Chapter 515: Difficulty

"Your Highness, urgent news that the Commander of the El Legion has succeeded in capturing the city of Gipsis. According to www.biquge.info the confessions of the captives, the next fortress city, Roberto Via, was also garrisoned by only 1,000 men, and it was said to be a medical base for the armed treatment of wounded soldiers of the Commercial Alliance, with a large number of medical potions in stock. Commander El asks for a continuation of the raid on Roberto Via, and he is confident that he will take the city before the Merchant Alliance forces react......"

Genolio's expression was a little sleepy, and he yawned as he read the message that had just arrived. After taking the city of Molent, Lorist has not closed his eyes for three days and two nights, as his personal attendant, Genorio has only taken time to rest for less than four hours, this is still Lorlist's care for him, basically all the Norton family high-level are busy, and no one can sleep if some arrangements are not arranged properly in these three days.

"It's enough to get El back and take Gipsys, we don't need to take Roberto Via again. Ovicis has already recruited nearly 30,000 laborers in the shantytowns and slums outside the city to carry food and grass for us to carry food and grass for us. Let the Commander of the El Legion hurry up and clear the armaments and materials of Gypsys City and transfer them to Thomas City, he only has two days, and all the materials that cannot be carried will be burned at that time, and they must not fall into the hands of the commercial alliance forces again, we will leave them an empty city. ”

Lorist's eyes were a little bloodshot, even if he was a sword saint and had extremely strong physical fitness, but sleeping was human instinct, and he was also tired after staying up for so long, but at this time, he couldn't fall, and he had to persevere.

"Tell the Commander of the El Legion that if the Merchant Alliance forces at the front get the news that the city of Morente has fallen and the city of Thomas, the city of Gypsys has fallen into our hands, then they will definitely raise troops to attack the city of Morente. Without the logistical supplies provided by the rear, the commercial alliance forces on the front line would definitely not be able to hold out for half a month. Therefore, if you don't want to be wiped out, the business alliance forces must take the city of Moriente within half a month. All we need to do now is gather our forces to hold the city of Morente, and leave the rest to the Flying Tiger Legion and the Hunter Legion. ”

"Yes, Your Highness, I understand, and I'll send a message to El Legion Commander right away. Genorio perked himself together and hurried away.

"Your Highness, Lord Tagar asks to see you. A guard came in to report.

"Let him in. Lorist said.

Targer, also with a tired face, appeared in front of Lorlist.

"Is it all arranged?" Lorist asked.

"Yes, Your Highness, the high-ranking officials of the twenty-nine chambers of commerce and their families, seventeen great swordsmen and their relatives have all boarded the ship, along with ninety-two nobles of the Commercial Alliance and the family of the Golden Swordsman, a total of one thousand seven hundred and forty-eight people, and six hundred and forty-eight maids and servant attendants have also boarded the ship. Master Jim has sent five bronze cannons on each of the eight large armed warships, fifty meters away from the slipway, to ensure that there is no way for the dignitaries on board to escape...... "Targer reported immediately.

"Woo ......" Lorist let out a sigh: "Finally, we can let everyone sleep peacefully, you can also go and take a good rest, the past three days have really worked hard for everyone." ”

The surrender of the inner city and the arrival of the city of Moriente did not mean that everything was over, on the contrary, Lorist and the upper echelons of the family were more vigilant. Without him, just because there are seventeen enshrined great swordsmen and forty golden swordsmen from various chambers of commerce in the inner city, this is a high-end combat force that cannot be ignored by Lorist. Although they had laid down their arms and surrendered, Lorist could not put them aside at will.

Lorist's presence can guarantee that nothing will happen, but if Lorist is not there, no one will be able to stop these great swordsmen and golden swordsmen from making a sudden attack. The problem was that Lorist couldn't always be in charge of guarding these high-end captives, and after thinking about it, it was Tagger who finally came up with an idea.

Tagger said that if these captives were not placed on the ship, the Golden Bay was now under the control of the Norton family fleet, and the placement of these high-end combat captives of the commercial alliance on the ship would also reduce the number of guards. If it were to be placed on land, it would take at least one corps just to guard against these captives.

Lorist was overjoyed, he was inspired by Targer's suggestion, and immediately ordered the two giant ships of Sepnim surrendered by the Fourth Squadron of the Armada to be the center, surrounded by a circle of large and damaged armed warships, and then connected to those captured medium-sized fast armed warships, all of which were removed from the masts, and connected with wooden planks to build a three-story chain slipway, and then dragged to the center of the Golden Bay to anchor and fix, and then all the great swordsmen, golden swordsmen, high-ranking members of the Chamber of Commerce and the nobles of the alliance were placed on this chain slipway.

Anyway, the wind and waves in Zangjin Bay are calm, and such a huge chain slipway does not have to worry about being bumped by the wind and waves, standing on the slipway as if walking on the ground. Even in order to keep the captives from feeling shabby, Lorist ordered a large number of fine household items to be brought from the inner city, laid expensive carpets on the slipway, and allowed these noble captives to go to this huge slipway with their attendants, maids and servants to spend their captive life.

With this chain slipway as a place for these noble captives, as well as the high-end combat power of the business alliance that gave Lorist a headache, the Norton family forces who occupied Molent City were finally relieved that they did not need to draw a large number of troops to guard against these captives. Lorist drew eight of the dozen or so large armed warships equipped with bronze guns that blocked the entrance to the sea, anchored around this slipway, and asked Jim, the deputy commander of the artillery battalion, to arrange five marine bronze guns on each large armed warship to aim at the slipway.

"Your Highness, the noble prisoners on the slipway have been settled, but the 100,000 or so residents of the inner city who have been arranged in the prisoner of war camp in the fleet district have protested to us. Instead of resting, Tagel said with a wry smile.

"Protest, what are they protesting, and we've already done what we promised them!" Lorist curled the corners of his mouth. After separating the surrendered high-ranking chamber of commerce, nobles, great swordsmen, and golden swordsmen from those ordinary chamber of commerce personnel and armed guards, these ordinary captives could only be kneaded by Lorist.

"They protested that the food we were serving was too poor to fill their stomachs......"

"Hehe......" Lorist laughed, "they can take out gold coins to buy if they don't have enough to eat, and we haven't violated their sacred private property rights, anyway, they took their money with them when they left the inner city." As captives, they should be aware of their suffering, and we have provided them with food and water free of charge to ensure that they will not starve to death. It's the time of war, and they should know the preciousness of food. You can't be a prisoner and ask us to provide them with wine and meat, there is no such reason in the world. ”

Lorist always meant what he said, and he did keep his promise to provide free food and drink to the hundreds of thousands of captives in the inner city, as well as a guarantee that their personal belongings would not be touched. However, all he provided was two bowls of gruel that could be seen in the shadow of each captive a day, and the water was sufficient, so Lorist had people dig a canal to the prisoner of war camp, and they could drink enough to drink water.

At the same time, however, Lorist opened a tavern in the prisoner-of-war camp, where the prisoners could eat and drink at their expense. Because it is a monopoly business, the price is a bit expensive, a glass of ale wine outside costs a large silver coin for five copper coins here, and three croissants and honey bread outside only cost a small silver coin, and a gold coin is sold here...... Since the camp had only been open for three days, the tavern had little business at the moment, but Lorist was not in a hurry.

"Well, I'll order Pachko to bring a Guards Regiment to keep order in the prisoner of war camp and fleet area. Anyway, now that the Armada is gone, when Sambarwood sends those Armada captives to Hilois Island and sends the list of prisoners of war over, we can divide the families of those sailors and sailors in the fleet area into two parts, and those who are still alive can send their families to Hilowas, and the families of the dead who have died in battle will be combined with the prisoners in the inner city. I believe that the 12,000-strong Guards Regiment of Pachko will be enough to deal with the 100,000 or so unarmed captives. ”

Lorist thought for a while and made a decision, the hundreds of thousands of prisoner of war camp members in the inner city are the backbone and diehards of the various chambers of commerce of the business alliance, either managers or armed guards, Lorist is not interested in fighting for the refuge and effectiveness of these people, in his eyes, these prisoners of war are all shining golden human wallets, he is thinking about how to squeeze these people dry. In order to get these people to surrender, he promised very generous terms, promising not to plunder the private property of these prisoners of war, but this did not mean that there was no way to empty the wallets of these prisoners of war......

If it is the twenty-four districts of the outer city, Lorist may need to think more, after all, those twenty-four communities have a population of one million, and even if they are suppressed, it will be a lose-lose situation. But the 100,000 or so people in the inner city left the inner city and were placed in the prisoner of war camp in the fleet district, which is equivalent to the fish and meat in front of Lorist, and they can be slaughtered as much as they want, if there is a mess, Lorist can use this as an excuse to overturn his promise to kill and plunder their property, anyway, these people will not be used by him, it is better to kill them cleanly.

"By the way, did the crew sailors and their families who surrendered of the Fourth Squadron get on board?" asked Lorlist.

"Come aboard, Your Highness, and they will depart for the island of Hilovas at three o'clock this afternoon. Tugger replied.

The docklands of Moriente City are communal, but the fleet area is a residential area reserved for members of the Armada. Lorist was already fighting the idea of the surrendered crew and sailors of the Armada, all experienced seafarers. For the next plan, Lorist needed a large convoy of transports, and in the absence of manpower, he turned his attention to the crews and sailors of these surrendered armadas.

It was not Lorist's good intentions to send the surrendered crew members and their families in the fleet area to the island of Hirowas for reunion, but to force the surrendered crew members and sailors to join the Norton family for the sake of their families' better lives, and at the same time to take these family members hostage, as long as they have concerns in their hearts, then these crews and sailors will do their best to do their job.

"Also, Your Highness, Captain Bironk of the Rock Legion has taken one regiment to occupy the warehouse area outside the East Gate, and Commander Jeders has taken three battalions to occupy the trade area. Lord Reddy went to the Outer Twenty-Four Districts to maintain order, Lord Bodfinger left a battalion behind the inner city, and the city of Moriente was basically under our control......" Tagger concluded.

"Alas!" Lorist sighed again, and the soldiers hated less when they were used. Two legions and eight corps of 96,000 men and horses, but they are stretched thin in this city of more than one million people, and there is a need for manpower everywhere, and there are defensive loopholes everywhere. Still thinking about what to loot for wealth, now even the coffers of those chambers of commerce in the inner city lack manpower to clean up.

There were four legions of the Guards, with Eland Ovicis leading a corps to raid the cities of Thomas and Gypsis, and the Great Sword Division of Hughes leading a corps to defend the outer walls. The remaining two corps, one defending the dock area, and the other corps was garrisoned by Pachko in the fleet area and the prisoner of war camp in the inner city arranged there.

Of the four corps of the Rock Legion, Reddy led two corps to maintain order in the twenty-four districts of the outer city, and one corps was occupied by the Nerunek commander in the warehouse area outside the east gate, which was the largest material storage base arranged by the Business Alliance in Morent City, and there was no room for error. The remaining regiment was split in two, and Jeders and his three battalions occupied the trade district, which was the center of commerce and trade in the city of Morente, where all the registered chambers of commerce of the merchant alliance had opened their merchant shops, and it was also a treasure trove of wealth.

Bodfinger was stationed in the empty inner city with one of the remaining battalions, where the warehouses, vaults, arsenals, and so on had not yet been cleared. And the city of Morente still has the temple area and the academy area, and there are some places such as Bryn Hill that do not have troops to occupy. Lorist was already unable to recruit manpower, and now even he was accompanied by a hundred-man guard.

"Just wait for them to come back. Lorist deceived himself and said, "Targer, is there any news about the letter eagle sent to the family domain?"

"Not yet, I guess it'll take another day or two. Tugger replied.

"Okay, let's do it for now, being able to coax those great swordsmen onto the slipway has already reduced our stress a lot. People are more popular than people, there are so many great swordsmen in the business alliance, and there are so many of them left in Molente City by various chambers of commerce alone, which has already exceeded the total number of great swordsmen in our kingdom......"

"Your Highness, do you want to recruit a few from these imprisoned Great Swordsmen for our family?" Tagger suggested.

Lorist shook his head: "Forget it, it is difficult for the Great Sword Master to be recruited to guarantee their loyalty. These great swordsmen are either cultivated by those chambers of commerce or are the same as Yinggerek, greedy for life and afraid of death, and there is nothing capable under them. Forget it, in a few years, our family will have a few more Great Sword Masters, such as Tiger Ross and Bodefinger are likely to be promoted to Great Sword Masters. ”

As he spoke, Lorist also yawned: "Let's do this first, I'll go lie down for a while, I haven't closed my eyes for three days." Tagger, you should also go and take a rest, take care of your body, so that you can serve the family better......"

"Yes, Your Highness, you have a good rest, I will step back first. ”

Lorist said he was lying down, but after lying down, he slept for seventeen hours in one go. When he woke up, he opened his eyes and found Genorio standing in front of him with red eyes.

Lorist was taken aback by him: "What's the matter, what's wrong?

"Your Highness, it's not good, Lord Bérunek made a count after occupying the storage base outside the east gate, and found that the food stored there was not enough to supply the millions of people in Morent City, and most of them were coarse grains, and it was estimated that it would only last for another fourteen or fifteen days at most. "Genolio reports bad news to Lorlist.

......