Pentos city, and Dragonfire poured from low altitude, setting the buildings on both sides of the street on fire one by one.
The prayer places that were once the stronghold of the Red God church, the warehouses used by the governor to hide armed personnel, and the houses where believers gathered were all reduced to a sea of flames under the cover of Dragonfire.
The fire spread along the street, burning through wooden roofs, burning doors and windows on the stone walls, and scorching trees and flags on both sides of the street.
The chaos lasted all day and night.
Those Red God church believers and the governor's guards who were trapped in the city tried to escape from the gap in the city wall, but Dragonfire's coverage was faster than their escape speed.
Douglas was sitting in a pile of rubble on the inside of the city wall, looking at the burning city in the distance. There was no pleasure in his eyes, only a kind of calmness and exhaustion that can only be felt after experiencing a brutal fight.
At dawn the next day, the Pentos fire was finally under control.
The fire destroyed nearly one-third of the buildings in the city, scorched the walls on both sides of the streets, and destroyed dozens of houses.
The air was filled with a strong smell of smoke and coke, and ashes slowly fell from the air, covering the streets with a layer of fine gray powder.
Those areas directly hit by Dragonfire have been reduced to scorched earth, leaving only black charcoal marks and occasionally visible, burned and twisted metal fragments on the ground.
Douglas sat among the rocks, took off his helmet and threw it aside.
There were several wounds on his face scratched by gravel, which had already formed a thin layer of scab.
The hair was soaked with sweat and then dried, forming strands and sticking to the forehead.
He wiped the ashes on his face with his sleeve, casually pulled off a piece of cloth from the dead body next to him, wiped the blood off the sword body, and put it back into its scabbard.
His movements were slow and mechanical, as if his body was extremely exhausted and only the most basic muscle memory was left to support those subtle movements.
He knew that the Red God church had interests with many aristocratic forces, and that many of the church's fanatical believers were not afraid of death.
If it weren't for Demon Dragon's help, he might not have been able to suppress the rebellion just by bringing tens of thousands of people last night.
This was his first stop, and he encountered such great resistance. One can imagine the resistance from the other City-Statess.
Douglas stood up, patted the dust and blood stains on his body, and walked towards the temporary command tent set up outside the city.
He asked his cronies to write to Theora at Lys and Marcus at Braavos as quickly as possible, telling them to be wary of the Red God church and asking them for help.
He needs more troops.
This incident at Pentos made him understand that the penetration of the Red God church into Free Cities had far exceeded his original estimate.
Those governors and nobles who are superficially loyal to Redd secretly have a close interest relationship with the Red God church.
The Red God church provides spiritual legitimacy and popular support to those governors in the name of faith, while those governors use their power to provide shelter, resources and communication channels for the Red God church.
This kind of collusion may exist in every City-States, but the degree is different.
If he continues to clean up city after city according to the original plan, he will need to invest far more troops than he can currently mobilize.
After receiving the letter, Theora and Marcus learned about the incident of Pentos, how dare they be careless.
Theora convened an emergency meeting in Lys, summoned her core generals and intelligence chiefs, and deployed a comprehensive cleaning operation in Lys City-States.
Marcus took the same measures in Braavos, mobilizing garrison troops and mercenaries to search the stronghold of the Red God church in City-States.
Both of them understand that the Red God church's network spans City-States, and the failure of Pentos's operation means that other Red God churches in other City-Statess will also step up their vigilance after learning the news, and may even launch a rebellion in advance.
They must take action as quickly as possible before the Red God church can react.
The purge quickly escalated into a full-scale manhunt, so serious that even a piece of red cloth on his body had to be arrested, tortured and interrogated.
We are extremely vigilant against any forces armed by the church.
Theora issued martial law in Lys City-States, closed the port, prohibited any ships from entering or exiting, and prevented the monks and believers of the Red God church from escaping by sea.
Her troops searched street by street in City-States, arresting all those found to be hiding Red God church items and sending them to temporary interrogation camps.
Marcus took more direct actions in Braavos. He brought all the mercenary organizations of Braavos under his command, conducted raids on every church building in City-States, confiscated all weapons and armed equipment, and arrested those church members who refused to cooperate on the spot.
At the same time, it is also required that all churches in the trade City-States are not allowed to have any armed forces.
It's completely one size fits all, whether your church wants it or not.
If you don't want to, just use a knife to physically remove it.
Both Theora and Marcus are aware of the seriousness of this order, but they know even more clearly that if the armed forces of the church are not eliminated at once, the Red God church may use the cover of other churches to re-establish its own armed forces in the future.
Naturally, the bishops of each church will not sit still and wait for death. Each church has a large number of believers, and the combined power cannot be underestimated.
Douglas, Marcus and Theora all wanted to retreat.
The continued purge against the Red God church has made many churches feel in crisis, and at the same time they are unwilling to give up their armed forces.
The bishops of those churches began to unite and incite the emotions of believers through sermons and private connections, claiming that the rule of Redd was threatening the freedom of all faiths.
Sporadic riots occurred in some City-Statess. Those incited believers gathered in the streets and clashed with the garrison.
If this continues, problems will arise in the operation of trade City-States.
The loading and unloading efficiency of the port decreased, the trade volume in the market decreased, merchants began to hoard supplies, and the rhythm of logistics and trade was disrupted.
The three of them could only send someone to Valyria City as quickly as possible with a letter stating their interests, and request a decision from Redd.