Elden: Ring of Calamity

Chapter 487 Old grudges
"That's right." Latan drew a large circle along the Weeping Peninsula, which occupied almost half of the southern border on the map, with his fingers like swords. He sighed, "The Weeping Peninsula is a peninsula of the Morns. Stanis has been famous for its bravery since ancient times. It just so happens that they have some unpleasant pasts with the ancient dragons, and our recent envoys' visit also fell on deaf ears. Without their support, any plans we make for the southern border will be castles in the air and there is no chance of them being realized."

To call it an "unpleasant" past was already the most euphemistic way he could put it. Strictly speaking, it would not be an exaggeration to say that the Stanley family had a blood feud with the Ancient Dragon Dynasty.

In the autumn of the 33rd year of the Golden Calendar, with the fall of Stonewell to the Golden Crusade Army and the death of the Storm Queen, the Storm Dynasty, the longest-lasting human dynasty, was declared extinct. However, even when Gefre led the main force of the Crusade Army to the land of Gaileid, the war of resistance on the southern continent still showed no signs of stopping.

The most powerful family under the Storm Dynasty royal family, the Stanleys of Moren, are the most prominent representatives of the resistance force.

Prior to this, War King Gefrey had fought in Moren City for more than a month. It was not until the Duke of Moren, Isaiah Stanislas, personally confirmed the death of the Storm Queen through scouts that he agreed to nominally submit to the Golden Dynasty after Gefrey's repeated invitations.

Perhaps considering that there was still a vast area of ​​the east that had not been conquered, and not wanting to waste troops under the strong city of Moren, or perhaps admiring the fortitude and bravery of the Moren people, Gefrey deliberately allowed Moren to retain a large amount of sovereignty under the Golden Dynasty and to govern himself for generations as a duke. After that, he led the main force of the eastern expedition to expedition to Gaileid.

In the following months, Moren gathered a large number of persecuted Storm Clansmen, and for this reason he had many conflicts with the remaining commander of the Eastern Expedition Army, who later became the Duke Wilfred Hoyle, who guarded the southern border.

Duke Stanley accused the Eastern Expedition Army of having poor military discipline and slaughtering civilians, and of not giving the Storm Clan the same treatment as promised to the other descendants of the fallen nation who had surrendered to the Golden Dynasty in the War of Unification. Duke Hoyle, in turn, angrily accused the Stanley family of being ignorant of the times and stretching their hands too far, and claimed that the Eastern Expedition Army had never persecuted the Storm Clan. Instead, it was the latter who had been in constant contact with the Ancient Dragon Dynasty and engaged in sabotage activities in the rear, and the Eastern Expedition Army had no choice but to fight back.

The two sides were almost at war, except that there was no direct fighting. Duke Stanley sheltered a large number of civilian guerrilla forces and even sent the Moren Army disguised as guerrillas and robbers to frantically attack all the small shareholder expeditionary forces that persecuted the Storm Survivors, and redistributed the looted supplies to the people in the south.

For a time, the entire Nimgefu continent was in constant flames of war, and hundreds of large and small civilian armed forces were active in the countryside in the southern border, which not only made the newly established ruling foundation of the Golden Dynasty precarious, but also threatened the logistical supply lines of Gefulei's eastern expedition.

Finally, Duke Hoyle could no longer sit still. The dynasty's rear was still at war on two fronts with the ancient dragons and the Kalia people. If the turmoil in the southern border was allowed to continue, the unification cause that was more than half completed would be in danger of being overthrown at any time. The consequences would be something that a commander of a small army like him could not afford to bear.

In the battle, the city of Moren was high and well-prepared with deep moats, skilled soldiers and abundant food. The War King did not choose to take it by force. With only tens of thousands of troops under his command, he had no confidence in winning on the frontal battlefield.

Of course the only option is to talk.

Fortunately, the reinforcements sent by the Ancient Dragon Dynasty to the southern border did not directly go to war with the Eastern Expedition Army after receiving the news of the demise of the Storm Dynasty. The commander of the reinforcements, the Ancient Dragon elder Kaironissa, publicly expressed his willingness to put the lives of hundreds of millions of people in the southern border first and hoped to negotiate with the Golden Dynasty on the local issue of Nimgefu.

Duke Hoyle immediately expressed his warm welcome and was willing to open all cities in the south except Stonewell for the garrison of the Ancient Dragon Legion so that the latter could provide all kinds of assistance to the survivors of the Storm. In exchange, he hoped that Elder Kaironissa could also help the Golden Dynasty solve the endless "local rebellions" and "terrorist attacks" in the south.

Under this situation, led by Kaironissa, the Ancient Dragon Army, the Eastern Expedition Army, and the Morn Army temporarily reached an agreement and agreed to hold a meeting on post-war peace and the future development of the South. On the eve of the meeting, Duke Hoyle continued to make small moves. He ordered the guards to drive a group of thousands of Storm Dynasty refugees to the vicinity of Morn City, spreading the news that these refugees were colluding with the resistance forces and the Eastern Expedition Army was going to execute them all. He also secretly ordered several of the most powerful heroes around him to ambush.

As expected, Duke Isaiah Stanley, who was eager to save people, went out of the city personally to rescue them. He was seriously injured in an ambush. Although he successfully brought the refugees back to the territory, he was bedridden.

Despite this, the Morn side chose to exercise restraint as the peace talks were approaching.

By the end of December, Kaironissa led the Ancient Dragon Legion to station in the northeast of Moren City. Duke Stanley immediately went out of the city ten miles to welcome them, preparing to ask the former overlord to act as a neutral arbitrator to completely resolve the unrest.

Unexpectedly, although Kaironissa met with him, he openly combined the reception and talks in a big way, and directly arranged the location at the Eastern Expedition Army’s base northwest of Moren City. He invited Duke Hoyle to sit in the main seat, while he himself sat in the guest seat, and also arranged Duke Stanley’s seat below himself.

The content of the peace talks was not announced by any of the three parties and it remains a secret to this day, but everyone knows that Duke Stanley left in a rage that evening. After returning to the city, he immediately ordered the city gates to be closed and all communication with the Ancient Dragon Legion to be cut off. His injuries rapidly worsened that night, and he died of his injuries more than ten days later.

The Duke's eldest son, Lanny Stanley, was furious. In order to avenge his father, he raised an army of 40,000 to attack the Eastern Expedition Army. All the resistance forces that had received favors from the old Duke and the Stanley family joined the battle. The Moens once assembled a force of 100,000. The Weeping Peninsula changed its flag in one day, and half of the southern border rebelled in a few months.

At first, Kaironissa strictly ordered his troops to defend their garrisons and not to go into battle. Later, fearing that Lanny Stanley would turn against him, he fled the southern border alone at night. He did not return tremblingly until several months later when the Stanley family was defeated and Duke Lanny was killed in battle.

After this battle, two generations of Stanley Dukes died in battle, and the Stanley family was almost extinct. Only Norton, the only son of Duke Lanny, survived.

The Duke of Hoyle's Eastern Expedition Army also suffered more than half of its casualties. After the war, he immediately issued a high reward, gathered a large number of mercenaries, mages and even gangs of thieves, and launched an inhumane revenge on the remnants of the southern border who had once resisted him.

Although Geoffrey issued an edict to pardon the Stanley family soon after, ordered Norton Stanley to succeed the Duke, and left a promise of revenge that will be passed down through the ages, even a king standing at the top of all living beings cannot always take into account everything that is happening under his feet.

Especially in the few years after the War King and the main force of the Eastern Expedition were expelled and before Prince Godwin took over the southern border, Nimgefu almost turned into a living hell. More than one-third of the Storm Survivors died directly, and the rest died in large numbers from plague, disasters, famine, or were reduced to slavery.

Looking back on this blood debt, it can be largely attributed to the unjust act of Kaironissa betraying his own identity and position.

Latan believed that Norton Stanley would not have any good feelings towards Greg and Ge Fuya, but who could say for sure how much his hatred for Kaironissa would extend to Lucia and today's Ancient Dragon Dynasty?
(End of this chapter)