Distribution

Seeing that everyone was seated, the King of Terra cleared his throat and then raised a hand to Hogul. Hogul nodded in understanding and stood up.

As Hogul clapped his hands, guards stepped forward and placed maps in front of Ronan and the others. The maps were marked with various symbols, and Ronan awkwardly realized he couldn't quite understand them. He gave Mario a look.

Mario understood perfectly, shook his head helplessly, and then nodded at Ronan to show he understood.

"What lies before you all is a map of Terra's territory, marking the current battle situation, troop deployments, and the main positions of the enemy forces.

As you can see, Terra City is built by the sea, but our territory is not limited to Terra alone. Extending inland, we have four satellite cities and dozens of small villages and fortresses.

Currently, Fortress One, our southernmost city, was captured in the initial surprise attack. Caught off guard, most of the thousand soldiers defending it were killed or captured. The loss of Fortress One has directly cost us control of nearly a fifth of our territory.

The enemy has left about a thousand defensive troops in Fortress One, but their main force is nearby, and the city's supplies are abundant, so we cannot recapture it in a short time.

Therefore, our primary objective is to defend the remaining fortresses. Once all the fortresses fall, Terra will lose its only means of external communication, as the port will also surely fall. At that point, even with Terra City's defensible position and ample food supplies, it will be meaningless."

When Hogul spoke of the main strategy being defense, Ronan noticed Prince Gaogen scoff dismissively. However, Hogul glanced at him and continued his explanation without paying it any mind.

"Our army currently has three thousand professional soldiers and six thousand temporarily conscripted militiamen. The enemy has five thousand slave soldiers from Valantis, two thousand professional soldiers, and six thousand troops from Eredar. Even with your country's full support arriving, our numbers will only barely match theirs.

Eredar and Valantis can still draw soldiers from their territories, but they can only spare about two thousand more. If their own garrisons are too thin, Seljuh and the Slovaks will make them understand the pain of having their homes raided.

The next step for our main fighting force, I plan to deploy them to Fortress Two and Fortress Three, sending a thousand main troops and two thousand militiamen to each location. Terra City will also need a certain number of defending troops to guard against surprise attacks and for emergencies. Therefore, I hope you all can go to Fortress Four to defend it. We will leave a thousand militiamen and ample supplies within Fortress Four. As for the surrounding villages, we can only have their residents evacuate to the city.

The current strategy is defense. The enemy's supply lines are long, and the alliance between Valantis and Eredar is not stable. The Eredar are known for their treachery, and the Valantians are basically greedy merchants.

They will inevitably develop internal conflicts if they fail to break through our defenses for too long. Once your country's reinforcements have all arrived, it will be time to reclaim our lost territory and even launch a counter-offensive.

Valantis and Eredar are advancing aggressively and with clear objectives. If you had not arrived in time, we would have likely had to abandon another fortress due to insufficient strength."

Ronan frowned after listening. This was far too passive, but with their inability to match the enemy on the open battlefield, there was little else they could do.

However, this would heavily test the defenders' willpower and strength. After all, the enemy could concentrate their forces to attack one city at a time. The Terra fortresses were not close to each other, and any attempt at mutual support could easily be exploited by the enemy to defeat them one by one.

After explaining the strategy, the King of Terra coughed and said, "I believe everyone is clear on the situation. You have traveled a long way, and you must all be hungry. I have asked the kitchen to prepare a meal, so please enjoy Terra's food and wine!"

After speaking, he beckoned to a guard in the corner, who immediately turned and walked towards the back of the palace.

"Father!" Prince Gaogen stood up, about to say something, but was stopped by a gesture from the King of Terra. He could only sit back down dejectedly. He always believed they should have tried to recapture Fortress One first.

Most importantly, he felt that as the Crown Prince, he should have more say, rather than having to listen to an old marshal who was nearing his end and adopt a shameful, tortoise-like tactic that would tarnish Terra's reputation.

The King of Terra smiled helplessly. He had his son late in life and doted on him. This son had been instilled with so much patriotic ideology from a young age that he had become overly proud of his royal status and was somewhat blindly confident in Terra's strength.

Reasoning with him now was unlikely to change his views. Only a devastating failure would make him realize the truth. But Terra was in a time of crisis, and the King of Terra dared not let him act recklessly; he couldn't afford to gamble.

Waitresses brought out plates of food one after another, including roasted suckling pig, roast chicken, long loaves of bread drizzled with honey, and creamy carrot soup. Most notably, Ronan saw something resembling rice, which brought a wave of nostalgia to him, having eaten rice for over twenty years in his previous life. He hadn't expected that Slovakia would also have rice paddies.

As soon as he smelled the aroma, Ronan could barely contain himself. His empty stomach urged him to stuff the food in.

But the King of Terra hadn't started eating yet, so he had to restrain himself. More importantly, Mario was staring intently at him, his fierce gaze telling Ronan not to be rude.

"Haha, everyone, please begin your meal!" the King of Terra laughed heartily, reaching out, grabbing a roast chicken, tearing off a drumstick, and eating it with a dash of the heroic spirit of his youth.

Upon hearing this, Ronan immediately extended his barely contained hands, picked up a dish that looked like curry rice, placed it in front of him, cut off some pork to put on the plate, and began to chew heartily.

The waitresses continued to bring food from the kitchen, and they also brought out large barrels of beer and large wooden mugs, pouring a full cup for everyone present.

"This is Terra's most famous dark beer, everyone. Let us raise our glasses together and wish you all good fortune in battle!"

"Good fortune in battle!" Ronan and the others were also stirred by the King of Terra's enthusiasm. The previously dejected Prince Gaogen also raised his cup and drank heartily.

"Terra will win!" the King of Terra shouted again, raising his cup.

"Terra will win!" the people below responded, raising their cups in unison.

An hour later, the banquet ended. Ronan was slumped in his chair, full and satisfied, patting his round belly. He had eaten so much that his eight-pack abs had been stretched into a single pack.

Waitresses cleared the messy tables. After the meal, the King of Terra also invited them to stay at the palace and arranged for waitresses to prepare hot water for them to bathe.

Ronan immediately imagined many romantic scenes. However, Rexa declined the King of Terra's invitation, stating that they still needed to make preparations with their troops and would depart for Fortress Four tomorrow.

Ronan was then pulled away by Mario with a dejected expression. Returning to the barracks, he took a quick shower in the public bathhouse and then slept tearfully on the cold wooden plank bed, devoid of any ladies. In his dreams, he fulfilled the desires he couldn't satisfy tonight.

In his dream, he... (ten thousand words omitted here!)