There is no suspense in the war. Both the aristocracy and the commoners believed that the defeat of France was close at hand. It was only in a state of extreme desperation and helplessness that France would hand over the command of the army to a girl who was born from a peasant family, who could not read a large number of characters, and who had just turned seventeen this year.

It's just inexplicable.

After receiving the news, Artoria simply muttered, "Is Philip II crazy?" and threw the information aside. Completely ignore it.

In Artoria's mind, even if she takes 10,000 steps back, the other party is really an excellent talent and a very good general. However, France is now at the end of the mountain, and no nobles have responded to his call, and most of the mercenaries hired with royal property have run away. Today, the total number of soldiers under Philip II's command who can fight is probably not more than 3,000. And what about yourself. Although all the British conscripts were sent back. But he still had close to 10,000 Celtic and Norman regular troops, and more than 10,000 Breton troops. Combined with the French aristocratic troops who have come to defect in the recent past, Artoria's army is still maintained at about 30,000.

At the same time, the Burgundians had sent 27,000 men - and before that, the Burgundians had not gained enough because the Normans had taken Paris first. So this time, the Burgundians were gearing up to be the first to break through Orleans in order to take advantage of the opportunity to expand their territory.

In addition, there is Aquitaine, Duke Edward IV of Aquitaine has recovered a lot after the capture of Toulouse, and he can also mobilize an army of 10,000 to 20,000 troops. At the same time, Edward IV coveted the land of Anjou. The likely surnames involved in this war are very large.

This adds up to 60,000 to 70,000 troops that the new Norman-Burgundy-Aquitaine coalition could mobilize. Twenty times more than the other party. If she still loses, Artoria has nothing to say.

However, things are not as simple as Artoria imagined. In Orleans, although Philip II was still reassured, he was helpless. Eventually, the maiden assured him, "For the time being, France really needs a king, and you are a good candidate." Philip II pardoned her sins and appointed her commander-in-chief of the French army.

Of course, the current French army is only two or three thousand men. Although all of them were the most loyal to Philip II, the vast majority were nobles, knights, vassals, and veterans, such people with fighting power. But after all, the number of people is still too small. With such an army alone, it is impossible to fight an enemy twenty times more than oneself. So, the maiden, who had cut off her long hair and changed her skirt to armor, felt that she needed more soldiers, more people, people willing to fight for France.

As she had said before, the girl seemed to possess magical powers that would make people feel convinced, and after her persuasion, the guards and prisoners of the prison where she had been imprisoned volunteered to accompany her into battle. These were the first soldiers she recruited.

After this, the girl traveled around Orleans to gather all the citizens who had been displaced by the war. Then came the bandits, bandits, and mobs in the nearby mountains...... The maiden indeed possessed magical powers, and these lawless villains, after meeting her, completely changed their minds and became the most staunch patriots and warriors. When those who had never seen the maiden laughed at them and said that they were stupefied, those who were inspired by the maiden would be astonished and would reply as if they had been insulted in some way.

"Not like that, though the girl is beautiful. But what attracted us was something else. ”

In this way, in a matter of days, the young girl had assembled an army of more than 10,000 men, even though they were poorly equipped and undisciplined. But all of them are full of energy, and their morale is high, as if they are ants attracted by honey. Every day, there will be people who come to join the girl's army.

In this way, the army that the maiden needs is enough. Add to this the French army, which was also inspired by the spirit of the maiden, and in this way, the maiden had 14,000 soldiers. Although it is still three or four times smaller than the coalition army in terms of numbers, it already has the strength to fight a war.

The situation at this moment is more or less like this. Artoria's strategic mind, or bad intentions, is still good, or crooked, and of course there is another reason to wait for Egil to come over and take charge of the overall situation. Therefore, the army remained in Paris, and only the Aquitaine and Burgundian armies were still advancing.

After analyzing the situation, the French aristocratic generals decided that they should first go south to defeat the weakest Aquitaine army, and then go north to defeat Burgundy. Finally, a general decisive battle with the Normans.

But such a suggestion was rejected by the girl.

"If this is the case, even if our army can win one after another, it will suffer heavy losses. In the end, it was bound to fail at the hands of the Normans. The maiden said, "After all, our numbers are too small to fight many battles in a row. ”

"If so, what do you want to do?" asked the French generals, unconvinced.

"It's just grass on the wall. She pointed to a sketchy map of Burgundy and Aquitaine: "Whichever is stronger, they will follow the other." So, if we can defeat the Normans, there's a good chance we'll change their minds. Of course, maybe the Burgundians had a little more difficulty. After all, they have a more serious tendency to read. But Aquitaine is different. They were French all along. Even if it is for a while, it will not turn back. will also hesitate to choose de facto neutrality. ”

"Even so, the other side is a Norman, and their numbers and combat effectiveness are the strongest among the coalition forces. At the same time, their commander, Artoria, was also the best general in the coalition......" replied the noble generals, and it was evident that if they fought against the Burgundians, or the Aquitaines, they would still have the courage to fight, but if they faced the Norman army, they would have no courage.

“...... It's okay. I can handle her. The girl said calmly.

Despite the girl's assurances, the others didn't seem to believe what she said. And if you can't convince these guys, then even though the girl is the commander of this army, and the vast majority of the people in this army are also inspired by the girl, that's why they came...... But there will not be enough commanders to use, and the combat effectiveness of this army will drop a lot.

"Didn't you hear her?!" At this moment, a fiery voice came from behind the crowd, and before they could look back to see who was so bold. The owner of the voice couldn't wait to squeeze away from the person next to him and stand up.

The guy had brown hair, an angular face, a full suit of heavy chain mail, and a very loud voice.

"Lahair—you are but an attendant of His Majesty's Majesty! it is not your turn to intervene in such matters!" said the offended noble general, frowning at the man, as if sensing that he had been insulted.

"Now the matter is about the life and death of France! Every Frenchman, nobles and commoners, can join in!" argued the man known as Laher. I was not at all afraid because the other party was a marquis of such and such a place.

"You fellow......" Seeing that a lowly squire dared to talk to him like this, a certain marquis angrily pressed his hand on the hilt of his sword. But he was worried and did not pull it out.

After all, Lahair's strength is very strong, and he is one of the best warriors in the whole of France. Although this earl also boasted of his bravery, he still felt that he did not have much chance of winning against Shanglahaier.

"Okay guys, be quiet a bit. Just when the scene was extremely tense, and the marquis and Lahaire were not giving in to each other, the other person beside him seemed to be a little unbearable, so he stopped him.

The people followed the sound and looked over, but it was Baron Laval, Gilles de Res. The young marshal of France, if this girl had not appeared, then Baron Gilles should have been the commander of this army. And now, Baron Gilles is the maiden's deputy.

The baron did not seem to be dissatisfied with this, and was very attentive to assist the girl in all her work, and the girl may be quite strategic, and devout in faith, and charming. But they don't have enough experience in how to command an army. If it weren't for the assistance of Baron Giles, he might not have been able to bring this army to the front intact.

That's it, the baron's title is not very large, though. As his hereditary domain, Laval had also been occupied by the Normans. But by virtue of the prestige he had accumulated, as well as his good conduct and suave surname, Gilles had a very high prestige in the French army, especially among the upper echelons of the army.

Seeing that Baron Gilles had spoken, and that the marquis had also gone down the stairs, he snorted coldly and withdrew his sword.

So all eyes were on the baron, waiting to see what he had to say.

Baron Gilles nodded to his colleagues before he spoke, "I support Joan of Arc's opinion......"

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