Of course, scolding and scolding, Palu still didn't really question the José Knight's ability to control and judge the battlefield. It's really ridiculous to get up, in the battle that unfolded under the city of Valuno, it was undoubtedly the old man Marcus who was the commander of the Chinese army, but people were more willing to give the first credit for the victory to the knight José, so that his prestige has far exceeded that of the days when he was in the knighthood, so that in the circle of several nearby dukedoms, whenever everyone mentions the knight of Jose, it is a word of praise, and in terms of status in everyone's eyes, he can be almost equal to the counts of some places.

"He's going to be a coward, but what are we going to do?"

This is a very real question, the knight of Jose is a well-known general in the region, but his original title is actually just a knight leader who is placed in the Northland, plus he usually doesn't take much care of it, and the taxes and soldiers produced on the land are pitiful, no one cares whether he participates in the war or not, and Valuno is just a free city that has just been established, if you insist on pursuing it, it is just a sum of money that can be sent,

But the situation in their Principality of Connaughton was obviously much more complicated.

In terms of the status of the Northland, the predecessor of the Duke of Connaughton was once a big tribe that could be ranked in the Northland, but it was only after those few tribes that elected kings, and even when the power was at its strongest, there were one or two times in the list of "Electors", but it was too far away from the political center of the Northlands, "Sea Castle", and missed the throne of the king of the North Sea Kingdom.

But from the perspective of the empire, Duke Connaught was one of the noble territories canonized by the emperor back then, and over the years, he had a lot to do with the freedom of the empire.

In addition, although the location of the Duke of Connaughanton is farther away from the political center of the North Sea, it is not far from the swamps rich in the Wiegand tribes, and it is the area between the two swamps that is surrounded by enemies and isolated, as long as the Wiegand people in the swamps are slightly active, the duke is at risk of suffering.

If you want to be alone in war, you have to be exquisite.

Originally, Sarina planned to take the soldiers of the dukedom to the empire. From any point of view, a vibrant and powerful empire is more promising than a kingdom that is still alive and waning in its sphere of influence, not to mention the subordination between the two.

In times of peace, this kind of double-dealing can allow them to reap more benefits, and when war comes, they will have to take greater risks. But they also have concerns about the risky nature of war.

The Duke of Connaughton has a total population of six or seven thousand, and the number of professional soldiers who can be raised among them is no more than three hundred, and most of the troops formed during the period of resisting the invasion of the North Sea are farmers and hunters who come from some signs, and under the leadership of elite troops, when guarding the city walls, the morale is acceptable, and it is naturally a wonderful delusion to expect them to go on an expedition.

If the empire can win, the threat of Wegenrao will be lifted naturally, and the king of the North Sea will not have the courage to raid the victorious army of the lord, but if the war is unfavorable...... Connaughton's territory will lose a significant number of troops, and it is likely that it will be wiped out in the next Wiegand counterattack.

If you don't send troops, it seems that the territory will be preserved, but it will inevitably incur the disgust of the new monarch, and maybe those defeated Imperial soldiers will shift all the responsibility for the disadvantage of the war to the Duke of Connaughton and the rest of the Earls who have a close relationship with Connaughton, and if the hat of betraying the empire is buttoned down, what awaits them will be a more severe reckoning.

"Maybe we can write a sincere letter and invite the emperor to come and do it. ”

With a hint of a smile on his face, the duke said calmly.

Palu shook his head in fright: "How can you have such an idea? If nothing else, His Majesty the Emperor's army alone can eat up our entire territory......"

"Then we will invite His Majesty the Emperor to come and put forward a strategic proposal that His Majesty will never accept with caution. Lady Selena blinked, "This will not only show our sincerity to His Majesty the Emperor, but also preserve our own strength, and will not harm His Majesty the King of Beihai." ”

Although the maid knew a little about politics, she was still taken aback by Sarina's play, and her mouth grew in surprise. As for General Paru, he lowered his head in shame, shook his head, and got out of the carriage while shaking his head, and said in pieces

"It turns out that I am not as good as a woman. ”

Almost a week after this, the news that the new emperor was going to crusade against the Wiegand people of the North Sea was no longer a secret, and almost all the inhabitants of the Northlands were discussing it as if asking "what to eat for the night?" ”

This was not because the nobles were too lax, but because His Majesty the Emperor himself had issued an edict.

"The crusade against the bandits of the North Sea must be known not only to the people at the heart of the empire, but also to the great Prussians of the North Sea, and even to the bandits. I, the king of Abbasquia and the ruler of the empire, how to keep the subjects safe of the empire, and how to teach the enemies of the empire a lesson. ”

The bureaucrats who served the royal family sprang into action naturally, galloping along all the roads that could convey the message, stopping to shout a few times when they came across the village. A few knights even took on the task of shooting war books into the swamp, which was supposed to demoralize the primitive ones. But as we all know, most of the Wiegand people could not read the text of the Great Pruus, but the materials used to undertake the writing were often royal sheepskins, which were very exquisite.

But as the first primitive inhabitants of the Northlands, they naturally had the means to sense the message of invasion.

That's a covert measure.

The inhabitants of Wegenrao heard the knights rushing on the way to hunt, and then found some fine leathers in the land through which the knights passed, which they speculated to be treasures left by the knights in their panic.

Because the entire Northland did not have the ability to produce such a delicate object, the treasure was eventually offered to the high priest of the tribe. Eventually, in a mysterious and solemn ceremony, the High Priest offered the treasure to the gods, who in turn delivered the message to the devout believers.

"An invader from the south is about to level the swamp, and he rides a fire-breathing horse with soldiers pouring out of the ends of the world, and everything in the old world is reduced to ashes...... In this time of peril, only the ancient gods can bless the people of the wetlands, and the true king can overcome the differences and rebuild our home from the ruins. ”

The tribal leaders of the Northland didn't seem to panic much, and if the wizard's word was to be believed, the Wiegand people didn't know how many times they would be exterminated. They just thought it was a few jokes after dinner. Conquest of the swamps, even the great chiefs themselves did not know how many tribes had been hidden in the swamps, let alone a child who had just been weaned in the south.

Of course, they weren't all unprepared, at least, a few of the Weegand tribes near the edge of the swamp had heard the signals from the south in more ways than they had ever heard, and they armed more warriors than ever before, intending to probe the Empire of Great Pruus, and if necessary, to attack their army before the enemy invaded the swamp.

If the swamp generals of the Northlands had had the courage to send a large number of warriors in the winter to attack the unprotected villages of Great Prius, and to attack the caravans of Great Prus, they would certainly cause great trouble to the Emperor's army.

By the time the army had reached Sea Castle, there had been no news of the messenger he had sent. As a qualified general, he must make his own decisions. In the past two years, the constant rumors and sluggish morale in the army finally made him make up his mind.

Raid Sea Castle.

This is undoubtedly a dangerous opportunity, not from a military point of view, but from the perspective of political influence alone, this great holy war against the ethnic minorities in the border areas has not officially begun to attack their own people. This would prematurely expose Perris's idea of attacking the aristocratic factions in the country next, and it would completely discredit him.

For example, the Duke of Malta, a nobleman who can access the core of the empire, what he has to do is not to be like those bureaucrats and aristocrats in the country, who want to rush up and bite when they see a gap. In the eyes of the aristocracy in this pattern, what they themselves seek is not to obtain immediate benefits or power, and even if necessary, they can take the initiative to give up a little, so as to be less hostile to them.

What they needed was a great deal of prestige, like Sword's father, who, over the past decade, had completely packaged himself as a pious wise man, a loyal servant of the Emperor, a powerful but calm and restrained retainer of the Empire, an object of imitation by the aristocracy. Only in this way can they intervene in the formulation of the rules, from chess pieces to chess players, no matter where the wind goes, they will continue to be like a tangled tree, not moving at all.

But the current situation can't help but make him cherish his feathers.

The voices of complaint in the army have changed, these soldiers who have come from the south on a hard expedition have long been exhausted, they have maintained a small loyalty on the verge of collapse, almost every soldier has fallen on the way to advance forever, if at this time tell them that the empire has lost its forward base, do not expect them to continue the northern expedition, or lower the rebellion, and cut off his head to vent his anger.

Now the only thing to be thankful for is that His Majesty Emperor Perris has collected enough eleven taxes, and in the army, the indecisive convoy has become the last comfort in the hearts of the soldiers, and at the same time gives him a bottom line.

The army is full of supplies, even if the granaries of the entire northern land are burned, the supply of these thousands of soldiers can still be guaranteed, and the ice and snow land can not stop the merchants of the empire from making money. Because of the continuous spontaneous donation of firewood and food by nobles to the army along the way, the emperor's private treasury is not very large at present, at least it is still within the controllable range.

But after all, it was the Sea Castle, and the Great Prus of the Northland was the heart, if he ordered the attack, then the entire Northland would hold a grudge against him, and even his family, and the consequences would be unacceptable to him.

It seems that Sword and his army have been isolated in the wasteland of the Northlands, and he is at a crossroads. In any case, he didn't want to be the first to do it.

Thinking of this, he could only silently consider the plan to attack the Sea Castle in his heart, and at the same time pinned his hopes on the civilian knight he had picked up.

"Since you can climb out of the bullpen and climb step by step to the current position, despite my cultivation, it is more of your good luck, Parud, can you surprise me again?"

But things often don't go as expected, although Sword has ordered to slow down the pace of the march as much as possible in order to delay the arrival of the army at Sea Castle, but in the end, the army is still advancing step by step, and even, because some native soldiers from the North have released news in the army, Sea Castle is close at hand, and the soldiers of the army are encouraged, and their marching speed has increased a lot, from more than thirty miles to about forty miles.

And this means that the army is likely to arrive half early.

Time arrived only half a distance from entering the city, and in the camp at night, a sad Sward walked out of the camp he had just set up, and his heart was twisted. But his bad mood was not heeded by the soldiers in the barracks, on the contrary, he had just walked out of the camp when he was hit by a soldier holding a barrel of barley wine.

"My lord, allow me to invite you to have a drink with us lowly soldiers. to celebrate the time of suffering we have experienced. ”

Sword was tempted to kick the strange-smelling liquid in the soldier's arms, knowing that the nobility of the South was only interested in good wine, and ale was the rubbish that only the poor would enjoy. Moreover, he even wanted to beat the soldier violently, even if it was in the name of drinking in the army, he could put him to death.

But he finally forced out a smile, and under the courtful service of the soldiers, he poured some wine with the water bladder he carried during the march, and drank it immediately.

"For our victory, soldiers, this is the reward you deserve. ”

Laughter was everywhere, and they lit a large bonfire, which illuminated the camp as if it were day. Don't blame them, the soldiers came all the way from the south, and every time they passed through the powerful aristocratic territory, several local nobles would always bring carts of supplies, including wine, meat and local specialties to enrich their military life, in the eyes of these soldiers, they were going to meet a king next, and the banquet did not open for three or three nights up the mountain, they were sorry for Orlov's high title.

Everyone