The world in the clouds.

News that the Emperor had died in battle spread throughout the empire. Speaker Nicholas of Occade used an incredible weapon to capture the pure white city that the French Powers claimed would never fall.

As for whether Nicholas will concoct the same method to attack the Empire's Phoenix......

It is said that Nicholas relied on extremely despicable means to defeat several legendary powerhouses in one go. It's been almost a month since the end of the war, and the entire city of floating sand, which had been moved to Elrios, was still "stopped" on the edge of the pure white city.

Nicholas did not rush to launch an offensive against the Empire, but continued to deploy troops on his homeland. Gradually, even those who were skeptical began to come to believe that Okad's brilliant victory at Elrios relied on a one-time means that could not be replicated.

Seven days after the Emperor's death, the Okadians returned the Emperor's coffin. At the same time, the empty coffins of Empress Lichenda, Crown Prince Dimiteao, and Victoria, the "Bright World", were returned.

Emperor Dimiteo and his "lover" Victoria threw themselves into the vast sea of clouds and "died", which made people sigh for it.

The people of the empire did not know that Mr. Kim, who was unbearable for the "death" of the two, played a role in the spread of this "martyrdom" story......

Fourteen days after the emperor's death, Haywell, Duke of Yangyan, was declared regent of the empire.

On the same day, the Regent of the Empire, Hywell, announced that the two princesses, Albina and Katerina, had returned to China without incident, and that the new emperor would be crowned at an appropriate date.

Twenty days after the Battle of Pure White, the Okad Federation presented its credentials to the Greksia Empire, demanding that the Empire surrender Chancellor Friedrich and cede the four northern principalities, otherwise it would launch a full-scale attack on the Empire, which was categorically rejected by the Empire.

On the thirtieth day after the Battle of Pure White, at the suggestion of the Eternal Blood, the designated successor of Speaker Nicholas, the Okad Federation "mercifully" reduced the conditions to the cession of the four northern principalities and the deposition of Prime Minister Friedrich, which the Empire again refused.

The next day, Speaker Nicholas announced that since the Empire was unwilling to apologize, he would personally send troops to retrieve what he was entitled to. The Speaker alluded to the "cowardly behavior" of Duke Hywell and Chancellor Friedrich, two legendary powerhouses who were tough on the surface, but in fact hid and did not dare to face him. In response, the Empire condemned Speaker Nicholas for relying only on despicable stratagems, seemingly unbeatable, but in fact full of flaws.

After the Battle of Pure White, the five legends of the Okadian side in the war never came together again.

Ionia of the "Hand of the Sea of Clouds" did not know where to go.

The prison master was very busy. Some local churches announced that they would not follow the orders of the prison masters, and even called for the formation of a new "cathar army" to crusade against the prison masters.

Sham, Lord of the Clouds, is seated in Elrios. The main force of the Elrios army has long since retreated into the empire without incident, and Elrios itself still retains a huge mobilization for war, and once there is no legendary mage to suppress it, Okad's manpower may be swallowed up by the uprising at any time. Allegedly, Nicholas did not fully trust Sham and kept a watchful eye on him.

There is no territorial border between the empire and Okad, but rather a number of smaller states, including Mr. King's hometown. Mr. Kim returned there, busy with the integration of the surrounding area into Okad. Although Mr. King's mainland chamber of commerce has a huge influence in the region, peaceful annexation is still difficult.

The foundation of the mercenary guild "Wild Rose", many northern kingdoms also did not claim to Okad.

And in the face of the Empire's verbal response, Nicholas's brief silence seemed to prove that he did have some concerns. Soon, he claimed that neither he nor any other legendary spellcasters under his command would make a move against spellcasters and civilians outside of the Empire's legends, and the Empire immediately made the same promise.

Nicholas has so far been unable to locate the position of Duke and Chancellor.

If both parties abide by the agreement...... It's the equivalent of lowering the scale of the war by one level.

Public opinion believes that Nicholas's actions are not cowardice, but in fact they have to do it as a last resort.

The tactics of a massive space blockade are no longer available. On the contrary, if the legend of the Imperial side takes the initiative to assassinate the Blue Ocean level high-ranking of the Federation, or runs to the city of Okad to "shoot and run" and cause a large number of casualties, it will be difficult for Nicholas to deal with it.

Obviously, this crazy speaker is not going to abandon his land and people......

But there are also those who believe that Nicholas has already performed an incredible miracle, and that there must be a bigger plan behind his pretended retreat now.

……

Summer.

Elrios and the Imperial Border.

The empire is still martial, and the efficiency of preparing for war is far comparable to that of non-French powers. Under the summons, not only are ten young men who have served in the army willing to rejoin the army, but many middle-aged and elderly martial artists with rich experience and strong martial arts are also eager to try, forcing the recruiters to temporarily raise the threshold for enlistment.

The lords and nobles also did their best.

Unlike Erios, who was permeated to the brim. Under the banner of loyalty and glory, the vast majority of the Imperial Lords simply contributed to the unified command of their private soldiers to the commander from Phoenix. It is not known whether they were genuinely loyal, or if they were simply concerned that Nicholas' invasion would harm their interests......

The four northern principalities have been loyal to the imperial family for thousands of years. This nominally vast land was nominally only a "vassal" to Phoenix, but it was the staunchest wall guarding the northern gateway of the empire.

Sunshine, snow waterfall, wind nest, clear pine.

In the thousand-year history of the empire, none of the heirs of the four major dukes surrendered to foreign enemies.

They may fight openly and secretly in the court, or they may support different opponents in the royal war...... But at least in terms of loyalty to the "empire", the four dukes were at the forefront of all lords and nobles.

The Four Duchyes of the North are by no means impregnable. Hundreds of years ago, Elrios's "Chief of Terror" once personally led a big defeat of the Emperor's ** team here, but in the end, he was too caught by the Empress of the Empire's plan to lure the enemy into depth, and suffered a great defeat in the hinterland of the Empire, and the "Chief of Terror" was finally killed by the Empress of the Empire with the "Bright World".

People have always been accustomed to deifying the ancients. Although Speaker Nicholas is powerful, even if he is really Ocard's descendant, how is he better than the "Chief of Terror" back then? Maybe it's not as good as it, let alone compared to the so-called "invincible" Elrios himself.

And this time, the Northland will keep the enemy out of the country!

In less than a month. The four dukes let the men between the ages of sixteen and forty in the realm take up arms. Coupled with the women who had been trained in the army and re-drafted, the number of troops displayed on the front line by the four northern principalities alone exceeded 100,000!

Had it not been for the fear that the war would turn into a protracted war, many of whom were assigned to the rear to maintain munitions production, this number could have doubled even more......

It also shocked the Errios soldiers who fled to the Empire.

……

The northern border of the Duchy of Snowfall.

The "Duchy of Yangyancheng", which is directly ruled by Duke "Yanguang" and Duke Hewell, is undoubtedly the strongest of the four principalities! The Okad army also avoided a head-on confrontation with Yangyan City, and instead concentrated its forces at the junction of the Duchy of Snowfall, Elrios, and the Five Nations Alliance.

"The Principality of Snow Falls City" ranks second in strength among the four principalities. The terrain of the four principalities is easy to defend and difficult to attack, among which the two principalities of Fengchao and Qingsong are the most severe, and it is Okard who targets the principality of Snow Falls.

Even so, the main forces of the two armies only confronted each other across the long Longmian Mountains on the national border......

The vanguard of the Okard Army was stationed outside the pass, and did not attack, but only shouted and cursed outside the pass every day. And the defender's emperor ** is naturally not in a hurry to fight.