Blood Dragon

Section 280 Three Worries

"In the rebellion in the valley, only Brias is left. Even if there are traps, it doesn't make any sense." Cleo replied disapprovingly.

Here is a fertile valley in the west of Gruene, already close to the border - the southwest is already close to Chur.The land was originally entrusted to nine great nobles.Back in the days of Garunas, this was definitely not a wrong choice.Because in that era, magic communication was far less smooth than it is in modern times.It will take a month to report back to Falcon City what happened on the border.The king simply cannot respond quickly to various emergencies at the border.That being the case, then the only option is for the land to be given over to loyal ministers to administer it in place of the king, thus keeping the land forever under Gruny's control - even if that means not under the king's control .

"That's true...but we still need to strengthen our defenses." Essien thought for a moment and replied. "Cleo, it's not that I'm suspicious. There have been many battles in history, where huge armies collapsed due to surprise attacks from weaker enemies."

"Then try your best to be careful." Cleo replied disinterestedly. "We've taken care of the Valley, which means..." His eyes were on the large map on the table. "Looks like we're mostly done with our mission."

Speaking of which, only half a year has passed since they started this unpopular (even considered crazy) journey with five hundred soldiers.

Essien, who was originally considered to be a rebellious, untrusted, and hopeless Essien (as many people know, when he came back from Byron anyway, he just saved his own life, even All the "knight" titles he once had were blown away), but now he has taken one step at a time, and is about to embark on the first peak of his life.And this battle against rebellion, which was originally considered to have a slim chance of winning, is now recognized as a sure thing of victory, and it is only a matter of time.

What happened in the past six months was like a dream.Sometimes, looking at the map marked with circles and crosses, Cleo himself didn't quite believe his eyes.

Although it is said that more than 80 lords have been declared rebellious by the queen, in fact, there are only about [-] who are really difficult to deal with-and now, all those "hard bones" have all become history. .With Essien's command art and Cleo's negotiation ability, the most difficult days are over.

Of course, in the eyes of some others, Essien never encountered difficulties at all.This is also the nature of human beings - always underestimating the difficulties encountered by others, always attributing the reasons for other people's success to "luck", and never thinking how sharp eyes and wise minds this luck needs to grasp.

"On the side..." Cleo changed the topic. "The four lords on the edge of the valley have all sent surrender letters."

Of course, those are just "Letters of Agreement", not "Letters of Surrender", but that is the essence.Just like a gambler who admits defeat and pays the bill out of his pocket, these lords have given up the idea of ​​resistance.

In fact, things in the world are like this-the guys who really have an unruly heart, are really rigid and uncivilized, and are determined to "live and die with their homeland" are always only a minority.Most people are holding the mood of "the law does not blame the public" and are just adding fuel to the flames.Of course, most of the time, they were able to force the king to back down, but sometimes the game got out of hand -- and here's what happened.

Under such circumstances, this kind of people who did not have firm beliefs would often choose to stand by when others were fighting, hoping to reap the fruits of victory for free.But the world is fair, and nine out of [-] people who adopt this stance will not get the fruits of victory.So the situation will develop further. For example, in the current situation, when the enemy beyond their strength hits the door, they will choose to surrender.

"Ah, that was expected." Essien replied. "Cleo, if I'm not wrong, we may not need soldiers at all, we only need messengers to end this crusade."

"Essien..." Cleo sighed softly.

"Cleo, what's wrong?" Essien narrowed his eyes. "I remember you received a letter from Falcon City today?"

"I've been getting a lot of letters these days," admitted Cleo. "Some are from magical communication, and some are brought by messengers."

"I'm guessing... the look on your face shows that we are in trouble. Since we don't have any difficulties on the battlefield now, the only reason is what happened in Falcon City. Because you just sighed instead of letting out Whining, this shows that the matter has not developed to the point of no return. In summary, I guess," Essien said with a smile. "It should be that some people are jealous of our achievements and want to get us away before we complete this crusade. Of course, it would be better to replace me. Am I right?"

"Uh..." Cleo was stunned for a while.Then he realized that Essien might have his own sources too.But anyway, Essien's composure gave him confidence.

"Essien, you know?"

"Oh, I can guess it." Essien replied. "Cleo, I have already experienced this kind of thing. Back then, I was favored by Byron and selected as the queen's bodyguard—as you know, this position means a title of knight, a noble status—this kind of thing has happened. Of course, since it only involved a knight title, the attack on me was not particularly violent. I survived... and this time, at least one The title of a duke, and a duke with his own territory... Even if you can imagine it, you can think of it."

"Do you have a solution?"

"A solution? Cleo, do you really think that I am the protagonist of those storybooks? Standing still and being able to manipulate things thousands of miles away? Just considering the various aspects of this war Trouble is running out of my brain."

"what do you mean……"

"Trust! Well, it should be said that I trust our little queen."

"Hey, Essien, why do I think you just put your head in the sand and pretended not to see it?"

"Cleo." Essien replied. "You have to understand, the two of us are people without roots. Speaking of which, you still have some reliable relatives and friends in Falcon City-in any case, they can pass on news to you, and I don't even have these friends. This It's a... battlefield where neither you nor I can do anything. On this battlefield, we are like two ordinary soldiers who can only entrust our fate to the officer who commands us. That's it. Besides, I also believe that our The eyes of a little queen... Do you still remember that she agreed to my request and gave us five hundred soldiers? This is the beginning of everything... Five hundred soldiers is not a big number, but it is enough to entrust 500 people to me like this A 'traitor' with no credit, the power that the queen possesses is not that simple."

"But if, I mean...if..."

"I don't think I'm mistaken." Essien sighed, lowered his head, and replied like this. "However, I am not 100% confident in this aspect. After all, I have made a mistake once, haven't I?"

……

"Your Majesty, this is a recent report from the front line."

Alyn sent the compiled information to the queen's desk.Gruene's information exchange system is a bit strange. The first recipient of the magic communication (and the secret letter) is the chief executive of the palace, and then the chief executive of the palace will pass it on to the ministers based on the contents of the letter.If the ministers think that a piece of information is particularly important, or they cannot make a decision, they will submit it to the king for judgment.If the king himself is unable to make a decision for a while, he will hold an imperial meeting to work together to reach a final conclusion.

This also shows the importance of the position of chief executive of the palace.Because of his existence, it is quite difficult to "deceive the superior and conceal the inferior" from happening.This position is also an important means for the king to control his ministers.

The little queen was obviously in a bad mood - it had been like this for the past few days, at least Ai Lynn didn't see her smile.

"Is there any latest news from the front line?" The little girl didn't read the document, but asked her prime minister directly.

"That's it, the first good news came. There was news from Gaohua City that the Chaos Legion finally suspended their offensive after launching a crazy attack some time ago. It seems that their attack has been thwarted by the tenacity of the defenders." Already," Allen said. "The Chaos Legion turned to attack other small castles around." He emphasized his tone, "The situation is similar to the last time the Chaos Legion invaded."

The last time the Chaos Legion invaded, although they achieved the record of capturing White Castle and killing the former King Gruni, they finally stopped at the city of Sarek.The reaction of the Chaos Legion at that time was similar: first, a desperate and frantic siege.But after finding that it was really difficult for them to gnaw this hard bone, they turned to siege instead of attacking, and allocated part of their forces to attack the surrounding castles and villages (every settlement in the northeast of Gruney has strong fortifications) .The intention of the Chaos Legion is undoubtedly to use the tactic of "siege and cut off food", but in the end they underestimated the preparations of the defenders, and the defenders can last much longer than they expected.The final result of this incident was that the chaotic army spent several months in embarrassment and used a disastrous magic to turn the entire city of Sarek into a plague hell.The city's surviving residents (that is, those lucky enough to suffer from non-fatal diseases) are rare.

For this reason, the Chaos Legion wasted a whole year under the city of Sarek, lost a great opportunity, and was finally defeated by Belial.

But this time, everyone in Falcon City was worried that Gaohua City would be captured in one fell swoop, but now it seems that their worries are unnecessary.The Chaos Legion may be stronger than last time, but things are not out of control.

In any case, at this time a large army has been assembled on the front line, ready to launch a counterattack at any time.

"It's really good news... what about the others?" After hearing the news, the little girl seemed to feel a little better.

"Earl Ashrufat sent a message. According to his opinion, since Gaohua City is not in danger of being captured in a short period of time, he thinks that the attack should be postponed and wait for a better time."

"What about other people's opinions?"

"General Beryl and General Barranca agree with the earl's opinion, but Viscount Parry thinks that the battle should be settled quickly. Because there is information that the reinforcements of Chaos are still coming. He also wrote you an additional letter The letter said that Ashurfat was afraid of the enemy and dared not attack."

Regarding this, the little girl didn't believe it at all.

"Anything else?"

"Besides... there is also the matter of General Essien."