As king, Patrek's orders still had a powerful deterrent effect on the minor nobles. As a rule, during the conquest of the king's army, the manors and castles along the way had to provide a certain amount of supplies to relieve the logistical pressure on the army. However, this method, which has been handed down for thousands of years, was knocked to the head in front of a group of slaves. They are like a pack of wild dogs that roam the fertile territory, frantically fighting for the qiē that originally belonged to the king.

Flanderson City was the most important stronghold on the offensive line. There are tall and solid walls with more than 6,000 soldiers. In addition, the private army belonging to the large and small nobles in the city has a total strength of more than 20,000. If civilians were recruited in an emergency, the number of defenders would be equal to or even greater than that of the rebels.

However, Flander Kensen City was breached. All the food and supplies stored in the city were plundered. In the city burned to ruins, Patrek found not a single living person, only mountains of rotting corpses. Tong Yanfeng has done a great job of clearing the wilderness. He didn't even leave a baby for Patrek. Those who resisted and refused to leave were all killed. Of course, if the king's army is so hungry that they can't stand it, they can use those rotting corpses as food.

That evening, Patrec summoned all the nobles and generals who accompanied the army in the king's tent.

The severity of the problem lies ahead.

Flanderson was no longer able to provide supplies, and even its function as a fortress was completely lost. There is no longer any strategic value here, and it will have to be left by tomorrow morning at the latest.

Whether to continue to the city of Maca or to go the other way back, the generals and nobles quarreled fiercely.

"I'm against going south. We no longer have the ability to travel to Maka City to fight the rebels. I immediately returned to the royal capital and made a new plan. ”

"We walked for two whole months to get here, and just left? I really don't know what's going on in your head? They were just a bunch of slaves, a bunch of slaves. We must kill them all, or the effects of the riots will soon spread throughout the country. Time is precious, and we can't afford to waste a single second. Do you know what the slaves said? They clamored for the head of His Majesty the King, and claimed that only the Red Dragon Count was the only leader. If this continues, all noble realms will cause riots. At that point, things really got out of hand. ”

"I'm not a coward, but please tell me, how can I fight in this situation? We were unable to get supplies from the surrounding area, and Flender Kensen City was in ruins. Now, the only source of supplies was the main route to the royal capital. Of course, I will obey the will of His Majesty, but I must also remind you that the army of 300,000 must consume a lot of supplies every day. We only have enough food to last six days. If the supply line of the royal capital is cut off, or it is attacked by the rebel army, then everything is over. ”

Noises like this went on for hours. The battle between the generals and the nobles focused on whether or not to attack the city of Maca in the south. As military men, the generals are certainly right. If the supply lines are cut off and supplies are not available for more than two weeks, the entire army will not be left to its own devices. On the other hand, the aristocracy is not vexatious. Their views are also of such importance that cannot be overlooked - the riots in the city of Maka have affected a wider and wider area. There have been many cases of slaves killing their masters in manors and castles across the country. There were hundreds of riot slave groups, some in the hundreds, some in the hundreds, some in the nearly 10,000. If this situation is to be contained at its source and completely changed, it is necessary to launch an all-out attack on the city of Maca, where the rioting slaves were entrenched. Otherwise, if left unchecked, the entire kingdom will collapse completely.

King Patrik's face turned pale. He sat on the throne without saying a word, silently watching the two sides of the heated argument, his thoughts almost at a standstill.

He knows how to handle government affairs. For example, if the treasury is empty, then taxes will be levied. For example, if the servant is disobedient, then cut off the guy's head. Patrek is also very good at dealing with women, and has affairs with the families of many nobles under him, but he himself is unaware of it.

Slave revolt was something Patrek had never encountered. Even his father, grandfather, great-grandfather, great-great-grandfather had never had a similar experience. Shouldn't those lowly guys be honest and obedient? Rewarding those who did a good job and emancipating slaves who did a good job as commoners was not less than Patrick, and in the more than ten years he was in power, there were five or six very good slaves who won this honor. They were the best example of slaves, and Patrek even awarded them the "Slave Star" medal as an eternal honor. As long as there were these people, the rest of the slaves would always feel hopeful. They will work harder, but they don't know that this is completely in line with the requirements of the king and the nobles, and they snickered behind their backs that they were stupid and ignorant, and they were sold to help the master count the money.

Slaves got smarter. The root of this qiē is the damn Red Dragon Baron. Oh! No, he should be the Count of the Red Dragon by now.

The letter asking for a promotion and acknowledging his identity, of course, Patrek had read. The king simply would not have agreed to such a ridiculous request. But now it seems that if I had agreed at that time, it would have been a good way to deal with it.

Keep moving? Or turn to the withdrawal of troops?

Two issues have not been resolved. It wasn't until dawn that a mud-covered herald ran into the king's tent in a panic under the leadership of the knight of the guard, that the two sides of the quarrel quickly agreed on their opinions.

The herald brought terrible news, and Patrek's greatest fear, that a supply convoy from the royal capital had been attacked by rebels more than 130 kilometers to the north. Thousands of soldiers in charge of the convoy were killed and all supplies burned. At present, the royal capital is urgently dispatching escort teams to escort another batch of materials on the road. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, who remained in the royal capital, asked the king's army to send heavy troops along the way to protect it. Otherwise, the newly sent supplies are also in danger of being attacked.

No one thought things would turn out like this. But the facts are in front of you, and if you don't retreat, I'm afraid you'll never be able to go back.

The nobles shouted and cursed, thinking that the rebel army was a group of cowards, who did not dare to fight the king's army head-on, and would only use this despicable and shameless little trick to stab them in the back.

A few generals reacted calmly. They see this as a completely new tactic with an extremely wide range of use and value. But the status quo of the King's Army simply did not allow for the copying of similar tactics. What's more, the nobles and generals were unfamiliar with the rebel army, which consisted entirely of slaves.

When the problem is repeatedly entangled and cannot reach a final result in dispute, it must be decided by the will of the supreme superior. This method is not only universal on Earth, but also in the world of Rabangka. The nobles, who stubbornly demanded to continue the march, and the generals, who were worried about the reality and desperate to return to the army, neither side could take the initiative in the quarrel, so they could only turn their eyes to Patrek, who was sitting on the throne.

The king only felt that his head was big. His mind was full of noise. The tent was already cramped, and the crowd consumed a lot of oxygen. The air here is murkier than anywhere else. The scattered saliva, the hot and dreary environment, the body odor from the bastard, and the incense that clearly belonged to some pretentious nobleman, and ...... There was also a terrible mixture of foot odor, sweat, and bad breath, and Patrek only felt that he was simply in the mud and stagnant water, and his breathing became an incomparably luxurious thing, and he was almost suffocated to death.

There is nothing wrong with the demands of both sides. But Patrek has to look at the big picture. He secretly cursed these dog mongrels who threw all their difficulties and troubles at him, but his face had to put on a thoughtful and deeply furrowed face. After a few minutes, he reluctantly raised his right hand, hesitated, and sighed not very resolutely: "Withdraw the troops!" ”

The barracks, which was already unorderly, soon became more and more chaotic.

Almost all the nobles were cursing the damned King Patrec in private. Several powerful marquis even secretly contacted and prepared to return to the royal capital to immediately brew a coup d'état to remove the king from the throne. What a joke, slaves are a source of assets for all nobles. The appeasement of the rebels means that the mob has a breeding ground for continued strength. If you don't extinguish them now, the war will become more difficult, troublesome later.

The generals were similarly unhappy with Patrek. They thought that the king was too lenient towards the nobility. The current situation is very dangerous, and the follow-up supplies know when they will arrive. The city of Flanderson was in ruins, and could not even be of military value for defense. Since you have decided to go, you must leave as fast as you can. And now? The whole barracks were in chaos, and the private armies of the nobles dragged their feet, even affecting the Praetorian Guard. If this situation continues, don't say that you left overnight, I'm afraid it will be good if you can put the army in order in order by dawn.

Chaos returns to chaos, dissatisfaction returns to discontent, and the king's will must be carried out. When the night was expelled by the sun and the world was bright again, the king's army finally completed its rearmament and walked slowly in the direction of the royal capital along the road from which it came.

After a long day of trekking, both humans and livestock become exhausted. The embers of dusk were faintly burning on the horizon, and the sky was clearly surrounded by dark shadows. In the dim light, a team of more than 100 knights was slowly navigating the path of dirt, stones, and weeds.

This is a scout sent by the King's army. Due to the late departure time for several days in a row, the army was unable to reach the predetermined area and set up camp. Walking at night has become a last resort. Although the nobles and generals had a natural contempt for the rebel slave army, believing that it was nothing more than a bunch of rubbish armed with clubs, work such as battlefield search was always indispensable.

As he approached the jungle, the knight at the head suddenly grabbed the reins and stopped his horse. He had a wealth of combat experience and sensed some unspeakable danger lurking from the depths of the forest. Although the eye can't see, intuition is often much more important than visual effects in many cases.

"Whoosh--"

An arrow struck from the darkness and struck the knight in the chest. He immediately rushed to a chill of extreme fear that permeated his body. In an instant, the power in his body had been completely drained, and he instinctively lowered his head, only to see the end of the arrow shaft with feathers firmly nailed to his chest, and due to the excessive firing force, the arrow shaft shook violently uncontrollably, tearing the muscles and frantically devouring the knight's remaining vitality.

Just as the leading knight fell from his horse screaming, a group of heavily armed slave soldiers rushed out of the jungle and swooped down on the unsuspecting cavalry squad.

These slaves were armed with short swords and round shields, and their armor was mostly leather armor and chest guards. More than 500 slaves were overwhelmingly numerous, and the darkness and jungle limited the cavalry from attacking in this environment. The two teams quickly collided together, and neither of them would spare their hands in order to survive.

Knights kept screaming and falling from their horses. Many people die with their eyes wide open. These slaves were so cunning that no one thought that the other party would set up an ambush in such a place. The long-pitched lance was ineffective in night combat, but the nimble round shield and short sword became the best weapons for killing. Regardless of physique, ability, and combat skills, slaves are far from being the opponents of knights. They did not belong to the elite under Su Hao's command, but were just a group of new troops formed by defectors. However, the fact is that the slaves have long been accustomed to feigning death, pretending to be sick, and using the method of closing their breath to make the slave owners mistakenly believe that they are dead, and then take the opportunity to escape...... Once these methods are used on the battlefield, coupled with the premise of darkness and ambush, even if the individual combat effectiveness is inferior to that of the knight, the opponent can be defeated by two against one.

The short, intense battle ended in a few minutes. The slaves stripped off the knights' armor, gathered up their scattered weapons and horses, and quickly left. Hundreds of corpses were thrown on the ground, and the strong smell of blood spread in all directions with the night wind.

The message of the dead could not be more obvious. When the vanguard of the King's Army walked here and found the remains of the dead knights, all kinds of panicked rumors spread in the crowd.

This is not the first squad of knights to be annihilated. For several days, all the scouts released had been intercepted, and thousands of cavalry had been lost. Although the king's army leaders repeatedly blocked the news and strictly forbade it to spread within the army, there were always people who secretly told what they saw.

More and more deserters appeared in the King's army. There is no way to find the source of these rumors. The generals used the most ruthless means to kill people to stop it, but it had no effect.

Patrek ordered a hasty restrain of the dead knights. He was not an indifferent man, and when the first scout team was attacked, Patrek went to see it himself, and expressed his indignation at the despicable actions of the Slave Rebels. However, a few days passed, and bad news came almost all the time. More and more people were killed in battle, but they couldn't capture even a single team of sneak attackers. Patrick felt like he had become deaf and blind. Such a war of unequal strength has never been seen on the continent of Rabangca. Even the most experienced generals had no way to watch out, let alone what to do. The only thing they could do was to send as many scouts as possible, and expand the original squad of only a dozen people again and again to the size of hundreds of people. But the only result of this practice is that more and more people are being killed.

As usual, Patrek had dinner with the nobles and generals. There was nothing but bacon and bread on the table, plus a soup of wild vegetables gathered from the woods per person. If it were in the royal court, I am afraid that everyone would be concerned about these simple foods. Now, however, the big guys have to feed on it.

The situation with ordinary soldiers is much worse than this. As a result of the attack on the supply convoy, the original daily ration has been cut in half. There has been no contact with the second supply convoy, and no one knows when they will receive military rations. In this case, only the ration can be cut.

The atmosphere at dinner was silent all the time. No one spoke. Everyone was bowing their heads and concentrating on their share of food on their plates. Patrek watched from the sidelines, knowing that the nobles and generals would have a meal when they returned. Eating in front of yourself is just for show. Even though all the soldiers starved to death, these guys still had their mouths full of oil.

With a stomach full of grumbling and annoyance, Patrek fell asleep sullenly.

Before dawn, the attendants hurried into their tents and reported anxiously that in the middle of the night, the Marquis de Sowegen had quietly departed with his fifteen thousand private troops.

Patrek sat up from the bed suddenly, countless thoughts churning through his mind, and his expression became hideously distorted. In the end, he didn't give the order to chase and kill, but just sighed weakly and shook his head.

He felt that he was losing control of a qiē.

What if someone was sent to chase the Marquis of Sowegen back? The other party will not obey orders, and will sneak away one night. This is the difference between a nobleman and a king. The former only thinks about his own private interests, while the king has to look at the big picture. However, Patrek did not have much control over the country. The area of land on which he was able to collect taxes was less than a tenth of the area occupied by all the nobles.

With the first to leave, there is a second, a third, a fourth......

By five days, the huge King's army had shrunk by more than half. Out of more than 300,000, only 120,000 remained. The hundreds of nobles and nobles who had gathered around the king were gone. The generals and the Praetorian Guard form the core of the current king's army, and the rest are a handful of knights who are loyal to the king. Sneak away. This is the difference between a nobleman and a king. The former only thinks about his own private interests, while the king has to look at the big picture. However, Patrek did not have much control over the country. The area of land on which he was able to collect taxes was less than a tenth of the area occupied by all the nobles.

With the first to leave, there is a second, a third, a fourth......

By five days, the huge King's army had shrunk by more than half. Out of more than 300,000, only 120,000 remained. The hundreds of nobles and nobles who had gathered around the king were gone. The generals and the Praetorian Guard form the core of the current king's army, and the rest are a handful of knights who are loyal to the king.