Send a Dozen Waves of Fodder First

There was no large-scale exodus of Player from the Dawn Mercenary Group.

Only a few hundred hot-tempered and impatient Player chose to leave, determined to fight for the freedom of the Steel Duchy.

The key reason why the Player didn't completely fall into internal strife is Dawn City!

In the eyes of Player, William is a compassionate Half-Elf Lord.

There are no slaves in Dawn City, Commoners live a life free from worries about food and clothing, with a happiness index far higher than that of the two Human Duchy.

This shows that William is at least a good lord. They are now Mercenaries, and there is no need for them to leave the Dawn Mercenary Group for the sake of the Blackrock Duchy's Nobles system. That would be a complete loss.

The Steel Duchy claims it's for the sake of freedom.

Of the hundreds of thousands of slaves in the country, only 20,000 to 30,000 were pardoned and became Commoners.

Player aren't all fools.

A former Professional Players, Anyu Huixin, once posted a discussion thread.

Why would an Late King, accustomed to the Nobles system, suddenly raise the clarion call for freedom?

The post contains a lot of valuable information.

It's brimming with a sense of conspiracy.

Anyu Huixin made it very clear that this Late King was just a puppet, otherwise there wouldn't have been such a big change.

In particular, why not pardon all slaves?

Using various pretexts of crime to continue controlling those slaves and forcing them to do hard labor—do they think everyone else is a fool?

Anyu Huixin also uttered the most crucial sentence. "Freedom! It is often a hypocritical banner of those in power. Looking at history, there are countless conspirators who have used the Horn of Freedom to instigate wars."

Player of Dawn and Black Rock are very supportive of this.

But Player from the Steel Duchy are saying, "So what if there's a conspiracy?"

I've already seen the illustrations for the game's Open Beta; it's clear that someone is controlling the Steel Throne.

Fight for Freedom and changing the disgusting Nobles system is a good intention and not inherently wrong.

Of course, these things inevitably attract unwanted attention and scrutiny.

Some Player have also uncovered Hidden Organization called the ' Freedom Alliance,' which seems to be spread throughout the entire Steel Duchy.

In an instant.

The voices of Steel Duchy Player are growing louder, with some even believing that the leader of the Hidden Organization is the man behind the throne.

The sentiment on the Forum consistently leaned towards the Steel Duchy, with more and more Newbie Player joining the Steel Duchy.

At this point, there are over 100,000 Player willing to fight for steel, and without interference from other missions, the number of those fighting for it will reach as high as 80,000 to 90,000.

As time goes on, the number will continue to grow.

William was invited to the front-line operations room.

He pushed back the curtain and saw only three people.

Tyrannosaur Rex is not sitting in the main seat; instead, he is standing to the left and right of another young man.

He is no longer the commander of the Legion, although changing generals on the eve of battle is not a good solution.

Tyrannosaur is better at charging into battle. He was assigned to the Rhine River Campaign because he was familiar with the border and the combat environment was not complicated, which was of course no problem.

Now, looking at the war across the country, it's natural that the old guys from the Blackrock Duchy will make an appearance.

Marquis Solz is also the father-in-law of the current King Nadrick.

This is an old man with only the Grandmaster Bloodline, now 126 years old, and his life is nearing its end.

Because his early life was almost entirely spent in war, he suffered countless internal injuries of all sizes, which meant he could only remain at the intermediate level.

As for his level 79, the fact that he didn't break through to the High-Class is simply due to some attribute increases and bloodline amplification.

But in his previous life, it was Marquis Solz who single-handedly delayed the inevitable demise of Black Rock for a full eleven months and thirteen days!

The difficulty involved is self-evident.

However, William didn't have much confidence in this old fellow who was good at defending cities but not at attacking them.

Because Black Rock's history spans hundreds of years, it has always been a history of being beaten...

Black Rock has gained a temporary advantage, but they've encountered difficulties in launching an attack. They still prefer to passively take hits; otherwise, they wouldn't have built a wall so quickly...

"It seems like we're proceeding step by step, but if we can't take down the Steel Duchy in a year, no, no, no, if we don't take down the Steel Duchy in a short time, I'll suffer a huge loss."

If this drags on, everyone will be doomed once the Dark Invasion.

William's goal is to shorten the war's duration and seize the time for vigorous development. Otherwise, relying solely on its geographical advantage, Dawn City will lack sufficient manpower to defend itself and will be unable to withstand the final onslaught of the Dark Invasion.

Then, he glanced at another young man in his twenties.

Diablo, the newly appointed Count of the Blackrock Duchy, possesses Legendary Bloodline.

A level 65 Warrior, with two Hidden Class of Legendary-Quality.

But none of that is the key point.

This guy's nickname is "War Master"...

As William sized them up, the latter naturally looked at the young Dawn City Lord as well.

They held this powerful Half-Elf, who also wielded considerable influence, in high regard.

Marquis Solz smiled politely at William and said, "Now that Dawn Corps has arrived, let's begin our meeting."

"I wonder if Marquis Solz intends to attack?" William went straight to the point, not wanting to waste any more words.

Solz remained expressionless, but a pang of heartache pierced his chest. In the entire Southeastern Corner corner, apart from Dawn City, which held a geographical advantage, Rhine City of the Steel Duchy also possessed a geographical advantage. Currently, the only Three-Nation Fortress were truly formidable.

The fortress directly in front of them was unavoidable; to conquer it, they had to rely solely on manpower, as there were no shortcuts.

More importantly, the Steel Duchy has a lot of the Legion...

Although they lost nearly four Legion in the Dragon-Slaying Battle and the Rhine River Campaign, they managed to quickly rebuild and still had 27 Regular Army.

Including Mercenaries and Chosen Ones, the number reaches as high as 160,000 to 170,000.

Even considering all the military forces of the Blackrock Duchy, they were still 40,000 to 50,000 fewer than the enemy!

The Blackrock Duchy, already at a disadvantage in terms of numbers, truly lacked the power to launch an attack.

But now Black Rock King has grand ambitions, and his father-in-law Solz's plan to defend the Rhine Bridge is no longer viable.

Solz's original plan was to drag the war out until the one-year war deadline, at which point, according to the Empire's rules, the Blackrock Duchy would once again have a 30-year truce!

Of course, Solz wasn't without options. Since the King wasn't willing to tolerate it, he could fight back.

Marquis Solz pointed to the Military Fortress closest to the main camp and said bluntly, "The Military Fortress in the very center has three Legion and 20,000 Chosen Ones. It is easy to defend and difficult to attack. As long as we dare to attack the city, the other two fortresses will send Legion to support us."

But I'm not entirely without options.

Black Rock prepared a full 1,300 Catapult for this great battle. I mobilized 300 of them every day, launching continuous attacks day and night. No matter how many people we killed, as long as we could protect these Catapult, we would continue to bombard them for seven days.

Meanwhile, the other two fortresses also need to be attacked feintly.

When the enemy is exhausted, launch a night attack and storm the central fortress.

William sighed inwardly. This old guy was really steady, even more steady than him...

He even knew what this guy was going to say next.

For example, Solz might pat William on the shoulder and say, "Go ahead, the Chosen Ones of the Dawn Mercenary Group can be resurrected. They can easily hold off the reinforcements from the other two castles, and I can even add more war bonuses..."

But is William such a moronic idiot who only knows how to throw his life away?

Without hesitation, he waved his hand and said, "We'll start fighting tomorrow. Launch the Catapult, and the war bonus must be increased because I'll have my men charge up the wall in waves of Catapult. As soon as you see me holding the top, you can attack."

"..." Solz and the other two stared wide-eyed. So, the Chosen Ones could just throw their lives away like this?

William raised an eyebrow. Why not?

The key is that as long as the rewards are sufficient, there won't be any problems!

In particular, wasn't his reason for instigating the war simply to ensure Player could resurrect infinitely before reaching level 30?

(乛?乛), hehe~