in the name of the queen.

Chapter 319 To save or not to save?
Roland's return came just in time.

His prestige in the four overseas provinces is greater than that of Queen Sylph.

Many people may not recognize the queen, but they will definitely recognize him as the governor.

Although he had now been granted the title of Caesar, the people of the four overseas provinces were still accustomed to calling him Governor.

This makes the distance seem closer.

The title of Caesar was too far-fetched, and they preferred to accept the rule of the governor.

When Roland got off the carriage and walked towards the square, the negative impact of the alarm bell disappeared.

Looking at his confident smile, everyone felt relieved.

Sif even breathed a sigh of relief.

Applause and cheers rang out one after another, echoing throughout the square.

They thought of the many years of glory of the Sussex Empire and how the combination of Roland and Sif had never suffered any loss.

No matter whether it was the ruler of the Golden Kite Kingdom or the envoy of the Vladimir Empire, they all suffered heavy losses in front of them.

Even the Rurik's Shadow Temple suffered three consecutive defeats at the hands of Roland.

Thinking of these brilliant achievements, people's confidence instantly swelled.

Even the Vladimir Empire is no match for them, so what is the mere Pruden Kingdom?

No matter who backs them, if they dare to invade, they will have to bear the terrible consequences.

The wrath of the empire will eventually come.

When Queen Sif and Roland embraced each other in the square, the applause became even louder.

Their scandal has been going on for so many years that everyone has gotten used to it.

Earlier, some people were jealous, but now everyone can only wish them well.

Lisa did not leave the carriage. She sat quietly by the window and watched through the curtains as Roland and Sif hugged each other tightly.

There was only each other in their eyes, and the whole world seemed to disappear.

No one could come between them, not even she.

But she was not depressed.

At least there was one thing she knew before Sif.

Before they kissed, she had already secretly kissed the drunk Roland.

Thinking of the night when she lost and regained her possessions, a smug smile appeared on the corners of her lips.

But her smile only lasted for a short while before it froze on her lips. She suddenly remembered that Roland had actually established a soul-blood link with Alina first.

Alina's joining gave them a better chance of winning, but it also made her feel a little more uneasy.

Lisa pondered for a moment, then smiled and shook her head.

This is something Sif should consider. She is not Roland's legal wife, so it is not her turn to take care of it.

After lowering the curtains, Lisa leaned back in the chair and closed her eyes.

The war finally came.

Tonight is the last peace. Starting tomorrow until the sixth day of return, she must fight to the end for survival and unspeakable emotions.

She will survive, she will!

Lisa had a good idea, but unfortunately the reality was not as she wished.

There is no peace tonight.

As Christine rushed back, a military meeting was held overnight.

Although the arrival rate of senior military officers was not high, Christine couldn't wait any longer.

She arrived just in time. The doctor couldn't save the signalman, but she could.

He drank the holy water and holy light together, and after the long spell was chanted, the dying signalman retracted the half foot that was reaching towards the underworld and opened his eyes.

After some questioning, Christine basically grasped the intelligence from the front line and held a meeting to respond without hesitation.

Speed ​​is of the essence in war, every minute is precious, she dare not waste it.

While Christine was rescuing people and collecting intelligence, Roland also briefly told Sif what happened in Jin Yuan.

Also brought along was a handwritten letter from Alina.

Sif flipped through Alina's letter expressionlessly, tore it up and threw it into the trash can.

"She's sensible. If she doesn't punish Elaine, I will kill this idiot myself."

"This matter ends here."

Sif's tone was calm, as if she was talking about a trivial matter.

She did not forgive Elaine, but she did not want to destroy the overall situation of the alliance between the two countries. Elaine did not have a sense of the overall situation, but she did.

Throwing the handwritten letter into the trash basket as if it were garbage, Sif smiled and asked:

"It seems like you've gained a lot this time. By the way, how many people can the Soul Blood Link connect to at most?"

"Four people." Roland said calmly.

"Me, Lisa, and that woman, there's still one person missing. Who are you going to find?"

Sif was curious.

The soul-blood link is no joke.

This is really a group of grasshoppers on a rope.

If anyone dies in battle, everyone will die.

The soul-blood link formed at the seventh level can only be broken when reaching the fourth level.

With Roland as the core, his atria and ventricles each have a blood line connecting the participants.

Alina and Lisa had already connected with Roland, and Sif did not act pretentiously and quickly completed the connection ceremony.

There is only one spot left among the four, and Sif's brain is working fast, looking for a suitable target.

To join the soul-blood link, you must first have strength comparable to theirs.

This restriction blocks almost all candidates.

The only extraordinary people she knew who were strong enough were Christine, Angelina and the sea witch Adina.

Angelina is an enemy, eliminate her immediately.

Although the Sea Witch is nominally her stepmother, she is also the leader of the sea demon clan. She is almost invincible in the sea and has no reason to fight against Sophia.

The Sea Witch and the old Emperor Edward have a very good relationship. If they successfully give birth to offspring, she will not only have no reason to help Sif, but will even hope for Sif's death.

If Sif dies, the Sea Witch's child will have the opportunity to inherit the throne of the Sussex Empire.

Sif excluded the Sea Witch without hesitation.

After much thought, Christine is the only one left.

"What do you think of Saint Christine?" Sif's eyes lit up.

"No." Roland was silent for a moment and shook his head slowly.

Although Christine was nominally his subordinate, she was independent.

She has her own interests.

Her ultimate goal is to become the future Pope of the Court of Light and help restore the Wende Empire.

Before reaching their goal, they were allies, but she was also a loyal believer of the Goddess of Light.

If the Goddess of Light issues an oracle, she will most likely become an enemy.

Facing Sif's puzzled look, Roland smiled and reminded her, "She is the Saint of Light. We are standing on the opposite side of light."

Sif was silent for a moment, sighed softly, and no longer insisted.

Roland didn't say it explicitly, but she understood.

The fanaticism of extreme religious people is simply incomprehensible to ordinary people.

If the Goddess of Light secretly sent down an oracle, saying that Roland was a devil in human skin, and asked Christine to find a way to kill Roland, even if it was a one-for-one exchange, it would be fine.

The goddess could promise Christine that as long as she killed Roland, she would be resurrected and enter the divine realm. How could Christine refuse?
If Christine was devout enough, she wouldn't even have to slash at Roland. She could just get a soul-stealing dagger and commit suicide.

If she died, Roland would be buried with her.

Similarly, the saints of the three major religions cannot be believed.

Don't try to reason with the clergy, they become irrational when they are fanatical.

"It doesn't matter, just a few of us are enough."

Sif placed her hands on Roland's shoulders, looked up at him, smiled and whispered, "I didn't slack off during your three months away. I have mastered all the swordplay and physical skills recorded in the elven books."

Roland knew it even without her saying it.

As the last members of the royal family and the last sage, she and Roland could sense each other's changes.

During the three months in the Kingdom of Golden Kite, Roland enjoyed the softness of his lap pillow at night, but was busy giving lectures and preaching during the day, and was never idle at all.

As his knowledge spread, his collection of badges grew.

As I opened the soul cards, the number of gray unknown badges that had not yet been lit up became fewer and fewer. If only I had a few more years, it would be great.

Roland thought to himself.

This is unfair, Sophia became a transcendent several years earlier than him.

But this is fair, it's his fault for being slow to catch on.

The soul-blood link connects him with Sif, Lisa, and Alina, increasing his strength by at least six times. Is Sophia going to call the police?
Thinking of this, Roland's lips curled up into a smile.

As long as Sophia is not invincible by rules, he has the confidence to fight her.

Seeing that Roland had regained his confidence, Sif took his hand and spoke in an especially gentle voice.

"Let's go, the military meeting will start soon and we must be present."

Sif placed her soft hand on Roland's palm, pressed it against his shoulder, and felt his accelerating heartbeat. Finally, she resisted the urge to ask any more questions.

My mother said that as long as you don't look for it, adultery doesn't exist.

Nine out of ten people's troubles come from unwillingness.

She had already figured it out.

She figured it out the first day Roland went to the Kingdom of Golden Kite.

If he did something, she could consider it part of the deal, the necessary price for the alliance.

She could feel Roland's uneasiness and guilt. At least he didn't seem to be justified, and that was enough.

Only a stupid woman would roast the man she loves over the fire.

Rather than curse with her hands on her hips or cry silently, she would rather keep a gentle smile.

Let's leave these things to her next year.

If she still has next year.

When Sif and Roland walked into the military command hall, all the participants had just arrived.

Christine shouted coldly, "Everyone stand up and salute the Queen and His Majesty Caesar!"

Senior officers, led by Porthos, stood up suddenly and saluted Sif and Roland in unison.

There was no panic on their faces, only excitement.

Roland nodded with satisfaction.

Very good, morale is high and the troops are ready to fight.

Sif calmly returned the greeting, pressing down with one hand to signal everyone to sit down.

"General Christine, in order to facilitate the overall command of the war, your rank will be promoted to Army General from today on. Please continue."

Sif did not interfere with Christine. She just sat in the main seat next to Roland and gave her support.

As the saying goes, "Birds of a feather flock together." After being with Roland for a long time, she had already been deeply influenced by him without realizing it.

Her military command level is similar to Roland's.

The theoretical knowledge is quite solid, but the practical experience is very scarce.

Memories of military battles during the Elf Empire's time began to appear in her mind at some point.

If she traveled back to the Third Age to command the army of blood elves and ancient trees, she would be able to do it, but this is the human army of the Sixth Age.

Thinking of this, Sif smiled self-deprecatingly.

As the queen of humans, she is actually better at commanding the elven army.

It’s really hard to put it into words.

Seeing that Sif and Roland didn't say anything, Christine breathed a sigh of relief.

Although she knew Roland would support him, she was somewhat worried about Sif.

A woman’s natural enemy is always another woman.

Although the scandal between her and Roland was nipped in the bud before it could spread, Roland's absolute trust in her went far beyond the scope of friendship.

A considerable number of the Free Alliance's troops are poorly trained, and the army's strength is already inferior to that of the Holy Alliance. If Sif continues to hold them back, there will be no need to fight this battle.

If Sif came here to give instructions today, she would run away early tomorrow morning.

If someone above is micromanaging, even if the God of War descends to the earth, he will not be able to win the battle.

Fortunately, it’s not the worst result.

Christine took the organized intelligence and explained it to the two big leaders and all the senior generals.

According to the intelligence sent by the signalmen, the situation on the Franks front was quite bad.

The garrison stationed in Franks was a reinforced division commanded by General Dairon and local garrison troops.

The reinforced division has 1.5 times the strength of the reorganized division, with a total of nearly people. The entire division is equipped with tens of thousands of muskets, more than war horses and artillery pieces. It is a very powerful mobile force.

The Franks local garrison had about 7,000 men and more than 30 artillery pieces.

Combined with the outer fortifications, trenches, and bastions, the chance of the Franks Fortress being breached head-on was very low.

Unless more than 100,000 troops and three times the number of artillery are dispatched.

The Kingdom of Pruden.
出动了第1、3、4、6四个整编军，其中第1军和第6军都是获得黑底银十字战旗的王牌部队。

The war had already broken out for three days since the signalmen broke out.

It would take at least ten days to organize reinforcements and reach Franks at full speed.

The speed at which the army marches cannot be the same as the speed at which the signalmen travel at full speed.

Rescue requires at least a comparable number of troops. It would be very time-consuming to dispatch an army of 100,000, and if the number of people is too small, the rescue would be a waste of effort.

It's been nearly half a month. Can General Dai Long hold on?

The command room was completely silent, as if in death.

All those present were professionals, and they were not optimistic about this battle to defend the city.

According to the information from the signalman, the outer bastions and fortifications had already fallen when he broke out, and the situation was precarious.

While this council of war was going on, the Frankish fortress had probably already fallen.

Although no one likes defeatism, reality must always be faced.

A mature and prudent general said in a deep voice:
"I have known General Dai Long for many years and I know him very well. As long as there is still hope, he will definitely seek support instead of asking us to prepare for the rear defense and not to provide support in the letter."

"It's cruel to say this, but the Franks Fortress may not be able to be defended."

The old general sighed and said helplessly:
"The distance from Hansa to Franks is about 300 miles. If the reinforcements rush to Franks, they will most likely face an enemy army that is well-rested and waiting for them to tire themselves out. Then they will be surrounded and attacked."

After the old general said these words, he seemed to have used up all his strength and sat down dejectedly.

The Pruden Kingdom's mobilization of all its mobile forces for a surprise attack did exceed many people's expectations.

But the war is still long, and it is better to abandon a fortress and preserve precious manpower than to be surrounded and attacked by reinforcements.

Several generals then spoke one after another.

Rational people suggested giving up the rescue and setting up a new line of defense.

The enthusiasts demanded immediate support.

Their reason was simple: what if the Franks Fortress still held on?
Giving up on them would discourage everyone and their morale would collapse.

Even if you are destined to fail, you can be saved.

Christine said nothing, listened to the generals' argument silently, and turned her gaze to Roland.

"Governor, what do you think?"

"I support your decision." Roland kicked the ball back without hesitation.

If he could handle this complicated situation, would he still need to ask Christine?

"Any decision?" Christine continued.

Roland's heart trembled. He probably thought of what Christine would choose.

She is always so cold-blooded when it's time to give up.

Looking into Christine's deep eyes, Roland's words changed when they reached his lips.

"Yes, any decision."

Christine's face was calm, but the corners of her lips were raised in an imperceptible arc.

She stood up suddenly and raised the golden dagger that represented the emperor's authority.

"Generals, I have made my decision."

"The Franks Fortress must be rescued, but the army cannot be dispatched rashly. I will personally lead 7,000 cavalry to relieve the pressure on General Dailong through harassment and other means."

"Porthos, you must reorganize the army as quickly as possible and march at a normal speed. Make sure to maintain the combat effectiveness and morale of the army and be prepared for rescue and decisive battle."

As orders were issued one after another, Christine's rescue deployment was quickly completed.

She turned her head and glanced at Roland, her calm eyes showing a hint of mockery.

As if telling Roland something.

(End of this chapter)