Knight Lord: Start with Daily Intelligence

This gem pool provides Heisenland with an important resource, Aether Gold, at five pounds per month, making it a very important resource point indeed.

Its significance is not less than that of the Blood Mist Hills to the Green Dragon Legion.

Su Li turned to look at the primal maiden, Vidagg, and asked, "What is your relationship with the Green Dragon, as primal spirits? Will its legion get along harmoniously with you?"

"Green Dragon?" the primal maiden exclaimed, covering her mouth with her hand, looking very surprised.

"Green Dragon?"

"Green Dragon?" One after another, small spirits popped their heads out from under the lotus leaves in the pool.

Soon, three small bird people, only the size of a palm and with sparrow-like wings, flew out from the hidden water plants and stood on Kappa's head.

They had witnessed the conversation between the primal maiden Vidagg, the guardian otter Kappa, and the humans, and determined that these humans would not harm them.

So they curiously came out, eager to communicate with people. After all, they hide in this gem pool and usually have no opportunity to communicate with other creatures.

"Are you talking about the Green Dragon?"

"That particularly large creature with scales and wings? The one that breathes dragon breath?"

"The forest monster that eats people, eats spirits, and has a particularly good appetite?"

The three of them chattered a lot as soon as they appeared.

Su Li looked up at them and asked, "Who are you?"

They looked a bit like miniature harpies, but their colors were much brighter, and their eyes were clear, without the intense desire for slaughter of harpies.

"We are..." A yellow bird person was about to speak immediately.

The blue bird person next to her immediately interrupted, "Enough, Mia, you're always the one introducing us. You've introduced us three times in a row, it's my and Erin's turn this time."

The bird person named Bu Yi, who had been puffed up with pride, shrank her chest and said listlessly, "Okay, Lucy, you and Erin can introduce us this time."

The two bird people next to her then released the wings that were covering her mouth and happily said, "We are..."

Before they could continue, Bu Yi, who had just been listless, suddenly brightened her eyes and immediately raised her wings, rattling off all the information like popping beans.

"We are river sprites, living in some rivers in the Old World. Like the tree spirits, we are also natural shapeshifters and can possess terrifying war forms. From the outside, we usually appear as slender elven women, with beautiful aquatic bird wings, white or blue hair and eyes, and always look wet. But when the river is invaded, we will also use fierce means to defend our territory from external threats."

After speaking, she quickly covered her mouth again, her eyes darting left and right, looking a little embarrassed at Lucy and Erin. Obviously, the two were already angrily putting their hands on their hips, puffing out their cheeks.

Su Li was really afraid that she would suffocate herself to death by saying so much in one breath.

River sprites?

They do seem like a river version of forest dryads.

Su Li asked curiously, "Do you lure humans into the water and drag them into the river?"

This time, before she could reply, Erin immediately covered her mouth and quickly said, "Many places do have various versions of legends about water beauties luring others and then leading them to their deaths. These stories only cause misunderstandings about us. Only the most wanton and extremely malicious river sprites would do that."

Then Lucy nodded in agreement, saying, "Humans are just jealous that we can express ourselves as we please and transform into many different appearances."

"That's right, that's right." Mia couldn't wait to pull away Erin's wings covering her mouth, staring and excitedly expressing, "We sometimes transform into tiny sprite forms riding beetles, and have our own wings to fly around. Sometimes we may also turn into small animal forms, but there is usually an unusual or unnatural feature to mark this creature as an atypical member of our kind."

"River sprites who are well-treated are friendly creatures, but still mischievous. But if abused, we are still mischievous, but will soon become deadly."

"However, river sprites are capricious and seem to be able to change their minds as quickly as the wind. So never try to provoke us. Those humans who are lured into the water must have said something offensive."

They can also transform?

Su Li was a little surprised. This was the first kind of creature he had seen that could transform.

But it shouldn't count. Strictly speaking, humans were the first race Su Li encountered that could transform.

Chosen Knights can transform into majestic divine generals tens of meters tall, and Druids can transform into bears and owlbears.

If you calculate it this way, there may be other races that can transform.

I just don't know if the dragons in this world can transform into human form like in other worlds.

Dragon girls or little dragon girls?

Su Li felt his desire to become a dragon knight even more urgent.

He smiled and said to the sprites and the primal maiden, "Don't worry. I only like to conquer bigger creatures. Even if they are female, I prefer them to be taller. I will not offend you cute little girls in any way, whether in words or actions. We will even protect your gem pool from the Green Dragon's invasion."

Mia immediately flew up excitedly, circling around Su Li, and said, "That's great, that's great. We hate the Green Dragon and all forest creatures. They always steal our water."

"But I hate the Skaven more. I can already smell the corrosive stench of the Skaven from the river's aura. There must be rat people near here. Humans, you must be careful."

The rat people are coming?

Su Li's eyes flashed, and he said to Mia, "Okay, thank you for this important reminder. I will send my army to guard this place, not only against the Green Dragon, but also to prevent the rat people's stench and disease from corroding this place."

Afterwards, Su Li said goodbye to these fantastical forest spirits, and the guardian otter Kappa took these little fellows to swim freely in the various magic springs in the territory.

Su Li then quickly returned to Heissenburg with Hilde and the master engineers and other ministers to inspect the territory's defensive deployments and military mobilization.

Just as he returned to the territory and was about to take a look at the army's training, a servant under Hilde immediately came forward to report a message.

Hilde waved his hand to let him go down, then said to Su Li, "Lord, Marshal Orlstein has returned with the knights."

Su Li laughed and said, "Our marshal must have brought us another glorious victory. Let's go and welcome our triumphant army."

This trip wasn't exactly a special welcome. He was originally going to the training ground between the castle and the outer walls to see the reorganization of the new army, so it was on the way.

Soon, they passed through the thick stone corridors and arrived at the high ground of the inner castle wall.

Dwarves were still building magnificent towers here. This was a newly built structure in the territory, and a Grudge-Raker Bolt Thrower would be set up inside, using powerful giant crossbows and seeking runes to inflict damage on the dragon.

The thick walls could ensure that even if the Green Dragon grabbed the wall and lay on it to breathe dragon breath, it would not be able to directly kill the defenders inside.

And below the arrow tower was a wide stone staircase, allowing the dwarves to continuously transport huge crossbows to the arrow tower.

This kind of dragon-hunting crossbow was the equipment Su Li purchased after strengthening relations with Redbeard Hold during this period.

Redbeard Hold has no intention of fighting any major battles recently. The dwarf lords tend to be conservative, even sticking to old ways. They like to stay in the mountains and ignore the outside world. Even if the current High King of the Dwarves is ambitious and encourages the dwarves to go out and more actively intervene in the affairs of other races, at least to fight evil and help human big friends. But the stubborn nature of the dwarves is not so easy to change.

At least the lord of Redbeard Hold, having just experienced a fierce war with the demons and ushered in a rare peace, just wants to guard his mines and mountain farms and farm.

So even though the big lord at the foot of the mountain encountered the invasion of the Green Dragon Legion, he only sent these dwarves who volunteered to participate in the war, which can be regarded as an expeditionary dwarf volunteer army.

However, in terms of weapons and equipment, he strongly supported the war of the humans at the foot of the mountain.

After Su Li paid a considerable amount of gold coins, dwarf oath gold, and ore transactions, the dwarves of Redbeard Hold sold Su Li two more Grudge-Raker Bolt Throwers after the cannons.

So the dwarves have been working overtime day and night these days, expanding two tall towers on the city wall to properly house these ballistae.

Of course, the construction of the city wall has not stopped.

The reason why those fortresses of the dwarves in the mountains are as high as tens of meters, and many cities are backed by the mountains, with towering towers and watchtowers and high walls that are almost half a mountain high, is because these dwarf engineers will reinforce and raise the city walls whenever they have the opportunity.

These days, after the war ended, the dwarves returned to Heissenburg and did not idle. Under the command of the engineers, they repaired and raised the city walls.

The current height of the city wall is already 16 meters, and some towering towers are more than 30 meters high. When shooting arrows on it, it is really like rain.

When monsters attack the city, they will be attacked by the arrow stones on the arrow tower long before they enter the range.

The arrows shot from such a high position are extremely powerful and can easily penetrate chainmail.

Even skin wolves wearing armor or great gors wearing heavy armor dare not be constantly hit by such arrows.

Greenwarden Knights like this place the most.

This is the only knightly order in the entire empire that has abandoned melee weapons such as spears and long swords and uses bows and arrows.

Without a doubt, they are all guardian knights of the Sun Goddess.

Even among the followers of the Sun Goddess, other traditional knights believe that this Greenwarden Knights order is a very strange existence.

However, the members of the Greenwarden Knights order don't care about this. They believe that using bows and arrows to gain an advantage for the army is encouraged by the Sun Goddess Violet.

This group of knights are all infantry and are good at archery. They are skilled in jungle warfare and street fighting in Talabheim. Sometimes the Greenwarden Knights order also conducts joint training with the Sun Knights order to discuss how to use elite archers to resolve the charge tactics of elite cavalry.

A powerful Greenwarden Knight standing in the arrow tower with his huge bow and enchanted arrows, aiming at the monsters climbing the siege ladder below, can cause incredibly terrifying damage.

Their arrows never miss, and they always fall when they hit, able to shoot through the head of every monster.

In a siege battle, a Greenwarden Knight can easily complete the achievement of thirty or forty kills!

After the Battle of the Outpost, Su Li became famous, and two Greenwarden Knights came to Heissenburg, taking the initiative to join the legion, help Su Li fight against the green tide, and promote the teachings of the goddess.

Su Li also enthusiastically discussed with them briefly the experience of defending the city with bows and arrows.

After all, Su Li doesn't have the courage to charge into tens of thousands of monsters on horseback, and he doesn't think it's necessary.

But in the tower, finding a suitable angle to shoot fixed targets at the soldiers attacking the city from the flank, he is still very willing to do it.

He feels that at a distance of tens of meters or even ten meters, aiming at the opponent's head to shoot has a pretty high probability of hitting.

So Su Li is very concerned about the fortifications of the city wall. After walking through the stone corridor and inspecting it, Su Li asked the master engineer Kurgan, "Has the construction of the castle's defense facilities been completed?"

Kurgan immediately patted his chest and guaranteed, "Lord, please rest assured. The castle's defense facilities have been repaired and are ready to be put into use at any time. If the Green Dragon's claws come to attack the city now, they will run into a brick wall. The later they come, the more terrible the injuries they will suffer!"

Su Li nodded in satisfaction. After the Battle of the Outpost, Su Li had a very intuitive understanding of the power of the deep trench and solid fortress tactics.

If a race has thousands of years of combat experience, then it must be extremely good at building war fortifications.

No matter what race the opponent is, as long as the other party still follows the laws of physics and cannot instantly kill an army, then building fortifications is one of the best tactics, which can greatly increase one's own tactical advantage.

Kurgan continued to introduce excitedly, "And our fortress has a very complete defense system, not just city walls and towers. We have also set up shooting holes on the city walls, which can maximize the power of our dwarves and archer corps. As long as the monsters attack the city, they will face continuous damage from hundreds or even thousands of bows and arrows."

"In addition, our fortress is built on a mountain, with three defensive walls stacked on top of each other. Each city wall has a foundation of six or seven meters and a moat of nearly ten meters. Even if the monsters break through the first line of defense and kill into the castle, they will be shot to death by the arrows on the second line of defense from a high position. Crossing the open space and moat between the city walls is their suicidal slaughterhouse!"

This effect finally made Su Li relatively satisfied. With three lines of defense, the city walls actually add up to 48 meters, and the height including the foundation exceeds 50 meters.

What is the concept of more than 50 meters? It is almost twice as high as the Chosen Knight. To attack such a strict barrier from below, the monsters with slightly poor eyesight will not be able to see the blurred figures of the humans above the arrow tower and city wall. But the humans' arrows can easily pierce their bodies.

For a more precise comparison, consider King's Castle, the flagship castle of the Elector of Saxony on Earth. Its ramparts reached a height of 53 meters, making it one of the tallest mountaintop fortresses.

Su Li's Hessenburg was already approaching the height of the tallest human fortress in the Middle Ages.

However, the Saxon King's Castle was 53 meters tall in a single layer, while Su Li's Hessenburg was just over 50 meters tall with three layers combined.

Therefore, Hessenburg obviously had a lot of potential for further reinforcement and heightening.

If Su Li could encounter another natural spirit like the Spirit of the Summit in the future, he could even ask it to help elevate the low mountain beneath Hessenburg.

The mountain was still somewhat low, with its highest peak only a little over 200 meters, and the foothills were flat and fertile.

Although there was the undulating terrain typical of foothills, the terrain was not rugged. On the contrary, even the undulating foothills were broad plains.

Su Li no longer permitted the construction of any residential facilities within thousands of acres around Hessenburg. This was his exclusive manor territory, with red maples, oaks, beeches, and walnut trees dotting the vast foothill plains. In the distance, one could see rolling peaks and wide valleys, and several azure ponds and clear rivers and streams dotted the vast plains.

It could be said that the scenery here was breathtaking, especially now in autumn, with sweet osmanthus fragrance, mountains of red leaves, and endless wide valleys and flat foothills planted with all kinds of precious fruits. Herds of deer and griffins roamed nearby, and everywhere was filled with the joy of harvest.

If it weren't for the threat of the Green Dragon, Su Li's life would have been perfect and peaceful.

Every day, he could hear some stories from the halflings, unlocking some novel poses, and then return to the manor to have Hild and Ingrid try them out with him.

The halflings' naturally intimate nature and the traditional custom of a large family living in one bedroom always provided them with rich knowledge and insights in some areas.

Su Li, who had been a workaholic in his previous life, was gradually beginning to find the joy and enjoyment of being a lord in this life.

He was tirelessly learning all kinds of knightly training knowledge!

Various powerful cultivation techniques, such as the Electric Flash Poison Dragon Drill and the Ice and Fire Double Heaven, made him even more addicted.

What is it like to have a girlfriend who is willing to serve her lover with all her might? Su Li finally understood now.

It really made him addicted to cultivation.

Some people say that cultivation is like an empty bottle. If it takes a lifetime to fill it, then the first year will actually fill more than half of it, and the rest will take a lifetime to fill.

But Su Li felt that he was definitely one of the gifted ones.

Or perhaps his female retainers were too cooperative with him, always giving him all kinds of novel experiences.

If it were boring traditional cultivation, he might indeed become disgusted with it in the first year.

But with so many novel enjoyments and unlocked knowledge, he couldn't possibly feel bored at all.

Therefore, whether it was for a peaceful life in the future or to protect those who entrusted everything to him, Su Li had to fight bravely with the army!

After Kurgan finished his introduction, Su Li nodded and said, "With such powerful fortifications built, as long as we have an army with unwavering will, we will definitely be able to defend this place."

People are the most crucial factor in the victory or defeat of a war.

Without an army that is fearless and unwavering in its will, no matter how strong the castle's defenses are, if the garrison collapses at the first touch and flees in panic, it will be impossible to win the war.

Fortunately, the situation in this regard was also very satisfactory to Su Li.

Just as Su Li was walking and talking with Kurgan, Lord Orstein, the military commander of Hessenland, came up from the castle gate, and upon seeing Su Li, he decisively struck his chest with his fist, giving a standard military salute.

"Lord, we have lived up to our mission, winning three battles in a row, and smashing more than 700 monsters on the central plains!"

Su Li smiled and stepped forward, brushing off the congealed blood stains on his commander's shoulders, revealing the golden shining armor beneath the blood stains.

Obviously, this commander had just returned from a bloody battle and had not had time to wash up and change clothes.

"My Lord Commander, your military talent always makes me feel very relieved! The monsters are now mainly treants, with weak mobility. As long as they are caught by the knight corps, none of them will escape."

The current battle situation can be said to be progressing completely according to the tactical plan set by the General Staff. The main force of Hessenland fortified their positions and cleared the fields, and then sent out powerful cavalry to take the initiative to attack and defeat each enemy force.

During Su Li's recuperation, Hessenland relied on his intelligence to win successive victories, capturing the monsters' isolated regiments each time, and has successively killed thousands of monsters.

Knight Orstein raised his chin and proudly replied: "Lord, this is all thanks to your overall planning and the knights' brave fighting. I have only done my duty."

Although this was a humble statement, everyone could see his arrogant and high-spirited demeanor.

Su Li liked this style of general very much, which meant that they were bound to be valiant and daring to fight, and they would not collapse and flee even in the face of the most difficult battle situations.

After speaking, Knight Orstein continued: "Lord, I think it is time to launch a more fierce attack. I have a plan, codenamed "Dragon's Fang" operation, to launch a sudden raid and destroy one of the Green Dragon's affiliated main legions before they can react. This legion is somewhat arrogant and rash, with a scale of more than two thousand people, but it is detached from the other troops."

Su Li said with a smile: "Okay, you submit the details of the battle plan later, and I will see if the intelligence is appropriate."

"However, is the time ripe now? How is our army's reorganization going?"

In order to recuperate and build up strength, Su Li spent a lot of money recruiting strong soldiers and reorganizing the army in the territory.

There were three new army squadrons being trained and reorganized just outside the castle.

And this was not all, but only a part of this expansion!