'Whoever comes here, please salute.'
'Here is buried my friend Gaius Marius, a kind elder and an extremely powerful emperor.'
"Strongness is an attitude, not the possession of power. Being strong means always doing things that are useful to people, rather than pursuing the pleasure of conquest. Being strong means having a clear and confident spirit and a happy and peaceful heart, rather than always being dissatisfied."
--New Kingdom of Pendor, Li Ang·Griffin.
--
"This is the tombstone inscription written by His Majesty Li Ang for His Majesty Marus. I think I can understand now why they became friends."
Alina stood in front of Emperor Marius's tomb, looking at the inscription that had just been carved by the craftsmen, and turned to look at Justus: "Father, I plan to marry Li Ang."
Justus was silent while looking at the inscription. After a long time, he asked softly, "Why? Your Majesty, is it because of what Child of Prophecy said?"
He calls his daughter your majesty.
This means that he is advising Emperor Bax as an aide.
"Not just for this... but also for the future of Bax. After His Majesty Marus dies, the enemies of Barkley and Amara Continent will take action. Dexian people will also be ready to launch a counterattack. Bax will face more dangers than before."
Alina, as the ruler of Bax, spoke to Chief Administrative Officer Justus on official matters, "His Majesty Marus asked me to express my gratitude to before he died. New Kingdom of Pendor proclaimed his vassalship because we are about to face numerous foreign enemies and must rely on the power of New Kingdom of Pendor. But I want to retain the name of the empire, so I cannot let Bax profess vassalage..."
"Actually, Bax has never been an empire. There is nothing wrong with taking this opportunity to change to a republic... Moreover, you will not lose anything by bowing your head for a while."
Justus doesn't care much whether Bax will still be called an 'empire' in the future. Although the name Bacchus Empire has existed for thousands of years, and the head of state has always been called an 'emperor', in fact, starting from the Bax Second Empire, this country that elects its head of state is no longer an empire, but a republic.
Of course, it was a typical aristocratic republic at that time. Everything was decided by the Senate and had nothing to do with the common people.
Now, after the Emperor Marius reform, citizens have the right to vote for tribunes, and former slaves have also gained citizenship in name;
The tribunes can stand for election as members and elect members of the Senate;
Members of the Council of Elders can nominate candidates for the head of state, and members of the Senate will elect the emperor from among them.
--In other words, Alina is actually the first emperor to be confirmed after three levels of elections, and the first head of state under a true republican system.
But in fact, this election was completely dictatorial because only one candidate was elected.
In the last moments of his life, Emperor Marius actually used dictatorial methods to ensure the smooth transfer of power.
"No, the empire must still be the empire... at least until I leave office, it must be called the empire."
Alina shook his head and said, "Li Ang will understand me, and only he will understand... So I have to marry him. This will not only maintain the integrity and independence of the empire to the greatest extent, but also use New Pandor to suppress the country and ensure that I promote reforms as a dictator."
"Then... you make the decision yourself."
Justus nodded. "Actually, I know that you have always thought that dictatorship is better..."
"No, no, father. I just want a constitution - a constitution that treats all citizens equally, whether nobles or commoners, or the emperor himself."
Alina smiled self-deprecatingly, "But to do this, I must first become a dictator."
"You are braver than me, child. But you should know that Li Ang decree... This requires the consent of the two Queen first."
Justus nodded slightly, he now understood his daughter's thoughts.
Alina wants to finish what Emperor Marius has not finished.
"They have agreed."
Alina smiled and said, "Yesterday I received a reply from Amy. I want to go to Lion City to meet her."
Amy did write a letter to Alina.
But to be precise, this letter is actually addressed to Wendy.
However, Wendy and Alina currently live together, and this is indeed Amy's response to Alina, so Amy was sent to Imperial Port quickly.
The content of the letter is--
Dear Wendy:
I received your letter.
But please don't blame Li Ang and Alina.
Since the law allows him to marry three wives, even if he doesn't get involved with women, his subordinates will force him to have more offspring...
If there is no Alina, there will be others. This is inevitable.
If the third one is Alina, maybe we can all accept it.
But if it were anyone else, I definitely wouldn't be able to accept it... I think you should be the same.
However, for the sake of our friendship and the peace of the three countries, we should not only help each other, but also restrain each other.
So, we'd better meet, I'm waiting for you at Lion City.
Don't let Li Ang know.
Wendy and Alina went to Lion City to deal with foreign affairs. Li Ang really didn't know.
Because Li Ang set off for Long River City after receiving the news from Risadiran - Wendy asked him to go first, because the wounded soldiers who stayed in Imperial Port needed someone to take care of them. There were many Noldor warriors among the wounded soldiers, and Wendy was certainly the most suitable candidate to stay and lead the team.
Li Ang's injury had not healed, so the journey was not fast. It was not until October 2 that we arrived at Long River City.
Risadiran sent the message on September 16th. Judging by the time, Gatu people has entered the eastern part of the kingdom for at least half a month.
The strange thing is that after Li Ang arrived at Long River City, the report he received was that no village or town had been looted by Gatu people in half a month.
The one who came to report the situation was Ols from Owl Knight Order. He is now a baron.
Owl Knight Order, who has been staying in Trublen, did see a large number of Gatu people entering from the east half a month ago, that is, coming out of Noldo Forest.
However, Gatu people did not attack anyone after entering the country, and he should have deliberately bypassed White Deer Fortress and Wheat Fragrance Territory. It was not until the night of September 15th that Gatu people passed near Trublen at night and was discovered by the owls.
Owl Knight Order immediately reported the warning to various places, and then followed Gatu people's large army.
But Gatu people is good at riding and shooting, and there are many horses. The scouts are placed very far away, but Owl Knight Order has too few people to follow them all the time.
On September 17th, after passing through a no-man's land filled with fog, it rained heavily again, and Owl Knight Order was lost.
The location at that time was to the west of Serenmis, under Goddess Mountain - and Gatu people did not attack Serenmis, and Serenmis had no defensive power.
After that, they completely lost track of Gatu people.
Godric was not careless. He asked Ralph to lead Horn Summon Ranger Corps to guard Brave Shield Fortress, and asked Andongjia to help Charles guard it. Well Fletcher Village, we also sent three hundred newly trained Red Arrow Longbowmen to supplement our combat strength, and sent an order to Forster to send people to block the intersection and suspension bridge to the north of Kewen Village.
At the same time, Risadiran also sent a large number of Noldor troops to search the forest, and Noldor warriors were stationed at White Deer Fortress and the forest market.
Godric and Risadiran want to close the door and beat the dog. They are all blocked. Gatu people should not be able to escape.
However, until now, there is still no news of being attacked anywhere.
In other words, Gatu people did not plunder any place in the past half month, nor did it return to the grassland. It may have been moving westward.
But this kind of marching discipline is completely unlike Gatu people's style - marching for a long time and long distances, but not committing any crime in the places it passes by, not even attacking Serenmis who is unprepared...
Even the regular armies of ordinary countries will, to some extent, forcibly requisition some military rations when passing through enemy villages and towns.
"In other words, Gatu people arrived near Goddess Mountain half a month ago, but they never attacked anyone... How big is the Jatu force you saw?"
Li Ang asked Ols, and he felt a little incredible.
"We saw at least 4,000 horses at that time, and the number of people was unknown. It was difficult for us to keep up with them."
Ols said very firmly.
Now, Li Ang felt even more incredible.
Half a month, more than four thousand horses...
A large number of horses are in the inland areas, neither plundering nor attacking cities. How did Gatu people supply the horses in more than half a month?
People really can't eat much, so if you save some food, maybe twenty pounds of grain will be enough, and you can carry it with you.
But horses can't do that. A horse has to consume at least ten pounds of fodder every day.
Inland areas are not like grasslands, and the grassland that can feed horses is limited. Except for large-scale fields near villages and towns, it is impossible to supply four thousand horses in the wild.
You can't carry hundreds of pounds of fodder with you, right?
Normally, when Gatu people is on a long-distance raid, he will loot the villages along the way, both for plunder and to feed the horses.
Because Gatu Horse are easy to feed, they are not picky eaters, do not need to be fed with concentrates, and will not suffer from diarrhea when eating grass. The most important thing is that they can eat crops in the field directly - they can eat whether they are mature or not, and they can also eat water. They are not as delicate as mainland horses.
Wheat straw is a commonly used horse feed. The usual method used by Jatu raiders after leaving the grassland was to use straw from wheat fields or wheat stacks near villages and towns to raise horses, and use the stolen food to feed people.
However, wheat fields can only be found around villages and towns. Gatu people has never attacked any villages and towns, and they have avoided Owl Knight Order's search, which means that they should not have stopped in any villages or towns...
Is it possible that they can conjure fodder out of thin air?!
Li Ang said he didn't understand. This was not the Gatu people he remembered.
However, there is currently no problem with the layout of Godric and Risadiran. It is also a good idea to close the door and beat the dog. Li Ang does not need to adjust its strategy.
The question now is, where is Gatu people, who broke into the hinterland of the kingdom?
Godric is also a little anxious - he never thought that one day he would be looking forward to receiving news that a place was attacked by Gatu people...
However, there has been no news about Gatu people entering the hinterland. On the contrary, there is new news coming from the north.
The person who sent the message back was Raphael.
"Your Majesty Li Ang, we found Gatu people's large army... They are in the wilderness between Lion Lake City and Fletcher!"
Raphael described everything he saw to Li Ang: "I took the Horn Rangers to explore the grassland once, and found a large number of wheel marks heading west, so we followed them... I saw countless car tents with my own eyes, as if they were migrating on a large scale."
"They are migrating? Are they migrating again? They migrated last time... I killed thousands in Eagle Claw Fortress. Last time it was Zhuda's tribe..."
Li Ang became more and more confused. "Who is it this time? Do you know which tribe those Gatu people belong to?"
"I'm not sure, I didn't dare to get close - there were too many of them."
Raphael shook his head. "However, I think it should be Zakar's person."
"Zakar defeated Zhu Da a few years ago and forced Zhu Da's tribe to migrate to the Lion Lake City area... and now his own tribe has also begun to migrate to Lion Lake City? What's going on..."
Li Ang frowned. "Has a warning been sent to Lion Lake City?"
"Of course, Ms. Andongjia went to Lion Lake City, and I came to Long River City and left separately. Lion Lake City should have received the news earlier."
Raphael nodded.
Li Ang feels that the current situation is a bit tricky.
There is a Jatu army in the hinterland of the kingdom. Four thousand horses usually means two thousand Gatu people. These two thousand people cannot be ignored, but they cannot be found.
Between Lion Lake City and Fletcher, a large number of Gatu people moved to that wasteland. This cannot be ignored, but the question is how to mobilize the troops? Where to mobilize the troops?
Lion Lake City There may be seven to eight hundred troops stationed there, and these people must hold on to the city; Brave Shield Fortress and Fletcher's manpower cannot be moved casually, otherwise there is no guarantee that Gatu people will not turn around and attack.
Long River City has two thousand troops, half of them are Godric's troops and half of them are Free Legion's people, but they are not suitable to be drawn out to take the initiative to attack.
After Risadiran came back, he left Free Legion in Long River City--Free Legion currently only has about a thousand people, and several hundred more are recovering from injuries in Imperial Port.
It would be very difficult to bring heavy infantry against Gatu people, and Li Ang doesn't want to ask for trouble.
Most of Godric's troops are newly recruited soldiers. They can defend the city without any problem, but if they are taken out to fight in the field, they may be in danger.
Besides, nothing can happen to Long River City. It is estimated that the Gatu people group hiding in the hinterland is waiting for Li Ang to send out the garrison.
As for Risadiran, to ensure the defense of Noldo Forest and White Deer Fortress, it is estimated that only a few hundred Noldo Ranger can be mobilized.
Calundru Castle's Leofric still has more than a thousand people to call, and there are more cavalry, but they are a little far away.
Dalion and Griffin Knights can also be transferred, but they are currently still at Sava Fortress, which is further away...
Moreover, even if they are all transferred here, the total number will be just over 2,000 people... Is it enough?
It is probably not enough. There is no Lion Knight Order and the Crow Army to use this time. It is impossible to replicate Eagle Claw Fortress's joint resistance against Jatu last time.
When the power becomes bigger, it becomes more difficult to fight the war, because it is your own territory everywhere and you have to defend it everywhere.
After sending manpower to convey the order to mobilize troops, Li Ang began to consider whether there was any way to talk to Gatu people...
If you can't fight, it's best not to fight... Gatu people, barbarians like Gatu people who launch suicidal charges at the slightest disagreement, Li Ang really don't want to waste the lives of soldiers on them.
Moreover, there are many ways to defeat the enemy. To deal with Gatu people, fighting is the least cost-effective way. Unless it is for other reasons, there is really no need to fight head-on.
Therefore, Raphael got an important task. Li Ang asked him to serve as his special envoy, in the name of the new King of Pendor, to try to communicate with those Gatu peoples in the wasteland - there was no way. Although Raphael's eloquence was average, he was the only one who could speak Jatu.