On the eleventh day of the eleventh month in the year 1778 of the Galinthea Continent's general calendar, a hundred thousand barbarian cavalrymen attacked the city of Pidro. The bloody battle lasted for a day and night, with corpses piling up like a mountain and blood flowing like a river. During the fierce battle, the barbarian cavalrymen even managed to capture the first city wall. However, under the desperate resistance of the 23rd Battalion of the Norton Family's 5th Imperial Guard Division, the city was not lost. All the way until daybreak, the grassland barbarian cavalry finally had no choice but to withdraw back to camp because of the heavy casualties and the great drop in morale.
Both the offensive and defensive sides suffered heavy casualties in this battle, but the defense of the 23rd Guards Battalion laid a solid foundation for the alliance of the four northern families to destroy the Iberian Kingdom and incorporate the Winston Province and the southern province into their sphere of influence. This also allowed the alliance of the four northern families to gain the upper hand in the confrontation with the Grassland God of War, Grand Duke Fisablun. From this moment onwards, the Norton Family firmly suppressed the Fisablun Family, opening a new chapter for the Grizzly Empire.
"… The 23rd Imperial Guard Battalion has 1,728 survivors after the battle. Most of them are injured, and most of their weapons and equipment are damaged. Out of the 10,000 reserve soldiers, there are more than 4,000 casualties … The Grassland Barbarian Cavalry left behind more than 12,000 corpses, and it is estimated that there are more than 20,000 casualties … Currently, I have led the 22nd Imperial Guard Battalion and the 1st and 4th Garrison Battalions to Pitro City. At the same time, Viscount Eddis has gathered 6,000 private soldiers from Winston's traditional domain as reinforcements. The list is as follows …"
This was a message from Baron Freya's messenger hawk. Laurist could finally breathe a sigh of relief and put his heart at ease. After defending Picdro City, the Iberian Kingdom's strategy would be more than half complete. As long as they could take down the Pobili Mountain and drive the Fisablon Family out of the southern province, they would be able to call it a day. Next, it was Duke Kempis' turn to use trade to suppress the Fisablon Family and force them to submit to the Northern Alliance of the Four Families. As for going to the Northeast Prairie to fight against Archduke Fisablun, sorry, Loriste did not have the interest nor did he have the time to play with that old fox …
After a bloody battle that lasted for an entire day and night, the 23rd Imperial Guards Battalion had lost nearly half of their men. Their commander, Edward, was even praised by Freya for his achievements. Laurist didn't expect his illegitimate younger brother to be so capable, and he was very happy. To the current Norton Family, even if they were illegitimate children, they still had the blood of the Norton Family flowing in their veins. If they could grow up, they would be of great help to the family.
Now that Freya had arrived and taken over the city's defenses, he didn't have to worry about the city's safety anymore. However, this battle also served as a reminder to Laurist. It was his own carelessness that nearly caused his strategy to fail. For a strategic location like Pitro City, one battalion of 3000 soldiers was not enough to defend it. At the very least, three battalions were needed to defend it.
There was also the Royal City of Wendbri, Vanades City, and Kebo City, which only had one battalion to defend them. It was indeed not enough. For the Royal City of Wendbri, the 3000-strong 21st battalion of the Royal Guards had been assigned to maintain law and order and guard the city gates. If an enemy really attacked, they would not be able to defend the four sides of the city walls … Perhaps it was time to reform the organization of the Royal Guards. The 75,000 Royal Guards were indeed a little too large, and they were scattered across three provinces, so it was not convenient to command them …
Just as Laurist was thinking about how to change the royal guards, Shiwald walked into the tent. "Your Highness, Baron Camola of the Wendbri Royal City has sent a letter. He says that the queen of the Rose Palace is making a scene again, claiming that she will go on a hunger strike to protest our rudeness and mistreatment of her. Lord Camola hopes that Your Highness can quickly come up with a way to deal with the queen, so that she does not cause trouble in the city."
Alright, Laurist had to admit that the queen was a weirdo. She did not care about the destruction of the Iberian Kingdom, nor did she care about the title of queen. All she wanted was to enjoy her parties, balls, and banquets. She only knew how to enjoy life. Even when the Wendbri Royal City was taken, she was still indifferent. Even her father, Duke Fisablun, and the four northern families were fighting in the southern province. She only asked that she, the queen, be treated in a way befitting of her status. She even used her beauty to seduce Baron Camola and Freya.
The problem was that while the queen was a beauty, she was in her forties or fifties. Naturally, Baron Camola and Freya were not interested in this old woman. Perhaps they were worried about their own reputation. After being rejected by the nobles and officials in the north, the queen and her maidservants brought the soldiers standing guard in front of the palace into her chambers. The soldiers released the next day all had dark circles around their eyes, their faces pale, and their legs wobbled as they walked out of the palace gates. Baron Camola was already annoyed by the queen, and wanted nothing more than to cut her down with his sword.
Of course, Baron Camelot only thought about it in his heart. Killing a queen would cause a huge uproar in the circle of nobles. No one would be willing to bear such a bad reputation. Apart from having no personal morals, this queen posed no threat to anyone. Furthermore, it was perfectly reasonable for her to request treatment befitting of her status. Even if she was a captive, they had to think about her father before dealing with her. No one was willing to become enemies with a third-level swordmaster, a powerful duke who was known as the God of War of the grasslands.
Laurist was not willing either. Even if he and Duke Fisabulun were enemies now, he was not willing to vent his anger on a woman. Apart from being a notorious slut, the queen had not committed any crimes. Although she was the queen of the Kingdom of Iberia, this marriage was a political one, and everyone in the kingdom knew that she did not get along with the second prince. But now that Baron Camola had complained about this a few times, it was time to come up with a solution.
"How about this, Schneider. Write a letter to Baron Camola and have him find a few knights and a hundred soldiers from the Fisabulun Family's armed captives. We will release them, re-arm them, and have them escort the queen back to the Fisabulun Family's territory. Also, tell him not to touch the queen's personal belongings. If her luggage isn't plentiful, we can even give her a sum of money. That way, we won't have any trouble. "
Laurist ordered. This was the best way to deal with it. Send the queen out of the country, and everyone would have peace. As for what kind of storm the queen would cause after returning to the Fisabulun Family, it was none of his business. Even if the nobles knew, they would give him a thumbs up and praise him for his benevolence …
"Yes, Your Highness. I will write the letter now." Schneider said.
"That's right, Schneider. Is there still no news from Aire and Redi?" Laurist felt that it was a little strange. A few days ago, he had given Aire and Redi an order to find a way to capture a few of the Fisabulun Family's armed captives on Mount Bobilici and ask them about the situation on Mount Bobilici. He wanted to know how many men Duke Fisabulun had left to guard the mountain. In the end, Aire and Redi never returned after receiving the order. It had been a few days since then, and there was no news at all.
Schneider shook his head, "Your Highness, I really don't know. That day, there was no news from Big Brother Aire and Senior Brother Redi after they left with ten guards. They also didn't bring any messenger eagles with them. These two days, I ordered the scouts to pay attention to whether they left any signs or traces when they went out to patrol, but the scouts didn't find anything when they returned … … "
"Strange, where did they go?" Laurist rubbed his chin as he pondered.
"Your Highness, will something happen to them?" Schneider asked worriedly.
Laurist laughed, "It's impossible for anything to happen to them. With Redi's skills and Aire's abilities, even if Duke Fisabulun were to personally deal with them, he wouldn't be able to capture all of them. At least one of them would be able to escape. Furthermore, they brought ten guards with them. If they split up, a few of them would be able to escape. I think they must have encountered something that delayed their journey. Perhaps they will be back in a few days. "
At this moment, Laurist thought of Morbin Hood's father's handsome golden eagle. It was a pity that Tagger was in charge of training a batch of eagles that could scout the enemy's movements on the battlefield. It would take another two to three years for the plan to bear fruit. Otherwise, the Hunting Cavalry wouldn't have suffered such heavy losses in Makino Province. If they had discovered that the old fox Fisabulun had gathered the Barbarian Cavalry to ambush them, the Hunting Cavalry wouldn't have fallen into the trap … …
Thinking about how the family's messenger eagles had been trained for five to six years before they could see results, it was understandable that they would need to spend so much time to train a batch of eagles that could identify and scout the enemy on the battlefield. He had already made a promise to his old man, Morbingham, that as long as he could train such a batch of eagles, the title of a baron would not be able to escape. He believed that Morbin Hood would do his best. Since he had entrusted this task to them, he believed that they would be able to do it well.
However, if there was still no news of Aire and Redi after a period of time, he might have to trouble Morbin Hood to borrow his golden eagle to search for their whereabouts.
"Your Highness, didn't we say that the Mountain Barbarians would attack our family's territory in the north?" Schneider was writing a letter when he suddenly thought of this matter.
"Don't worry, it'll be fine." Laurist smiled, "The Mountain Barbarians would never go down the mountains to attack during winter. Right now, the Mountain Barbarians in the Demonic Dragon Mountains are busy preparing for winter. Every winter is a life and death juncture for them. They aren't like our family's armed forces, who have sufficient winter clothing and training. No matter how cold the weather is, we can still use skis to move freely in the wind and snow. If the Mountain Barbarians really want to attack our family's territory, it should be next spring. By then, we will have already returned to our territory and made preparations. This will teach these Mountain Barbarians a good lesson. "
"Mm." Schneider nodded and continued writing.
Ten days passed, but there was still no news of Aire and Redi. Just as Laurist was about to send a letter to Tagger to borrow Morbin Hood's golden eagle to search for them, he received a letter from Freya. The Barbarian army had finally retreated.
Ever since Freya took over the city's defenses, the Barbarian cavalry had launched several attacks on the city. However, it was all in vain, and they lost men and horses for nothing. The attacks weren't as fierce as the bloody battle that lasted for a day and night. The last few attacks were even more anticlimactic. The first wave of attacks suffered some casualties, but the rest was like a game. They only shouted and did not charge, hiding outside the range of the crossbows until the horn sounded to retreat. Only then did they retreat as if relieved of a heavy burden.
Freya's letter mentioned a situation. The night before the retreat, the main camp of the Barbarian cavalry had suddenly descended into chaos. Flames soared to the sky, men screamed and horses neighed. There were also sounds of fierce fighting and battle cries. It seemed like a great battle had broken out. It seemed like the camp had really been attacked. Freya thought that the alliance of the four northern families would not have any spare troops to attack the main camp of the Barbarian army. He was worried that it was a trick of the barbarians, so he bided his time. It was only in the morning that he discovered it was a real attack. The main camp had been burned to the ground, and there were at least thirty to forty thousand barbarian corpses everywhere. The remaining Barbarian cavalry had disappeared without a trace.
Although Laurist was curious about what had happened to the main camp, he knew that it couldn't have been his own army that had attacked the main camp. The good news was that the siege had been lifted, and the Barbarian army had been forced to retreat. This was a great victory.
Along with the news of the victory, Baron Camorra also sent an escort team from the capital of Windbury. They escorted the Queen, her maids, and a hundred carts to the camp. Baron Camora did not come, but he wrote a letter to Laurist. In the letter, he said that in order to get the queen to return to House Fisablen's territory, he had to agree to a few of the queen's unreasonable requests. For example, he let the queen take away all the furniture in her bedroom. This was also the reason why the convoy was so large. There wasn't even a toilet bowl left in the bedroom.
Baron Camora felt that it was a pity that the queen had more than three hundred maids. After all, they were just as slutty as the queen. He originally wanted to use them to form a brothel to serve the armed forces of the family after sending the queen away, but he thought that these maids were originally nobles who had fallen from power or perished. He was afraid that they would cause trouble for the family, so he agreed to let the queen take them away.
In addition, Baron Camora also reported that in order to let the queen leave, he had to give her a hundred thousand gold fords as her annual income for the next few years. At the same time, because the queen was carrying a lot of carriages and belongings, the released ten Fisablen knights and a hundred soldiers might not be able to ensure the safety of the convoy. He had no choice but to send the second garrison battalion to escort them all the way. Now that he had sent them to Laurist's main camp, the mission was considered complete …
Laurist could only busy himself with the queen's arrival. No matter what, she was still a noble, and a welcoming banquet was unavoidable. Although he was an enemy of the Fisablen family, and the Iberian Kingdom was destroyed by Laurist himself, and even the former king was personally captured by Laurist to be given to the second prince, the nobles were very particular about their manners. Even if the queen could be considered a captive of the Norton family, they still had to treat her well.
At the welcoming banquet, the queen did not treat Laurist as a mortal enemy. On the contrary, she was very grateful that Laurist had captured the second prince and allowed her to live a few years of comfort. This allowed Laurist to finally see the queen's eccentricity and thoughtlessness. However, Laurist still got into trouble. The queen did not care about the destruction of the Iberian Kingdom. On the contrary, she was very concerned about losing her annual income in the future. She sobbed and asked Laurist for compensation.
Laurist very tactfully reminded her that didn't Baron Camora provide a hundred thousand gold fords? The queen said that it was not enough. She had an annual income of twenty thousand gold fords, and Baron Camora gave her a hundred thousand, which was five years. She was still young, not even forty years old (she was actually forty-six years old), and could live for at least twenty to thirty years. Then how would she live after five years? The queen burst into tears …
Laurist was speechless! This time, he had seen the best. He could only express that he was willing to do his best and gather another hundred thousand gold fords for her. Only then did the queen stop crying. However, perhaps because Laurist was too easy to talk to, the queen took a hundred thousand gold fords and asked for another two hundred thousand before she was willing to leave. Laurist was angry and refused to give it, so the queen stayed in the camp.
Very soon, Laurist regretted it. Baron Camora had wanted to form a brothel with the queen's maids to serve the armed family, but he did not expect the queen to directly hire prostitutes in the camp. A maid cost one gold ford a night, and if she paid ten, the queen would personally accompany her. Although the queen was a little old, she was not bad looking, and she also had the title of queen. For ordinary soldiers, spending ten gold fords to fuck the queen once was something they could brag about for the rest of their lives. They would rather borrow money to fuck the queen once. Thus, the queen's business flourished, and there was no shortage of customers …
Laurist's face paled. This was the frontlines, and during war, everyone's legs were as soft as noodles. How could this be? He wanted to enforce military discipline, but he found that the soldiers and knights who went to find the queen did not violate the family's military rules. They had only gone to the queen's place when they were not on duty, and they did not leave the camp, so it was not easy to punish them …
As for the queen, Laurist did not dare to go over. If he did, he might be harassed by a few naked maids. The last time Bofinger went to catch those soldiers, he had almost made a fool of himself in public …
He had been courteous to the queen for so long, and he could not turn against her now. Although it sounded strange that the queen was prostituting herself in the camp, it did not hinder anything. On the contrary, it pleased the soldiers, and it sounded like a good thing …
In the end, Laurist admitted that he was unlucky, and took out another 200,000 gold fords to send over before sending the queen off. The Fisablon Family's armed group sent by Mount Bobillich had already been waiting in front of the main camp for close to ten days.
Before the queen set off, she was still reluctant to part, and requested that if they could stay in the camp until next spring, she would rather give up the 200,000 gold fords. Laurist thought to himself, "You should leave as soon as possible. If you stay in the camp until next spring, then all the salaries of our armed soldiers will be in your pocket …"
Alright, the queen is more powerful than Grand Duke Fisablon. At least Grand Duke Fisablon did not extort 300,000 gold fords from me … That was what Laurist thought as he watched the convoy leave.
…
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
