After meeting Raja in the Ikut Valley, learning about the current situation of the Yanlong Church, and giving specific instructions to the other party, Iroh changed into a human again, and almost returned to the royal castle of Zakif without stopping.

"Iroh, what do we do next?"

Vis bowed slightly, standing respectfully beside Iroh, a cold glint in his lilac eyes.

This was the first time in twelve years that he had spoken face-to-face with Iroh, because Iroh had not yet been the top head of the comprehensive intelligence department before, and if he rashly entered the royal castle to meet with the king secretly, it was good that he was not noticed, in case he was noticed...... It will inevitably cause some people to speculate.

Now Eloco can't ignore the adventurers, a group whose strength is hugely differentiated, and they love to take care of everything. As he got to know the adventurers better and better over the years, he gradually realized how lucky he was in the first place.

Whether it is the Wolf Warrior or the Flame Squad, strictly speaking, it can only be regarded as a second- or third-rate team, if those high-level adventurers who are really at the first-class level were recruited at the beginning...... I'm afraid things won't be easy to clean up.

In the history of Elohim, it is not without adventurers who have come into contact with the gods, have been appreciated and helped by the gods, and even achieved the god position!

That's why Iroh didn't actually talk to Vis face-to-face until today—partly because this conversation was really important, and relying solely on magical communication, Iroh didn't feel very reliable.

And for Ves, a half-blood dragon who is also about to enter his youth, as an important pawn buried by Iroh in Falkenridge, he has won a lot of praise for relying on Iroh's judgment over the years, as well as his original excellent intelligence, and his status in the hearts of most people in the kingdom is already supreme at this time.

But when facing Iroh, he still maintained his respect, not only because of the shadow left on him by the nuclear radiation back then, but also because he witnessed the changes that Iroh's decision brought to the kingdom.

Before he knew it, Vis had gradually begun to genuinely recognize Iroh's status as the boss.

In short, his current approach is that even if he doesn't understand the judgment of this mysterious black dragon, don't ask, just do it with peace of mind...... After all, up to this point, the sane monster in front of him in elegant human skin has never missed a mistake.

"My men should have told you that we must remain defensive along the Stassi border, and I know very well what state the preparations for war on the Stassia border have entered, so don't doubt my decision. ”

Standing in front of the wide sand table model of several square meters in the king's bedroom, Iroh changed his words: "That being said, you are at least different from those people. ”

As he spoke, Iroh pointed out meaningfully, apparently referring to "those people" by humans.

"I'll briefly tell you about my considerations, and you can tell you about the generals you really trust. ”

Vis couldn't help but be slightly shocked in his heart, Iroh guessed right, although he didn't say it, he really didn't know why he missed such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

After all these years of Ielloh's full blood transfusion, Falkenridge's soldiers were ready to deal with Stasi's invasion, and the army amassed along the border was as large as 200,000 - which was already a national force for a small country - but they had to wait for Stacy to strike first.

"Since you think it's appropriate to wait, I'll let them wait. Vess muttered and replied. Obviously, the change of this little dragon is also very obvious, and he has not recovered his body for twelve years, so that he has learned to think more closely to the human way, and at the same time is more tactful and sophisticated in dealing with people.

"There are three reasons," said Arlo, smiling meaningfully, "one is morality, the second is logistics, and the third is the empire. ”

Vis was stunned, then reacted immediately.

Yes, although on the surface, Stasi will have the upper hand and then take the initiative in the war, but don't forget that not all the factors that can determine the outcome of a war are on the battlefield!

First, Stasi was the first to invade, which gave him a moral advantage. No matter how hypocritical a country is, no one likes to provoke a dispute, and from this point of view, to let Stasi attack first is to turn himself into a victim, not only to win the sympathy of the great powers, real or false, but also to the support of some smaller countries that are also afraid of Stasi's invasion.

Second, people don't have to think about the annoying logistical supply problems - Falkenridge and Stacy are not huge countries, but they are not small in size, and the distance between the two capitals is nearly 1,000 kilometers.

If he were to be proactive, Falkenridge would undoubtedly have to take on a longer supply line. But defense is different: all the supplies are left at the door of the house, which is equivalent to directly solving a problem.

With this benefit, those materials that are consumed in large quantities on the offensive road can be used for defense.

Third, no matter how much Falkenridge and Stacy clash today, there is actually a game between the great powers behind it.

The Tadoya Empire, which stands behind Stasi, and the Havar Empire, which gradually attaches importance to this little brother as Falkenridge gradually develops, are the real operators of this battlefield.

If Falkenridge were the first to attack, the Tadoya Empire would have been given a legitimate opportunity to help Stassi - come to think of it, Stacy had been invaded, how could the people of the God of Light suffer such damage?

Relatively speaking, the Havar Empire will lack a reason to support Falkenridge, and it can't risk going against the public opinion of the mainland to help a so-called "invader", right?

And if Stasi attacks first, the tide will turn around. The military strength of the Haval Empire is certainly inferior to that of the Tadoya Empire, but when it comes to material aid, no country can compare to the Haval Empire, which has the largest economy!

What Falkenridge needs most now is not soldiers, but enough supplies.

That's right, although Iroh has given Falkenridge a blood transfusion for twelve years at any cost, and I don't know how many faith points have been used, but it is still not enough to make up for the huge "debt" owed by Falkenridge a hundred years ago.

In addition, there is actually another reason, that is, as an attacker, Stasi can't press all his forces to attack Falkenridge - the surrounding small countries are not stupid, such as the two famous-stirring sticks of the Duchy of Sefi and the Duchy of Kore, if Stasi really dares to go out with all his troops, they will definitely not mind taking the opportunity to stab Stasi.

As a defender, Falkenridge could respond to Stasi's offensive with his entire army without any worries. With one increase and one decrease, it seems that the odds of winning are not so small.

Don't forget that Iroh has also swept away most of Falkenridge's perimeter, and there is a potential ally of the Duchy of Gates in the southwest, which is really much stronger than the smaller nations around Stasi that are afraid of its expansion.

In short, the next step is for the generals to concentrate on strengthening the defenses around the Dragon's Fortress, waiting for Stasi to launch a "sudden" attack one morning.

At this moment, around the Yanlong Fortress, which had been strengthened several times, the commanders of several armies were trying their best to complete the defense line in their jurisdiction.

Falkenridge was well prepared for Stacy's attack this time, and unlike the hasty defense they had done twelve years earlier, this time they had prepared a full eleven lines of defense for Stacy's army in the border area.

The 200,000 standing troops are idle, so in addition to training and resting, the rest of the time is responsible for further strengthening the defensive line. While none of these lines were sprawling permanent fortifications, the Stacy didn't have the terrifying pace of development of Falkenridge, and twelve years had passed without a qualitative leap in their army.

Falkenridge is different, although objectively speaking, it is still a step worse than Stasi, but compared to twelve years ago, it is really a leap.

Elite troops equipped with simple enchanted equipment, hundreds of magic ballistas, densely arranged arrays of archers, and cavalry units......

Iroh himself has made many deductions and evaluations of this defense system, and according to conservative estimates, Stasi will need at least 50,000 lives to fill the defensive line in front of him.

And if you are more optimistic, you can even think that it is not impossible for these defense lines plus the Yanlong Fortress itself to eat 70,000 or 80,000 Stasi. As for the price to be paid by Falkenridge, Ielloh's initial prediction was that there would be only about 30,000 people to lose.

However, once the war was in full swing, there were still about 100,000 or so in reserve behind the 300,000 regular Stasi troops currently stationed at the border.

Thankfully, the head-on comparison of the forces between the two sides is not a simple 200,000 versus 400,000, but a total of 220,000 troops of Falkenridge and Weitz against Stasi's 300,000 troops - as mentioned earlier, it is unlikely that Stasi will suppress the country's troops on the frontal battlefield, and the Grand Duke of Willen of the Duchy of Weitz has always advocated friendship with Falkenridge, and 20,000 reinforcements can still be obtained.

Of course, the Stasi army has not been idle during this time, and their troops are actively preparing for the revenge that Grand Duke Jon has been advocating.

As the Lightning Storm project neared completion, almost all the youth of the country were encouraged to take up arms, and even some countries with close ties to Stacy had to send troops, which led to the number of reserves outside of the 300,000 regular army far exceeding Falkenridge's expectations, and everyone was ready to start a great battle with their feud Falkenridge.

For this war, and for the future rise, Stasi actually prepared an army of more than 600,000 in all aspects. This can be said to be a reckless force, because even after decades of accumulation, the population of the entire Duchy of Stassi combined is only more than five million.

Similar to Falkenridge, Stacy has his own full preparation: Falkenridge has it, they almost have it, and what Falkenridge doesn't, they have. For example...... A full five hundred dragon knights!

The Knights of the Earth Dragons are considered the ace of land warfare, so any Stasi officer who knows this information has reason to believe that their troops can break through the Flame Dragon Fortress, especially Grand Duke Jon himself, who is full of confidence in Stasi's raid on Falkenridge, and feels that he basically has the chance to win.

And under his leadership, some people have even begun to plan what to do after the capture of Zakiv.

And some of the Falkenridge generals who are familiar with Falkenridge's army are also very optimistic about this battle, Stasie, as the strongest principality, after decades of reform by Grand Duke Jon, has emerged a lot of capable people, some of whom have found out the weaknesses of the other party after studying the fighting methods of Falkenridge in history.

That is the lack of long-range firepower.

Due to the chronic lack of resources, weapons such as bows and crossbows, which consume a lot of ammunition, were not easy for Falkenridge to maintain a high level of equipment, so previous kings paid more attention to the melee training of soldiers.

As a result, their armies are not very good at defensive operations, as they lack the support of long-range firepower in defense and will collapse faster than other opponents.

This is not just his opinion, but the opinion of many of Stasi's senior officers. So the argument of the top brass of Stacy was: "Instead of waiting for Falkenridge to attack, let's concentrate on hitting it first." Not only would this give us the upper hand, but it would also force Falkenridge to go on the defensive, and the pace of the war would fall under our control. ”