When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

Chapter 1245 Koniaz
"Why is it that after capturing Brand City, our Northern Route Army received nothing?"

"Why are you yelling so loudly? Go find His Majesty."

"Back then, it was because your Southern Route Army couldn't deal with the Black Legion that we had to step in, but in the end, we got nothing?"

The duke-level vampire Peregrine, representing the Southern Route Army, slammed his hands on the table and stood up: "You have the Thorn Garden now!"

Pokkins slammed his fist on the table and stood up, shouting, "That was meant for us!"

"Then you should be content. The Thorn Garden produces gold and silver mines, as well as fine timber and honey. Such a large and rich territory is enough for you to divide!"

"Does this match our efforts? Besides, we haven't even taken Thorn Garden yet!" Pokkins' face was contorted with rage, the typical vampire expression of grief and indignation. "I just don't understand, why is it that the more someone does, the more they suffer?!"

"Alright, alright." Vladislav, the vampire prince of the central army, tapped the ground with his scepter. "We haven't even taken Brand City yet, what are you arguing about?"

The camp was located behind the shady side of the mountain outside Branding City. The entire camp was covered by black cloth, with only a faint light shining through the bottom gap.

The white candles on the silver candlesticks burned, illuminating the faces of the dozens of vampires present.

They were impeccably dressed, wearing ancient Gothic silk gowns with contrasting colors inside and out, dating back hundreds of years.

However, compared to their elegant demeanor, their faces were still far too greedy.

"Hmph, we're about to take over Brand City. If we don't clarify these issues now, some vampires will try to take advantage of the chaos." Pokkins sneered, glancing at Perrin Grey.

Perling Gray remained silent, only staring at Pokkins with utter disgust.

Prince Vladislav of the Mohammed clan coughed and said, "How about dividing the area along the central street, with the southern part belonging to the Southern Route Army and the northern part to the Northern Route Army?"

"What about blood offerings?"

"Just build a wall in the middle, call it the Branding Wall, and stop the blood food from passing through, wouldn't that solve the problem?"

"Oh, or how about we use the Nauan River as the boundary, with the area north of the Nauan River belonging to our Northern Route Army and the area south of the Nauan River belonging to your Southern Route Army, okay?" Pering Gray said sarcastically.

“Okay,” Pokkins replied.

Prince Vladislav nodded at first, then suddenly realized something was wrong: "What about our central army?"

"The Naoan River belongs to you."

"[Swearing], do you listen to what nonsense you're spouting?"

"That settles it then, there's no such way of dividing it!"

After uttering that curse, as if to catch his breath, the entire tent fell silent.

The siege of Brand City by the Black Legion has lasted for four months, from summer to autumn.

With the help of 10000 vampires in the royal guards and 5000 vampires in the northern army, plus many human servants, they initially won a series of victories, successively destroying the strongholds and towns within the Black Legion's territory.

The Black Legion suffered repeated defeats and was eventually forced to retreat into the City of Branding.

They were on the verge of capturing Brand City, but their siege dragged on for four months without success.

Ultimately, it's because the Black Legion's apparent retreat was actually a delaying tactic.

They built a defensive system outside Branded City that was just like the one Ladanburg had built before.

Breast walls, bunkers, small bastions, ditches, palisades, and raised earthen platforms almost entirely abandoned the reliance on towering city walls for defense.

The vampires, encountering this defense system for the first time, suffered greatly.

Although the outcome of each Holy Alliance battle was decided by open field battles, the foundation of their victories was built upon defensive battles.

At this point, even the vampire soldiers could only rely on human lives to fill the gaps.

Aside from leaving behind nearly a hundred human servant corpses and a large number of wounded vampire soldiers every day, they gain almost nothing.

Aside from planning their siege goals, they spent their days arguing in their tents.

What can we do if we don't argue?

Just as the vampires were still muttering curses and remaining silent, they suddenly heard the sound of guards saluting outside the tent.

It was none other than Samuel de Muscovy who lifted the curtain, but instead of coming in, he respectfully stepped aside.

The man who walked in was a vampire. He had a distinctly vampire appearance, with a gaunt face and dark circles under his eyes.

Beneath his gaunt face was a huge belly, and his obese torso was covered with slender limbs.

Look at those trembling, stick-like legs; they almost couldn't support him.

At first glance, it looks like a snowman built by a farmer's child.

Instead of the formal attire typical of vampires, he wore a simple linen shirt and a bearskin cloak.

Ironically, this vampire general, who had followed Serfaye since the steppe era, was actually afraid of the cold. Yes, a vampire being afraid of the cold.

But faced with such a comical person, the vampires who were previously hurling insults at each other all stopped.

They all stood up, bowed slightly in greeting, and Prince Vladislav even gave up his seat at the head of the table.

They all knew this person, or rather, they were all his defeated opponents.

Koniaz Bagid, head of the First Mission of the Royal Guard, is in fact the leader of the Royal Guard.

He was born into an unknown Bajid family and joined the army as a Serfaye slave.

However, it would be a grave mistake to think of him as a general who rose to power through his nepotism with Serfaye.

During the war to unify the royal court, it was Serfaye's advance into the Eternal Night Palace that forced out the high-ranking vampires in the street battles of the City of No Light after he seized the throne.

Later, when the nearby clan armies attacked, he defended the city of No Light until reinforcements arrived.

Later, Serfaye swept through the northern clans, defeating three of the seven chief dukes (below the prince) of the northern clans and capturing the other three.

The subsequent attacks on the southern clans were also led by this same Koniaz, who quickly achieved success.

If we were to compare him to the Holy Alliance, he would probably be equivalent to a combination of Jessica and Jeanne.

Even the recent battle in Goya City was orchestrated by him.

Don't be fooled by the fact that Serfaye conquered the royal court so easily; his rise to power was exceptionally rapid.

But behind this is a team she has been building for decades.

The vampire counts and dukes present, all of them arrogant and domineering, still had to bow their heads before Koniaz.

After all, many of the vampires present were originally enemies of Serfaye, and only became Serfaye's subordinates after being defeated by Koniaz.

"So, everyone's been talking about this much while I was gone?" Koniaz wrapped his bearskin cloak tighter around himself and sat down, crossing his legs. "What are they all talking about?"

He spoke in a soft voice and had no distinctive features, as if he were just a random passerby picked up from the street.

The vampires looked at each other, and finally Prince Vladislav stood up: "We're discussing the distribution of the spoils of war."

"Judging from the distribution of spoils after the war, it seems you are very confident in taking this city."

“Uh, actually…” Prince Vladislav hesitated.

Koniaz raised his hand, interrupting him: "Enough with the nonsense. I was originally planning this over at the Golden Horn, but His Majesty sent me a telepathic message, instructing me to come and oversee you."

"Your Majesty, what did she say?"

"It's simple. Whoever breaks through the city first wins all, but no interference is allowed." Koniaz shivered as usual.

“This…this will definitely lead to, ah, never mind.” Prince Vladislav meant to say that it would lead to them pulling each other down.

But think about it, now that Koniaz is here, he's basically Serfaye's eyes, so would this kind of thing still happen?

“We all agree on that, but we’re afraid some of our own kind might sabotage us,” Pokkins couldn’t help but say.

“Indeed, we couldn’t take it to begin with, and with this Northern Route Army, it’s even less likely.” Pering Gray immediately retorted.

With a cough, Koniaz seemed not to hear, and continued to say to himself, "Follow my method, whoever breaks into the enemy headquarters in Brand City first will get everything."

Although this sounded like a soliloquy, the vampires were surprisingly unanimous in their agreement: to obey.

The following evening, when Giel led his soldiers to inspect the bastion, he was surprised to find that the auxiliary troops had not continued their fierce attack.

Instead, they continued to dig trenches, winding like snakes, ever closer to the city walls.

"A tunneling tactic?" Gier frowned. "Can they pull it off?"

Tunneling tactics are not just about digging tunnels; otherwise, they wouldn't be called tactics.

Both the Holy Alliance and Leia have extensive experience in siege warfare and city-building.

But for vampires, it's a death sentence at first sight, after all, they are proud vampires.

Just like with the clockwork gun and alchemy back then, the Empire only realized the need to change after thoroughly defeating all its neighbors.

A traditional force with path dependence will not use new tactics unless absolutely necessary.

Moreover, it will take at least three to five months to learn this new tactic.

“Perhaps they’ve finally realized it,” Todd said optimistically. “By the time they learn it, it will be winter at the earliest, and then the reinforcements from Fran will arrive.”

“Yes, this has bought some time for our Fourth El Alliance.” Gilles leaned against the wall. “We need to step up our efforts.”

(End of this chapter)