After a while, Hajim still played his role as his personal secretary, and he admonished: "Your Excellency, now that the consequences of the defeat have fallen, there is no point in holding the city lord of Trittle accountable. It is better to change the defense plan and change the defense policy as soon as possible before the Maharaja has yet to go south, so as to win back some advantages! ”

Walter lowered his head, after more than two months of getting along, the scribes from this small town showed good political literacy, and even made him feel a little sorry for him, if it weren't for his humble background, and he had served the city lord for generations, I was afraid that he would have been able to go out and fight for a higher status long ago.

"Say, Hadhim, what do you think of?" Walter asked calmly.

"Your Excellency President, the first line of defense is indeed finished, but the initial impact is only the two cities of Loklian and Achilli, well, to be exact, only the city of Achilli."

"Oh? What do you mean? Walter frowned, and then understood the thoughts of his subordinates, and couldn't help but speak: "Hadim, you mean that you want me to give up Achilly and defend Loklian with all my might?!" ”

"Yes, Your Excellency," Hajim smiled slightly, "Achilli was a formidable force in the northern cities with plenty of food and cannons, and we would have acquiesced in his illegal trade and repeated bargaining just to win him over and let his army fight against the Puppet Emperor." Now, his royal team has almost lost its combat power, lost half of its artillery, and has no morale, such a force has no value in attracting it, it is better to let his destruction come to our other allies, a wake-up call... ”

Walter thought for a moment, then sat back down at his desk, and pulled out a few reports from the low cabinet under his desk. With a flick of his hand, he swept the broken reports that Hajim had put together to the ground, and spread out the other reports on the table.

Pointing to one of them, Walter spoke: "Hadhim, it's not like I haven't thought about this path, but you see, Osville is not ready, he only has more than 50,000 now, plus more than 10,000 mercenaries. This point of soldiers, if all the soldiers are withdrawn back to the city to assist in defense, it is estimated that they will still be able to withstand a wave, but look around him! There were no dangerous points around Loklean, and if Achilles helped defend the western side, then this high ground a hundred miles outside the city could still be used as a commanding height for the defensive line. If Achilli were to be lost, then this place would be just a higher graveyard. What's more, except for Achilli, the other cities are too far away from Loklian, and I am worried that Osville will be able to hold out until the moment when reinforcements arrive. ”

Hajim looked at the report on the table, pointed to another report, and explained: "But the soldiers of Loklian are all new, all equipped with steam, and there are originally nearly one hundred and fifty steam cannons, and the city tower and the fort are all strengthened permanent fortifications. Well, the 8,000 steam and 100 cannons supported by the city lord of Zhimashi are also about to arrive. In this way, the lord of Loklian could arm at least 10,000 more men, and despite the lack of training, it would not be a problem to defend the city. It's enough for him to delay for a while, and when the reinforcements from other city lords arrive, Lianjun will be able to start a tug-of-war with the puppet emperor's monarch, as long as it drags on for half a year, the situation will develop in our favor. ”

Walter nodded in agreement, then sighed again, and said helplessly: "The centripetal force of the provisional government is still too poor, I asked all localities to support the front line as much as possible a long time ago, but as a result, most of them just mean it, just give a hundred guns, not a single cannon!" Invest all the money and materials in yourself and the small circle alliance they have created! There is no sense of the big picture at all! ”

"Not all of them are like this, Your Excellency the President, the city lord of Zhimashi is still quite loyal, he not only invested a lot of money in the city of Lokliang, but also provided a lot of money to the central defense line, but he himself, as well as several southern cities around, he didn't invest, well, the funds are not enough."

Walter also quite agrees with what Hajim said, and it can be said that at present, in the entire Southern Alliance, the most powerful and most attentive in this grass platform team belong to the two cities of Loklian and Zhimashi. Oswell can't help it, he's on the front line of the battle, and there's still a reason why it's impossible to surrender. There is no way back, but to fight to the death. And Zhimashi surprised him even more, the southernmost port city of this kingdom was supposed to be the safest and least reliable city.

After all, he had enough time to prepare for the escape, the ships and ports were ready-made, and although their fleet was far inferior to the fleet of the principality, it was considered to be among the best when looking at the mainland. If he wanted to flee south by sea, neither the puppet emperor nor the alliance formed by Walter could do anything about him. What amazed everyone was that instead of preparing to flee, the city lord invested a large amount of money in the monarchy, and even later, he organized people to support the scarce monarch who had soared in price for free. In this way, even Walter, who has always been above the top, has to sincerely admire.

"Kolode has a heart, and he has contributed money and efforts, but he alone is not enough!" Walter still shook his head, "What's more, after two months, he should be at the limit." If the Provisional Government continues to be scattered like this, it will be difficult for us to survive until the time comes when we defeat the puppet emperor and make him compromise with us. ”

Hajim smiled: "Your Excellency, I told you about the shortcomings of the Interim Government a few months ago. This deficiency is the problem you just mentioned, the various city lords only fight for themselves, and they have no team spirit at all, in this case, they can't resist the invasion of the puppet emperor and the king. It's just that as I said below, as long as there is a real war, as long as there is an example of being cleansed, they will be afraid and at a loss, and when the time comes, you can really control the situation and integrate their forces. At that point, you will lead the South to a successful fight against the Puppet Emperor, and after that, the Liberty Alliance of the South will be established! ”

Walter narrowed his eyes, indeed, for more than two months, he tried his best and exhausted his connections, and it only proved the incompetence of this grass platform team. If it weren't for the fact that his relatives were in the hands of those monsters, and even that he himself was being watched, he would definitely not have stayed in the south of the kingdom and waited for death with this group of fools. It's just that two months of hard work are not fruitless, under the investigation of him, Hajim and others, the overall strength of the south is still quite good, although the Jun team lacks training and actual combat experience, but Jun Bei has easily surpassed the Iron Guard Jun that the puppet emperor had worked hard to build. In terms of quantity, it is even more zero, and there are nearly 200,000. And although there is not much news from the north, at least it has been clarified that the puppet emperor has trained quite a small number of monarchs this time, and I am afraid that it will not exceed 60,000 in the end, and with the integrated Wei Suojun, it will be about 100,000 to 120,000. If you just defend, the chances of winning are quite large.

"Hadhim, go and send a letter, ask for a secret letter, and let all the city lords send support to Loklian! Let the surrounding cities and even farther away send reinforcements as soon as possible and rush to Loklian! At the same time, I also wrote to Oswell, telling him that I would support him with all the lords of the south! Let him resist no matter what! Walter thought for a long time and calmly gave the order.

"Yes! Your Excellency, President! Hajim half-bowed, then asked, "And what about Achille?" ”

"Send him a letter and tell him that he will support him 'with all his might' if he holds on to the death." Walter sneered.

Tritel. Morality. Bozaki. Treeux, lord of the city of Achille, was decadent and half-reclined on a chaise longue in his study, with a secret letter from Clecoin in his hand, which stated that he should defend the city with all his strength and wait for reinforcements. He didn't even look at the hypocritical encouragement of the bullshit in the second half, and after putting the secret letter on the candle and burning it, this strong man, who had just passed his thirty-fifth birthday, was half-bald, stood up with great difficulty, took the wine bottle, staggered to the windowsill, and looked out the window. The city is still bustling with activity, even if it was a defeated battle, it was a little chaotic when the army returned to the city, and now it is back to normal. Trittle couldn't help but think of his family's past.

Grandfather Escalade. Treeu was one of the first southern tycoons to follow Ether IV to his armies. It was also the first great war, one of the few surviving members in the bloody battle in which the king was almost completely destroyed, and then he was regarded as a confidant by the fourth emperor, and was made a nobleman after the war, and then transferred to become the lord of Achilli City.

The city of Akili is located at the junction of the north and south of the kingdom, surrounded by a typical hilly environment, which is not suitable for agricultural development, has no mineral resources, and even has few factories. The survival of this city of 450,000 people is supported by its thriving commercial trade and bulk commodity transportation. The city was quite young, and was established as a transit city in the later years of Esher IV in order to expand southward. During the reign of Ether V, he was the main beneficiary of the king's plan to expand to the south, and it can be said that he was deeply favored by the king.

Maybe there is a rebellious element in the blood, or maybe it is the extravagance of the post-war that corrupted Kellet. This emerging nobleman, who was entrusted with important tasks and continued to receive royal rewards and financial support, was originally a hardcore royal family, and gradually became dissenting. During the lifetime of Ether IV, the family appeared to be conscientious and loyal. Then, after Ether V, who was far inferior to the fourth in all aspects, came to power, the family completely separated from the royal family. Taking advantage of the royal family's long-standing trust in their family, they won the position of the vanguard of the southern expansion, and a large amount of money was transferred to the city of Achille, which was called up by the Treeu family to open up the wild lands in the south of the kingdom. Most of these funds were embezzled, of course, at that time, it was not only the Tree family who was doing this, almost all the southern cities took advantage of this opportunity to become bigger, but Achill City was one of the most beneficial.