Sinakh's latest order was for Faust and Semir to quietly go to the city of Enriel in the plains of Duk, while he himself remained in the occupied city-state of the Barun kingdom, the most frontier province of what is now the kingdom of Assyria, enjoying the fruits and pleasures of the conqueror. By this time, the kingdom of Barun had ceded its land and surrendered to Sinakh, the fighting in its territory had subsided, and the second phase of the war between the nations had largely ended.

The biggest loser in this melee is, of course, the kingdom of Baron, but the biggest gainer is a god - Enril!

The main god of Assyria and Hatti was Enril, who opened up new territories and built temples there to establish new rules in the name of the gods, which also represented the expansion of the priestly nobility and the power of the temple. Enriel's divine realm is getting wider and wider, and Marduk is losing and retreating, this is not a direct confrontation between the two great gods, but the result of a human war.

In a sense, the Assyrian kingdom was one of the most important pawns in Enriel's hands, and Sinach's ambitions, Faust's strategy, and more or less were guided by this god, and many of their thoughts and wishes were even directly related to Enriel's oracle. For example, when Sinach had just ascended the throne, Enril sent down an oracle saying that he would be the great king of the continent and hinting at what he should do.

When the fierce fighting of the Barron Kingdom gradually subsided, this melee of the nations entered its third phase. Sinakh's ambitions were ignited, and his goal was to set his sights on the Duc Plains, having established the city of Enriel as a strategic base, and the next step was to break through the city of Salem and block the trade routes of the Black Fire Swamp.

Sinakh's conservative plan was to divide this fertile land equally between the north and south of the Hatti Kingdom, and the best plan was to completely occupy the entire Duk Plain. If this goal is achieved, the power of the Assyrian kingdom will reach its peak on the continent, and Sinach will become the greatest king of all time!

Sinach sent Faust and Semir to the city of Enriel quietly, in fact, they were also hinted at by Enriel. The great god prophesied the future of the Duk Plain based on the development of the battle and the balance of forces between the sides, and his own guidance became part of this prophecy.

At first, Aesop did not know that his opponent had changed, and that the military and political power in Enriel was no longer a warrior Philistine, but Faust who was a strategist. Faust did not reveal his strategic intentions at first, nor did he show his face in public, but secretly strengthened the power of the city of Enriel, and even deliberately showed weakness in several frictional clashes on the surface.

Through the conquest of the Barun kingdom, the Assyrian kingdom captured a large number of people and became slaves, which Faust took the opportunity to solve the most difficult logistical problems. He gave the slaves a way to live, or hope, that if they could transport enough production and strategic supplies across the Assyrian plateau to the city of Enriel, they would be free to become inhabitants of the city-state, and they would be able to make meritorious deeds on the battlefield and gain a piece of land.

The trail over the Assyrian Plateau was cold and steep, and the loss of personnel and supplies was great, but with such a policy, the captive slaves could voluntarily sell their lives. The Legion of Giants has been assembled, and a larger army of reservists has emerged in the city of Enriel as civilians, stockpiling supplies and crafting weapons.

News of King Sinakh's conquest of Barun had reached the city of Enriel, and many of the warriors who fought in that battle had become the kingdom's new nobility, owning large tracts of land and a large number of slaves. This also made the soldiers in the city of Enriel who had not yet achieved results both envious and expectant, and they eagerly hoped to conquer the city of Salem and become the new upstart on the plains of Duk.

The Kingdom of Barun submitted to the Assyrian kingdom, except that it did not build temples for Enriel in the city-states of the country, and in other respects it was very similar to the submission of the Hatian kingdom to the Eju Empire, and Sinach proclaimed himself the Assyrian Emperor.

Aesop and the others also found out that the situation in Enriel City was more or less right, but at this time, there was another more important thing that attracted everyone's attention, that is, the latest changes in the situation between the Assyrian Empire, the Barron Kingdom, and the Hati Kingdom. While Faust was plotting in the city of Enriel, the war in the kingdom of Barron had completely subsided, and the Assyrian Emperor Sinach sent an envoy to the capital of Hatti to negotiate an alliance with King Asher.

Had it not been for Sinakh's sudden attack on Barren from the northeast, the Hati kingdom would not have won a great victory on the Western Front, and Asher was also a direct beneficiary, and the two kings had already sent emissaries to each other to congratulate the victory. Now that Assyria and Hatti had each gained something, Sinach made another suggestion to consolidate their success.

He first proposed that the two countries become allies, strengthen trade and trade cooperation, and repatriate fugitive slaves to each other. In addition, Sinach also specifically mentioned the question of the ownership of the Duk Plain, and he suggested that the north and south should be demarcated and divided equally, so that this thousand-mile fertile land would become the new border between the two countries.

In Sinakh's proposal, the cities of Enril in the far north of the plain and Salem in the north-center were the territory of the Assyrian kingdom, while the cities of Meso and Budamia in the south were of course the territory of the Hattian kingdom, and also included large uncultivated areas, both much larger than the existing territories controlled by the two countries. Judging from the current actual situation, this proposal is beneficial to both sides.

However, there was a question that Sinach deliberately did not mention, and he included the sphere of influence controlled by the city of Salem into the territory of the Assyrian kingdom, just to test the attitude of the Hatian kingdom. Assher, the king of Hattish, ostensibly did not want to turn against the Assyrian Empire, which was currently in power, and sent an emissary to reply interestingly.

He expressed his hope that the two countries would form a friendly alliance, and at the same time called Sinnah the Assyrian the great. However, he also mentioned in his letter that he had canonized Amun as the Prince of Salem, and that the 200-mile radius around the city of Salem was the territory of the Prince of Salem, which belonged to the god Amun! If the will of the god Amun made the city of Salem submit to the Assyrian Empire, Hati would not stop it.

On the surface, the Hati Kingdom did not oppose the painting circles between the north and the south, but also stated that the ownership of Salem City was not decided by the two countries, but also depended on the choice of the people of Salem City.

The Hati kingdom had just taken possession of the city of Budamia and the west bank of the Eude, and the newly established city-state of Meso was also in the middle of the city, so it was wise to gain a foothold in the southern part of the Duc Plain and expand again, and there was no spare strength to fight against the Assyrian kingdom for the time being. But Asher and Sinach probably knew in their hearts that in the future there was a high probability that there would be a conflict between the two countries on the Duc Plain, depending on who had the greater ambition and the stronger national strength.

For the time being, the city of Salem is a barrier and a nail in the coffin, stuck between the spheres of influence controlled by the two countries. The king of Asher was also pleased to see the city of Salem at war with the Assyrian Empire, but he was fortunate to be able to consolidate his business in the south of the Duc Plain, so he adopted a wait-and-see attitude, and did not directly support them militarily, nor did he prevent civilian trade and supplies.

A larger war broke out between the city of Salem and the city of Enriel, which took the initiative to provoke it, as George finally sensed the seriousness of the situation. Faust secretly accumulates strength, even if it is hidden, it is impossible to be without clues, and George Feitian reconnaissance found two anomalies.

First, there has been a significant increase in the number of people crossing the Assyrian Plateau, who used to be regular logistical quartermasters, but now there are more and more groups of ordinary immigrants, many of whom have frozen to death or even fallen to death on the sheep intestine trail on the plateau, but many more have successfully reached the city of Enriel. The second is that the city of Enriel has opened a number of new iron mines at the foot of the plateau, and most of these new arrivals are smelting refined iron.

In this way, the city of Salem has been developing rapidly in the past two years, but the strength of the city of Enriel is not as conservative as imagined. If Sinach had left his hands free to attack the Plains of Durk after the Barun conquest, the city of Salem would have been very passive. It's time for a real decisive battle, and once and for all, the city of Salem will be completely consolidated by defeating Enriel and blocking the sheep trail in the Assyrian plateau.

George also encountered a dangerous situation when he was suddenly attacked by several flying shuttles over the Assyrian plateau, and he escaped quickly without a fight, only to learn that Faust, the sage of the Assyrian kingdom, had arrived in the city of Enriel, and the situation was very bad.

While George was discussing countermeasures with Aesop and the others, the trade route of the Black Fire Swamp had another accident, and a caravan was intercepted and killed, and a large amount of supplies were destroyed and abandoned in the swamp. There are only two entrances to the trade route in the Black Fire Swamp, which are in the hands of the city-state of Syria and the city of Salem, and it is difficult for a non-top master to pass through the swamp and ambush in the trade route, what is going on?

The "Swamp Goddess" Yunmeng was ordered to investigate, and it turned out that it was the work of Enriel City. Some people disguised themselves as caravans and carried war materials into the trade route, and the city of Salem was currently in need of war materials, so they also bought weapons from the outside world, and the border on the side of the Syrian city-state was completely permitted. But after these people entered the Black Fire Swamp, they found a suitable spot halfway and left the trade route and lurked.

Instead of attacking the official logistics delivered by the Kingdom of Hati, they attacked a civilian caravan that traded with the city of Salem, and then dived into the depths of the swamp to hide. Yunmeng found these people in the swamp, and captured and interrogated them all before finding out that they were annihilated by Enriel City, the purpose of which was to attack the logistics and military supply lines of Salem City.

Now that the Hati Kingdom has occupied the city of Budamia and opened the shipping routes on the north and south banks of the inland lake, the trade routes in the Black Fire Swamp are no longer as important to the expeditionary force as they used to be, but for the city of Salem, they are the passages that must be secured. So Yun Meng was ordered to garrison the Black Fire Swamp and strengthened the military power of each post station on the trade route.

The accident on the trade road made Aesop realize that he could not wait so passively any longer, and the god Amun had no news, so the city of Salem decided for itself how to solve the dilemma. At this time, another skirmish broke out between the two city-states, and John led the rangers to defeat the small forces of the Legion of Giants who were trying to stir up the dispute.

George took advantage of the situation to expand the scale of the battle, led the Salem army to attack, and now the city of Salem is far stronger than the soldiers of the past, and has formed a reorganized army of 5,000 soldiers and dozens of priests, who are usually engaged in farming and take turns to act, and can be all killed to the front line in the war.

George's strategy was simple and practical, the first step was to take advantage of the onset of winter to attack the grange outside the city of Enriel, so that the enemy could not obtain the original food and grass supply; the second step was to bypass the fortified city, cut off the path from the Assyrian Plateau to the Duc Plain, and cut off the support of the city of Enriel; the third step was to outflank the city along the foot of the plateau, attack those mines, and pull out the outlying strongholds; the fourth step was to besiege the isolated city of Enriel, which was waiting for reinforcements, and not to storm it, but to besiege it!

The sheep intestine trails of the Assyrian plateau were cut off, and the granges and mines outside the city could not be cultivated and mined normally, and there was no need for a major war, and the city of Enriel would have to surrender sooner or later. George's desire to storm the city will be very costly, the Giant Legion has strong offensive and defensive equipment, if it can lead the Giant Legion out of the city to fight, it is also the result that George wants to see.

In the first wave of the attack, the city of Salem was won, and the inhabitants of the city of Enriel, who were working outside the city, fled into the city when they saw the slaughter of the Salem legions. George himself set up a defensive line between the two fortresses, and ordered John to lead a vanguard around the city to attack the passage at the foot of the Assyrian plateau, and the city of Enriel was finally met.

The Giants sent their commander Ju Fei to lead a chariot with John's cavalry at the foot of the plateau, and John won, occupying the exit of the sheep intestine trail and ordering the boulders to be chiseled to temporarily block the road. However, at this moment, Faust led the main force of the giant army suddenly out of the city and went straight to George's array.

Faust did not ask Jufei to win, and he did not send many troops to the past, in order to temporarily contain John. As soon as John won the victory in blocking the road to the plateau, Faust sent his long-standing main force to the frontal battlefield. George was already on guard, but Enriel City was stronger than he expected.

As soon as Faust opened the army formation, he launched a fierce attack, the Philistine commander jumped out of the chariot and rushed to the front with a giant sword, and the giant army also placed the heavy crossbows and siege catapults originally used to defend the city in the battle array, and launched a long-range bombardment before the charge, and the Salem army did not resist for a while.

Fortunately, there were two battle fortresses to rely on, and George commanded the army to retreat until the rear of the two fortresses formed a triangular defensive posture. Faust, on the one hand, consolidated the battle line on the front, and on the other hand, concentrated the siege troops on a fortress.

At this time, Raphael had been recruited to the Anu Legion by the Hatty Kingdom, Link was still cultivating in the Garden of Eden, and Yunmeng was sent to garrison the Black Fire Swamp. Seeing that the army arrays in the plains were about to collapse, and the fortress magic arrays could not last long, George urgently ordered Gabriel to break through and join forces with the Salem legions to shrink their forces.

A fortress was finally captured, the Great Array of Divine Arts was destroyed, and the casualties of both armies were not small, but the losses of the Salem Legion were obviously greater. To make matters worse, the link between the forward troops led by John and the main force of the legion was severed. When John realized this, he immediately led his cavalry back, trying to flank the Giant Legion in front and back.

Faust changed his tactics at this time, he placed the siege troops behind the infantry battle formation, stabilized the line with catapults and crossbow arrays, ordered all efforts to resist George's counterattack, and gathered the main force of the chariots to meet John, and destroyed this army first.

The battle was very bad, John led the cavalry desperately to rush back but fell into a heavy siege, he himself may be able to fly away at first, but the duty is not to leave the troops, and when the battle begins, there is no escape. George also launched a counter-charge, trying to meet John's breakthrough, but was overwhelmed by the defensive formation of the Giants.

The battle was finally disrupted, and George knew that the counter-charge rescue of John might not be worth the loss, but he had no way to give up. Later, the army was strangled together, and Themisus led a cavalry to rush out of a bloody way to the battlefield where John was surrounded. She didn't have to, the cavalry might have been in vain, she only wanted to attract the attention of the besiegers and create a chance for John to break through.

John saw Themisus rushing over, her red robe like a burning cloud, and then her horse was hit by an arrow, and Themisus was surrounded by a sword, her comrades were killed, and a pike spear pierced her chest. John let out the last roar of his life, brandishing his greatsword and rushing towards it like crazy. Jufei, who had pursued him and fought him again, was slain by the furious John, who eventually fell less than ten feet away from Themis.

The amputated vanguard forces were all wiped out, and the Giant Legion re-erupted after three years of combat effectiveness far beyond George's expectations. It was pointless for George to continue to launch a counter-charge to rescue and respond, but the two armies had formed a stalemate in the strangulation operation, and at this time it was impossible to retreat.

After Faust eliminated John, he organized chariots to come back and insert himself into the battlefield from both sides of the large array, and George even pushed the last reserve into the battlefield. Medanzo, who was guarding another fortress, led the defenders from the flank, smashed the outflanking chariots on the left flank, and the two sides fought until dark before collecting the army, and the Salem legion suffered heavy casualties, and the battle was completely lost.

It was only close to the collapse of the whole line, and if it had been darker and later, if Medanzo had not abandoned the unbesieged fortress in time and led the last of the new forces to reinforce from the flanks, the Salem army would have been buried here. There was a brief rest on both sides after gathering the remnants of the army, one fortress was destroyed, but the other was not lost, George still put the battle formation here, and the whole army was in a sad mood.

Finally, the fateful battle came, the goddess Mu Yun sent an oracle, Aesop led the people in the rear to hold a grand sacrifice ceremony, and the soldiers in front also prayed and called to the god Amun on the battlefield. The majestic figure of the god Amun appeared in the air with golden light, and the Salem legions were indescribably inspired by despair in an instant!

However, then everyone let out an exclamation, as the battle formation of the giant army dispersed, and a stone platform appeared, in front of which stood Faust holding his staff aloft, and in the center of the stone platform a woman shot an earth-shattering arrow.

The black crossbow arrow was aimed at the god Amun with indestructible power, and for a moment there was only the whistling sound of a giant arrow piercing the sky, and no other sound could be heard!

**

(To be continued)