Why do I feel like something's wrong? Laurist paced back and forth on the city wall gloomily.
This was the 17th day since the Norton Family's armed forces had occupied Morent City. Two days ago, Laurist received an urgent report from the light cavalry that the Trade Alliance's armed forces had returned and were charging towards Morent City. The vanguard had nearly 100,000 people, and there were still more than 200,000 troops behind. It seemed like Morent City would soon welcome a bloody offensive and defensive battle.
With the enemy's heavy assault, Laurist and the officers of the two armies practically didn't sleep or rest for the next four days. They prepared for the defensive battle day and night. After paying a huge sum of resources and gold coins, they finally completed the work of clearing the slums and slums outside the city with the help of the residents of Morent City. They then dug trenches, fortified the walls, and cleared the fields. They were extremely busy.
After everything was settled, Morent City welcomed its first batch of attackers. The vanguard force of nearly 10,000 people from the Trade Alliance swarmed in without any organization. They threw away their helmets and armor, and raised all kinds of white flags with bare hands. They crowded around the city and shouted, "Give us something to eat …"
"Open the door, we surrender …"
"I'm going home, I'm not fighting anymore …"
At that time, Laurist, Bodefinger, and the other officers of the army were so shocked that their jaws almost dropped. No one knew what was going on. It was obviously not a trick. Who had ever seen a bait act so well? They ran until they were out of breath, and then sat down in front of the city gate and refused to get up …
Only after Ayer brought some people out to investigate and interrogate them did they understand what was going on. Seriously speaking, these 10,000 people were the lucky ones of the Trade Alliance's vanguard force. They had returned to reclaim Morent City, and had only brought five days' worth of rations with them when they set off. The officers of the Trade Alliance told them that Gipsius City and Thomas City had also fallen. Taking down these two cities would naturally provide them with sufficient supplies.
Because these 100,000 people were recruited by Morent City, they were worried about the safety of their families and hurried on their way. However, they were all infantrymen. No matter how fast they walked, they would only reach Gipsy City after their rations ran out. However, the city had already been abandoned by Laurist. After they conquered the entire city, they discovered that there was nothing there except for bricks and stones. They could only drink water to fill their stomachs.
So they pinned their hopes on Thomas City, the two fortresses only a day's journey apart. However, at noon, they were attacked by the Flying Tiger Legion and the Hunting Cavalry Legion. The one hundred thousand men were tired and hungry, so they collapsed on the spot. These ten thousand men ran faster and were lucky enough to escape the encirclement of the cavalry. However, after they ran out, they realized that there was no way to escape. Furthermore, they were worried about their families in Morent City. Finally, after some discussion, they came over to surrender.
Laurist and the others didn't know whether to laugh or cry. It seemed like their efforts over the past few days had all been in vain. A day later, the cavalry of the Flying Tiger Legion and the Hunting Cavalry Legion arrived with a large number of captives, giving Morent City another one hundred thousand mouths to consume food. Fortunately, Sunbarwood and Tolin had already transported rations from Cilowas Island. For a period of time, there would be sufficient rations to feed the population of more than a million people in Morent City.
Roth, the Ferocious Tiger, and Freya, the Hunting Cavalry Legion, also arrived with the cavalry escorting the captives. After asking, Laurist found out that the one hundred thousand men in the front line of the Trade Alliance's armed forces were a little out of touch with the rest of the army. They had traveled for two days in between, so they couldn't coordinate with each other. This gave the Flying Tiger Legion and the Hunting Cavalry Legion the opportunity to surround and annihilate the one hundred thousand men first.
Ferocious Tiger Roth and Freya indicated that they would continue to harass and ambush the reinforcements of the merchant alliance's army, delaying the enemy's return to Moronte City. After a hurried discussion on military strategy, the two of them led the cavalry that escorted the captives on their journey.
However, another two days had passed, and there was still no news from the Trade Alliance's follow-up army. Laurist could not help but guess what was going on. Even if the reinforcements of the Trade Alliance retreated out of fear after the 100,000 men at the vanguard were annihilated, Ferocious Tiger Ross and Freya should have sent messengers back to deliver news. At least it was better than waiting on the city walls day in and day out. Waiting was the most stressful thing …
Three plumes of smoke rose in the distance, and three majestic warhorses galloped over like the wind. The knight in the lead shouted, "Urgent report, urgent report from the frontlines, open the city gates!"
Laurist opened the battle report written by Freya from the Hunting Cavalry Legion and almost jumped up when he read it. "What? The two hundred thousand men in the rear line of the Trade Alliance's armed forces didn't even head for Morent City. Instead, they turned to Mawei Fulin Province! What are they trying to do? Give up on retaking Morent City? They even abandoned the Mana Mound Plains? "
"Yes, Your Highness. When Lord Freya ordered me to deliver the letter, I received an urgent report from the Flying Tiger Legion. The Trade Alliance's armed forces stationed at Roberto, Creedor, and Liet have sent envoys to surrender to the Flying Tiger Legion. Lord Roth the Ferocious Tiger has already gone to take over the three fortresses. If this is the truth, the battle report will be here soon … "The messenger provided another shocking piece of news.
"What's going on? Sacrificing their tails to survive? What is the Trade Alliance planning? They're abandoning half of their army just to preserve two hundred thousand men? Is this possible? Isn't this too much? Or could it be that the destruction of the one hundred thousand men in the front line forced the follow-up army to change their decision to retake Morent City and turn to Mawei Fulin Province to preserve these two hundred thousand men? Then why did the remaining army surrender? That's still more than a hundred thousand men … "Laurist was puzzled. No matter what, it was a good thing that Morent City was spared from a war.
Another day passed, and Laurist received another battle report from the frontlines. He finally understood what had happened. "Damn, they're shifting the blame. The Trade Alliance is trying to preserve their elite armed forces by giving up on those inferior soldiers. This is premeditated, and they're shifting the burden of feeding two hundred thousand mouths to the Norton Family. These two hundred thousand captives will consume a lot of food … But why would the Trade Alliance give up on retaking Morent City? Could it be that they have other motives? "
Roth the Ferocious Tiger reported in the battle report that the troops stationed at the three fortresses had surrendered due to a lack of food and other supplies. This was because the follow-up army of the Trade Alliance had taken away most of their supplies, leaving them with less than five days' worth of food. They were afraid that the Andinac Kingdom's allied forces, which had been fighting them for two years, would kill them after they surrendered, so they chose to surrender to the Norton Family.
Roth the Ferocious Tiger requested Laurist to send a batch of food to the three fortresses at the frontlines as soon as possible. This was because the one hundred thousand captives were eating the dry rations carried by the soldiers of the Flying Tiger Legion, and the soldiers of the Flying Tiger Legion were still half-starved. At the same time, the second prince had already discovered that the three fortresses had fallen into the hands of the Norton Family. He had sent an envoy to request to take over the three fortresses.
Sigh, we're so busy here. As the king, please don't give us more trouble. Laurist immediately wrote down an order for Roth the Ferocious Tiger to reject the second prince's request. There were seven fortresses in the Mana Hill Plains, including Morent City. The second prince only occupied Brovic City. If the three fortresses were to be handed over to him, the Second Prince would probably refuse to leave. This would only add to the troubles of the peace talks in the future.
At the same time, Laurist asked Roth the Ferocious Tiger to borrow a batch of military rations from the three northern allies and Duke Fisablun to tide them over. The two hundred thousand men of the Hunting Cavalry who had escaped with the Commerce Alliance could not leave. He immediately sent the Monolith Army to take over the three fortresses. When Bofinger and the rest arrived, Roth the Ferocious Tiger would lead the Flying Tiger Legion to escort the surrendered garrison troops back.
After everything was done, Bofinger led the Monolith Army and set off. After some thought, Laurist wrote a letter to the second prince. The content was that the Norton Family's armed forces had already defeated the Trade Alliance's Invincible Fleet and had landed in Moronte City. The change in the situation at the frontlines was due to the reaction of the Trade Alliance's armed forces after discovering that Moronte City had fallen. It seemed that they had given up on Morent City and the Mana Hill Plains, retreating back to Maweifulin Province.
In the letter, Laurist impolitely requested the second prince not to act rashly and destroy the hard-won situation. That was because Laurist was prepared to use Morent City and the Mana Hill Plains as bargaining chips to negotiate with the Commerce Alliance to stop the war and restore peace. Therefore, Laurist hoped that the second prince would do what he needed to do. For example, after not returning to the imperial capital for such a long time, he should go back and visit the queen who had been alone for three years …
At the same time, Laurist assured the second prince in the letter that he would negotiate with the Commerce Alliance in the name of the Norton Family and himself as the Sword Sage. If anything happened, he would bear the responsibility. If the peace talks failed, it would not be too late for the second prince to clean up the mess. It was much better than the second prince being fooled again. Of course, if the peace talks were successful, the second prince would still need to come forward and sign the peace agreement with the Commerce Alliance …
After dispatching a few guards to quickly deliver the letter to the second prince, Buckingham let out a sigh and began to ponder about what the Commercial Federation was planning. Did they really not care about Morent City? It was the number one commercial city in the Galinthia Continent, and also the capital of the Commerce Alliance.
Genolio and Tagger walked in with a huge stack of documents, but both of them did not look too good.
"What's wrong with the two of you? Why do you look so sad?" Laurist laughed.
"Your Highness, the spoils of the inner city and the Commerce District have been calculated …" Genolio ignored Laurist's question and said with a serious face.
"Oh, tell me about it. Let's see how much our family can earn this time." Laurist was in a good mood. After all, he did not intervene in this war to be a good person. The resources and wealth that the Commerce Alliance had stored in Morent City were the Norton Family's profits. He believed that the spoils this time would not disappoint him.
Genolio replied with a bitter smile, "Your Highness, the loot this time is not satisfactory. We only found a little over four million gold coins in the trade district and the inner city. There was also a batch of resources worth ten million gold coins, a small portion of which were expensive luxury materials. There were also many jewels and antiques that were estimated to be worth several million gold coins. Apart from these, there was nothing else … "
"What did you say? That's all? "Laurist jumped in shock." That's impossible! How could Morent City only have this little profit? This is a commercial city with a population of more than a million. There are millions of gold coins circulating in the market every day. The warehouses of the Commerce Alliance in Morent City are all filled with rare treasures from all over the continent. How could they only have this little profit … "
Laurist would be overjoyed if there were so many spoils after conquering a city, but this was Morent City. How could they only have this little profit? At this moment, Laurist even suspected that someone was cheating and embezzling a large amount of spoils of war. Even if he was beaten to death, he would not believe that they had only obtained this much after conquering Morent City.
"Your Highness, you're talking about more than ten years ago. The current Moronte City is not a commercial city at all. To put it bluntly, its current commercial influence is not even as great as the capital of Chigeda Kingdom, St. Maned City. Ever since the Commerce Alliance implemented the Lord system and the Glass War broke out with the Kingdom of Telimbo, many countries in the central and southern regions cut off trade routes to the Commerce Alliance. Morent City's status as the number one commercial city on the continent has plummeted. It no longer has the bustling scene of people and caravans from more than ten years ago. " Genolio's calm words immediately shattered the good impression Laurist had of Morent City in his memory.
Hmm … That seems to be the case. Otherwise, the academies in the academy district would not have closed down because they could not recruit students. Dawn Academy would not have to go to the north to start over. It seemed like the information Knight Rummed had sent from Morent City also mentioned that the commercial market of Morent City was shrinking. There had not been a single caravan from outside for many years. Now, almost all the commercial market of Morent City was in the hands of the various Commerce Alliance. Just like a cake, all the shares had already been distributed, and there was no room for others to step in.
It seemed that a few years ago, Tagger had set up a plan to establish a new Commerce Alliance in the Commerce Alliance. He would spend a few years to slowly nurture this small Commerce Alliance into a large one with influence in Morent City. Unfortunately, this plan had been approved by Laurist, but there was no possibility of it being realized.
Just like what Knight Rummed had reported, all the industries in Morent City were monopolized by the various Commerce Alliance. Whether it was the livelihood of the people or armaments, they were all controlled by the Commerce Alliance. Even if you came up with a new product or a new industry, the related Commerce Alliance would quickly come to your door and force you to transfer the new industry to them. You could imagine the consequences if you did not agree.
"Your Highness, since the Commerce Alliance implemented the Lord system, the Commerce Alliance has its own territory. They have basically moved the warehouses and production centers of the Commerce Alliance to their territory. They had set up production workshops and warehouses in their own territories, and the commercial street of Moronte City was more like their exhibition shop. Although there were a lot of goods and raw materials in the warehouses, the quantity was not much.
Furthermore, ever since the war between the Commerce Union and the Central and Southern Kingdoms broke out, the commercial market of Moronte City had become more and more desolate. Most of the items stored in the warehouses were useless spoils of war or daily necessities related to the livelihood of millions of citizens in Moronte City. There were very few valuable items stored in the warehouses. This is not only the warehouses of a few Commerce Alliance, but almost all the Commerce Alliance with a shop in the commercial district are in the same situation … "Tagger explained further.
Laurist slapped his forehead. He seemed to think of Morent City as the Morent City when he was still studying and working as a mercenary. He did not think that after more than ten years, the Commerce Alliance had annexed seven surrounding countries because of a glass war. Their expansion policy was jointly resisted by the rest of the central and southern countries. They cut off the trade routes and canceled all commercial exchanges. After a few years, the Commerce Alliance was forced to resort to war in hopes of opening up the trade routes. Under such circumstances, as the capital of the Commerce Alliance, Morent City naturally did not have a good ending. If the Commerce Alliance did not have commercial exchanges, could it still be called a Commerce City?
… …
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