PS. Present today's update, by the way, pull a vote for the "starting point" 515 fan festival, everyone has 8 votes, and the vote will also give the starting point coin, kneel and beg everyone to support and appreciate!

No one can say exactly what life is.

It is a play, a grand journey, an arduous long journey, a fireworks that bloom only for the brightest moments, or the footprints in the wind and snow, which are covered and smoothed out without a trace after only a moment in this world.

But whatever it is, luckily, you existed. And, on the way of this life, you will meet many people who will walk with you.

Your parents, your wife, your children.

And your friends.

Without them, no matter how smooth and broad your path is, it is just a lonely journey. And with them, no matter how dangerous and difficult the road under your feet is, you are also full of courage. Because you know that as long as you look up, they're around, laughing.

It's just that on the road of life, it is difficult to find a few close friends, and it is even more difficult to find close friends who are like brothers and can entrust each other's backs.

And tonight, Roy has eleven.

Wine glasses, in the bright light, collided again and again, and the wine rippled, and was thrown into the air with the sound of loud laughter.

The laughter passed through the window and went far, far away.

On the castle walls at night, the figures of several guards were faintly visible in the light of the windows. Listening to the hearty laughter, they all had smiles on their faces, and their chests were tall.

It was the night after the victory.

Everyone is happy and proud of it.

I don't know how long it took for the living room to be quiet. Most of them were already very drunk and went back to their rooms to rest. In the room, only Roy remained. Adolf, Fano, Kahn and Abraham sat on the couch and had a drink.

"Whew......" Adolf stretched his legs and waisted without any image, and his eyes looked at the ceiling with some distraction, "It's like a dream." ”

"More than twenty prayer hours ago. I stood on the battlefield. Beside him, one knight after another rode towards the demons, and one after another fell. At that time, I could never have imagined that I would still be able to sit here and drink and celebrate our victory. ”

Thinking of the tragic battle and the soldiers who died in battle, the smile on his face and the light in his eyes gradually faded: "We won." However, Lulian was also crippled. ”

Everyone was silent for a while.

Yes, now calm down, everyone has to face the fact that Lulian is disabled.

Since the end of the war with the Philip Empire, Adolf had spent months amassing an army that had lost more than a third of his army in the battle. And more seriously, this one-third of the losses. A large part of them are the elite of the Long Knight level.

And these losses cannot be made up in the short term.

This also means: Lulian, who is about to send troops north to fight against the demons, will be in a very weak position in the imperial alliance.

And being weak often means being bullied.

Aside from the Duchy of Farrington, there are four major provinces and five principalities in the empire, and thousands of large and small noble lords. The relationship is intertwined, and the grievances and hatreds are indistinguishable. Although all face a common enemy, that doesn't mean they can work together as one.

They will fight for control in coalition forces, they will dictate tactical arrangements with their own interests and positions, they will stand still out of selfishness, fear or hatred, and they will pull back in logistics, intelligence and other seemingly small but all-in-one places.

In fact. The practice of Stevenson and others in the Demon War is a microcosm of this phenomenon.

Therefore, in the Imperial Alliance, the power in the hands represents the right to speak, represents the resources, power, and the support of more low-level nobles.

There is no guarantee that everyone will obey you, but at least there is a guarantee that your opponents will be afraid until they are sure that they will be able to destroy you.

In the Saint-Solan Empire, Lulian's military strength was originally ranked last. It has long been known as the Knight's Wasteland. This time it will be hit harder, and the situation will naturally be even more difficult.

Everyone can now fully imagine how the Lulian army, which has few soldiers and few generals, will be squeezed out and even oppressed when the imperial coalition is formed in the future.

It's almost inevitable.

Like the weakest wolf in a pack or the old and sick in a migrating wildebeest, they are the last to eat and the first to be abandoned when they are in danger. The law of this world is the law of the world.

Of course, Edward was not going to sit idly by. The southern nobles who had just received the favor of the demonic war would also reciprocate Adolf's kindness and support, but after all, the iron had to be its own.

In the face of Donald, in the face of the enemy in the open and in the dark, in the face of various situations that may arise in future wars, what Lulian needs most is his own strength.

In silence, Karn spoke, "Your Highness, there are many knights who come to Lulian every day, and if we hurry up and recruit them, we should still be in time." ”

Karn's words made a wry smile appear on the faces of Adolphus and Fano.

Karn, the old knight, was Adolf's boy with whom he grew up, and although he was now Adolf's chief of guard, he was powerful and respected, but he didn't really care about military affairs. His terms of reference were limited to the safety of Adolf and his family.

As a result, he didn't understand what the battle meant to Lulian.

In this battle, Adolf threw a total of 10,000 just knights. But in fact, this is not a force that the Duchy of Lulian can possess at all.

Adolf's army, including the subordinate lords' nobles' private armies, was able to muster less than 3,000 just knights. That is to say, the other more than 7,000 fair knights are all from major forces such as mercenary groups, merchant groups, chaebols, and free knights.

To put it bluntly, these people were all fished out of the big pool of Lulian. And the pool of Lulian has absorbed a lot of resources from the south of the empire and even from far away from the imperial capital.

In the battle, however, the losses of the backbone of the just knights were the heaviest - nearly 6,000 dead and wounded.

That's the size of a long knight of ten large knights!

Karn thought that there were still many people to recruit for Lulian now, but he didn't know that Adolf was already fishing for this battle!

Fano smiled wryly and explained to Karn.

Hearing Farno's words, Karn frowned, "Even so, there are quite a few knights who have come back alive. They're all still in Muni City, and they haven't had time to leave, so why don't we solicit them?"

"Do you think we're recruiting them?" Fano shook his head and said, "To be honest, now that the demons are invading, whether it's these mercenaries or freelancers, there are not many people who want to join the army. However, it is not a question of joining the army, it is a question of which army to join. ”

He took a sip of wine and sighed, "As long as it is a normal person, it will choose a stronger lord." In the future, the coalition forces will be safer, have better logistical support, and have more opportunities to make contributions. We were originally not bad, but after this battle, not to mention the troops, even the financial resources are probably ......"

Fano didn't go any further.

After this battle, the pension of tens of thousands of soldiers alone is an astronomical deficit. Even if Adolf was sitting on the territory of Lulian Province, it was not so easy to digest.

Karn opened his mouth for a long moment before he lamented, "In that case, we can only watch these people being recruited by others?"

"Recruitment still has to be recruited, but how many people can apply, then don't expect too much. Fano smiled bitterly, "As far as I know, less than half a year after we returned to the city today, a number of family members came to the door. Saxony, Sinasili, Pru, and the four great families......"

Hearing this, Roy's heart suddenly moved.

He looked up and saw Adolf frowning and sipping his sullen wine.

"His Royal Highness," Roy thought for a moment and said, "I want to make a deal with you, I don't know if you want to?"

"What deal?" Adolf was stunned for a moment, then his face sank, and he said unhappily, "What are you talking about?

"It's different," Roy scratched his head, a little embarrassed, "I know that with Lulian's current situation, my request is a little inappropriate. But ......"

He didn't know how to explain it for a while.

However, this has aroused everyone's interest. Karn smiled, "Boy, if you have anything to say, just say it. You are our Lulian's son, and you have made so many achievements in the past two years, we don't treat you as an outsider. What kind of deal to talk about, I am not afraid that His Highness will be angry. ”

"Yes," quipped Fano, "Your Highness wants to marry Miss Sophia, and if you agree, the whole of Lulian is yours." ”

Everyone laughed.

Adolf nodded, "Yes, how about it?" boy, you don't think my Sophia is not worthy of you, do you?"

Roy's ears were red. In this kind of topic, a hairy boy can only be molested in the face of a few happy old guys.

He hurriedly changed the topic, and his heart was crossed, and he simply said: "I can build a Heavenly Change Knights for Lulian!"

The laughter stopped abruptly, and the smiles on the faces of the people who were still happy to close their mouths instantly froze, and then quickly turned into consternation.

With a swipe on the floor, Adolf, Fano, and Karn all rose to their feet.

"What did you say?"

[It's about to be 515, I hope to continue to hit the 515 red envelope list, and the red envelope rain will be able to give back to readers and promotional works on May 15. A piece is also love, and it must be better!] (To be continued.) )