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In the autumn of 1732, strange invaders from the island swept through the northeastern part of the Principality of Haysting, and the regional capital, Merzai City, could only tremble under the tremendous pressure, handing the territory and people outside the city to these crazy enemies, while Melzai City seemed to be crumbling and seemed to be unable to hold out for long.

I heard that some of the nobles of Merzai had begun to look for texts about the Church of Slark to copy and copy, and some were still looking for statues of the god Slark or simply making some temporarily, and the orders of several clay factories in the city also increased greatly in a short period of time, and the daily work was in sharp contrast, which became a sharp contrast to the general atmosphere of sorrow and rain in the city.

Of course, all of the above is a rumor, and according to the latest official explanation, the entire Merzai group is united in their determination to persist in resisting the invaders until the last second, and to be loyal to the glory of Haysting, and all the rumors that hinder this are rumors spread by the enemy to shake the morale of the army, which cannot be trusted.

Even later historians can't figure out what happened, but the situation at that time suddenly took a 180-degree turn during this period of time.

When a bloodied warrior broke through the invaders' blockade and entered Merzai, bringing in the news that Princess Sylvia had appeared in Elibrock and defeated the invaders, the whole of Merzai boiled.

Although the vast majority of Merzai did not know which of the royal family Princess Sylvia was, this did not affect the morale of the people, and the recent apparent weakening of the enemy's offensive outside the city gave the people great confidence. All of a sudden, Merzai's situation stabilized.

According to the grapevine, black smoke from the burning of certain things and the sound of smashing things can always be seen in the courtyards of some aristocratic homes. There are also some clay factory owners crying that some people are not trustworthy and so on, and these news have become interesting talk in the market for a while.

It is different from the jubilation and temporary solidarity in the city. The atmosphere in the coalition camp outside Merzai was not good.

"I hope that His Excellency the Archbishop understands our situation, our army has not yet been able to fully occupy Merzai, and now there is no stable stronghold, and it is powerless to sow the glory of the Lord, only by capturing Merzai can we establish ourselves here, and we can better serve God!"

A man with a muscular physique and dignified manners who spoke, with dark gray hair and short beard, was none other than Ilka Khan, the leader of the Blue Lords' side of the coalition. He is over 50 years old, and his spirit is still strong, and his voice is very loud. In addition, he is far taller than the average Wayne Islander, and has a very strong oppressive force towards others, which makes his subordinates tremble in front of him.

However, as the object of his current conversation, the diminutive figure sitting opposite him was not affected in the slightest, and replied in his characteristic shrill voice like a eunuch in the palace: "I know the Tao, so it is necessary for these heretics to understand the glory and authority of the god Slark, and the inevitable bloodshed is necessary, and we will do it in order to obey the will of God." Remember, mercy to the infidels is sin!"

"It's not a matter of bloodshed, and I don't have pity for these infidels. We don't know what will happen to the situation in Bern, but the princes of Haysting have no small amount of power. Our army now has only 30,000 men. Counting the manpower scattered all over the place, there are only more than 20,000 people here now, and the troops are already tight if they want to capture Merzai. It is really powerless to divide the troops elsewhere. If the other Haysting princes or the royal family react, it will be difficult for our army to fight. Based on this, I believe that the most important thing now is to capture Merzai first......"

Ilka Khan wanted to explain the situation facing the coalition forces to Archbishop Bovey in front of him. He was asked to give up his unrealistic ideas, but the result was that Bovey dismissed him with a word.

"What fear the heathen, a warrior blessed by God can defeat a hundredfold number of heathen with one man. ”

Hearing the archbishop's unreliable words, Ilkhahan's heavy eyebrows furrowed, and he didn't want to or know how to answer, so he could only be silent. But the archbishop's next words almost made him turn his face.

"It is not enough to warn these heretics with bloodshed, for the heathen of Eeribrock are so rampant that they dare to attack the warriors of the gods, and even the valiant Baines and the pious Tasgata are sacrificed there, and they must be punished severely. If the lord of Ilka Khan is unable to deal with it, then I will lead the congregation to go in person. ”

Previously, Bovey demanded a deeper "kingdom" of the nearby occupied areas, which was actually exactly the same as looting and massacre except for the name. Now he further asked to send troops to Eeriblock, and threatened in his words that if Ilka Khan did not agree, then he would directly pull the church army in the coalition army forward, you must know that one third of the more than 20,000 people here are church troops, once Bovila goes to Elibrock, it is equivalent to the coalition army is scattered, relying on these current manpower to capture Merzai, who has recovered morale, it is even more difficult, and there will be problems in the control area that has stabilized.

"It is the will of the god Srakna that the sins of the heathen cannot be cleansed without capital punishment. ”

Bovey's tone was extremely firm. He was like a humanoid tree rooted in the earth of fanaticism and prejudice, and had never acted only on his delusions, without taking into account any big picture that he considered insignificant, and unfortunately, the needs of the Blue Lord's side seemed irrelevant to him.

After experiencing Bovey's stubbornness, Ilkhahan felt a little angry, which was rare for him who had always been calm.

Taking a deep breath, Ilka Khan suppressed his boiling anger and tried to slow down his tone: "Lord Archbishop, mobilizing the army to Elibrock is too slow and takes too long. I would like to send a mixed force of 1,000 cavalry and infantry, and 2,000 troops with the Templars to Elybrock, which will be much faster and will be enough to suppress the rebellion of the infidels. God's punishment can be inflicted on the pagans as soon as possible. ”

"Well, that's fine. Archbishop Bovey finally nodded. But the cleansing must continue, or these sinful heretics will never know the fear of the gods. ”

"Can you not kill women and children?" because of the wanton behavior of the church army in the occupied area. After several purges, the prime men were either killed or fled, and most of the women and children who remained were women, children and the elderly, and the blue lords led by Ilka Khan came here to occupy new territories and build their own country, and they were really killed by the church army, so what is the use of leaving a land? Even with the support of the Gantt Empire, without the most important human resources, how long can these invaders stay here?

"Women give birth to children. These pagans do not respect the doctrine, so when they are born and grow up, they are also pagan warriors, and those old people were once pagan warriors, and their sins are irrefutable!"

In the face of Ikar Khan's questioning, Bovey immediately raised his voice and his attitude changed to domineering.

"It's God's will, not his own will, Ikar Khan. What objections do you have?"

Hearing this, Ikar Khan thought to himself, "You have borrowed the will of God, so what's the use of me raising objections?" But this can't be said. In order to avoid the split of the coalition forces, he could only say helplessly: "Then do it according to His Excellency the Archbishop." ”

Watching Bovizhi leave the tent triumphantly, Ikar Khan angrily spat on the ground.

This kind of behavior is something that the nobles on the mainland will never do. However, in fact, Ikar Khan, who also holds the high-ranking title of pirate leader, does not have the slightest pressure to do it, just like he usually behaves with people. In his eyes, the hypocritical and useless actions of the aristocracy were worthless. Pragmatism is what they have always followed as pirates from the Wayne Isles, as if they had faith in the god Slarkna. If it is advantageous, it will be used, and if it is useless, it will be thrown aside.

But it's a pity that today Ikar Khan met a god stick who was even more despicable and shameless than him, and he had an extra layer of divine disguise than him, this feeling of being disgusted made him feel disgusted from the bottom of his heart, but he was helpless.

"Big brother, if these cavalry are sent out, we will have no mobile forces for the time being. "A man came out of the back of the tent, apparently he had been eavesdropping on the sidelines.

"It's okay, Gadaru. Ikar Khan was not surprised by Gadaru's appearance, indicating that Gadaru's eavesdropping was also tacitly approved by him.

Gadaru was a rugged-looking middle-aged man, with tanned skin on his stout body, and the deepest feature was the blood-red beard on his chin. It has always been rumored in the Wayne Islands that Gadaru's beard was not originally this color, but it was only because he liked to drink the blood of his enemies that it eventually became like this.

Gadaru has never objected to or acknowledged such rumors, but his cruelty and bravery are well known among the Azure Lords, and he is also the biggest supporter of Ikar Khan among the Azure Lords.

"Then let this old god stick be so arrogant, why don't you ......" Gadaru made a knife and slashed down.

"No, that's a bunch of crazy people, and we don't get anything good of that. "Ikar Khan knew that Gadaru wanted to kill Bovi and then directly reorganize the church army. This method is often used in the infighting between the blue lords, and Ikar Khan is also considered one of the veterans, but unfortunately it cannot be used at this time.

It's easy to kill Bovey, but the possibility of successfully absorbing the church army is almost none, the biggest possibility is that the church army directly provokes civil strife, those religious lunatics never care about the overall situation, once this happens, then this invasion is a complete failure, which is completely unacceptable to all Ikar Khan, who has already bet on all Ikar Khan.

"Then let this old god stick continue like this?" said Gadaru, who was still unconvinced, but the cunning in his eyes could not escape the eyes of the old and spicy Ikar Khan.

Ikar Khan and Bovey can be regarded as the two giants of this coalition, whether it is the people below or the Gantt Empire behind them, they don't want these two people to be in harmony, otherwise how can there be a chance for others?

Gadaru knew this, and Ikar Khan himself knew it too.

The loyalty of the Azure Lords?

Ikar Khan didn't believe that he had such a thing, and pushed others for himself, and the answer was obvious. Now the blue lords, including Gadaru, support him because they think he can bring them benefits, and if one day he fails, those vicious and greedy sharks will never miss the opportunity to bite him to pieces.

However, Ikar Khan knew in his heart, and he didn't say it, but said: "No way, the Church of Slark is an overly sharp sword, but the hilt is not in our hands, in order to prevent injury, we need to stand farther away." Gadalu, there's something you need to do. ”

"Big brother, you say. ”

"You go and contact General Morpheus on Gantt's side, it's time for them to help. I don't want to pay anything to get the fattest part, there is no such good thing in this world. ”

"Understood, I'll go. ”

Gadaru nodded, taking this matter for granted. As one of the masterminds behind this invasion, the Gantt Empire did not simply send them from the pirates, but also provided continuous support in terms of logistics and intelligence, otherwise the coalition forces would have swept the Merzai region so conveniently.

Of course, this support is not without a price, and the coalition forces have paid a lot for both current and future benefits.

For the blue lords who have actually had to hand over the Lair under the oppression of the powerful military forces of the Gantt Empire, they do not have a way out like the Church of Slarkna, and if they can't establish their own country here, not only will all the initial efforts be wasted, but the future will also be gloomy.

For the Gantt Empire, it would be best if the coalition could succeed, and there would be one more assistant for the battle for the Golden Passage, and it would be able to jam the necks of the other two powers, so they wouldn't mind a small favor if necessary.

After Gadaru had retreated, Ikar Khan walked over to a large map of Haysting hanging on the wall, his eyes wandered over it, and after a moment of resting on Merzai, he continued to move northwest, and then stopped, not moving......

......

At the same time, on the other side, the people of Eribrock, who are regarded as sinners, are enjoying a hard-won peace.

“...... In order to ensure the safety of the rear, we should take the initiative to attack, do not need too many troops, and only use small groups of cavalry for flexible harassment. As long as there are a few more victories, it will greatly boost the confidence of the people and those princes who are still waiting, as long as they have their support, the strength of Her Royal Highness will be further improved, and then we and the Merzai defenders will be like two nails nailed to the necks and ankles of those invaders, and then it will be the time for us to officially counterattack......"

In the conference room, Eric pointed to the sand table and made an impassioned speech, sharing his strategic ideas one by one.

Even those who hate Eric have to admit that his abilities are very good, not only in military strategy, but also in political affairs, in the words of the goddess, he has the ability to match his ambitions.

"What do you think, Gehr?" After listening to Eric's narration, Sylvia turned her gaze to Gehr, for whom Gehr was arguably her most trusted person.

"I agree. (To be continued......)