You and me under the world tree

If there is anything wrong with Helgi as a leader, it is his age. At 17, he is really too young.

Even if he has proven his strength, there are always people who don't like him.

But this old man is different. Not only does he have a long experience, he even has good fighting power and wisdom.

"Harald." Watching the old man, Helgi slowly reported his name.

Then Harald nodded slowly to him.

"Don't worry about those people," he said. "Most of the fighters in Valhalla basically don't have a lot of brains."

This is the problem of 'circle'.

In the absence of any conflict of interest, there is nothing wrong with saying 'people of a feather flock together'.

Chapter 50: Defense

Maybe even the gods don't care much about this matter, but the heroes of the past and present gathered in Valhalla really like to build small groups by themselves.

It is the nature of human beings to hold together, although the warriors in Valhalla don't have many hearts, and even most of them can be described as heartless.

For this reason, they will not have a total of 800 people, and there will be more than a thousand groups.

Even, there will not be any factions, isolation, or overhead.

However, because of personal hobbies and the so-called hatred and conflicts of interests that they had during their lifetime, the Volsunger family, the Hengding family, and the Gothic Amerungen family next door couldn't play together.

And among these groups, in the absence of any conflict, such figures as Wartooth of Old Denmark liked to converse with those who were wiser.

Perhaps it was because Harald himself was already old when he really 'died' and came to Valhalla, so he didn't like to talk about honors and battles like others.

Also because of this, in the entire Valhalla, the one who has the best relationship with him is the young hero who entered Valhalla more than 20 years ago.

Even, because of his childhood experience, his eyes on Helji are only similar to the care of the elders.

Harald, the King of Wartooth, as one of the heroes of Midgard, his life is full of legends.

The most commendable is the age at which he inherited his grandfather's throne: 15 years old.

Having fought all his life, he certainly understands the importance of appearance and experience, and for a warrior and leader, good looks are not a good thing.

Because an overly handsome appearance will make people lose their deterrent power, and it is not easy to make people feel safe.

After all, it was because Helgi came too 'early'...

If other various factors are excluded, entering Valhalla at the age of 17 seems to be a great honor, but in Harald's view, there is such an atmosphere of sadness in it.

Even though his wife was a Valkyrie herself, even if he entered Valhalla, it didn't mean that the two would be separated.

But 17 years old, this age can't even travel the entire atrium world.

Genius, this is true, because at this age, Helgi is indeed stronger than most of the warriors in Valhalla, but in terms of character, it is not the case.

"If you want to make them obey, the only thing you can rely on is your fist." Harald said

He just stared at the young Helgi, as if trying to dig something out of him.

"If you're willing to 'prove' a little bit of that, they'll do it."

The proof Harald is talking about here is not to let him prove his strength by 'smashing the city wall', but to really use his strength to beat these bastards.

After all, he is an 'old member' of Valhalla, and he is very clear about the temperament of most of the heroes who entered Valhalla.

"Those people are very proud. After all, they are all characters who have spent their own lives in the atrium world. If they don't 'prove' directly and trample them under their feet, they will not be convinced."

Although, Harald did say so, and what he said was true.

After all, no matter how you look at it, they are people who have proved their bravery to the gods. The proud warriors are suddenly assigned a 'leader', which will cause dissatisfaction no matter how you look at it.

However, Helji is not the kind of person who likes to be competitive.

"This kind of 'proof' is meaningless, because there is no evidence to prove that the 'leader' must be stronger than the people under him." Helji said

All along, Helgi has always upheld this view.

"The so-called leader, the most important thing is vision, the person who coordinates the overall situation... And in fact, I don't think I am necessarily suitable for this position."

His answer has always been the same.

I don't know who among his many teachers had such a great influence on him.

Such a humble figure has been born from a race that has always been extremely emotional, using anger to trigger its own strength.

When Helgi was named 'leader', it was not without challenges to his position.

Although those challengers will basically be beaten back by Simfi Otley as the elder brother, or severely injured by Helgi's "passive defense", but he himself really has no intention of defending his "status".

Even, when there are so many heroes who are questioning, he even wants to give up this seat to others.

"This itself is the appointment of the king of the gods. If someone can do better, then I don't mind letting it go."

That's what he said, and he said it with the utmost sincerity.

Harald, who was acquainted with him and could even be regarded as a friend for many years, knew his character very well, but the King of Wartooth shook his head in the end.

"If other people hear about it, maybe someone will say that you only use the name of a god to overwhelm people."

"Then let them say whatever they want, Valhalla is not the Netherlands, and I don't need to go out of my way to establish a good relationship with certain people."

Although Helji looked very gentle, but under that delicate appearance was arrogance.

After all, his dignity and honor would not make him yell around like a hooligan.

But once someone stepped on his line, he had to accept the counterattack like a storm.

But it's a pity that after entering Valhalla for more than 20 years, Siegmund's second son never showed his 'anger'.

"Let's go take a look at the warships. After all, we need to use these warships in our next plan."

"Ah."

Watching Helgi's leaving back, Harald couldn't help but fell into thought.

Although it was just chatting, he was really thinking about what could completely irritate that mild-tempered boy.

However, looking at it now, this seems to be an unsolvable problem.

…………

"What should I do next?"

At the same time, on the other side, Siegfried himself was lost in thought.

The fall of The Hague Fortress is not good news, because it gave a signal invisibly: Today's Hengding family will not play their cards according to common sense.

And more importantly, after the fall of The Hague Fortress, a corner of the already blocked sea area was torn apart.

Such things as erratic enemies are not a good thing.

Moreover, it was Half's description that caught Siegfried's attention even more.

Enemies who can smash through walls...

Where is this character?

In the end, Siegfried finally set his sights on his staff.

"Hagen, do you have any suggestions?"

And under Siegfried's call, the short warrior raised his head.

After thinking for a while, he slowly expressed his thoughts:

"Compared to thinking about the enemy, I think we should focus more on 'defense'. As for the enemy..."

Hagen just stared at Siegfried.

"Your Highness, in this regard, you should be more aware than I am of how terrifying it is to hold a 'siege trump card' in your hand."

Chapter 51: Coping

Compared to Siegfried who was constantly thinking about the identity of the enemy, Hagen didn't think about this aspect at all.

His focus has always been on the war itself.

"No matter what enemy we are facing, in the end, their goal must be on you, Your Highness." After a little thought, Hagen said.

His tone was a little hesitant at first, but then he calmed down completely.

After completely calming down, the logic in his mind gradually became clear.

"For our Volsong family, the most important thing is to regain the ancient royal city, so our attack target has always been this city."

Hagen poked his finger at the city mark on the map, and then moved his finger to the nearby fortress ferry.

"For us, as long as the Rhine Ferry is safe and sound, then we always have the initiative."

In the final analysis, this initiative lies in 'orthodoxy'. As long as they can still attack the royal city anytime and anywhere, then the king of the Hengding clan will never sleep well.

"However, that's not the case with the false king (Legney)." When he said this, Hagen poked the Amstel harbor with his finger, "For him, it's not just the harbor that matters. .”

Finally, the new staff member raised his head.

"For the Hengding family, the most important thing is to 'kill you'. The sage's series of schemes forced him to this path."

Although most of the political strategies promulgated by the Volsung family today have nothing to do with Hagen, after all, he is just a "latecomer", but this does not prevent him from speculating along the lines of a sage.

"Five months have passed, and the people of the Netherlands have enjoyed your favor. Whether they are businessmen or civilians, they will miss your 'favor'."

All taxes were cut by one-third for one year, and tariffs were directly exempted for three years.

Although these are basically strategies based on the "Volsong's legacy" and can be regarded as real "sit and eat", they are a great favor to the people.

All taxes are cut by one-third, which means that families will have a lot more income.

Although the people do not necessarily have plans for these incomes, the standard of living will undoubtedly be higher than before, because Siegfried did not make any changes to the prices.

Even, because of tariff reductions, the prices of some imported products will drop.

It has been more than four months since the stable rule, and they should get used to this kind of life.

"The sage didn't have the idea of ​​coming forward when he arranged this strategy. Instead, he attributed the credit to you, which reduced the target, because they couldn't implement the same strategy at all."

Although the Hengding family rejected the trade request of the Volsunger family, this made it impossible for Hagen and the others to listen to the rumors in Hengding's ruling territory from a more convenient channel.

However, judging from the performance of those people who were willing to 'flee' here with their families, the Hengding family did not make any changes in taxation.

Even, in order to support the military's expenses, they had to increase the original taxes to maintain the balance on the books.

Naturally, the army is given priority over the people.

Because controlling the army can control the kingdom, but once the soldiers in the army cannot be taken care of, then the king is not far from death.

"Although we lost The Hague Fortress, we still have an advantage strategically."

If there is any advantage that the Volsung family has over the Hengding family today, it is of course in logistics.

"We have controlled the core business in the past few months, and we can purchase a large amount of food, so even if we are fighting a war of attrition with the Hengding family, we still have a decisive advantage."

When he said this, Siegfried also understood the first idea provided by Hagen.

That's 'delay'...

"Although the southern region of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is an agricultural region, if we fully support the operation of the army, then the life of the people will definitely not be too easy. The people's dissatisfaction with the Hengding family will gradually accumulate, and in the end they can use public opinion to breathe a sigh of relief. Detonate the opponent."

When he said this, Hagen couldn't help but let out a breath.

Because he thought of the arrangement of the sage.

As long as the Hengding family crosses the line in terms of political strategy, the "excellence" of the Volsunger family will be extremely prominent.

Even, in fact, they used this similar strategy before.

However, Siegfried is obviously not the kind of person who likes to be beaten, procrastination has never been his style.

So at this moment, his brows frowned.

But before he could say anything more, Hagen immediately changed the direction of the conversation.

"In addition, with our strength, there is another way: to face it head-on, but this requires risks."

In fact, from Hagen's point of view, he doesn't want people like Siegfried to take risks and fight head-on.

Because he is a prince, a king, and a leader, he will always be the focus of attention, that is to say, on the battlefield, he is destined to be besieged or even plotted against.