Why did the lord rebel

Chapter 465 Fortuna
Although the entire beheading operation was approved by the Imperial Army in advance, the capture of Dalton Wakemar did not actually play the role expected by the top military officials.

After Frost Maple Ridge escorted Dalton Vekmar back to Yongsun City for custody, the Empire immediately issued an official document in the official name of His Majesty Basil III and the Imperial Royal Family, stating that the "Supreme Military Commander of the Glorious Federation was taken by the Empire" The "major victory" of "captives" was announced to the world.

In the anticipation of the military staff, this news will undoubtedly deal a greater blow to the federal orcs who were already severely frustrated in the civil fort, thus completely destroying the morale and fighting spirit of the federal army.

However, to the surprise of all the people in the empire, it was known that after Dun Vekmar was captured, the federal orcs entrenched in the occupied area of ​​the eastern border did not wear mourning clothes and cry day and night;
Instead, the Federation immediately responded with a sharp diplomatic communiqué, reprimanding the "insidious imperial humans" for using despicable means and violating the mainland's military ethics to directly attack the enemy's head of state. determination.

——As for Dalton Wakemar, who is currently imprisoned in Eversun City, no matter whether he is facing the soft grind or hard foam of the Imperial Army, there is only one sentence in his mouth:

Our Glorious Federation only has warriors who died in battle, not cowards who surrendered to the enemy!
Even, according to the information collected by the Rose City Whitehall, after Dalton Vekmar was captured, the Glorious Federation held a war ceremony in Thorn City almost as quickly as lightning, taking a member of the Vekmar tribe The younger generation was elected as the acting commander, and immediately turned the "Xishou" Dalton Wakemar into the mascot-style Zhu Qizhen and the Supreme Emperor.

All of this makes the situation of the regular imperial army extremely embarrassing:

In order to capture Dalton Vikma, they paid a large amount of rewards to the Duke of Frost Maple Ridge who was loyal to the country beforehand, including all kinds of weird charging items-similar to "fuel expenses", "food expenses" ", "mechanical maintenance fees" are acceptable, but such items as "knight appearance fee", "reputation loss fee" and "psychiatric treatment fee" have reached the point of heinousness;

But now it seems that spending huge sums of money to capture the supreme military commander of the Federation not only failed to bring any advantage to the empire in the war situation, but put them under enormous pressure from public opinion:

For the most honorable civilizations on the continent, it is obviously not an honorable act to sneak up on enemy leaders in war.

The most important thing is that even the tragic victory of Civil Fortress, the ultimate harvest is quite limited.

After all the painstaking efforts to drive away the frontline defenders of the orcs and recapture the Burning Crystal Canyon in the Central Plains, what was left to the imperial people by the Glorious Federation was actually a devastated and barren wilderness.

In this occupied area given up by the orc army, the former human residents either fled westward to the Central Plains at the beginning of the war, or were swept back to the east by the retreating Dragon Flame Legion. Nor does it capture any wealth or productivity that is available in the short run.

——Even, in order to prevent the glorious Federation from making a comeback, the Imperial Army cautiously withdrew into Jiaoshi Town and temporarily gave way to the Burning Crystal Canyon area. In the past few days, no soldiers have been sent to the east.

It was so hard to usher in the victory of the civil fort battle. If the sweetness obtained in the end is only this little, no one with normal intelligence in the empire will be able to accept it.

At this time, Grand Duke Grimo Rosario, who was in charge of military affairs in the Eastern Territory, was undoubtedly not a fool.

After the plan of kidnapping Commander Dalton Wakemar and slamming the orcs for a fortune fell through, Grand Duke Rosario and Chief of General Staff Quentin quickly learned from the painful experience and summoned all the senior officers on the front line of the empire to join forces. A military meeting was held for several days and nights.

As an outsider on the battlefield, the senior official Xiahou was busy counting money in the bed of Elm Castle every day. He didn't want to participate in the boring wrangling of the imperial military, but he was dragged by Quentin's chief of staff to listen to several meetings;

At the meeting, Grand Duke Rosario's meaning was very clear:

We must take advantage of the fact that the orcs have lost their supreme military commander and have no leader, and pluck out a few more fangs from the fierce tiger of the Glorious Federation!
——Once this precious time window is missed and the orc army is allowed to recuperate slowly, the empire will be digging its own grave!

Under the order of the Grand Duke Rosario, the Imperial Army's General Staff quickly drew up a counterattack plan with the high efficiency of 996 workers who owed a huge house debt:

According to the plan, the Imperial Army, which has recently been supplemented by soldiers from the rear, will march in three routes from the burning crystal canyon line in the near future, trying to recover important strongholds such as Shanchagang, Sifangbao, and Sad Ridge in the eastern border occupation area, and save the remains of human beings from the fire and water. Restoring the empire's territory from loss, the ultimate goal is to push into Thorn City, the stronghold of the federal orcs in the east!
As soon as this plan, which was so full of martial arts virtues, came out, Xia Houyan Youbang, who was watching coldly, was surprised:
In his opinion, it is a good thing that Fela's unbearable imperial regular army can hold the Burning Crystal Canyon and not lose it again;

But they never expected that Archduke Rosario and Quentin's Chief of Staff would be so fierce, and they were planning to counterattack and use the plan of returning home!
But it makes sense to think about it:

The Battle of the Civil Fort was already so unlucky that the imperial regular army could not drink cold water. It was the only successful victory in recent years. The capture of Dalton Wakemar was a godsend by accident;

——If taking advantage of such a good opportunity, if the empire can't regain the lost ground, then there is no hope in the future, His Majesty Basil III might as well go to the back of the palace to find a tree with a crooked neck and hang himself!
Grand Duke Rosario's wild attack plan is not without the gambler's mentality of trying to change a bicycle into a motorcycle, and success or failure depends on one stroke.

Seeing that the regular army of the empire is on the rise, the Duke of Frost Maple Ridge and "President of Southern Military Affairs" Elliot Igor, who is famous for his loyalty and courage in the Haven Continent, of course wants to help out!

Not long after Grand Duke Rosario's "Counterattack Plan" was issued, Mr. Bob Brook, the trade representative from Frost Maple Ridge, lost no time in grandly launching a "package of arms purchase plan":
With a kind smile on his face, Mr. Brooke enthusiastically proposed to the military representatives that in order to support the Empire in its war and restore the glory of the Holy Spirit, the great Elliott Igor is willing to sell a batch of The "coffin book" of munitions collected by Shuangfengling not only includes "flame sandwich candies" and "big Ivan" and other products that have proven themselves in the war, but also includes a batch of secrets newly developed by the Manhattan laboratory arms!
Everyone in the imperial army, from Grim Rosario to the trainee staff of the General Staff, knows that this little bastard, Elliot Igor, is happily making war fortune again;

But the real tragedy of life is that sometimes even when you know you're being exploited, there's nothing you can do about it.

At this very moment, the regular army of the Empire, which has been severely injured in the flames of war, still needs to rely on Shuangfengling's high-end ammunition to support the battle!

If the official Xiahou was an insignificant ordinary nobleman, the empire might be able to find a reason to behead the girl on the front line, and then generously take the wealth and military power of Shuangfengling as its own——

——However, this guy is the war hero of the empire, the president of Southern Military Affairs, and the powerful Duke of Shuangfengling!
——However, now is the critical juncture of the war, and the front line of the empire is full of clues, and every single hair will affect the whole body!

If the empire at this time dared to imitate Jiang Gong's play of fighting against the outside world, the soldiers of the front-line regiments would rise up under the instigation of Shuangfengling, turn around and enter the imperial capital to seize the throne of Basil III. The bird is here!

Therefore, even though it was extremely unwilling and unwilling, the empire finally held its nose and paid the full amount for Shuangfengling to buy the military purchase;
When the Duke of Shuangfengling had tears in his eyes and shouted "for the sake of the Holy Spirit, for the victory, and for the class friendship of our brothers and sisters in the empire", he delivered a cartload of ammunition to the imperial army and pocketed bags of gold coins During the shooting, the expression on the face of Prime Minister Guillaume Gaunt, who was in charge of distributing money, was worse than eating shit.

However, with all this capital, the counterattack of the imperial army was completely on the verge of an arrow, and had to be launched.

On April 96th, 27th year of the Imperial Calendar, the Imperial Central Route Army, which had been dormant in the camp of Jiaoshi Town for a long time, finally played a high-spirited battle song, swearing blood and sending troops to the east in the south wind.

From Jiaoshi Town to the east and then to Tumu Fort, it is only a few tens of miles away, but the Eastern Expedition Central Army, which was reorganized and formed by the remnants of the Eastern Army of the Empire and the Central Army, has come out of the vicissitudes of life. Sensation——When the civil fort that had become a pile of rubble and ruins reappeared in front of the soldiers, the smell of gunpowder smoke from the battle of defending the city not long ago seemed to come to their nostrils again;
What is even more touching is that the orc camp across the canyon from the ruins of the civil castle has also been empty at this moment, and there are no fireworks;
Only the totem flag that the Dragon Flame Legion didn't have time to take away was left, and it was still planted far away on the small hills piled up with ashes, swaying alone in the wind.

In order to support the Empire's Eastern Expedition Central Route Army, Xia Houyan deliberately took a group of all-powerful Shuangfengling literary workers who played, played, played and sang, and set off to the Tumu Fort with the Central Route Army.Along the way, Grand Duke Rosario and Chief of Staff Quentin have been trying to persuade Xiahou to send Igor's pioneering army to join the battle, but when several high-level empire officials stood on the ruined wall of the civil fort and looked eastward, Grimm Grand Duke Rosario suddenly fell silent.

Grand Duke Rosario, who has become more and more tired in recent days, looked at the remnants of the orc camp on the other side of the canyon rolling yellow sand, and looked at the vanguard scouts of the empire walking in the canyon. He sighed and said softly:
"It's hundreds of miles to Thorn City, and I don't know how many people the goddess of fate will let go back safely?"

The high-ranking officers of the empire present couldn't help but look distressed when they heard the words, and wondered if it was too unlucky and morale-damaging for Lord Rosario to say such words on the day of the expedition?
Only Xia Houyan, who was standing beside the Grand Duke Rosario with his arms folded, sneered again and again:

"Life is earned by yourself, my respected His Excellency Grand Duke Grim Rosario. You may wish to guess, when our Igor family dragged our family into the land of cracked souls, when Frost Maple Ridge When the army of tens of thousands of orcs invaded, when all the bastard nobles of the empire were criticizing us—you may wish to guess, how many times have we prayed to the goddess of fate?"

Grand Duke Rosario and other imperial officers were speechless:
They understood that the answer to the Lord Duke of Shuangfengling's question was undoubtedly a big "zero".

Xia Houyan squinted at the gloomy Grand Duke Rosario, paused for a moment, and said abruptly:

"If you need it, we, Frost Maple Ridge, can transfer an elite force from Elm Castle to follow your regular army on the eastward march."

The blood color suddenly returned to the weary face of the Grand Duke of Rose City.

"Really? Elliot..." Grand Duke Grim Rosario could hardly restrain the trembling in his voice, "...Are you finally willing to send troops to fight?"

"Shuangfengling is willing to participate in the war...under certain conditions." Xia Houyan looked at the Grand Duke indifferently, "Please understand, my respected Grand Duke, I did not make this decision for the sake of the empire, or out of any political considerations... …We, Frost Maple Ridge, decided to join the war because of you, Grim Rosario, who gave selfless assistance in the early days of our territory, and knowing how to repay your kindness is the fine character of a Hua-Haiwen people. Secondly, Qiangwei The city has what I need for myself... at least I hope so."

Day and night, the imperial officers who were thinking about Shuangfengling's attack were all filled with excitement. Few of them thought about what the rich and powerful Duke of Shuangfengling would look for in the long-occupied Rose City. s things.

"Thank you..." Grand Duke Rosario trembled, "Eliot, the Empire... No, the people of the Empire will thank you for this decision."

"Don't get too excited, my Grand Duke Grimm Rosario." Xia Houyan raised a hand and refused coldly. "As I said, Frost Maple Ridge's participation in the war is conditional—the Empire and the Whenever Basil III agrees to my conditions, Frost Maple Ridge's Type [-] 'Apocalypse' chariot will start from Elm Castle."

Grand Duke Graham Rosario pursed his lips and asked:
"Eliot, what's your condition?"

"The imperial family revoked all previous accusations and judgments against Vincent Igor and the Igor family, publicly acknowledged the mistake of executing Vincent Igor and Anna Igor and apologized for it." Xiahou Yan said word by word, "Until the Igor family fully restores the reputation, status and rights before the treason case, and until Vincent Igor is rehabilitated, the people of Frost Maple Ridge will not go to the east of the Burning Crystal Canyon." Take a step."

Everyone present gasped.

"Eliot..." Grand Duke Rosario was short of breath, "...this is totally unprecedented..."

Prime Minister Guillaume Gaunt, who has been listening in, said loudly:

"Master Igor! You have to understand that the conspiracy case at that time had conclusive evidence—"

"Lord Rosario, Prime Minister Gunter..." Xia Houyan interrupted their speech, taking off his white gloves one finger at a time, and said slowly but unwaveringly, "I think that in the current empire , whether a person is guilty or innocent...is for me to decide."

There was no sound at the top of the civil castle filled with smoke and dust.

Turning his head and looking east, at the bottom of the huge Burning Crystal Canyon, there are still battle scars and corpses.

Grand Duke Grim Rosario was silent for a long time before he squeezed out a bitter smile:

"Honestly, Elliott... I've seen this day coming...I've known that you'll bring this up again one day..."

"If the Goddess of Destiny really existed... she would never be merciful, would she?" Xia Houyan glanced at the senior officers present, clenched his gloves into his fists, and left the city without looking back.

(End of this chapter)