"Whew." Rucha's fat jaw twitched, as if to confirm the fact that several officers had withdrawn from their seats in silent protest. "If anyone still doesn't obey my commands, then I'm afraid it won't be me to reason with him." At this he waved his hand, as if it were Lancas's guillotine and executioner.

After the intimidation, Rucha continued to give orders: "Second, the defenders assigned to the ferry can use my hand to requisition equipment and people to build checkpoints. This is permissible if the river can be completely silted up and blocked to block the enemy's attack at a critical moment. ”

"Then, Lord Rucha," one of the officers seated on the side of the mage's warband asked, leaning over him. "The defenders stationed in the river can stop the enemy from advancing eastward by such means, so can the defenders on land also use the method of clearing the wilderness with strong walls to separate an area?"

"Anything that can stop the enemy from advancing is a good way." Rucha was a little impatient. "Elta is devastated, and it's not hard to tear it all down and start over. As for how to do it, it's up to you to feel it. ”

Yes, today Lucha asked everyone to sit at the table in Garcia's palace, so that everyone here understands that after the complete defeat of the Doniva forces, there is no room for retreat. The only way to achieve the remaining two strategic goals is to do whatever it takes.

"Whether it's destroying roads and bridges, digging dams, pouring poison into wells, or setting fires in forests where enemies are marching, blasting rocks down with blast magic, and using civilians as shields for defense...... No matter how vicious, as long as the enemy army can be stopped from advancing towards Garcia, then morality and conscience should not be a reason for you to hesitate from now on. To be merciful to one's enemies is to be cruel to oneself! ”

Speaking of this, the generals at the table all bowed their heads silently. The last time they forced the troops of the Bilunar Church to use this kind of trick, none of them had ever faced each other head-on. That time, their predecessors were forced from the plateau of the Red Dragon Country to the sandbar downstream, and the second half of the journey was almost all about burning and blasting everything they could destroy along the way. If this can't be stopped, then the Western Expeditionary Army will really usher in a catastrophe.

In the past, the soldiers of the Church of the Two Moons used to boast about how their swords cut through the armor and flesh of their seemingly sharp enemies, and how indestructible their shields and armor were...... Magicians always like to boast about the magic that can be both powerful and real in their spare time. And now this war has not given them a chance to see the enemy's body at all, and all those proud means are meaningless. From this order of the Western Expeditionary Army, sabotage began to be reduced to a means, not an end. This unique means of warfare will certainly be difficult for some people to accept.

In silence, Naio stood up against the table. "We have requisitioned the Elta and plundered their property," she said to Rucha, "and the fields where the magic powder crops are planted are full of old and weak women and children in shackles, and the men are dying before we pull the fiber, carry the load, and rush for us, and the rations are only a fraction of the size of our soldiers...... They're not enemies! Marshal Rucha, don't you feel even the slightest hint of guilt? ”

Lucha never expected that she would stand up and sing against herself. "Lady Naio, if I don't treat them as enemies, then who will treat us as enemies? If I don't, we'll all die in this foreign land, including your unborn children. He sighed, talking to a woman requires great restraint. I know it's cruel and very much inconsistent with our purpose and spirit. But what can I do as a general of an army? All I pray for here today is victory, and even if I am infamous through the ages, I don't have to worry about my children and grandchildren not being able to hold their heads up. All of you here are simply acting at my discretion. If you have any other opinions, you can consult your husband. I'm sure he'll make the same choice as me. ”

Rucha said that this is not enough. Naio was too embarrassed to continue questioning. The atmosphere of the meeting became more and more cold, and for a while even Lucha himself did not know what to say. He had to wave his hand, and then a soldier carried an open wooden box.

"Now from my left-hand side, go up one by one and draw lots. After drawing, the name of the place above is the location where your troops will be stationed. Lu Cha, who had just been beaten, didn't want to say anything, and the agenda continued in an inexplicable solemnity.

The military city of Garcia is also dignified. Despite the restoration of order and the return of merchants and craftsmen who had come to provide services and goods to the Western Expeditionary Army, the city was still not returning to its former glory. The sparse pedestrians trampled on the dusty streets, lonely on one side and desolate on the other. From the time Charles was stabbed to the present, Garcia's municipal administration has gone from scarcity to zero. Outside the old city, the wooden houses that were spared from burning down were fortunate to be uncared for, and weeds stubbornly stretched through the cracks in the ground to open the cracks in the planks. The vines, which were always cleared in time, climbed the eaves, and the rats grinding their teeth and the industrious termites in the hut began to work hard to dismantle the shelters from the inside with teeth grinding and biological acid.

Most of the dwellings chosen by the soldiers were in good condition. However, they were spared by the maintenance of others, and the other houses, which were themselves in poor condition, had to face the fate of collapse. The dry houses in the slum area can still stand straight up to the sun, the damp ones have long since rotted into a moss, and the more serious ones have long since become a fungus cultivation base along with the cover on their bodies.

In the north, the residential areas and slums that were burned during the Emperor's Murder were simply surrounded by high walls, and this sloppy management method also revealed the limits of the Western Expeditionary Army's management of Elta—the apparent stability.

With the exception of the southern part of Elta, which still maintains production order, and the northlands, which are outwardly located, the order in the eastern region and the directly subordinate areas had actually collapsed before the Doniva Raid. And the jurisdiction of the Bimonthly Western Expeditionary Army is also limited to this. As Naio said, the magistrates who have become the dogs of the Bilunar Church are squeezing the local labor resources to fill the labor vacuum created by Elta's two battles against the Gate and the gathering of labor in the western region.

Among them, the "Elta Rebellion Band", which gathered thousands of people, and was composed of former officials, local security guards, and even bandits, was scattered all over the area under the actual control of the Bimoon Church, and was the highest point of social ecology after the newly appointed magistrates and the Western Expeditionary Army. The Elta people who were "caught", as well as the former serfs, and the Erta who were homeless and forced to join the Bimonthly Western Expedition to beg for food, constitute the bottom of the current society.

Eufe Mondrich was able to assure the church hierarchy that this year's supply of magic powder would not be affected—a promise that would only be sufficient to ensure that the food supply was sufficient, and much was due to the near-free labor. The oats, the wheat bran, which were supposed to be fed to the horses, became the limited ration of the cultivators. Yes, the feed is also limited, and they live worse than those pack horses and war horses.

Slightly better than the cultivators were the slender men, the soldiers and civilians who built the fortifications. Flour is not an unattainable dream for them, but unfortunately the amount is a little less. In the rapids of the Minerva River, the magician's spells had completely lost their effect, and without the slender man to pull the ship through these sections, the voyage would have to be temporarily suspended. Most of the free-spirited porters before the war had to work for the supply ships of the Bimonthly Church for free. However, from the time the Western Expeditionary Army arrived in Garcia, a large number of merchant ships without strong connections only traded on the Garcia-Shield City line, and their goods were all bought out to Garcia. Only a small number of merchant ships under the command of Efmontridge and merchant groups in pursuit of higher profits would make it all over the Minerva River. These modest merchant ships have now become their only source of income - what can be said about the fact that the bi-monthly supply ships are not paid? The military master didn't give it, and the slender man didn't have the courage to rob it, after all, it was better to die than to live.

Except for merchants and artisans, who were treated fairly, the vast majority of those who did not go to the West to start a new life, and even a small number of yeoman farmers who originally owned their own land, were oppressed to varying degrees. The yeoman peasants, who could have been regarded as rich peasants, complained even more, and most of them who were not screened were branded as serfs. For the new magistrates not only did not take into account the local traditions, but also ignored the jurisprudence of Elta, and everything was based on their church masters. If it weren't for the fact that they were supported by the same morally corrupt and undisciplined "Elta rebels", these kulaks would have stuck their rakes on the heads of these dog officials a long time ago.

In some villages where the terrain was originally unsuitable for farming, the slashing war group used the tip of their knives and spears against the spine of the villagers, and asked them to work on the farms designated by the Western Expeditionary Army to alleviate the problem of labor shortage. The village behind them was burning, and that was the way to stop them from escaping back to their hometown. And with tears in the corners of their eyes, they didn't dare to look back.

The news of Cierta's spring harvest has been uncontrollably striking a blow to everyone. What is even more dangerous is that the withdrawal of the Western Expeditionary Army to the place of departure is big news that cannot be kept secret at all. There have been sporadic sparks, and once the resentful people of Elta let the backyards of the eastern region and the directly subordinate areas catch fire, it will also be an irreparable situation. However, there was no soldier left at the front, so Rucha had no choice but to send an important rout and a report to Hilqi, along with a letter asking for help. He needed more men to keep an eye on the Elta in the vast agricultural area.

The seemingly stable rear is just as unpleasant as the tight front.