our family is gone

Chapter 758 The Necessity of War

This is a group of cultists wandering in the wilderness, and at this moment they are trying to flee this place in a hurry like frightened sparrows.

But the falcon that was hovering above their heads and the eagle eyes that appeared secretly in the distance kept their eyes fixed on them.

Soon they realized that they would never fly out of this birdcage called Hamlet, because ahead of their path, a team seemed to have been waiting for a long time.

Reynard had been waiting for a long time with a group of people. They did not look like the royal guards, but judging from their equipment, they were quite scattered, with only about thirty people. However, a high percentage of them were wearing armor.

This is not good news for those cultists.

They have actually come around. Who is chasing after them?
The answer was soon revealed. After a brief confrontation, the sound of horse hooves hitting the ground could be heard from behind.

And judging from their appearance after they arrived, they were indeed the Royal Guards.

Even the champions looked a little embarrassed after days of hard fighting, but it was only on the surface. Their bodies were still full of strength and their hearts were still extremely determined.

Almost as soon as the people behind caught up, Leonard drew out his sword, pointed it at the cultist and issued an order.

"Charge and crush them!"

Those people also followed Leonard and charged towards the cultists. The cultists who were forced into a desperate situation struggled desperately. Their first reaction was to run away, but the sharp blade had already arrived.

These people all had long swords and sabers in their hands, and they had no room to hold back like the royal guards did when they started fighting. They were really risking their lives.

The collision between the two sides instantly tore apart the cultists' already scattered formation. The guards had no intention of participating in the battle, and just cleaned out some people who wanted to escape from the periphery.

This time there was no intention of holding back at all, and the real killing was displayed with understatement.

Because the drama had already been played, and there was no room left in the sanatorium, which meant that these cultists had completely outlived their usefulness, and dying here was their best outcome.

The battle was one-sided from the beginning to the end, and the cultists' desperate counterattack only left marks on those people's armor.

This is why armor was so important in the era of cold weapons when firearms had not yet matured.

After the battle, those people also dismounted and followed the guards to clean up the chaotic scene, finish off the enemies, and then stack up the corpses and knock down the props to eliminate the corpses.

The flesh and blood quickly rotted and turned into pus and seeped into the earth. It is estimated that the flowers in this place will grow particularly lush next year.

Of course, it also completely announced the end of these cultists in the real world.

At this time, some people took off their helmets, revealing that they were basically young people, and there were even girls among them.

When she took off her helmet, one could see that Joan of Arc had a resolute expression, and her long hair was tied tightly, showing a capable and heroic spirit. No one would question why she was here, because she had already demonstrated it with her achievements along the way.

Girls develop earlier than boys, not to mention that there is plenty of food in Hamlet. Her mother is the principal, but no one dares to withhold her food.

Moreover, he trained hard, laying the foundation with Boudica, and later learned cavalry combat from Reynald. He also participated in various trainings, and even received the blessing of the lord. It is no wonder that he could support a full set of knight armor weighing thirty or forty kilograms at the age of thirteen.

Judging from the bloodstains on her armor and the blood spots dripping from her sword, she had just killed quite a few cultists. She had seen blood and was brave in combat, not just a show-off.

She appeared here because Lance did not miss this opportunity. Instead, he selected a group of good performers from the school youth team and let them go up and really see blood. Margaret joined to manage these children.

The youth team was formed because the army did not have enough people at the time, so Lance had to rely on these children. Their physical education classes were militia training, and they mastered some basic skills while studying. These children could also be pulled out in special circumstances to maintain order and defend the school.

But later, with the influx of a large number of refugees, the supply of soldiers was no longer so tight, so Lance gradually slowed down their training. After all, it was more important to focus on studying.

During this process, some people dropped out for various reasons, but there was also a group of people who persevered and were of similar age.

The school can no longer teach them too much, and Lance doesn't mind giving them a chance to participate in the final mission related to the cultists, or even the upcoming war. This is their graduation exam.

At first they were used as auxiliary troops, and gradually began to take part in battles. Their performance just now showed that they did not disappoint the lord's trust.

Although he had just led them to charge, Leonard did not care too much. At this moment, he was looking at the falcon that was no longer circling on the branch in front of him, and he seemed to understand something.

"Mission accomplished, go back."

…………

Although Lance didn't care about the bureaucrats who fell behind, the vacant positions still had to be filled, and after regaining the territory, the various local forces must also be eliminated.

There are vacancies here, and we also need people to sort out local affairs.

Therefore, the training of managers is very important, and the influence of religious beliefs must be eliminated, because these villages, towns and cities must have deep religious power.

What’s the point if we can’t achieve actual control?

Lance doesn't want to be picked...

Call upon those who have been trained before. They themselves come from workers and farmers and have some understanding of the situation at the grassroots level. All they need is a change of mindset.

For this reason, Lance directly used the government reports during this period as teaching materials and began to give those people remedial lessons.

Lance can basically tell whether someone has talent in this area, whether they are loyal, or just an opportunist in just one class.

Those who are left at the end are the ones who can truly change Hamlet's downfall.

"Get ready, we are going to start extracurricular practice next."

Those students also understood that the time had finally come. Although everyone was forced to do it, they were all determined to make Hamlet great again.

"get out of class is over!"

Lance disbanded this temporary class and gave them a day off. Everyone took this opportunity to go home because they might not be able to go back for some time.

The three-day holiday for the festival has ended. The seemingly turbulent situation before did not affect Hamlet's stability at all. People left and came one after another.

Leonard and his men had returned yesterday. They had been running around for two days and had captured more than seven hundred cultists, filling up the sanatorium. Lance was forced to order the killing of the remaining ones.

The guards used dimensionality reduction to deal with the cultists. If they dealt with ordinary people, it would undoubtedly be a massacre. But Lance decided to let the guards guard the house, because the problem of the ruins had not been solved yet, and it was very risky to withdraw all the troops.

Moreover, the Royal Guard was established to deal with the existence of supernatural powers.

Let mortals fight among mortals...

Lance finished his courses, but actually he still had a lot of things to deal with after leaving school.

Baldwin is in charge of government affairs. He only needs to make a start and clarify the direction, and they can follow the outlined framework, which reduces a lot of his burden.

But the army cannot rely on him, and he has to go to the army to discuss the next war with several commanders. Not only the battle plan, but also the allocation of various resources requires his approval.

After going around in circles like this, Lance found that he was not much more relaxed than before.

The fucking old... the ancestor is gone...

Damn the emperor, damn the nobles!
If these bastards hadn't annexed Hamlet's territory, he would have enjoyed his life long ago.

Don't let yourself be caught, or you will suffer the consequences.

Lance ate wherever he went. Fortunately, there was no food withholding in the military camp. There were vegetables and meat, and he could eat his fill. This was unimaginable for most people in this world.

Given these conditions, it is no wonder that many starving people want to beg for food from the lord. It is a pity that the selection of soldiers has never been relaxed and has even become more and more strict.

Lance was busy until dark before he returned. The time for dispatching troops had been determined and the logistical supplies had been prepared. Now he could finally relax a little.

When he got home, he saw Greendale waiting for him. She had been busy treating those affected by the blood moon and preparing healing potions recently, so she looked exhausted.

"Is the war going to start again?" Greendale's expression revealed her worry. "Everyone hasn't fully recovered from the effects of the blood moon yet."

The last time was when Greendale was dissatisfied with Lance for turning around and rushing back to the dungeon just one day after his return, completely ignoring the chaos caused by the arrival of the Darkness in Hamlet.

When the blood moon came, she was really scared. The worsening situation meant that things were not going well over there. She was afraid that something had happened to Lance, but she could neither contact him nor leave.

Fortunately, Lance proved that his plan was fine and ended the extreme darkness and blood moon in the shortest possible time.

But this mess is not over yet, and various things have happened. A small-scale battle like this one by the Royal Guards is still acceptable, but you have to know that if the entire army is to attack, it will not be just 3,000 soldiers mobilized, but at least 5,000 to 6,000 people with logistics.

What is the price? This is a huge burden for Hamlet, who is already devastated.

Lance also understood her concerns, and did not feel negative emotions because of being questioned. Instead, he explained calmly.

"I know what you're thinking, but we have to fight this battle, and it's urgent. If we can't finish it before the snow starts, it will be hard for Hamlet to survive the winter."

When Greendale heard this, she couldn't help but frown and fell into deep thought, but she found it a little difficult to understand what was said.

“Is there an enemy more powerful than the evil god worshipped by the Ascension Sect?”

"The enemy is not outside, but inside."

Lance had no intention of keeping her in suspense and explained it to her directly.

“At that time, in order to fight against the Ascension Sect, we had no choice but to use generous treatment to continuously expand the army. Now the evil cult has been destroyed, but the three thousand troops are still there.

To be honest, this treatment and this amount are simply not something Hamlet can afford under normal circumstances.

In the past, it was a forced choice under external pressure. They had to overdraw a large amount of funds to import resources from the outside world and rely on exploiting ordinary people to support them to maintain this situation.

But this is an unhealthy state after all. We have to find a way to solve this problem when external pressure is reduced, otherwise it will drag down the development of Hamlet."

"The problem you mentioned is with the military, so we should disarm. Why start a war?" Greendale didn't understand Lance's seemingly counter-intuitive action.

When Lance heard this, he suddenly couldn't help laughing, which made the originally serious atmosphere become strange and made Greendale even more confused.

"why are you laughing?"

"When I say the army has problems, it doesn't mean it's the only problem. Have you noticed that Hamlet is a larger group now?"

"Those adventurers?"

"No, they are refugees." Lance shook his head slowly and gave the answer, and then asked in return, "How do we deal with those refugees now?"

"There are a lot of jobs in the city. You can also take the route from the city to the ruins. There are also many construction sites in the town. Later, when the extreme darkness and blood moon occurred, they were even sent to the development zone in the wilderness for resettlement."

Greendale knew something about these and could name a few of them off the top of her head.

“You think the reason Hamlet and the surrounding areas can accommodate so many refugees today is because we can provide so many jobs.

So you see, they don't have many means of making a living, and Hamlet doesn't have so many factories providing jobs. In essence, most of them are supported by us.

But have you ever thought about what will happen if Hamlet can no longer provide so much work?"

"Are you talking about the snow season?" Lance's question made Greendale subconsciously say a key word.

Heavy snow blocking the mountains is an indelible memory for the mountains. Even if enough food is stored, many people will still die at this time for various reasons, not to mention some people who did not hunt enough prey in the autumn.

“Yes, with the arrival of the snow season, the so-called wilderness development and most construction sites have to stop. How should we deal with them?

Not to mention transportation, now that so many adventurers have left the ruins town, there is simply not that much demand for supplies, and even buildings don’t need that many.

We must recapture the territory before the heavy snow arrives, and then we can resettle them, otherwise this trouble will explode in our hands."

"But we can't just push people into those places. There are no fields, no supplies, and they have no ability to survive. Even if they cultivate the land, it will be too late. How are they going to survive this winter?"

Greendale's concerns are normal. Why would these people become refugees and wander here?
It's because they can't survive. Putting them in those places now, isn't that killing them?

"Who said there aren't any? Not only do we have them, but there are a lot of them..." Lance suddenly smiled strangely, "We want to fight the local tyrants and divide the land."