Riding and Slashing

Chapter 254 The New Marshal
In order to control the Phoenix Knights, Titus did not go to Siyuan City, but put his ideas into action.

Taking advantage of the fact that the Sava River Fort was attacked, he once again provoked the revenge war against the Sarleon Kingdom and the D'Shar Principality.

With the Phoenix Knights, he invaded the Sarleon Kingdom in the name of 'revenge', wandered around the Sarleon Realm, and provoked Sir Lehman who was stationed at Qicha Fortress.

Afterwards, he wandered around the Turda Fortress of the D'Shar Duchy, killed many D'Shars, and seduced several D'Shar lords.

He wants to provoke a large-scale war among the three countries.

Because the three forces will be involved with each other, for what Titus wants to achieve, this will actually be better than facing only one hostile force.

Aside from the timing of his large-scale war, this tactical idea is actually good. It lures the enemy to kill each other, expands the scale of the war, and then sits on a strong city like the Sava River Castle to take advantage of the fire.

This was originally intended to gradually turn the Phoenix Knights, which did not belong to him, into his private army through continuous battles, and use the expansion of the scale of the war around the Sava River Castle as an excuse to prompt Emperor Marius to give him a higher order. authority and freedom.

But Titus really intends to lay more territory for the Bacchus Empire, and to gain an advantage for the empire in the west - because in his opinion, Li Ang, the lord of the Sarleon Empire, won the northeastern part of the Bacchus Empire. Two border counties, since the situation on the northeast border of the empire is worrying, he should create good conditions in the west.

Titus did not intend to treason. He knew Emperor Marius well. He knew that the decisions made by Emperor Marius had always been from the perspective of benefiting the Bacchus Empire.

He knew that as long as he was not treasonous and considered for the benefit of the empire, then Emperor Marius would not care about his self-respect—just like Kailos, even though Kairos had always opposed Marius' reforms, because Kairos had always been For the sake of the country, it still has the highest status.

Of course, Kairos is messing up for his son now, but Titus doesn't know it.

Titus was not in the country during the most chaotic period of the Bacchus Empire. He didn't know the current situation of the Bacchus Empire. The major legions of the Bacchus Empire were basically disabled, and he didn't know that the cavalry of the Dread Legion had actually died. He landed ahead of time, and he thought that the entire Dread Legion had been killed by himself at sea.

In the eyes of Titus, Bacchus is still an extremely powerful empire, and fighting against the Sarleon Kingdom and the D'Shar Duchy at the same time has always been a routine operation for the Bacchus Empire...

And at this time, it was when General Agathon came to Leyla Fortress—Agathon was able to reorganize the troops of Leyla Fortress so easily because the soldiers in Leyla Fortress had heard of Sava River Fort Another large-scale war started.

Agathon, who knew the actual situation of the empire, was of course panicked. He knew very well that the current situation of the Bacchus Empire was definitely not suitable for triggering a war between the three countries.

If the war continues, the scale continues to expand, and it becomes a long-term national war between the three countries, then judging from the current state of the Bacchus Empire, it is almost certain that they will lose.

Although the root cause of all this is indeed the treachery of the Sarleon Kingdom and the looting of the D'Shar Principality, but the Bacchus Empire is in ruins, and the matter of the Sava River Castle should be tolerated.

But now that everything has happened, and the Sava River Fort has already started the war, there is no way out for Agathon—the Bacchus Empire must win this battle quickly, because it cannot express itself to other countries. The fact that Bacchus is weak in the country.

Once the Sarleon Kingdom and the D'Shar Principality find out that the Bacchus Empire is so weak at the moment, it will really be over-if other countries see that the Bacchus Empire is weak and dare not fight for a long time, they will not even give them a chance to negotiate. of.

In this case, the only way out is to launch a thunderous blow and end the war in the fastest and most brutal way. It must not be dragged into a protracted war.

But Agathon is really difficult to operate at this time.

Kailos followed him with the main force of the Shadow Legion to track down the Snake Cult on the border of D'Shar;
Emperor Marius drove those illegal armed forces into the territory of Desia, and the shadow wolves were also sent to Desia to obtain horses. Siyuan City is currently empty, and the Immortal Legion cannot move;
The First Imperial Army Corps was maimed by the rebels in Boshi City, and rebuilding would take at least several months;

In order to spread out the Red Death vaccination as soon as possible, the Knights of the Radiant Cross couldn't do anything, and neither could General Kryon's exorcists;
On the side of Emperor Lingang, Justus and the imperial guards were negotiating with the serf general Ivaylo, trying their best to avoid a new serf uprising.

Coupled with the fact that God's Lingang is thousands of miles away from Sava River Fort, even if Justus properly settles Ivaylo's matter, he won't be able to get through it for a while.

The most powerful legions in the entire Bacchus Empire were unable to participate in the battle of Sava River Fort...

At present, the Bacchus Empire can only face the armies of two countries at the same time with the more than a thousand troops newly assembled by Agathon in Fortress Leyla, as well as the troops in the hands of General Titus and the Phoenix Knights...

And Agathon knew that he had to quickly reinforce the Sava River Fort. If Titus and the Phoenix Knights did not receive reinforcements for too long, they might think that the empire had abandoned them. Knights defected from the empire...

Perhaps every shining hero is a gambler, so is Emperor Marius, and so is General Agathon.

While sending people to report the situation to Emperor Marius, Agathon sent out all the troops that had just been reorganized in his hands. Except for a few wounded soldiers who were guarding the gate, there was basically no one left in Leyla Fortress.

His army has only 1000 people, and because it is newly reorganized, the cooperation with each other is actually not very skilled.

But Agathon implemented an extremely bold tactic—he personally led the troops, swam across the river at night, and attacked Qicha Fortress by surprise!
Sir Lehman, the lord of the Seven Forks Fortress, was stationed by the bridge of the Sava River at that time. In order to keep control of the bridge deck, Lehman carefully arranged a large number of troops to patrol both ends of the bridge.

But no one expected that Agathon's troops would land across the river between Salem Village and Qicha Fortress in late winter and early spring, the coldest season in the river, and made a detour in one night. In a big circle, he went around to the back of Qicha Fortress.

You must know that this is not the southern part of the Bacchus Empire. This is the center of the entire continent, and the climate is not so hot.At a time like February and March, the ice on the upper reaches of the Sava River had just begun to thaw, and the river was freezing to the bone. No one knew how Agathon led a group of newly reorganized troops to swim across the river at this time.

And the crossing location chosen by Agathon is also very good.

Since Karen Deer Castle has been controlled by Li Ang at this time, Salem Village is sandwiched between Qicha Fortress and Karen Deer Castle, which was originally considered a safe hinterland. Most people are engaged in construction during this time, and the defense at night is not too much rigorous.

At present, Anson is still organizing a border checkpoint on the side of Karen Deer Castle to ensure that the Red Death does not spread. In addition, there is Qicha Fortress to the west, so the patrol team has not been arranged to the west of Salem Village, lest they just live in Salem Village. What conflicts did the Bacchus have with the Qicha Fortress?

And Sir Lehman of Seven Fortress probably thought the same thing. After knowing that Li Ang had captured Karen Bucksburg, Lehman did not send a patrol to the east of Seven Fortress—also to avoid misunderstanding, Lehman may I don't want Li Ang to feel that he has any plans for his newly occupied territory...

As a result, Ajiasong just passed through the gap between the two places, and then launched a surprise attack from the north gate behind Qicha Fortress that no one expected.

The Qicha Fortress was also controlling the Red Death some time ago. Corpses were being transported and burned outside the north gate. In addition, Lehman brought a large army to the bridge, and there were not enough defenders in the fortress. In the name of "reinforcement army", they mixed in, and then controlled the entire Qicha Fortress from the inside.

This surprise attack shocked the entire continent in a very short period of time—Qicha Fortress has never been captured by anyone since it was built!

Even the first emperor of Bacchus, Osa the Conqueror, stood in front of this fortress for a whole year when he led an army of tens of thousands to rampage across the Pendor Continent, and finally withdrew his troops and ceased fighting.

Such a result is naturally more attractive than the fight against the Snake Worship Cult in Bacchus. General Agathon became the most dazzling general in the entire continent for a while.

But it is also the famous general who is in the most dangerous situation...

After occupying the Qicha Fortress, Agathon sent an envoy to Sarleon City before everyone could react, demanding that King Ulrik sign an armistice agreement and pay 100 million dinars in reparations In exchange for exiting Qicha Fortress.

Of course, this operation is to prevent the Sarleon Kingdom from seeing the details of the Bacchus Empire, and to end the war as soon as possible as a victor, or to attract the Sarleon Kingdom's war goal to 'recover the Seven Fortresses'.

For the Sarleon Kingdom, the Qicha Fortress is both a symbol of victory in the founding war and a gateway to the capital. Everyone knows its importance—if the Qicha Fortress is captured, the capital, Sarleon City, will be directly exposed to the enemy.

This will cause residents in the entire capital economic circle to lose their sense of security, and a large number of nobles and businessmen will flee as a result. If Qicha Fortress cannot be recovered in a short period of time, the indirect losses will be immeasurable.

Moreover, everyone in Sarleon Realm probably misjudged the strength of their troops because of Agathon's strong words-in the eyes of most people, it must be at least several thousand elite troops to capture Qicha Fortress, right?
This means that it may be difficult to regain Qicha Fortress through battle for a while. After all, General Osa led an army of tens of thousands and failed to capture the thousands of troops guarding Qicha Fortress by Lord Alfred the Lion.

In addition, the current state of the Sarleon Kingdom is not particularly good. Two powerful dukes have passed away one after another. The Lion Knights suffered heavy losses a few months ago, and they have not recovered yet. Tusi and the Phoenix Knights were disabled...

If it was before, Ulrik would probably agree to Agathon's conditions, exchange 100 million dinars for Agathon's withdrawal from Seven Fork Fortress, and admit defeat and declare a truce.

But Agathon probably didn't expect that King Ulrik is very poor now...

The asking price of 100 million dinars is really not high, and Agathon is actually asking for the minimum price—Agathon is also worried that Ulrik will fight him to the death...

But if the asking price is lower, it will be really outrageous. Qicha Fortress is not a remote town. It is a large-scale and strong fortress that has never been conquered before. The cost of building it back then was more than 100 million. dinar.

To be honest, even King Ulrik himself felt that Agathon's asking price was not high, probably just to retaliate against himself for breaking the agreement and attacking the Sava River Castle.

But the problem is that although the 100 million dinars are not much, Ulrik really can't get them out now...

It stands to reason that it is now the beginning of the year, and it has not been long since the national treasury has just received the tax, and it has not yet been allocated in full, so the treasury should be rich.

But the problem is that King Ulrik owed a lot of usury last year - he spent a lot of money to find the noble girl of the Noldor, and spent a lot of money to buy the rebels of the Bacchus Empire. Lord borrowed...

Originally, Ulrik did not plan to repay the borrowed money, but the domestic situation was not good in the second half of last year. If he did not repay the money, he was afraid that the throne would be unstable... So at the beginning of the year, Ulrik embezzled the tax revenue from the treasury to repay the money.

At the same time, the rebuilding of the heavily-lost Lion Knights cost a lot of dinars—King Ulrik knew too well what this force meant to him. He really took control of the entire country after rebuilding the Lion Knights ten years ago. No matter how much money he spent, he had to restore the Royal Knights to its original state.

The Royal Knights need to be respectable, and the Minister of Finance did not dare to refuse the reconstruction cost of the Lion Knights. The dinar was spent like running water, and part of it was secretly swallowed up by the Duke of Brennus...

This has been the practice for ten years. Brennus is greedy for money, and Ulrik knows it well.

But the reason why Brennus is so loyal to the king, and the reason why Ulrik is so reassuring to Brennus, is because of this custom...

So King Ulrik is really poor now. He has hundreds of thousands of dinars, but every money has a place to go. It is really impossible to spend an extra million dinars.

Ulrik's idea of ​​building the Sava River Castle before was actually to get some extra income from the Bacchus Empire - Brennus scraped the land not just for himself, he had to hand over half of the land to Ulrik harvest.

He couldn't afford the money, but Qicha Fortress had to be taken back. Otherwise, many wealthy households around Sarleon City would flee, and the economic loss would be even greater, so King Ulrik had no choice but to forcibly take it back.

As a result, the entire Sarleon Kingdom was basically fully mobilized. King Ulrik issued a king's decree, declaring war on the Bacchus Empire again, calling all the lords to go to the vicinity of Qicha Fortress.

At this time, Li Ang welcomed the king's envoy in Changhe Town.

"...Earl Leon has worked so hard for the country to open up the territory, and he is an example for the lord of the kingdom... Now that the country is in danger and the enemy is arrogant and domineering, the whole country hopes that Earl Leon will lead the army to defeat the powerful enemy... By His Majesty's decree, inherit the Eunomia With the glory of the goddess and the will of the former king, Earl Leon is appointed as the marshal of the kingdom..."

After a lengthy cliché, the minister in charge of delivering the king's decree handed Li Ang a gorgeous scroll, and held out a short-handled scepter made of silver with both hands.

That is the authority of the Marshal of the Sarleon Kingdom.

Ulrik appointed Li Ang as the marshal, and the primary purpose of the battle was to recover the Qicha Fortress.

The matter of being named Marshal was just casually mentioned by the lord before, but he didn't expect it to become a prophecy-although it wasn't too unexpected, but he really didn't expect it to happen so soon.

(End of this chapter)