Five kilometers away from Richard Castle, in the main tent of the Knight Road Army, Lauren and the others immediately returned to the camp and saw Duke Forcade of Montfort and Duke Hagen of Gisoleiox, who had sent troops to help this time. The two dukes had led an army to assist Lauren in attacking Musillon. However, because the spring planting was approaching, and because both Montfort and Gisoleiox were affected by the great necromancer Heinrich Kemmler's attack on Brittania, the two duchies only sent a thousand troops each. Of course, they both said that they were the elites of their duchies.
Duke Fulcade of Montfort seemed to be in better spirits. Last year, the Axe Bite Pass was cleared again. Although the tax revenue was much lower than before Helmgard was destroyed, they had at least recovered some income.
Duke Hagan of Gisoleiox also brought a lot of food. After Kemmler severely damaged the duchy's production, Hagan was very anxious. Fortunately, Laing and Bellegar lent a helping hand in time. With the help of the dwarves and the construction of the trading post, the duchy's economy began to slowly recover.
They brought a large amount of food imported from the Empire, which greatly alleviated the food shortage in Lauren.
Everyone took their seats. Lauen Leo Cornwall, as a Holy Grail Knight, Duke, Regent of the Kingdom, and Commander-in-chief, had the highest status. Next was the Holy Grail Knight and Duke Hagan, who had the title of Duke, followed by Duke Fulcade and Duke Ardred. Kalard sat in the fifth position.
Everyone began to discuss.
"We have surrounded Richard's castle." As Lauren's deputy general, De Riognes, a strong and brave Grail Knight, introduced the military situation to everyone. "Richard's castle was built two hundred years after Brittany was founded. It is an important stronghold in the north of Musillon. This place is ruled by the vampire Baron Derek. The castle is very heavily guarded. We don't have enough catapults, so we can only cause limited damage to the walls."
"The best God's Blessing catapults are installed in Culona. We can't dismantle them and send them here. Even if we give the order now, it will take a few days to dismantle them." Lauren was sitting on a stool. He understood the problem. "We should wait for the Firework Academy's mercenaries to arrive before we attack. Otherwise, we will lack heavy siege weapons and elite troops. Lord Hagan, Lord Fulcade, I thought you would bring more reinforcements …"
"The spring harvest is coming, Lyoncole." Hagan immediately shook his head. "My Regent, Count Jean Haron, told me that he could only send this many people."
"Me too." "We didn't expect you to be in such a hurry to send troops. We need manpower for the spring plowing, and we can't recruit that many serf infantrymen," Forcade said.
"How many reinforcements have arrived from the south of Lyonnaise?" Ron asked Aldrider.
"Not a single person came." Adleider was a little uneasy. He was too young, and the Duke of Lyonasser was not even 30 years old yet. He did not know how to deal with such a terrible situation. He wrote letters again and again to the nobles in the south of Lyonasser to send troops, but very few nobles responded. The reason they gave was very simple. If the rebellion in the north was not resolved, they would not send troops to Lyonasser.
Now in Lyonnesse, any rational person knew that they had to hide behind the city walls. The nobles in the south of Lyonnesse had also suffered heavy losses in the previous war. All the big families refused to send out their troops. Their troops were used to maintain law and order.
Lauren listened to the complaints of the dukes. He looked at the flag in the middle of the tent. The great deeds of his ancestors were written on the flag. Behind him, the statue of the Goddess in the Lake was shining.
They seem to listen to my orders, but in reality, they only think about themselves. My lady, what should I do?
Lauren prayed silently in the depths of his heart.
No one answered. He could feel that his holy mistress was watching his performance, but she was not willing to give him any guidance.
This is a fair duel. My opponent is Laing Macado. My lady is fair. She will not give me any guidance. She will only watch my performance. Lauren gradually had a new understanding.
"Speaking of numbers, we must face the problem of the combat power of our army," said Lauren. Laughn continued, "Based on the current situation, the three thousand men from the three northern duchies, Montfort's thousand, and Gissoleiox's thousand are all of our combat strength. The empire's five thousand men are about to arrive. My suggestion is that we don't take the initiative to attack before the empire's allies arrive.
"Not taking the initiative to attack is the right thing to do!" Fulcade asked curiously. "Lyoncole, why are you bringing so many refugees with you? They don't even have the energy to be coolies or porters! "
"Yes, these refugees eat a lot of food every day!" said Duke Hagan.
"I have to take them with me!" Lauren also felt very helpless. "If we don't take them with us, they may riot at any time! Our supply point is set in Lyonnesse. As soon as we leave, I am sure that these refugees will attack the warehouses and castles to steal food! So we have to take them with us. Otherwise, once the army enters Muxilon, it is very likely that we will face logistical problems. It is tantamount to suicide when we are facing the poisonous snakes of Muxilon! "
Lauren's analysis was obviously very reasonable. The most frightening thing for an army was to fight on the front line and have logistical problems. After listening to Lauren's explanation, everyone in the tent nodded in agreement.
"So the question now is, do we need to train these serfs and let them master some basic combat skills, such as spear thrusting?" asked Duke Hagan. This Knight of the Holy Grail did not quite understand. In his opinion, since these serfs were useless, why not take advantage of this time to train them?
Everyone in the tent was silent. Duke Hagan was a little confused. He then asked, "Why are you not talking? I know that these refugees aren't all strong and healthy, but we can choose those who are strong and smart, right? "
No matter if it was Lauren, Aldrede, Felcade, or the other nobles, none of them said a word, especially the quartermaster in charge of logistics. He opened his mouth, looked up at Duke Hagen, and then lowered his head again, not daring to speak.
Duke Hagan was almost 80 years old this year. He was not only a duke, but also a Knight of the Holy Grail at the peak of the legendary level. He had a lot of experience. Not many people dared to answer him, especially this duke who did not know much about internal affairs. When he asked this question, no one dared to answer, and no one wanted to.
Kalad looked left and right. Seeing that no one came out to answer him, this Holy Grail Knight of the Sanctuary was really disappointed.
When he fought side by side with Laing and the others, the nobles in the south could speak freely. Whether it was Laing or François, they were all very strategic people.
After thinking for a while, Kalade opened his mouth. He did not directly answer Duke Hagan's question. Instead, he asked the quartermaster, "Now, what is the ration for these refugee infantry regiments in the camp?"
"They are all thin," the quartermaster replied respectfully.
"Yes, they are all thin." Kalade was a little impatient. He then said, "If we just want to stabilize them, we can barely deal with them if they are all thin. But if we want to train these refugees and let them master some basic fighting skills, then we should at least mix some thin and dry meals together, right?"
Everyone in the tent was silent again.
Kalade was not talking about human excrement when he said "dry" and "thin". He was talking about food rations. Dry meant black bread, and thin meant porridge mixed with a small amount of grains and wild vegetables.
Now, these 17,000 refugees were living on porridge every day. It was a joke to train them at this level.
"But … I have seen Earl Laing's serf infantry regiments fight." Duke Hagan also argued with Kalade. He retorted, "The serf infantry regiments trained by Earl Laing are very powerful. Why can't we train them? The refugees have already received our mercy. They can't survive, and we have given them two meals a day! These people are still not satisfied. I think there is a riot in the camp. Is this how the serfs repay our mercy? In order to feed them, we imported food from the Empire, and this is how the serfs repay our kindness? They should fight for the spirit of chivalry! "
"That's because you don't understand how Laing and François train their soldiers!" Kalade sneered. He said to Duke Hagan, "Laing's serf infantry regiments eat dry meals twice a day! They have vegetable rations every day! They have meat soup or barbecue every three days, and baked pies every Sunday! "
"If a war breaks out, the soldiers will have one kilogram of bread, half a kilogram of fruits and vegetables, a hundred grams of meat, and a hundred grams of mixed meat (animal organs) every day. The military pay of twelve copper coins per week will be paid in full and without delay. When they are full, the soldiers made of serfs will naturally fight desperately without any complaint, because they can't find any reason not to work hard! As long as they make contributions, they can become free people! " Kalad stood up. He was so angry that his face turned red. "Leon will give some pay to the soldiers. This is a special case. Let's not talk about this. But how can the serfs be willing to do their best when they can't even fill their stomachs when they have to train?"
After that, Kalade added, "Do they rely on the Lady's Grace to encourage the serfs to fight to the death with an empty stomach?"
"Kalad, you're a madman! How can you use the Lady as an analogy! " Duke Hagan also stood up. He was also so angry that his brain was in a mess. "Do you know what you are talking about? I think you are …"
"Did I say anything wrong? Using Laing's words, how can it be possible for the warhorse to fight to the death and not eat beans and carrots?! "Kalade did not intend to give in at all. The two Knights of the Holy Grail resisted.
Everyone hurried to persuade him.
At this moment, the statue of the goddess in the lake behind Laughan suddenly shone brightly. The goddess only snorted softly. Before anyone could react, the sacred light had already faded, leaving behind the calm face and unfathomable smile that the sculptor had left on the stone statue.
Led by Ron, all the knights in the tent immediately knelt down. No one knew what the Goddess meant, but it was obvious that she did not want them to quarrel anymore.
"Well, I can only say one thing, and that is that the southerners are really rich." Duke Hagan was also a very devout believer of the Goddess in the lake. He immediately gave up the argument. "I apologize for my irrationality, Lord Kalade."
"I was impulsive, Lord Hagan. Please forgive me." Kalade had no intention of causing internal strife before the war. Besides, Hagan was not his opponent. If Kalade defeated him in a duel of honor, it would be easy to complicate the situation.
Hagan, on the other hand, had an excellent quality. This Duke Gisoleiox was somewhat similar to the former Duke of Artois, Chillfroy, who had outstanding personal bravery and ability to command an army, but was very incompetent and naive when it came to internal affairs.
However, Duke Hagan was more self-aware than Chilfroy. He knew that he wasn't good at internal affairs, so he never took charge of it himself. Instead, he delegated the power to appoint regents and substitutes. He listened to their opinions and adopted their decisions. Duke Hagan's point of view was that since he didn't understand internal affairs, he should let someone who did. He only needed to control the appointment and dismissal of the army and personnel.
After a short argument, everyone returned to the previous topic. Lauren frowned. He knew how much trouble these refugees could bring to the army, but he had no choice but to bring them along to prevent future troubles. After hearing Kalade's words, Lauren also understood that it was impossible to train a group of serfs to fight in a short time. He did not have much meat, and even if he imported a lot of food from the Empire, it would run out quickly.
He was in a difficult situation, and there were many factors that caused Lauren to be in a difficult situation. Now that the knights in the south had taken down the Spire Palace, Lauren instinctively felt a little anxious. However, he could only calm down and order a large group of soldiers to besiege Richard's Castle and wait for the arrival of the Empire's reinforcements. At the same time, they would build fortifications. Lauren's plan was to not fight or siege the undead before the arrival of the Empire's reinforcements.
Not only Lauren was in a difficult situation, but Matthew Bard was also in a difficult situation.
Mu Xilong's Viper had just been defeated in the Steeple Palace. The Dark Knight had once again suffered a huge blow in his life. In Matthew Bad's opinion, the city gate had already been breached, and the defenders were already exhausted. Meanwhile, his undead army was still pouring into the castle.
How could he lose when the Akasha Ghost and the Fearsome Beast were riding on his face?
However, he still lost. In the face of Laing's counterattack, Matthew Bard lost cleanly. When he wanted to counterattack, Richard's Castle was besieged, and Matthew Bard was hit in the head. After weighing the pros and cons, he could only choose to retreat.
Because the Spire Palace had already been lost, and with the encouragement of the Lake God's War Flag, he was not confident that he could take back the Spire Palace with a counterattack. Furthermore, Richard's Castle was still in his hands. If Richard's Castle was lost, then Mu Xilong's North and South Gates would be opened, and the situation would be very unfavorable.
Matthew Bard's mind was very clear. The lost Spire Palace was a sunk cost, and he had to stop the losses as soon as possible. Thus, the undead army immediately turned around and rushed to Richard's Castle.
Along the way, Matthew Bard only felt a nameless fire burning in his heart. The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. He reflected on himself. Why did he always lose to Laing?
If it were not for Laing, he would definitely have met Marquess Suria. Without Laing's serious injury, he would definitely have won the championship in the Knights' Assembly, and had a high chance of winning Suria's favor.
If it were not for Laing, the Lake God's Witch Morgiana would have been sacrificed to Nagash! If it were not for Laing, he would definitely have taken the Staff of Nagash from La Messenell Abbey!
Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Matthew Bard only felt that his anger had reached its peak. He stretched out his hands, wanting to tear everything apart. The nameless fire almost engulfed his thoughts.
Can I still defeat Laing?!
Yes! I definitely can! But I need to change! Mu Xilong's viper mind began to undergo some profound changes, and something began to erode his soul.
What he did not know was that when his violent and intense emotions reverberated in the subspace, in the void, a certain existence cast a glance at Matthew Bard.
He was the God of Slyness, and his attainments in magic could be called the Lord of Magic. At the same time, he also understood fate, history, and all kinds of conspiracies and tricks. He understood the changes and laws of everything in the universe. His plan spanned thousands of years, and he even knew the ultimate fate of every distant star. The ultimate fate of every person was simply insignificant to him.
Matthew Bad's endless despair, crumbling mentality, and rebirth of hope made him feel a huge amount of energy. He knew that his plan could begin.
"Change is a good thing!"
"My plan is about to begin."
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