At first, it was only the soldiers of the Attila Empire who resisted, relying on strong cities and thick walls to fight against the Baltic Empire, and then giants from further north joined the battle, and they attacked the Baltic Empire's transport forces in droves, and later even the goblins living on the ice fields joined in such an attack, and all the races living in the north of Scandinavia joined the battle against the Baltic Empire.

They are all using their own actions to block the progress of the Baltic Empire, even the soldiers and residents below know that this is an inevitable war, for their homeland, the propaganda of the Attila Empire, at this time finally has an effect, the merchants of the Baltic Empire have been seriously demonized, not only their words cannot gain the trust of others, but even they themselves have become the target of those guys' attacks.

The iron cavalry of the Baltic Empire is already close at hand, and at such a critical moment of life and death, there is no time for them to continue to hesitate, for these races living in this barbaric region, they will not have the idea of joining the Baltic Empire, for their rich neighbors, they prefer to take the means of plunder, turning other people's wealth into their own, because they have been accustomed to such unrestricted days from ancient times to the present, and have been accustomed to breathing free air.

Even if there is a very different gap between their freedom and the Baltic Empire

"Our general wants to hire ogres to protect my supply lines, and we hope to solve the defensive pressure on our supply lines by hiring. ”

A certain general at the front had the whimsical idea of using the power of money to exchange the supply lines for heavy losses.

"Ogres? they will eat all our supplies, and even our soldiers will see them as reserves to feed when they are hungry. ”

Semiramis objected to this, not the cost of hiring ogres, which was not worth mentioning, but the fact that she did not trust the ogres, because those ogres were stupid enough that even employers would be mad at their stupidity, and the customs and culture they had retained that could not be changed for thousands of years.

"No, no, no, that's a good idea,"

Alice waved her hand.

"Don't underestimate ogres, their civilization is indeed primitive enough, their minds are not smart enough, and because of their eating habits they are called ogres and are disgusted by all races, but you can't help but admit that ogres are still qualified enough as mercenaries. ”

Ogres have a long history of being used as mercenaries, and the goblins are accustomed to hiring ogres as caravan guards, because these tall guys are strong enough and stupid enough to make them die for a small price, and even when they escape, these ogres usually take their employers with them.

What's more, the stupidity of these ogres makes employers not need to worry too much about their rebellion, in fact, in the history that has been handed down, there are very few records of ogre's betrayal, compared to those mercenaries of other races who have evil intentions and don't know when they will guard and steal themselves, ogres are really a very good choice among mercenaries.

"I've gotten this request, but let's talk to our finance department, what I need is not just to hire ogres for such a short period of time, I want these ogres to really join the army of the Empire, to become a part of the Empire, so that they can fight not only for money, but also for themselves and their descendants, just like other races living in the Empire now. ”

Alice's idea surprised Semiramis very much, even in a multi-ethnic country like the Baltic Empire, the number of ogres is still very rare, because it is difficult for them to understand the laws of the empire, it is difficult to get along with other races, in their concept, other races other than themselves can be divided into the category of food, even the same ogres, as long as they are not the same race, can be used as food.

"Alice, be sober, this cannot be done, evil and greed are already inscribed in their souls, and it is difficult for our efforts to correct their nature, as if the living have an instinctive aversion to the undead, as if the undead could not resist the hatred of the living. ”

Semiramis rejects Alice's idea, which has been a rare occurrence for many years.

"No, no, no, it's feasible, trust me, Semiramis. ”

"There have been attempts to do this before, and it is clear that they have all failed, and even the ogres themselves are not able to operate as a tribe, their appetites are so great that they can eat the entire area in a very short time. ”

There is no problem with Semiramis's point of view, the ogre's digestive system is extremely developed, which makes them have to eat non-stop, keep eating those high-calorie foods, among which meat is their favorite food, and because their civilization is too primitive and stupid, they can only eat raw food after hunting, bloody and rough, which is why they are called ogres.

So, we can hire these ogres with food as a reward, "The obedient have meat to eat, and the disobedient have no meat." "That's all we need to teach ogres is this simple truth. ”

"The Baltic Empire has never lacked food like this, if you can use this food to get those ogres to join the empire, join the army and become loyal soldiers, this is obviously a very good deal, and in the empire, the only job that can provide enough food for ogres is to join the army, follow orders in the army, go into the battlefield to fight and fight, and their numbers will be maintained as the battle increases. ”

"As for the habit of cannibalism, when they have enough food, these ogres will abandon this habit, just like the gnolls, after getting used to delicious cooked food, they will resist eating raw food, they will refuse to eat food that has not been cooked, and this habit will be etched into their instincts over time, and it will be passed on from generation to generation. ”

"Or, Semiramis, don't you have faith in the Empire? Those ogre children will abandon those primitive, backward, meaningless habits under the education of the Empire, and they will be changed by the Empire, and they will truly integrate into the Empire and become a member of the Empire. ”

"At that time, they will have new names, they will abandon their former traditions, they will forget their former primitive customs, and they will merge into the empire and become an integral part of civilization. ”

Semiramis admits that Alice's words have succeeded in convincing her that even a race as disgusting and fearful as ogres can take on an unusual brilliance under the influence of the Empire.

"If you accept ogres, are you going to accept those trolls?"

Semiramis asked another question, similar to ogres are trolls, and if ogres can join the Empire, then trolls are also possible.

"Trolls, it's a pity that they can't "really" join the Empire, no, Semiramis, I don't mean that, they're fundamentally different from ogres, and a lot of times we put ogres and trolls in the same position, thinking that they have similar stupidity, but in reality we all know that this is not true. ”

"Ogres are ignorant and trolls are stupid, ogres can solve their ignorance through the passage of time, but trolls can't, their heads can't support them to think about overly complicated things, their intelligence can only reach the level of human toddlers, which does not allow them to gain a foothold in the empire as citizens. ”

"Of course, these stupid trolls will join the empire, but as time goes on, as culture spreads, and as technology develops, these trolls will disappear from the empire in an extremely fast time, because their intelligence will not allow them to survive in a world that is changing day by day. ”

Alice made this judgment about trolls, because she has a deep understanding of all races because of the unmatched reading, and knows that trolls are only relatively intelligent beasts, and their contribution to the empire may only reach the level of "cannon fodder", while ogres have the possibility of becoming the middle class, or even the ruling class.

Because in the ogre there is a special two-headed ogre that can use magic, this kind of ogre has extraordinary intelligence and memory, and they also have a great talent for magic.

"No, Alice, I don't agree, don't let your dislike of trolls, your prejudice against trolls blind your eyes, don't see only the troll's shortcomings and not his own strengths. ”

Semiramis shook her head, she was trying to get Alice to think more calmly on the subject, the problem of trolls and ogres had actually been a problem for the Empire a long time ago, and it was a problem that would not be completely solved.

These two types of life are widely found in all regions of the Northlands, the Black Forest in the south, the ice fields in the north, Scandinavia in the west, and the Ural Mountains in the east.

These guys always like to move around the village, they always try to steal the livestock raised by the residents, and it is difficult for ordinary wolf dogs to pose a threat to them, even if they are well-trained squads, they need to be careful in a complex environment.

Hundreds of soldiers die at the hands of ogres and trolls every year, and their bodies are devoured by ogres and trolls, eventually becoming nutrients for plant growth.

It takes a lot of time to clean up these ogres and trolls, and in many cases, this cleanup is just a simple effort, and there is no result in it.

If ogres and trolls can be slowly integrated into the empire as mercenaries, then it is clear that these civilization-baptized ogres and trolls will be able to solve the problems caused by their compatriots.

Not only that, but the fighting power of ogres and trolls has been demonstrated in previous battles, and with a little training, as long as they can understand the orders given by their commanders, they can become qualified soldiers.

There is no need for them to perform complex tactical tasks, the use of ogres and trolls has been summed up after years of warfare, allowing them to put on heavy armor and wield huge weapons to charge, tearing through enemy formations.

In the Baltic Empire, no army is omnipotent, each unit has its own strengths, and the commander of the empire only needs to combine the strengths of each unit and cooperate with the tactics adapted to local conditions to crush the enemy.

The approval of hiring ogres as mercenaries to participate in this war quickly reached the hands of the generals, and the empire not only agreed to their request, agreeing to let ogres be mercenaries of the empire, but also willing to let other races become mercenaries of the empire, as long as they can provide enough help to the empire in this war, then the empire will definitely not be stingy with rewards, in addition to wealth, the empire can also bring them a future.

The news spread throughout the Northlands in a very short time, and spread throughout the main plane through trading ships and caravans, and countless wealthy seekers began to gather in the Northlands, willing to fight for the Empire, or willing to trade their lives for the promises of the Empire.

In fact, many of these mercenaries were originally adventurers, adventurers who had accepted missions from the Empire for money, but now they had to accept more cruel and dangerous commissions about war.

The mercenary system does not bring these outsiders to the empire the convenience of war, in fact, you can't ask those who are not organized to be able to achieve any beautiful results on the frontal battlefield.

Even so, the presence of these mercenaries has caused enough trouble for those who resist the Empire, and their attacks on logistics supply lines have not achieved decent results for a long time, and those cunning mercenaries, after obtaining excellent weapons and equipment from the Empire, are often able to rely on tacit cooperation and skillful tactics to resist the attacks of enemies who are several times their number.

If that's all it takes, it doesn't make the attackers uncomfortable, what really threatens them is that the mercenaries have begun to appear near their homes, and as you can imagine, these mercenaries are definitely not coming with good intentions.