Why did the lord rebel

Chapter 507 Chapter The Road to Victory

When Xiahou Yan stretched out his hand and pushed open the door of the "Olav's Roost" meeting room, he clearly felt that the atmosphere in the room was stagnant for a moment because of his appearance.

Then, the various nobles who had just been leisurely leaning back in their chairs and chatting, responded one after another.

  When Grand Duke Grimm Rosario saw Xia Houyan coming in, he immediately smiled and stood up to greet the Duke of Frost Maple Ridge.

However, even though Grand Duke Rosario had been in politics for decades, he did not expect that someone would be quicker than him:

The dozen or so southern nobles sitting on the right side of the conference room jumped up suddenly the same second Xiahou Yan appeared, as if someone had put needles on their chairs, passed high voltage electricity on the carpet, or poured slop on their bodies. They hurriedly took two steps forward and nodded and bowed to the confused Duke of Frost Maple Ridge.

Xiahou Yan actually didn't recognize the faces of these southern nobles, but he intuitively felt that these guys were definitely old acquaintances of his - because as soon as he saw their annoying expressions, his fists inexplicably began to stir.

In addition to this bunch of Southern Territory rubbish who were afraid of ropes after being bitten once, there was another person Xiahou Yan had not expected, who suddenly popped up:

"Lord Elliot Igor! Long time no see!" Count Joyce Halledine bowed deeply to Xia Houyan and showed a friendly smile full of revolutionary friendship. "How have you been recently?"

Xia Houyan had indeed not expected that the young earl from the Sunset Forest would actually appear on the bloody front. He had not had any contact with Joyce Hallerdine for a long time since the last St. Augustus Festival when he helped this local drunkard ascend to the position of Earl of Hallerdine.

However, judging from the smell of alcohol in Joyce Halledine's mouth, she must have been drunk again early in the morning.

"Joyce!" Xiahou Yan ignored the stupid southern nobles and dodged Joyce Hallerdine's attempt to give him a bear hug. He politely extended his hand and shook hands with the earl. "Why are you here at the Bloody Front? Is the Earldom of Hallerdine also going to participate in the Battle of Thorn City?"

"It is the duty of our Halledine family to help our most beloved ally and benefactor, the great Frost Maple Ridge and Lord Duke Elliot Igor, in times of war!" Joyce Halledine patted her chest enthusiastically.

Xiahou Yan couldn't help but think with some sadness, maybe this guy got drunk again one day and was fooled by the imperial envoy, and decided to send troops to participate in the Eastern Expedition while drunk...

With the pitiful size of the County of Hallerday being barely enough to defend itself, it was actually not worthy of participating in this bloody and cruel imperial war.

Xiahou Yan patted Count Halledine on the shoulder, nodded slightly to Archduke Rosario and Chief of Staff Quentin, then ignored Marquis Liam who was huddled in his chair, and sat down on the gold-rimmed chair specially reserved for him by the nobles.

It was not until this time that the imperial nobles who had stood up because of the appearance of the Lord of Frost Maple Ridge finally sat down again in fear - however, the group of nobles around Xiahou Yan moved their chairs outwards intentionally or unintentionally, forming an empty vacuum around him.

Joyce Hallerdine wanted to be closer to the Duke of Frost Maple Ridge, but unfortunately the status of the Earldom of Hallerdine was too low, so he could only sit at the outermost edge of the conference room, far away from Xiahou Yan.

"Well, now that everyone is here, let's start this war council." Chief of Staff Quentin announced somewhat helplessly, "Now let me explain the agenda of the council..."

In a sense, the current situation of the two military personnel, Chief of Staff Quentin and Marquis Liam, is indeed somewhat awkward: they were originally the leaders of the Imperial Army throughout the war, however, due to their limited titles, they have no say in the War Council where the Imperial nobles gather - Marquis Liam can bully the officers and soldiers under the Central Army, but he really can't do anything to the group of dukes and marquises in this conference hall.

Only Grand Duke Grimm Rosario, who not only holds the military command but is also the most powerful noble in the empire, can remain calm in this war council. The Grand Duke sat on the gold-rimmed chair next to Xia Houyan, listening attentively to Chief of Staff Quentin's explanation.

"Prime Minister Gaunt didn't come today?" Xiahou Yan looked around and found that an important person was missing, so he poked Archduke Rosario's arm and asked quietly.

Archduke Rosario blinked:

"Ah, Guillaume Gaunt was still in Olaf's Roost two days ago. But it seems that something suddenly happened in the imperial capital that needed him, so he rushed back overnight last night."

Xiahou Yan said "Oh": Whether it was for political achievements or to personally supervise the war, Prime Minister Guillaume Gaunt insisted on staying on the front line during the war; unexpectedly, at the critical juncture of the War Parliament, this political leader who was quite capable of coordinating the overall situation in the parliament ran back to the imperial capital for something...

"First, I want to explain to you the military's plan for attacking Thorn City." Chief of Staff Quentin said solemnly, "I hope that in the subsequent siege, our plan will be able to gain your cooperation..."

Chief of Staff Quentin did not receive any response from the nobles present. The imperial lords present were all "smart people" who cherished their own possessions and sucked their fingers. No one wanted to lose their own manpower in order to "cooperate" with the imperial military's offensive plan.

Chief of Staff Quentin had obviously anticipated this cold reaction. He sighed inaudibly, shook his head and said:

"Please read the situation in Thorn City..."

He picked up a parchment map and unfolded it on the display stand beside him. On the pale yellow parchment, drawn with ink pen was a rough sketch of Thorn City and the surrounding areas.

Xiahou Yan was satisfied to see that the military map in the hands of the imperial military was far less detailed than the version he had obtained from Damian Wakema: on Chief of Staff Quentin's map, there were almost no markings of the locations of any federal military camps and important garrisons, and the depiction of the internal terrain of Thorn City was almost entirely based on the impression left during the Fifth War.

  Chief of Staff Quentin was completely unaware that his own map was outdated. He pointed at the wall of Thorn City on the map and said:

"Please see... Since the walls of Thorn City are hundreds of meters high and indestructible, the siege tactics we used before are almost completely ineffective. It is almost impossible to destroy the walls of this city or forcibly climb up in a conventional way. The only way to enter Thorn City is to break through one of its eight gates."

Chief of Staff Quentin took out another Nikon Magic Frame and pasted it on the display stand: the frame showed the "Caligula's Gate", the northwest side gate of the City of Thorns, taken by an imperial scout.

"Although the walls of Thorn City are indestructible, the same cannot be said for its eight gates. According to war history, every time Thorn City changed hands, it was because the attackers broke through a certain gate and shattered the defenders' defenses - this is exactly what we are going to do." Chief of Staff Quentin said firmly, "The doors of the eight gates of Thorn City were all built at the end of the Fifth War. They are made of hardwood reinforced with steel structures. Under the protection of the shaman totem poles, these doors have excellent resistance to magic and burning."

Chief of Staff Quentin picked up his pen and marked the tower next to the door on the map:

"The opening and closing of these city gates are controlled by the ancient magic devices on top of the sentry towers on both sides of each city gate. These sixteen sentry towers are part of the Moonstone City Wall, but at the bottom of each sentry tower, there are entrances to both the inside and outside of the city. This means that we can actually attack the tower from below the city, control the magic devices, and open the corresponding city gates - or, we can choose a simpler and more brutal method and use sufficiently powerful heavy firepower to directly blow down the city gates."

Archduke Rosario and Xia Houyan looked at each other for a moment, knowing that the other was thinking the same thing:

  I wonder what will happen when the solid door panels of Thorn City face off against the “Bofors” magic artillery of Frost Maple Ridge?

"Whether we choose to capture the gate opening device or attack the door directly, the most critical issue is how to advance to the foot of the city gate." Chief of Staff Quentin said in a deep voice, "Under the cover of the high walls of Thorn City, the archers, chariots and shamans of the Glorious Federation can unscrupulously pour fire on our troops, but we cannot fight back despite the height difference. This means that we must find a way to withstand the orcs' attacks and try to approach the city gate under destructive fire suppression. Gentlemen, this will be a cruel process filled with blood, sacrifice and death."

The nobles in the meeting hall looked at each other.

Everyone knows that Chief of Staff Quentin’s statement is still too conservative: if you use your brain to think about it, you will know that the process of "rushing to the city under the firepower of the orcs" can be simply translated as "suicide."

The orc army of the Glorious Federation is not a group of bandits or hooligans. The so-called "firepower" of the orcs does not refer to a few feather arrows and stones from two or three kittens, but the overwhelming "flesh and blood disaster" incendiary bombs, siege crossbows and shaman war songs!

There is no army on the continent that can advance one kilometer to the foot of the city wall under such harsh conditions and still maintain enough manpower to break through or open the gates of the City of Thorns!

"I understand your concerns!" Chief of Staff Quentin cleared his throat and raised his voice, "But this process is not as difficult as you think. History has proven countless times that Thorn City is not an iron wall city that will never fall!"

The nobles looked at Quentin with suspicion.

"Recently, the military staff and I have been studying the war history of Thorn City. We found that those successful siege cases in history all chose to use the same strategy in the end—" Chief of Staff Quentin said solemnly, "that is, using a large force to attract the firepower on the top of the city to cover a small elite force to attack the sentry towers on both sides of the city gate and activate the magic energy device to open the city gate! This is why we need all the lords present here—the regular army of the empire can take on the main attack mission, but we need the major territories in the empire under the glory of the Holy Spirit to contribute your cutting-edge strength to form a strong enough action team to take on the important task of attacking the tower and opening the city gate."

The noisy discussion flooded the meeting room.

The lords of the major territories finally realized why the Empire had issued a conscription order, and why, after a long period of silence, they finally agreed to the convening of the War Council:

The top warriors in the regular army of the empire had already been worn out in the long war, and to complete the task of opening the gates of Thorn City, the empire had to rely on the civilian forces of the major territories. No matter how poor the families of the lords present were, it was not a problem for them to contribute one or two high-level mages and a few decorated knights.

  And this is exactly the elite ranger team that the Empire needs most in the Battle of Thorn City!

However, these high-end combat forces will certainly suffer huge casualties in the process of attacking the sentry tower of Thorn City - in other words, the empire is really asking the nobles to make a huge gamble with their wives, coffins, and household registration books, and ultimately fill the gates of Thorn City with the lives of the masters!

"There are eight gates in Thorn City. We will target the 'Caligula Gate' in the northwest, the 'Merton Gate' in the west, and the 'Severus Gate' in the southwest. We will attack Thorn City from three directions!" Chief of Staff Quentin almost screamed, suppressing the imperial nobles who were whispering and complaining. "As long as we can break through any of the gates, our main force can quickly gather and enter the city from there to complete the victory in one battle!"

  Chief of Staff Quentin looked around the room and said slowly:

"In addition to these three city gates, we also have a fourth attack direction to attract the attention of the Federation through feint attacks - the 'Aurelian's Gate' located just north of Thorn City. I hope that Lord Elliot Igor and his Frost Maple Ridge soldiers will be responsible for it alone."