In the year 1220 of the continental calendar, June 19, the second year of the new kingdom calendar, ten o'clock in the morning.

The Fifth Army of the Kingdom of Kruria, along with two regiments of heavy cavalry and two musketeers under the direct command of the king, arrived in the area of Suke City and set up camp in the village ten miles east of the city where it had been urgently evacuated.

Three o'clock in the afternoon,

The army of the Kingdom of Kruria sent a group of knights along the official road in the east of the city to the east gate of Suke.

"I am here on behalf of King Pedy Reagan. "The knights at the front raised their battles and shouted to the defenders of Suke on the city walls.

After a brief silence, a female general on the city wall lined up.

"We are now at war, tell us what you are here for, or you will be killed by random arrows. ”

"In accordance with the old rites, I have come to speak to you for the last time on behalf of my king. ”

Shortly after hearing the knight's shout, the nobles of Sukh City, who were descendants of the oldest nobles of mankind, a middle-aged man in thick leather armor responded, "We will send our messengers according to the ancient etiquette. ”

Half an hour later,

The eerie silence near the city wall was broken by the 'click' sound of the gears turning of the drawbridge at the city gate, and when the drawbridge fell, a young man in a chainmail uniform slowly walked out of the city on a war horse.

Stan Sid, Head of the Governing Office of the Common Federal State of Ruluk. Stan Side started by introducing himself.

"Willy Jon, Captain of the King's Guard of the Kingdom of Cruria and Commander of the Cavalburg Guard, you can call me Sir Jon or... Lord Jon. Willie Jon's tone was as if he were talking to a civilian, full of pride and disdain.

In a sense, all citizens of the current Confederation are civilians, including Stan Sid.

"Sir Jon, isn't there a lesson in etiquette in your family lineage?" Stan Sid was upset that he hadn't done it, he was really angry.

"Sorry, I don't really have an etiquette class. Willie-Jon grinned, "My teacher only taught me how to fight the enemy, and how to be loyal to the monarch if I protect the weak. ”

"Say what you mean, Sir Willy. Stan Sid wasn't going to talk nonsense, he was afraid that he would be tempted to draw his sword later.

Willy-Jon still had a haughty smile on his face, "If I ask you to open the gates and surrender, you... Will you say yes?"

"There is a legion of crossbowmen behind the gates, and I am afraid that if you open the gates, you will be killed by arrows. ”

"Haha," Willy-Jon laughed, "in half an hour, we will send three knights according to the ancient etiquette for a fair duel. ”

"Will the barbarians know etiquette?"

"Do you agree to this duel?" asked Willie-Jon.

"Agreed. ”

Half an hour flies by in a blink of an eye,

In the open space between the two armies outside the eastern walls of Suk City, in an earthen ring built by a magician, the knights of the Kingdom of Kruria and the officers of Suk City were engaged in the most primitive sword duel.

According to the rules of the duel, this duel does not allow the use of magic, holy power and martial arts, it is the purest sword and physical confrontation, and a complete fall or death of one side means defeat.

Pedi rode in front of the ranks of the army, not paying attention to the duel in the ring, but looking at Penny on the distant wall guarded by the officers, and Penny was watching him.

The intertwined gazes of the two are complex and simple, and there is no pure family affection in the past.

"With the forces we have gathered here, it is simply not enough to completely surround the city of Sukh, nor to take the city of Suk. Anse Zora followed Pedy's gaze and frowned when she saw the woman under the pyramid banner on the city wall, "We don't need to be so provocative. ”

"General. "I'm not just a king, I have relatives and friends... I never imagined that in the end of the cause I fought for, there would be a war with the people I once loved the most, a war that would never stop fighting!"

"But what's the point of you doing this?" Anse Zora shook his head, "to make your sister regret choosing to be your enemy in the first place?"

"No, I was trying to tell her that I could give him a choice. ”

She didn't have a choice. Anse Zora thought to himself and shook his head to end the conversation.

"Oh!"

At this time, the Kingdom soldiers let out an earth-shattering cheer, but it was the Kingdom knight in the ring who shot down the sword of the Confederate officer on the opposite side, and slashed the opponent's throat with his sword cleanly.

The knights of the kingdom were bathed in blood and received the cheers of the kingdom's soldiers and the curse of the defenders of Sukh City.

Five minutes later, the second duel began amid the cacophony of soldiers on both sides.

After ten minutes of entanglement and attrition, the fighters on both sides were directly exhausted by the heavy armor on their bodies and collapsed to the ground to end the duel.

The third duel began quickly, but the result was the same as the second.

The farce-like duel ended with boos from the soldiers on both sides, and Pedi ended his first encounter with his sister, just as Anse Zora had expected, and the other side did not say anything about it.

The next morning it was just dawn,

The commander of the artillery regiment, Sir Nat, led 20,000 laborers under the orders of the king and began to build artillery offensive positions.

Clever goblins under the leadership of Commander Kanai methodically set up siege towers, ladders, and rushing carts, the Baru soldiers were busy changing the latest equipment for the next siege war, each soldier of the two musket regiments received enough magic crystals and bullets, and the heavy cavalry regiments, led by Wren, advanced along the left and right flanks of the camp to expand the vision of the troops and announce the arrival of the kingdom's army to the people of the Suk Plains.

...

Kamok City (formerly Crane City),

The current capital of the Kamok Khanate, the orcs emulated the urbanization of the Krulian Kingdom after two years of hard work, and countless fur handicraft workshops were built in the city, and iron-making factories and daily necessities factories were scattered throughout the outer city.

Of course, most of these factories were invested by Kru merchants and goblin merchants, a very small number were created by dwarves, and the number of factories that were actually controlled by the orcs themselves was negligible.

In the beginning, no one agreed to do so, and it was Shikan-Silveraxe who used his supreme power to suppress the voices of opposition. The choice made by Shikan-Silver Axe proved to be the right one, and the city of Kamok has become an important gathering place of goods for inland cities on the mainland, providing an economic basis for the construction of other cities in the Kamok Khanate.

In the hall of the Khan King of the Modan Bunker, the daily debriefing meeting of the Shikan-Silver Axe Learning Krulian Kingdom was held as usual, and the various princes and the Khan's staff threw out one question after another, and solved one problem after another.

"The handicraft factory we opened in the city of Malodar does not produce products that sell at all. Prince Khalikhan held a thick parchment scroll in his hand, on which was densely written to record the current state of affairs in the city of Malodar, "It turns out that the dwarves have taken over the city completely. ”

"The fact that our products don't sell has nothing to do with whether the dwarves control Malodar City or not, the main thing is that the quality is too poor. Nibel unceremoniously pointed out Khalikhan's misconceptions, "We still need to learn a lot, we can't blindly learn that human merchants and goblin merchants open factories everywhere, I should learn how to make better goods." ”

"Look at our wares," Nibel said, pointing to the goods on the table in the middle of the hall, "the candles and spices we make are almost as good as those of the human factory, but you are priced at the same price as theirs, how can you sell them?" He shook his head in disbelief.

"You mean a price cut?"

"Unless you have a better way. Nibel and Prince Halihan looked at each other, "Haven't you noticed that whether it is a human town or a dwarven underground city, their low-level poor people are basically unable to buy the goods produced from the goblin factories and human factories, this is our chance!"

"Those people don't have any money to make at all, and... Our goods also come at a cost. Khalikhan clearly disagreed.

"Organize this matter into a specific matter, and we will discuss it in the regular meeting in ten days. "Shikan-Silveraxe hates arguments without evidence," and in ten days, I need to see the details. ”

"Yes!" Halihan and Nibel replied at the same time.

At this time, Fei Duo took the opportunity to say: "King Khan, the Krulian Kingdom has increased the import of raw materials by 20% this month, are we..."

"Fulfilled all their requests. Shikan-Silver Axe stopped Feiduo from continuing, "I said before that we have no restrictions on the export of the Kingdom of Kruria, and I will sell them whatever they want!"

"Yes. Feiduo frowned, obviously he didn't agree with the Shikan-Silver Axe decision, but he didn't object.

"Speaking of the Kingdom of Kruria... How is it that the summit mentioned by King Peddy Reagan has not received a positive response from the Kingdom of Cruria. Shikan-Silver Axe asked left and right, and finally stopped at Feiduo, who was dealing with foreign relations.

"King Pedy Reagan has never responded positively to our requests, and he is now busy with his unification war, I reckon... He would convene the summit only after he was crowned emperor. Fei Duo replied in an extremely slow voice, "The situation has changed too quickly, and the appearance of the undead army has disrupted many of our plans. ”

"Is there any value in continuing to support the Suker Plains today?" said Shikan-Silveraxe, leaning against the soft animal skin, looking at the left and right princes and his staff, "In the past year, we have invested more than half a million kroner in the Suk Plain, but their war does not seem to have improved. ”

"Without our support, the regime in the Suker Plains would not have been able to hold out for so long, and..."

"There's a question I've been thinking about lately. As if he hadn't heard Feiduo's words, Shikan-Silveraxe continued, "We are doing everything we can to curb the rise of the Kingdom of Cruria, to prevent Pedy Reagan from being crowned emperor...", he pulled one scroll from the pile of papers beside him, "but we didn't think about whether we would succeed. ”

"What do you mean—" Fei Duo looked at Shikan-Silver Axe with a humble expression, his face illuminated by the firelight full of questions.

"It seems as if we are supporting a war that is doomed. Fei Duo motioned to the guards in the hall to pour him a cup of milk tea, "In other words, our efforts have not been rewarded. ”

Fei Duo frowned and thought for a few seconds before looking at the princes in the hall, their disapproving expressions made the old orc's eyebrows furrow even tighter.

"Do you want to end your aid to the Suke Plains?" asked Feiduo very directly this time.

Shikan-Silveraxe didn't answer the question, he took the milk tea and drank it in a big gulp, and then pointed to the roll of parchment he had just turned out, "Have you read this report? An analysis of the war between the Suker Plains and the Kingdom of Kruria. ”

It points out that Pedy Reagan's war for the unification of the Sukh Plain was a war of doomed victory, because the Sukh Plain had long since lost its ruling base, and Penny Danediv's rule relied on torture and assassination. "I feel that the conclusion of this report is correct, that Penny Danedive's reign will not last long, because she has no basis for domination." ”

"I've always said that Suker City wouldn't be a match for Pedy Reagan. Prince Khalikhan's loud voice rang out, "Penny Danediv's reign seems so ridiculous that I still don't even understand why the great nobles of Sukh City would put up with a woman to rule over them. ”

"Penny Danediv's reign after the fall of the empire came from the support of the elves, who had fallen out with the elves two years ago and relied on the custody and assassination of the 'Brotherhood' and the torture of the guards. Benier's voice was small, but everyone nodded subconsciously.

Fei Duo looked at the reaction of the princes in the hall at this moment, and the other staff members who remained silent, obviously wanting to say something different, but when he saw that the Khan King sitting on the throne also had the same expression, he swallowed back what he wanted to express, and remained silent like the staff around him.

"The Undead Legion is still eyeing the Karen Territory, and our priests say every day that the evil energy of the Karen Territory is increasing, and there is also news on the border of the Shaster Territory that the evil energy is spreading to the inner areas of the Shaster Territory. "The Lord Fangs said what he had always wanted to say, "The elves warned us two years ago that we should not allow the undead legion to develop, as it would spread like a plague in all directions, and eventually... will devour us all. ”

"The Undead Legion has spoken to us more than once in the past two years, and I think... He wasn't as incomprehensible and crazy as the elves claimed, at least they knew how to communicate. Priest Reman's words attracted everyone's attention, "And the evil power..."