The Final Battle with the Faith Order, Part Six
Just as the two returned to Santos's Ducal House, Santos suddenly said to Mizhene, "Thank you for your cooperation today, otherwise we wouldn't have had the opportunity to wipe out so many of the Faith Order's armies."
Tomorrow, I hope you can return to your unit; afterwards, your troops may need to go into battle.
After Santos finished speaking, Mizhene was quite surprised, but quickly nodded in relief.
He had assumed Santos would remain in his command post to maintain control of his army, but he hadn't expected him to be granted freedom so quickly, and even allowed to command troops in battle.
Mizhene gave Santos a military salute and asked directly, "Viscount Santos, please assign me a task."
Although my army cannot compare to your elite troops, it is still one I have trained for many years, and it will certainly not disappoint you.
Santos nodded, then pointed directly to an area on the map on the table and said, "Tomorrow, I'll have you and your troops hold this area and prevent the enemy from attacking our flank."
The location Santos was referring to was a small square in the Faith Order's city, situated on higher ground, right on the flank of the Expeditionary Army, posing a significant threat.
Today, the Expeditionary Army has just captured the area, and now, in order to ensure its safety, Santos has sent a detachment to garrison it.
Santos intended to hand this place over to the troops of Mizhene. On the one hand, this would reduce the area controlled by the Expeditionary Army and free up more mobile troops; on the other hand, Santos also wanted to take this opportunity to have Mizhene's troops raise their banners, which would have a certain deterrent effect on the Faith Order army and damage their morale and fighting spirit.
Faith Order that relies on loyalty and faith to unite its troops is vulnerable to a severe blow if a traitor, especially within an army, emerges. The morale of the troops could collapse entirely.
Of course, Santos was also worried that the exposed Mizhene and his troops would become the target of the Faith Order's concentrated fire, so he only gave Mizhene a small area, and the main battlefield was still the responsibility of the Expeditionary Army.
Furthermore, not all of Mizhene's troops could be deployed for combat; they had other missions to fulfill.
After all, all the prisoners of war, as well as the believers and Barbarians immigrants in the controlled area, are now under the care of Mizhene's army, totaling forty to fifty thousand people.
Even by the bare minimum standards of guarding, Mizhene would need to assign two thousand men to guard the area, leaving no more than two thousand troops available for combat.
With this in mind, Santos didn't dare to be too overconfident. Two thousand men were more than enough to defend this place, and even if they were besieged by the enemy, there wouldn't be much danger with sufficient Reserve Force.
As for tomorrow's battle plan, it's actually very simple.
The Expeditionary Army will continue to suppress the areas occupied by the Faith Order and must completely drive the Barbarians out of the built-up areas.
After all, apart from the small town built at the valley entrance, the rest of this valley is all farmland and pasture, with little shelter.
Once the Faith Order is driven into those open areas, the Expeditionary Army can use the long-range firepower of rifles and Artillery to easily and completely annihilate the remaining Faith Order forces.
At this moment, inside the Enlightened Sanctuary the Faith Order, four apostles dressed in grey robes gathered and a fierce argument broke out.
One of the wounded apostles, with his arm in a sling, said to the others, "The weapons the enemy is using are definitely not simple things. There's absolutely no need for us to fight them head-on."
I think it would be better to take our followers and 'Venerable Lord' and leave directly through the passage at the back of the valley.
Why are you still fighting them to the death here?
Another person sneered, "I think you're the one who's lost your mind. A large number of our believers have been controlled by the enemy. How many soldiers and believers do we have left? At most, twenty or thirty thousand."
Moreover, we don't have that much food. The granaries are all in the occupied areas. With only 20,000 to 30,000 people leaving the valley, we can't even get out of the Ice Field due to lack of food and clothing.
Moreover, the 'Venerable Lord's' body cannot travel far, and the most important Enlightened Sanctuary cannot be taken with him!
We fled from the grasslands and escaped to this remote, Ice Field, and finally found this place after much difficulty.
They even successfully established a sanctuary for the Faith Order. If we escape from here, where can we escape to?
"If we continue north, how many people will survive?"
"Then we can just get rid of those believers and only take the army, right?"
As long as we have our most elite Order Warriors left, along with the 'Judgment' and 'Venerable Lord', we can continue our efforts.
After leaving the Ice Field, secretly infiltrating a tribe on the grasslands, eliminating their upper echelons, and taking control of a small tribe shouldn't be a big problem.
We could easily hide behind the small tribes and continue developing our Faith Order; there's no need to wait here for the enemy to completely annihilate us!
"You're the one who's crazy. You want to be a chief, don't you?"
We left this place, lost the Enlightened Sanctuary, and from now on, 'Judgment' will only be a one-time weapon, and there will be no way to Enlightenment the apostles.
Moreover, without these loyal followers of the Faith Order, if you lead those Order Warriors, it won't be long before you become just like the Barbarians on the grasslands.
Our cause, the principles of our Faith Order, and the meaning of our existence will vanish into thin air.
Why should we accompany you in this? Why should we allow you to leave with the power of the Faith Order?
If you are completely terrified, you may leave on your own. Leave your men behind, and we will continue to fight the enemy with them. Even if we perish here with the enemy, we will never retreat."
The Third Apostle was furious upon hearing this, but after glancing at the other two silent apostles, he paused, realizing that they were also not satisfied with his words and would obviously not support his retreat plan.
The Third Apostle had no choice but to swallow his anger, dragging his injured arm to the side.
Having gained the upper hand in the argument, the Fourth Apostle did not press further, turning his gaze to the First Apostle, who remained silent there, as did the other two Apostles.
The First Apostle stood in the center of the Enlightened Sanctuary, looking up at the tall and magnificent building and the huge, shimmering metal pillars around it, and sighed softly.
"We found this valley and established the Faith Order's sanctuary not because we were lucky."
Rather, this valley has always existed here, and the 'Venerable Lord' knew of its existence, which is why he led us here.
And you all know that this Enlightened Sanctuary was not built by us; we merely redecorated it.
As the Third Apostle said, the Prayer Sanctuary is now the core of the Faith Order, and both our Enlightenment apostles and the energizing of the Sacred Artifact cannot do without it.
If we abandon this place, the succession of the Faith Order will be in trouble. You all know that what's in your heads cannot be learned or mastered.
There are very few believers within the Faith Order who meet the requirements for promotion to apostle, and Keledu's fate is unknown. The only candidate, Mizhene, is probably being held outside the city, and even if he is not captured, his situation is not good.
Over the years, only a few of us apostles remain. The Faith Order cannot do without the guidance and protection of the apostles. To abandon the Enlightened Sanctuary would be a betrayal of the Faith Order's cause.
Keep fighting! Even if we can't defeat the enemy, we cannot retreat a single step.
As long as we can inflict casualties on the enemy and force them to abandon their efforts to eliminate us, we can then seek opportunities to negotiate with them.
Even if the Faith Order bows to the enemy, we must protect this place, protect our Enlightened Sanctuary, and we can preserve the Faith Order's existence.
Remember that what we should protect is the survival of the Faith Order; everything else can be given up, including our personal safety and honor.
The apostles understood the First Apostle's meaning and bowed to him in unison to show their agreement with his judgment. However, the Third Apostle's expression was somewhat ferocious when he bowed, clearly still harboring great dissatisfaction.
The First Apostle noticed the Third Apostle's dissatisfaction but didn't take it seriously; the Third Apostle had the most fiery temper.
In this battle against the enemy, he led his troops into battle at the forefront, only to be attacked by the enemy's terrible weapons and nearly not make it back.
The next morning, the thunderous sound of war drums echoed throughout the valley, Expeditionary Army to set out for battle once more.
Moreover, the Faith Order responded with war drums, indicating that they were equally unafraid.
The two armies once again assembled and confronted each other within the city, but this time the Faith Order's army became the defenders, and the Expeditionary Army's army became the attackers.
Even so, Santos remained cautious, as the Expeditionary Army was still an outsider compared to the local Faith Order.
Fortunately, through interrogation and searching, they had a general understanding of the city's layout, and officers from each unit had a rough map. As long as they were careful, they were unlikely to fall into enemy traps.
The battle began immediately, with the Expeditionary Army launching an attack on the area occupied by the Faith Order's army, but this time they did not deploy large numbers of riflemen.
After all, the Faith Order wasn't stupid. Having suffered a loss yesterday, they erected many obstacles between the streets and houses today, forming barricades.
If the Expeditionary Army wanted to fire rifles at them, they would be blocked by obstacles, resulting in a waste of ammunition.
The Expeditionary Army that launched the attack this time mainly consisted of troops armed with cold weapons, and most of them were Sword-and-Shield Soldiers. After all, long weapons were difficult to use in the narrow urban space. The rifle teams were also organized into shi (a unit of 10) to provide long-range firepower for friendly forces behind the Sword-and-Shield Soldiers.