The second battalion used a day to retreat back to Metatlin. When the second battalion returned to the city, a special army set off. There were only two thousand of them, all riding skeleton warhorses.
Salin had each of the twelve counts send a hundred soldiers, and the four dukes each send two hundred. In total, there were two thousand elites. Among these two thousand elites, there were ten Spellcasters and the three Undead Lords. The location of their ambush was a hilly area only a dozen miles away from West Town.
Whether the ambush was successful or not, the army would drag the enemy around West Town after a short contact. To the east of West Town was the ten-story Magic Tower. The people from the Church would probably go crazy when they saw the Magic Tower.
Therefore, as long as these ambushing troops could persist for a distance of about 20 li, it would be enough.
Furthermore, there was Rex's battalion in West Town, as well as the thirty thousand soldiers of the nobles of Metatlin. The defense facilities of the city had been continuously built for more than a year, and could completely stop the army of the Church.
Rex's battalion was not as weak as Salin's army. In a defensive battle, they could unleash many times the combat power.
Salin didn't know that the reason the army of the Church was so crazy was because they really didn't have much food left. If they couldn't take down Duanren Pass quickly, everyone would have to wait for reinforcements from the Church with empty stomachs. They might even have to retreat and fight in Phoenix.
There was no food stored in Duanren Pass. Salin only left five days' worth of food for the second battalion and the mercenary corps. He didn't have time to take it with him when he retreated. But a day's worth of twenty thousand people was not enough for the expeditionary army, which still had more than ninety thousand soldiers.
The expeditionary army was also at a loss. Attacking Duanren Pass seemed like a difficult task to them, and the enemy would definitely resist to the death. They didn't expect the enemy to retreat despite the strong resistance. This only meant that there were more troublesome things to come. The spies of the Church had never paid attention to the area around Metatlin City, and there was no prior news at all.
There had been intelligence from the Oracle and the Court of Judgement, but it had all been concealed.
The Court of Judgement had sent out five thousand prison guards, twelve black-robed priests, and three terrifying fellows, but these people had never participated in a battle, even when the enemy was burning the food of the logistics team.
The people of the Inquisition acted out of character, claiming that they would only join the battle when they were outside Metatlin City. This made the true commander of this war, Archbishop Nicholas, extremely resentful.
Archbishop Nicholas and the general of the Tanggulas Empire's Ninth Legion were unable to command the people from the Court of Judgement, so they could only drive the expeditionary army away and use their lives to exchange for Duanren Pass, striving to reach Metatlin City as soon as possible. At that time, the three bastards from the Court of Judgement would not be able to shirk their responsibilities.
It was a pity that the Oracle, Lord Faka, wasn't here. Otherwise, Lord Faka would have been able to flatten that city.
Archbishop Nicholas thought gloomily. Although he was a trusted aide of the Pope, he still admired Faka very much. If the Pope did not have the Three Divine Weapons, he probably would not be able to deal with that kind of strength.
The expeditionary army was temporarily stationed at Duanren Pass. The mages had to treat the wounded soldiers in large numbers. Some of these soldiers were seriously injured, but they couldn't ignore them. Even if they were to die, they had to die under Metatlin.
The believers didn't know any of this. They only knew that with the treatment of mages, no matter what kind of injury, they would quickly recover and return to the battlefield. Naturally, the mages wouldn't reveal their secrets. This was their capital for making a living. If people knew that magic was harmful to the body, perhaps no one would spend money to seek treatment from them in the future.
Outside Duanren Pass, flames soared into the sky. The people from the Court of Judgement were doing their only job — burning the corpses.
Just as Archbishop Nicholas was worrying, the people from the Court of Judgement sent a batch of food. This food was dried meat strips commonly seen in the northern part of the Tanggulas Empire. Nicholas was overjoyed. At least with this much meat strips, they could still last for six or seven days. The expeditionary army finally had the possibility to rest and reorganize.
However, Nicholas didn't know that in the Court of Judgement's camp, three fierce-looking guys were laughing wildly.
"Boss, if they knew that all they ate was human flesh, do you think they would spit it out?"
"Spit it out? Third brother, maybe they will ask Big Brother for it again, hahahaha … "
"Boss, these people have eaten human flesh and have to repent. It will be much easier to get them into the Court of Judgement in the future. This idea of yours is really brilliant."
"Hmph, this is the Chief Judge's order. Do you think I'm so bored? Dinicio hastily mobilized his troops and didn't even care about Galoulan's frontal battle. This is strange. Our lives were given by the Chief Judge. Don't risk it for Dinicio. Feeding them human flesh is to give them the strength to fight. Who knows what will happen in the future? I don't think we can conquer the city with these people. "
"Big Brother, what do you mean?"
"Don't ask. In short, listen to me this time. The Chief Judge doesn't want us to really conquer the city. The prison guards must be taken care of. If Nicholas is defeated, we will go to Phoenix. "
"The Chief Judge has a secret order?" The other two guys were shocked.
"It's not a secret order. It's to investigate the situation in Phoenix. Our map is not accurate. Didn't you see that we sent out twelve high-level black-robed priests? They are there to map the terrain. "
After the situation at Duanren Pass stabilized, Metatlin City became much more deserted. The streets were filled with soldiers patrolling. The number of undead in the core area of the city increased, and no one dared to enter rashly. That was also the area patrolled by the Caucasian Demon Wolf Warriors. If one was careless and got eaten by a demon wolf, there would be no one to blame.
There were very few ships in the eastern port. Salin had already asked Guya and the others to find a way to attract merchants to sell some livestock here. Precious farmland was near Metatlin City, and there were no pastures. The meat was originally supplied by Salin, but the fish and shrimps in the sea were not to everyone's taste. Many warriors were used to eating beef and mutton, so they could only rely on merchants to transport them.
Soldiers had to be provided with meat to fight. Only by eating meat would they have the strength to fight. Salin had even set up a slaughterhouse on an island north of Metatlin's waters. Large amounts of meat were transported into the city every day to supply his fifty thousand troops.
Qin Yin was rich and had low prices, but a cow still cost dozens of gold coins. After all, not everyone could use puppets to farm. Half of Qin Yin's farmland still relied on cows.
This daily meat was also a profitable business for the merchants. However, ever since the news of the expeditionary army of the Holy See spread, this business on land had been cut off. There were still very few people doing this business on the sea, because the livestock had to be transported by sea, and many of them would die.
Salin's five battalions of soldiers received half a kilogram of meat a day, including one or two fish and shrimps. The rest were all cattle and sheep. A day's consumption was two thousand kilograms of meat. Few people raised pigs in the north of Qin Yin, so buying pork was the most cost-effective. But they had to go to the south to buy it in large quantities.
Jialoulan's borders were tight, with a million troops deployed. The daily consumption was also a terrifying figure. The meat in the north of Qin Yin was basically bought by the imperial army. What Salin could buy was taken from the hands of the nobles.
Unknowingly, the price of meat in the north of Qin Yin had risen four or five times. It was almost impossible to buy at the original price like in Sacred Rock City. Those who didn't manage the household didn't know the price of rice and fuel. Salin's money came easily, and now it was gone just as quickly.
The army that retreated back to Metatlin City replenished their troops. Salin's five battalions began to nervously set up defenses. Because the city was too big, with each city wall almost eight miles wide, he had to invest twenty thousand troops in two main areas. The defense of five battalions was still very tight.
Fortunately, most of the people who settled in Metatlin City were strong and strong. Salin temporarily recruited auxiliary soldiers and gathered more than twenty thousand people. In addition to the original twenty thousand auxiliary soldiers, Salin had ninety thousand available forces. The private soldiers in the hands of the nobles also numbered more than twenty thousand. The forces inside and outside the city were basically equal. Metatlin City could definitely be saved, but it would depend on how many people died in battle.
Salin's pension was set high. For every soldier who died, he would give forty to a hundred gold coins to the family. If ten thousand died in battle, the loss of equipment and pension would definitely exceed a million gold coins.
Eleanor also felt that the losses this time would be huge. She sighed. "If only there was food from the Elven Plane. One meal would be enough to eat for the whole day, and I wouldn't need to eat meat to maintain my strength."
"It would also be good if there were demon worms. One meal would last for a few days." Nelis was also helpless about the situation in front of her. The construction of the demon city had not been completed, and she could only summon a few dozen demons at most. They were of no help in the war, and they would also consume a lot of magic cores.
The advantage of summoning demons was that she could save on the cost of pension. If a demon died, then so be it. She had never heard of a demon thinking about the afterlife.
"How many days do you think the demon worms can last after eating one meal?" Salin, however, was very keen to capture this problem.
"Yes, master. Demon worms not only taste good, but they are also more filling than any beef. They are almost the same as the demon beasts in the sea. Hmm … the oil of the giant whale is almost of the same grade."
Giant whale oil was the standard food of Salin's elite troops. Soldiers could eat for a week with a catty of it. Moreover, the energy contained in it was equivalent to eating only meat every day, which could keep the soldiers at their strongest. Salin's warehouse kept tens of thousands of catty of giant whale oil, but giant whales only moved in the deep sea and were difficult to hunt.
"Will it be dangerous for people to eat it?"
"I don't know about this. Demon worms can even digest the weakest Familiar, so it should be no problem for human soldiers, right?"
"Think of a way to get a few. If possible, we will breed them in large numbers and use them as military food!"
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