Those who set fire will eventually die in the fire, and those who love gambling will eventually lose everything.
Gollus's troops were devoured by fire in Shield Wind Fortress.
Occasionally, those who tried to climb out of the city wall would be shot back into the city by Wendy's bows and arrows or Scorpion Assassins's flying knives.
Until Shield Wind Fortress turned into a charred black wall again.
Shield Wind Fortress's fire was set by Wendy himself.
Gollus set fire to Noldo Forest, so Wendy will also let him die in the fire.
Although this kind of revenge cannot solve any substantive problems, it can at least make Wendy feel happy.
Sometimes it is important to feel happy, especially for a group whose sanity has been destroyed by rage and hatred.
After seeing Shield Wind Fortress burst into flames, Imperial First Legion left in a hurry.
The castle was burned down, so of course there was no hope for military rations. All the centurions were thinking about the assassin flying knives that appeared at home and had no intention of delaying here.
They divided into small groups, abandoned all their baggage and some of their heavy armor, and planned to go home.
People are really interesting. If an army of more than 4,000 people wants to march more than 600 miles, it will need at least 100,000 pounds of food.
But if this large army no longer maintains its organizational structure and no longer carries heavy armor and various war equipment; if more than 4,000 people are dispersed and turned into hundreds of small teams, each moving separately and lightly equipped, they will actually no longer need food...
But the food in Shield Wind Fortress was not burned - Ramon's people had already moved the food away.
Now Li Ang cherishes food very much. He knows what he will face.
"Lord Li Ang, I have followed your instructions, can you let my family go?"
Rimusk asked Li Ang tremblingly.
"Yes. But, Rimusk, you can't go back to the Bacchus Empire. The First Legion has fled, and they will regard you as a traitor. You can take your people back to Wolvun Fortress now, but if you don't want to die, let Wolvun Fortress use my banner., otherwise Wolvun Fortress will definitely be killed by Isildur - Isildur is in the area of Amera Fortress, and now the fire in Noldo Forest cannot be saved, you should have an idea of what Isildur will do."
Li Ang patted Rimusk on the shoulder and gave him a way to survive.
"... I understand, you can take my son to White Deer Fortress as a hostage..."
Rimusk was silent for a while, then nodded helplessly and said.
He is not a fool. He offered to let his son be a hostage in exchange for Li Ang's trust. This is his only way out now.
"I don't need your son. You have no other choice now. Just send Wolwen's grain reserves to White Deer Fortress. I'll give you ten days to send 200,000 pounds of grain to White Deer Fortress."
Li Ang shook his head and refused. He doesn't need hostages now, he only needs food.
Rimusk has betrayed Kairos father and son, and offended Justus. Emperor Marius will definitely not tolerate him. He cannot return to the Bacchus Empire. Now he can only rely on Li Ang.
Only the flag of Li Ang can protect him from being attacked by Isildur or other Noldo Elves.
Although Rimusk is a greedy, lustful and courageous person, at least he has a clear mind and at least he did not follow the path of Kairos and his son.
Half a month later, Siyuan City.
"Your Majesty is awake?!"
"Miss Elina, go and call the doctor..."
The sound of hurried footsteps left.
Emperor Marius slowly opened his eyes.
"Your Majesty, are you awake?"
General Sura was surprised and supported Emperor Marius, and brought a bowl of medicine from the table beside him. "This is the medicine prescribed by the doctor who came from Erudition City Radiant Cross Knights. Now only they are trustworthy."
"What's wrong with me? Am I poisoned?"
Emperor Marius covered his head, closed his eyes in pain and then opened them again. "I'm a little dazzled."
"The doctor said you were weak and lost too much blood...Kairos bribed your imperial doctor some time ago, took a lot of your blood in the name of bloodletting, and then used Snake Heart Stone on you... I'm sorry, Your Majesty, I violated the law. Instead of investigating and collecting evidence through legal procedures, I directly tortured the imperial doctor..."
Sura General apologized, but there was no uneasy look on his face. Apparently he didn't think it was a mistake for him to break the law in order to save people.
Emperor Marius sat up leaning on the edge of the bed and drank the medicine in one gulp, with a painful expression on his face. "It's too bitter... I need a glass of sweet wine..."
"Forget about drinking. If you drink again, I'm afraid you will never wake up again..."
General Sura shook his head resolutely. "You are lucky to wake up this time! If the doctor from Erudition City hadn't saved your life with coconut water, I'm afraid..."
"Coconut water? What do you mean?"
Emperor Marius grinned and turned around to look - this simple action was quite difficult for him to do. Then, he saw several coconuts hanging from the top of the bed and several intestine tubes inserted into the coconuts.
"It is said that I learned the method from Ansen, who worked for Li Ang. It is said that fresh coconut water can be directly injected into the blood to kill unconscious people... I don't know the details, but it does work. You have been in a coma for many days. I originally thought..."
Sura General sighed and shook his head.
"I won't say anything if I want to thank you. Sura... By the way, where is Kairos? What does he want my blood for?... Is he planning to rebel?"
Marius asked, leaning back on the pillow.
"He was trying to save his son... but what he did was probably more serious than rebellion. The news I got is that Kairos went to the Long River Town area, and he was attacking the territory of Li Ang, and..."
Sura looked at Marius carefully, probably because he was worried about irritating the patient, and did not dare to continue.
"And what?"
Marius frowned.
"... Moreover, they set fire at Noldo Forest... White Deer Fortress and Amera Fortress set fire at both ends. It is said that the fire at Noldo Forest was completely out of control."
Sura hesitated for a moment, but decided to tell Marius everything. After all, where Bacchus Empire should go now, the emperor needed to make a decision.
"Cough cough cough..."
Emperor Marius was stunned for a moment, then coughed violently.
"Take a deep breath, Your Majesty, take a deep breath!"
Sura hurried forward and stroked Marius' back, but his coughing was still violent and he seemed to have lost his breath.
"Pfft..."
Marius took a deep breath, and then spit out a mouthful of bright red bloody phlegm.
"I shouldn't tell you this, you should take good care of yourself now... Stop talking, Your Majesty."
Sura showed a look of self-blame on his face.
"It's okay... I'm okay..."
Marius waved his hand. After coughing up the phlegm, he became more energetic. "Noldo Forest was burned?... Where is Justus? Didn't he stop Kairos?"
"Your Majesty..."
Sura General shook his head and tried to tell Marius to stop talking.
But Marius kept looking at him with firm eyes. "Tell me everything..."
"...Justus was kidnapped by Antonius, Imperial First Legion was taken away by him to White Deer Fortress...Kairos took Shadow Legion's cavalry to destroy Wheat Fragrance Territory of Li Ang, and then tried to attack Long River Town..."
Sura sighed, "When I got the news, the first legion had already encountered Li Ang and Noldo Elves who joined forces to block the attack. The legion was dispersed. Rimusk asked Li Ang surrendered, Gollus died in Shield Wind Fortress...Li Ang detained Master Justus, and declared full war on Bax."
Emperor Marius closed his eyes and was silent for a while. He did not get angry, but calmly accepted the reality.
After opening his eyes again, he asked about Li Ang's movements, "... Did Li Ang launch an attack on the empire?"
"No, on the contrary, he prevented Noldo Elves from launching an attack on the empire... According to the news sent back last night, Li Ang is bringing a large number of Noldo Elves to intercept Kairos at Long River Town."
General Sura shook his head. "Li Ang may want to protect Long River Town's safety first."
"Sigh... He is not doing it for Long River Town's safety, he is trying to prevent Noldo Elves from fighting alone. He wants all Noldo Elves to obey his arrangements... Sura, go and send an order to recruit all reserve soldiers in the country, concentrate all the troops in the Calundru Castle area, and appoint Agason as the imperial marshal..."
Emperor Marius said with a frown.
"If we concentrate our troops on Calundru Castle, most places in the east, including Amera Fortress and Bapulun, will be lost..."
General Sura reminded.
"Noldo Elves will come out in force, and the eastern part of the empire cannot be saved... The only thing we can do now is to hold on to Erudition City until Li Ang retreats. Don't think that the empire is very powerful, Sura. Without Noldo Forest, all Noldo Elves will become desperadoes. In this situation, we are the weaker party..."
Emperor Marius shook his head weakly. "If Kairos is still near Long River Town, then he will definitely not be able to escape Li Ang's pursuit. Maybe, we should try to rescue Kairos..."
"Why? Your Majesty, he has already committed treason! He even tried to kill you!"
Marius put the empire on the defensive, which Sura can understand. After all, no one wants to fight against each other when facing thousands of crazy Noldo Elves.
But Marius said he wanted to rescue Kairos, Sura really didn't understand.
"I don't want to save Kairos himself... I just want to save Shadow Legion. Although they don't like me, they are all the elites of the empire..."
Emperor Marius sighed, "Sura, where is Antonius? Can you catch him?"
"He should be at Imperial Port. I can't guarantee it, but I will try my best... Do you want to capture Antonius, hand him over to Li Ang, and exchange him for the Shadow Legion's cavalry?"
Sura still knows Marius very well.
"This is the only way to save Shadow Legion... Go and pass the order quickly, before Li Ang marches on Erudition City..."
Emperor Marius nodded and gently touched his hand to signal Sura to do it quickly.
"Why are you so sure that Li Ang will march towards Erudition City?"
Sura turned around and walked to the desk and started writing some commands.
"Justus and Alina are in his hands. Of course he will attack Erudition City. As long as he can reach Erudition City, the entire city may surrender without a fight... So we need to deploy our troops to Calundru Castle... But he won't attack immediately. We still have some time."
Marius briefly explained a few words, and then asked, "How is Lion City over there? Is Radiant Cross Knights still there?"
"Lion City was attacked by Fieltzwe. Radiant Cross Knights and General Clerion are on their way back to Siyuan City..."
General Sura turned back. "It is said that Lion City has no residents left, and I don't know why Fieltzwe launched this attack."
"They are just taking advantage of others' danger. Fieltzwe has always been like this. They probably think that in this case, Li Ang will summon all the troops to attack the empire with all their strength and will not entangle with them..."
Emperor Marius said softly, "But Li Ang will definitely not do this. Fieltzwe people will probably be struck by thunder... Li Ang will probably become king of Lion City first, and then launch an attack on the empire..."
Maybe Emperor Marius is indeed the person who knows Li Ang best, and all his judgments are correct.
Li Ang did not immediately attack Bacchus Empire.
He also did not recall Lion City's troops.
After burning Shield Wind Fortress, Li Ang returned to White Deer Fortress as quickly as possible, and together with Wendy and Vendathir, led the Noldor warriors to pursue and intercept Kairos.
After destroying Wheat Fragrance Territory, Kairos originally tried to harass Long River Town, but he led all cavalry and could not cause substantial damage to Long River Town. After discovering that a large number of Noldo Elves came from the area of White Deer Fortress, Kairos began to evacuate south.
But when he retreated to the Trublen area, he was entangled by two small troops.
These two small troops, one is Owl Knight Order, the other is composed of the "farmers" of Wheat Fragrance Territory.
The farmers of Wheat Fragrance Territory are actually all the first troops under Li Ang.
That was the original 'noncommissioned officer corps'.
These people are all small shareholders of Wheat Fragrance International, and they each serve as the person in charge of each farm.
They have always maintained an internal competition mechanism, which not only ensures food production, but also maintains public security and stability in the Wheat Fragrance Territory and Long River Town areas.
When Kairos arrived with his army, they did not receive orders, nor did they stupidly resist on their own. Instead, they gathered their dealers separately to avoid Kairos's army.
They are either from the original Ailedge or were moved from Serenmis by Sir Roland. They have all experienced the destruction of their homes and personally witnessed the establishment of Wheat Fragrance Territory.
Therefore, they know that when faced with an army deliberately destroying a village, the best choice is not to resist directly or cry helplessly, but to try to retain vitality and hope for future reconstruction.
So they split up and took all the grain and materials from each farm in Wheat Fragrance Territory to White Deer Fortress--the road between Wheat Fragrance Territory and White Deer Fortress was well maintained, and as long as there was a carriage, it could be run.
This is the right choice.
The farm stores important materials such as grain and saltpeter, seeds of various high-yielding crops, and human lives.
These are the hopes for the future.
It doesn't matter if the houses and defense facilities are destroyed, it doesn't matter if the Wheat Fragrance Territory wholesale market is destroyed, as long as the people are still there and the seeds are still there, everything will be fine.
After transferring the supplies, they gathered again at Trublen - this time to concentrate their forces for resistance.
Because they have nothing to worry about...
They put on the black and white Griffin crest burqas again, and picked up their spears and swords again.
Although their old robes did not have golden coat of arms, the loyalty and honor of the first generation of non-commissioned officers were pure gold.
They used the chariot formation taught to them by Lesley and the riding skills trained by Sarah. With the assistance of Owl Knight Order, they were able to hold back Kairos's cavalry of more than 2,000 people with a scale of more than 300 people until Li Ang arrived with the large army of Nuo.