There were only about two hundred people in Phoenix who surrendered. Other than the soldiers, there were more than fifty nobles. There were also dozens of barons who were tied up and watched over in the camp.
The Phoenix people walked to the city gate. The soldiers dismounted, untied their armor, and placed it on the ground. The nobles took off the badges on their chests. Everyone opened their mouths at the same time, singing a low and sorrowful song.
Phoenix, the immortal phoenix
Our glory
Illuminating the night
Winding mountains and rivers
Long rivers
Phoenix flags
Forever flying
PHOENIX, MY LAND.
Forged in blood
Immortal city
Phoenix …
Phoenix …
The surrendered nobles and soldiers walked through the gate, singing. Some soldiers were already sobbing.
The surrender ceremony was simple. The nobles handed over their badges, wrote documents, and separated their soldiers from the other nobles' soldiers. They put down their weapons and accepted reorganization.
A Magician recorded the video of the Phoenix people surrendering and sent it back to Metatlin City overnight. The north was shocked when the news spread.
Sixty thousand soldiers had surrendered en masse! Even if the Phoenix people were not as valiant as Qin Yin's, it was still unacceptable. Mars City was not in the center of Phoenix, but in the north. The land north of Mars City was less than a third of Phoenix. The cities in the north were also less than a quarter of Phoenix.
The news spread in the north. Salin had deliberately done this. Then, he copied the magic video and distributed it to the second battalion. They brought it to the cities in the north to persuade them to surrender.
The singing of the rebels spread throughout the entire northern part of Phoenix along with the soldiers who were trying to persuade them to surrender.
This was Phoenix's dirge. It was very effective. Other than some nobles who committed suicide, most chose to surrender. Everyone knew the meaning of the dirge. The Phoenix bloodline had been severed. What they protected was completely gone.
Sacred Rock City occupying the south of Phoenix was inevitable. Surrendering to the Metatlin Kingdom was the last thing these nobles could do.
Phoenix was destined to die, and the Metatlin Kingdom in the north would rise.
In mid-September, before the arrival of winter in Metatlin, Salin received the surrendered Phoenix nobles in Metatlin City. These nobles were not only from the north of Mars City, but also from the south.
It took the army of Guderian City two months to conquer Sun City. Both sides suffered heavy losses. The Phoenix people of Sun City resisted desperately, but in the end, they could not avoid the fate of defeat.
Many nobles saw this clearly and fled to the north in advance, completely relying on the Metatlin Kingdom. As expected, the army of Guderian City did not cross the frontline of Martian City. Instead, they built a large city two hundred miles south of Martian City, directly across from Martian City.
This meant that Sacred Rock City acknowledged Metatlin's occupation of Mars City and his actual ownership of the northern lands.
This was also a helpless choice for Holy Rock City. Rex launched a powerful attack in the southeast of Jialou Lan, chased away a few main armies of the Church, and occupied three large cities. The land that Rex controlled in Jia Loulan was almost a quarter of what Sacred Rock City controlled.
With such a powerful force, Holy Rock City had no choice but to take a tolerant stance in Phoenix.
There was no reliable reply from Cloud Flow. Even though half of the Titan Duchy was occupied, Cloud Flow's emperor did not choose to ally with Qin Yin. Sacred Rock City was now prepared to face attacks from all countries at any time. Of course, there could be no internal strife.
Metatlin had built a large city in the southeast of the Rhine Duchy to restrict the Rhine Duchy from advancing to Phoenix or the northwest of Qin Yin. This was just a gesture. If they attacked Metatlin's army in Phoenix, then the army in this large city would not help the Qin Yin defense. It was even possible that they would help the Rhine Duchy attack.
It was not that Sacred Rock City did not have the ability to defend itself. It was just that there was a turbulent undercurrent among the southern nobles. According to the information obtained by the House of Commons' spies in the south, there were already nobles colluding with the Cloud Flow people. As for the reason, it was because Prince Sephiroth had excluded the daughter of the late emperor — Princess Rex.
Because of this, Prince Sephiroth had to bear with it. One-third of Phoenix's land was like a feather compared to the southern nobles of Qin Yin.
Salin's envoy group also arrived at Sacred Rock City and established an envoy hall. It was not that Prince Sephiroth did not gain anything. Under his request, Salin sent an envoy to the Rhine Duchy, requesting to establish an alliance.
The envoy group was chased out of the Rhine Duchy. Sacred Rock City finally found an excuse to start gathering their troops south of the Rhine Duchy, ready to launch an invasion at any time. Salin, on the other hand, built two more cities in the east of the Rhine Duchy. These two militarized cities were not big, and they were purely prepared for war. One of the cities was garrisoned with Rex's army, while the other city arranged for the Phoenix soldiers who had surrendered to be stationed there.
Qin Yin, Bitter Water Prefecture, and Metatlin formed a semi-encirclement of the Rhine Duchy.
In Jialoulan, Qin Yin's army also pushed the frontline to the west of the Caucasus Mountains with the help of Alchemy City, controlling more than half of Jialoulan's land.
Sacred Rock City contacted Metatlin again, asking him to declare a state of war against the Rhine Duchy. Of course, Salin would not be cannon fodder. He could declare war, but Metatlin would definitely not take the initiative to attack.
Sacred Rock City did not have this plan in the first place. The price that Prince Sephiroth paid was to sell Salin countless grains at a low price. In Qin Yin, the grain in the granary was piled up like a mountain. These grains were more than 50 years old. Even if there were warehouses made by Mages, they would have to be disposed of as waste.
Qin Yin never lacked food, so it did not matter if these rotting grains were given to the Metatlin people.
Salin did not want to lose out either. He offered a low price, and later even went to Qin Yin to transport all the grains that were about to expire out of the warehouse. He just had to pay for the transportation himself.
Prince Sephiroth did not know that Salin possessed elven magic and could make pills to satisfy hunger. He heard that Metatlin was buying warhorses and thought that Salin wanted to use these old grains to feed the livestock.
Metatlin had declared war against the Rhine Duchy, but the Rhine Duchy only thought that Salin had gone crazy and did not care. Winter was coming, and Salin's troops at the border were less than 100,000. They could not threaten the Rhine Duchy at all.
Under these circumstances, Salin received the captives — the Phoenix nobles.
Salin did not keep these nobles' titles, nor did he deprive them of their power. These nobles had become a special group of existences in the Metatlin Kingdom.
They had property and soldiers, and their status was higher than that of merchants, but lower than that of nobles. If they wanted a title, they had to fight with Salin and earn merits. Relatively speaking, it was easier for them to earn merits than others.
Salin did not directly reward these nobles because he was afraid that they would not have a sense of belonging. In order to let these nobles understand their power, Salin organized a military parade in the largest arena.
The Metatlin Kingdom expanded rapidly, and absorbing the citizens of Phoenix was what Salin valued the most.
What made Salin the happiest was that Sica was pregnant. Sica and Salin did not use the elven medicine, but the medicine was almost finished. Salin prepared to use it later.
The southern courtyard was filled with a festive atmosphere. The Caucasians were even more excited than Salin. With the permission of the elders, they began to celebrate. The descendants of the priests directly inherited part of the priests' abilities, and they would grow faster than any of the Caucasians. With Sica's descendants, it was like the Caucasians had another Earth Priest.
At this time, Salin also discovered how extraordinary Shika was. All the Gaugass Warriors that got close to her grew very quickly. Salin's Temple Legion would often come in contact with Shika, and almost all of the Gaugass Warriors had reached the Swordmaster realm.
This was an ability even more powerful than divine spells. Those warriors did not pray all day long.
Just as everything was developing smoothly in Metatlin, the Cloud Flow fleet appeared in the southeast of Jia Loulan, near the sea. The Qinyin people called it the lake.
This huge inland lake bordered the south of Qinyin in the east, separated by mountains. To the west was the Titan Duchy, and to the north was a small part that bordered the Jia Loulan region controlled by Rex. Only this 100-kilometer-wide area was not mountainous and could enter the Jialoulan Empire. The appearance of the Yun Liu people's fleet here was obviously to target Rex.
The Cloud Flow envoy disembarked from here and came to Liang City, which Rex had built.
Liang City was rebuilt on the foundations of the old city. It was equivalent to the capital of the Kushui Commandery. Rex had stationed a hundred thousand soldiers here to prevent the Cloud Flow people from sneaking up on them. The fleet that Salin had promised her hadn't been built yet. She only had a very small fleet in the sea, not really a fleet.
The Cloud Flow envoy's fleet ignored Rex's fleet and sailed directly to the shore. In the small town by the shore, someone had already released a carrier pigeon to deliver the news to Liang City.
In the Jun Wang Palace of Great Liang City, a seven-story Magic Tower stood tall. Rex received the news in the Magic Tower and immediately felt uneasy. The Cloud Flow people didn't even bother to contact Holy Rock City. Why did they send an envoy?
"Invite Nicholas over." Rex remembered that Nicholas hadn't left yet, and immediately ordered his magic apprentices.
Soon, Nicholas came to the sixth floor of the Magic Tower. The seventh floor was where Rex's Magic Shooters lived. Rex could only cultivate on the sixth floor.
"Your Highness, you're looking for me? I'm going back. " After Nicholas escorted Rex back, Rex asked him to stay. He participated in a few important battles and gained many benefits. However, it was already September. He had to return to Metatlin and wanted to say goodbye to Rex.
Rex pointed at the information brought by the carrier pigeon and said to Nicholas, "Nicholas … the Cloud Flow envoy is here."
"Your Highness, are you worried? If you want me to stay, I need the Lord's permission. I still have to go to Duanren Pass to supervise the final construction. " Nicholas was polite to Rex, but he was Salin's subject and couldn't help Rex all the time. Also, this place was too close to the Vatican's army. He always felt uneasy.
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