The year 1780 of the Galinthia Continent was destined to be a turbulent era. On the 3rd of April, the Norton Family's Thunderstrike Fleet was escorting a hundred large ocean-going merchant ships from the Chigda Kingdom back to the north when they were attacked by a coalition of pirate warships led by the armed fleet of the Chikder Merchant Guild. Under the cover of the night, the attackers piloted their small, speedy warships into the fleet and set fire to the ships. The sounds of killing could be heard everywhere, and the Norton family's Thunderstrike fleet also began to counterattack.
After a night of fierce fighting, only forty of the Norton Family's large ocean-going merchant ships were left in good condition. More than fifty transport ships were either burnt or severely damaged, and the crew suffered heavy casualties. The North Sea Fleet's commander, Sunbarwood, was furious. Other than sending the Thunderstrike Fleet to hunt down the small pirate warships and send them into the sea one by one, he also brought his fleet to the Chikder Merchant Guild's territory to bombard and burn down all the docks and harbors. He also issued an order that no sails in the Chikder Merchant Guild's territory could set sail in the sea. As long as it was a ship belonging to the Chikder Merchant Guild, be it fishing or merchant ships, it would be destroyed without exception.
As the cannons of the southern sea rumbled, on the 8th of April, the autonomous committee in charge of Morent City held a grand ceremony. Amidst the cheers of more than a hundred thousand citizens who had nothing better to do, they solemnly announced the establishment of the Freedom Alliance. They would split from the Merchant Guild and establish an independent nation. After that, there was a military parade and a parade of floats. It was also announced that the 8th of April would be the founding day of the Freedom Alliance, with a three-day holiday to celebrate.
The newly established Freedom Alliance declared the Mana Hill Plains and the Christopher Hills to be its territory. Externally, the Freedom Alliance would pursue a policy of peace and independence. It would be friendly with all countries, and welcome all countries to engage in commercial exchanges and trade activities. Internally, the Freedom Alliance would hold a general election every five years. The people of the Freedom Alliance would vote for the members of the council, and these members would vote for the chief executive of the governing committee.
The first chief executive of the Freedom Alliance was Ledos. He announced at the ceremony that they had reached an agreement of peace and friendship with the Andinac Kingdom. The merchants of Morent City could freely travel to the Andinac Kingdom to do business, and the Andinac Kingdom promised to protect the lives and property of the merchants of the Freedom Alliance. As long as they followed the laws of the kingdom, the merchants of the Freedom Alliance would be welcomed by the lords of the various regions.
This was good news for the newly established trade associations of the Freedom Alliance. They could head to the Andinac Kingdom to expand their trade routes in the north. Although everyone knew that the continuous years of war had caused the people in the Andinac Kingdom to be in dire straits, and even the nobles couldn't afford to purchase large quantities of goods, it was still very attractive to many merchants as a source of abundant raw materials. Moreover, the Andinac Kingdom had already promised to protect the merchants of the Freedom Alliance. Without the monopoly of the Trade Unions, the Andinac Kingdom in the north was now shining in the eyes of the adventurous merchants …
The news of the establishment of the Freedom Alliance quickly spread to the Trade Union. The furious Duke Cambert, the chairman of the Twin-Headed Dragon Trade Union, represented the Trade Union and made a declaration of righteous indignation. In his speech, he declared that the Freedom Alliance was a traitor. They had forgotten that the ancestors of the Trade Union had fought for the freedom and glory of the enemies in the north for a hundred years. They had forgotten that countless ancestors had fought for the freedom and independence of the Trade Union with their blood. Now, this so-called Freedom Alliance had made peace with the enemies in the north. The Trade Union would never forgive these traitors.
Other than announcing to the countries in the south of the continent that the Trade Alliance would never recognize the Freedom Alliance that was formed by the traitors, the Trade Alliance also announced the bounty for all the members of the Freedom Alliance's council and ruling committee. There were 248 names on the list, and Ledos had the highest bounty of 100,000 gold fords. Laurist had no choice but to send Redi to protect Ledos.
The Freedom Alliance responded to the Trade Union's provocation in Moronte City's new Freedom Newspaper. The title of the first page of the Freedom Newspaper was' What is Freedom? What is Commerce? ' This was an eloquent article that refuted Duke Camberlet's fallacy. The ancestors of the Trade Union had fought with their own blood not for a distribution system that relied on rations and a Trade Union that was monopolized by the Chamber of Commerce. What they wanted was a Trade Union that allowed their descendants to develop freely in all aspects.
The article reviewed the history of the Trade Union over the past hundred years and the 20 years of Moronte City's golden age. It pointed out that the main culprit behind the decline of Moronte City was the Lord system implemented by the Trade Union. It allowed the Trade Union to embark on the path of expansion, and made the innocent people of the Trade Union sacrifice their lives and blood for the interests of the various Trade Unions. Although the Trade Union relied on war to annex many countries and became the largest country in the continent, it also made the Trade Union the biggest enemy in the eyes of the neighboring countries.
Other than this rebuttal, the first page of the Freedom Press also published a small statement from Laurist. In the statement, Laurist listed the top twenty Chamber of Commerce presidents in the Commerce Alliance. He then casually promised that if any of the Freedom Alliance senators were assassinated, Laurist wouldn't mind personally sending the family of one of the presidents on the list to the grave, regardless of whether the president's family was innocent or not.
This was the first time the newly ascended Sacred Swordsman Laurist publicly announced his support for the Freedom Alliance. Once the newspaper was published, the entire central and southern countries of the continent were in an uproar. The Trade Union's Grand Duke Camberlet once again issued a solemn statement, declaring that the Trade Union would never resort to despicable assassination methods like King Trumbo VII had done. He also explained that the bounty on the Freedom Alliance's traitors was not a bounty for assassination, but a bounty for the Trade Union's pursuit of these traitors after the Trade Union defeated the Freedom Alliance. The most important thing was to capture them alive. The Trade Union needed to bring these traitors to trial and deal with them publicly …
At the same time, Grand Duke Camberlet tactfully criticized Laurist, as a Sacred Swordsman and a noble Grand Duke, for not using assassination methods to threaten his opponents. After all, the Trade Union also had a Sacred Swordsman of the Storm, but the Trade Union had never used him to threaten their enemies …
After Laurist issued his statement, he ignored the Freedom Alliance and the Trade Union's war of words. In the middle of June, he sent off Princess Sylvia and her two concubines. The three women finally got pregnant as they wished. Considering the impending war, Laurist convinced Princess Sylvia and the others to return to their family's territory.
According to Tagger's intelligence, the Sacred Swordsman of the Trade Union had already recovered from his injuries. However, he did not know if he had not reached an agreement with the Trade Union or for some other reason, but the Sacred Swordsman had not agreed to the Trade Union's request for him to deal with Laurist. According to the spy's report, it seemed that the Sacred Swordsman had made a request that put the Trade Union in a difficult position. As a result, the Trade Union leaders of the Trade Union had held a few meetings, but they still could not come to a decision.
Time passed anxiously. On the 28th of July, Laurist finally received the Trade Union's Sacred Swordsman's letter of challenge. However, the duel was scheduled for two months later, on the 10th of October. Laurist was a little confused. He did not understand why the Sacred Swordsman would delay the duel for so long.
Fatty Shi believed that the greatest possibility was that the Sacred Swordsman had recovered from his injuries and was not confident that he could deal with Laurist. Thus, he purposely delayed the duel to strengthen Laurist's swordsmanship training. Laurist did not think much of it. The last time they fought, it had already been shown that the Sacred Swordsman had the upper hand in terms of Domain cultivation. His Gale Domain covered a distance of nearly twenty meters, while Laurist's Sanguine Domain only covered ten meters. From this point, if the Sacred Swordsman wanted to regain his dignity from Laurist, he should have ended the battle quickly. This was because Laurist was still very young and had a lot of potential for improvement.
However, in the second half of August, the mobilization of the Trade Union's armed forces made Laurist and the rest immediately understand. Eight fully organized armies of more than three hundred thousand soldiers from the Trade Union set out from the Mawei Fulin Province towards the Mana Hill Plains. They split into two groups and approached Brewia City. At the same time, the Trade Union also raised the banner of punitive expedition against the traitors. They sent out a notice, ordering the defenders of the few Stronghold cities in the Mana Hill Plains to return to their lost ways and surrender immediately …
Just as Laurist had predicted, the Trade Union's armed forces were prepared to finish the battle in one fell swoop. They were preparing for a decisive battle. Not only were they going to defeat the Norton Family's armed forces, they were also going to destroy the newly born Freedom Alliance and recover the Mana Hill Plains and Morent City. In terms of military strength, the Trade Union's armed forces had an absolute advantage. More than three hundred thousand elite soldiers were up against three hundred and thirty thousand soldiers from the Norton Family's armed forces and six thousand soldiers from the Freedom Alliance.
"Your Highness, this time, the Trade Union's armed forces have mobilized a full force of forty-eight thousand soldiers. From the confessions of the captives, the seven heads of the Trade Union have each mobilized an elite army of the Trade Union. Among them, the newly established Visia Trade Union has also sent out their only newly formed army. The other army is formed from the released members of the Invincible Fleet and the ransomed residents of the inner city of Morent City. They have sworn to reclaim their lost dignity and the wealth we extorted from our armed forces …"
Yuri, the vice commander of the Hunter Corps, reported the information that the light cavalry scouts had gathered at the military conference. "This time, the Trade Union's armed forces have split into two groups. They are less than ten miles away from each other. Their defenses are extremely tight, and it is very difficult for the light cavalry scouts to get close to them. At the same time, they are very familiar with the light cavalry tactics of our family. They often set up ambushes at the crossroads and in the woods, forcing our light cavalry scouts to avoid the crossroads and woods. This makes it difficult for the light cavalry scouts to scout.
The Trade Union's armed forces have split into two groups, but they are not rash. They have adopted a strategy of advancing step by step. It seems that they are not in a hurry to reach the frontlines to take over Bruvia City. We have also discovered that the Trade Union's armed forces seem to have brought along a large number of siege weapons. Some of them look like catapults, very similar to the lever-type catapults that our family used to use. However, the enemy's defenses are very tight, and we are unable to get close to observe them … "
"Your Highness, since our family's armed forces do not have the advantage in terms of military strength, why don't we take advantage of the fact that the Trade Union's armed forces are advancing step by step and set up a perfect defensive position in Bruvia City to resist the enemy's attack?" The Ferocious Tiger Ross stood up and pointed at the map. "We can use the Freedom Alliance's seven city defense corps to wear down the morale of the Trade Union's armed forces. Meanwhile, our Flying Tiger Corps and Hunter Corps will lie in ambush on the two sides. Once the Trade Union's armed forces reveal a flaw, we will break into the enemy's camp from the two sides and disrupt their formation. The Imperial Guards will then launch a frontal assault. We will definitely obtain a great victory."
The Ferocious Tiger Ross's suggestion was very reliable. Although they could not be sure if they could obtain victory in the entire war, they could definitely obtain victory in one or two battles. However, Laurist still shook his head. He wanted to obtain victory in the decisive battle. He wanted to break the back of the Trade Union with one strike, so that they would not be able to gather an army to attack the Mana Hill Plains.
"I have made up my mind," Laurist said. Laurist said, "In this battle, we will fight the Trade Alliance's armed forces in a field battle, not a long offensive and defensive battle. As long as we defeat the Trade Union's armed forces, we can return to our family's territory to rest and reorganize. The Freedom Alliance will naturally handle the rest. "
"But Your Highness, our family's armed forces and the Freedom Alliance's armed forces do not have the advantage in terms of military strength. Moreover, the Trade Union's armed forces are much more powerful than our family's. Without a perfect defensive position, it will be very difficult for us to resist the enemy's surprise attack …" Fatty Shi hurriedly stood up to persuade him.
"We do not need to defend. All we need to do is attack," Laurist said. Laurist said, "In a few days, the Grizzly Bear Knights will land at Hidden Gold Bay. This time, they are escorting five hundred ground-type bronze cannons, as well as all the gunpowder produced by the family's territory last year. It will be enough for us to fight this war. This time, we will use the cannons and the steel ballistae to give the enemy a baptism of long-range attacks. The enemy's formation will collapse under the cannon fire, and all we need to do is pursue and destroy the enemy's effective strength! "
So this was Laurist's plan. The high-ranking knights present all revealed joyful smiles.
"Freya, Josk, Yuri, Vasima, the four of you will continue to lead the Hunter Corps to harass the Trade Union's armed forces as they march. Stop their scouts, but do not fight them head-on. If there is an advantage, take it. If there isn't, run. Understand?"
"Yes, Your Highness. We understand." The four Golden Knights of the Hunter Corps stood up.
"Aire, Ovis, the two of you will lead the guards to Broweyk City tomorrow. Baron Shredder, go discuss with Ledos and have the Freedom Alliance send four city defense corps to Broweyk City. Also, transfer the light cavalry corps from Christophe Hills to the frontlines. We do not need them as the main force in this war, but they must go to the frontlines to experience it. In the future, they will have to rely on themselves to defend against the Trade Union's invasion. "
At the end of last year, Laurist had Fatty Shi reject Ledos' proposal to form another four city defense corps. He only formed a city defense corps and a light cavalry corps for the Freedom Alliance. Now, the Freedom Alliance had seven small city defense corps of eight thousand men and a light cavalry corps of five thousand men equipped with northern warhorses.
"Yes, Your Highness," Fatty Shi replied.
"As for the Flying Tiger Corps, stay here with me for a few more days. When the Grizzly Bear Knights arrive, we will go to the frontlines together. I will personally oversee Broweyk City, "Laurist said.
… …
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