Like before, Sodelor stood up and said, "This is the last revision of the battle plan. After confirming that there are no mistakes, start preparing for battle."
He paused for a moment. "By the way, the Prime Minister said that before the battle, we need to write a letter of challenge. Is there anyone with good writing skills? Write one now."
The advisors looked at each other. "A letter of challenge? You mean … the kind used by the nobles in duels? "
"Yes, but the content needs to be changed. It seems to mean … Aferta needs to have a good reason to make the royals surrender now. Anyway, we need to have a foothold in name."
After Sodelor finished speaking, he also felt awkward. This was because his generation had experienced the most disputes over lords, and the most recent "war of nations" had been more than 70 years ago. He did not understand these details at all. Previously, the blitzkrieg was considered a sneak attack, so no one was stupid enough to inform Earl Harrison. However, this duel in Enrique City was a decisive battle that both sides had a purpose, and the "letter of challenge" seemed to have become a procedure that needed to be followed.
The advisors discussed for a long time and wrote a nondescript "letter of challenge". Sodelor had never studied literature. He read it and felt that it made sense. He then sent it along with the battle plan to the headquarters in Lannis Town. In less than half an hour, Roddy sent over the battle plan signed by him, Sally, and Duke. The words on it were not changed, which was enough to show his trust in Sodelor.
However, the "letter of challenge" had been modified. Sodelor read it again and found that the words made it seem like he had never learned the Bringan language because he could not understand the strange grammar. But since the Prime Minister had set the tone, he had no objections. After all, this battle was going to be fought. Would the other side surrender just because of the "letter of challenge"?
Sodelor put the letter of challenge away, stood at attention, and said in a deep voice, "Now … let the battle begin."
"Yes! Commander! "
*****
May 25th, in Enrique City.
After the road was reinforced by the mages with magic, Charles II soon arrived at Enrique City. Because of the timely notification, the number of loyal knights who rushed over quickly reached a total of 180. Together with the cavalries and squires they brought with them, there were more than 800 cavalries and 4,000 infantrymen who belonged to the royal family.
On this road, more than four thousand commoners had been invested in transporting all kinds of supplies. Among them, there were also more than eighty low-ranked wizards and acolytes participating. With their protection, the other eight nobles from nearby territories also led their own soldiers and quickly arrived. Within three days, nearly ten thousand people had flooded into Enrique City. The soldiers and knights from various territories were mixed together. If it weren't for Queio's strong execution, there would have been a lot of conflicts and disputes over the distribution of food and lodging among these people.
After Lord Queo took control of the command, from the nobles to the soldiers, their ability to carry out tasks increased by several times. Of course, there were people who wanted to pretend to comply but disobey, and they were burned to ashes on the same day. Dragons didn't care which family you came from. No matter how noble you were, who could be more noble than Dragons? To put it bluntly, Charles II was no different in his eyes. Now, he was still giving face to such a useless monarch. It was all because he needed a decent name to control his power.
Charles II was now sitting in the viscount's mansion in Enrique City. He had now adapted to his current state … Every day, he ate at a fixed time, patrolled the barracks, boosted the nobles' morale, wore conspicuous armor, and walked around the soldiers' businesses. He didn't have to worry about anything else. He just had to watch silently.
The adaptability of humans was really strong. Two days ago, he was still trembling in fear from losing his sovereignty. Now, he could play with the maid who served him with peace of mind. The reason he found for himself was simple: I have too much hidden depression and pain in my heart. I need to find a place to vent it. Otherwise, if I really get sick, I won't be responsible to the country.
So, for the past two nights, he had reinvigorated his majesty as King Cullen with the pretty maid.
However, when he woke up, the emptiness of not being able to control his fate would still attack him … Fortunately, the considerate maid opened her mouth to share this emptiness for him. Until the door was knocked, he was still immersed in the pleasure of being about to explode.
"What's the matter?"
Pushing away the maid who was coughing with her head down, he got up and casually tidied up his pajamas. He opened the door with light steps. The soldier outside the door looked a little flustered. He was holding a letter in his hand. The black wolf head emblem on the letter stunned Charles II. "A letter from Efta?"
"Yes … Your Majesty, a group of cavalrymen just arrived at the city and threw this letter into the city wall with a spell."
Charles II hurriedly took it and opened it. He frowned and read for a long time. "What's written here?"
"In the name of Efta … I crusade against the tyrannical king. How, how is this following the law of heaven? What is the law of heaven … "
Charles II could not understand the 'Classical Chinese' version of Bringan's declaration of war that Rody had written out of bad taste, but he could roughly understand the meaning of these words. It meant that in the name of justice, Rody had come to crusade against him, an incompetent and tyrannical king.
At the bottom, there was also the news of "The decisive battle will be held outside Enrique City at noon tomorrow". This made Charles II angry and strange at the same time. There was a scheduled time for a war? Why were they not so courteous when they attacked?
Charles II's first reaction was that the other party must be playing tricks. He quickly changed into his heavy armor. With a head full of sweat, he found Queio standing on the city wall. The Lord of the Dragons said bluntly, "I've read the declaration of war. It's just some petty tricks. If he had chosen to attack the city a week ago, I would still have acknowledged his military prowess. Now, he's resorting to such tricks. How disappointing. "
"Then … My Lord, how do you plan to deal with this?"
"Wait for him to attack the city." Queio's tone was casual. "Send cavalry to harass their rear. With such a long supply line, as long as we incite a few rebellions at their rear, they will not be able to stay. Do they really think they're made of iron? If they starve for three days, they will scatter on their own. There's no need to send troops. "
Queio's understanding of human warfare was almost on the same level as Moore's. His idea was exactly the same as Moore's. In fact, military warfare in this era was so simple and direct. Both sides were competing on resources. He had Enrique City to defend, and the other side had no place to take advantage of. This kind of war of attrition was extremely disadvantageous to Efta. The longer the battle dragged on, the greater the chance of victory.
There were hundreds of such victories in history. It was no wonder that Queio laughed at Roddy's stupidity. But Charles II was still worried. He whispered, "From the information I gathered from the frontlines, they seem to have used magic when they attacked the city, causing the city walls to fall quickly …"
"They have mages, don't you? His previous attack was a sneak attack. Naturally, there were no mages defending the city walls at that time. But in this kind of battle, how can he catch them by surprise? "
Queio did not seem to care about the war. He turned to Iscar and said, "Is there no one who is willing to come to Enrique City to watch the battle?
This sentence, of course, was referring to the other Dragons. Obviously, after Queio intervened in the human battle, the other Dragons in the Dragon Tower expressed their dissatisfaction and protest in various ways. Now, apart from the apprentices and servants, there was basically no one in the tower … Oh, except for Kardashian, who was still wandering around the Imperial City all day.
"Kardashian said she will come tomorrow. The others have not replied."
Iscar saw that Queio's expression did not look too good. He knew that this Lord had a fiery temper, so he quickly added, "I have already sent Baltis and the others to find and inform the other Dragons. There should be results tomorrow."
Queio could hide the fact that he was commanding the humans from his subordinates, but he could not hide it from the Dragons. Therefore, it was better for him to admit it openly. After all, he was only commanding and not directly going into battle. There was still a difference. Just like the rumor of the "Fledgling Dragon Legion", this move of his was actually more to test the bottom line of the other Dragons. So far, it seemed that they did not openly object, which was actually a kind of acquiescence.
Only the green dragons were not easy to deal with. However, Queio had already asked Iscar to send people to inform them one by one. As long as the Cullen Royal Family could deal with Efta this time, he was willing to add a portion of the "Space-Time Rift" to each of the Dragons as compensation for this incident.
In fact, this move was extremely effective. After all, none of the other Dragons would fall out with such a powerful Lord like Queio because of the civil war of the humans. Naturally, the other Lords would not refuse if they could obtain a portion of the resources by standing by and not doing anything.
Queio had a card up his sleeve, so he completely ignored the minor concerns of Charles II. The latter understood that he had no right to make any requests, so he immediately took his leave and began his daily routine of giving speeches and patrolling …
No one in Enrique City would have thought that just as the war was about to begin, a group of uninvited guests suddenly came to the port in the south of the Royal City.
*****
May 26th, above the southern sea of the Royal City.
Above the sky, the faintly discernible "Albatross" glided past the clouds. Black figures leaped down from the two side hatches.
Marsora skillfully opened the Wind-Stabilizing Wings. Unlike the previous night's airborne descent, this time's airborne descent had a very good field of vision. In addition, all the soldiers of the Special Forces already had previous experience. After jumping out of the cockpit, everyone tacitly formed into two rows and flew towards the target area under the leadership of Captain Irwin.
The area of the Royal City's port was not large. In recent years, the Royal Family's sea trading targets were only the small coastal countries in the east. The total annual trade volume was not even comparable to the single transaction between Elsen City and the Lassiman Kingdom. Therefore, while Marsora was gliding, he could only see that there were seventeen or eighteen slightly larger cargo ships and eight warships in the port. The rest were all inconspicuous small fishing boats.
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