When Casfern led the remaining knights and a small number of squires to retreat to the mountain path of Mount Doom, what awaited them was not the reinforcements of the remaining troops.
The gates of the camp were tightly shut, and the sentry post was empty.
"What's going on? Where's Didier? Open the gate! "
The heavy sound of a horn echoed through the mountains.
Toot, toot, toot.
The sound of an army marching could be heard from the mountain path, and the sound of footsteps could be heard from the other side of Mount Doom.
Thump, thump, thump. The orderly footsteps suppressed the shouts of Casfern and the others. At the end of the line of sight, on the other side of the mountain, an army appeared.
The first thing that appeared was a dense pack of spears and axes, as well as the wings on the helmets. After the army had advanced for a while, the sound of short and stout men appeared from the mountain path.
"Advance! Descendants of Granny! "
"Hahahaha!"
"Draw your weapons!"
"Ha!"
An army of about a thousand dwarves appeared from the other side of the mountain. They held shields and axes, or raised spears, completely blocking Casfern's path of retreat. The black muzzles of their guns were pointed at Casfern and the others. "You're not allowed to pass through here!"
"Oh no! It's the reinforcements from Callak and Breezy Castle! " Casfern turned around and saw Emperor Karl-franz leading the Rik Guards blocking their path of retreat.
They were surrounded.
"Your Excellency Casfern, welcome to the territory of the Empire. I've arranged a place for you to stay in Brunswick." The emperor slowly approached Casfern's remaining troops under the escort of the Rik Guards. "You have nowhere to run. Put down your weapons. I, Karl-franz, the emperor of the Empire, am willing to promise you preferential treatment for the captives and treat the injured."
"Even if it was a war between humans, you still relied on the power of the dwarves to defeat me, Karl-franz!" Casfern knew that the situation was hopeless. He said sarcastically, "You call this a fair and square victory?"
"Of course it's a fair and square victory, Casfern. When you declared war on the Empire, you automatically declared war on the dwarves." Karl-franz's expression was calm. "Now that things have come to this, are you still going to push the blame of your failure onto others?"
"…" Kasvane looked up at the sky and sighed. "That's right. I should have thought of this. The Supreme Dwarven King and the Empire's Sacred Alliance … The Dwarves will definitely stand on your side."
"Damned bastard! Dismount immediately and pay your respects to the great Emperor! " Seeing this, Karl-franz raised his hand and signaled for him to shut up. The Emperor remained calm. "Then, Your Excellency, what do you think of my suggestion?"
Duke Palawon dismounted. He took off his gauntlet and handed his blood-stained gloves to Karl-franz.
The Emperor of the Empire reached out and took Casfern's gloves. At this moment, Duke Palawon finally sat on the ground. "I've lost. In the name of the Lady, I, Casfern de Palawon, hereby … surrender to Emperor Karl-franz of the Empire!"
At 10: 30 in the morning, the Emperor of the Empire, Prince Rick, Duke Brunswick, and Charlemagne, the heirs of the Empire's sacred heritage, from the sea to the mountains, rode on their horses and patrolled the battlefield. The Battle of Helmgard ended with the Empire's complete victory.
…
After the battle, the narrow plains in front of Helmgard were filled with corpses and wounded. The military doctors of the Empire and the priests of the Goddess of Mercy worked hard to save the wounded on the battlefield. At the same time, groups of Brittany prisoners sat on the ground and were guarded by the Empire's army. They were also receiving help at the same time.
In this battle, the Empire's army lost more than 400 people and 800 were injured. The Brittany's army lost more than 900 people, including more than 100 knights, and more than 600 were injured.
Civil wars were like this. Everyone fought fiercely, but in reality, they all had a sense of propriety. Usually, as long as the injured soldiers sat down to show that they were injured, they would not be attacked again. After the knights fell off their horses, as long as they did not fall to their deaths on the spot, most of them would survive.
On the walls of Helmgard, Laing looked at the battlefield that was still smoking and sighed.
The world he transmigrated to was very special. Many of the technologies that transmigrators were proud of were actually useless here.
Guns, cannons, steam-powered technology, and improved food were all technologies that the humans and dwarves of this world had.
When Laing first transmigrated, he wondered if movable type printing could be used in this world. However, he immediately realized that movable type printing had been invented long before the great Holy War.
However, this technology could not be popularized at all because this technology was corrupted by Chaos. The first batch of printed books produced were very beautiful, but almost all the readers became believers of Tzeentch. In the end, this movable type printing could only be controlled by the church. Only with the blessing of God, the printed books would not be corrupted.
Ridiculous, but it was the reality.
Similarly, it was not that humans did not have many technologies, but they could not be popularized at all. The technology of forging plate armor and large-scale siege weapons was destined to only be mastered by a small number of people. This was because once mass production was done, the Green Dwarfs and the believers of Chaos would master this technology faster than humans.
Moreover, the power of cannons and guns was actually limited. At least, Laing could conclude that even if the Empire's heavy cannons hit him, he would not be hurt. In this world, there were many beings who could take cannons head-on. The Holy Grail Knight was one of them. Firearms were not invincible.
The Brittany did not have the financial resources to build steam tanks in batches like the Empire. However, after seeing the advanced technology of the Empire, Laing made up his mind to equip his army with enough firearms. At the same time, he also accelerated the construction of the Gun Battalion and the Artillery Unit.
At the same time, he was very envious of the steam-powered tanks. The steam-powered tanks were one of the most powerful weapons of the Empire. Before the great Holy War, they were jointly built by the famous Southern Kingdom engineers and the dwarven engineers. There were a total of 12 prototype steam-powered tanks, and each one had a different internal structure.
Now, there were only eight left in the Empire's hands, all of which were controlled by the Emperor. Other than that, the engineers of the Nur Firearms Institute and the Brunswick Royal College of Engineering were also working hard to replicate some steam tanks. Of course, these replicas were not as invincible as the original steam tanks, but they were still powerful war machines.
The secret of making steam tanks was strictly kept in the Ludwig Temple of the Nur Firearms Institute.
"Compared to the Empire, we are already lagging behind in many aspects." François and Laing walked down the city wall. The cheers of the Kurfürsten on the city wall and the roars of the Empire's army made the Duke and the Count feel a bit irritated. François sighed and said, "Since the Dole Tower incident, the Brittany has made almost no progress in technology in the past three hundred years. The knights and nobles think that the Holy Grail is everything, but they don't know that the Empire has already completed the innovation of firearms and countless war machines. His Majesty Ludwig has been promoting firearms, making the Empire's army even more powerful. However, we are still relying on catapults and serf archers. It's true that our knights still have an obvious advantage in combat compared to the knights of the Empire, but …"
"But war is not only about knights." Laing also sighed in a low voice.
"That's right. War can never only rely on knights. We, the Holy Grail Knights, are not afraid of those cannons and steam tanks. However, the Holy Grail Knights are very few." François nodded.
The two of them walked into the battlefield. The Empire's army was cleaning up the battlefield and settling the captives. There were serfs and knights who surrendered and were captured everywhere. Seeing the two Holy Grail Knights walking into the battlefield, many of the knights were ashamed, and the serfs were begging for forgiveness.
Kasvann lost this battle on the verge of success. He used the prestige he had accumulated over the past decades to make Karl-franz famous.
Surrounded by hundreds of Empire's knights, Karl-franz was patrolling the battlefield. The Emperor was riding on a strong hybrid elven horse. Seeing the appearance of Laing and François, the Emperor smiled and said, "Good morning, Your Excellency François, Your Excellency Laing."
"Good morning, Your Majesty. I hope you treat the captives well and don't insult them." Laing sighed slightly and said calmly.
"Oh! Of course, I promised. " The Emperor was stunned for a moment. He immediately nodded and said, "Please understand. The Empire doesn't want to fight this war. We are taking the initiative to defend."
"Heh." Laing was a little sarcastic and self-deprecating. Karl-franz had carefully designed a trap for Kasvann to fall into. Then, he would obtain victory after occupying a righteous position. This war allowed the Emperor to win the hearts of the people and gain enough political capital.
Compared to Richard who was more than a hundred years old, Karl-franz's excellence as a thirty-year-old Emperor was perfectly reflected.
"Let me go!" A beautiful Prophet of the Lake was tied up by a few Empire's soldiers. Her hands were tied behind her back. She was then brought to the Emperor and said, "Your Majesty, we have captured a Prophet of the Lake!"
"The Lady curses you!" The Prophet of the Lake was tied up with ropes. Many Empire's soldiers took the opportunity to touch her body. The beautiful female prophet twisted her body and tried her best to avoid them. She roared angrily, "Empire's bastards!"
"Let her go." Laing said to Karl-franz, "The Prophet of the Lake enjoys protection."
"The Prophet of the Lake enjoys protection, but you have to pay a sufficient ransom." The Elector of Tuscany, Umberto Corleone, showed respect to Laing and François. After a fierce battle, the Elector himself didn't shed a single drop of blood. The gorgeous plate armor and tall helmet on his body were still shining brightly. "The ransom for a Prophet of the Lake is 500 gold marks. For the sake of the two of you, 300 gold marks is a fixed price."
"The Lady curses you! Get your filthy hands off my body! " The Prophet of the Lake looked to be around thirty years old. Her appearance was mature and beautiful. Most Prophets of the Lake maintained their youthful appearance for their entire life. Only in the last few years would they rapidly age and wither in front of the shrine of the Lake Goddess or in the holy land, becoming one with nature.
"Forget it. This Lady Prophet of the Lake will be free." Karl-franz didn't want to dwell on this matter anymore. He also wanted to save face for Laing. He had seen Laing's strength with his own eyes. In fact, the Empire had won the war by a close margin. If the Holy Grail Knights had led the team, the outcome might have been completely different. Maybe Umberto Corleone wouldn't have been able to hold on until he arrived. The steel plates of the steam tanks were impenetrable for the ranger knights and the kingdom's knights, but there were many Holy Grail Knights who could tear them apart with their bare hands.
The Emperor knew very well that although the Empire was powerful, there was a fatal problem.
They lacked an organized group of high-end combat power.
As the most powerful country in the old world, the Empire had a lot of legendary experts. However, the high-end combat power of the Empire was very scattered.
Every Holy Grail Knight was a living saint who was strong, firm, and loyal. The Holy Grail Knights of the same level were much stronger than ordinary people. As long as the Lake Goddess or the Lake Goddess Witch gave the order, the Holy Grail Knights could move out together and fight for the Goddess.
Karl-franz, as the Emperor of the Empire, couldn't do that. The high-end combat power of the Empire was very scattered and had their own plans. It was very difficult to unify them. Helberg was already the best swordsman in Rick's guards, but he was no match for an ordinary Holy Grail Knight. Logue, the champion of the Griffin Legion, was even knocked down by Laing with one strike.
To fight against the darkness, the power of the Holy Grail Knights was very necessary.
There was no harm in doing Laing and François a favor here.
The Empire waved his hand, and the Lake Goddess Prophet was released by the Empire's soldiers. She looked at the people from the Empire who took the opportunity to touch her body with hatred and hurried to stand behind Laing and François.
The other knights weren't so lucky. They were taken away in groups and locked up in the prisons of Helmgat and Brunswick to await ransom.
"Where's Kasvann?" Laing asked.
"Kasvann? The ransom is twenty thousand gold marks. We will release him when the ransom arrives, "General Kurt Helberg of the Empire said in a deep voice.
This was the ransom amount the Empire had discussed for a long time. They could make a lot of money and not force Kasvann to hand over the money. The Empire believed that with Palawon's thousands of years of accumulation, it shouldn't be impossible for them to come up with twenty thousand gold marks, which was equivalent to twenty thousand crowns.
"No, that's not what I'm talking about. I want to ask where Sir Kasvann is right now." Laing shook his head. He definitely wouldn't pay the ransom. He only had some things he wanted to discuss with Kasvann.
Palawon was on the conservative side. He didn't like Laing's close relationship with the wood elves and dwarves, especially when Kasvann suffered a great loss in trade with the wood elves.
At the same time, Kasvann also took in dwarves to build weapons and houses for him. However, the dwarves' standards were far inferior to the rune smiths and dwarven engineers Laing recruited. Most of the dwarves he could take in were from the Empire who couldn't survive in the Empire.
That was why Kasvann and Laing's relationship was so bad that it was almost impossible for them to establish an equal relationship.
Now, the opportunity had come.
"This …" Kurt Helberg was hesitating. Laing was powerful, what if …
"Bring Sir Laing there, Helberg," Karl-franz agreed, "I agree."
"Yes!" Since it was the emperor's order, Helberg didn't say anything else, "Sir Laing, please follow me."
"Okay."
Laing followed Helberg to the Empire's military camp. Here, he saw the dispirited and imprisoned Kasvann. "Hello, Sir Kasvann."
"Laing Macado?! It's you! Are you here to mock me? " Kasvann was locked in an iron cage. He wasn't shackled or handcuffed and looked much older. When he saw Laing appear, he angrily said to Laing through the iron cage, "You're still not satisfied after watching my failure and want to humiliate me?"
"No, I'm here to talk to you about something."
"Something … special."
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