Warlords of the witcher world

Chapter 185

While Emhyr was making changes to the structure of Nilfgaard's court, Lord Protector Herme was also busy in the fortress of Angrim.

Although he is the winner, the pressure on Hemei's head and the heavy workload are not light at all.

In the Battle of Anglin, the Nilfgaardians were defeated, but the northerners also felt uncomfortable. The casualty exchange ratio on the battlefield was almost 1:1.

Even Hemei's direct troops paid a heavy price. The Essenland Division's attrition reached 40%, and the Sazaburg Division reached 50%.

These two troops contributed the most during the late counterattack stage and fought the most ferociously, so they suffered a large number of casualties. Many of their officers were injured or even died.

However, such a sacrifice was worth it. At this price, the Sun Wheel Master was completely left in the damp land of Anglin. It would be a great honor to destroy this Nilfgaard ace.

It was a pity that the flag of the Sun Wheel Division could not be captured. If that flag could be used as a trophy, everything would be perfect.

However, intuition tells the Lord Protector that there is definitely still a chance to seize the flag. The Nilfgaardians will definitely rebuild the Sun Division. After all, this army has a close relationship with the Church of the Sun.

However, even if the casualties are heavy, victory is still a victory. This is a fact that nothing can change.

On the night of the great victory, the northerners held an unprecedented celebration ceremony. Almost everyone toasted and enjoyed the feast.

On that night, the Protector was extremely drunk, extremely drunk, because the victory was so gratifying.

Of course, when he woke up dizzy the next day, he only regretted it. The hangover was too uncomfortable.

The political significance of this battle was so great that for once everyone realized it.

The size of the Nilfgaardian army that attacked this time was beyond imagination. The rapid fall of Temeria made many people think that the north would definitely fall under the iron hoof of the men in black this time.

Anglin's victory told everyone that the Imperial people would also fail.

Even if they have muskets and artillery, steel giants, and military power that exceeds that of the northerners, they will still fail.

As a man who had played games in the political arena for many years, Heme immediately spread the news of this victory throughout the entire north.

Just like the impact of his victory in the Second Northern War, this victory immediately fermented and inspired the morale of the military and people across the north. People became more and more convinced of the future of defeating the men in black.

However, only Hemei and the few people know about the hardship and hardship behind it.

"This is really a heavy loss. Fortunately, the Nilfgaardians on the opposite side suffered even more than us."

After pouring a full glass of Toussaint sangria to Queen Miwe, the Protector said bitterly.

It can be said that only a few people know the true casualties of the army now, and they are two of them.

Miwei also responded to Hemei with a bitter expression. Here, they are not the Lord Protector of Aden and the Queen of Livia, but ordinary people who are facing difficulties and troubles for themselves.

"Many familiar faces have also left us, and some of my subordinates who have followed me since the Harklan era also died here."

Herme continued speaking, thinking of the figure in his mind, Vigores, the first Cossack leader who defected to him.

The life of Vigores can be said to be a typical reflection of the careers of many Cossacks in this era. He once lived a poor and unstable Cossack in Hacklan, then joined the cause of Heme, and then was granted land and returned to Arriving at the land of their ancestors, they reclaimed the land again with their followers and became a member of the privileged class of Aedirn.

And now, this man died on the battlefield. He was a member of Edsbergs' division. This division was mainly composed of migrating Cossacks. The division commander was Herme's old friend Volod.

When she thought of Vigores' death, Herme felt that things were changing so fast that so much time had passed without her realizing it.

"Yes, after these years of war, many people have left us. Some of them are good and some are bad. Some died with honor and glory, while others died worthless. After all, this is the era of contempt."

Miwei's tone was slightly mocking, mocking this bloody era, but it was just mocking.

"However, Mr. Hemei, you asked me to come here just to let us two old people sigh about the hard work and sigh about the past."

Miwei took a sip of the sangrel in her hand and looked very leisurely, but her words went straight to the heart.

"You are so perceptive."

Hemei complimented Miwei without any trace, "I do have some other ideas. I'm thinking about what the north should do after the war."

Herme's words made Queen Livia's eyes look serious.

Hemei was not surprised by such a reaction. After all, what he was going to mention was very explosive.

"The north can no longer remain a piece of loose sand. The three invasions of the southern empire have shown that this is a life-and-death struggle. Either the southerners will die, or we will die."

Miwei was listening silently to Hemei's words.

She didn't say anything. She once heard someone say such a thing at the end of the Second Northern War, but she didn't take it seriously at all.

What happened later proved that this was correct.

"After this battle, the north must unite, and the northern empire must appear. We can no longer sit back and wait for death in front of the southerners. Now either we go south or the southerners go north, so let us bring reason and civilization to the southerners. "

Reason and civilization are Nilfgaard's important propaganda words for its war northward. That is, the powerful and civilized southern empire is to bring reason and civilization to the barbaric and ignorant north, and lead the northerners to a higher level of civilization.

After experiencing the "sanity and civilization" brought about by the Nilfgaardians' three wars, any northerner who has experienced Nilfgaard's so-called "sanity and civilization" will only spit in the face of such remarks.

Of course, the propaganda power of the empire is so powerful that even the pampered middle class and privileged elites in the cities still harbor illusions about the empire.

Some of them really believed it, while others pretended to believe it. The former really believed that the empire would make life better for northerners, while the latter just wanted a higher political status.

And Herme's mention of "sanity and civilization" here undoubtedly shows what he intends to bring to the Nilfgaardians.

Facing Hemei's speech, Miwei pondered. She was not attracted by the impassioned words in Hemei's words, but clearly noticed the subtext.

"I want to unify the north. Will you Livia come?"

Miwei sighed silently. The Lord Protector of Aedirn seemed to have a gentle attitude and was directly discussing the future of the north, but what he did was almost written on his face.

But that was not what Queen Livia was lamenting. She had long been mentally prepared for this day. What she was lamenting was that Livia had no choice.

As a monarch of a small country, Mi Wei knew that Livia was able to stand on the stage of the northern countries instead of becoming a pawn of a small country manipulated by other monarchs only because of her ability.

One thing remains unchanged after all, that is, Livia is a small country, and a feudal kingdom that has not experienced much centralization.

Even though she controlled the mobilization of resources as much as possible, this still exhausted the United Kingdom of Livia and Lyria.

Especially in the Third Northern War, this time Livia mobilized almost the entire country, which was not seen in the Second Northern War. Then Miwe was able to experience first-hand the fragility of her kingdom.

Four months after the war began, she received reports of villages starving to death, and then such reports kept coming.

Of course, such a situation must exist in Aedirn and Redania, but their huge area and complex bureaucracy can cope with all this, and they will undoubtedly control the number of starvation deaths within a certain range.

Now Herme's intention is obvious. After the war, he wants to unify the north. If Livia stands on the opposite side of Herme, it will most likely be invaded by Aedirn.

And there is no point in trying your best to make the country poor and the people resist the Aedianites. There are no Aedianites, and there are Redanians.

After going through so much trouble to hold off the Aedirnians, and then fighting against the Redanians?That would be a bit of a dream.

In the opinion of some people in the northern political circles, if the Third Northern War ends with a northern victory, Redania and Aedirn will inevitably start a war of unification.

Because whether it is Herme or Radovid, they are like the rising sun. Both are young and capable.

Alex, Duke of Aedirn, once commented on the inevitable future shape after the victory of the North:
"The future situation is like two suns competing for glory in the sky, and there are no two suns in the sky. If two suns compete for glory, one of them will be injured." Then the gossip that the Duke made while talking about politics in the salon began to go crazy in the north. spread among the upper classes.

Some people regard it as a daily salon outrage, while others regard it as the truth and start actively preparing for war.

However, most people didn't take it seriously. After all, they hadn't defeated the Nilfgaardians yet, but this sentence did spread.

Therefore, Livia has no choice at all, and turning to Aedir is the only choice.

Miwei had already made this clear in her discussion with Wilm, and both of them agreed that this was inevitable.

It's just that when the tender skin is torn to pieces, you will still feel pain. The truth is always cruel.

"If that time comes, Livia and Lyria will support Aedirn's cause and join in the unification. However, I am curious, in what form will you complete the unification of the north? According to Nefer The form of the Gadian Empire?”

The corners of Hemei's mouth rose slightly. Now it was a matter of negotiating conditions, and the negotiation had actually won.

"Don't worry, I won't unify in the rough way of Nilfgaard. As long as someone is leaning towards me, they can continue to own their country in the future and retain some of their national rights."

Hemei is very clear about the current situation in the northern realm. Each northern country has its own elite and bureaucratic group, and no one can overwhelm anyone else. The total number is evenly matched.

Although everyone agrees with the concept of northerners, it does not affect everyone's ability to maintain their own small identity and regional isolation.

As for completely abolishing the nobility and transforming them all into a bureaucracy, it is nonsense, regardless of whether there are so many people.

If this is done forcefully, the biggest result will be that the most elite military personnel in the north will become the biggest factor of instability in the north.

A cruel fact is that no matter how much Herme promotes professionalism, due to poor financial capabilities, the main force of the Aedian army is actually the aristocratic military class, or the privileged military class.

If we really force this group of people to oppose us, the north will have no troops to use, and the southern empire will inevitably invade the north on a large scale.

Is it true that an army composed entirely of civilians and only trained for a few months is used to fight a war?

The truth is that they simply can't win.

In fact, the same is true across Nilfgaard. Although the Black Empire has been standardized in various ways, its mainstay is still the privileged military class, that is, people like the nobles.

Some people who insist on being civilians are the real Nilfgaardian soldiers, but they are also the de facto privileged class. After all, the real Nilfgaardians are so high compared to the provincial residents that they don’t know where they are. .

The privileged military class formed the soul and organizational structure of the army in this era, as well as the most combat-effective part.

In Herme's previous life, he thought that the military class such as the nobles, soldiers, and militia were useless. They might be of some use at first, but it would only be a matter of time before they became corrupted. The sooner they could be replaced, the better, and they would all be replaced by a standing army.

However, as his understanding of this era deepened, he realized that even these people had been immersed in military activities since childhood or for a long time. They were all professionals, and they all made fighting their profession.

The government capabilities in his hands and the productivity of this era simply do not allow him to support a super standing army.

The size of Nilfgaard's army was built by exploiting the depletion of various provinces. He did not have that level of resources at all and had to do all kinds of work to save money.

Therefore, he needs to acknowledge this series of current situations.

Therefore, after taking Kaedwen, he set the goal of ruling Kaedwen to gradually transfer power to the loyal Kaedwen people, and then use a part of the Aedirn people as a nail.

Only in this way can Kaedwen's power be fully mobilized in the future.

The number of troops Kaedwen brought out in the Third Northern War unintentionally proved that Herme's decision was correct.

But even such a regressive policy still made Aedian's bureaucracy exhausted.

It is extremely difficult to carry out such an operation again.

Then we can only continue to retreat and build a federation of kingdoms. Independent kings can still exist in the unified north, and many of their powers will be taken away by the Protector.

Using this form is undoubtedly the most convenient way to complete the unification of the North. It will encounter the least resistance, and it can also retain the power of various parts of the North to the greatest extent, becoming the force for a new round of war with the Southern Empire.

The ultimate vision of the Protector is that in the future, those who boil frogs in warm water will abolish these countries and concentrate all power in their hands.

However, he knew that this was too far away, and he considered success as victory when his descendants came to power.

Herme's unified thinking is based on the Second German Empire in the previous life. The Second Empire retained a bunch of kingdoms within its territory, but it still did not affect its growth.

"Keep the country?"

Miwei frowned as she thought about it, and a surge of worry came out.

There was no such precedent in the north, and she could only think of the vassal states of Nilfgaard in the south.

As for the vassal states of the Southern Empire, as everyone knows, except for Toussaint, they are all the backup blood packs of the Southern Empire. Between the Second Northern War and the Third Northern War, the empire slaughtered pigs in the country, which made everyone afraid.

"Yes, yes, but this is a very rudimentary idea. What should be done depends on the actual situation in the north. And there is no rush in this matter. After all, we have not driven away the Nilfgaardians yet. "

At this time, Hemei lost her temper and filled up the wine glass for Queen Miwe again.

The Protector is very happy now. He got everything he wanted from his invitation to Queen Miwe this time. It can be said to be a great diplomatic success. He solved Livia. After the man in black is gone, he will solve the little one. With a bald head, everything is no longer a problem.

For the Nilfgaardians, after experiencing that tragic battle, he felt that the empire's failure was only a matter of time.

The wave of offensives they resisted was already a reflection of the empire's achievements in reform and military expansion over the past few years, but it was not yet a failure.

Of course, this does not mean that Hemei thinks that the imperial army is not a threat at all. After all, Emhyr still has so many troops in his hands, and he can still launch a deadly offensive.

However, when the time comes, it will probably not be directed at him, but at Radovid.

Herme is looking forward to who will win the war, Emhyr or Radovid.

And whoever wins in the end will benefit.

Next, Hemei said goodbye to Queen Miwe. The goal had been achieved, so there was no need to talk here for a long time. Both of them had quite a lot of work on their hands.

"Does anyone want to see me?"

Herme shouted after Queen Meve left, and the answer came quickly.

"Yes, Lord Protector is a demon hunter wearing a snake head badge. He calls himself Ivar Evil Eye."

This name made Hemei tremble, and she immediately switched from a leisurely to a nervous state.

Ivar Evil Eye, master of the Serpent School, hunter of the Wild Hunt, this information immediately came to his mind.

He hadn't seen the master demon hunter for a while, but Ivar Evil Eye had been hunting the Wild Hunt all over the continent, so it was normal not to see him.

When he mentions this name, Herme will think of the Wild Hunt. As he thinks of the Wild Hunt, combined with the current time, he will think of a child of destiny:
Ciri.

"Let him in immediately!"

Hemei shouted almost impatiently. He had a strong feeling that the visit of the Snake Sect Grandmaster was probably related to the son of destiny.

And he knew very well what the Child of Destiny represented, so he had to learn about the situation as soon as possible.

(End of this chapter)