Chapter 48: Steel
"This year's letter snow did not come as scheduled. The steel regent of the Cormier Kingdom, Yaluselle, thought with some confusion.
The early winter morning was already a little chilly, and Yalusel sniffed on her small nose with some dissatisfaction, wrapped herself tightly in the thick cloak she was wearing, and looked out on the terrace of the dormitory at the gradually waking royal capital Sussar.
The morning bells of the Temple of Temorrah began to ring, reminding the citizens of the arrival of the morning, and the sailors woke up from the hangover tavern and cursed the thieves who took advantage of their drunkenness. The craftsmen opened the doors of the workshop, and while sending out their apprentices to run errands for themselves, they chatted with each other about yesterday's anecdotes, and the merchants began to prepare today's goods, calculating the profits of yesterday, and the small traders began to make snacks with their hands and feet to fill the hungry stomachs of the citizens.
In the distance, the bell was heard when the gates were opened, the peasants who had been waiting for a long time came into the city with all kinds of fresh agricultural and sideline products to sell, and the laughter of the maidens could be heard in the garden below the terrace, but it was the maids of the palace who were collecting the dew of the roses.
It seemed peaceful, but there was a slight gloom on everyone's faces, especially when they looked at the palace.
Expressionlessly, Alousel turned around, drank the warm goat's milk in her hand, and prepared to change and wash under the service of her personal maid.
While opening her hand to let the maid take off her pajamas, Yalusayle thought about this year's Xinxue.
The Kingdom of Cormier is located on the western shore of the Falling Star Sea, close to the Dragon Lake, and the majestic Cape of Storm Mountains lie across the north and west of the kingdom, separating the hinterland of the kingdom from the wild rocks, and the north of the rocks is the Wild Cow Desert.
Every spring and summer, the southeast trade winds blow the abundant water vapor of the Falling Star Sea to Cormier, and the towering Cape of Storm Mountains firmly block the water vapor, causing clouds to cause rain, resulting in the kingdom's mild and rainy climate in spring and summer, which has benefited the kingdom's vegetation and agriculture a lot, and the kingdom has won the reputation of the forest kingdom.
And in the autumn and winter season when there is no southeast trade wind, the north wind will make the cold air of the Supreme Glacier cross the flat Manniu Desert, the cold air is like a bamboo, the low Scimitar Peak mountain range in the desert can not stop the pace of cold air, only when it encounters the Storm Horn Mountains, the cold air will be reluctantly blocked, turning into precious rain and snow in autumn and winter, and the kingdom will have a heavy snow in early winter every year, which is called Xinxue.
The importance of the snow is beyond doubt for the agricultural country of Cormier, and if the snow is overdue, what about the other rains and snow in the winter? Without rain and snow, the crops of the coming year will die of drought!
"But is there less to worry about now?" thought to Alousele, with some silence.
The former Cormir Kingdom is extremely powerful, the Obeszir family has ruled the kingdom for thousands of years, and is loved by the people, the elite and huge standing army - the Purple Dragon Legion always defends the dignity of the kingdom, the powerful mage group - the war mages swear eternal allegiance to the royal family, and the nobles of all sizes also accept the rule of the royal family tamely.
"A vassal of a vassal is not my vassal. This sentence does not apply to Cormier, due to the great strength of the kingdom, the nobles of Cormier have no real power, the war mages are only loyal to the royal family, the mayor of the city and the generals of the army are all new nobles or graduates of the Royal Academy of Cormier, and a considerable part of the government employees are from civilian backgrounds.
Even in the nobles' own fiefdoms, the prefects of the garrison, the tax collectors and the chief administrators are all appointed by the executive council of the kingdom, and the nobles only have the right to collect their own contributions, and even the private army of the nobles cannot exceed forty people, even the duke is no exception, as for the large and small mercenary teams and adventurers in the kingdom are strictly monitored, and they need to be registered to enter the city with weapons, and a considerable number of places are forbidden to enter with weapons.
Stability and security are rare things in other parts of Ferron.
And the undefeated king, Azeen IV.
That year, 300,000 Tukan barbarians crossed the endless wilderness, and under the leadership of their khan, they invaded Feron, and the cavalry could drink dry water when they drank their horses, and when they threw their horsewhips into the river, they could cut off the river, and when hundreds of thousands of livestock moved at the same time, it was like an earthquake, and all of Feron trembled under the whip of the Khan of Jamen.
When everyone despaired, Azeon IV did not give up, he sent envoys, organized a coalition army, cavalry in the Vale, mercenaries from Waterdeep and Sambia, elven archers from the High Forest, dwarven hoplites from the Northlands, and even orc spearmen from the Santarim Society, all united under the royal banner.
Taking advantage of the enemy's overorganized army and the large number of family members of the accompanying personnel, Azeon IV constantly sent small troops to attack and harass the enemy, implemented the strategy of exhausting the enemy, and constantly lured the enemy to divide his troops and destroy the enemy's small forces.
Azeon IV launched a decisive battle, the Purple Dragon Legion charged forward with his king, the undefeated king led the undefeated army, and the barbarian army was routed, and the Yamen Khan, who was good at fighting, integrated the rout and fought again, and was defeated by Azeen IV.
In the twelve major battles, Aizen IV defeated the barbarian army again and again, and personally cut off the head of the barbarian khan in the final decisive battle, and the remaining tens of thousands of barbarians fled back to their homeland.
The undefeated king and undefeated army defeated the barbarian army that threatened the continent! The prestige of the Cormier Kingdom reached its peak.
But the undefeated king and the undefeated army were defeated.
The orcs and goblins of the Cape of Storm Mountains and the Rocks are attacking the hinterland of the kingdom on a scale not seen in a century, the thousand-year-old enemy of the Obeszir family, the magical creature Giznes has reappeared in Cormier, an ancient red dragon known as the "Demon Dragon" has also joined the camp of evil creatures, the most powerful war mage Van Geda Hester has mysteriously disappeared, the Purple Dragon Legion has resisted and continued to rout, and many cities in the kingdom have fallen.
Eventually, Azeon IV was defeated on the battlefield with the Dragons, the orcs and goblin armies were routed, and Geznes was defeated by Princess Crown, who was mortally wounded and died soon after giving birth to a baby boy.
The youngest daughter of Azeen IV, the younger sister of the Crown Princess, and the Iron Princess who had been following her father Azeen IV in his northern and southern wars, Yalusel was crowned Regent of Steel, ruling the country in place of her young nephew with the support of her mother, Queen Mother Phil Farrell.
The country that Yalusail inherited was devastated, and it was not at all as prosperous as it had been.
In the war, Cormier not only lost the king, but also lost a large number of excellent soldiers and junior officers, as well as a large number of war mages and government officials were killed, refugees from war-torn cities and destroyed homes were everywhere, the treasury accumulated for many years was also bottomed out, and the defeated army of the orcs was still active in the countryside.
What's more troublesome is the aristocrats who are about to move, because of the war, Cormier had to draw a large number of troops and officials from the local royal family, which made the royal family have to rely on the local nobles to govern the place, and the defeated orc commandos began to attack the place, and the Purple Dragon Legion, which suffered heavy losses, was unable to divide its troops and attack, so it could only give the local nobles the right to raise their own salaries, and the local nobles took the opportunity to expand their strength.
Some nobles took the opportunity to rebel directly, while others questioned the legitimacy of Iron Princess's rule, and even the most loyal nobles saw that now was a good time to expand their power.
Neighboring Sambia, many city-states on the Dragon Coast, as well as the Santalin Society in the Rocks, and even many cults of evil gods, demon worshippers, and devil agents have poured into Cormier, taking the opportunity to influence and control Cormier's internal affairs.
Faced with all this, the Iron Princess put on her father's armor and took up her father's sword.
When the nobles rebelled, they exterminated the nobles, deprived them of their fiefs, and confiscated their property. When the armament was insufficient, craftsmen and materials were called up to speed up the preparation. When there are not enough soldiers, they will be conscripted on a large scale, and when there is a shortage of food, special taxes will be levied and grain conscription teams will be dispatched.
The Steel Regency is trying to save the country in his own way.
The rebel nobles proposed the establishment of a noble council to let the steel regent hand over power, and the mayors and generals of the royal family also stayed on the sidelines in the chaotic situation and became local powerhouses.
There are two things that Yalusayr wants to do, one is to rebuild the Purple Dragon Legion, she understands that strong force is the key to saving the country, and the other is to strengthen the centralization of power and sweep away the local powerful factions at both ends of the snake and rat, so that neither the stupid nobles nor the orcs rampant in the countryside can be feared.
Needing a lot of money and resources, Jalusail had no choice but to extort where she could control it, plunder the accumulated wealth of the defeated nobles, treat her own people with indifference, and cruelly treat the rebellious nobles.
The Iron Regency's armies grew stronger and stronger, but often just after conquering new noble territories, unrest began to break out in the old occupation areas, and despite successive victories, the situation did not get any better.
"The heart of the Iron Princess is also made of steel. Not only did the rebellious nobles say so, but even those in the royal capital did so.
"Maybe my heart is really made of steel. Yalusel thought silently as she enjoyed a hearty breakfast.
No one knew that Alousel's heart was also bleeding, and his heart was made of steel, probably because the blood was dry.
After breakfast, Yalusel put on his armor and the sword left by his father, and said to his guards in a heroic manner, "Let's go! Take the ambassador of the Shade People and go to Evryska to help the elves!"
In the face of the Shadow's plea for help, Yalusel decided to lead an army to help, one of which was the real threat to Feren, and the other could also be eradicated during the march to deter some rebellious nobles.
Promote the prestige of the country externally, and shock the national thief internally.
The Marquis of Nasr looked at the Purple Dragon Legion on the opposite side with anxiety, although the strength of his coalition army was four times that of the other party, the Marquis still did not feel a sense of security, several noble guards were lined up in the center for the Chinese army, the chaotic mercenary brigade was guarded on both wings, the civilian archers and conscripted spearmen stood in the front row, the nobles' enshrined mages flew in the sky, and at the front of the battle column were rangers and hired elven archers as stragglers.
The Marquis saw a scene from the nightmare.
The usually unruly worship mages were killed by the battle mages, and at the moment when the royal flag was raised, many of the fugitive veterans of the Purple Dragon Legion who had been incorporated into the noble guards fled one after another.
They shouted in terror, "The king is back, the king is back!" and fled in terror, shaking the whole battle formation.
Alousel put on the visor of his helmet and raised his spear.
"Humility, honesty, mercy, valor, justice, sacrifice, honor, soul, Purple Dragon Legion charge!"
"Charge, charge, charge!"
Yalusail shouted, and the two thousand purple dragoons responded to the princess as if they were one.
The ground began to tremble.
The marquis looked at the imminent turbulent riding sea, looked at the steel regent in the king's armor, and vaguely saw the figure of the man.
Defeat the invincible barbarian army twelve times, laugh and cut off the barbarian king's head.
When he was about to be defeated, he roared and died with the demon dragon, turning the tide of the battle.
The undefeated king was still shouting when he died: "Charge, charge, charge!"
"He's dead, and I'm still afraid of him. At the last moment of his life, the Marquis suddenly realized.
The steel regent looked at the familiar marquis in front of him, and thought of the memories of his childhood, when the marquis played with him at the court.
"My heart is already made of steel. ”
Aloucelle pierced the marquis's heart with his lance.