Flipping through the thick layer of reports that had been handed over from nowhere, Sward's face turned from white to red, then from red to white, and finally to iron blue.

"Damn scoundrels, cowards, fools, are they worthy of being lords of the Empire, have they ever had such a stinging sense of the big picture in their hearts?

It wasn't where to start, but Sword had to scold the camp every morning before he could return to the nobles everywhere.

It has to be said that the emperor's previous strategy was very effective, and in just three days, the nobles of the northern realm had gathered an army of thousands of people near the city of Elb.

In terms of numbers alone, it is almost not inferior to the infantry corps of the Empire.

As for the actual combat power......

Anyway, Sword was naturally very glad that his battalion had already been divided into several large battalions according to the origin and origin of the soldiers, otherwise the veterans of the war that he had worked so hard to bring out would not have forgotten everything they had learned during this period of time overnight and returned to his career as a rookie.

"Sword, although we have a certain advantage in terms of strength now, it is only relative...... By the time we get really deep into the swamp, we'll still have to face the same number of soldiers we have now. ”

"Although the plan you said about using the knights as the vanguard, finding the enemy's stronghold, and then breaking through it in one fell swoop, I am afraid that it is better to gradually enter the swamp and slowly advance more securely, besides, this is also your deployment and arrangement at the beginning, why change the plan on the spot?"

General Nonnuo knew that today was the day of the expedition, so he hurried to wait near the camp of Sword early in the morning, with the idea of discussing tactics, but he did not expect that the "young master soldiers" who were cowering on the battlefield and did not dare to come forward did not fall behind in the slightest in terms of currying favor with the marshal.

And what amazed him the most was that under this cold wind that can freeze people to death, there are many nobles who even do not hesitate to wear a light silk in order to leave the impression of "civilized aristocracy" on Sword.

Fortunately, Sword didn't tell him to wait long, and after a brief answer to the boring promises, the Marshal of the Empire walked over to the true allies.

"I understand everything you say, but ......"

After looking around four times, Sword took out a document from his bosom, and said in a low voice:

"It's true that the battle is so big, but our little emperor's treasury, if we hold on for a while, it is estimated that it will be cancelled......"

"How did it happen like this, I remember, it didn't cost a penny to mobilize these guys. ”

"But these guys are eating the supplies of our Emperor Majesty! Those vampires, every time our Imperial soldiers take a step forward in the swamp, His Majesty the Emperor gets more than a word of food from the merchants. From the expedition to the present, the price of the same material has almost doubled, and there is a shortage of everything. These damn merchants, they never trade at a loss. Just the money earned from selling for support, now they have all returned to the capital of the eleventh tax. ”

"That kind of hurtful thing shouldn't exist!"

mentioned the eleventh tax, but Nong Nuo scolded unabashedly.

"Did you know that before the empire collected the eleventh tax, I was able to mobilize more than 3,000 peasant soldiers from the bottom of the valley to fight for the empire, but do you know why there were only 1,000 in the end?"

"Isn't the tax of the empire levied on the nobles and the merchants, the burghers, and the like, and how could it be so burdensome for the peasants?"

A look of doubt appeared on Ward's face, although he was somewhat involved in family affairs, he had not yet fully taken over the market, and he did not know much about these specific things.

He only knew that his father supported him so that his family could continue to have a place in the center of the empire in the future, but he didn't expect that he would have to make a fortune even raising money.

"Hey, what you say is interesting, aren't the nobles raised by the peasants in their fiefdoms? If they have the legal right to tax, who would want to pay for their own money? Moreover, a serf can help the nobles earn more money than the free peasants, and they wish to find an opportunity to bankrupt those peasants, which is in their best interest, and you are also the son of a duke, so you will not even know this. ”

Silence, all he could take out at this time was silence.

If you want to quickly fill the treasury of the empire, then it is imperative to cooperate with the big nobles and big merchants, the empire is their master, and they are the masters of the land, the owners of the wealth, and the huge loss required by the empire's expedition to the north must also unite this part of the people to obtain.

And the interests of those small farmers...... It can only be sacrificed first.

"We're talking about the price of supplies. Sword slowly pulled out a report from his bosom that had been sent to his tent by a head of the Abbasquia Chamber of Commerce using personal connections.

Nong Nuo took the envelope and immediately frowned.

It reads above

"I don't mean to offend, General Sword, but you have to remember that the merchants are bleeding in the Northlands right now, and I don't care what your reasons are, if there are any good merchants who have been taken captive by you and your men while doing business in the Northlands, then the contents of this letter will surely appear in the meetings of the Empire. ”

Sword looked elsewhere, the Earl of another Empire, who at this time was still in a key position in the army, and the Emperor had transferred some of the command of the infantry to him.

Despite his mediocre abilities, he had a well-run fiefdom that produced just enough gold to supplement the emperor's private treasury.

The Earl had already seen Sword and Nonno who were talking, but he didn't seem to have the intention of stepping forward to join in at this time, just saying hello from afar.

Of course, Sword smiled warmly, and his sweet expression was as if he had met his best friend.

But the words that came out of his mouth were not warm at all.

"Why don't you open it and take a look? This is a clear record of all my "crimes." ”

Nong Nuo immediately tore the letter to shreds.

"Just by looking at the envelope, you can guess the contents of the letter. Well, brother, though I am only an insignificant person in the Imperial Council, I also know that we are like grasshoppers on a rope, and we can only find a way to win this battle first. ”

"Since you are the main battle faction, you have to bear all the consequences......"

"Command, Sword, our army is ready. ”

In the morning breeze, the marshal looked a little confused at the army behind him, an army he had never seen in his life......

Banners were everywhere, fighting spirits were high, and when they looked at their marshals and emperors, they all shook their spirits, as if they wanted to show their best side.

At present, the main force of the empire is still the knights.

The nobles of the Northland had also been influenced by the male division, and for them, although they were not very proficient in the art of fighting on horseback, they could also put on their horses and behave.

If all such "parallel trade" knights are counted, Sword glanced at the army below the hillside in general.

It can be about 1,000 people.

That's the only thing he can rely on.

He has always not regarded the lives of civilians as human lives, although the previous infantry in two large-scale joint battles, the performance is still remarkable, but in the real war, he is still accustomed to regard the infantry as a number.

"If my knights can penetrate the enemy's line in one fell swoop, then those infantry are just eating dust behind the knights, and maybe in the siege war, they will have some effect, but the situation will change with the situation, and the next thing we will fight is the field ......"

After thinking about it in his heart, Sword finally gave the order to continue the attack.

In the first year of the Great Prussian Empire.

The emperor led his army to hunt in the north.

It will be the middle of winter, and the sky will be cold.

The sea is full of ice, which is called a miracle.

The cold of the Northland did cause great trouble for those who operated on the land, but the real trouble did not fall on the Legions of the Empire, but on the local Wiegand people.

Even if the emperor is struggling, that is, suffering from those infantry, the knights can still be fed and clothed.

But for the Weegand tribes, every winter is as difficult as a tragedy.

At the end of their years, they could at least snatch a little food and cloth from the Great Prussians in the south, but since the first northern expedition, the chieftains of Wigan have been "unbearable to look back at the south" and have suffered from "phobia".

That leaves them with fewer options.

Either survive the cold winter and cut down the population of the tribe, or they can only engage in internal annexation wars.

Obviously, for the development of a tribe, the former is like suicide, even if the leader of the tribe is unwilling to fight other tribes to the death, his tribesmen will not be willing to freeze to death in the snow nest.

In just a few years, hundreds of tribes, large and small, were "forced" by the Great Prus to merge into more than a dozen general spheres of influence, at least linguistically able to communicate with each other.

The Wiegand tribe had in fact ushered in an opportunity for "unification".

In the absence of a strong enemy in the south, they can slowly develop their own tribal culture and population, and eventually form independent kingdoms one by one, just like the Great Pruss.

However, after losing the "land space" on which they depended, the "Eight Marshes" occupied by their people did not actually have the resources to support several kingdoms.

Therefore, what awaits them is the creation of a special kingdom - a unified nation-state.

In the years of conquest with the North Sea Kingdom, it was not only the North Sea Kingdom that took the initiative to learn some combat and military organization skills from the Wiggen people.

Although considered a barbaric cultivation by the Great Prus, the Wiegand people, who thought highly of themselves, considered themselves descendants of the gods throughout.

"We come from the beginning of the world and will eventually spread our territory to the end of the world. ”

With the guidance of this spirit, the Wiegand people actually focused on far more than the wealth of the Great Prussians in the process of aggression, but also the crystallization of the culture and technology of the Great Prussians.

For example, the system of electing a king by the aristocratic council of the Great Prus was taught by the Wiegand when he was just formed.

It's just that the Wiegand people gave him a new name.

North Sea League.

Originally, this organization was just an order dominated by a few large tribes gathered in the woodside swamp to enhance the organization of the Weigand people's southward invasion, but more often than not, it was simply to divide the sphere of influence they could invade, so as not to create an embarrassing situation caused by two tribes fighting for a city.

But when the main members of these groups fled to the north, the group quickly spread to every area of the Seven Swamps.

Only those who have tasted defeat can have a greater sense of crisis and become stronger.

Several tribes of the Beihai Alliance are completely changing direction in the form of excluding dissidents, twisting the tribes of the Seven Swamps into a single rope.

Compared to their relatives in the North, even the losers who had achieved a disadvantageous war on the battlefields of the South were much better than the "Old Wiegands" who did not even know what iron was.

Although the nimble residents of the old Wiegand considered creating an organization similar to that of the North Sea League, it was always ended up by various internal conflicts.

After all, they don't have the traditions of those alliances, and for them, bloodshed for some people who are not their own tribe is a completely unacceptable and incomprehensible thing.

Therefore, although the tribes of the northern Weedent people still account for a considerable proportion of the North Sea Alliance, they have little say in the alliance, and can only watch those southern relatives gradually encroach on their territory, without the slightest solution.

However, in the last year or two, in the "Hope Swamp", which has always been considered the fringe of the Wigand people, there is another rookie who has risen to profess to be the "Lord of the All Hope Marsh" and has participated in the alliance with a very positive attitude, which is a dark horse that has never been thought of among the Wigand people.

Although the Hope Marsh is not the richest Wiegand region, or even a frontier region, it has a population of 18,000, and more importantly, he is also the only leader who can completely unify a swamp area, which is the most impressive point for those chiefs.

After all, most of the regional tribes will mainly contain each other, and few can achieve unity.

Everyone