After the Year of the Running Wolf, the most outstanding military strategist in the history of the Wind Elves, the King of the Grey Mountain, Shaglifen, who had not yet been promoted to the position of Marshal, wrote in his book: "If we can't effectively kill the liches in the Madara army, then we can't really defeat an undead army." But when the Black Rose of the Roman Tuo was truly defeated, the defeated skeletons in the valley were actually not much different from a human army fleeing in all directions. The undead fled back all over the mountains and plains, and because they had lost their command, the liches and the skeletons they summoned fought on their own, like a sheet of loose sand. Although the undead lords from the Sea of the Dead Moon could still restrain their subordinates, they only wanted to escape and had lost their will to fight. The current Blood Staff army could no longer be called an army. From top to bottom, they had lost their purpose and will to fight, and only struggled to protect themselves. It was no different from the defeated army of the northern nobles in Ampere Seale.
But if one looked carefully, there were some subtle differences. When humans fled in the face of a defeated army, it was often because of the fear in their hearts that shook and shook and gave in to the emotions of the undead. These two factors did not exist in the emotions of the undead. They only protected themselves out of a rational choice. They would not trample on each other because of panic, or be killed like ducks without daring to turn back and resist. If they were caught, they would stop and fight back. But due to the selfish nature of dark creatures, they would never help their comrades who were attacked nearby, even if it might be more beneficial to them.
Count Jacques and Brando rode side by side in the valley. Seeing this scene, they were very emotional. "So the undead army is just like this. They can also make mistakes."
"The undead are not natural creatures. No one knows the mystery between life and death better than them, so they eliminate the uneasiness in the hearts of mortals about the unknown death. They have no attachment to life, so they don't feel impulsive and fanatical. However, impulsiveness and fear are only one of all the negative emotions. Greed, arrogance, vanity, and selfishness will all make them make mistakes. " Brendel explained to Duke Viero's vassal as he observed the progress of the battle from his horse's back.
Count Jacques silently nodded. He looked deeply at this Count, who was also a Count but was much younger than him. "Mr. Count, you seem to know a lot about the Dark Kingdom?"
"I always try to understand my enemy, the enemy of the kingdom." Brando looked at the Count from the Jacques-Langin region. He knew this man. Jacques-Langin was located on the border between Viero and Karsuk. This Count was someone who had dealt with Madara in history. Although he had some of the common faults of the Erouine nobles of this era, his understanding of the Roman Black Rose was much deeper than the other nobles. It was rare that this man was trusted by the Grand Duke of Viero.
"Mr. Moberto," he continued, "I suggest that you don't underestimate the Black Rose just because of what you saw today."
"Of course, I don't dare to underestimate them anymore. When I was young, I saw my father bringing back bear and wolf prey during winter hunts. I always thought that these beasts in the forest were nothing special. Later on, I was lucky enough to have a cunning guy leave a mark on my body. The scar is still on my back to this day. From then on, I learned that I can never underestimate any of my opponents." Count Jacques made an analogy to let Brando understand that he was talking about what happened today. He meant that he would never forget what happened today.
[If I don't teach them a lesson, they won't understand what kind of enemy they're facing. Only by making them understand where the real threat lies, under the pressure of external forces, the kingdom will be able to quickly walk down the path I want.] [That's one of my goals. If I don't teach them a lesson, they won't understand what kind of enemy they're facing. He smiled and shook his head, continuing to expose Madara's past. "But what Mister Moberto is thinking now is that he has grasped the weakness of these skeletons. If that's the case, then you are gravely mistaken."
Count Jacques was a little stunned. "Why do you say that? I think what you described is very reasonable. Those skeletons do have that kind of weakness. "
"That is the nature of the undead, just like human nature. Mr. Moberto, humans will be afraid, but the Tónigel, Viero, and Lantonilan won't be defeated in the face of the undead. Humans will be impulsive and greedy, and human nature is also vain, arrogant, and selfish. But our kingdom, civilization, and order didn't collapse because of this. That's because we still have the second attribute of being social. Madara is the same. They used to be a sheet of loose sand, but the Blood Staff we defeated today is far different from the past. I think you have a deep understanding of this. "
"But Mr. Jacques, you probably didn't think that the Madara we saw today is still an illusion." Without waiting for Count Jacques to nod, Brando continued. The latter opened his mouth and looked very surprised, but Brando didn't give him a chance to speak. "The reason why we defeated the Blood Staff today is based on its ignorance of us, and also based on the fact that it still maintains a set of old command system. Count Jacques, you should have heard of the kingdom's military reform, but such a reform began seven years ago in Madara. Before the War of the Black Rose, they had basically ended this historical mission. Today, Madara has at least a thousand Emperor's Chosen Groups. These Emperor's Chosen Groups are different from the army of the Blood Staff that you and I have seen. The Blood Staff is arrogant and unruly, and in fact, it is not a direct descendant of the supreme of Madara. It was defeated by us today probably because the supreme of Madara needs us to help him eliminate dissidents — "
He paused. "And the real army of Madara has a complete set of mid-level and low-level officers. They will not fall into a state of disunity because of the collapse of the upper command system. Such an undead army can really fight until the last Lich falls. Mr. Jacques, you can imagine how Erouine would fight such an enemy and win. "
Count Jacques stared at the young lord with wide eyes. If Brando had told him all this in the morning, he would have never believed it. It was simply absurd and nonsensical. But at this moment, Brando's strength and knowledge of Madara made him unable to easily doubt it. Especially the thousand Emperor's Chosen Groups that Brando mentioned, it was like a sudden clap of thunder that made his mouth dry and his mind in a mess for a moment.
His sallow complexion and absent-mindedness were within Brendel's expectations. Of course, Brando would not tell him that although Madara's expansion direction was towards Erouine, their main enemies were the Wind Elves of Saint-ausol and Fanzin further north. More than half of Madara's thousand Emperor's Chosen Groups were used to guard against these two huge empires. It was good to scare this guy, lest he still had any delusions.
In fact, this was not a bad thing. No matter how many troops Madara had at the moment, it did not mean much to a small kingdom like Erouine, because in the future, it might not be able to withstand even one of Sir Black's legions. Now, Erouine only had a glimmer of hope, and that was to make the undead hesitate. There were still a lot of duchies between them and Saint-ausol and Fanzin on the border. Anyway, the Wind Elves would fight with the skeletons of Madara sooner or later. Now, as long as the undead felt that Erouine was more difficult to deal with than those duchies, it would be enough.
In history, Erouine awakened too late, and Her Royal Highness was powerless. Cruz's people could not even take care of themselves and connive, which led to the kingdom's final tragedy.
This time, it might not be the case.
But first, the kingdom still needed to have the courage and ability to fight.
Brando looked at Count Jacques, whose face had begun to turn pale. He wiped his forehead with his hand, not knowing if he was wiping the rain or wiping the sweat. His mind seemed to be immersed in the fear brought by the thousand Emperor's Chosen Groups that Brando had described earlier. He asked in a low voice, "Count, is what you said true?"
"Mr. Moberto, even if my information is only one-third accurate, what difference does it make to the kingdom if Madara only has three hundred regiments?" Brendel looked absent-mindedly at the undead army that was fleeing in the rain. He stroked the horse's mane and asked in a calm manner. He was not in a hurry, but Count Jacques was anxious. He did not know whether Brando was telling the truth or not, but it seemed that there was no need for him to make fun of him. Just like what Brando said, even if his words were only one-third accurate, or even a quarter accurate, what difference did it make to the kingdom?
There was no difference at all.
The nobles knew best what the kingdom was like. Since the Anson era, the struggle between the local and central governments had greatly damaged the strength of the kingdom itself. And after the battle of Ampere Seale, the confrontation between the north and the south made it even weaker. On the other hand, the Dark Kingdom in the east had always maintained a strong army and tradition of war. It was just that in the past, it was scattered, and the lords of the Dark Kingdom did their own thing and fought against each other, so it was not a threat. Today, Madara had been united under the rule of the Supreme, and the nobles of the Dark Kingdom had gathered under the Mercury Staff that had reappeared a thousand years later. Count Jacques suddenly realized that Brando might not be lying, but their traditional thinking had made them ignore this point.
Madara already had a huge army, and now that they were united, who would they attack next?
Naturally, it could not be the Wind Elves or Fanzin, so the rest was self-evident.
Some things were actually like a layer of window paper. It was hard to think of it before it was broken, but once it was brought up, the rest of the people would suddenly see the light. At this moment, Count Jacques' mood was more or less like this. Although he would rather not be aware of this, at least an idiot could live happily. But now, whenever he thought of Madara, he would be on tenterhooks and think of the undead army waiting to attack.
They were the undead, an existence that could not tolerate the living. Apart from death, you could not surrender.
Count Jacques' head was full of cold sweat as he thought, but he could not think of a solution. In today's Erouine, it seemed that other than death, there was only one way to go. The Dark Kingdom was originally a powerful country, and they had the advantage. What was laughable was that the nobles of the kingdom were still in a drunken stupor. Facing such a country, he really did not know how to resolve the crisis in front of him.
Perhaps the only way was to exile Cruz?
When Count Jacques raised his head to look at Brando again, his eyes were a little unfocused. Brando knew that he was extremely frightened. He sighed. In fact, the reason was very simple. These nobles might have thought about it before, but they always thought that Madara had not reached this step. In history, even on the eve of the Second War of the Black Roses, there were still people who thought that Madara was still in a civil war. But today, he personally told him that the unification of Madara had been brought forward. Sure enough, this count immediately understood what the kingdom was facing.
Count Jacques did not speak again, and Brando did not force him. He patted the horse's mane and let it speed up so that he could catch up with the White Lion Guards in the valley. He knew that today's words could only give these nobles a hint. Sooner or later, they would understand how Erouine could survive. And at that time, if there were still stubborn people, then don't blame him for being ruthless.
The fate of the kingdom had been given a strong dose of medicine in the battle of Ampere Seale. Now, it could only be slowly reversed.
Brando silently pursed his lips. In his heart, it was not that he did not want to make drastic changes and give the kingdom a new lease of life. But the longer he was in this world, the more he understood the difficulties of this matter. The nobles had ruled the kingdom for too long, and their traditions were already deeply ingrained. Moreover, they were indeed excellent in their own ways. Although Erouine's class had long been corrupted, they still had power that could not be underestimated. He might be able to eradicate this power, but it would inevitably bring great harm to this ancient kingdom.
His subordinates like Carglise, Amandina, Kodan, Meria, and even most of the sergeants of the White Lion Knight were inextricably linked to the traditional nobles. Whether they came from the Royal Faction or the local faction, they were more or less conservative. And to completely eradicate all of this, it would inevitably hurt the people around them. Even Princess Gryphine might turn against him because of this. He knew in his heart that the Erouine that Her Highness wanted was not really a new kingdom built on the ruins.
He also did not want —
"The opportunity has been handed to you," Brando said to himself, "As for whether you cherish it or not, it's up to you."
… …
Soon, the Lantonilan Knight rushed from the east bank of the river to join the White Lion Guards. The humans advanced along the river valley, driving the undead army to the south. Before evening, the allied forces of Viero, Lantonilan, and the Tónigel people had in fact completely wiped out most of the mercenaries from the Undead Lords of the Sea of the Dead Moon. Most of the scattered liches had fled into the nearby forest, and they would become a security problem in this area in the next few months. But at this time, Brando and Cohen could not care so much. These problems would be left to the Vermeer Legion to deal with. The Blood Staff and his personal guards blended into the remaining half of the skeleton cavalry. At this time, the advantage of the undead began to come into play. The skeleton cavalry that was not affected by physical strength gradually widened the distance between them and the Lantonilan cavalry. Only Brando's Lin Ge Legion, who rode on pegasi, could catch up with these skeleton cavalry, but of course, he would not do so.
Using grade-4 archers to deal with the skeleton warriors could be said to be crushing, but using them to chase after the real cavalry was simply asking for death.
Just like that, the allied army finally lost track of the remaining undead cavalry before nightfall. Eike was hopping mad, and Jacques' subordinates had a look of pity on their faces. Viero's commander, on the other hand, was distracted for the entire day. Brendel heard from Carglise that he had sent several messengers to the north, and he immediately understood that Duke Viero had indeed gone to seek Duke Viero's opinion. His words during the day were not in vain, and it was up to the nobles to decide on the next course of action. Madara's information was difficult to obtain, but if they really wanted to, it was not difficult to obtain the information that Carglise had mentioned.
Historically, the nobles had never thought of this at all, but this time, they had the opportunity to respond.
Brando was very calm about the escape of the Blood Staff. Not to mention that there was still a Cruz Knight regiment waiting for it in front of it. Even if it was lucky enough to return to Madara, what good would it do? The Queen of Banshees, Yalvete, had been waiting for it for a long time. As a symbol of her rebellion against the Emperor of Madara, the Blood Staff had to die. As for how she would surrender to the Mercury Staff, that was another story.
Brando stood in the valley and admired the night view of the Slovenian region. The sky darkened quickly after the beginning of autumn. Before the day had completely disappeared from the mountains, the forest of linden trees was already filled with desolation. It was the last period after the end of summer. The moon in the sky should have been the proud Goldsea and the flawless Timis, but only darkness was left under the rainy weather. On the other side of the valley, he looked at the valley plains of the Silman region. He stared at the gurgling river in that direction and thought that the Blood Staff should have met its last batch of enemies at this time.
However, he was too lazy to care about how the young Cruz people fought. He secretly arranged for Cohen to return to the Silman Hills overnight and lead his men to replace the Folded Sword Knight regiment to clean up the battlefield after the battle. He did not want the Cruz people to be exposed to the public for the time being. This time, Tónigel revealed a lot of his strength in order to make Madara quiet down for a while. However, he would try to hide as much as possible.
… …
(PS: Today's chapter, from the idea to the writing, took me almost 10 hours to write. After writing it, I really did not have the time and energy to write the next chapter. Today's Sunday second update will be put aside. I'm really sorry, I'll find another time to make it up. I hope everyone will forgive me.)
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