When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

Chapter 1191 New Strategy and Blood Pact Gun
The passage of time can be extremely rapid for historical records.

The two countries in the previous row were still in friendly exchanges, but the two countries in the next row broke off relations and started fighting because of something.

To the reader, it seems as if everything happened in a very short time.

However, the beginning and end of this series of events may have spanned decades.

For the person involved, it may be extremely slow.

Horn shared the same feeling, saying that when he read various history books in the past, he always felt that wars, from beginning to end, seemed to pass in the blink of an eye.

But after he actually experienced the Thousand Rivers Valley War and the subsequent series of battles, he realized—

The war, from its beginning to its end, was actually an extremely long process.

Even the fighting itself occupies only a very small part of the war.

Most of the time was spent on tedious marches, political wrangling, strategic planning by staff officers, and logistical coordination...

Even while fighting a war, economic construction and the development of the Shenyan Institute in the rear cannot be neglected.

Just like now, relations between the royal court and the empire gradually deteriorated starting in 1457.

By 1458, after several rounds of probing between the two sides, the terrible Battle of Zealand finally took place.

However, after the naval battle, apart from the royal court occupying the Zealand Islands and controlling the waters of the region, nothing else happened.

Even the treasure ships carrying monsters and rare items that the Francans sailed in the southern seas were no longer attacked.

Of course, this also explains why Charles VIII spent a huge sum of money to purchase a large number of clockwork coastal defense guns and naval guns from Horn.

It was now April 1459, and the Holy Alliance was only now engaging the Royal Court for the first time, and even that was a brief encounter.

"So you're sure the commander of the Northern Army is Lacunio?" In this strategic discussion room, vampires from the Soridor clan, scholars, and high monks were all present.

On the wall was a large map, with many small flags and charcoal drawings of key points and attack indicators.

A quick glance reveals that this is an analysis of the Royal Court's past and future march routes in its attack on the Roaring Corridor.

Alexei received more than just military supplies from the Holy Alliance.

It also includes access to the political resources of the Holy Alliance's highest privy council advisor; such a reference report cannot be bought with money.

Of course, Alexei, as a young man from Norn deeply influenced by the ideas of the Holy Alliance, is himself a very worthwhile investment.

Despite the initial setbacks, there were some gains, such as a wealth of intelligence related to the royal court.

It's important to know that since the loose royal court was transformed into a centralized system by Serfaye, intelligence leaks have become increasingly rare.

Horn was completely clueless about this enemy.

Upon hearing Horn's question, René nodded first and said, "Those vampire prisoners of war have been sent to the Holy Mechanism Court. We have verified that what they said is true."

"What is his current status? Human or Blood Servant?" an elder of the Soridor clan asked.

"Humanity."

“Oh, that’s strange.” Elder Soridor covered his mouth with a handkerchief to prevent spit from flying and being unsightly. “Either he’s a puppet, or he’s actually disguised as a human, but what is his purpose?”

It's very rare for a human to lead an army of vampires.

No, it's not so much rare as extremely rare, so rare that it's almost unheard of.

In the royal court's traditional view, all humans are considered to be lowly, unpurified heretics.

Humans may engage in lowly professions such as commerce, but they are absolutely not allowed to interfere in the military and political affairs of the vampire reservation.

Let alone commanders-in-chief or governors, I've never seen a human being hold the position of supervisor.

The others present nodded in agreement. After the Holy Alliance internal meeting determined that there was a very high probability of conflict with the Royal Court, the Papal Palace began to widely distribute relevant learning materials.

Many of the high-ranking monks present had attended internal lectures by the elders of the Soridor clan, gaining a certain critical understanding of the social ecology of the royal court. "That's not necessarily true." Just as everyone was discussing, a voice from the sidelines rang out.

It was a woman, a vampire woman, wearing a simple shirt, with her wavy hair flowing down her back.

However, several vampire elders of the Soridor clan unconsciously straightened up.

This was none other than Monica, the local governor of the royal court and a former high-ranking official of the royal court.

The vampire female governor, who was originally "bought," was also brought here because she was familiar with the politics of the royal court.

Although the Soridor clan had lived in the royal court for many years, their status had never been very high due to the lack of a prince; they were mostly scholarly types.

What they experienced and saw was fine, but they were unaware of the secrets and unspoken rules of the royal court's upper echelons.

“Why not?” Horn countered.

Monica didn't seem like she'd been imprisoned for three years; instead, she crossed her legs and said, "Serfaye learned how to manage the army from you."

"You've learned from me?"

"Yes, in her army, there are military commanders and political supervisors."

The highest-ranking warlords were often members of her core faction, while the commanders were appointed based solely on merit.

Anyone with talent can get promoted; the main method is to promote from among the generals.

In other words, in her eyes, the warlord was the true commander of the army, while the commander was at most a staff officer with greater autonomy.

"They wouldn't be learning our Holy Alliance's system of chapter commanders and priests, would they...?"

"I wanted to draw a tiger, but I ended up drawing a mouse."

"It's bizarrely funny."

Horn declined to comment on the high monks' political maneuvering, instead becoming more concerned with something else: "How did you come to that conclusion?"

"It's just my guess about them learning from the Holy Alliance," Monica said, shrugging. "But isn't she learning from the Holy Alliance in everything she does? That Blood Pact Gun is an example."

In Monica's view, combining blood explosion techniques with shooting doesn't necessarily have to be done with a gun.

Serfaye, obviously in order to get the answer right, also copied down the name.

When Monica mentioned the Blood Pact Gun, Horn immediately turned his attention to the Blood Pact Gun on the table.

These are spoils of war captured by the Shooting Army during their battle against the vampire infantry, and they have changed considerably from what Danio brought earlier.

First, it is longer than before, and according to intelligence provided by Alexei, the shooting accuracy has been greatly improved.

Not to mention the weight.

The originally large glass tube gradually began to shrink, becoming only as thick as a thumb.

As for those translucent things, they look like glass, but they are not actually glass.

“This is obsidian,” Governor Monica explained, “a special mineral produced from Doomsday Volcano next to Dark City.”

"Only the Doomsday Volcano can produce it?"

“Yes.” Monica, wearing handcuffs and shackles, gently stroked the obsidian blood vial. “The effect of this blood vial should be the same as your ornithite clockwork.”

However, clockwork compresses mana into orbrute force; it's like compressing Blood Explosion and then releasing it.

Horn turned to Hakuto: "How was the performance in actual combat?"

When Hakuto talked about this, he was obviously much more cautious: "It has a longer range than the muzzle-loading Canned Dexter, but not as long as the breech-loading Canned Dexter, and its accuracy is about the same as the muzzle-loading Canned Dexter."

Nodding, Horn suddenly stood up: "We can't see anything just by talking here. Why don't we all come with me to the shooting range to see the comparison?"

(End of this chapter)